nagi_schwarz
Joined December 2009 and calls Other Haven home.
88 stories, 0 challenges, 152 comments, and 4 friends
Trainee lawyer who needs to write fiction before pleadings swallow her whole.
Stories
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Deadly and Beautiful At It
She had a scar across her face – someone had taken a knife to her? – and her nose had been broken more than once. She had broader shoulders than a woman ought, and she tended to stand hunched, as if trying to make herself shorter than she w...
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Sunday Afternoons Were Made for This
This…was bliss. A single mouthful of perfect, smooth chocolate. If she closed her eyes and shut out the world, she could revel in the sensation – taste, texture, smell. Oh, the smell of fresh-made candy. “Do you like it?” She op...
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My Mother's Eyes
“You have your mother’s eyes,” they always said to me, and I would smile. I was adopted at birth and had but one photo of the woman I might have called mother, and I had little to say on the subject of her eyes. But sometimes, when I ...
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No Take Backs
“We’d be an amazing couple,” he said. “I know. We’d teach our children to love literature and science. We’d discipline them with experience points and push-ups and raise our own army of ninjas. We’d spar on the...
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Last Time, Next Time
Triple nine. Three little numbers, easy pushes of the button. I watched them cart you away, save your life. Steal your soul. In a courtroom, you have fire and passion, and the jury buys it pretty much every time. You put long hours in at the office and...
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Fortune Cookie Game
“Yes,” Schuldig said in response to their victim’s terrified thought. Behind him, Crawford stood tall and imposing, radiating cold menace. “Crawford is a wizard.” “In bed,” Nagi added without looking up from his DS. Schuldig’s taunting ...
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Government Meddling and Posthypnotic Suggestion
The thing about being colorblind was that color didn’t matter. I couldn’t remember what things looked like, but I remembered what they smelled like (fear really does have a smell, when you’re chasing her through the trees with a silen...
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New Steam
Steam trains. The greatest technological leap in the entire history of man since the ‘discovery’ of fire, and now people thought it quaint and old-fashioned, a mark of days gone by, of days when women wore corsets and racism was part of sci...
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Three directions
Her eyes are blue and orange, and also purple and gray, because in this world we have four eyes. I have but three, because I’m shorter than everyone else, and I don’t need to see as much. Except I can see the future, so I need to see more. ...
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But First - The King
Lila came to awareness at someone calling her name. She opened her eyes and she was sprawled on the grass. The sun shone overhead and cars roared in the background – She sat up, looked around. Cars? People in jeans? She was back in her own time. Wasn...
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Almost Done
Emrys took a deep, shuddering breath. “It is almost done,” he said. Lila glanced at him; he hadn’t let go of her hand. “Almost?” “He is the Once and Future King,” Emrys said. “Once is done. The future wai...
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Friend, Brother, King
Between them, they heaved the boat up onto the grass. Lila helped Emrys lower Arthur into the boat, and then she stepped back, let Emrys arrange Arthur’s weapons and armor as best as he could. Emrys swiped a hand across his face angrily, and Lila...
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Small Hours
In the small hours of the night, when the last of the mourners had gone, Emrys found Lila in the chapel. She changed into a squire’s uniform, and then Emrys used his magic to carry Arthur’s body out of the castle. This time Arthur’s b...
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Afterwards
Peasants and nobles alike were allowed to pay their last respects to the king. Jenny was busy running the household to ensure all who came had a meal before they went on their way. The knights automatically deferred to Lancelot in handling matters of s...
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Not His Destiny
Even before the troops reached the walls of Camelot, they could hear the wails and mourning of the people at the loss of their beloved king. Lancelot rode at the head of the army, Agravaine and Jenny flanking him, and Lila could see surprise in people&...
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Asleep and Dead
Lila stood beside Emrys and Jenny, still clad in bloodstained armor and tabard, while Lancelot and Agravaine addressed Mordred’s men. Gaheris, though loyal to Arthur, had taken his place at the head of Orkney, and the exchange of terms by this po...
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It Is Time
“Don’t worry,” Guinevere said before Lila could speak. “You don’t have to apologize. You did nothing wrong.” “It happened, and it was wrong,” Lila said quietly. “I’d wager you did something ri...
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My Queen, Jenny
The knights and Emrys bore Arthur back to his tent. Guards formed an impenetrable human wall of armor and misery while Lila sat with Guinevere and, in the distance, Lancelot dealt with Mordred’s forces. “I should be helping Emrys dress Arth...
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Respect for the Dead
“Don’t cry, Jenny,” Arthur said. His voice was hoarse, his eyes distant, but he smoothed a hand over her hair. “My Lord,” Emrys said. “Let me pull the blade out. I can –” “It’s done,” Arthur...
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Demon, Hellspawn
Agravaine scooped up a fallen Orkney banner and leapt astride Mordred’s horse, ordered the men to stand down. Lancelot hoisted a Pendragon banner and began ordering Arthur’s men to clear a path. Guinevere, still screaming, tore through the ...
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With Him
Lila supposed that, from the proper angle, it would’ve looked like a scene from a film, swords flashing, armor glittering, men dancing with the savage grace of battle. To her it was chaos, terrified eyes and blood-slick hands. The stench of burni...
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Betrayals and Ends
“The mark of a man is how he answers a mistake,” Emrys said. In the distance, trumpets sang. Arthur had reached the front line. The clash of metal on metal renewed. Lila glanced over her shoulder, then back at Emrys. “I don’t un...
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Sorrow, Healing, Mistakes
Lila looked at Guinevere. Guinevere handed her a sword and said, “The king needs you.” “And you?” “Will wait.” Lila said, “I’m sorry.” “You shouldn’t be.” “I –” ̶...
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Taking Sides
Lila’s hands shook. “Arthur, we can’t–” Arthur reached up, tangled his fingers in her hair. “You don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve known any heart was truly mine.” “Now is not the tim...
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Mine Alone
Emrys’ brow furrowed, and he glanced at Lila. He knew, but he didn’t know she knew. “If he has Clarent -” “Fetch the horses and find some way to hoist me up,” Arthur said. Emrys sighed. “My Liege -” ̶...
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Rhon
“Why isn’t it working?” Lila demanded. Emrys cast again. “I don’t know. I -” Then something happened. The silver haze in his eyes turned black, and he snatched his hand back. “Clarent,” he said. Lila knew...
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First Time for Everything
Tom tugged nervously on his collar, darted a glance around the street. Where was the contact? He glanced down at the description he’d scrawled on his palm with a biro, but he was nervous and most of it was smudged with cold sweat. Then he saw her...
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Punish, Pain, and Fear
Lila wavered. She didn’t think a king could beg, but right now Arthur was a man whose friends were dying for him. He wanted to be at the front, saving as many as possible. “Sire -” Arthur reached for her. “I’ll need a hand...
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Please
Somehow Lila managed to haul Arthur onto her horse and then, against every code of honor her brothers had drilled into her, she urged her horse back through the ranks, away from the clash of metal and the spray of blood. She found a copse of trees and ...
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Terror and Boredom
Actual battle was both terrifying and boring, terrifying because Lila could hear the infantrymen screaming in the distance as they were run through, boring because all she could do was hang back behind Arthur’s horse, clutching the Pendragon penn...
