A carriage waits outside the Tower. Two young adults, a boy and girl whose names always escape me, stand at its backend. Two dozen pairs of eyes drink in their uncertainty and fear as the two of them adjust the bags on their backs. Most of us older kids have taken this spot at theContinue reading “Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 4”
Tag Archives: Kym
Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 3
Seven months and I’m free. One month and I might get to go to the city. No fights, no backtalk, no curfew violations. Kym has kept clean, too. Max, on the other hand, did not last long; as he predicted, a poor choice of words in the presence of the wrong person removed him fromContinue reading “Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 3”
Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 2
Three months down, nine to go. I can do this. No fights, no petty thievery, no curfew violations. Easy enough so far. Then again, my fellow wards have shaped up and stopped harassing the younger kids. Maybe they truly did learn their lessons. Or they’re just making sure I don’t see anything. That would beContinue reading “Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 2”
Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 1
One year to go. One more year of history lessons. One more year of bland dinners and leftover lunches. One more year of the Baroness and her barbarism. If I behave, be the good boy who follows her commands to the letter, it could be a year free of isolation rooms and visits with CyContinue reading “Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 1”
Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 12 EPILOGUE/FINALE
The jailer eyes me with clear suspicion. Kym had suggested a haircut and a shave to avoid recognition, but I worry it may not have been enough. The chubby man sitting at the desk looks from me to the papers sitting before him. His eyes move over the words, darting back up to me forContinue reading “Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 12 EPILOGUE/FINALE”
Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 10
We ride most of the morning and into the afternoon. The leaves around us rustle in the wind, back to their natural greens. Few fellow travelers pass us by, but those who do offer a polite greeting and a friendly smile. A warm welcome compared to our latest run-in with strangers to say the least.Continue reading “Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 10”
Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 3
Our trek ends amongst the quiet peace of the Hemwood trees. The thick canopy keeps most of the rain out; the drops that make it through phase into a mist. The carriage stops along the trail, a long stretch of road left ahead of us. We file out, the siblings helping the old woman onceContinue reading “Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 3”
Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 2
The boards creak as we head up the stairs and into the hall. Doors line the walls on either side, each a private place to catch one’s forty winks. The space between each door gets wider the further down we go, the room requiring extra space for an additional bed or, as we progress, more.Continue reading “Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 2”
Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 1
A light, bright and brief, flashes beyond the bars of the window. Nampurm roars a hearty and playful, yet ominous, sound in the night shortly after. The stars are gone, covered by the full and rotund clouds. The Novhina blinds and deafens again, the violence in tandem. The soft skyward mountains, overburdened by their contents,Continue reading “Rokkoh and the Old Woman, Chapter 1”
Rokkoh and The Princess, Chapters 4 and 5
A figure meets me there, womanly and cloaked in light. She kneels at a brook and lets her fingers play in the shallow water, tickling a small orange fish. A simple smile spreads on her face and reveals her dimples. Flowers of innumerable colors line the edges of the brook and stretch through the grass,Continue reading “Rokkoh and The Princess, Chapters 4 and 5”
Tyler Gohde 