Magic and dwarfs and wizards and warriors, Oh My!

some things are universal:  a barracks anywhere resembles barracks everywhere regardless of the language, beliefs or customs of the army. Temples everywhere, regardless of the faith, resemble temples anywhere. The same is true for establishments which cater to the use of alcohol: particularly those whose clientele have dirty hands and peculiar smells from hours on board ship, or underground, or in a smithy or in the barns and slaughterhouses. Dives everywhere have the same feel:  they are dark, noisy, noisome, unclean, and no one asks any questions (although you can usually find someone, or someone who knows someone, who does anything for the right fee). Such a place as this was tucked into an alley above the wharves of a middling fishing village. The faded sign over the door named it as The Cardinal. The owner of The Cardinal had done a variety of things before he had “come into some money” and set up the place. He had been an apprentice smith and had plied his trade on the waterfront. At least so goes the stories, and his beefy shoulders, chest, and facility with the cudgel he kept close to the bar backed it up. He was fair. But he had not been robbed (it had been tried, once or twice, and a man willing to take a superficial cut or two from a knife while wielding a cudgel is nothing to trifle with). He kept a wooden leg nailed over the bar as an example to his customers (although the truth is he won it in a card game from sailors). He asked no questions of his customers and cooperated only grudgingly with the local authorities. His parents had named him Butram, but one too many buttheads had shortened it years ago to “Bert.”


This is an excerpt from The Eyes in The Dark (on Kindle or from Amazon). Everything happens somewhere. Not everything that happens happens in one locale. Much of what happens happens off to one side, so to speak. Or at a crossroads. Or where people meet. Check it out.

This piece introduces Granny who is not what she seems. She collects orphaned wounded and needy folk. She may or may not be a witch but she certainly embraces “the knowin'” and it is unfortunate that what men consider unimportant may make all the differance.