OpalescentSky

    There was a chill in the room, and he could hear the guard coughing in the hall.    Was it getting close to midnight?    He had been mulling over a strange feeling all day. He knew, according to the marks he was making on the wall, that it must be Christmas Eve. How quickly the days had passed, each one deepening the dread in his heart.    Perhaps this was what Melete had felt, locked in a prison in Hererat. Why wasn’t she answering his calls? At first he hadn’t even made them—she had killed his son—but eventually the desperation took over.    Through his exterior window, he could see snowflakes falling in

    It was the fourth day of Christmas, just one of the twelve until Epiphany. Joshua Shephard was passing through northern Bellingrath when he saw a rather unusual sight--A very bright and well decorated shop. This was strange because, as everyone knows, Bellingrath should have been dirt poor. But this shop surpassed even some of the finest shops in Cedulan.     “How about we stop for a bit, dear?” Joshua said.     Isis, who had been reading a book, looked up. “So soon?”     “I’ve seen something interesting,” Joshua said.     Isis laughed. “Oh no. It wasn’t King Bhatair, was it?”

    Gudrun set the book down and rubbed her forehead. It had been an exhausting day, and the worst of it was that Bhatair should have returned hours ago, but he hadn’t.     There was the sound of a door opening. Gudrun sprang up, almost  knocking over her chair. She ran to the entrance, where a servant was taking Bhatair’s cloak. Gudrun wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands through his curly hair. He kissed her and smiled. “I missed you.”     “It was a painful fifteen hours for me, too,” Gudrun said, smiling. She couldn’t help but find it a little funny. Bhaitair often went on trips, sometim