Tarnished Crown — John Edgell

Death stalks Pip'pt as he attempts to restore the King's crown. Tarnished Crown is a stirring novella about Pip'pt's struggle to press on toward what seems an impossible goal in the face of danger and despair.



Pip'pit breathes heavily as he plods his way through an awful morass. It is awful because other than smelly, brown muck, there seemed to be only greenish-yellow, dead-looking swamp grass. A heavy dark mist shrouds the seemingly endless, reeking bog.



The iron ring clamped around Pip'pt's neck has nearly chaffed the skin raw. He is a slave of Death, and it is Death who had sent him out into the Miremarsh, a swamp on Slave Island, somewhere in the midst of the Sinful Sea. “I am tired of you, Pip'pt, so go from my presence. Cross the Miremarsh,” commanded Death with a laugh. “If you find your way to the other side I will grant you your freedom!”



Pip'pt has been wandering in the intolerable morass for days -- feeding on things too appalling to mention -- helplessly lost and fighting to keep from sinking to his death in the mire. So begins what is to become Pip'pt's daring and dangerous adventure to restore the King of the Realm's tarnished crown.