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Chapter 1

Ghleanna the Deciulp fronificently, if she did say so herself, in her misery It was ridiculous, she knew, to still be as devastated by all this as she had been It would be going on six months and yet she could not move past it Instead, she sat and she drank and she ed and she tried to forget And this had been the way of things for a long ti, her kin would say

This was all her own fault, though She’d trusted where she shouldn’t have, believed lies when she daot the one thing that no one else ever forgot—that her father was Ailean the Wicked Also known as Ailean the Slag, well-knohore of the dragon and human world

And, with a single stroke of idiocy, Ghleanna the Decimator had become Ghleanna the Idiot

Ghleanna the Fool

Ghleanna the Failure

Yet perhaps “failure” was too harsh a word She’d never thought of herself as a failure before After years on the battlefield, she’d proved herself again and again But a failure was how she felt now Like a failure and a fool with no one to blame, but herself So, in morbid shah to occupy her mind or sword arm, Ghleanna had returned to the safety of her cave home’s ancient walls to beout only for food and ale

Although these last few days she’d one out for more ale

She had no idea what her long-ter-term plans? Since Ghleanna wasn’t sure, she drank more ale until sweet blackness took her and she didn’t have to think about her inherent stupidity and the misery it had caused her anymore

Ghleanna had no idea how long she’d been passed out, but asher head was currently taking She forced her eyes open and watched the blunt end of a steel spear coain She rolled away but the end of another spear hit her on the side of the jaw

“Wake up, ya lazy sow Wake up!”

“Leave me be, you mad bitches!”

“Is that any way to talk to your dear, sweet aunts?”

“You’re not my aunts,” she lashed back

“Close enough It’s better than Great Cousins, isn’t it? Makes us sound old, don’t it, Kennis?”

“That it does, Kyna Now get up before we strip the scales from ya bones”

Pissed that her kin didn’t have the decency to leave her alone toin her ale and drool, Ghleanna sat up and snarled, “What is it, you old hags? What is it you want from me?”

“Well, first, you can stop feeling sorry for yourself Isn’t that right, Kyna?”

“That’s right, Kennis Nothing worse than a oness sittin’ around in a dark, dank cave, boo-hooing over soon”

“I a,” she lied

“Look at her lying to us, Kennis!”

“I see it, Kyna Lying to us and thinking on’t know It’s a shaain On principle”