A world of dark sorcery—a time of sharpened bronze.A city carved of ancient bones. Scheming houses wage subtle war in dark alleys and decadent pleasure chambers. Lives are sold to the highest bidder and the dead are made slaves for eternity. Captured by a family of powerful sorcerers, can a young Oshala free herself, or will she become one more conquest of the House of Hex?This is a 21,000-word (86 page) novella in the sword-and-sorcery genre.This tale includes a broken chain, a cunning trap, a decoy corpse, a daring escape, foul vertigous sorcery, eldritch workshops, lurid dens of pleasure, dark-dwelling serpents, entreaties of the ancient dead, a joyous wedding pact, a laborious magical ritual, hunting by beetle, a skeletal distraction, a battle of bulk and blade, a working of poison, a surprising ceremony, the crimson sheath of the unliving, betrayal, murder, torment, salvation, and liberation.