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Chapter 28: THE OVERLOOK

He had made good time since leaving Fendri behind.

Risens knew the interior of the opulent room well having been there dozens of times throughout his service to the King. One wall of the room was lined with shelves, packed with countless tomes. A ladder connected to a metal runner served as the access to the several rows that were well above his reach. A wide, elaborately carved and decorated desk dominated the area in front of the books. The massive piece of furniture looked as if it h...

Chapter 27: THE KING'S SUMMONS 2

Risens had no choice to remove the Shadows Shroud as he entered the windStep leading to his private quarters. The awkwardness of the movement faded though the disquiet of his skin in the absence of the facial covering remained a constant nag on his senses—the least of these, the flashing symbols.

What he found waiting for him at the doorway was worse still.

Irritation and impatience dripped from Fendri’s every feature—from the scowl on his face to the curvature of his spine....

Chapter 26: CRACKS

Until this point, the ominous voice had been permeated with condescension. Each unexpected interaction had left Risens feeling small and insignificant, as if his worth was still questionable and up for debate. He knew nothing was guaranteed. He would prove his value.

This time, however, the tone was startlingly different. Whether imagined or not, there seemed to be a degree of respect there. Risens understood that he was still undeserving. He’d spent his entire life knowing his statio...

Chapter 25: COUNTERFEIT RAVEN

The windStep cleared and Risens found himself in another distinct chamber within the Roost. The impressive, regal construction of the main hall dwarfed the humble chamber where he’d enhanced the Brand of Avowal. The room he now entered was expansive by comparison, though it struck a middle ground between the two.

As with the others, it was built of the same dark stone. This was lofty, the arched ceiling stretching a few meters over his head. A few paces in, the floor changed from the ...

Chapter 24: FORCED ENTRY

Risens stared at the Raven’s Guide long after the final mark was scratched into the page. The paper was warm to the touch. The lingering smell of the smoke imparted a distinct feeling of nostalgia. He gently rubbed his finger over a small section of the lines, finding them unwavering. He grinned as he counted along with the numbers that lined the bottom of the page, for once, knowing all of their meanings.

“What lost language is this,” he asked the air.

There was no response...

Chapter 23: THE WISDOM OF COUNSEL

“There is no need to re-litigate that which has already been established,” Mother Raven hissed. “You will receive nothing you are unworthy for. I can see that you comprehend my meaning. We will not suffer this conversation again.”

“That skill you just used, will I have access to that one day?” He intentionally measured the tone of his voice, disguising any aggravation at the continued cryptic relationship between the Mother Raven and the voice that thundered in his mind.

Chapter 22: POWER OF POSSIBILITY

Risens hastened through the underground catacombs beneath the city, avoiding the crowds of civilians that would be moving about on the streets above. Injured as he was, it had taken far more skill and time to move from Pale Pink’s to Tawny’s clinic—not to mention having a scared courtesan in tow. The dank, putrid air of the sewers would linger on his clothing—which at this point, were fit to be burned.

He removed the Shadows Shroud from his face as he neared the windSteps back t...

Chapter 21: BLIND OBEDIENCE

Risens knocked on the door, determined, almost frantic. More like he collapsed into it than anything else. The sudden noise brought a muted gasp of surprise from. A shadow covered the peephole followed by a virulent curse.

“What in Pylkev’s heart happened to you?” Tawny glowered as Risens stepped inside, pulling a cloaked figure with him.

“No names. No details. No exceptions.”

He regretted the curt response, yet fighting through the pain that wracked much of his bo...

Chapter 20: DROWNED LUCK

The sensation of flight had always fascinated Risens. Floating weightlessly through the air was thrilling, though the return to reality was always too hasty and deflating. This time, the thrill of the wind rushing against his skin was ruptured by the impact of his face against wood. The double doors leading from the kitchen to the pub shattered into a hail of splinters.

He took a single, hard bounce on the floor before skipping through the legs of a table and chair. His momentum arreste...

Chapter 19: PALE PINK'S PUB

Risens paused as the windStep deposited him into an extraordinarily short antechamber. A door loomed less than a meter before his face. Indeed, he would have struck it had he not been trained to caution upon exiting the portals. With a thought, he dismissed the Shadows Shroud. He then slowly opened the sturdy wooden panel into the sterile room beyond.

The interior felt intimately familiar, though the memories formed within its walls were all clouded in pain. He had always entered the ca...

Chapter 18: BEDPOST CONFESSIONALS

For the first time in his sordid career, Risens found himself serving as the one to bind wounds, not create them. Healer Tawny had lost consciousness moments after he had applied the healing salve to her skin. She whimpered as she bit down on a wooden gag, tears leaking down her cheeks. Her nails had dug into the skin of his arm so deep they drew lines of blood. Her grip loosened abruptly as her mind granted her a temporary reprieve from her toils.

Having field dressed his own wounds on...

Chapter 17: The COURTESAN ARTIFICE

Her calm voice drove like a knife, stabbing with each syllable. He’d felt the agonizing pain of steel cutting into his flesh, reeking havoc as it tore muscle and tissue deep within. He’d suffered through more broken bones than he could count, yet the acute discomfort of her words spread through him with a feeling unlike any he’d experienced.

“Your cloak and shroud are not disguises to me,” she continued, creeping closer as she spoke. “I’ve patched you up too many times ove...

Chapter 16: THE DARK DEED

A woman’s panicked, pleading voice floated in the air. It died in a whimper with the echoing sound of a hand striking flesh. Laughter, vile and expectant followed.

With silent steps Risens skirted the edge of the current building before bounding across to the next. Darting across another pair of rooftops he froze as he reached the corner.

In the alley below, he found the source of the disturbance. Beneath the Shadows Shroud, he felt his lips curl into a snarl as he witnessed the...

Chapter 15: THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING UNTOWARD

The sense of accomplishment coursed through Risens as he crossed back through the portal to the Roost. He served King Lathrenon, though thankfully, his place was not one in the public, or even the nobles’ eye. His assignments and tasks varied, yet few over the years involved remaining in the King’s presence for overlong periods of time.

He knew he could hide the mask for awhile, though without extending the duration, it was only matter of time before he was discovered.

Before ...

Chapter 14: THE RAVEN'S BANE

The process was quick, and his fears were unfounded. In the absence of the stone panel, another portal of darkness wavered silently like a still pool of water. With the memories of the discomfort of the last doorway still fresh in his mind, he mentally steeled himself before striding confidently into the blackness.

Unlike traveling between the Raven’s Court and the Roost, this gap felt far more similar to passing through the windSteps to and from the castle. The temporary void of the ...

Chapter 13: THE FIRST ROOM

Risens cursed as the sting of the flames stabbed through his hand for the last time. He clenched his fingers, squeezing his fist for a momentary distraction from the throbbing. Nearly half of the flames floating in the bowls of water had been extinguished in the process but at long last, all of the shadows within the portals on the first floor had been banished. Each contained a similarly sculpted stone door, though each was marked by a unique Brand.

All were unfamiliar except the Brand...

Chapter 12: INTO THE ROOST

As if spurred by a call he could not hear, the birds perched atop the wall of the Raven’s Court took to flight. They pumped their wings, the steady thumping of their ascent fading into silence as they moved out of sight.

The sudden solitude of the hidden court was unnerving.

The perpetual feeling of unease that had surrounded his earlier visits was gone, leaving only the hushed whisper of the wind as it pulled through the ragged gate. He was alone, yet he had no doubt as to the ...

Chapter 11: THE MOTHER RAVEN

Risens’ eyes darted around the compact court, searching for the source of the new, unexpected voice. The cackle shifted into a tone of wild mirth at his failed investigation.

“No, no, no, fledgling. That will never do,” the voice crowed.

The flutter of winds flapped around the Raven’s Court as birds, first singly, then in pairs, alighted the the stone wall’s precipice. Intense stares of their beady eyes knifed through him, as if seeking out his very soul.

His grip ...

Chapter 10: THE NEW VOICE

The harrowing sting of the salve faded into a distant yet traumatic memory, though the discomfort that addled his body and mind persisted. The protection cast over the stolen Raven’s Guide had saved him from being skewered by the sentinel, yet the radiating force had broken several ribs. It was an ailment, thankfully, easily remedied by the discrete services of the healers in the King’s employ.

They’ll count themselves lucky to see me again so quickly. He laughed at the t...

Chapter 9: THE SLUMBERING CARETAKER

Risens emerged from the windStep into a small room walled in by rough-cut boards. During the day, the defined lances of light would have stabbed through the gaps, though at the present, only the dull glow of the sluggishly brightening sky illuminated the chamber. Dawn was rapidly approaching. Thus, his task would become more challenging before long.

The small room where his portal lead was little more than an unused closet in an abandoned multi-story building directly across the street ...

Chapter 8: THE MISSING TOME

Grains of the hourglass fell, and frustration within Risens grew with the mound. Without the distraction of Fendri, his second attempt at sketching the final rune produced a far more detailed design.

Risens had repositioned the small hand-mirror from his bathroom, propping it up against the wall on the desk where he worked. Every few minutes, the scratching of his quill against parchment paused as he shifted his focus to ridding the mask that covered the lower half of his face. Each suc...

Chapter 7: THE KING'S RETORT

“There are quite a few houses that are worried. Many that are scared.” Risens heard the conversation before he could see the speaker. The voice was familiar, but without visual confirmation, he couldn’t place the man’s name. The sentiment was no doubt one that could have been repeated by dozens. “When news of tonight spreads, it will digress into panic.”

“I do not give a damn about their feelings,” Lathrenon boomed, his voice raspy, like the sound of boots on loose cobbl...

Chapter 6: THE KING'S SUMMONS

“You look terrible.”

Risens tightened his grip on the blade as the haute voice, dripping with judgment and outsized self-importance barked as he appeared through the assassin’s ingress.

Fendri, the king’s personal steward and confidant stood, hands on his hips, glaring with an expression of unconstrained disgust.

“And you’re late,” he sneered. His voice, arrogant and nasally, was made worse by the bushy mustache that sat upon his upper lip and corners of his mo...

Chapter 5: THE RETURN

The break from the mask had provided a mental relief from the mounting worry of the deadly repercussions were his sins to be revealed. His mind once again frantically questioned how he would explain the appearance to the King were he to discover his disobedience, yet saw no path that wouldn’t result in his swift and sure death.

The thought rooted itself unbidden into his mind. He had willed the disappearance of the mask. The sign, the bright stain in the corner of his vision had appea...

Chapter 4: THE SHADOWS SHROUD

Pink light filtered through closed eyelids. Risens groggily came to, finding himself blinded by bright light from the moon and stars sparking as it reflected off the small pool of blood directly in front of his face. The shrine of the Raven’s Court loomed over him, though presently it appeared to be on its side. It took him a moment of panic to gather his bearings before realizing it was he who was askew. His training forced him upright with a start.

The small courtyard was, again, em...

Chapter 3: THE RAVEN'S COURT

Risens slowed to a cautious pace but only once he’d dissolved into the alley’s obscuring shadows. The commotion at the Duke’s estate faded into unintelligible clamors as whistles and alarm bells alerted the soldiers charged with Windwake’s protection.

Search as they might, he would be a ghost to them. He was keenly aware of the drills now being enacted as he’d witnessed them on numerous occasions. So too did he—better even than those issuing the commands—understand the ord...

Chapter 2: THE WHISTLEBLOWER

Risens swore. He’d done the job, but not to completion. The King had tasked him with a duty of crucial importance. He was to leave no survivors of the Duke’s guard or staff. Even the seemingly insignificant maid, corrupted by Karieas’s treason was akin to a plague. Allowed to fester, even one person could bring about an infection to devastate the host.

Beyond the culling, he’d been tasked to sus out information. The Duke’s unrest was no secret, though simple words of disconten...

Chapter 1: THE SILENT BLADE

The color crimson was everywhere, disregarding the delicacies of a finely tipped brush, splashed instead in wild streaks. Vibrant splotches marred the blushed cheeks of the elegantly painted portrait of Duke Karieas. The rich green and gold-trimmed curtains greedily soaked up what color they could, leaving a widening brown stain—though the volume of the liquid was overbearing.

Risens stood, sword in hand, listening to the staccato patter of blood dripping off his blade. It splashed li...

BRAND OF THE BLOODHEIR Table of Contents

• Chapter 87: RETURN TO THE ROOST

• Chapter 86: REVELATION

• Chapter 85: QUENCHED IN TEARS

• Chapte...

  2025-08-24 14:57:35 +0000 UTC View Post