Anthony R. Palumbi

Friar Waldman's Key “For hours I stayed silent, fearful of angering my as-yet-unseen captors.  Peeking out from my cell, I spied the stone walls of a dungeon, lit not by the flickering of oil lamps but some gentler, more solemn glow.  A wooden chair stood in the corridor,

White Coral Sands Dirty and haggard, I felt ashamed next to Ienith’s easy grace.  The Herald followed us to the beach, but stopped and waited at the treeline while we walked ahead.  My boots were obnoxiously heavy in the sand.  “Just take them off,” she suggested, and it felt

Back to the fold We marched through the day, slowed by our bound prisoners to a pace that vexed the Colonel but suited me. My left leg hurt at the wound site, my right a solid mass of ache from overuse. My shoulder had all but locked in the crutch-bearing

The Battle of Kaleikaumaka, part 2 “See the fate of my enemies!” Speaker Ka’ena strode down the path from the demolished and burning cluster of huts atop Kaleikaumaka’s terraced topography, upending the rattling water truck he pushed before him to pitch its contents moistly onto the dirt road:

The Battle of Kaleikaumaka, part 1 Iokepa had returned to camp, skulking back through the jungle by moonlight and feel. Birds slept, but the whirring of countless insects sent up enough noise to cover his footsteps. Kimo’s scouts stood fingering their weapons, itching to hear the plans and nervous

Waylaid Their forms slid from the shadows now, dark and streaked with pale yellow to clash with sunset’s orange. My machete came out and Iokepa took that queue to snatch the hatchet from his waist. I threw my hip against the nearest tree for support, leaning the crutch against

The Road to Noio Koha I shut the book when Iokepa stirred. Our bags were packed, all preparations made, and now he’d caught two hours of sleep before our departure. I’d eaten, drank and done my business in a bucket when Hina forbade my going outside. As my

The Water-Sellers' Plot It was dark when I woke and surprisingly cold. I’d dreamed but could only remember a brief moment: running pell-mell across a desert plain as tornados descended from clouds like the gods’ very hands plucking at me. My mind, still shaking off fever cobwebs, struggled

A Welcome in Kaleikaumaka Those fever dreams were harrowing journeys, scattered and filled with nameless needs. I had somewhere to go, someone to meet or something to retrieve. Always I was distracted, immersed in something else that should have taken just moments but stretched into hours. The crucial moments never

Pua'a Light came sooner than I’d expected, bird calls starting an hour before to omen the dawn.  I closed the Friar’s book, wrapped it in a shirt and pushed it down deep in the pack to caulk it against the rain waiting in dark grey clouds