The God Thief was short of stature but displayed all of the other attributes of his brethren. Glowing in ethereal light, with two gleaming shortswords... in his hands. He appeared at the end of the throne room close to the double doors.Aaron spun to face him drawing both swords, blades ablaze with blue flames, runes glowing white in his hands.Lord Beadle leaped to his feet and tried to get away but he was brought up short by the tip of Reg's blade. "Not yet, Your Grace. Stay right where you. Mules with feed bags swished their tails swatting horse flies, waiting for their wagoners. Dirty smoke drifted above a smithy and we heard an anvil ringing to thuds of a hammer. Next door a few carpenters were sawing rough lumber boards at the side their building.Derwen pointed out a stone stable house explaining the estate horses were a major expense but worth their weight in gold for farming, mounted protection and adventures in the city. Her property included one village, whose farmers she. Now, this story begins in our junior year of high school. We are both 16. It is early December and my grandparents are throwing their annual Christmas reunion for our extended family. All of our parent's cousins and their kids were there along with friends of the family. My grandparent's house is really big and since there will be a lot of drinking, we usually stay in their guest bedrooms. One tradition of sorts in our family, is that after we turn 16 we are allowed to moderately drink alcohol;. Pru took a deep breath. "Okay, tell me what that means."Lia spoke first. "My guess is all the guards are 'hostages'. By that, I mean there aren't any hostages; they're all in it together with General Lao."Pru nodded. "Most likely. But, that leaves a big question: Who's going to get killed at the end of the month? And, who else is inside that field?"Maeve nodded grimly. "General Lao's in there, and probably all 30 'hostages'." Can we assume there are others?" Pru asked."No evidence," said Xing,.