A Silvergate story (Chapter 11/11) - Dreams
-- How do you plan to rule? I talked slowly. I gazed at the Outsider. I desired a real answer. The reptile became quiet. His arousing touches persisted. The hand that abandoned my collar began to squeeze my nipples. The tremors in my rigid sex...
A Silvergate story (Chapter 4/11) - Loyalty
The Outsider walked away toward his throne, and I remained, sullied, in the center of the room. Minutes later, a servant began to invite Southern lords, one by one, to swear homage to their new king. They came in from the entrance hall, richly dressed,...
A Silvergate story (Chapter 2/11) - Coronation
It took a few minutes to kick in. The situation, I mean. I really, _really_have to make you understand. Thus far, the entire chain of events since the duel had been too fast, too strange to sink in. In a way, it might have been meaningless, like an...
Travelers in the dark
The four of us traveled together along the sunlit roads from Cierra, in the easternmost province of the kingdom, near what the ancients called the Highlands, all the way to the northwestern border to the Lowlands. My squire, Edan, and Markel, the...
Granite and weak forces
Edan was a dreadful squire. There was no way around it: he was a hindrance. The stout, short-furred canine looked at me with his usual puzzled air, as he held the reins for both of our mounts. The young stable boy who was waiting on us appeared...
Hinterland
It was a long, winding path of beaten earth, twisting around and between the grassy hills that rose beyond the immensity of the plains enclosing the capital city. Behind me, I couldn't see the walls, but a tiny little speck of the Quiet Palace's...
All in
The old sunblasted walls rose soullessly from the sands in the rosy light of dawn. The impressive, but slowly crumbling arcades lead to complex sets of stairs and passageways, which would soon allow rich and poor alike to quickly find seating in their...
Eight seconds flat (2/2)
Seec offered a subtle, but genuine grin. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. -- My loincloth. -- Oh. Sure. Ayyal crouched to one knee, and worked to lift the thick vestment back up to Seec's waist. He had undressed him. As it turned out, the...
Eight seconds flat (1/2)
Ayyal inched forward through the long, yellowing grass. The cheetah's slender body easily dodged the dry branches and the barely visible rocks that might have tripped him. He crawled low, silent in his flawless focus. From his vantage point on top of...
A Silvergate story (Chapter 1/11) - Duel
There wasn't any wind at all. No breeze gently held aloft the banners on the fortified walls, and the flags atop the city's towers. No gust howled mysteriously through the alleyways between the tall, serious buildings of the capital. Nature refused to...
Blood and red paint
Cold water poured from the sky. Violent gusts slapped waves after waves of thick rain into our clothes and fur. Our boots sank into the muddy road, making every step tiresome. Under Markel's advice, we'd abandoned our mounts at the final Southern...
Black and Gold
The ragged predators squirmed on their knees, despite the chains binding them to each other in a line, and to both walls. The disturbing and unholy chanting of the crimson hooded figures of this insane rabbit cult mounted into a crescendo. Some of the...