The Cycle
# The Cycle Someone was parked in the apartment's assigned parking spot when Tricia came home. It wasn't her mother's car; her mother didn't own one, couldn't afford one. It was a fifty-fifty guess as to whether the car belonged to someone who just...
Give Them Eyes to See
# Give Them Eyes to See The setting sun cast long shadows through the garden, painting the ground in alternating bars of black and gold. Here the priests mostly tended to decorative flowers, though a few patches of land around the side of the...
The Five Guides
**The Five Guides** _The heart's whisper cries more loudly than the shouting of tongues._ **Historical Background** The first prophet and exemplar of the Great Dragon's teachings--and later the first emir exerting formal, temporal political power...
The Pact
# The Pact The Valley of Bones was an apt, if unimaginative name. The valley floor was littered with them from one tall escarpment to the other: old and new, whole and cracked, from isolated fragments from indistinct species to entire intact skeletons...
The Free Company - III
# The Free Company ## III A sudden jolt shook Nika awake. Where was she? She bolted upright with a sharp breath, hands grasping blindly about her and closing around cool metal tubes. A cot. Dim red light, scarcely enough to make out more than general...
The Free Company - II
# The Free Company ## II There was little traffic, this late at night, and the pair made good speed. The pleasure-house in which she had spent most of her life was located in one of the city's wealthiest districts, close to its preferred...
The Free Company - I
# The Free Company ## I The knock came sooner than expected. Nika's brush paused mid-stroke as she glanced across her room at the door. Tarek had told her already that an important client was coming this evening, but it was far too early for that;...