Most of the audience cleared out after the lights came back up. Tommie collected her notes and laptop, watching them go. One person, however, was making her way to the stage. She had both hands in the pockets of her khaki pants as she sauntered over.
“Doctor Leismore,” the woman said, with a nod of her head. “Would you mind if I asked you a few questions? About your talk?”
Read More Isle of the Fairy RingA baby girl was born to the king and queen. Their first child. Many visitors came to the castle to see the newborn heir. Among them was an elven traveler who went by the name of Fall. All the visitors brought gifts, most for the baby, but some for the king or queen. Some gifts were humble. Some were precious. The elven traveler brought a gift so precious that he asked to see the king in private so that he may deliver the gift.
The king, whose named was Midian, granted this audience, for the best gifts that had so far been received were from the faery folk.
Read More King Midian and His Glove of GoldFour High Houses ruled the great city. All the other houses were left to vie for their favor—whether the lower houses liked it or not. The Ace of the House Pumpkins had been invited to dinner at the House of Clovers.
It was a custom, a tradition of the house, to invite one and only one guest from among the lower houses. And it was a custom for this guest to be the guest of honor at the dinner.
Read More The Ace of PumpkinsClara felt the magic trickle up from the bare skin of her palm. With a cold crackle, the almonds transformed. Seven perfect diamonds. Even in the dim light of fog and cloud, they glittered. Clara sighed as her vigor was drained by the spell.
She looked ahead to the bridge. She had not expected fog. A shape emerged from it.
She held out the handful of diamonds. Enough to pay the toll for the next thousand travelers.
“It is not enough,” the bridge troll said.
Read More Diamond Dreamt of RoseOnce, there was a realm where scholarship was much admired and much desired. A trickster fairy appeared one day and kidnapped the king, leaving behind a riddle that even the youngest child in the castle could solve before sundown. The king’s highest advisor presented the answer. The fairy, being bound by his own promise, had no choice but to return the king. But he tried again, and again was thwarted by the learned and agile minds of the king’s subjects. Yet he tried again…
Read More Only Fools PrevailThe thief was perched in a high window and the investigator stood below.
Both in dark apparel dressed blended completely with their dark surroundings. Or they would have if not for the single source of light that illuminated the entire chamber. That source of light was held in the thief’s hand.
The Flaming Jargonelle.
Read More The Flaming Jargonelle“Tell me of your wanderings,” my sovereign said, as I bowed before them.
“I bring gifts and I bring tidings,” I said. I gestured to the pallet of goods from the land I had recently visited.
“Have you found a worthy place?” my sovereign asked, ignoring my gifts.
I raised my head, but kept my eyes lowered. “Yes, sovereign. Worthy, but…I encountered a great challenge.”
Read More A Realm Without RainContent copy disabled for this page
