Great-grandmother gnashed her teeth like she always did when greatgrandfather was about to make a social error. "This tobacco stinks!" said great-grandfather. He held the pouch away from his nose. "As usual, my cheap great-grandson has shown his respect by bringing me ch...
The men in the village did not know where he came from. One day he was there, standing under the drying racks, his eyes like two soaring hawks as he watched the children at play. Old Bear Teeth went to him but the old one did not speak. He turned and walked back up the mou...
The wound in his side was fire and ice. Fire that burned his flesh with the pain of it and ice that crept toward his heart as the blood oozed from the wound. The soft keening of his death chant awoke the ancient rat. Yasheya lay back against the cru...
I passed over the stone bridge and into the silent rows of buildings in the alien quarter. It was the middle of the night and the air was untouchable, a foggy cloth that separated as I passed through it. Night sounds were soft, muffled, driven like tunnel vision. I had an ...