BETWEEN BATTLES, by Mary Soon Lee A gentle waking, the patter of rain on the tent, six of his guards asleep around him in the darkness, King Xau’s thoughts rising from a dream of Shazia, his first wife.   One quiet moment holding Shazia’s memory before Xau sat up, before Feng, standing guard, signed that […]

UNSEEN WARRIOR, by Marlane Quade Cook   Unseen She clutches her un-named weapon close Her gaze to the grim sky, frost-sleeted from dawn to twilight. Crouching, resting, unseen in the shadows unseen though she should stand and call upon herself the wrath of an army’s horde. Unseen, unknown Warrior woman, she calls herself. Warrior-maiden until […]

THREADS OF GOLD, by Adele Gardner     Ariadne, robed in threads of gold, picks at her hem while in her father’s court. Unnoted, gold pools at her feet, a glittering stain speckled with blood as she tears her fingers on metal mesh. Each year it’s the same: young men who argue, arrogant, believing their […]

WHEN THE LEGIONS WENT, by David Barber   Outside, the wolf-howl and the dark. Around the fire Old Alba tells the tale of how he got this very blade from the last of the Rome-men in the days of his youth,   when the ancient foe was rumoured gone, which his father – a man […]

THE NECROMANCER, by Ngo Binh Anh Khoa     The sun was lost in arrows pouring down As raucous cannons boomed incessantly, Barbaric cries would far and wide resound Amid the field drowned in a blazing sea. Fast rained hell-fires, rose repellent smoke; Fierce roars like savage thunders rent the air; Strained voices, joined in […]