Ian Livingstone

“As grumblers go, Stubble was in a league of his own.”

“Excuse me for a moment, will ye. I think I have to talk to the river,' he said unsteadily and flopped over the side-rail.”

“When he came to, the eels were still being removed from him and Anvar was congratulating one of the rivermen. The man had smashed open a barrel of eels and covered both dwarf and zombie with them.”

“Ye are a scoundrel, a black-hearted robber and a rogue,' Stubble said cheerily to the grumbling captain. It was his usual way of haggling, and he'd beaten down the riverman to a decent price for conveying himself and Anvar to Lankarn.”

“The fourth elf was younger than the others. This showed in the perfection of her skin, the agility and speed of her movements, and in the brightness of her dress. Her long silk garment was yellow and gold and green, and she wore a blue silk choker with a trailing silver scarf at her neck matching another at her waist. There was fire in her dark eyes which added to her overpowering beauty.”

“I am come,' the Demon said simply, in a droning monotone. 'I am with the dead of the lake. Come to me.' Then the appearance of the skull-face vanished and the blood burst into a shroud of flame, spreading through the throne room in a storm of brilliant red and yellow. The screams could be heard half a league away.”

“Solan is descending in the sky...”

“Well, anyway, this'll be easier than knocking an elf out of a tree. Trust me.''How many elves have you knocked out of trees, Stubble?''Duraden's bones! Have ye never heard of a figure of speech?”

“Friend, we are well met indeed. I think we are a pair of fools and that we should hasten to Nildren's Peak, where I shall buy ye such a dinner as even your great frame will find sufficient. And then we shall see who can drink the other under the table. Is that good by ye?”

“The warm days of Firestreak are usually good for travellers in the world of Amarillia.”