The Doomsman
The state of civilization in 2015 New York will closely resemble that of England in the early days of Saxon settlement -- primitive people will dwell sparsely in patriarchal stockades and will fight and hunt with bow and arrow.
Approx. 77,136 words.
oncealed gap in the palisades just beyond the intake of the Ochre brook. He and Issa had shared it between them as a precious secret, and he had used it this very morning as a short cut to the water-side. Tennant, their elder brother, was not aware of its existence, but then Tennant was a prig, and not to be trusted in truly momentous affairs.
There was his father's wrath. Constans turned sick at the thought of arousing it. No; he could not tell him.
"I don't know," he said, vaguely.
Sir Gavan looked at him searchingly, then turned and strode out of the room.
Constans felt his cheeks grow hot. Why had he not told all the truth? He was a coward, a liar, in all but the actual word. He sat down on a bench and buried his face in his hands; then the recurring thought of Issa and of her peril stung him to his feet. Where had Sir Gavan gone?
Constans made his way, hesitatingly, into the courtyard of the keep. He found it thronged with men, his father's retainers and servants. The a
