“This isn’t real,” The reaper queen whispered as the skin on her face burned off, enraptured in dark fire. “But it could be, couldn’t it? We could pretend this was real, we could pretend the battle meant something, we could pretend that we are safe here, that we can cling to this moment, this most … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 43)
As her sword tumbled hilt over blade away from her, the Colonel reached into her belt and pulled a final dagger. It gleamed, carved out of exotic metals, a blue sheen to the blade. Then she lunged in, half mad, a snarl on her lips even as blood fouled up the speckles of saliva frothing … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 42)
It wasn’t fast. Most of the students had been hobbled or hurt so they couldn’t run, so it wasn’t an elegant sort of move that brought us there, but rather a hurried procession of limping. Every so often, a soldier would stumble upon us, and the sirens would fall upon him like rain, and he’d … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 41)
Pinion grabbed a great branch from the forest, set it on fire with a torch gathered from her troops, still churning smoke into the air, and then, without a command, the other sirens did the same until they were lit up by smoke and tar and cinders, and then they came down on the human … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 40)
Ten minutes crept by, and the evening stars were starting to bloom on the far horizon, escaping the gaze of the sun behind the mountain. Air crept down into the tunnel, fresh, and then we were free, emerging into a cave with a massive skylight. Harley crept forward, and then, with her muscles bulging, and … Read moreSong of The Venturing Owl (Part 39)