Hello, and welcome to Sprouting Nonsense! A speculative fiction writing blog where I post fantasy stories, excerpts of my upcoming works, and more! My name is Thomas Mansfield, aspiring Australian writer and role-playing game enthusiast. Here’s what you can expect from my blog:
- Short Stories: My current project is a set of 8 dark fantasy short stories set in Karatera, a desert world of my own creation, originally designed for my home D&D campaign.
- Excerpts: From upcoming stories, these short excerpts give you an idea of what I’m working on.
- RPG Talk: Alongside writing fiction, I’m also running tabletop RPG campaigns, including one currently set in Karatera! From time to time, I may post little snippets of RPG ideas, from stat blocks to rulings, and so forth. The systems I’m most familiar with are Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition) and Pathfinder (1st edition).
- Other Stuff: When I don’t have a story, excerpt or RPG thing to share, I have an update on how I’m going with my writing, ideas for future stories, information on my fantasy worlds, and other general musings that don’t fit into the other categories.
Everything I write, I write by myself, without using AI or any other generative tools. I post on Mondays 8 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) every week from now until I run out of ideas (which should hopefully be a long way away from now). If you like what you read here, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi to assist with the running of this site (custom URLs don’t come free, as it turns out).
And now, without further ado, please enjoy an excerpt from my first short story, A Soldier’s Lot!
Edited by Claire Bradshaw
Fayiz crawled across the cliff, his black-and-red tabard scraping against the dirt and leaving long dusty smears the colour of rust. The sun blazed mightily in the desert sky, its radiance shining down upon the broken highlands and sudden crags of the Southern Laceration, causing sweat to trickle down into his dark black beard. He moved slowly and carefully, listening intently for any sign that they’d been found by an enemy.
“Fayiz!” his companion suddenly cried behind him.
Fayiz pushed himself to his knees, hand flying to his scimitar. “What?” he hissed, whirling around.
His companion, a young, dark-skinned youth by the name of Bulus, pointed a shaking finger towards the cliff edge. Fayiz saw only a large rock on which a sand lizard was bathing in the sunlight. He turned back, glaring daggers at his companion.
“They can see through lizards’ eyes!” Bulus claimed fearfully.
Fayiz growled in frustration and resumed crawling. What he had done to be saddled with such a coward, he’d never know. He approached the edge of the ridge, shooing away the sand lizard, then motioned for Bulus to approach. He did so hesitantly, and the two of them bore witness together.
Far below, where the steep crags and rocky hills met the road, a great camp had arisen, hundreds upon hundreds of tents punctuated by the lazy smoke trails of campfires. Banners were propped up in the gaps and the footpaths, and though it was too far away to see their insignia, Fayiz already knew it was the roaring dragon of the Bluebanes.
“Well, Bulus,” he said gruffly. “The captain was wrong. This is no mere skirmish force.”
“How many are there?” replied Bulus, his voice quavering with nervousness.
“Hard to say. My guess… At least ten thousand. Maybe twenty.”
“Gods,” Bulus whispered, rubbing the miniature iron dagger that hung from his ear in agitation. It was the same earring Fayiz wore, marking the two of them as soldiers of the Redblood Mercenary Company. “Twenty thousand dragonkin…”
“They’re not all dragonkin, if that stops your whimpering,” Fayiz growled, taking a spyglass from his belt. “Many of them are human, like you and me.”
“They say that one dragonkin is worth five grown men,” Bulus muttered.
“They’re worth two at best,” Fayiz told him dismissively. “They may be larger than us, and they may have dragonbreath, but put a spear through their belly and they’ll die the same as any man.”
“I’ve heard tales from the folk here,” Bulus said feverishly. “I’ve heard that they can grow wings, that they can turn invisible, that—”
“If dragonkin were so dangerous, the highborns of Ifenswalk would not be using them to serve drinks!” Fayiz snapped. “In fact, if they could do half the things that people say they can, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation! We’d both be dead, and they’d be ruling the world. Now grow some balls and be quiet.”
Sprouting Nonsense 