"Skylands: The Third Gate" chapter 1 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Skylands: The Third Gate, chapter 01©2015 Sylvan ScottAches and pains were six years gone, now. Provided the landscape of his life was not a tapestry rewoven by insanity and delusion, Adam hadn't felt this good in ages. Physically, he never could have...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" chapter 3 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Every city, every town and village, bore within its heart a dark spot. Perspective taught that such darkness usually existed within the divide between the wealthy and the poor. Fights, cheap alcohol, baser culture, drugs, sickness, and the sale of...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" chapter 2 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
"Newcomers: ya jus' can't trust 'em." The drunken priest slammed his clay mug down so hard, several others at the bar jumped. "Them's an' their ... their heretical, so-called 'gods'! I don't see why the Commons has such a love affair with 'em." His...
"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...
"Skylands: The Third Gate" ch.05 (NaNoWriMo 2015)
Just over a week was the actual travel time but it felt like thirty days. Dorath was small for a duskland but large for a day- or cloudland. The enchanted ores keeping it afloat had been fading for centuries. It and its sister island, Carath, had...
"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...