Being Somewhere

In a distant time, in a distant place, when some rivers had turned to dust and others to blood, when the sky above was overcast and grey, and the nights black and empty of stars, a woman traveled east.

She held no map, carried no compass. No travelers did she meet to help her on her way. The stars could not guide her; only the sun winked, muffled and yellow, through the rolling clouds. Her throat grew dry and her steps tired. Her skin cracked under the heat of the day and chafed under the cold of the night. Death pursued her, and to death she walked.

***

The storyteller's words have finally caught up with her.

The famous rebel Ilya, after years of traveling the desecrated realm of Thorn and telling tales of hope, darkness, and rebellion, has been caught. The tyrant of Thorn corners her, forcing her finally to his castle to meet her death.

The man is every bit as brutal and callous as Ilya had been led to believe. But then the tyrant surprises her. "Tell me a story," he says to her, when she is brought before him. With no other choice, she does.

Trick, a young guardsman, wants to save the storyteller's life. Rosalys, a healer, wants to save the tyrant's soul. As Ilya tells story after story, buying time, the two weave their own schemes to help those they have grown to love.

But soon it becomes apparent that the tyrant has his own motivations for hearing Ilya's stories-for he believes that in time, with the right spells, he can disappear into them, and leave his old life and destruction behind. Ilya must decide: should the tyrant face the life he created, or should she help his escape and rid the world of its most terrible man?

The answer will be found only in her stories.

The Tyrant of Thorn is a collection of stories woven into a larger narrative. Each features a shadowy tale of mystery and suspense set in another world, with a dark hint of magic. Over a dozen short stories and poems are contained within, including:

SHORT STORIES:

The Interview
The Initiate
The Master of Morshire
A Most Glorious and Deadly Surprise
Vana Villedeval
The Pilot
Golgotha
Ross and Denny
Annus Mirabilis
Lily Ethera
Murder in the Library of the Humanities

POEMS:

And Why Should You Settle?
A Creature of Old
Return of the Traveler
Home
Copper Veins and Hardened Walls
Bright is the Dawn That Never Comes
He Comes Bearing Gifts
I, Believe?