Short Stories Michelle Sagara West Series by Michelle Sagara, Michelle West

Kallandras is a Master Bard trained in the famous Senniel College. He is often sent by the Bardmaster into war zones - because he always survives. There is a reason for this; the training he received in the Bardic College was not the only training to define his life. Set during the desert trek through the Sea of Sorrows, this is the story of Kallandras’ youth, in the labyrinths of the Brotherhood of Assassins. This is a novella that takes place in the universe of Michelle West's DAW novels.

An old story: Girl who must marry for duty falls in love with boy who cannot fulfill that duty. The boy goes away to war, and war takes him; he never returns.But this history is slightly different. The boy was given leave to return, in the casement of his god’s flesh, and the girl, leave to spend one night with him. The night was glorious.The morning was terrible.And after?This is the story of after, for Cynthia of Maubreche... moreAn old story: Girl who must marry for duty falls in love with boy who cannot fulfill that duty. The boy goes away to war, and war takes him; he never returns.But this history is slightly different. The boy was given leave to return, in the casement of his god’s flesh, and the girl, leave to spend one night with him. The night was glorious.The morning was terrible.And after?This is the story of after, for Cynthia of Maubreche. It's a novella, set in the Kingdom of Breodanir, and takes place after Hunter’s Death. less

The Black Ospreys were a war-time unit, created in the heart of the Dominion of Annagar at the behest of one of the Empire’s three Commanders. They did what the rest of the army couldn’t—or wouldn’t—do and their colors became the only colors feared by the Southerners.Framed by the end of the events of the final battle in The Sun Sword, this is the story of the formation of the Black Ospreys, twelve years earlier.A novella of approximately 16k words.

A novella of 13k words.Emily Dontal is the godborn daughter of The Mother—one of the only godborn children allowed to live in the Barony of Breton. One dark night, she prays to her mother for a child—a godborn child, a sister—to train and teach so that the Church might continue in her absence... moreA novella of 13k words.Emily Dontal is the godborn daughter of The Mother—one of the only godborn children allowed to live in the Barony of Breton. One dark night, she prays to her mother for a child—a godborn child, a sister—to train and teach so that the Church might continue in her absence.But the child she is given in answer to her prayers is not godborn; she comes not from the goddess but from the household of the man who rules the Barony—a man who is hated and feared by all of his citizens, especially Emily Dontal herself.This is a story about the founding of the Empire of Essalieyan. less

Novelette of 12k words. Avandar Gallais is a domicis, and he has served Jewel ATerafin since she was sixteen. Long before he was a servant, he was known as The Warlord. He built and ruled empires--but there are reasons he chose a life of service. Those reasons are the core of this story, which takes place before and around the events of the novel House Name.

Novella of 21k words.The Guild of Makers has long been the most powerful guild in the Empire. Gilafas ADelios, the man who rules it, is therefore one of the most powerful men in the land.But he has never been confident in his ability as an Artisan, and he is unprepared for the newest entrant into the Guild of Makers — a young girl from the Free Towns whose is so profoundly talented she may rival the legendary ability of the guild’s founder... moreNovella of 21k words.The Guild of Makers has long been the most powerful guild in the Empire. Gilafas ADelios, the man who rules it, is therefore one of the most powerful men in the land.But he has never been confident in his ability as an Artisan, and he is unprepared for the newest entrant into the Guild of Makers — a young girl from the Free Towns whose is so profoundly talented she may rival the legendary ability of the guild’s founder.On the eve of the failure of the two great artifacts given the Kings centuries past, the fate of the Empire rests on the shoulders of an uncertain man and a girl who can hear the voice of the stone in the tower of Artisans—if they survive.This story takes place in Averalaan, in the Empire of Essalieyan, the universe of Michelle West’s novels. less

Short story of 7k wordsOn the night that Christ was born, he received many visitors, and among those, unchronicled, the vast host of the legendary creatures who still roamed the world: the dragon, the unicorn, the phoenix, and the Queen of all Faerie, to name only a few.The immortals were called by a strange, unknown constellation, drawn to the child whose birth would herald the start of a new age—and the end of an old one.

A short story of 5k words.The last of the Genies has lived for longer than he can remember, hiding from humanity to preserve his life; the third wish is always death to his kind. Drawn to human cities and human dreams because they burn so brightly, he watches, making no friends and interacting so briefly with people they barely remember him when they pass by.But one night, after millennia of care, he thoughtlessly grants the wish of an old woman...

A short story of 5k words.April Stevens works, day in and day out, in an office, part of the secretarial pool. There is nothing remarkable about her life; it is pristine, organized, ordered. She dislikes change, dislikes the unpredictable.But she is changing, and in ways that she can’t predict, doesn’t understand, and can no longer hide...

A young Henry. A young Thomas of London. One, by politics, determination, and birth, the King, and one, a commoner, and outsider at Court. We know how their friendship played out, in the end: with the murder of Thomas Beket.But where would the friendship have ended had the murder not occurred, had there been no death in the cathedral? This is one possibility, an alternate history.

A short story of 4k words When he first saw the starving foreign child, he was five years old; the next time he saw her, he was six—and she was a ghost. A ghost who came at the start of every Christmas, lingering for twelve days before she once again left him in peace. Why did she choose to haunt him? And what, in the end, must he do to give the the peace they both deserve?

A short story of 5k words, originally published in Witch Fantastic, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg.A young office worker overlooks a standing grove of weeping willows. There, her co-workers eat lunch in the shade. She’s tried this; all she can hear while she’s there is the weeping of children she can’t see, can’t touch, can’t reach. No one else can hear them. There’s nothing she can do, because there are no children... moreA short story of 5k words, originally published in Witch Fantastic, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg.A young office worker overlooks a standing grove of weeping willows. There, her co-workers eat lunch in the shade. She’s tried this; all she can hear while she’s there is the weeping of children she can’t see, can’t touch, can’t reach. No one else can hear them. There’s nothing she can do, because there are no children. But she has to do something, has to find out some information that might allow her to hear what everyone else hears.Who owns the willow grove? Who cries at its heart? What does it want from a woman who has never really been wanted? less

Originally published in Enchanted Forests, ed. Katharine Kerr and Martin H. Greenberg. A short story of 9k words A young man is visiting his sister at her cottage—in the middle of a bitterly cold winter. Who does that? He doesn’t particularly like cottages, he’s not fond of nature when it’s not contained in planters, and he’s not a fan of the cold. But he’s here, in a winter forest, with his sister … and shambling corpses that seem to follow him wherever he goes... moreOriginally published in Enchanted Forests, ed. Katharine Kerr and Martin H. Greenberg. A short story of 9k words A young man is visiting his sister at her cottage—in the middle of a bitterly cold winter. Who does that? He doesn’t particularly like cottages, he’s not fond of nature when it’s not contained in planters, and he’s not a fan of the cold. But he’s here, in a winter forest, with his sister … and shambling corpses that seem to follow him wherever he goes. What happened here? Why are they after him? less