Aboard the Revenge, they stared back at the burning city. With sails full of wind, the ship was fast pulling away from shore, but still they could see men running to and fro fighting the blaze. Jarryl watched unmoved. She had little love for cities, and still less for Mhule, which fed its prisoners to a captive demon. Varles watched the leaping flames with dark and brooding eyes and did not turn as Shade joined them on the bridge.
“Aye, Captain, they’ll long remember the night I worked sorcery in their city.”
The words held a cold satisfaction softened by his sardonic grin. He stalked aft, and Jarryl watched him go, gingerly caressing her bandaged shoulder. “I’d no more trust that one than a starving wolf at my throat. Why do we need him, Captain?”
Varles smiled.”If we are to gain the treasure I seek, we need the magic he possesses.”
Jarryl growled softly, caressing her shoulder. “Your damn treasure had better be worth it.”
“It will be, Jarryl. It will be.”
The sails creaked under the urging wind, and they watched the burning city fall behind them as the Revenge sped out to sea on a rising tide.
This appeared in the British semi-prozine Fantasy Tales. It’s a prequel to the previous story; and it’s here at the end of the collection because this was the last short story I sold for almost thirty years. The markets dried up, the editors stopped buying. I concentrated on novels, and finally made a career for myself by selling my first novel to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace, in 1988. I was laid off from my job when I was thirty and was unemployed for three and a half years. During this time, I wrote morning, noon, and night, and had my work rejected endlessly. Finally, I got a job working at Bilbo’s Bookshop, in Bath. I started work on the Monday, and on the Wednesday I got a letter from Ginjer, saying she wanted to buy my book Hawk and Fisher, and would I be interested in writing five more books featuring the same character? And that’s how I got started. It wasn’t until much, much later, that I was asked to write short stories again. Luckily, I still have a soft spot for them.
So here they are.
About the Author
Simon R. Green is the New York Times–bestselling author of Blue Moon Rising, Beyond the Blue Moon, the Adventures of Hawk & Fisher, the Novels of the Nightside, the Secret Histories Novels, and the Ghost Finders Novels. He is a resident of Bradford-on-Avon in England.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
“Question of Solace” © 2014
“Street Wizard,” The Way of the Wizard, Prime Books © 2010
“Death Is a Lady,” Dancing with the Dark, Vista Books © 1997
“Dorothy Dreams,” Oz Reimagined, 47North © 2013
“Down and Out in Deadtown,” 21st Century Dead, St. Martins Press © 2012
“From Out of the Sun, Endlessly Singing,” The Mammoth Book of SF Wars, Running Press © 2012
“It’s All About the Rendering,” Home Improvement: Undead Edition, Ace Books © 2011
“Find Heaven and Hell in the Smallest Things,” Armored, Baen Books © 2012
“Jesus and Satan Go Jogging in the Desert,” The Monster’s Corner, St. Martins Press © 2011
“Food of the Gods,” Dark Delicacies III: Haunted, Running Press © 2009
“He Said, Laughing,” The Living Dead 2, Night Shade Books © 2010
“Soldier, Soldier,” Tangent © 1979
“Manslayer,” Airgedlámh © Autumn 1980
“Cascade,” © Portfolio 1979
“Soulhunter,” Fantasy Macabre 3 © June 1982
“Awake, Awake Ye Northern Winds,” Swords Against Darkness V, Zebra Books © 1979
“In the Labyrinth,” Fantasy Tales © Winter 1983
Copyright © 2014 by Simon Green
Cover design by Neil Alexander Heacox
ISBN 978-1-4804-9114-4
Published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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www.openroadmedia.com
EBOOKS BY SIMON R. GREEN
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Tales of the Hidden World Page 22
