Skylands: the Scorpion Spear, Part One - “Saeldrin”, Chapter One: The Hunters
ORIGINAL DRAFT - PRE-EDITING This story was written as part of the 2016 National Novel Writing Month. It was written without edits between 12:01am, November 1st and 11:59pm, November 30th. This story was written by David J Rust, aka Sylvan Scott, and...
The Yuletide Wolf
 The world-setting (containing...
Shrinking Spurts
Shrinking Spurts ©2017 Sylvan Scott Being alone--isolated and surrounded by dangers both implacable and unavoidable--felt simultaneously like the world's end and something ... familiar. Most whitetails felt this way at one point or another. It...
Alternity: One
The world-setting (containing the space-station Alternity: One, the Fluxx, DarkStar's Expanse, and other landmarks within this story's context), and the characters of David "Prime" Foster, David "Rat" Foster, David "Copper" Foster, David...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.13 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
"I am truly sorry; I'm an architect: not a doctor." Kelmore stood back as the rest gathered around Yar's broken form. The derroni, unable to save him, had at least closed his eyes. The tahvic, through all his wounds, looked not as much at peace as he...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.12 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Higher up in the city, above the myriad narrow avenues, alleys, stairwells, and streets, the moaning of the winds was much louder. It blew across the lintels of the wide open arched windows looking down upon Seva. The setting sun cast its lengthening...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.11 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
"Eilekarra, in many ways, was the Kellendar of its time. Located on the island of Alamar, it was a unification of nine disparate kingdoms under one rule." Kelmore sat on a small, smooth stone bench outside the third gate. He wove the mystic rites of...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.10 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Hammer and tongs beat with the rhythm of pain from within Kelmore's skull. He tried to scream but he couldn't breathe. Forge-like, the heat inside his brain blazed white-hot as if someone were trying to forge it into a weapon. Colors exploded before...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.09 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Climbing stairs, the first thing in the morning, was not Adam's idea of a good start to the day. He'd done it, before, of course: and not just in this world. Back home, in his first apartment, the elevator never worked and he worked overnight at a...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.08 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Eris had to pretend she wasn't worried. They had continued on, southward, as they had agreed. The hills to the west grew larger and more imposing. But Adam was nowhere to be seen. Planning for this early on, the agreement had been they would not try to...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.07 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Caulmal Yar had served on the Astinato for a decade. Starting as an apprentice master-at-arms he had risen to the rank of first mate more quickly than anyone had anticipated. He was a strong and fearless swordsman and, like his rapid ascent among the...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.06 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Adrasta typically avoided the larger islands and, usually did not descend below the level of the cloudlands. The only people who usually saw them were raiders. Sometimes they might brave a smaller cloudland to forage for food but such visitations left...