Robert-Hale

THE VAMPIRE’S JUSTICE By Robert Hale The slums of the city of Lutece, capital of the Kingdom of Marcasia It was a dank, misty night in the Court of Miracles, the slums district of Lutece, capital of the Kingdom of Marcasia. The air was thick with the smell of fog, mixing with scent of old shit and stale piss rising from the gutters to either side of the cobblestone street. The buildings to either side rose up like dark cliffs, without even a few seams of light peeking out from closed shutters to betray the people living within. All of them were fast asleep in their beds, wrapped up against the nights chill. The man making his way down the street looked quite out of place, in his fine doublet and silken hose, a dyed ostrich feather pinned to the side of his flat velvet cap. Had he been alone he would surely have been robbed blind, his throat slit, and his body left to rot in the gutter by any one of the cities seemingly infinite number of cutpurses and footpads, but the pair of

The Massacre of Darren By Robert Hale The Town of Darren, in the Southern Fringe of the Fogwood, seven years after the Blackwolf’s War The heavy midwinter snow blanketed the sleeping town of Darren, deep in the heart of the Old Forest. Of all the houses in the town, most were no more than a single story high, with the only exceptions being the Alderman’s house, and the three watchtowers located along the curtain wall surrounding the town. Their windows were shuttered, closed tight against the winter’s chill and the inhabitants tucked up safe in their beds. In all the town, only a few of its citizens were still awake, mostly the watchmen who patrolled the crenelated stone walls that surrounded the town. These men were not particularly vigilant that night, instead, they were crowding around their lit braziers, huddling together for a bit of warmth. It did not matter, they reasoned, if they were somewhat lax in their duties, for surely nothing that could threaten their town would