A tale of the Goxhat, an interesting multi-bodied entity with a further multiplicity of limbs and facial features.
A wandering poet of this race stumbles upon the scene of a massacre in the hills, one member rescuing a singleton infant. Upon taking refuge in the castle of a local lord, a poem is required in his honour, the absence of which will lead to severe penalty. Despite the attempts of a magician in the lord's employ to sabotage the poem writing by inducing sexual activity, a suitably honorific poem is written and delivered, and the Goxhat poet escapes in the dead of the night.
An intriguing story, although I have to admit not finding the characters quite as enthralling as the author evidently does in her introduction to the story!
One joy for me was finding another Arnarson inappropriate reference (see a previous review for mention of duct tape, silver party ballooons and decaff coffee etc.). In this alien environment, when the multiple bodied poet is bathing in a rock pool, a servant of the lord provides 'soap and towels' as if they were working in a contemporary health spa!
