Klaire de Lys
Stories (80/0)
Outsider: Chapter 18
Melrakki groaned and turned over for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Her lower back ached and her stomach was heavy and swollen. She was miserable and so tired that her brain felt as if it had been removed from her skull. Ulf was snoring beside her, his arm across her protectively. Normally she could not sleep without him near her, but tonight his touch felt like a brand on her already warm skin. Her whole body was far too warm, except for her hands which were cold as ice.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider: Chapter 16
Holmvé opened the door as little as she could and kept her hand on the bolt, ready to slam the door shut the minute she suspected their caller was another ‘relative’ who wanted to congratulate her good fortune. It had been truly incredible to experience over the last few weeks just how quickly word of her ‘inheritence’ had circulated Bjargtre. Suddenly family members she had never met had been at the door with all kinds of tall tales. Some of them had been amusing and others had made her blood boil. The amount of supposed ‘debts’ her long since dead parents had owed to completely strangers was nothing short of incredible.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider: Chapter 15
For the eighth time, the bells in the communal dorms echoed up to her room. Astrid groaned and buried her head under the blanket, trying to drown out the sound. She was still exhausted. While it was easy for her to survive on very little sleep for days, even weeks at a time, she always had to make up for it in the end. She had slept through the first two days easily, but now her stomach demanded to be fed, and no amount of exhaustion would allow her to ignore it.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider: Chapter 14
Ulf watched Melrakki as she slept. He noticed the shadows under her eyes and the blankets tightly pulled around her. Dawn had long since passed, but for the first time in years, she had not woken up before him. Ulf did not wake her. Instead he carefully moved his half of the blanket over her and crept out of the bed to get dressed, one hand on his long hair to stop the cuffs braided into it clinking together. Melrakki shivered for a moment under the blankets. The rattle of his cuffs was loud enough to disturb her, but she did not wake up. Ulf breathed a quiet sigh of relief and pulled his boots on. He would be amazed if he managed to get dressed without waking her. Melrakki had always been a light sleeper. Sometimes even a faint gust of wind against the walls of the yurt was enough to rouse her. It had not always been that way, Ulf remembered their early days together when the dead had slept less soundly, but that was before he had decided to unify the tribes, and long before she had decided to sleep with a knife under her pillow. He looked up as Gríð walked through the door, yet another piece of honey root between her teeth. Melrakki groaned in her sleep and Gríð froze where she stood.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider: Chapter 13
It was cold. The sun had only just risen high enough to peak over the edge of the mountains and the early morning mist still clung to the slopes. Astrid could barely see ahead more than a couple of feet, but she was untroubled by the lack of visibility. She always wondered how elves and dwarfs could manage with only their eyes to guide them when hearing would often tell them so much more.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider: Chapter 11
Jarl had barely spoken since Halvard had left, and it was starting to make Astrid nervous. While she normally appreciated any silence on the road, this silence made her feel on edge. She could almost hear the cogs turn in Jarl’s head as he mulled what had happened over and over again.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider - Chapter 10
Ulf peered down at the map Melrakki had drawn on the coarse paper spread out across the low table. Garðarr, Ótama and Systa were seated around it with several of their respective captains behind them. Melrakki had both hands pressed against her stomach and a scowl on her face as the baby kicked and squirmed inside her belly. Ulf cradled her fingers in his and caressed Melrakki’s hand gently, but kept his eyes fixed on the map.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction
Outsider: Chapter Seven
“Is she here yet?” “No, Knud, can you please stop jumping around!” Jarl muttered tiredly. The day before had been long and hard. It had barely been possible to find the supplies they would need for the road ahead, as the markets and inns were down to their last scraps. More than one of the merchants and innkeepers he had bartered with had criticised him for trying to travel the Riddari road so late in the year, and Halvard’s relentless questions about their guide were almost as exhausting as Knud’s.
By Klaire de Lys2 years ago in Fiction