EllePepper's profile

Flag Of bones The journey of the Dragon Wynd Chapter 1 Devil’s Cove I stood, facing the setting sun, squinting to blur the sight of the masts of the ships, each scuttled and left to rot with her honored crew aboard her. I was soon to join their number, the so-called unremembered. The seas here were not the bright blue I knew from the Deeps, but rather, dull grey, like quicksilver poured out over the seas. The waters of the cove, and the shallows that surrounded it, were tainted by too many go...

My eyes fell on the slate grey water at my feet. By high tide, shortly after sunset, the platform I was on would be completely submerged, and they would leave us, myself and my crew, for the shallow shades. I could just make out the voices of my pirate kin, raised in defiant song. They sang Hoist the Colors from their ships at anchor around the Cove. That song was the anthem of us ‘Men of Bones,’ and a way to further taunt the Empire. The Empire wouldn’t chase after them since most of the men...

Honor Among Thieves As I sat there, silent, in the passenger seat of the car I usually drove, I knew what Tessio must have felt on his last, long ride. In a situation like this, even a five-minute ride was long. The man beside me, trusted compatriot, and executioner didn’t speak. His mind was probably full of many of the same thoughts mine was. *How the fuck did it come to this?* I mulled that over for a moment. I had to be truthful with myself. I had been greedy. I had tried to take what was...

Chapter “No!” The reprimand was immediate, searing, stabbing, burning pain behind the boy’s eyes threatened to send him crashing to the floor. “Recant the line.” “No.” There was a little less force, but the Reprimand still tried to throw the boy to his knees. “I will not.” “Either say the line or recant 23.” Williams didn’t approach the young boy who was now fighting not just for his own mind and will, but for every gasp of air that he took. The pain threatened to steal the air from his lungs...

The Shedda who had sworn themselves to him rarely left his side after that. When they left the ship for supplies or any other reason, Mika was always to be found buried behind at least half a dozen of the Shedda, whether they could be seen or not. It wasn’t uncommon for them to get his attention and stand just outside of human sight, poised for battle. And more than once, they had been forced to step out of the sands, grab the boy, and return to the path before the assassin could strike. By t...