"The Opal of Nah" by J. Gregory Keyes

I had read good things about two earlier stories of Fool Wolf, the antihero created by J. Gregory Keyes, but found "The Opal of Nah" too unfocused to recommend. The tale opens as Fool Wolf plays dead amongst the battlefield corpses to avoid detection, but drags immediately because most of the first two pages consist of separate pairs of guards discussing the course of the battle and current situation while Fool Wolf listens. It's a long info dump, and it's followed by another as Fool Wolf speaks of his plans to the goddess bonded inside him. Fool Wolf and his goddess are being pulled to a place called the Strictured Land by forces they do not understand. So too are a former lover/enemy, as well as a long-time foe. The rest of the story details the machinations Fool Wolf must perform to get to the Strictured Land, and the obstacles he must overcome along the way. It must be said that Fool Wolf is an entertaining character and has some clever scenes and dialogue. He cannot save the story, though. I never got a clear sense about why the characters took the steps they did, and despite the frequent references to previous events, I felt mostly confused.