Beth Lyons

Someone was kind enough to lay out a cleric’s robe in a dwarf size. I’m now about a foot shorter than I used to be. This body is strong but squat. I feel wider than I used to be and after looking in the mirror, I don’t think it’s psychosomatic. As I stared at my reflection, I tried to see me in those dark eyes. The face shook its head while the hands caressed the beard. “I have a lot to learn about this body.” And peeing standing up is probably the least of my troubles.

Sadi reached for the door handle. “Wait!” I tried not to sound too desperate. “Wait. Slow down. Why open that door right now? You could wait for your friends, right? I’m sure dragon girl is wiping the blood off her big honking sword right now. Just, just give it a minute, OK?” She turned and looked at me. Her face looked blank. “But you’re all I need. You’re some awesome archmage, yeah? We can take a couple of game playing orcs.” She paused and leaned towards me . “Unless you’re afraid.”

Now that we are at the end of our first adventure (or perhaps I should say that we have ended a chapter of this story) I want to go back and wrap up the events that led us here. I joined this band in a little town on the edge of nowhere. The local folks (including an acquaintance of mine, the innkeeper, Frida) were nervous about a stranger who”d moved to the town. Strange lights, strange sounds, strange faces surrounded his house. The group lacked a main healer, so I joined up. It didn”t take us long to discover the …Read more »

In his later years my father became a rich man. His friends would slap him on the back, wink at me and say “Gold sticks to your father’s fingers; you are a lucky girl!” I was happier when we were poor. The long dusty days of walking behind the wagon, my sister, Persia, and I talking and laughing. My father was a rug salesman, a traveling rug salesman — the lowest rung on the ladder. I remember the laughter and the singing. I was eight when my brother Ahmad was born. He was early — we were far from a …Read more »