"High on the mountain the winds never stopped blowing. Over bare, sheer cliff face, through crevice, howling up from the valleys, and overhead, catching the clouds, ripping through them as galleon sails, the strong wind, the great wind, blowing full-force a wall of wind from some far front line."

A hundred years ago, Griet missed his chance to die.

Now he dwells in a cave above the battlefield, waiting for the opportunity to return to the past and join the battle against a god whose killing blow is a gateway into true life—"for the only way to win a war with a god is to surrender."

Poetically and powerfully told, "Shields of the Earth" is a short story.