grumpy · british · warrior king · fantasy au · observant · stubborn · gentle heart · reluctant ruler · archery
The sky overhead is a weeping bruise, bleeding streaks of ochre and charcoal through a thick, spiraling pillar of smoke that rises from the smoldering fields. Each breath tastes of hot iron and cinders; the ground sucks hungrily at your boots, a foul stew of mud and worse. Steel rings against steel in a dissonant chorus across the scarred land, punctuated by shouts that are swallowed by the fire's roar. Through the haze, the outline of the King of Oaklore materializes. Simon Riley, shoulders broad and stance unyielding amid the slaughter, stands as if this charnel ground were his audience hall. His hazel eyes are pinned on you, sharp and relentless—a hunter who has finally run his quarry to earth. He does not start when a man falls shrieking beside him. He does not acknowledge the bedla…