I've placed the first thirteen in this forum before, but as a reminder here they are again.

quote:

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Mountain vultures circled lazily overhead as a small caravan crested the ridge of the Andulian Mountain pass and began their descent. Overburdened horses picked their way carefully around fallen rocks on the steep road leading to the valley below. Without warning a boulder dislodged from the hillside above and bounded down the slope, setting off a small flow of loose shale in its wake. The sound echoed down the canyon.

The burly man in the lead held up his hand, halting the handful of ragged travelers. Their tattered cloaks snapped in the wind as they waited uneasily for the rocks to quit shifting.

“Why don’t we go around, Volgar? This road is unsafe,” the man next to him complained.

“We don’t have time, Igmar. We’ve got to get the girl to Port Lenik before the slavers set sail.”

“You’ve already been paid. Why not kill her now and throw her body into the gully? No one will be the wiser.”

Volgar glanced at the girl who sat vacant-eyed and motionless on her horse. Igmar’s suggestion had merit, but Volgar had already decided he was unwilling to risk the consequences. The threats made by the sage who had ensorcelled her had not been idle ones, and neither were those of his pirate brother who had hired them in the first place.

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I liked it the first time you submitted it, so go ahead and send it my way.

I like the beginning, and the uneasiness you cast between the two guys.