If the duke is surprised by the crowd of people that push into his study, it doesn’t show on his face. One week has passed. It’s time to deliver my judgment and decide Khan’s fate. What he no doubt expected to be a quiet conversation between the two of us has become a rather crowded conference of all the involved individuals.
As the main character of this show, I’m in the lead. Ge...
2023-05-31 03:40:08 +0000 UTC View PostIn the capital, it would be unusual for knights to have a larger residence than the family that sponsored them. Even for an order of knights that could have dozens of members compared to the moderate household of a noble along with their servants.
A few of the more famous orders manage it by investing in themselves, expanding through generations of wealth. It is, however, completely unthi...
2023-05-31 03:40:06 +0000 UTC View PostKierra tried not to think about her time in the Enchanted Forest. While her punishment ended rather well, the two decades of enforced solitude had been…trying. Going from the boisterous Dusk province to a life void of even the most basic pleasures had been torture. The only true kind her mother could inflict on her. Others would have cut and bled her until her resistance to pain crumbled. A f...
2023-05-27 19:16:58 +0000 UTC View Post“I suppose I should be grateful that my daughter has deigned to see me at all,” Roza says with a derisive sniff while seated at the dining room table. Lunch is not a common thing in the James household, leaving the table free for us to invite Alana’s mother to a meal. Despite her cold tone, she hasn’t made things difficult for us. She arrived at the table early, dressed in a simple brow...
2023-05-27 19:16:56 +0000 UTC View PostAlana’s features collapse, full of hesitance. An unexpected response. Her thoughts are plain as day, strong enough they’ve shattered her placid mask, but she’s hesitant to voice them. Is she scared? Scared of how I’ll react?
It may be terrible but the thought fills my chest with warmth. It means that she’s thinking of me. Something I used to take for granted but has become much ...
2023-05-25 09:55:29 +0000 UTC View PostFor the son of a duke, Khan is in terrible shape. As the north does not have prisons or dungeons, the traitor is simple room devoid of any furniture. He’s dressed in the same clothes we found him in, the smell telling me they haven’t even allowed him to bathe. His wrists and ankles are chained to the floor near the left wall with barely any slack. Just enough to comfortably use the chamber ...
2023-05-24 00:02:37 +0000 UTC View PostCelebrating after a victory was a natural.
After a breakthrough during training or if he did particularly well in a hunt, Robert’s mentor, Sir Quintana, would take him out for a nice meal or soak with him in one of the more extravagant bathhouses. Nobles threw banquets to celebrate everything from the birth of an heir to their dog’s birthday. The hunters liked to go for drinks after a...
2023-05-24 00:02:36 +0000 UTC View PostAs the sun sets in the north, the preparations for the Rites are finished. The tables have been set out, over a dozen of them. Normally, that amount would be borrowed from a shop but there are no shops in Victory. The scarcity of resources and the constant drain of the war means that nothing is wasted and excess is frowned on.
We needed to borrow furniture from the Moons. They aren’t pr...
2023-05-20 17:02:57 +0000 UTC View PostStanding in the middle of the Witness Circle alongside Geneva as we direct the servants of the James family in setting up tables, a stuffy feeling fills my chest. The best way I can describe it is a mix of dread and nostalgia. It accompanies thoughts of what my life could have been.
The noblewomen of the capital don’t have many responsibilities. It used to be, in the time of the kingdom...
2023-05-20 17:02:55 +0000 UTC View Post“You are planning the Winter Rites?”
“If that’s the party that happens after the campaign, then yes.”
The old servant frowns and looks around. I don’t know why he thinks it’s relevant but there is no one eavesdropping on our conversation. “You would take care not to describe the Rites as a…party.” His lips twist with distaste. “The surviving members of the army...
2023-05-18 12:33:25 +0000 UTC View Post“What’s wrong?”
“There is nothing wrong, dedia.”
I don’t believe her. As we walk through the halls of the James manor, my wife is clearly in a bad mood. It’s nothing overt. While the elven provinces have the concept of royalty, they don’t have the concept nobility. The strongest rules. They in turn promote the capable and the loyal to control their territory...
2023-05-16 23:59:40 +0000 UTC View Post“Never drinking again,” Alana mutters as she wakes up with what I imagine is a terrible headache. It’s been years since I’ve suffered a good hangover. The overcast sky barely allows any light into her room and there is no noise besides our own breaths but the slightest of either can be agonizing. From the look on her face, that’s exactly how she feels.
Her disgruntled mood lasts...
2023-05-16 23:59:38 +0000 UTC View PostBulliard knocks twice before opening the door to the duke’s study. Inside is nothing but darkness. I drop down a film and the black room is filled with gray details. The duke is seated behind a large desk, head bowed and blankly staring at his desk.
“My lord. Forgive the late interruption. Roza has a suggestion—"
“Approved. She knows what needs to be done.”
“…I b...
2023-05-15 00:30:23 +0000 UTC View PostYulia has the wrong idea. She thinks I’m delivering this report early because of some scheme but it really is just to avoid problems in the morning. Maybe it’s also to spare Alana another uncomfortable conversation. She refused her father but it certainly wasn’t easy. Thinking about it, she never outright told him no. Even a roundabout rejection was almost too much for her to handle. So, ...
2023-05-15 00:30:21 +0000 UTC View PostEleanor stood outside of the bedroom of a distraught mother as she vented her frustration in the middle of the night. She wasn’t dressed for the occasion in a silky nightgown. She would feel much better if she had her armor and weapon but she didn’t normally sleep with them. That’s how the poor woman from the Waning Stars had found her; sound asleep and irritated from being disturbed.
... 2023-05-11 13:02:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Okay.” Alana gulps down her drink before leaning against me, letting the handle of the cup slip from her fingers. Bell is there to catch it. I fend off her hand that tries to snatch the bone stylus out of my hand, careful not to knock over the inkwell on the bed. A lot of trouble when a smudgestick works just as well but the report I’m helping her write requires a bit of presentation. A ...
2023-05-10 08:15:08 +0000 UTC View Post“How did it come to this…”
That’s the question I want to ask. Our journey to the north was meant to be a simple thing. The equivalent of the social hunts in Summer Spire, where people of far more status than ability ride around in their well-furnished carriages, drinking the day away while servants and guards do their hunting for them.
They bring back a nice trophy to show o...
2023-05-10 08:15:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Is this…really the time to speak about this?” Ariza asks hesitantly. “We should be focusing on helping Khan. Poor boy.”
“Roza has never been one for tact,” Eleanor adds but Alana’s mother is unphased.
“There is no time to waste and Alana isn’t the only one who needs to prove herself to the people, my lord.” Roza’s face remains stoic but her voice reveals her...
2023-05-06 12:06:30 +0000 UTC View PostSeated amongst the angry duke, the anxious Kalise, the stoic Eleanor, the quiet Ariza, the nervous Yulia, the sneering Roza, the tense Alana, the somewhat disinterested Kierra, and the very guilty looking Khan, I don’t see this ending well.
From the looks these people exchange, no one would assume they’re family. The duke looks one second from strangling his son, the most emotion I’...
2023-05-06 12:06:28 +0000 UTC View Post“The victors return home. The fallen march on to meet the ancestors.”
That is how the duke of Victory greets his daughter as she stops before him. Then the northerners all bow their heads, holding the gesture for several long moments. Paying their respects, I suppose. Must be traditional because there are no dead to pay respects to this time around. I contemplate joining them but, kno...
2023-05-04 09:10:16 +0000 UTC View PostOn our march back to Victory, I learn many things about our captives. That includes the estrazi and Khan. Couldn’t go separating such good friends so they all get to share a wagon. That includes the dead estrazi. Making the poor bastards ride home alongside their dead friends or family seems a little cruel in hindsight but no one was feeling charitable toward them when the decision was made.<...
2023-05-02 13:06:53 +0000 UTC View PostIt happened suddenly.
Robert spent the morning walking marching alongside Will, the leader of the Squires, happily discussing their return. Many people had warned him how dangerous the north was. While they hadn’t exaggerated, the campaign had been much easier than he’d imagined. Than anyone had imagined.
Will had originally been horrified that they would be regulated to Alana...
2023-05-02 13:06:27 +0000 UTC View PostAlana returns quickly, dragging a corpse behind her. She drops it beside Khan, who flinches as it lands in the snow. She spares her brother a scowl before turning to me and my captive. “Thanks for earlier. You moved fast.”
My lips turn up in a grin. “We keeping this one?” I shake my captive, getting a series of hisses in return. Bell, what is this thing saying?
[My apologies...
2023-04-29 10:52:24 +0000 UTC View PostThere are a few things that a barrage of arrows implies. Perhaps the most important conclusion I can draw is the level of development of our enemies. The heads are made of metal and the arrows themselves are uniform, implying skilled craftsmen with proper tools and workshops. That means our attackers, who I’m guessing are the estrazi, as it would be a little too ridiculous if another sentient...
2023-04-29 10:52:22 +0000 UTC View Post“Alana, listen to me.”
Despite his questionable motives and allegiances, the morning after Khan’s sudden appearance, Alana orders the army to maintain camp. We are abiding by Khan’s warning. Not out of sentimentality or fear. After a terse conversation about our morality, Alana agreed to let Bell delve into Khan’s mind. She wasn’t happy about it, far from, but she’s less hap...
2023-04-27 09:13:33 +0000 UTC View PostAlana continues to berate her older brother for a good hour, accompanied by a few more kicks to his stomach. She also has Bell heal him before beating him again. It’s not enough to break the stalwart scout. Despite the numerous insults she hurls at him, despite her threats, Khan refuses to talk. He may be the odd bird in the flock with his aversion to violence but he is still a northerner and...
2023-04-26 07:02:56 +0000 UTC View Post“There is only so much I can answer,” Khan says gravely. “For your own safety.”
Yeah, no.
“You are going to answer everything we ask as completely as possible,” I demand, a threat very much implied by my tone. Seers are so scary because of the knowledge they wield. There are only two ways anyone in the stories has managed to wriggle out of the schemes of a seer. They eit...
2023-04-26 07:02:54 +0000 UTC View Post“Rolly, make sure nothing leaves these walls,” Alana snaps.
My colorful helper snaps into existence over my head. I watch Khan carefully. Though his eyes move to the lueorale, he isn’t surprised. Something else he knew? By the saints, where is he getting his information?
“No worries, my heroine. I can read a scene. This is where your mysterious brother reveals a conspiracy w...
2023-04-22 08:10:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe traditions of the north are brutal. Men and women alike train for years to throw their lives away in an endless war against the never-ending hordes of the Lords. Their children and their children’s children follow in their footsteps without question. If I had to guess, all the bodies dropped in the north could reach the height of the Peaks.
The James are not exempt from the harsh pr...
2023-04-22 08:10:45 +0000 UTC View PostI should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
The army is as dour as usual, not being privy to Alana’s plans. Her reasoning is she doesn’t want anyone becoming lax with the end of our journey approaching. I think it’s an unnecessary worry. This place is too harrowing to underestimate for a moment. Despite the bone-deep exhaustion showing on some of the faces as we march through th...
2023-04-20 08:15:16 +0000 UTC View Post