A Patient Death 24: Gift Horse
**~ Chapter 24: Gift Horse ~** Roland stood on the edge of the overlook, cloak wrapped around himself. The wind buffeted his side, but he paid it no heed. Below them, Niverron burned for the second time this year. The bait had worked, in fact it had...
A Patient Death 23: King of the Mad
**~ Chapter 23: King of the Mad ~** Roland swallowed tightly, shivering into his fur-lined coat. "You alright, m'lord?" One of his guards, a stout orange fox, asked him, shifting in place. "Fine, fine." Roland replied. "Let's get this over with."...
A Patient Death 21: Everyone Talks
**~ Chapter 21: Everyone Talks ~** Erasmus sat next to the bed, watching Breeze. He didn't know what to think. Three weeks locked in this room, with the only company besides Fenton the local weirmother, who occasionally visited to scold Breeze and...
A Patient Death 20: Wicked Hearts
**~ Chapter 20: Wicked Hearts ~** Roland sighed, undoing the buttons on his jacket as he slid it from his shoulders. He licked his lips, tasting the dryness in his mouth and wondering if it were worth weathering Fantine's scorn for a nightcap. He...
A Patient Death 26: Love and War
**~ Chapter 26: Love and War ~** _Nurjan is upon us._That's what the missives said, when Niverron first fell to Astmoor. A devastating blow for the war effort, one of the Emperor's greatest victories in the hundred. _What do they think now?_ Roland...
A Patient Death 25: Deliverance
**~ Chapter 25: Deliverance ~** Estrion's farm was quiet in the night. Breeze, Erasmus, and Fenton watched it from a distance, their paws resting gently on their weapons. "I don't see many guards." Breeze mumbled. "I count four outside," Fenton...
A Patient Death: Epilogue
**~ Epilogue ~** _Two Years Later._ Breeze crept into the quiet hall, the torches dim, his knee throbbing distantly. The leg mostly worked as normal now, although the cold tundra of the north sent aching spikes through the joint intermittently. His...
A Patient Death 27: The Predator Strait
**~ Chapter 27: The Predator Strait ~** Something was wrong in Lurren, Erasmus could feel it. To his soothers' senses, it felt like bitterness and despair wafting above them, collecting like smoke in a house. He and Breeze walked, Fenton a few feet...
Belly of the Beast
**Belly of the Beast** Conrad stared out at the open sea, running a sea-soaked paw over the top of his head, finding the view of the far horizon soothing to his addled mind. The water was frigid to the touch, but now he had fully submerged himself...
What You Deserve
**Slave Brand | Prologue** ** ** The throne room was stained red with blood. King Hulrich Tevarian stood firm, studying the seven corpses that lay at his feet, two of which were his own royal guards. His composure was strong and determined, his...
Left Behind
**Chapter Six: Left Behind** The jackal called Walter Randor strode through the streets of the Tevarian city with his head held high. He knew most of the noble and merchant class looked down on him, but he didn't care. He was Slave Master of this...
The Weakest Link
**Chapter Five: The Weakest Link** Rain made the days even more miserable. Bailey had assumed that working under a hot sun was the worst possible condition, but apparently, he had been wrong. Whilst it was true that the sun burned your back, dried...