Marcella reclined in the office of her new store, wearing an uncharacteristic frown. She had petitioned hard to be sent to the Guiness Company branch in Quest. Her father didn’t put much stock in the city, as it was hard for outsiders to gain any traction with the fiercely loyal guilds, but it was a good market. Marcella was sure that, in the right hands, it could produce a lot more profit. 2023-09-06 03:47:53 +0000 UTC View Post
When the meeting finished, Callan stepped down from the stage to shake hands, give platitudes, and answer questions. Predictably, all of them wanted to know when they would get to form a contract of their own. Preferably with King’s littermates or others of his kind.
Callan didn’t have answers for them. He was not a trained summoner. He didn’t have the knowledge or experience to adv...
2023-09-03 21:37:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe first meeting of the Grand Summoners, when they were too small to have a name, took place in the dining room of a small bar after closing. After months of efforts, Callan stood on a stage constructed by his followers before a group that wouldn’t have fit in the small dining room they started in.
The Listeners, his followers, all wore brown robes, drab and unflattering by design. The...
2023-09-03 21:37:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe kingdom knew Quest as a city of the free. It was where hunters, wanderers, and free-thinkers gathered. Its people were strong and short-tempered, with a tradition that was irreverent of authority. Something romanticized in stories but caused no shortage of problems in reality.
The family granted governance of the land and its surrounding territories wasn’t given as a reward. Quest w...
2023-08-31 18:55:01 +0000 UTC View PostFar enough from the goblin army that the humans would never think to search the area, a shadow moved through the sparse trees, leaving deep prints in the soft mud. A pair of eyes glowed in the gloom of the night as the figure walked into a shallow pool one of the trees stood in and the water moved aside, revealing compacted earth. They stomped on the hard earth three times and it opened, reveal...
2023-08-27 02:55:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning, Lesley appeared outside the walls of the outpost early. She waited for Dowager to wake and meet her, unwilling to surrender herself to anyone besides the army’s commander. Once he did show up, she allowed herself to be detained without comment, holding out her wrists while Sir Quintana bound her arms up to the elbows. An effective deterrent against the boarwoman’s obvious ...
2023-08-27 02:55:37 +0000 UTC View PostDowager asked for a break to consider the situation more deeply. Lesley seemed annoyed by the delay but acquiesced when he offered her lunch. For all her pretense at civility, she scarfed down the dry rations offered to her like a beast. The prince who was raised using three different forks for dinner couldn’t look at the gnashing teeth without feeling sick to his stomach. Imagining such a si...
2023-08-25 01:47:32 +0000 UTC View PostDowager’s training failed him. Lesley chuffed as his expression twisted with his disgust. He managed to smooth his features a moment later but he’d already exposed himself. “I hope you are not offended if I tell you no.”
“Not offended. That’s the answer I wanted to hear.”
It was the first time in Dowager’s life a woman was happy to be called unattractive. He grew tir...
2023-08-23 08:22:33 +0000 UTC View PostMorning dawned. Breakfast was cold rations, even for the prince, and no one walked around without their armor. Despite the invaders wanting to talk, Dowager didn’t expect their negotiations to end with a peaceful outcome. What he did expect was a long day of fighting and he wanted the men to be ready.
Shortly after his lackluster meal, a messenger reported that the enemy commander was o...
2023-08-23 08:22:30 +0000 UTC View Post“What do you think, Sir Quintana?”
“What do I think?” The knight huffed. Compared to everyone else in the camp, the prince included, Sir Quintana looked refreshed. His long career as a soldier meant he was accustomed to sleeping rough and he had the fewest number of responsibilities. He didn’t attend to fight but to protect Dowager and act as his advisor, when allowed.
Bey...
2023-08-20 19:27:40 +0000 UTC View PostDear Father,
I hope this letter finds you well. From what I hear, the capital has been in an uproar. The kingdom has never given much thought to summoners and for good reason. Recent events have only shown how volatile their practice can be. Their ideology itself is corruptive, teaching its practitioners to forge relations with suspect creatures rather than improve themselves...
2023-08-20 19:27:38 +0000 UTC View PostThe horrid smell wouldn’t leave her nose. Jac could practically taste it, even when she drank water. Three days. They kept her locked in that horrid place for three days, despite getting what they wanted the first night. To intimidate her into keeping her mouth shut. They didn’t have to say it for her to understand the threat of being left there for the rest of her life if she acted out of ...
2023-08-17 20:04:47 +0000 UTC View PostWinter was the season for socializing.
Banquets and parties were held throughout the year, as a noble’s calendar was never empty, but the scale changed during the cold months. It was a time when people were flush with money, the laborers having worked throughout the year and the nobles having sold the fruits of those labors.
The cold kept them inside and they needed something to o...
2023-08-17 20:04:45 +0000 UTC View PostSome nobles envied peasants. The simplicity of their lives, devoid of complicated machinations or plots. Their freedom, able to go and do what they pleased without worrying about their actions desecrating the reputation of their family. Their passion, still burning fiercely without the smothering influence of etiquette.
Sebastian didn’t envy the common man a single thing. There were thi...
2023-08-12 22:54:30 +0000 UTC View PostJac didn’t think of herself as a spoiled noblewoman. The kind of delicate princess with smooth hands and flawless skin that existed just to be saved by the men who fancied themselves heroes. She was willing to work for her dreams. To roll in the dirt with the peasants, sleep on beds of hay, and sweat under a hot sun. She thought a stint in the dungeons would be uncomfortable but simple. The f...
2023-08-12 22:54:28 +0000 UTC View PostJackal didn’t think much of his ruler. Sebastian kor Harvest wasn’t an impressive man. He wasn’t physically imposing, particularly intelligent, or especially charismatic. The best compliment someone could give him, both as a man and as a ruler, was that he was reasonable. Practical. A subtle tongue would call him cautious. An unkind one cowardly.
There would be no songs sung about h...
2023-08-11 00:39:57 +0000 UTC View PostThey continued to theorize about their sudden arrest and exchanged small talk about their lives until the door opened. Jac turned, jaw dropping in surprise. Of all the people she expected to walk through the doorway, her father, wearing a smug grin and an expensive jacket, wouldn’t have been in her top five choices.
Her anger spiked as she watched him swagger into the room without a car...
2023-08-09 02:40:11 +0000 UTC View PostJac had no idea where the guards were taking her. Her escorts hadn’t responded when she asked about their destination and the windows were covered by thick cloth. A part of her worried that the men had taken her for nefarious purposes, but she suppressed the small worry. As insignificant as her family was, a noblewoman being snatched off the street would draw far too much attention for small-...
2023-08-09 02:40:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Good work today, Jac.”
“Good work!” the young woman called back as she walked out of the store with a smile. At first, she’d hated the nickname, thinking it was too masculine for an aspiring woman of the court. Amongst nobility, appearances accounted for everything. Men could supplement a ghastly demeanor with enough merits, but that option didn’t exist for women.
Oh, t...
2023-08-06 02:40:16 +0000 UTC View PostThree days had passed without contact.
Jackal didn’t think of himself as a man prone to panic. Rather, he thought of himself as a patient man. He needed to be. Otherwise, he would have been driven mad growing up under the harassment of the Grimoires. He could take any insult with a smile. Could take a beating and get back to work without bothering to wipe away the blood. All because he ...
2023-08-06 02:40:14 +0000 UTC View PostTo say that the ride back to the city was uncomfortable would be a gross understatement. Junior had gone through much since the death of his father, but he could say, without a doubt, that riding in a dark carriage holding the head of Luke Tome while he contemplated his impending death was undoubtedly the worse event of his life.
What unsettled him was the suddenness of it. No matter what...
2023-08-03 23:27:07 +0000 UTC View PostJunior wasn’t in a good mood. Hadn’t been in one since the death of his father but things had been especially bad since being roped into a plot by the summoners of the capital.
The fools wanted his help to mentally subjugate a drakkon. Such a plan would have been risky even if he was exactly what he seemed. Giving that much power to one man was a terrible temptation. They had a plan t...
2023-08-02 17:35:48 +0000 UTC View PostEmerett re-entered the barn with Junior and Ambrose trailing behind him, the young artist carrying a small box. “We brought breakfast!” he shouted cheerfully, obviously excited. Luke wondered if his enthusiasm would hold if he shared the lengths Lazarus was willing to go to for a contract. He kept his silence as he accepted several buns and a steaming mug.
“Where did you get this?...
2023-08-02 17:35:44 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, Luke directed the younger and stronger Ambrose to place massive bones around the circle. He placed the gold and gems himself after spotting the sticky-fingered artist slipping a small diamond into his pocket. He particularly liked putting two large emeralds in the eye sockets of a beast with a mouthful of fearsome teeth. Oh, what he could have made their circle with more time and ...
2023-08-02 17:35:41 +0000 UTC View PostThe site they chose for the summoning was an old farm just outside the city. The ramshackle barn, in particular. The old man who owned the land had no sons interested in working the land and was too old to see to its maintenance himself.
The cantankerous bastard was wasting away along with his fields. His nasty attitude had long ago driven off any friends and invited the wilds to swallow ...
2023-08-02 17:35:38 +0000 UTC View PostEmerett continued to dazzle them with his vision of the future. They would claim the unwanted and undeveloped southern lands for their own and transform them into a paradise grand enough to fill the saints with envy. Each man would have his own territory to do with as he pleased. Otherworldly riches would flow with such abundance that they would pave their roads in precious metals and carve the...
2023-07-27 21:11:05 +0000 UTC View PostEmerett was a friendly man. Perhaps too friendly. Luke didn’t know how to handle someone who smiled without pretense and wasn’t making small talk when he asked about others’ day. If the man was a noble, Luke would assume it was all a ruse to entice others into dropping their guards. It could be that’s what it was. Negotiations were a core part of summoning and deception was a core tenet...
2023-07-26 08:57:41 +0000 UTC View PostSoon, the last of those expected for the meeting entered the cellar. In the lead was someone of unassuming stature with every feature hidden. Their hands were hidden by dark gloves, their face a mask, and a long cloak obscured everything else besides the ends of brown pants not tucked into their boots. Not even their eyes were visible, the usual holes covered by thin black fabric that lined the...
2023-07-26 08:57:37 +0000 UTC View PostThere was nothing romantic about plotting rebellion. In the stories, the hovel of a bar the unlikely heroes chose as their base of operations was cozy and warm despite its humble decor and meagre offerings. The summoners had also chosen such a place for their meetings. One did not scheme in crowded taverns or upscale inns. They had to be discreet and that meant squatting in places no one would ...
2023-07-22 22:07:44 +0000 UTC View PostLuke Tome didn’t think of himself as a noble.
He didn’t align with his vision of a noble. The Tome family had a history that rivaled the oldest families in the kingdom but that was the only thing they shared with their peers. They had a small territory, smaller coffers, and no influence. The Tomes were nobles in name only. Luke was not even allowed the luxury of pretending otherwise.<...
2023-07-22 22:07:42 +0000 UTC View Post