Seventh Circumstance

On the Island of Albion, in the days before the Giants, two unlikely lads are tempted away from their drudges' job in a village pub by the prospect of rescuing a maimed heiress, the Rich, Beleaguered Princess. Filling their purse with precious dragon scales, and commending themselves to Miss Fortune, they take a boat across The Sleeve in search of the flying pigs that can carry them to the Princess's tower. Aided or distracted by a succession of diverting characters – a drunken raconteur, a sagacious seamstress, the scale-shedding Ringbane, a silent boatman, a fake fairground time traveller and an itinerant warrior hunted by a very sinister villain – the two bickering heroes finally reach their destination. But all is not as they expected, for they have neglected to inform themselves of some fundamental data … (29,000 words)