The Scaled Tartan

Rayne Gray awakes in the morgue, tag upon his toe. It's not even the sensible dead house of his sane and smoky 19th century. This is the morgue of the far future. And so Gray becomes a castaway upon the streets of a monstrous city of glass and steel, rushing mechanisms and blinking lights. Not a sword in sight. No horses, no dogs, no crows. No hats. No hats? Where the blast are civilization's hats? The change would crush most. But a spadassin must be optimistic, not to mention quick on his feet. And Gray is the world's last spadassin. He'll find his way home, though dragons guard the door. From the book: The yellow eyes met mine, read my contemplation of his neck bones. For a second the curtain slipped, I beheld another man. Not the amiable old thing in the basement sipping tea. No, I saw Fulgurous, lord of storm, master of a mad family that extended from star to sea, from mountain cave to forest hollow. And angered as I was, I stepped back.His turn to stand. Put hands to the table, leaning across the chessboard as if it were the world, and he a beast risen up from the sea to overshadow it. When he spoke, the words came as deep stone rumble."The doors of Time are closed to you, Rayne Gray. Your wife lies in Widegate cemetery, in the vine-covered mausoleum of the Gray family. She lived long years honoring your memory as hero. Your descendants honored you as well, and in their turn lived long and interesting lives. And they now rest as well, in what peace they deserved. Surrender your hope. You cannot return to the days of their sunlight by any door but Death itself. Your game ended upon a tavern floor ages past. A hero, a corpse, and done."'The Scaled Tartan' is the exciting conclusion to Quest of the Five Clans.