\tA hut stood upon the strand. Driftwood had formed it, all angles and pieces piled on. Seaweed was wedged into the gaps. Pulled up in front was an old dinghy, so rotten that it could no longer float. Parts of it were being used to form the door.<\/p>\n
\tA man stumbled out. He was old, certainly, although perhaps his beard and unkempt appearance aged him more than he truly was. A glance at the sky, at the sea, and up and down the shore.<\/p>\n
\tNot yet.<\/p>\n
\tThe wizened man amused himself by making castles in the sand, the intense look of a child on his face. He carved them with a long nail, forming windows, crenellations, making it beautiful. He stood back to admire his work, and nodded.<\/p>\n
\tThen he sat nearby, muttering to himself as he watched the clouds and the tides and the sun and the sea. The land he took for granted.<\/p>\n
\tIt was time.<\/p>\n
\tThe old man poked a tower on the sandcastle. <\/p>\n
\tIt crumbled.<\/p>\n
\tHe nodded, satisfied, and went inside.<\/p>\n
\tFar away, in a land he had once known, a tower fell. The lord and lady died in the rubble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A hut stood upon the strand. Driftwood had formed it, all angles and pieces piled on. Seaweed was wedged into the gaps. Pulled up in front was an old dinghy, so rotten that it could no longer float. Parts of it were being used to form the door. A man stumbled out. He was old, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[36,4],"tags":[21,22],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-6U","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":473,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=473","url_meta":{"origin":428,"position":0},"title":"Breaking an Empire #25","date":"April 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lianese forces on that side of the barricade were soon finished, but two more Veryan troops had fallen, rending their total count down to nine, now that Llofruddiwr had returned to bolster them. That left those nine against fifteen of the Lianese, and the Veryan forces were exhausted. Locsyn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=336","url_meta":{"origin":428,"position":1},"title":"Hia Breoedd, Part #4","date":"October 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the third in a short #FridayFlash serial based in The Four Part Land. Events that take place here will have a large impact in upcoming TFPL novels. Annwyd stared eastward, as a green tinge struck the horizon, and he called \u201cCanfydda!\u201d to those behind him. Waving others to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":312,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=312","url_meta":{"origin":428,"position":2},"title":"Hia Breoedd, Part #3","date":"October 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the third in a short #FridayFlash serial based in The Four Part Land. Events that take place here will have a large impact in upcoming TFPL novels. Sighing, he settled himself down for the night, for although it was early, his planned arising and departure would entail a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":506,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=506","url_meta":{"origin":428,"position":3},"title":"The Boys are Back in Town","date":"May 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cIt's bloody boring here.\u201d \u201cWe get to spar.\u201d \u201cWe've been sparring for four hundred years! Aren't they going to get themselves sorted out any time soon?\u201d A cough sounded in the grey, and Locsyn and Gwyth looked up as Rhyfelwyr stood over them. He gestured, and the two soldiers went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":361,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=361","url_meta":{"origin":428,"position":4},"title":"Welcome to the Forest","date":"November 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Another day, another NaNo excerpt. Brief context: They have set an ambush for \u00deracian soldiers pursuing them. Nieithr is the spirit of a warrior many years dead. Ddifeddianedig is the spiritmage hosting his soul (it\u2019s a time share arrangement). A shout was all the warning that was to be had,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":489,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=489","url_meta":{"origin":428,"position":5},"title":"Breaking an Empire #28","date":"May 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lianese line began to slacken and turn back on itself on one side of the square, and Rhy tried to look over the combat to see what could steal their resolve, but he could see nothing. The scene resolved itself moments later, as several Lianese soldiers collapsed with daggers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}