For Krim the Bell Tolls
The land of Lamacoln is paradise. Just don’t offend the god.
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Installments
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 1
First it was dark, then there was a light, so bright that it hurt the eyes, and voices sing out in the distance. “Come, come, come…” One step. Then another. The ground becomes uneven. Slabs of stone, stretching out ahead.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 2
Matilda stabbed Ellison’s steak with her knife and pulled the entire plate over to her side of the table. Ellison grimaced but instead of saying anything to her personally he just looked towards the entrance to the dining room. From where Ellison was sitting, he could see inn owner Quimby Plummer at the front desk.…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 3
Benedicta Bernewelt twirled around, holding up the skirts. “The dressmakers are getting really good,” she said. “I can barely feel the corset.”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 4
In the morning when she woke up, Torralei’s bed was comfortable and familiar. Why wouldn’t it be? She was created to exist on Lamacoln. She stretched under her thin wool blanket and the bed felt larger than it should have been. She was up early and headed straight for the bathroom. She was still unsteady…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 5
A thin bell clanged and Ninlein dropped dropped the wet sheet she was holding back into the large wicker basket full of wet laundry. “We have to go back to Avourelpolis,” she told Torralei. The two of them carried the basket away from the clothes lines back to the laundry room, then continued up the…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 6
“I didn’t do anything, I swear!” Heifiel struggled against the two Powers who held her arms. Snot ran from her nose, mixing with tears. It was ugly and terrifying. Torralei looked away.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 7
Ellison Davo sat at a small bistro-style table at an outdoor balcony overlooking the docks. The Crow’s Nest Cafe was his favorite dining establishment in this part of town.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 8
“I don’t like the funny looks that the sailors are giving us,” Margarett Pennebrygg whispered to Wynefrede Aumberden as they were getting a tour of the Santa Marina.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 9
Wynefrede Aumberden rose from her bunk trying not to wake up either of her friends. She couldn’t sleep and still felt queasy. Her cotton nightgown wouldn’t be much protection against the chill of the night, so she pulled the wool blanket from her bed and wrapped it around herself before she unlatched the cabin door,…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 10
Wynefrede peered down the companionway to the deck below. “They can’t all be dead.”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 11
George Bedgbery was forced to give his sword. Pleasance Pratt, her lamp and her handbag with its collection of writing supplies. “She could stab someone with a pen,” said the sailor who searched them. And Wynefrede? She had to give up her shoes. Did they think she was going to whack someone over the head…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 12
Clinio Lind, the Royal Season security chief, was holding an emergency war meeting at the temporary office on Banking Street. Ellison Davo was supposed to be there, but he was running late. He had a good reason.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 13
“We’re royally screwed,” said one of the Royal Season guards. There were about a dozen in the room. Ellison had interviewed all of them before, when looking into the kidnapping of one of the Singletons earlier that season. Now many more of them had been taken, and he still had no clue about who was…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 14
The pirates moved everyone down to the mess, located down below the officers’ quarters. It was towards the back end of the ship — the stern — and was right in front of the galley, where the meals were cooked. A couple of captured sailors had been ordered to make lunch for everyone and Wynefrede…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 15
Clinio Lind, accompanied by five of his fighters, Ellison, and Matilda, crossed Banking Street and headed down Delves of the Golden Dragon, which was just a narrow alley connecting Banking and Knots Hollow Way. It was lined with three- and four-story apartment buildings, a few with shops on the ground floor offering take-out or laundry…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 16
“People die on Krim all the time,” said Benedicta. “It’s no big deal.” She sat on one of the two lower bunks in a four-bunk stateroom on the pirate ship Queen’s Revenge. With Wynefrede, Margarett, George and Pleasance in the same room, it was crowded. And, with one more person than bunks, there was going…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 17
“No!” Pleasance Pratt rushed through the door, knocking a surprised pirate out of the way. “Get your hands off my customer!” She beat the pirate holding George with her tiny fists.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 18
“It’s feast day,” said Elyon, the angel who threw out Alosrin’s toothbrush. Torralei didn’t know why, but she still held a grudge against him for doing that. The new toothbrush she got looked identical but she liked the old one better. Which was odd, because she’d never used it before.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 19
“For the glory of Avourel?” Torralei repeated. “If Avourel wanted me to sing he should have given me perfect pitch. Maybe he doesn’t want me to sing. Have you thought of that?”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 20
Earlier that same day, while Torralei was fighting her way through the Lamacoln jungle, Wynefrede Aumberden waited in Fishlips’ cabin for whatever horrible thing was going to happen to her next.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 21
The pirates sailed around the island and it was well into night by the time they anchored in the middle of a small lagoon. Here, the volcano loomed closer, the smoke rising ominously above the peak.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 22
“I’ve always wondered what a private investigator’s life was like,” said Mad Eyed Brendon after he and Ellison dropped Matilda off in the center of Krim to go bar-hopping. “I didn’t expect it to be mostly driving around.”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 23
Ellison struggled and screamed out for help. Local residents ignored him, but a couple of noobs stopped to watch.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 24
“I’m being held against my will,” Ellison told Mike the bartender as he was dragged through the King’s Armpit to a booth in a back corner.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 25
Even if she hadn’t been tied to the other captives, Torralei wouldn’t have run. She was too tired from her attempted escape, and too dejected to find out that she was on an island and that there was nobody she could turn to for help. But also, she was finding out a lot of interesting…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 26
Ellison walked into the Barley Mow Inn, greeted Quimby Plummer, the owner, who was doing some paperwork at the front desk. Then, before Quimby could remind him about his bill, he turned left and walked into the dining room. Clinio Lind was waiting for him at table by the window.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 27
“I don’t think you’re going to need me for this,” Matilda said before Chambrs starting telling the story of how Elea Carlyle got her hands on the list of Royal Season participants. “It sounds boring, and I’ve got a lead on some gun runners I want to follow up on. Besides, I already got everything…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 28
The first signs of light were just starting to appear in the sky ahead when they got to the top of the mountain. The road approached Avourelpolis from a different direction and there was a large gate that Torralei had never seen before. It was as tall as two people, heavily ornate. Two Seraphim, Heifiel…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 29
What if the three women from the ship were wrong? What if the gate did lead to an eternal hell? Maybe the women themselves were demons sent to corrupt them. Maybe there were rival gods. Torralei remembered the look on Heifiel’s face as she herself had been dragged towards the gate. Heifiel was a Seraphim.…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 30
The area north of the commercial gate was mostly industrial. The buildings were squat, with bomb-proof stone walls and heavy iron doors secured with multiple padlocks. Any of them would be a cinch to rob, Matilda thought.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 31
“Look, I’m just trying to find somebody,” said Matilda, edging away from the side of the boat. “To talk to them, just to talk to them, not to stab them.”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 32
Port Royal was adorable. Unlike Krim City. Here, residents seemed to have pride in their town. Port Royal was cheerful and spotless, the air was fresh and fragrant, and everyone smiled when they saw her. Matilda hated it. It was almost as though nobody realized all the different ways she could kill them.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 33
“And then I slit my own throat,” said Matilda. “Literally? Or metaphorically?” asked Ellison.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 34
When they heard the bell ringing, Wynefrede stopped rubbing her chain between two rocks on the floor and stared at Benedicta and Margarett, shackled next to her in the back corner of a small, stone room with a gate taking up most of one wall. “What now?”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 35
The Royal Season had managed to convince the Krim Chamber of Commerce to lend them the Storm Bug, a man-of-war with gunports set low in ship’s broadsides. The Chamber had probably added up how much money the Royal Season had spent on Krim over the past few months and calculated the odds of them coming…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 36
“You know, if we’d skipped the sailing trip, we’d be home by now,” said George. “Last night would have been the last Royal Season event.” The four Singleton were sitting on the bank of the stream, eating stolen bread. The day before, they’d given up on the idea of heading down to the coast when…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 37
Temeliel was on his hands and feet, weeding at the end of a row of potatoes when one of the Powers came over. The slightly bigger, scarier one. “You probably don’t remember me,” the Power said in a low voice. “But I’ve got my eye on you. You’re a trouble maker.”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 38
“Why does everyone hate me so much?” Temeliel asked Ninlein. “I haven’t done anything.” But as soon as he said it, Temeliel realized that this wasn’t true. He had done bad things. They were just things that nobody knew about. He had talked to a stranger, and was considering conspiring with them to leave the…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 39
The toilets were on the back side of the building. It was normally dark at night, but Temeliel had a small lantern hanging from his cart. Another hung in the small doorway, about waist high, that opened into the building’s cesspit. Temeliel’s job was to use a long-handled shovel to scoop the waste out then…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 40
The cart was lighter with just the tools and Elyon’s body in it, but Temeliel didn’t think he could push it through the jungle. The path back led up to the compound, where he could easily be spotted. He didn’t want to think about what would happen to him if the Powers found him with…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 41
Wynefrede watched as George and Torralei — Temeliel? — neither was probably their real name — pulled Elyon out of the cart and dumped him on a flat rock near the top of the waterfall.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 42
“If they zombify you, I’ll kill you myself, I promise,” said George. They hid their stolen food under a decomposing log a nice safe distance away from the compound, then George led Wynefrede back to the main cluster of buildings.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 43
Wynefrede tried to make herself as small as possible inside the crate and held her breath as someone opened the lid of the crate next to her.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 44
Shortly after Wynefrede was in the woods, running away from the compound, she heard the bell ring behind her and froze in panic. Then she slowly turned around and dropped to the ground and crawled behind the nearest tree and waited for the ringing to stop. Was this a signal for the cult members to…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 45
Finnbogi stood up. “We have to get off Krim right this minute,” he said. He and Wynefrede had been sitting behind a rock outcrop, hidden from view, looking at the stars above them and the ocean in front of them. Now his head was visible to anyone who might be looking for them. Wynefrede tried…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 46
The Storm Bug sailed into Lamacoln’s protected bay just before a cloud bank rolled in, blocking the light of the moon. The ship’s captain dropped anchor. Ellison had been up on the deck since they first caught sight of the island.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 47
“There are six of them,” said Cleeve Freer as the lights on the shore got a little closer. “Or, at least, six of them who are carrying lights.” “Can you guys take them?” Ellison asked.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 48
The commando walking in front of Wynefrede stopped and dropped her down onto the wet rocks. They’d gotten tired of watching her stumble along in her sandals and started carrying her about an hour ago. A rock stabbed her in the side and she cried out, but the commandos ignored her.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 49
“What the hell is this thing?” Ellison weighed the orange plastic gun in his hand. He was standing on the sandy beach, surrounded by Clinio’s security team, the bodies of four of the commandos at their feet. Two were still alive, but wounded.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 50
Wynefrede wasn’t a tiny woman, but she felt like a doll as the commando carried her up the mountain slung over his shoulder. But then again, if their gate allowed them to bring in weapons and military uniforms, then it probably didn’t have any constraints on body types, either. The main Krim entrance gate had…
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 51
“If you spot any of our Royal Season participants, shoot them on sight,” Clinio Lind reminded half of his security team. The other half was circling the compound through the forest, and got the same warning earlier. “We can’t afford to lose them again.”
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 52
Finnbogi moaned slightly and his eyes flittered open then closed again. Good, he was starting to come to. Wynefrede scooted closer to him and poked at him with one of her feet, then looked around. The two commandos who were guarding them had automatic rifles in their hand, and were scanning the compound for threats.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 53
Ellison took off his assassin jacket, rolled it up and poked it out from the boulder he’d been hiding behind. A volley of gunfire immediately followed and he jerked the jacket back.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 54
Ellison gestured back towards the trees but it was George who led the way back up the path a little way, then across the grass and into the trees.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Chapter 55
The Royal Season conference room was bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. Ellison doubted that this was the normal configuration since it would give employees headaches. Only cheap office violated the laws of physics on an ongoing basis.
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For Krim the Bell Tolls: Final author’s note
Yesterday’s chapter marked the end of For Krim the Bell Tolls, my longest novel yet, coming in at over 80,000 words. I’m finally starting to feel like a real writer. There were some speedbumps I hit along the way, but they were health related, with a couple of off weeks, but the writing process itself…