Chapter 47
Elven Dirge
We heard them before we saw them, a sharp, trilling bird call, which perked the pointed ears of both E’lal and A’cia. Many of us had been sitting in a circle, sharing stories about our journe...
2024-10-23 01:56:46 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 46
NIght Work
The Orc’s head came right off under the force of my Vampiric Blade, making only the faintest whicker of sound as blood gouted from the severed neck stump. I shuffled back almost to the tent wall ...
2024-10-20 01:18:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 45
Engagement
The late afternoon was cool with a bone-seeping dampness that made me shiver. I knew the reaction had just as much to do with the regrettable predicament I found myself in as it did the weather, bu...
2024-10-16 03:49:11 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 44
This Is War
We crept through the woods in a spread-out wedge, the elf advisor Qi’shen taking point, Gale and Gerad a few yards back on either flank. Everyone had all their source circling their heads and a...
2024-10-13 03:31:16 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 43
Parting Deals
My head was pounding as the group of us left the meeting room, General Edaine staying behind to speak with Gale. I hadn’t expected my brother to arrive so early after his ordeal but was certai...
2024-10-09 01:38:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 42
Consequences
“The force is three times as large as any the Orcs have ever brought against us, and it appears they are allied with the Undead and demonkind.” Edaine looked as haggard as we all felt as she ...
2024-10-05 18:55:47 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 41
Mother Dearest
Mother hadn’t looked up at me yet; she was caught in the rapture of her card theft. There she stood over her victim, so close to naked it made no difference, and it was like I was really see...
2024-10-02 04:50:30 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 40
Escape
The stairwell down was a long one, and well before I reached the bottom, the sounds I had heard earlier – the distant ting of metal striking metal – ceased to be. Far from calming me, the...
2024-09-29 02:02:23 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 39
Taking Advantage
Afi had said she wanted some air. I’d been around Basil and Esmi long enough to know that this was fancy-folk code for you people make me sick and I’m going to lose my shit if I have...
2024-09-25 02:24:54 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 38
Wagging Tongues
Esmi managed Duke Norcobus beautifully. After we joined the pair of older nobility and greetings were exchanged, Norcubus made to resume his diatribe on the virtues of coal, but before he cou...
2024-09-21 22:53:13 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 37
Among Friends
“...I honestly don’t know what came over me,” Esmi was confessing. “I try very hard to see the best in others in all circumstances, but Glydnuk just looked so smug standin...
2024-09-18 00:24:51 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 36
A Family Affair
“I do believe that went as badly as it possibly could have.”
Ossun had only just closed the door to the private meeting suite behind me when those words passed my mother’s lips. T...
2024-09-14 20:04:06 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 35
Down to the Nub
Afi and I stared at the dwarf, our mouths hanging open. “What the hell?” I laughed. Everyone else was whispering and tittering behind their hands too.
Basil looked like he’d just ...
2024-09-11 05:49:34 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 34
Challenges
The blade slid across my cheek, but like before, all I felt was the barest of pressure. At the edge of my vision, I saw more card fragments shed from my skin, shimmering motes in lieu of blood. Be...
2024-09-08 02:11:13 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 33
Proper Planning
“You never asked to use Esmet.”
Esmi and I were walking arm-in-arm though the halls of my family home, and at this remark, I turned to face her. She was wearing a fashionable, deep ...
2024-09-04 02:46:47 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 32
An Embarrassment of Riches
I tugged at the stiff black brocade vest that was doing its best to smother me and wished the billowing whiteness of my sleeves were a little less… billowy. I felt a proper fool ...
2024-09-01 00:54:27 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 31
What is Within
A knock sounded on my door.
I was sitting cross-legged, looking up at the small tree that lived in the middle of my War Camp room. This was how I spent near every morning, noting t...
2024-08-28 02:09:34 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 30
Skills and Souls
I gathered up my cards and slid them back into my Mind Home as everyone swarmed the new Air cards like flies to dung. I took my time; while it’d be nice to see what cards were there just s...
2024-08-25 03:28:58 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 28
Juggling Shards
“...but Merunda said she’d wait for me next time, and she was the last holdout on Crowsfoot Alley, so that’s a whole square block sorted.” Bryll gave me a self-satisfied smirk, holdin...
2024-08-17 23:41:07 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 27
An Audience
“The king will see you now.”
I stood up from the plush armchair I had been waiting in, quickly tucking the cards I had been distracting myself with back behind my ear. The only other oc...
2024-08-13 20:19:31 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 26
The Gods’ Game
I had my Hammer hefted and ready to bash the stupid right off Gerad’s face when suddenly it vanished out of my hand, my summons disappeared, and the full weight of my deck slammed itself ba...
2024-08-11 02:31:59 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 25
We Take Those
“You remember the plan?”
Hull looked at me like I was asking after pointless reassurance instead of critical confirmation that would affect our survival over the next few minutes. “...
2024-08-07 01:51:09 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 24
The Full 20
We all filed into the Advisor’s Hall, the paladins chattering together, the elves following just behind with a more muted, regal air, and the dwarves keeping to themselves as usual. Basil was f...
2024-08-04 02:08:44 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 23
Old Promises
The metal street that the smiths were on was a wide one, which I was grateful for, as it gave me ample room to pace up and down the reflective length. I was here to use the free upgrade that Gen...
2024-07-31 03:04:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 22
Breakdowns
I was halfway through the forest on my way to the Lows, picking my path carefully on a moonless night, when suddenly my mother appeared at my side. “No torch? You didn’t end up with our kind...
2024-07-28 00:27:47 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 21
The Grind
The next few weeks of War Camp went by faster than should have been possible, the training with cards, source, and matters of tactics and history all rolled into a blur of long days, short nights, a...
2024-07-24 02:50:23 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 20
Interlude
Juriss bowled backward through a fern so large that one of those frail stone-dwellers could have used it for a house. The fronds were soft, but the stems were as big around as her leg and nearly as ...
2024-07-20 17:17:13 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 19
The Cost of a Card
Basil gripped me hard by the elbow as the attackers pelted toward us. “Strike first,” he said.
My heart raced. “We’re not set up!”
He summoned another Soul, checked h...
2024-07-17 02:06:48 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 18
Welcome to the Lows
I dithered and skulked around the fortification’s drainage grate for a good ten minutes before I realized what I was doing, and once I caught myself I was disgusted. She shows up 2024-07-13 20:30:20 +0000 UTC View Post
