L. J. Amber

TEWWBAD Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32 – Lost in Translation

Fortunately, thanks to the time she had spent listening to liturgies at the shrines, Laewyn was familiar with the spirits of the woodlands. Unfortunately, as Celaena contorted in her sleep and muttered fevered words in the tongue of sylvan creatures, Laewyn had no other experience of them, and so breathed out in relief as Iolas finishe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31 – Enchantment by Acquaintance

Laewyn was fully dressed when Saphienne and Iolas entered Celaena’s study, sitting by the window in a clean set of clothes identical to those she had worn the day before; she flushed as she exchanged polite greetings with them. Celaena hovered near the entrance as she blushed with her, and she promptly excused herself from th...

TEWWBAD Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30 – Defining Boundaries

Once the demonstration had concluded, and the doused braziers had been returned inside with the other implements, Almon instructed the three apprentices to sit on the grass and take notes while he lectured them at length on the discipline of Abjuration. But before he began, he informed them that they would not be covering all the princ...

TEWWBAD Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29 – The Outline of Barriers

Rain poured down across the Eastern Vale, flowing down the sloped centre of the grove and on through the elaborate, winding channels that led to the western river. Saphienne always liked the rain, and when she was little she hadn’t cared whether she was soaked through from walking in it, much to the amusement of others. Now in he...

TEWWBAD Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28 – Show and Tell

Saphienne and Celaena found Iolas waiting for them outside the bakery, still plucking flowers from his robes as he leant next to the wide window. Saphienne settled next to him while Celaena went inside.

They said nothing for a time; the grove was quiet, still yet hours away from the afternoon rush when most elves socialised and collect...

TEWWBAD Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27 – The Presence in Absence

Always quick to think of others, Iolas sprang toward Celaena the moment she collapsed within the gravel circle — though not swiftly enough to break her fall. He took her hand in his own and squeezed as he studied her sweating face. “Celaena? Can you hear me?”

The wizard loomed over them both in his blue robes, his voice...

TEWWBAD Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26 – Mirrors

The horror that Saphienne and Iolas felt as they watched the spirit leave the circle was joined by terror, both apprentices swiftly backing away from the creature now inhabiting Celaena. That something terrible had happened to their friend was immediately apparent: she moved with stilted clumsiness, as though her legs were new to her, yet carried ...

TEWWBAD Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25 – Prisms

Saphienne could be forgiven for thinking that all her lessons in magic would take the form of gentle demonstration followed by intellectual discussion. After all, while he had emphasised the wonder and awe in spellcasting, Almon had stressed that magic was an exercise in careful thinking and observation. Nor was she alone in that expectation; Iolas...

TEWWBAD Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24 – What Connects

There are months when nothing makes sense, and moments when everything at last comes together — when all the puzzling pieces that were scattered along the path suddenly click into place. Saphienne had one such moment when she arrived before Celaena’s house, gazing beyond a gate in a low wall that surrounded a hill which steeply climbed t...

TEWWBAD Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 – What Distinguishes

In retrospect, Saphienne realised she had made an assumption: she had counted on the fact that Peacock would be able to read her notes. She realised her oversight while walking with Iolas to their second day of lessons, but said nothing to him, preferring instead to practice small talk about the weather; she didn’t want to give him an...

TEWWBAD Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22 – Innocence

“I suppose the solstice festival feels long ago to you, given your age. You don’t remember, then?”

Brought back to the present as Gaeleath spoke, Saphienne stepped forward, as though she were carefully examining the trio of unfinished sculptures, reaching out to touch the sandstone with one hand while she wiped her eyes with the othe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 – All the Ease of Summertime

There had been a puppet show for the children. Saphienne would remember that, nearly five years later.

She had been nine years old, golden haired now summer had arrived, wearing her usual sundress — while all the other children wore clothes reserved for special occasions. In her unfolding memory she was sat at the back o...

TEWWBAD Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 – For Reason and Passion

When the tea was finished, and the wind stirred restlessly through the bushes, the apprentices stood and exchanged farewells. Celaena hugged Iolas and then Saphienne before she took their empty cups, and she departed to the teahouse with a promise to see them next morning.

Iolas walked with Saphienne toward her house, lengthen...

TEWWBAD Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 – Just Friends

Although Saphienne knew the layout of the village well, she had seldom spent time in public spaces other than the library. Her mother disliked going out unless she had to, and children under the age of fourteen were not able to request provisions, not without a responsible adult to deliver the request on their behalf. Library books were diffe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18 – Moving Ahead, Falling Behind

Spare a thought for Celaena and Iolas as they sat with Saphienne in the parlour of their master. Although both were older than her – Celaena turned sixteen, Iolas still seventeen – and had prepared for longer to secure their start as Almon’s apprentices, even from that very first day of lessons, they knew Saphienne was a...

Chapters Revised With New Content!

Don't worry — new chapters are still releasing on schedule!

Hello everyone,

Have you ever finished doing something, only to figure out how to do it better, just a little too late? That was me, a week after I launched TEWWBAD: I suddenly realised a simple and profound improvement I could make to my writing.

Going by the Royal Road stats, peopl...

TEWWBAD Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 – Look, and Look Again

Walking through the village while under a magic spell was quite unlike anything Saphienne had experienced before. She had never tried wine – despite the many bottles her mother kept under the stairs, she had never once been interested – and didn’t really know how it felt to be drunk; but the accounts of drunkenness she had read ...

TEWWBAD Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 – Of Magic Made Tangible

Saphienne, Celaena, and Iolas were all very excited for their first practical lesson in magic, and when their master stood to begin, the three apprentices straightened up where they sat cross-legged on the floor before him. Yet all of them were teenagers, and all felt it very important not to show too much enthusiasm before Almon �...

TEWWBAD Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 – Intangible Lessons

To ensure she wouldn’t arrive last, on her first day of lessons Saphienne set out for the wizard’s abode even earlier, still yawning as she made her way through the outskirts of the village. Her lingering tiredness vanished the instant she came within sight of the towering tree — seeing another girl in apprentice’s robes, reachi...

TEWWBAD Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14 – An Immovable Rock

See Saphienne as she was becoming, the forthright young girl, fourteen years old. Her hair was once more brown as the earth, and she was still pale — though even these features had begun to lose their resemblance to those of the quiet child she once was, her hair thicker, gloss beginning on her skin. Her eyes were still green, but thei...

TEWWBAD Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 – Small Things That Matter

Upon noticing Faylar waiting in the grove, Saphienne shut the door to her family home slowly, curious about why he was just standing there. He had obviously seen her come outside from where he was waiting, but he had said nothing, pretending instead that he was preoccupied by the morning clouds drifting overhead. A gust of wind ru...

TEWWBAD Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 – Taking Care of Her

The man who emerged from Saphienne’s family home was dressed against the cold, wearing a long, padded coat that was split at the front and back, the woollen scarf around his neck wound very tightly. He carried a saddle over his shoulder as he ducked through the doorway, and the braided tail of his long, white hair whipped back as he s...

TEWWBAD Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 – Misapprehensions

In her countless hours in the village library, Saphienne had read that elves possessed much better eyesight and hearing than many other creatures, and that most of the shorter-lived peoples considered their senses miraculous. She found the thought that someone would be so easily impressed quite amusing, though imagining how much duller th...

TEWWBAD Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 – Around the Issue

By now you have a faint inkling of the woman Saphienne would become, and the people who shaped her as she grew. Two of the five moments that defined her have been described, and we crossed out of her early childhood some time ago.

So too the hour that you were to listen has elapsed. Tell me: does the hoard still command your attenti...

TEWWBAD Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 – Emerging Shapes

On the night of her first confrontation with the wizard Almon, Saphienne was physically tired, having spent the day working with stone. And yet, as she walked back through the outskirts of the village, she felt wide awake, her thoughts thrumming in her mind like a stringed instrument that had been plucked for the first time. All the snowy w...

TEWWBAD Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 – A Frozen Summit

There was no reaction from the other elves when the illusory glade of flowers and floating stars dissolved away, not immediately, their silence made starker by the wintery clearing to which they had returned.

Almon found his voice first. “Must you dispute everything, child?”

The wizard was livid; his face had flushe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 – Seeing and Believing

On the day of Saphienne’s twelfth birthday she had risen with the dawn, bathing herself while her mother still slept. As the first light of day shone through the windows of her family home she brushed out and tied back her then brown hair, put on freshly cleaned clothes, and made herself a simple breakfast of wholegrain breads and mu...

TEWWBAD Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 – The Great Art

Months before Saphienne stood in the parlour and answered the wizard, she had been examined for apprenticeship by another accomplished artist.

Gaeleath had arrived at her family home early in the morning, to be met by her mother, who brought the sculptor inside and called up the stairs for Saphienne. Descending toward them, Saphienne he...

TEWWBAD Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 – A Bloody Contest

“What in the world? Another interruption?”

The wizard had remained seated in his chair when the door flew open under Saphienne’s knock, though the three elves that stood before him had jumped, surprise written on their faces.

Almon maintained his cool, sitting back. “I told you, girl, another time. You are...

TEWWBAD Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 – Choosing a Side

With all the options Saphienne had before her, even Filaurel thought it strange when the young elf chose tailoring as her next art. The girl had an extremely keen mind, and while there was a certain creativity involved in designing clothes, the work was far from intellectually demanding. And as for personal interests, she had never shown pa...