EdgarFig

7. Punishment

“You did this,” Erin exhaled as she aimed the crossbow. 

“Erin?”

Jumping, her finger slipped. The bolt shot free and was lost into the darkness of the waning day. A second ...

6. Tensions

“You’re telling me not a single person knows who did this?” Mark said, looking down at the bandaged boy in the bed. 

“We can ask him when he wakes up—if he wakes up,” Mira sa...

5. Trading

Henric led Mark through the night-shrouded fort, their path dimly lit by the lantern the arms master held.

Taunting chants filled the air, and at the rear of the cabins, they found the crowd ...

4. Cripple

A knock shook the cabin door.

“Are you decent?”

Silence followed.

“Dober?”

“Yes,” came a weak reply.

The door swung open, pushed out by Erin’s behind as ...

3. Stockpile

Watching from a raised section of the clearing, Mark eyed the acolytes as Henric ordered them to work. Using ropes and pulleys, they hoisted the prepared logs up into a trench they had dug. Stakes ...

2. Walls

Come on, don’t make a fool of yourself. Mark aimed his palm at a fifteen-meter-tall oak.

His understanding of the imperator suit was that it read his neural pulses somehow. Still, ...

1. Awakening

A snarling growl awoke Mark from his dreams of burning settlements. In the dreams, armies of bestial warriors had been marching through burning wreckage—carrying severed heads by their matted hai...