HAPPY BIRTHDAY Katherine Ford; a slim sixteen year old brunette with thin cheeks covering high cheekbones, a small mouth with thin lips, and large eyes that harbored ebony pupils, exited a large classroom that served as the local high school for the upper east bloc of Vault 186. A quick glance at the somewhat large metal device referred to as a personal information processor –or Pip-Boy for short– that was strapped around...

Missing Pieces:"Mr. Faulkner," the man said. "My name is Michael Bennett, and I was your wife's lover."Tom stood there, stock still, wondering if he had heard correctly. Michael Bennett looked at Tom oddly, questioning whether he had heard at all. He cleared his throat again to speak, but Tom interrupted him. "Mr. Bennett, you have ten seconds to get off my property before I inflict some serious damage."Michael nodded in...

 PROLOGUE Hope…hope always remains. We've been killing each other since the dawn of our species. Tribes vying for power as civilizations rose and fell. Entire nations wiped from the face of the earth for worshiping a different god than their neighbors. As time progressed we developed more efficient ways to annihilate one another until finally…we accomplished our subconscious mission in a blaze of nuclear fire. But not all...

The Copper Knight III Jorden wasted no time explaining everything, soon as Derren and the other present captains were in his office. Including himself, there were only four other captains present, all of them had some sort of blood stains seeping into their white cloaks. "The Baron made an all-out semi-coordinated attack against us," Jordan explained. "In the last hour alone we have lost over twelve-hundred men, about two...

The Iron Rook VII "The Baron is dead," Derren reported to Duncan in the councilors quarters, when he finally got in to see him. Present with him was Gerald, Mira was busy that morning. "Thanks to an anonymous man, we think someone who was close with him but betrayed him, we received his severed head. Afterward, we reclaimed the lost districts in the city and his rampant followers were far more easily dealt with. We still...

The Grey Bishop III Edward moved away the floor boards accessing his secret hiding spot, where he stored his most valuable stuff. He grabbed the small brown linen pouch and opened it to find four coppers. He punched the hard floor in rage; there had to be more. He couldn't get far with just this much when leaving the city right away.Desperately he dug through the dirt searching for any coins he may have dropped in there b...

The Iron Rook VI For years Duncan had to contend with the thorns at court, threatening to prick him and the others with their poisoned tips and finish them off. The day they first arrived they had come with a small army, intent on overthrowing Duncan and doing to him what he did to the Riverlords. But Duncan managed to keep them at bay by closing the gates of the castle to them, and securing the entire force of the Skyclo...

"Gone, what do you mean gone?" Edward asked Madam Fiona. "I mean Lisa is gone darling, she'd been saving up for a time now." "I don't understand. I thought... I mean," he shook his head. "You thought she loved you? Come darling, you're smarter than that." The madam was right, he was smarter than that, he knew she didn't truly love him. But it was fun to play pretend for a time. That didn't mean it wasn't painful for him....

The Iron Rook V It all went according to plan, nearly everything to the detail, with every member of the Royal Guard under the influence of Sage Ordon. The secret coupe was done silently in the castle grounds, by the royal guards, the men Duncan had brought with him (Gerald too), and the Riverlords and their men. They overwhelmed the king's guard on duty that eve, all but one, of course, a new member who was on his one da...

TheCopper Knight II Derren found himself at the Westcher for the second time within a fortnight. The first time was for William, and now William's house had been burned down, with two female corpses found inside the remains. They were blackened and charred, and entirely unidentifiable. Derren couldn't even tell they were female, not until the Grey Sage told him.The lanky old man spoke so quietly Derren struggled to hear h...

The Grey Bishop I The Baron Delight, that’s what they were calling this little pink candy that Edward was selling in this winding alley for two coppers to anyone who wanted it.He pulled out one of Treat's from his sleeve and unwrapped it, holding it in his palm staring at the pink round candy. Just one of these would take away all his worries and make him feel better than a woman ever could: for a time. He shook his head...

The Copper Knight I Derren watched helplessly as his father grew worse every day, now no longer able to leave his bed, he lay there getting sicker and sicker. When he came home after work he went to bed without a word or food, just collapsed on top of the straw bed. He slept for two days straight and then when he woke he was weak and could hardly move about, let alone work.Soon enough their food storage ran out, the coin...

The Iron Rook IIIAfter the feast, everyone was shown to their sleeping quarters. Duncan couldn't help but notice that not only were his quarters in the castle much larger than his own back at his castle but much fancier as well. The frame for the bed was made from Rosewood and had lush dark-purple velvet curtains attached to the top with metal rings around them to slide easily. Had his wife been alive to join him this day...

TheIron Rook II It was several more years until the King and Queen had another child; and little over a year after that when the golden Sage Ordon returned to Castle Traeur, to see Duncan Whitetree. He had told him to take a small force of no more than twenty men, in addition to his chosen two other nobles to sit with him at the new court. After that Ordon had gone to the Riverlands, to grab the three nobles who would rep...

The Iron Rook I "You want to assassinate the royal family?" Duncan repeated the elder Sage's words slowly; doubting every word."I prefer to call it a silent coup, but yes." Sage Ordon replied with a calm smile. As if they were talking about taking a nice sail down the Riverlands, rather than a plot of high treason.The Sage had appeared at his castle, deep in the woods, entirely out of nowhere. Though Duncan was not a man...