Softly creaks the weighted boughToes that shake like leavesThat seek communion with solid groundNot the mortuary of trees The night hung like a dark cloak, the mist its damp companion.  The muddy trail to the great cedar tree snaking in the pallid moonlight like the tracks of a glistening beast.  It was no time to be out, well past now the hour of gentlemanly tasks.  … Continue reading “Gallows Hand” by Claire Loader

A cherry-wood wardrobe, wet and rotting. A silver-rimmed mirror with a single crack, jagged as a lightning strike. A ruby-encrusted jewelry box, a moldy velvet pillow, a porcelain figurine of a horse half-submerged in mud. All gifts to placate the beast of the swamp, the ravenous Goyle. Sylvia reminded herself that the beast had not risen from its abode since the town started leaving their … Continue reading “The Goyle and the Rogue” by Alexandra Grunberg