Storyfeather

"We only allow guests to stay in the master suite for one night. Any longer than that and some begin to experience issues with their health."   "Psychological issues, you mean?" "Indeed, Mister Rattus." The manor's keeper and their guide through the tour of the grounds, Mr. Wildschwein bowed his head to the reporter and glanced at the rest of the tour-guest group. The believers, as he thought of t...

Once, there were five magic beans. A poor boy was swindled into accepting them as payment for some vegetables he was trying to sell at market. His mother had thought the beans were useless until he ate one and grew into a giant. His mother was poor and could not have supported the needs of a skinny boy much less a giant. So she had no choice but to cast him out. On his wanderings, he befriended a...

They all watched as the one called Yellowjaws was taken to the edge of the arena. He limped from a vicious gash along his lower left leg that still seemed to be seeping blood. His long fur was matted with blood, dust, and his own thick spittle. He stopped and turned to them. He had been neither loved nor reviled. In that moment, he was—by most—envied. For as they watched, the fur fell away from hi...

"Mars, help me. Help me, Mars."   Betty Garimonde wasn't dead. Mars could see the slight rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her body was so frail that when he lifted it, it felt as if all her substance were gone, and he was only lifting her skin and her bones. The light, not just sunlight, but even the light of the torches, seared her skin, so that Mars had to keep her covered from head t...

We are not deserters. We are not thieves. But we have been named as such by the imperial navy. We are hunted by the ships we once called our allies. The empress gave our captain a precious treasure as a gift. It was but a gesture. In truth, the treasure belongs to the empire, as all things do. Our captain has taken it. The warship Mynotragon.   The figurehead of a naval ship that has served its em...

"We know where it is. We've known for a while. We just can't get to it. It would require some fairly fancy flying." The secretary crossed his arms and gazed at the faces of the officials surrounding him. "Then what are we still waiting for? Let's throw some Mac n' Cheese at it," the old general said, cracking a pistachio and adding the shells to the napkin he had neatly laid on the conference tabl...

Note of caution for sensitive listeners : This episode contains descriptions of a fly being harmed. "I have a story to tell you that you will not believe," the fly said. I listened. Because if I believed that a fly could speak, then I was more than ready to hear what she had to say. And I did believe, after a fashion, when I realized that the tiny voice I'd heard whispering my name was coming from...

This is what we wanted. This is what we feared. Encountering new life. Endangering our lives. These were some of the last words I heard from my mother on the last transmission from Marv. It was difficult to watch from afar. Not even to watch. To wait. To wonder. It helped me to write the reports. To smooth out all the roughness, pare down all the inessential, and restrain all the rawness from the...

In the heart of our galaxy, there abides a supermassive black hole. One of the grand mysteries of our age, and of the last age, and the one before. We call it the ultimate ocean, but with its relentlessly swirling energies, it is more like a monstrous whirlpool. We seek to know what lies in its mysterious exotic depths. Depths that are protected by an unforgiving mouth, slurping matter as a person...

When I first arrived in the desert city, raw and untried, eyes wide with wonder, heart filled with longing, and head filled with air just like the myriad dirigibles that crowded the skies, I could never have imagined where my path would lead me.   The dirigibles of the desert city transport goods, residents, and visitors; but only one class of airship can take its passengers to the city's most tre...

"There is no cure," the baker said as she peered into the mage's eyes. Around the table with them sat the renowned warrior and the titan merchant. Everyone at the table, the mage included, were trying not to appear as awed as they felt in the warrior's presence. And everyone at the table was trying not to make it obvious that the titan's four well-muscled arms were taking up all the space. He shif...

Shame and sorrow were to be her lot in life. The legacy given to her and the legacy she herself would pass on. Endora was born below the earth in a realm so little thought of that it had no name. That was why the many peoples who lived there took such care with and pride in their own names. "Endora" meant "light." Oftentimes, her name was the only light in the cozy but humble hollow where she and...

Six fools ran from the dragon's fire, but only one of them was her husband. There was the wizard in blue robes with a green-jeweled magic staff. There was the armored knight who bore a shield that guarded against flame. There was the jungle barbarian and the mystical fire-cat. There was the sprightly archer. And then there was the mustachioed scoundrel, who had assembled them all. His beloved wife...

"Captain!" Marlowe yelled out. The coils of the grasping tentacle slid past each other, tightening their grip around Santi's waist. That was when I knew. In the midst of chaos, with half the crew—swords and daggers drawn—converging on the barrel where Santi had been hiding, with the ship trapped in the grip of a whirlpool, with the hull shattering from the force of those monstrous tentacles, when...

Some years—not every year—fierce winds blow from the north, and the old folk mutter about the ride of the indestructible king. And they cast about their narrow-eyed glances at those who might have summoned such winds, by taking something they shouldn't have. The tale is not such an old one. Here it is told.   Nothing could harm the indestructible Ximrahet, until the day an enemy discovered his gre...

There was something about this particular story of extraterrestrial abductions in a sleepy little town where nothing usually happened that struck me as… curious. So when Barbara Keysmith contacted my office and told me that she had some details to share that she hadn't shared with the authorities, I was already primed to answer her call.   Residents of the quiet town of Midvale are vanishing, and...

Shortly before the world lost contact with Tranenbloud Island, the research team reported that an islander and a member of the team had gone missing, a man and a woman. Both were later found dead and with their reproductive organs missing, presumably devoured.   A few days after that, all communication from the island ceased.   Captain Rosemere and his strike team are up against an enemy to which...

"There were people who once knew how to harness energies that we haven't yet discovered, or rather, re discovered," Dr. Taisho said as she strapped the leathery cuff around his right wrist. "They did so by learning about the world around them and building tools to understand and then use the forces and energies they observed. Wars and calamities overcame the world and most of the knowledge and the...

There are flames in the distance. There is a dragon in the distance. We must ride out to meet him. It is said that the first dragon was born of hatred. And all of the things that follow hatred. Envy and greed. Bloodlust. It is said that the first dragon was born from a person, right here in this very village. It is said that the first dragon was born of a curse. A curse that was meant to save, for...

"You must be Captain Vasquez." "And why, madam, do you presume that?" "Because judging from their expressions, none of the people at this table believe a word you're saying…but they're all listening anyway because the story is just that captivating." Captain Vasquez glanced around the crowded table and smiled. She believed in her tales with such confidence that it did not matter whether anyone els...

When the lay was finished, the troubadour smiled and bowed. He blew a stray lock of his rosy hair out of his eyes and asked the gathered crowd, "What story would you hear? Tell me." The old man brought forth a coin to ask for a story. The troubadour said, "No, no. I have set out no vessels for receiving gifts, as you can see. There is no cost excepting the time that you take to stand and listen, i...

"Is it me, or does it look like it's breathing?" Raj placed a hand on his pointed cap to keep it from falling off as he looked up the trunk of the most immense tree he had ever seen in his life. It would probably take fifty kids to stand around it and hold hands to surround the trunk. He gulped. Meg was right. It did look like it was breathing. Maybe it was just because of how big it was. Looking...

I could feel it, shifting around in my chest, as I waited for the on-call doctor to respond. The doctor's badge indicated that he didn't have one, so I didn't think he would understand, but as I began to speak, to describe what had been happening to me over the past few weeks, his questions and observations revealed that he understood quite well. And he came to this conclusion.   My homunculus was...

The king opened his eyes and found himself seated at the long table in the castle's dining hall. As he watched, platters and tureens began to appear, filled with steaming and fragrant food. Favorite dishes materialized before the chair in which would sit the one who favored them. A large bowl of fruit appeared before the seat that the queen's favorite friend would occupy. Stews appeared at the far...

We have conquered deep space, they said. There is nothing at the bottom of our own seas that could be of any worth, they said. But there are always voices of dissent. And there is always something of worth in the places that are beyond our sight, beyond our reach. It just depends on your definition of what is worth it.   Humanity has conquered the stars but has yet to solve the mysteries of the se...