Category Archives: Volume One

For the next hour or so it proved quite impossible to leave the square. Fitz may have melted away as soon as his speech was concluded but, with all patrols cancelled, the crowd in general showed no inclination to move … Continue reading →

It may have been the effect of the cotton wool, or perhaps it was just the sheer state of exhaustion I was in, but nothing was capable of disturbing me once I had collapsed into my bed in Room 312 … Continue reading →

For about thirty seconds I was treated to a unique insight into what it must feel like to be a lone sock being buffeted around the inside of a tumble dryer on a medium spin cycle. When the walls of … Continue reading →

When the sun went down the temperature plummeted. Inside the train, stranded motionless on the tracks, a thin frost crept up the windows and breath hung in delicate clouds upon the air. Outside, a bright, chilling moon threw its stark … Continue reading →

Outside the train we wordlessly shuffled ourselves into a line, standing with our hands upon our heads as ordered. I found myself in the centre of our little group, with Michael to my right and Charters to my left, staring … Continue reading →

An awed hush settled over the carriage as the steady drum of clanking footsteps drew closer. Everyone instinctively huddled in the centre of the car, all eyes fixed upon the door. William’s mother threw a protective arm around her son; … Continue reading →

It proved to be a disappointingly simple task to exchange at the station our bartered tickets to Madrid for two returns to Marksville. During the transaction I tried to probe the ticket clerk for details of this so-called ‘conflict’ taking … Continue reading →

It was a little over half an hour later when Michael and I located the Café del Mar, which I approached rather more in hope than expectation. Inside we found a warm, bustling place with a vaguely Bohemian air. The … Continue reading →

We stood on the concourse of Marston Railway Station and stared up at the departures board, attempting to select a destination. For the last two weeks Michael and I had been randomly zig-zagging our way through the landscape in an … Continue reading →