Time on My Hands
Chapter 22: 235-239 CE: Emperor Roulette

Rome quickly discovered the warnings Raben had shared were quite apt. In April the Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine while Iazyges and Dacians crossed the Danube in hordes that even caused panic at the gates of Rome. The legions, who were already demoralized after their costly war against the Persians, were further discontented with their emperor when their homes were destroyed by the barbarian invaders.

In May Raben with the six trained scribes as well as their locally married wives and children traveled north to Barmaz with many of the manuscripts and all the equipment and supplies needed to set up what would become the main location of Corvus Scriptorium. One of the things Raben had specified for the library of the Corvus Scriptorium was the rooms be of all stone or brick with vaulted ceilings and stone shelving in order to be as fireproof as possible. A velum/parchment factory using the skins from the cattle, sheep, and goats was quickly constructed as well as an ink factory utilizing soot collected from the many chimneys throughout Barmaz. Sheets of papyrus were imported from Alexandria. Flax was added to the crops grown in Barmaz. Flax fibers would be processed into linen and linseed oil extracted from the seeds.

Chapter 38 Chelle's POV

In the middle of the night I woke up, not quite sure what had awoken me. Then I felt Soph breathing fast, almost hyperventilating and occasionally twitching. I started stroking her and telling her that she was safe, that I was here to look after her and protect her and that her mum was nearby and wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

If you are a Veteran of recent Middle Eastern Military action, this might be mildly triggering, but I doubt it. This story has Muslim, Middle Eastern culture in it, but it is not about Islam. Lots of Middle Eastern folk are Christian, Yazidi or not religious at all. This is about an American War Veteran, and a family of Middle Eastern descent. I am hoping that it is romantic and somewhat funny. It is set in the future, near the middle of the 21st century, and might be mildly prophetic. Sometimes the most fun and the greatest reward comes from the oddest places. Enjoy.

Prologue – The Third Realm

When she concentrated she could feel it in the air around her, like a great cold emptiness that wished to seep into her skin and suck the life within her dry. She could always feel it somewhere in the back of her mind. A wrongness. A world without magic. And she had barely any magical ability to begin with! How could the mages who came here stand it?

College is over! Alexa and Jenny finalize the undergraduate careers and plan for two upcoming celebrations.
And one thorn in their sides seems to finally be resolved.

The travelers have been ensnared in Horvik's mansion and they must find a way to leave without further bloodshed. Eventually a method is found and the voyage resumes. The weather favors them and they just make the city of Joth as the sun sets.

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

8 - Tactical Withdrawal

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Ginny's Story A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright© 2018 Karen Lockhart All Rights Reserved.

Life sure takes some rather interesting, heck, even what I'd call weird turns, let me tell ya!

I bet you won't believe that, just a few days ago, I was Ransom Bermondsey, up and coming movie and TV star here in wonderful LA!

Yeah, yeah, I'm not actually famous. Well, let me restate that, who I used to be wasn't actually famous.

This, then, is the story of what happened to me when my cousin Jezabelle and her twin sister Jazmin wreaked havoc with the Gloo!

I’m glued

(with apologies to Eiffel 65)

Yo listen up
Here’s the story
About a little guy
That lives in a glue world
And all day and all night
Everything he sees is
Just glued
To him inside, and outside
Glued in a dress
Glued to some high heels too
And glued to a corset
And everything is glued
Including his breasts
And he sings to himself
Cause he aint got nobody to listen ..

(chorus)

“I’m glued ...

"Why is your husband still in that kinky French maid's uniform? The Halloween party was over a week ago?"
"Well I may have made a few changes to the instructions for the GLOO, not that my husband was ever any good at following instructions anyway."
"So what did you do?"
"Well, you know how it says if the GLOO is not removed before 72 hours that it permanently bonds and would require mutilating surgery to remove?

That darn hospital forced me to stay there for nearly three more days, even though I was obviously in completely perfect health!

Ahhh, well, I had a bed to sleep on, food to eat, a TV with silly shows on it to watch all day. Oh, and visits from Commander Ares. It seems he really wants me to go to this Compound on the edge of the city to find out just what I can do beyond leaving scorch marks on walls.

Such a treasure...

Seejay came over to us and kissed me on the forehead. I beamed at him and stood up so I could snuggle better and get another kiss.

The encounter with Carl Delaforge in "Commutation" was a bit depressing so let’s cheer up and revisit the family from “Where did I go wrong?”, only two years later. If you haven’t read that story this will contain spoilers.

I was not feeling very well coming down into the living room that Saturday morning. What I saw there did NOT make me feel any better. The room was a mess! A ridiculously short, and expensive looking, sparkly blue dress on the floor. On the same floor some flimsy lace black thong panties featured prominently. Black 5 inch heel shoes thrown around, one on the floor, the other in an armchair. A bra, that matched the panties in material, color and sexiness, in the other armchair. Stockings, and garter belt draped across the back of the couch. A couch that by all evidence had been used to have wild, wanton sex on. Fortunately I couldn’t see any stains and the used condom had missed the carpet, Who could be responsible for this?

Cheryl? No, she’d never wear five inch heels. Wait, five inch heels? Michael!!!