The Order of St. Heinrich controls their Inquisitors with a clever combination of dogma and magic. The dogma is part of their training, good old-fashioned indoctrination and programming which I gathered started pretty early in their lives. The magic comes in the form of an artifact that gets tattooed right into their skin. Being made a part of their body, with their cooperation, allowed the artifact to bypass their innate resistance to magic. Continue reading →

The thing about sharing head space with the shadow is that she never stops. She doesn’t do anything that even resembles sleep. She doesn’t even do anything like rest. She’s in constant motion, like a shark swimming round and round so … Continue reading →

The music was so loud I could feel it rattling my fillings, a synthesized techno beat with a bass line that shook the floor and vibrated through the walls. Some overly auto-tuned gal was moaning along while colored lights strobed … Continue reading →

Irish studied Honey and Grace with narrow eyes for a moment before turning to Jean-Luc. “So you’d be the new Knight I heard about, then. Unless they’ve replaced the healer, too.”

“Yes, and I wouldn’t know. I’ve only been in town four hours.” Jean-Luc paused, frowned, and glanced back at Irish. “I’m surprised you heard about me at all,” he said, giving Irish an appraising look. “Monsieur Feist stressed to me that he was keeping the change of guard quiet. I gathered after all the…” he glanced at Grace, just now stepping back from Honey, “recent trouble, he didn’t want the populace any further unsettled. Who are you, then, that you are so very well informed?” Continue reading →