The Lantern Guard
The fine folks over at Fiction on the Web, one of the oldest purveyors of online fiction, have published my short story, The Lantern Guard. It falls within the fantasy (swords, not sorcery) genre, and examines what happens when a king disarms his elite fighting guard after a hard won period of peace, leaving nothing but uncertain futures for the soldiers.
The door yawned – Culverin needed only break free of a handful of men locked in hand-to-hand combat before he’d vanish into the city. Arbalest hesitated, and let instinct take over. His heart calmed, his feet grew light and fleet. The hitching post, seven stairs and standard pole became tools in his hands. Arbalest flowed over them and alighted atop a pedestal, arm circled around the stone stag crowning it for balance.
Culverin and the king emerged from the seething mass, Imes’ face red and pained, Culverin glancing over his shoulder at a pursuit that might never come. Arbalest steeled himself and leapt, air rushing through his hair and salty beard, heart swelling in the moment before impact.