42 Results in the "Bear House Serials" category
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Chapter
XI – The Tamesa Encounter
Roman horses smell more of their kind across the river as tension shrinks their nerves. A towering palisade stands along the opposite bank, where an elderly man, favoring his staff, stands on a rampart behind it. Wind lashes at his long white hair, exposing facial cracks that prove him the oldest man on this island. “This is as far as you go, Rome!” Ostin the Ageless shows his grasp of Latin. Caesar, the battle king these natives call Kaiser, yells back, “There will be no turning…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
XXI – The Spectator
Aedan wakes to a gentle song of slapping water. Household goods and jars surround him, but they restrict less than the tight ropes binding his legs. He tugs at the manacles around his wrists and, with a caterpillar’s skill, gets to his feet. His toes warm in the small band of light cast from a narrow slit above the door. Hopping toward it, he gets as close as his chains allow and presses his forehead to the opening. Mossy fish stink tickles his nose, and looking down reveals a wheel motionless on…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
IX – The Slaughter Arena
This violent summer is the hottest in memory. Bitch Face, the pretty Roman, covers the dead farmer and her children while his brothers hack away at her barley field. He casts an anxious gaze across the field at the forest. Deep within the trees, Aedan the Owl squats on a high branch, his foot rising so his toe can scratch the itch behind his ear. He watches Bitch Face, whose rage over a slaughtered lover burns hot, and grins. This rare show of emotion unsettles his cadre of most loyal, awaiting him…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
VIII
This captive burns hot when he sleeps, never waking, no matter how indelicate a druid’s touch. Here lies the beauty of the falls, the lion from his vision. Aedan’s thumb pushes at an eyelid, revealing a lily pad floating in the white, and its dark center widening with exposure to the light. His smooth skin stinks of cooking fire, and his soft nipples taste of roasted rabbit. He sits upon the strapping prisoner and delights in how the man’s muscular gut feels his bare crack. Cock in hand, he guides…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
VII
Vibrant tunics blanket the knoll, their owners busy chopping the forest. The harsh sun bakes the skin, leaving the Romans and their Gallic recruits slick with sweat. Muscles aching, the younger men imitate their elders and wrap their foreheads in rags before dusting their hands with more chalk. Each axe swing brings a grunt and the thump of metal on wood, and by midday, their labor silences the rolling ticks of lonely cicadas. Nearby, camp immunes, who are laborers forbidden to fight, keep things…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
VI
Druid society includes seers, mediators, teachers, warriors, and healers, each earning a place in life’s tree through their achievements. Older druids accomplish more, which is why Ostin the Ageless stands above all others, and why Aedan the Ancalite remains on his knees. Father’s owl mask watches from the muddy shore, its upper trim blackened by fire. Fintan, the former Owl King, served as a healer, but he also guided the chieftain with battlefield wisdom. Aedan’s education in all things real and…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
V
Night marches are treacherous without torch or stars. It is solitary work, and anxiety devours the hours. The hiss of wind-swept trees overpowers the cadence of infantry boots. No one utters a word, not even to their horses. Skipio leads his scouts ahead of the legions. Over a mile ahead, they meet a barricade of towering reeds and foxtails. Insects and amphibians cavort so wildly that their clamor drowns out his pounding heart. Amid the bobtails lurks water, and entering unfamiliar wetland courts…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
IV
Haze shrouds a sea that blazes silver beneath the midday sun. Silhouettes appear on the horizon, five, then ten, until there are too many ships to count. Tribal leaders who fled the mainland arrived on their island, recounting Prince Mandubracius and his pact with the Roman battle king, Kaiser. Fresh from the fight, they spoke of warlord Dumnorix ambushing the Romans with a concealed fleet. Alas, it’s now clear that Dumnorix is as dead as his fleet. The brutish driver grunts. Stocky, with brawn…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
III
Roman victory kills more than those on the battlefield. Like locusts, the legions consume everything. No farm provides a haven to the starving, not with crops stolen and livestock slaughtered. The forest is gone, its slender boughs fueling barracks stoves, and its stoutest trunks now backbones for Caesar’s new fleet. Longhouses stretch across the white expanse. Half-built ships line the shore for miles. Skipio’s boots crunch over snow as frigid air lashes his wool pants. An irksome beard shields his…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
II
His life is defined by how much pain he brings his mother. Twenty-two years ago, she left her princely father’s house for a different life with a coastal Ancalite named Fintan. Despite his druidic prowess, Fintan never suspected she was already caught. Her pains began on the autumnal, and her unborn babe insisted on coming out ass first. The old druidess cut her belly—a trauma that Ciniod’s mother mentions whenever she must force a fart. Aedan the Ancalite is bony, with alabaster skin and a…-
120.7 K • Ongoing
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