March Fiction...
WOLF BANE
By Barbara J. LessAt dawn, Drake sat up in bed holding his nose. Phew! He recognized the faint musk smell. He nudged Maggie.
"Someone must have run over a skunk again."
Maggie groaned and turned over, still sleeping.
VICTORY
By Alan RingleyOdonstray did not have marble towers gilded with gold and embedded with jewels, but rather granite blocks, hewn with peasant sweat, caked with lichen and moss. There were no praising ranks of knights in shining armor hailing cheers of victory. Only the bitter wail of a mountain wind carried the sigh of snow and ice on its breath. Squat towers stood like grave markers, carved with epitaphs of conquering armies. Odonstray held all the warmth of an empty tomb.
THE ROYAL HUNT
By Rex MerchantHe knew of the girl, of course. Last month she had helped the police locate a lost dog by divining its location with a pendulum. They’d found the terrier, barely alive, stuck down a disused drain. At the time she’d made the front page, but he had written a scathing article about people believing in such mumbo jumbo. Now here she was helping him. Strange girl, he conceded to himself.
SOUTHERN SUN
By Bruce S. LarsonBefore the upheavals, this shard of civilization once connected to the rest of the world. Crumbled streets ended at the sharp edges of the plateau. The surrounding land below became an expanding waste. The top had became a near paradise with hard work.
It was peaceful.
It was prison if your imagination strayed over the distant, true horizon.
