While the blasts from Leon’s arks were absorbed well by Hector’s shield the first couple of times, it began to shimmer and flex as the Lances fired again and again. They couldn’t keep up too sustained of a bombardment, though, so while his army continued to advance through the forest, Leon decided to add his power to the mix.
Lightning fell upon the shield like rain, shaking the gro...
2023-05-10 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostWar.
Leon knew that having matters come this far wasn’t a good thing, but he had to admit that being back on the warpath felt quite nostalgic. He was now pushing forty, and the last time he’d been at the head of a proper army had been during the campaign on the Serpentine Isles nearly twenty years ago.
Now, he departed Stormhollow with four thousand troops at his back.
He...
2023-05-08 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostWrath burned hot within him. He simply couldn’t believe it; everything that he’d worked for, gone in a matter of a few months. Ever since that Thunderbird brat appeared, everything had started falling apart.
Hector fumed as he paced about the office of the small castle he’d occupied east of Lake Ontarii, not far from the river that drained the lake into the Straits of Keraunos. It w...
2023-05-05 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe place where the three elders who’d defected from the Jaguars to the Tigers were being held could hardly be called a prison. They’d exercised their rights as elders to cast their vote and had broken no laws, though they’d still likely face ostracization if they were returned to the Jaguars if not death, but the Tigers had allowed them to stay in a fairly small villa in one of Stormholl...
2023-05-03 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe days following Leon’s strategy meeting with the top elders from the eight Tribes now loyal to him were packed, and little of it was of much interest to him. Meetings and meetings and more meetings with bureaucrats put in place by Iron-Striker when he was Thunderer, ensuring that each and every one of them were, if not loyal to him, then at least competent and trustworthy enough to continu...
2023-05-01 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostLeon wasn’t sure if he’d ever been in a more tense room than the one he found himself in just a few hours after consulting with Xaphan and the Thunderbird. Perhaps some of the meetings back in the Bull Kingdom when August and Octavius were in the same room, but he wasn’t sure.
He sat in a chair—one that was decidedly too normal to be a proper throne—in one of his temporary palac...
2023-04-28 15:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe days following Leon’s election were hectic and tense in equal measure, not least of which due to his decision to bring Iron-Striker into the fold. The Jaguar wasn’t happy, but with Leon’s decision to give the former Thunderer a chance, he let the matter be, though not without making sure Leon knew he’d be watching Iron-Striker for any signs of betrayal.
The other big reason fo...
2023-04-26 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostFollowing the vote, Tribesmen shot out from the Elder Hall in all directions, bringing word of the new political situation to all corners of the island. The Ax-Bringer took care of spreading the word within Stormhollow, and he was so efficient about it that by the time Leon strode out of the hall, the streets were lined with countless Tribesmen waiting to get a glimpse of him. Celebration could...
2023-04-24 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostSadness. Betrayal. Crushing despair. Even a bit of embarrassment. Negative emotions flooded through Leon’s body as he stared at the vote count, but none were quite as pronounced as anger. Wrath flashed through his body like a lightning bolt, white-hot and wild. Rage had his hands twitching. Fury lit a fire in his chest that threatened to spill out into the world.
But, after exerci...
2023-04-21 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Leon Raime,” the Ax-Bringer said as he turned in Leon’s direction, nearly giving him a heart attack, “the Tiger Tribe accuses you of the crime of treason.”
For a short moment, silence fell upon the hall. However, once everyone had processed what the Ax-Bringer had said, pandemonium just about erupted among the elders. Nearly all of the elders supporting Leon began hissing and s...
2023-04-19 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostLeon knew that it was often hard to appreciate the importance of events as they happened. However, as he took off from the Jaguars’ guest estate and made for the Elder Hall, he couldn’t help but feel the weight of all his Ancestors settling in around him.
He knew he had to make this spectacular. This was going to be a momentous occasion, one that either solidified his hold over the Te...
2023-04-17 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe Thunderer’s home was delightfully humble in Leon’s opinion. It was relatively small, built around only a single courtyard, but it was located quite close to the Elder Hall. Due to its size and the Thunderer’s power, it wasn’t heavily guarded, either, with only two people rising to meet Leon as he drew close. It was, however, quite well-fortified with strong enchantments, and it was ...
2023-04-14 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostOf the four Tribes in the Thunderer’s camp, the Rock Mane Bison were the ones that Leon most wanted to visit. The Tigers and Ji Spiders had been the Thunderer’s supporters for decades, while the Thunderer himself was a member of the Booming Brown Bears. Those three Tribes Leon had lesser hope for, but the Bison… especially after witnessing the muted tension between the Tribes the night be...
2023-04-12 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post“FUCKING TURNCOATS!” the Jaguar thundered as he split a table in half as soon as he entered the room.
“I take it everything went well?” Nikolaos drily asked.
Leon and the rest of his party, including Red and those elders left behind at the rally point, had just returned to the Jaguar Tribe’s enclave. Waiting for them there was the rest of the Jaguar Tribe’s high leadersh...
2023-04-10 15:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe meeting that Solomon had warned about was to be held not too far outside of the city. It was just to the east of the city’s outskirts, past the army barracks and close to the fields where the Bears were keeping their war beasts.
Leon didn’t much like that, but with the group he had, he didn’t think it would be too big of a problem.
Accompanying him were Anzu, Cassandra, Va...
2023-04-07 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostOne hundred and one votes. On paper, that was the size of the margin Leon was estimated to win by if the question of his Kingship came up during the meeting of the Elder Council. At first, it seemed like he might actually get to that number when only one day after his arrival near Stormhollow, the Eagle Tribe arrived, and they came with every elder in their Tribe, bringing the total number of p...
2023-04-05 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostStormhollow was a rather different city compared to what Leon had seen so far on Kataigida. It was most like the Raimondas, the capital of the Screaming Eagles in that it was dense and always populated, as opposed to the more open and sprawling Raichaiti or the only transiently occupied Raikos. The architecture of its largest buildings reflected the cosmopolitan heart of the Ten Tribes with inf...
2023-04-03 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThings moved quickly in the wake of the Ravens declaring for Leon. He stayed in Raiginn for only a few days, and in those days, he handed over his transformation enchantment, the roc feathers, the bull horns, and a significant amount of thunder wood. He had other business he could discuss with the Ravens regarding arks, Titanstone, and a host of other matters, but unfortunately, he couldn’t s...
2023-03-31 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThough he’d hoped for them to move faster, Leon spent near a week in Raiginn before the Ravens called their elder council together. It was a fair consolation that they had to call their other elders and Chiefs together first, but Leon had still felt some amount of impatience, especially with how interested Asger had been in what he had to offer them in exchange for their support.
But in...
2023-03-29 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe super Lances were given several other tests during the course of several hours, including having most of their now white-hot internal components removed and replaced so that they could be fired again without waiting the week Asger had claimed they’d need. Showing the weapons to truly be prototypes, nine of the twelve Lances had broken down for one reason or another during the tests even w...
2023-03-27 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe Raven’s capital, Raiginn, was as large as Leon expected from a medium-sized Tribe. A city of hundreds of thousands tucked into the wide valleys between the tall, imposing mountains of Kataigida’s northwest. However, it was far from a normal city.
For one, more than a dozen arks were flying in lazy circles around the city. They weren’t as large as those Leon had seen that had bee...
2023-03-24 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostRaithellion wasn’t as deserted of leadership as it had appeared on Leon’s arrival; as soon as Sar finished his declaration of support, he sent out word for the elders and Chiefs in the city to assemble in the gathering hall.
That being said, there weren’t many around, and nearly all of them were relatively weak. Still, when they had gathered, it was better than an empty hall.
...
2023-03-22 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostPost-release edit: Re-reading this chapter again today had me feeling pretty bad about it. Not liking chapters isn't an uncommon thing for me, but I felt this chapter was in special need of some additional editing attention, so that's what I gave it. I hope it reads better, let me know what you think in the comments! =)
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“Now,” the newcomer said, “what...
2023-03-20 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostLeon stared at the open tomb with great apprehension. What was visible was little more than a rough stone staircase descending into the earth, but the walls around the stairs were so heavily warded that he couldn’t sense anything beyond the threshold.
Turning back to Sar, he hesitantly asked, “You… want me to go down there?”
“No,” Sar replied, offering no elaboration. 2023-03-17 15:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hart territory was immense. A sprawling forest covering most of the northern half of Kataigida’s interior, flanked by mountains in the north, east, and west, and the island’s central plains to the south. There were a couple long rivers running through the region, along which most of the Ancestral Harts lived, but for the most part, the forest was uninhabited.
The Hart Tribe was even s...
2023-03-15 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostLeon stared down at the maps before him. Many elders were there with him, waiting for him to finish his inspection. Marked on the maps were the best and most fertile fields that the four Tribes that had sworn themselves to him had. Naturally, all those fields were currently being worked already, but for what Leon had offered them, those fields could be bought and repurposed.
It was the la...
2023-03-13 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostAnti-magic was a kind of magic that Leon was only somewhat familiar with. He’d devised some anti-magic on his own, but the skill with which it was used in the Ten Tribes was far beyond his abilities. He saw that skill for himself in the Lions’ arena.
He’d been resting in Raikos for five days now, and he would be leaving to win the support of the Ancestral Harts and Ravens-of-Hail-Ha...
2023-03-10 16:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostLeon stood on a balcony overseeing a collection of some four hundred tribesmen. All were fifth to seventh-tier, and all, he’d been assured, were the best of the best.
He could believe it, even the relatively inexperienced Hawks and Eagles. All of them were standing at rigid attention in full armor, their discipline on display as Leon evaluated their auras from his perch.
Standing ...
2023-03-08 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Keep it in control,” Xaphan reminded Leon in his crackling voice. “It’s your power, but if you let it, it’ll grow some brains and flee from your scrawny ass.”
Leon grunted in irritation but kept his attention fixed solely on the ball of lightning he had in his hand. He was forming it into the shape of a bird, something he’d done before but never in the kind of fine detail t...
2023-03-06 16:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe entire gathering hall was silent as the grave. Most of the mages there didn’t even seem like they were breathing. Every tribesman was staring at Cassandra, still wrapped protectively behind one of Leon’s wings. Leon could feel their auras growing and more than a few hints of growing killing intent.
The first one to make a move was Xanthippe. The Lioness took a few threatening step...
2023-03-03 16:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post