Charlotte slipped between an oak and a large holly bush and started down the winding track. She kept catching glimpses of something interesting at the other end, not far away, just a few minutes. The question was, which would come first, her intriguing destination, or Elsie’s screeching fit when she realised Charlotte wasn’t where she …
Eleanor set her shoulders. She could do this, she was good at learning, very good, much better than some smug village girl who was only here to try and beat her, if Eleanor left, Maggie would probably lose two helpers, not just one. Maggie’s eyes looked through her again, but all she said was. “And …
The carriage had been built to impress pedestrians on the close-cobbled city streets of Stormhaven, and while it had rolled along well enough on the smooth, flat highway between there and Market Middling, it was a heavy pull indeed on the uneven, upward-sloping road towards Snowreach. They’d been plodding along the road since just after …
Life has been blessedly quiet after the nightshade episode. School is back and the new little coven has been introduced to a few other witches in the area as potential apprentices. There’s no way I could take all of them on, I barely cope with Sarah and Ben. Even sour-sauce Emma has a mentor in …
When Cadan announced, during dinner, that he would be staying in the village the following day, Matthew looked worried. “Not that I’m quibbling, lad, your wife is important, but someone needs to get word to the castle about fixing their road before this rain washes a new river straight through it. Ingrid’s already said you …
Yes, I know that was not a helpful place to leave things, but I had an interruption. It’s all taken care of now, so I can resume. We set off about fifteen minutes later, the girls finished their tea and cake while I pulled together a few odds and ends that might come in useful …
String, string, where was the damn string when you needed it? I dug through the drawer under my planting table, I knew I had some in here somewhere. Or, wait, did I run out of it when I was tying up the tomato plants? Damn! Why hadn’t I added it to the shopping list? And …
Sarah was knitting by the fire when Eleanor let herself in. “No wool?” Eleanor’s explanation ended up as a full recitation of the afternoon’s events and Sarah chuckled. “She’s a wily one, is Maggie, and I’ll do you a trade. Make up that pillowcase of yours into an apron for me, and I’ll give you …
The walls of Glasslight Palace were transparent, only the tracery of frosted vines winding across their surface kept people from running into them. They looked like fine crystal, or ice, about to melt into nothing in the morning sun. They were neither fine, nor fragile, the substance harder than diamond, able to absorb any attack, …
Glasslight Palace was the wonder of the most wondrous city in the known world, and Sera hated it. A prison was still a prison, even when it was built of spun glass and miracles and filled with beauty, and music, and the most vicious, snake-tongued court this side of the Cataclysm. Sera assumed the bland, …
The DNA of Stories 