Tales of Arillion: Ellie, the Mule Bred
Zack Riley
Creysil runs on order.
Ranks, bloodlines and obedience.
Ellie fits none of it.
She shouldn’t be in uniform, training beside soldiers who’ve
spent their lives believing canids like her deserve a death sentence, not a
place at the table.
Ashwin, one of the cities guards, should've turned her in
without a second thought. Instead, he offers her a way forward into the ranks,
and into a life that feels almost… normal.
But the longer she lives as someone else, the harder it
becomes to tell where Ellie ends and the lie begins.
Every step she takes beside him is built on a truth she’s
hiding. A truth that caused her mother to be taken, and a truth that’s seen
others like her executed for the crime of wanting to fit in.
And if that truth surfaces, she knows it won’t be mercy
waiting for her.
