City in ChainsCity in Chains

For three long years, the militant Chleuh have occupied the Kingdom of Quimper and its great capital, Lutesse. Times are hard since they won the war. There's not much food or fuel -- the Chleuh take anything that isn't nailed down. People in Lutesse have terrible choices to make. Do they go along with the Chleuh and try to make the best of a bad situation? Or do they try to fight back, hoping the occupation can't last forever? Take Malk Malkovici, junkman extraordinaire. He's a foreigner in Lutesse, and one who follows the wrong gods. If he doesn't make himself useful to the Chleuh, he's a dead man. If he makes himself too useful and the occupiers lose the war, the resistance will have its revenge. It's a fine line to walk. Or Guisa Sachry, an actor who craves the attention of an audience to feel alive. But the Chleuh control the theaters the same way they control all the other arts. If he's going to appear at all, he has to accommodate himself to them. And the longer the war goes on, the deeper in he gets. It can't go on like this forever. Battle-dragons fly over Lutesse. Resistance rises. Liberation may not be far away.