MaerBear

Billing is Officially Paused

Just want to update you all that I went ahead and paused billing until September 21. If I still need more time I'll send out another update then and pause billing for another month.

Chapter 60: Blood

“C’mon Mako, we’re going to be late.” Asana transferred the bag of groceries to one arm so she could pull him along.

“But why don’t we just stay on the road? Mom says the alleys a...

Chapter 59: The Journey Home

Ren walked the walls of Fort Katagari, hugging his cloak tight against the morning chill of the mountains. In the distant west the stone walls of the pass softened and gave way to a plateau dominat...

Chapter 58: Questions, Questions

They walked until they couldn’t anymore and made camp well away from the road. Dried meats and flat bread were passed around the fire and Ren was plied with questions about what happen...

Chapter 57: Student of Foxes

Light bloomed behind Gunney’s eyelids, tearing him from the soft embrace of sleep. And he woke to a nightmare.

The revolting, sweet, blood and shit scent of death assaulted him before he ev...

Chapter 56: A Meeting of Hunters

Instincts told him there were more, and they’d be coming soon enough. Better if he could get the jump on them.

Ren sat where he could see the cave opening, a black hole that called to him. ...

CHAPTER 55: Monster in the Night

Kill them all. Make them pay.

He intended to.

Ren honored both Fox and Shadow in his preparation, and it was a dark, dead-moon night by the time he was finished. 2023-08-07 17:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post

CHAPTER 54: The Gift of Legacy

Ren wasn’t sure how long he lay there under the cooling, bleeding body. It wasn’t until he realized his breathing was the only sound he heard that he finally moved, pushing off the stiff corpse...

Chapter 53: No Good Choices

Commander Narwalla stalked the perimeter of camp, along the outer circle of tents and wagons tucked between trees atop of their little rise in the forest. Hidden as best they could man...

Chapter 52: Mistake

One-Eye Sal watched as the barges that had been towed up the rivers from Katarn were unloaded into heavy wagons bearing the shining mark of Golden Fang Trading Co.

This shipment ...

Chapter 51: Home is Never True to Memory

The tracking parties all returned to the complex with similar tales. There was no sign of where the workers and overseers had been taken.

After a day of scouring the forest and f...

Chapter 50: Farming Complex 34B

Ren returned to life in the company as usual, and it appeared Gunney had been right. Even when he’d passed Kareem on his way to fill his bowl for dinner one night, after a tense mome...

Chapter 49: Lieutenant Kareem

The past was the past, and Ren wasn’t going to let the bad blood that had previously flowed between him and Kareem Gutari guide his present. Or so he told himself. But Ren kept findi...

Chapter 48: A Turn of Fate

Cloud Company 7 packed up camp with the rising sun, and set out to beat the heat. The calendar said they had two more weeks before the official start of the hot season, but the sun see...

Chapter 47: Cloud Company 7

Some say that the warm months thaw the soul and enable one to let go of past hurts. Ren wasn’t sure about any of that. What he was sure about was that the heat had woken up the bugs,...

Chapter 46: Meanwhile

Osai’s journey took him east. But not  as directly as he would have liked.

Each time he charted his course for the immortal lands the lightning in his body would start to cr...

Chapter 45: Deployment

After his soak at the bathhouse, Ren headed straight to the barracks and sleep took him.

Orders came first thing the next morning in the form of a note delivered by courier. He w...

Chapter 44: Victory of the Meek

The Alpha squared on the Sett-Mother and met her keckering warcry with his own growl.

Then they flashed into motion, gold and brown clashing with red and black. Claws tore and fa...

Chapter 43: The Ambush

The hunting party was large and not as quiet as Ren would have liked. Thirty-six hardened spearmen, one trainee, and six foresters. The latter leading the former in groups of seven–a...

Chapter 42: Silver Fox Meditation

Markens had been unusually quiet in the week since their meeting with Mupali’katana, which was to say, he was silent. The only exception being their meeting with command where he del...

Chapter 41: Interlopers

Two months had passed since he began forester training. The last of the early winter blooms were long gone, making way for pansies, winter jasmine, and snowdrop scilla to bud. Once aga...

Chapter 40: The Law of the Wild

The Silver Fox watches its prey to discover their vulnerabilities. Few predators are foolish enough to hunt it due to its penchant for setting traps.

A creature of d...