David found himself in a dream once more, but this time, it wasn’t the chaos of war that surrounded him. Instead, he was in a tranquil meadow bathed in soft golden light. The grass beneath him felt cool and soft, and the air was warm, carrying a faint floral scent that was both calming and unfamiliar.

Hope's Light

Chapter 23

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Three - Taijitu

In the coldest of air we gathered at the top of the Spires. Out of the rock face a matching henge to its counterpart at the embassy in Dis had long ago been excavated, though this one was not currently pockmarked from the insult of repeated energy blasts, having been resurfaced after its own checkered history. Twitch and Horatio stood at my side, while Vance, leaning on a short-yet-distinguished onyx cane and shivering underneath the thickest of silver-furred coats, had been busy examining all the sigils and workings carved into the stones - ensuring that each was still properly aligned.

What do you do when you think your girlfriend is cheating on you? Crossdress and take her on a date to find out, obviously.

The Journey of a Slave ...by Allexcited69 alias Miss Valerie Dubois

Chapter 17 – Epilogue

I didn’t recognise the place. I mean they’d had a chance to clean up, sure, but what they’d achieved was close to miraculous.

Someone had carried me to a bed after Stuart had delivered us back to the barracks. Someone had done the same for all of slayer squad and Laurel, and we’d all slept through the next twenty-four hours.

Which meant when we woke it was to a very different world.

An unexpected day of puzzles for many. Ketko confuses Ursula again, no-one knows if Lars can marry Nethra, and both Ursula and Eriana have received unexpected letters from King Robanar! The day ends with an ominous sighting.

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

95 - Letters from Palarand

Chapter One

I try to struggle to my feet. It’s useless. Chris straddles me, laughing at my attempt to get free.

“C’mon, little brother. What’d I teach you?”

“Please...” The knee gouging into my spine makes it hard to breathe. “Stop.”

“Don’t be a sissy. Fight my ass! Be a man!”

A swat to the back of my head knocks my face into the worn, dog-scented carpet. I will myself not to cry. “Don’t. Please.”

The training team is back with some new challenges and a plot against them.

Author's note: Some plot elements of this story follow up on the events of my story Of Pranks and Finals, which is on the Whateley site but has not been posted on Big Closet. That story was co-written with other authors, so I did not feel it appropriate to post that one here myself.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php

Hope's Light

Chapter 22

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Two - Necessity

We kept at it, shoveling and schlepping, until each pen in turn was clean. Though at that point, we ourselves certainly weren’t.

Double
A Short Story (or a Pocket Novel for holiday reading?)
By Maryanne Peters

Chapter 1

“I understand that you may have known Ivan Sergeivich Molonovsky,” said the man they simply knew as Grozny – the man in charge of deployments.

“We were not close, but I remember him,” said Kiril. It was a lie. He had known Ivan well. They trained together because the two of them were the smallest in the whole intake. But the rumor was that Ivan had betrayed the Soviet Union, and it was best to deny any association.