“Stop saying um. Are you a Buddhist or something?”
“Don’t they say ‘Om’?”
Saye sent an unamused look across the table at her.
“I-I couldn’t help it!” Neia flopped listlessly onto one of the incalculably expensive-looking couches in her state room, “There were so many people watching me!”
“Aren’t you already accustomed to speaking in front of crowds?”
“I am, but this is different. Plus, they were all Nobles! It fel...
2023-08-18 09:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
The Summer Palace was a sprawling complex in the northwest of Rimun, occupying an area larger than the Royal Palace and Prime Estates of Hoburns combined. Starting from atop a cliff overlooking the western ocean where the palace itself was perched, its grounds ran along the coast to the sandy beaches a kilometre to the south.
Before the reign of Queen Calca, the Summer Palace was reserved for the exclusive use of the royal dynasty and its guests. Upon her ascension, however, the young H...
2023-08-16 11:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
6th Day, Middle Fire Month, 1 CE
“You were ordered to apply pressure on Lousa,” Antonio said. “Not turn him into a martyr!”
“Neither I nor any of my associates had a hand in that, Sir,” Eduardo replied.
From his seat behind the desk of his office, Antonio Cohen fixed his son in place with the cold fury of his glare. Something that shouldn’t have happened had happened, and the damage was incalculable.
“It wasn’t me
2023-08-14 13:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
9th Day, Middle Fire Month, 1 CE
“Liam!”
Nat burst through the open door of Liam’s cell with a tearful cry. He parried her mouth attack, but couldn’t evade the hug.
“Thank the gods you’re safe!” She buried her face in his chest, “Did the Paladins do anything mean to you?”
Those Paladins serve the same gods you’re thanking, you know…
“Why would the Paladins do anything mean to me?” He asked.
...
2023-08-12 15:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Eighty-eight…eighty-nine…ninety…
The air parted around Remedios’ blade as she performed her morning sword drills. She ignored the household staff as she went through her forms, but then the doorbell rang.
“Miss Custodio,” Carla said. “The Grandmaster is here to see you.”
Remedios lowered her blade with a sigh. Decent warriors honed their bodies and skills in the morning, but Gustav was never one for improving his combat capabilities.
“Get som...
2023-08-10 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
“I can’t help but feel that this is a giant distraction,” Liam said.
“If by ‘distraction’ you mean ‘entertainment’,” Marim replied, “then I agree.”
Daytime jeers transformed into nighttime fears that offered a curious spectacle for the men of House Restelo. After giving themselves plenty of imaginary things to be fearful of, the patrols in the neighbouring jurisdictions spent more time jumping at shadows in their own turf than continuing their harassment of H...
2023-08-08 19:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
The shouts of men drilling in the mustering yard woke Liam several times over the course of the day. He walked out, cranky-eyed, from his tent in the evening. It didn’t help that he had spent the whole morning carting food to Raquel’s shop.
“Good morning, dear,” Nat rose from her seat at the workshop table with a smile.
“Morning, Nat.”
“I got your food,” Nat went over to uncover a plate. “It went cold, though. I’m sorry.”
“No, that’s fine,” ...
2023-08-06 21:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Showing up with a bottle of wine to a single woman’s home at night after showing off your beautiful wife to her the same day. You sure know how to play with a girl’s heart, Liam.”
“I don’t have any gold to pay you,” Liam said.
“Alright, now I’m angry. Or am I? Hmm…is this what it feels like to be desired?”
Liam rolled his eyes as he placed another crate atop Raquel’s counter. House Restelo paid him in scrip, so the only way he could buy things from t...
2023-08-04 23:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Liam, I don’t know about this…”
“What’s there to worry about?” Liam said, “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.”
“But…”
He couldn’t figure out what Nat’s problem was. She voiced her desire to visit her family once in a while, but, now that they were, she was hesitant to do so.
Within days of the incident with House Ovar, House Restelo rolled out several new initiatives to fortify its position in Hoburns. One of them was a quiet ‘outr...
2023-08-03 01:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
“I don’t understand girls.”
“Didn’t you pick up the missus just a few days ago?” Marim asked.
Waves of heat rose off of the pavement after another sweltering day in Hoburns. Liam stood at the entrance of an alley, chatting with Marim and his patrol as a pair of men delivered his latest catch.
“I did,” Liam answered, “but she’s still not happy. Actually, I think I might have gone funny in the head…”
“How do you figure?”
He reflected on ...
2023-08-01 03:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ehhhhh? ‘Let’s go?’ What’s going on?!
As they walked along, Natalia Abarca stole glances at the boy holding her hand. She couldn’t figure out what had happened.
For the past two weeks, she was kept in a tent separate from the rest of the labour camp. There, she and several other women were prepared for their future as ‘wives’. Some had come of their own accord, confident that they could secure a new life with their looks. Others had given up on trying to sur...
2023-07-30 05:12:27 +0000 UTC
View Post
“For the love of the gods, Liam, stop scaring us like that!”
Liam eyed the rooftops as Marim used the butt of his spear to poke the unconscious man on the pavement. Upon assuming his duties, a number of snoops conveniently presented themselves to be caught and delivered to House Restelo’s men patrolling the streets below.
“I’m just following Sir Jimena’s instructions,” Liam dropped down from the eaves into the alley next to them. “He said you’d handle the prosecu...
2023-07-28 07:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
30th Day, Upper Fire Month, 1 CE
“Do you know why you’re here?”
“Because Jorge said you wanted to see me, sir.”
Sir Luis snorted at Liam’s reply. Liam kept a straight face, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. Maybe he was screwing up without realising it, but he couldn’t imagine himself making any mistakes during his endlessly dreary duties as he escorted House Restelo’s caravans back and forth between Hoburn...
2023-07-26 09:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
A man fled through the tall grass, occasionally stumbling as he made his way west through the boundless grasslands of Iago Lousa’s ranch. Neia and Saye monitored his progress from the shade of a lonely elm close to the top of a nearby ridge.
“He’s running the wrong way,” Saye said. “Can people get lost that easily? The sun is out and everything.”
“It’s more like he’s temporarily lost,” Neia replied. “The Holy Kingdom isn’t huge and everyone knows it. If he ...
2023-07-24 11:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Seeing if we can alter your image a bit.”
Neia sat frozen in her saddle as Saye reached across from her mount to fiddle with her hair. When she thought about it, she realised that it was rare for her to be touched by anyone outside of being jostled in combat.
“Alter it into what?” Neia asked, “It’s not as if anyone will see me out here.”
“You have at least a hundred men looking at you every day,” Saye said. “Pl...
2023-07-22 13:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Encouraging her company to begin training to perform beyond their usual routines was a simple matter after they had witnessed the mob in the town and understood what had happened.
“Justice without strength is meaningless,” Neia told them. “If we want our justice to prevail, we must have the strength to ensure that injustice isn’t forced upon us!”
Her men didn’t yet understand what His Majesty’s justice was, but they understood that the new lives they had made for the...
2023-07-20 15:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Weakness is a sin, so one must become strong or humbly accept justice similar to that of His Majesty.
Back during the war, it had taken Neia a long while to come up with the right words to share with those around her. They were words for a different time, however, and were no longer so easily digested by those who heard them.
His Majesty is justice.
His Majesty is…
Hmm…
Saying things like ‘His Majesty is justice!’ didn...
2023-07-18 17:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
“His favourite colour?” Neia blinked.
“That’s right,” Saye nodded as she leaned forward with quill and paper in hand. “What is the Sorcerer King’s favourite colour?”
“It’s…”
It should be black, right? He has a black robe and summoned black furniture…no, he wore more colourful things, too…
The gears in Neia’s head ground away as she tried to come up with an answer to Saye’s question.
I don’t know.
How could...
2023-07-16 19:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
“There she is.”
“Mm.”
Astride her chestnut steed, Neia chewed on a head of dried grass as she watched a pair of ranchers guide a cow and her calf back to their herd. The two Lanca had gotten lost somehow earlier that day, but it didn’t take long for her men to track them down.
Track, huh…I guess father was right.
The ranchers did indeed seem to be Rangers. Neia could see that everything they did was something that Rangers were known for. They range...
2023-07-14 21:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Saye had no idea why Hoburns existed where it did. The capital of the Holy Kingdom had the odd distinction of being the only seat of national power in the region that was not also the largest city in the country. That crown went to the city of Debonei in the southern Holy Kingdom, which was supposedly half again as large as Hoburns before the war.
Hoburns was on the wrong side of a small range of hills that stood between the city and the Holy Kingdom’s central bay. No major rivers flo...
2023-07-12 23:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
On timid, tiny half-steps, Neia Baraja shuffled through the garishly-lit streets of the Water Gardens. Her tactic of keeping her eyes cast downward didn’t work as well as she thought because there were fountains and waterworks everywhere that reflected the scenes above. The scent of a hundred perfumes tickled her nose and the sound of the debauched activities going on everywhere assaulted her ears.
“Hey, is that girl new here?” A woman’s voice came from the side.
“It loo...
2023-07-11 00:41:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wha–huh?”
For the first time in her life, Neia Baraja could be assured that no one who saw her could possibly mistake her gaze for a nasty glare. That was because her eyes were so wide that she swore they would roll out of her skull and onto the desk.
“You can’t say you didn’t see this coming,” Gustav Montagnés, the Grandmaster of the Holy Order, told her. “We’ve approached you about this several times over the past three months...
2023-07-09 03:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
“That’s a lot of soldiers,” Saye said.
“Aye, it is,” Captain Harold replied.
In the darkness before dawn, Devinn’s Guile slowly coasted into Banre’s modest harbour. Saye wrinkled her nose at the odours of the wharf, but they were a far lesser concern relative to the sight that revealed itself as they closed with the piers of the port.
Soldiers loitered all over the waterfront – far more than the port town should have had. As soon as they noticed, the...
2023-07-07 05:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
Well, nothing looks wrong here…
Saye hopped off of the ladder, dusting off her gloves as she left the shadows of the warehouse. A line of men silently followed her out into the street where several better-dressed men awaited her with expressions of grave concern. Men tended to go out of their way to chat with her, but these men carried themselves as if someone had just died…or was about to.
One of them stepped forward, almost managing not to wring the cap in his hands...
2023-07-05 07:09:23 +0000 UTC
View Post
Alright, I’m getting somewhere, now.
Liam thought that he was, at least. Though he had spent less than thirty minutes in House Restelo’s labour camp, what he learned in that time was enough for him to start making sense of how things really worked in Hoburns.
It was a familiar, yet unfamiliar situation. The unfamiliar part came in the form of the people, one of which was helping him pitch his tent.
“Thanks,” Liam said as he checked to make sure everything wa...
2023-07-03 09:08:18 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Three sheaves of golden grain on black and white squares.”
“Restelo,” Carla replied. “A county on the southern coast. Fifty kilometres east of Debonei.”
“If they have grain in their heraldry,” Liam asked, “does that mean they’re known for their crops?”
“Yes,” the Maid nodded. “Their title straddles a river leading to the sea, and it’s known for its fertile farmlands. They’re one of the major producers of grain in the south.”
After wan...
2023-07-01 11:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
“That’s good, right?” Remedios asked.
“It depends,” Liam answered
After their discussion the previous evening, they escorted the would-be spy to the Holy Order, reporting that he had fallen from a rooftop. Joaquín, the senior Paladin stationed at the Holy Order’s office in the Royal Palace of Hoburns, predictably came to the conclusion that the man was a drunkard – it helped that they poured a bit of wine on him – and Remedios looked as if she would explode just f...
2023-06-29 13:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Find anyone?” Remedios asked.
“We just left your house,” Liam answered.
“You never know…” The Paladin told him, “Does anyone look suspicious?”
If he were to choose, it would be the liveried men that were wandering around in place of the Royal Army. There were more of them since their trip to the garden market, forming gangs that didn’t seem to do much more than stand around looking intimidating. From what he could see, they had divided the Prime...
2023-06-27 15:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Who the hell goes shopping in a full suit of plate mail armour?
Remedios Custodio, apparently.
She struck a gallant figure, to be certain, but Liam couldn’t help but wonder what the point of striking a gallant figure in a boutique was. His second question was: why was he in a boutique?
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted three members of the shop’s staff watching from afar as they whispered to one another. He wasn’t sure that he liked what he could make o...
2023-06-25 17:08:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Welcome to Kalinsha, Captain.”
“It’s been a while, Sanchez,” Gustav nodded. “How have things been out here?”
“Busy,” Sanchez replied as he turned and led Gustav into the office. “Too busy. I don’t suppose you have two dozen or so of our brothers to spare?”
“I don’t even have two dozen or so Squires to spare,” Gustav chuckled helplessly. “We’ve gone from one hell to another.”
It was a different sort of hell than the one that...
2023-06-25 09:08:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
