“The Seventh Dead Warlord”

“Crap. Another one”. Detective Cotler squatted by the well-dressed Orc’s body, unremarkable save the antique sword jammed into the ground next to it. And the missing head.

“Yep. Seven dead Warlords, all beheaded. Old Graak is fresh out now”, his Lieutenant said from across the body. “And the scene is clean. Well, aside from all the blood. No prints, hairs, fiber. Just…this.” He flicked the sword, set it swaying.

Cotler watched it with unfocused eyes. A seventh sword. Upright. A sick feeling bloomed slow and heavy in his gut.

He stood. “Ell-tee, we need to see the Tarot Crone. Now.”

The last we saw Detective Cotler, he was on the trail of the Dreamland Killer. This story, I imagine, takes place earlier in his career. Or perhaps not. I haven’t quite decided. When I found the picture for this week’s Phantom Sway Friday Fiction challenge, I knew I wanted to write something a little different. A quick peek at an active murder scene seemed like just the thing. Cotler has his work cut out for him, eh?

It’s possible we’ll hear more from him, though I don’t have any immediate plans in that direction. You never know. Not sure how many police detective urban fantasy novels there are out there. I might need to do a bit of research.

One last thing. The story gets a lot more fun if you do a little Tarot research. Even if you don’t, I hope you enjoy it and share it around!