Empires rise. Gods whisper. Lovers collide. Realms and Roads is a living story universe — free to read, impossible to forget.
Zugudini’s spear cut through the night air and through the soldier’s neck, cutting off the words on his lips. He fell where he stood, choking and gurgling, scrabbling at the spear that stuck out of his throat. She ran up to him, set her foot on his chest and pulled it out. What had happened? […]
Dande and Chenzira wandered through the village, trying to get whatever provisions they would need for their journey. They walked their horses down the winding path into its heart. The little huts were closely nestled together here. Many were abandoned. They didn’t spot any granaries. The whole country was feeling the effects of the drought […]
Dande didn’t know where he was going. He just walked, his eyes fixed firmly ahead of him as he strode away from the tavern. He wanted to get as far away from that place as possible, as far away from her. Even as he walked, her face flashed before his eyes. It had taken him […]
The sprawling tree limbs and cool night air whipped past the two riders. They kept to the narrow path, bowing their heads to avoid getting slapped by the low-hanging branches. Chenzira kept the lead, and Dande closely followed. The old man was impressive. Never once did he lose his balance as he maneuvered his horse […]
Shrieks of terror rent the air. Across the arena, more and more masked faces appeared, pulling daggers from the bands of their loincloths and screaming at the top of their lungs. The crowd stampeded. People rushed for the gates of the Yard of the Ancestors, trampling whoever was unable to remain on their feet. The […]
Dande rode out of the city alone with the few belongings that he had: a bedroll, an ox-hide cape, his twin spears, a shield and a pair of sandals. As he had gathered them up from the corner that he occupied in the southern guardhouse, Gamba had shown up to bid him farewell. News about […]
Dande sat on his horse and gazed at the pale orb in the sky, marveling at how quickly the ten harvests had gone by since he’d last seen Nyatsimba’s comet. Its blue-green tail stretched above it, like a bull with a horn broken off. For a moment he wondered why it took ten harvests to […]
Zvongombe, the name of the capital city, meant the place of the cows. The city stood like a jewel in the wilderness. It was nestled between three hills, one of which, a cow-shaped rocky outcrop, had given the city its name. The gray cobblestone streets had been worn down over the centuries by the feet […]
Dande and Luba were at Zugudini’s side in an instant. Luba slapped her cheek gently, calling out her name. “What happened?” Chenzira asked, drawing up on his horse and leaping to the ground with unexpected agility. “She fainted,” Luba said, as Zugudini groaned and came to. “What happened?” Zugudini murmured. “Let’s get her out of […]
On yet another sun-scorched day in the Dande Empire of South Eastern Africa, on the seventh moon of the fourth harvest in the reign of Chimedza Rasoro, the Mwene Mutapa – Master of the Earth, two heavily armed warriors rode their horses across the once verdant grasslands which were now a faded yellow. They both […]