Enoa made sure she still had the electric stun device Orson had lent her. Then she retrieved the film projector and the selection of clips she and Orson planned to show the crowd. She plugged the projector into the industrial length extension cord Orson had left for her. Then she plugged the extension cord into …
All locals in sight of the loading door recognized Enoa Cloud when they saw her illuminated by the headlights. Many of the travelers knew her too. Some had known her since she was a small girl. Many of the townspeople also recognized the man who had arrived with her. He wore a long coat and …
The Liberty Corps had bound Kelly Webster’s wrists. They had forced a black hood down over her head. A strong hand gripped her upper arm and led her somewhere, somewhere loud, somewhere with lots of voices. “Did you think you could come here without me knowing?” Tucker spoke in her left ear, close enough that …
It took over an hour for Sheriff Webster to execute her rescue plan. She had spent a half hour fleeing to her home, using only back alleys and paths. She’d cleaned the wound on her hand. Then she got that hand in a splint and bandages Webster prepared her own personal sidearm. Along with it, …
Sheriff Webster couldn’t remember the last time she’d run away from something. She rarely ran at all, these days. Most of her work was mediation, keeping tempers calm as the wild world closed in around old Nimauk. But occasionally, when the rare traveler or desperate local, driven to crime, led her on a chase – …
“Do you remember the stories I told you, the stories about the old days?” Sucora Cloud sat against the edge of her desk. “For a hundred lifetimes, the Nimauk lived in harmony with the world. We knew the power of water and stone. The power of the world is real, more real than we ever …
Orson held up the top level of his compass. It pointed straight ahead. He fought the urge to run, to charge forward. The answers were his to find, mysteries he’d chased since he was a teenager. He’d been formally hunting this particular prize for a year, but his search was much older than that. The …
Liberty Corps Captain Maros didn’t hear anyone else in the antique shop’s wreckage. He’d been too occupied by the bookshelf that collapsed when Lieutenant Goes had slid into it. By the time he heard the presence behind him, it was too late. Maros wheeled around and came face to face with the barrel of a …
Orson stayed quiet and out of Enoa’s way. He led her back to the Aesir, ushering her away from the sight and smell of smoke as fast as he could manage. She still didn’t speak, when they arrived back aboard, so Orson had gone into his bunk in the rear of the ship, after he’d …
“I wish I’d had time to restock my pantry before we got chased out of town.” Orson had landed the Aesir in the ruins of a small village. Enoa used to visit it while she hiked outside town, daydreaming about the far-off places she’d see, before she’d realized how dearly she loved her home. Immigrants …
