Sinking Among Lilies

By Cory Skerry

A traveling mercenary, moonlighting as a bookseller, arrives in a village stalked by a supernatural threat... but the occupants don't want her help, and they refuse to tell her what is stealing their children.

This story, first published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, appeared on the 2012 Locus Recommended Reading List.

Tangent Online had this to say: "Sinking Among Lilies" goes beyond its own fantasy trappings, however, to present an interesting moral dilemma: that power, given with all good intentions, can all too often make monsters of those who might otherwise be victims... "Sinking Among Lilies" presents a tale that is not only rich in texture, but intriguing as well, and I, for one, hope to read more of the travels of Imuri Bane, but failing that, will gladly take up anything else written by Cory Skerry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cory Skerry
• Release date: Feb 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301064847

Cory Skerry

Cory Skerry lives in the Northwest U.S. in a spooky old house that he doesn't like to admit is haunted. When he's not peddling (or meddling with) art supplies, he's writing, reading submissions at Tor.com or copy-editing for Shimmer Magazine, and often off exploring with his sweet, goofy pit bulls. He's a graduate of both Viable Paradise and Clarion West, and his work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fantasy/Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others. For more of his stories, visit http://coryskerry.net/

Book preview

Sinking Among Lilies

Cory Skerry

Copyright Cory Skerry 2012

Smashwords Edition

originally published at Beneath Ceaseless Skies at beneath-ceaseless-skies.com

If you'd like to read more by the author, please visit coryskerry.net. Thank you!

I studied the village of Keyward from the packed gravel by the water. Judging by the skulls roped to the pylons in the estuary, the people here knew how to take care of themselves. But even if there was no fight to be had, perhaps the townsfolk would be interested in the one and only book I had to sell.

I peered at one of the skulls as I passed. It had been there long enough to have lost the lower jaw and most of the teeth; mussels the size of my thumbnails had attached themselves to the sides like bristling purple sideburns.

It was common enough on the coast to tie pirate corpses out for the gulls, but I couldn't help but remember how easily I might have become a pirate myself all those years ago, suddenly homeless with only my learned violence to serve me. I shuddered and renewed the tactic of Floating Among Lilies, taking a deep breath and transforming the air into a false pink light that only I could see, caressing the edges of my vision as I exhaled. Thus calmed, I guided my horse along the muddy sand that bordered Keyward.

The town hunched above salt-worn rocks, bisected by a harried stream. The tall, narrow buildings were almost disguised by the pines, but even from the bottom of the hill I could see iron bars on the lower-level windows. Wooden bridges fluttered with laundry, some of it sporting faded, rusty stains. Bandages.

The closest building was a stout inn with a pattern of pale streaks marking the walls. Scars from dismantled scaffolding, I realized when I noticed there were iron grids installed across the upper windows as well.

High above me, a man with a crossbow lazed on a balcony on the second floor. He wasn't rude enough to aim yet, but his eyes were on me. I was an unusual sight, a woman traveling alone.

I waved. He pulled a cord. Perhaps it meant I was friendly; perhaps it was a warning. I thought it best to wait for a greeting.

Expensive defenses like glass, iron, and crossbows meant that Keyward not only had a supernatural threat but they could afford a trained professional to deal with it. I just needed to convince them they'd rather hire me than await the slow mercy of