Darklaw Saga #1: A young woman unaware of her own destiny confronts the outlaw who once ruled the world. — Avestine sat alone preparing to smoke a pipe. She liked village festivals because they always promised tobacco and sex. “Drunken festivals and who cares about the rest of the world?” said Kami, emerging from a cluster of trees. “This is how you live now?” Avestine flipped her queue of blonde…

Darklaw Saga #2: Kami has a deep connection to the Wild. Avestine has a deep connection to Kami… — The old man flipped over a railing and crumpled with a grunt. Reeking of whiskey, the commander studied his handiwork. He propped his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword. His leather cuirass hung unbuckled. As he glanced at on-lookers huddled against the shop walls, his stare came to…

Darklaw Saga #3: The world was terrible, and Kami was learning it belonged to Arujan… — Avestine’s hand spread across the map on the table, as if with one hand she might subdue all she touched. She wore the black tunic of Avjakar’s military elite. Wings embroidered in gold thread spread across her shoulders. King Eldon Severesh smoothed his lavender tunic. …

Darklaw Saga #4: Rook begins Kami’s Essanti training, and amid brutality, a god is born… — Continued from here… “What does Gerard say?” asked Kami as she sat with Avestine at dinner. “Does he know he’s trapped here?” “He’s practical.” Avestine released her queue of blonde hair, dropping the leather tie to the table. “And ambitious. He wants to stop Darklaw.” “But you don’t. …

Darklaw Saga #5: Avestine seeks distractions as she endures a loss and a kingdom under threat. — Continued from here… Avestine sat in the courtyard of the palace, looking across to the tree-covered ridge beyond the city. Her warmaster, Gerard, sat nearby, his dark visage appraising her. “A well-deserved rest.” “Not likely. The forest is ripe with spies and renegades.” She finished her whiskey and stared at…

Darklaw Saga #6: Strength a means. Life a debt. Future a god. — Continued from here… Kami stood at the top of the stairway. The temple’s ceiling vaulted so high it was lost to darkness. She struggled against guards as they forced her down each step. Her heart pounded until the strain cried for release. …

Darklaw Saga #7: There was nothing better in all the world than a needy Kami. — Continued from here… When Kami entered Featherwood, the years had thinned the scent of death. She recalled how one pile of burnt wood had been a store and another, a stable. The blacksmith’s forge sat like a sentry over a scattered field of debris. In heaps at the edge of…

Darklaw Saga #8: Love is just an apparition. Lust is the only reality. — Kami used to think home was where she was raised. She still felt at home in the forest with its chaos of rapacious mouths and millions of pulsing hearts. But mostly, home was wherever Avestine was. Kami was living in Ureth Mourning because that’s where Avestine was, but a city…

Darklaw Saga #9: Amilese’s life at court had taught her a great deal about the pursuits of the powerful. — Rook approached Avestine as she picked up a spear and tossed it at the target forty yards away. It struck the edge of a leather bag and skimmed into the dirt. Rook waited as Avestine finished off a decade of spears and ended her morning training. She dismissed her aide…

Darklaw Saga #10: Avestine will never forget the lesson about love that her father cut into her thighs. — Click here for more about the world of Darklaw Life wasn’t enough for Avestine. Kami knew Avestine would never accept losing her kingdom. That was the difference between beasts and men, between Kami and the woman she loved. Just being alive wasn’t nearly enough to make that life worthwhile. …

Darklaw Saga #11: The Darklord emerges. — The air remained saturated after the brief rain. It was the first mating flight of the year, and flying ants from every nest swarmed together to follow the new queens that emerged. Kami watched the swarm, the males so numerous she couldn’t find a queen. She inserted herself into the…

Darklaw Saga #12: Gods can’t hide. — Avestine stood looking out across the bay from the castle’s highest floor. King Jarreden had been deposed the day before and retreated to The Breakland. She leaned forward, her hands supporting her weight on the marble windowsill. She found a lot to like in Fivefold Woke. The city had been…

Darklaw Saga #13: Never underestimate Avestine. — Dark Quarter, a forest near Sahrdon, capitol of the Empire of Darklaw. Avestine tucked a strand of blonde hair under her fur-trimmed hood and dropped from her snowy perch. Rook was staring at her. “Don’t underestimate what I’ll do,” she said. Rook laughed, white teeth flashing from the shadows of…