The crowd stood around the debris in shocked silence. Splinters of the timber walls littered the ground like pine needles on a winter forest floor. Shards of iron, too, lay scattered in the ruin. Continue reading →

“I’m just saying it’s not like you,” Isaac said.

“Leave it.”

“You’ve never taken someone in without cause.”

Gerard looked at the soft poet with hard eyes. “I told you, I had reason.”
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The barracks of Fort Blakely were damp and quiet, the sort of tucked-away environment that was Garridan’s natural habitat. He liked quiet. Quiet was the medium in which he worked. He moved quietly. He lived quietly. Continue reading →