Recent content by Elizabeth Auclair

He had presented her with a daunting moral quandary she felt ill-prepared to handle now that she resembled a mop. He sounded mad, in truth, evidently driven by some superstition. Elizabeth had no love of the gods, for they had only brought her and her people suffering. Whatever gods there were...

As Erin finished speaking, thunder rumbled in the distance, as Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Sweltering. Right," she said, tugging her soaked braid free as her still-damp hair clung to her skin. "Would that I could feel temperature as you do. Regardless..." She looked him in the eye for...

The rest of the townsfolk had been beaten into submission, it seemed, their backs broken by the doubtless ruthless work of the bandits. Too many men made into mice, too many women made into mothers against their wills—this was the blood price those too weak to defend themselves had to pay. The...

There was a particular indignity Elizabeth felt at the fact that the bartender of all people would suddenly come to her aid, with a loaded crossbow she suspected (at least, judging by his trembling hands) was just as likely to hit her as it was to hit the man he was actually aiming at. That only...

Elizabeth did her best to ignore the man next to her, the corner of her mouth twitching as he suddenly began laughing to himself. She'd met many a braggart in the service of her fallen king, and had little taste for them, especially among commoners—which she now was, a fact which she lamented...

The weather looked like it would be fine, for now. On the edge of a forest, an embankment of grass meandered into a nearly-still pond dotted with cattails and the occasional bit of algae. The sun peered through a slightly overcast sky, warming and illuminating the area as a long-haired brunette...

She took a moment to ponder what the stranger was saying, her eyes still fixated on the tragically broken figure of her former king. In truth, he was right—she was far from the sole survivor of the affair, with the royal guard likely being the only thing she was the sole survivor of. She still...

Elizabeth had hardly heard the footsteps of the stranger as he approached, or if she did, she had ignored them as she wept, clutching the body of her beloved king. Perhaps it was a scavenger, or a soldier, who was going to finish the job by slaying her as well. And in the moment, that didn't...

When Elizabeth awoke, the world was dark. It took her a few moments to realize she was presently face-first in freshly-trampled soil, at which she slowly raised her head, rolling onto her back and wiping some of the dirt and blood off her face with her gloved hand before really opening her eyes...