The woman came to Gingloa at the head of an army, riding atop a gergedat under the banner of House Agares. Though the majority of the army remained outside the city to set up camp, the message was clear: whatever the woman was here for, they would be wise not to deny her. As she rode down the central street accompanied by a retinue of mounted soldiers, the people stopped to watch her pass. Whoever she was, she was very wealthy. She wore a hauberk of steel maille over a knee-length crimson aketon, and over that her armor was thick scales of gilt steel worked in the shape of feathers. Pinned to her shoulders was a cloak of crimson silk. Her pointed helm with its long nasal guard was steel, and at its peak were fastened three red feathers of command. A fringe of steel scales hung from her helm to cover her face and neck, but as she looked across the upturned faces of the townsfolk they could see she had the olive skin and dusky eyes of the Garanic tribes of the central Markheb. Her mount was similarly attired; the Zuniceratops was caparisoned in red silk, with its horns and snout sheathed in steel and its rounded frill draped in scales of bronze. Behind her rode her standard bearer, and from his ornate staff hung a crimson gonfalon with a man riding a crocodile with a bird of prey perched upon his fist.
Continue reading “[Fiction] The Messenger”Month: June 2023
[Fiction] The Women With Tattooed Faces
It was generally agreed upon that the women of the Isani had a certain alien quality about them. What was it about them that lent them such an air of unsettling irresistibility? Some argued that their eyes were to blame; for indeed the Isani had somewhat larger eyes in proportion with their heads than the plains-dwelling peoples. An inevitability when one comes from a race who has spent thousands of years in a sun-starved greenhouse, living and dying for centuries upon centuries beneath the endless canopy of the vast equatorial rainforest that blocked all but the weakest tendrils of natural light. When combined with their alabaster complexions and coal black hair the effect could be startling to the uninitiated.
Continue reading “[Fiction] The Women With Tattooed Faces”[Fiction] The Lek
The sun shone fiercely in a dull blue sky, beating mercilessly down upon the vast network of deciduous forests and swamplands that nestled at the northern feet of the Sailback Mountains. Fed by a near-constant stream of glacial meltwater from the looming mountains, the Inzoki Marshes were able to stay relatively green and well-watered even during the height of Gondolend’s dry season; now, as the rainy season was getting underway, they were consumed with riotous verdure, drawing great herds of plant-eating dinosaurs to feed and mate. It was a dangerous time of year. Driven into a frenzy by their hormones, young bulls of many species were eager to vent their frustrations on anything they could find, and preoccupied with the primordial urge to continue their genetic legacy they become easy pickings for any predator with the patience to wait for an unguarded moment. Many bachelors would not live to see the start of the dry season.
Continue reading “[Fiction] The Lek”
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