Spoils
Author : Clare Tong Lee
Elizabeth stared at herself in the mirror as her ladies flittered about twisting her hair into elaborate braids and adorning her with jewellery. In less than an hour they would be docking at the Rammajek spaceport and then they would be out of time. They would all be out of time.
Morana III had fallen eight months ago and her people had finally given an unconditional surrender. Not that they hadn’t tried to sue for peace before, they did after the destruction of Idona Prime and again after the Ralla Massacre. Elizabeth’s father hadn’t even objected when Arishkah Vehn had demanded her as a wife. A wife on Rammajek was nothing more than a body slave.
Still, Elizabeth had been born to serve her people as much as she had been to rule them, and she knew her duty. From the cradle to the grave her thoughts would be of her people: their protection, their happiness, their honour. Today, that meant marrying the Butcher of Fenna. Vehn was so pleased, so triumphant on the holobroadcast, a well calculated blow in demanding the Jewel of the Empire. ‘The spoils of war go to the victor’ he had said, ‘and I shall make spoils of it all.’
Elizabeth rubbed her fingers as the ship docked, and considered the poison sacs that had been implanted under her nails in the days after the surrender. Her marriage bed would be christened by blood like in the days of old, but this time it would not be that of her maidenhead.
The 365 Tomorrows Free Podcast: Voices of Tomorrow
This is your future: Submit your stories to 365 Tomorrows
The Past
365tomorrows launched August 1st, 2005 with the lofty goal of providing a new story every day for a year. We’ve been on the wire ever since. Our stories are a mix of those lovingly hand crafted by a talented pool of staff writers, and select stories received by submission.
The archives are deep, feel free to dive in.
Flash Fiction
"Flash fiction is fiction with its teeth bared and its claws extended, lithe and muscular with no extra fat. It pounces in the first paragraph, and if those claws aren’t embedded in the reader by the start of the second, the story began a paragraph too soon. There is no margin for error. Every word must be essential, and if it isn’t essential, it must be eliminated."
Kathy Kachelries
Founding Member
Submissions
We're open to submissions of original Science or Speculative Fiction of 600 words or less. We are only accepting work which you previously haven't sold or given away the rights to. That means your work must not have been published elsewhere, either in print or on the web. When your story is accepted, you're giving us first electronic publication rights and non-exclusive subsequent publication rights. You retain ownership over your story. We are not a paying market.
Voices of Tomorrow
Voices of Tomorrow is the official podcast of 365tomorrows, with audio versions of many of the stories published here.
If you're interested in recording stories for Voices of Tomorrow, or for any other inquiries, please contact ssmith@365tomorrows.com