Reggy jerked the knife out of the bodyguard's neck, softly lowering the corpse to the ground. He wiped the blade along the poor sap's coat before sheathing it. Wrong place at the wrong time.

The Temple of Ten Thousand Serpents. Just what you'd expect in the middle of a continent full of swamp, right? And of course it's the one I got stuck with. Why isn't there ever a Temple of Ten Thousand Kittens? Or Temple of a Reasonable Number of Non-venomous Reptiles?

Swamps are gross.

This may be something most people are tangentially aware of. “Ooh, bugs.” or “Ick, mud.” or even “Aren't there snakes?” These are not people who have had to spend the better part of a month living in one.

Boots came stomping down the stairs just past what I guessed was sundown. Ten minutes too early. I dropped my furry friend, who ran off with a hiss, and fled behind a stack of boxes. The crew was never off-schedule, even in a tempest such at this. The captain kept a very tight leash on everyone.

“Jarlforder!” called a deep voice. “We know you are here!”

Twelve days. Nothing but watery beer and hard tack scavenged from the hold. Most of it spent cramped up in a box, hidden away beneath a stack I needed to remake every time I came out and went back in. My legs would never forgive me and I'm fairly sure there would be some permanent deformation to my spine.

Still better than what would happen to me if I got caught.

It wasn't until the third day that things got tricky. Chaos was ruling with a pretty soft hand this time around, largely amusing himself by commanding various civic facilities be replaced with candy. Things were a bit sticky, but otherwise uneventful.

Chaos reigned that day. He gets the kingdom for another week  before Order takes back over. As you can imagine, nobody knows what to expect. That's kind of his thing. People always look forward to it for some reason. They say his sister is too boring and predictable.

The people who say this are usually the kind with way too much money and time on their hands.

The sun didn't so much rise the next morning as it came crashing down, splintering into bits on Karen's reluctantly opening eyes. It certainly felt like the shrapnel from something or other was lodged in her temples.

“You are pretty damn amazing,” Wallace said.

“I am aren't I?” Karen replied. “Fifth rank right out of the gate, and me without even a single year at the Academy.”

Just as Julian quietly closed the door to Angel's room, he was startled by the sound of breaking glass from the kitchen. He murmured a quick prayer and walked slowly in. As he suspected, Annette was there. She was on her knees, crying and sweeping at shattered fragments with bloodied hands.

“Why is she mad at us, daddy?” Angel asked.
Julian bent down to look his daughter in the eyes. “She's not mad at you, sweetie,” he said. “Mommy's just going through some tough times right now.”

“Still haven't graduated past brute force,” I said. I tsked a couple times for emphasis. “Masters always said you didn't have the brains for subtlety.” Regaining my feet, I pulled the current from the lamp, now shattered on the floor, and sent it arcing in a feint.

Quick jab to the throat and over the edge. One more guard down. If he was lucky, he'd reorient himself in time to get to shore. But that wasn't my problem. I could lament my dubious ways at a later date. Preferably over a bottle of gin.

Jeff was already headed upstairs, two giggling women in tow, by the time Emily got back. Wanda's grin and wink followed him on his way. That man had such a gift. She was lucky. She briefly considered if they'd want company.

Almost out of wine. Damn, she should have bought that extra case! If only Melissa hadn't brought along her whole crew. She was happy to see them, but RSVP is there for a reason. Three husbands, two wives, and five adult children, all of whom drank like fishes.

“Aloysius!” called the familiar voice of his master. The Grand Magus called Jake by a different name every day. Jake wasn't sure if it was on purpose or just part of the morass that the wizard had in place of his sanity. Long ago, Jake had learned to just answer to anything. To be on the safe side.

Hundreds of passageways. All look the same. Only one leads home. The others... well, Jake had never seen anyone come back from one, anyway. He tried to avoid going any further down them than necessary.

He was just the janitor, after all. No need to go getting overly curious.

John watched as Archie walked out through the airlock-style doors. He lifted a finger and the little owlet stepped obediently on. Soft feathers, warm to the touch. It had a budding personality. John lifted it to face height and stared at is huge eyes. Somewhere in that walnut-sized skull was ticking the engine of a lifetime of work.