Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Ice Cracker II (and other stories)
    Ice Cracker II (and other stories)
    Ice Cracker II (and other stories)
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    Ice Cracker II (and other stories)

    By Lindsay Buroker

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    She's wanted for crimes against the throne. He's the empire’s most notorious assassin. With bounties on their heads, they’re not likely candidates for heroics, but they're on a quest for redemption. Unfortunately, they'll have to pursue and conquer great threats to earn the emperor's recognition.

    Three short fantasy stories set in the author's "Emperor's Edge" universe.

    Ice Cracker II -- When wanted criminals Sicarius and Amaranthe unearth a plot against the military’s premier ice breaking ship, they may be the only ones who can thwart the saboteurs...if the soldiers don't kill them first.

    Through Fire Distilled -- An assignment to investigate a "haunted" distillery turns sour when mercenaries try to collect on Amaranthe's bounty.

    The Frozen Water Trade -- A mission to help an old friend results in a night trapped in a cabin with blizzards and underworld predators on the outside and vengeful relatives on the inside. Alas, it's bad form to kill the client's father.

    Total word count: 17,500

    Genre: a fantasy blend of steampunk and swords & sorcery

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLindsay Buroker
    Release dateJan 13, 2011
    ISBN9781458002372
    Ice Cracker II (and other stories)
    Author

    Lindsay Buroker

    Lindsay Buroker war Rettungsschwimmerin, Soldatin bei der U.S. Army und hat als IT-Administratorin gearbeitet. Sie hat eine Menge Geschichten zu erzählen. Seit 2011 tut sie das hauptberuflich und veröffentlicht ihre Steampunk-Fantasy-Romane im Self-Publishing. Die erfolgreiche Indie-Autorin und begeisterte Bloggerin lebt in Arizona und hat inzwischen zahlreiche Romanserien und Kurzgeschichten geschrieben. Der erste Band der Emperor’s-Edge-Serie „Die Klinge des Kaisers“ ist jetzt ins Deutsche übersetzt.

    Read more from Lindsay Buroker

    Related to Ice Cracker II (and other stories)

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      On Uppermost Winds

      Mar 1, 2024

      On Uppermost Winds
      5 min read

    • Article

      Magnets: Carried through time, lovers seek their purpose.

      Feb 6, 2014

      Moon Colony B, 2213 Former Ponzi-schemer Mary Pillar digs through a trashcan. It smells like rotten eggs and milk. She is elderly and homeless, living in an alley between two eco-efficient skyscrapers. Dust particles dance around her. She has lost ev

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Wind Feels Loss

      Aug 8, 2019

      The Wind Feels Loss
      7 min read

    • Article

      Remembrance

      Mar 2, 2023

      Remembrance
      2 min read

    • Article

      Love On The Line

      Feb 15, 2022

      Love On The Line
      6 min read

    • Article

      In Love And War

      Jun 10, 2021

      April 1943 - Krakow, Poland Irena was bent over her needlework, stitching the frayed seam of her skirt when she heard a single gunshot ring out. She jerked and then scowled. After four years of war, she ought to be used to it. Why, the other night a

      11 min read

    • Article

      Lost In Time

      Oct 5, 2022

      Lost In Time
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Clues To ROMANCE

      May 4, 2021

      The Clues To ROMANCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Little Trip

      Aug 2, 2021

      As the first morning light peeked through the gap in the curtains, Alice left her new husband in bed. She wrapped her silk kimono around her; a present from Jeremy, it reminded her yet again just how generous he’d been since their wedding. Even this

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Emperors of Existence

      Dec 28, 2018

      The Emperors of Existence
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Nest Of VIPERS

      Jan 25, 2023

      A Nest Of VIPERS
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Stele For Marcus

      Apr 1, 2024

      A Stele For Marcus
      6 min read

    • Article

      Customer SATISFACTION

      Jun 20, 2023

      Customer SATISFACTION
      6 min read

    • Article

      Touched By The Future

      Nov 1, 2018

      Touched By The Future
      3 min read

    • Article

      Jack of Knives

      Jun 3, 2021

      WINNER £100 Jennifer is the author of four middle grade children’s novels published by Maverick (writing as Jenny Moore). Her latest book, The Misadventures of Nicholas Nabb, is set during the same period as her winning story and also includes a scen

      6 min read

    • Article

      Scotch Broom

      Feb 1, 2024

      Scotch Broom
      7 min read

    • Article

      Ode to Joy

      Mar 28, 2018

      Ode to Joy
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Fortune Teller’s Confession

      Aug 10, 2022

      White obscured the man as he waddled down the old dirt path, which was disappearing under the snowfall. I brought the axe down one last time before I paused, stepping back in reflex as the wood split, each half tumbling in an unpredictable direction.

      12 min read

    • Article

      A Dragon’s Perspective

      Jun 10, 2022

      There once lived a dragon named Deathwing. Well, at least that’s what they called him. Deathwing was growing old, far too old for his liking. The joints of his claws ached and groaned under his ever-growing weight and his scales were beginning to los

      18 min read

    • Article

      Customer Satisfaction

      Jul 13, 2021

      Customer Satisfaction
      6 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      Alice And The Jabberwocky

      Apr 10, 2022

      ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe. Once again, Alice found herself in her bedroom, feeling rather mimsy indeed. Every day now, at two o’clock, she would sit at

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Killer

      Aug 21, 2020

      The Killer
      6 min read

    • Article

      Running Away

      Feb 22, 2021

      Leaving London behind her, Millie drove faster, picturing thousands of crazed fans in pursuit, desperate for what – a lock of her hair? Or Julian; except after the last gig, somehow she knew he wouldn’t follow. She knew from bitter experience that di

      5 min read

    • Article

      Externalities

      Jan 10, 2023

      “In economics, an externality is the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.”—James Buchanan and W. Craig Stubblebine The library rolled heavily into town, bearing its cargo of knowledge mundane, esoteri

      15 min read

    • Article

      In The Right Light

      Jun 7, 2022

      In The Right Light
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Ice Cracker II (and other stories)

    4/5

    18 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Ice Cracker II (and other stories) - Lindsay Buroker

      ICE CRACKER II

      (and other stories)

      by

      Lindsay Buroker

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2011 by Lindsay Buroker

      * * * * *

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      The Frozen Water Trade

      Through Fire Distilled

      Ice Cracker II

      Excerpt from The Emperor’s Edge

      THE FROZEN WATER TRADE

      Snow skidded across the frozen lake, mounding against the ravaged body. Beside it, blocks of ice had been removed, and frigid black water lurked in the square pools. Gray clouds hung in the afternoon sky, bringing dusk early.

      Amaranthe crunched toward the dead man, the snow and ice slick beneath her boots. At her side, her companion glided across the same surface, making not a sound. His stomach doubtlessly wasn’t sending queasy jolts through his body as they closed on the grisly scene.

      I guess this is the place, she said.

      Claws had torn canyons into the face and lacerated the dead man’s parka. Frozen blood stained the ice, the snow, and the tools beside him. His gloved hands still clutched the pick he had tried to defend himself with.

      What do you think did it? Amaranthe tucked back strands of hair whipping her eyes.

      Cougar.

      Eyebrows arched, she turned toward her comrade. As always, an unreadable expression marked Sicarius’s cool, angular face. He wore black from soft boots to fitted trousers to parka, the monochromatic attire broken only his armory of daggers and throwing knives.

      "Cougar? Amaranthe asked. We’re less than ten miles from the imperial capital, a city of a million people. This lake is under siege by noisy steam hammers and trucks stocking the icehouses. There’s no good game hunting for a hundred miles in any direction. No cougar is going to wander out of the mountains of its own volition."

      I didn’t say it came of its own volition.

      Ah, she breathed. You suspect...

      Habit kept her from saying the word magic out loud. In the same breath, the empire denied the existence of magic and forbade its use—a mandate punishable by death. Sicarius, who had traveled beyond the empire and had a more ecumenical education, had few such compulsions.

      I will investigate. He inclined his head toward the body.

      Thank you. Amaranthe was happy to leave corpses to him. I’ll find our new employer.

      She hitched the strap of her repeating crossbow higher on her shoulder and touched the short sword hanging at her belt. She did not have to walk far to reach the camp. The man had been killed close to the shoreline where tents perched and fires burned in metal barrels. Bins of coal supplied fuel for the steam vehicles, and plumes of black smoke rose from their stacks. Despite the promise of a storm, clinks and rasps echoed as workers sawed and hacked the ice, struggling to fill truck beds before dark.

      Amaranthe rounded a sleeping tent and strode toward a log cabin at the center of camp. She ducked under one of several ropes crisscrossing the area, attaching tents to the cabin and to each other. A cockeyed flap drew a frown, and she paused to straighten it.

      Snow crunched behind her.

      She spun about. A woman charged, an ice pick raised above her head. Amaranthe ripped her sword from its sheath.

      The pick chopped down like a woodcutter’s axe. Amaranthe leapt to the side, evading the blow while keeping her attacker within reach. The pick slammed into the snow, even as her sword came up to rest on the woman’s collarbone.

      Problem? Amaranthe did her best to keep her tone even.

      The woman’s shoulders sagged. She held her arms out, gloved palms open. She wasn’t much older than Amaranthe, twenty-eight or thirty, but weariness stamped her face. Tears welled in her eyes and froze as they ran down cheeks chapped and red from the cold.

      I had to try, the woman said. The bounty...10,000 ranmyas. It’d be enough to... Please, understand. My husband died last year, and this job is so hard. We’re out here fourteen, sixteen hours a day. I never see my children and...

      All right. What’s your name? Amaranthe lowered the sword and leaned around the tent. Still out by the body, Sicarius knelt on the ice, touching something. Good, he had not seen. He was a stickler about killing anyone he considered a threat, and, for good or ill, he had spread his sphere of protection to Amaranthe as well.

      Merla.

      Merla, I understand. My mother died when I was little, and my father worked a job like that. I never saw him growing up, but I knew he cared about me. I’m sure your children love you and understand, too. Amaranthe sheathed her sword. Don’t try again. My comrade, Sicarius, is nearby, and—

      Sicarius, Merla breathed, her ruddy cheeks turning pale. Two million ranmyas.

      Yes, his bounty is a lot more impressive, but he won’t think twice about killing you. He wouldn’t think at all; he’d just react, and then where would your kids be?

      No, of course, I wouldn’t even think to—I mean—

      Amaranthe! A new woman jogged toward them.

      Merla flinched and ran away.

      Nelli. Amaranthe nodded to the newcomer.

      I’m glad to see you. The smile didn’t reach Nelli’s eyes, but then happiness was not to be expected, not if she had lost as many men as her note said. I wasn’t sure if you’d remember me or come even if you did. You and your team have become quite renowned. She glanced about, pushing wisps of black hair back under her parka hood. Are you alone, or did you bring them?

      Just one.

      At that moment, Sicarius stepped around the tent, startling Nelli. She skittered back, though he made no threatening move.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1