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Re-creation: gift for a slave
"He could not leave this room without his father's permission. And he could not imagine going to his father and saying, 'Please let me go gather moss so that my slave can have a proper New Year for once.'"
What can you give a slave who, by law, can own nothing? That is the question faced by Peter, the fourteen-year-old heir to the throne of an empire. Despite his father's desire that the imperial heir maintain a formal distance from servants, Peter finds himself drawn in friendship to the eleven-year-old boy who serves as his slave.
But a shocking revelation on the eve of the New Year forces Peter to confront his own motives for keeping the slave close by. And that in turn will help him understand the deeper meaning of the gift-giving festival.
This novelette is a holiday story in The Three Lands, a fantasy series on friendship, romance, and betrayal in times of war and peace.
=== Recommendations of the series ===
"I find the characterisations so sharply delicious, dark . . . and yet engaging. . . . I like to savour each part." —Clare London, author of "The Gold Warrior."
"Even in Dusk Peterson's darkest stories there is hope and, when it's needed, redemption. . . . These are powerful stories, beautifully written, with characters who will linger in your memory." —Five-star review by C. S. McClellan, author of "Hidden Boundaries."
"There's something very special about Dusk's dark fic. Dark, very, but there's this smidgen of light in every cavern Dusk throws a reader, and the brightness of that light is practically overwhelming by the time you get to the end of the novel, and it is like crawling to the opening of a cavern. It's like getting a miracle." —K. M. Frontain, author of "The Soulstone Chronicles."
What can you give a slave who, by law, can own nothing? That is the question faced by Peter, the fourteen-year-old heir to the throne of an empire. Despite his father's desire that the imperial heir maintain a formal distance from servants, Peter finds himself drawn in friendship to the eleven-year-old boy who serves as his slave.
But a shocking revelation on the eve of the New Year forces Peter to confront his own motives for keeping the slave close by. And that in turn will help him understand the deeper meaning of the gift-giving festival.
This novelette is a holiday story in The Three Lands, a fantasy series on friendship, romance, and betrayal in times of war and peace.
=== Recommendations of the series ===
"I find the characterisations so sharply delicious, dark . . . and yet engaging. . . . I like to savour each part." —Clare London, author of "The Gold Warrior."
"Even in Dusk Peterson's darkest stories there is hope and, when it's needed, redemption. . . . These are powerful stories, beautifully written, with characters who will linger in your memory." —Five-star review by C. S. McClellan, author of "Hidden Boundaries."
"There's something very special about Dusk's dark fic. Dark, very, but there's this smidgen of light in every cavern Dusk throws a reader, and the brightness of that light is practically overwhelming by the time you get to the end of the novel, and it is like crawling to the opening of a cavern. It's like getting a miracle." —K. M. Frontain, author of "The Soulstone Chronicles."
73 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 13, 2011
4 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Dusk Peterson
101 books64 followersI write noblebright novels on hope in dark times. One of my series cycles is mythic historical fantasy in a setting inspired by late antiquity. My other series cycle is gaslamp alternate history in a setting inspired by America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with a touch of retrofuture science fiction in the early 1960s.
I'm a member of SFWA and of transformative fandom. Visit duskpeterson.com to read my fiction.
I'm a member of SFWA and of transformative fandom. Visit duskpeterson.com to read my fiction.
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