Changeling: The Faerie Lights
Changeling
Part 1: The Faerie Lights
A free serial short by Erin Zarro
It happened the summer I turned seventeen. My family and I loved camping, and took several trips throughout the season. There was something about getting away from everything, being close to nature. Sometimes the hustle-bustle of life got to me.
My younger sister, Jane, especially enjoyed bonfires. She was autistic, and did not speak. But her face would light up like another sun whenever we made a bonfire. Her hands would reach toward the amber flames as if she wanted to capture them. It made me happy to see her engaging with her environment.
On the day it happened, I was alone. I sat in my camp chair and watched the campground. Kids running and playing. Dogs barking. The smell of someone grilling. The smell of other campers' bonfires, so unique, that it took me back to simpler days. Simpler years.
Flame Isfree and the Feather of Fate II
Once wild magic shattered human civilization. Mage-built cities collapsed, spell-sped galleons sank, airships fell from the skies. Magic-born chimerae turned on their creators, and then their neighbors. The peoples of Awrhee fell into barbarism.
But that was generations ago. Humanity has scraped together kingdoms again, and learned to live without magic. Those who practice spellcraft are eyed with suspicion, as are the old ways, and the old places.
Some, however, seek treasure in the ruins of what was. Knowledge, gold, power—it’s out there. Treasure untold for anyone clever enough to find it, bold enough to take it, fast enough to get away with it.
It’s out there, in the Spell-Wracked Lands.
Flame Isfree and the Feather of Fate II
A Serial Story by KD Sarge
Flame heard the footsteps approaching in her sleep, but she knew them and also she was warm and cozy, so she only wandered towards consciousness. Then she heard the sword ring as it was drawn.
With her leather-clad arm Flame knocked the sword-point away from Ryahled's throat as he lay blinking at the silhouette over them. Idiot Bran! Thank Luck she'd drugged Ryahled last night when he wouldn't stop talking. Had she not, Bran would be dead and Tolor furious.
Idiot ranger had needed to sleep, not talk.
“What the hell is this?” Bran demanded, the sword blade coming back.
Flame Isfree and the Feather of Fate I
Once wild magic shattered human civilization. Mage-built cities collapsed, spell-sped galleons sank, airships fell from the skies. Magic-born chimerae turned on their creators, and then their neighbors. The peoples of Awrhee fell into barbarism.
But that was generations ago. Humanity has scraped together kingdoms again, and learned to live without magic. Those who practice spellcraft are eyed with suspicion, as are the old ways, and the old places.
Some, however, seek treasure in the ruins of what was. Knowledge, gold, power—it’s out there. Treasure untold for anyone clever enough to find it, bold enough to take it, fast enough to get away with it.
It’s out there, in the Spell-Wracked Lands.
Flame Isfree and the Feather of Fate
A Serial Story by KD Sarge
Flame lay along a slender limb, high enough that the still-thick autumn foliage hid her from below. Not, she reflected, that any of the fools ever looked up. She stretched, and smirked as her movements made not a sound. Leather as soft as spring moss cost more than the cow who wore it first, but a treasure hunter in the forest got her money's worth.
Another group was coming. Flame could hear them blundering maybe thirty yards away. A fighter in chain mail led them—that, or someone jingling coins.
She should be so lucky.
Chain mail, she thought, tilting her head to focus an ear. Chain mail on a horse. Leading four others walking, humans by the sound. Three mules also, or maybe ponies. Probably mules. Pack animals, since they brought up the rear of the party. Heavily laden, by their slow walk.
Flame considered. Might be something useful on the pack animals. The last one would probably be a ways behind the rest of the party, and the fools probably looked back about as often as they looked up.
But no. It had been a rewarding day already, so much that without her pack to load Flame had all she could carry and stay silent. Whatever instinct had brought her into the woods this day had been a good one, but it was time to say enough.
Besides, if Lady Luck finally turned on her and she had to call for help, Tolor would be angry. That didn’t bother Flame, but he might be angry enough to send her away. That mattered. They quested for treasure, and Flame meant to have her share.
Not that the party stood a virgin’s chance in the abyss of finding any without her.
Still, Flame had tried the priest’s patience enough of late. She should save some for an emergency.
In that case, she should go before she risked discovery. Flame was in the next tree before she’d finished the thought. If Tolor only knew the concessions she’d made—
“Damned elf!”
A Bargain Beyond
A Bargain Beyond
a free short story by Kit Campbell
They told us to never go into the forest. They said that was where the wild ones lived, creatures who had once been like us, but who had abandoned civilization to seek power no mortal was ever supposed to have. It had driven them mad.
But sometimes the danger you have been warned against your entire life is preferable to the danger staring you in the face. Probable death is always more attractive than certain death.
As I left the burning remains of my village behind me, I could hear the hammering of hooves in my wake. We’d tried to defend ourselves, to make a stand, but we’d been quickly overrun.
The pounding grew louder as I fled. I plunged into the trees, not heeding the foliage tugging at my clothes. I still carried my sword in one hand, but it hung uselessly by my side. I ran on, not caring where I was going, only following the instinct to get away.
After a long time, the sounds of pursuit faded. I stopped, panting, doubling over from lack of breath. I straightened, taking in my surroundings. And that was when I saw her.
