Aralim opened the heavy oak door into the front yard. He was on his way to meet Zarru, the prostitute that Ovoe wanted dead. There was no sign of Miresh, of course, and Aralim had made certain that this part of his plan—which he did not intend to result in a dead body—did not disturb Miresh’s training.
Someone was coming onto the property, a woman and her guards at the end of the yard, and Aralim paused in the threshold of his estate. Continue reading Aralim 45
It had been a month or two since Ren had seen the fog roll up through Comet Cove into the harbour of Sheld, but Tass told him, looking out the open window at the busy port, that there had been months without fog or rain. Ren tapped his head against the wall, sitting in the inn room’s only chair.
“What are we going to do?” his sister-in-law asked. Continue reading Renado 8
Ren woke up in between sticky sheets and sat up halfway. He looked around the small inn room, at his discarded shirt, at the drawers with the broken handle, at the wooden slats across the window. It had been a warm night, but Ren was used to sleeping in jungle harbours and the heat had not been the cause of his sudden arrival at lucid observation of the second-rate inn room. A distant thud. He had not imagined it. Continue reading Renado 7
There was smoke rising over Sheld, more than normal, but not much more. Signs of debris scattered the harbour, an overturned wagon on one of the docks. The sun hadn’t reached the horizon yet so they not see much. The Vanci Dispatch docked on their own, without aid from the normal harbour workers. “Damage from the storm?” Vanci asked.
“Asar, Omma, Karsef,” Renado called from the helm down across the deck. “Dockside, now!” Continue reading Renado 6
The water in the bay of Sheld was grey, cold water. It reflected the ashen clouds overhead. As the sun set to their starboard, the crew of the Vanci Dispatch appeared from thin air. Where there had been calm waves of salty water there was abruptly the hull of a small galley, splashing into the surface and bouncing gently as it came to rest at its usual depth. Rainwater ran from the top deck into the bottom deck, or dripped down into the ocean through the grooves in the old wood.
The strange thing was, there was no rain in the clouds above this day. Continue reading Renado 5
During the hour of sunrise, Aralim and Miresh walked to the Iron Palace together. The metal construction blocked out the light as they drew near. They walked with the crowd through the open gates and past the Emperor’s Blade. As all sorts of merchants and warriors and craftspeople continued through the crowded entryway, Miresh and Aralim said a few words of parting. The young magician went to study her visions. She patted the knife buckled at her waist. She had grown an inch or two since they met a year earlier, but still the small knife fit her stature like a normal dagger. Continue reading Aralim 44
Ten. Zanna spun lifted her spear to block the bandit’s slash then broke his jaw with the blunt end. He slid across the dirt roadway, scrambling to break his fall. He tried to push himself to his feet, but a second swipe of the spear butt reduced him to unconsciousness. Zanna stepped past him, her plated leather armour shining dusted with sand and wood splinters and blood.
Down the street, a few of her soldiers clashed against four other bandits. Continue reading Zanna 7
Farek wore a muddy green robe and creased beige amongst the throngs of commoners. He stumbled between a woman in a long, wide blue dress and a man with a large wooden shield hanging from his back. Shields were only used by the valiant knights on the Great Isle, where the scattered forests gave them plenty of space to line of stage silly battle sports. The man had come far. Not nearly as far as Farek, who had only marched down from Coin Hill, bought this cheap disguise in the bog farm market where the citizens of Var Nordos sold tarragon, verbena, and dill from the southern swamps. He had descended to Lord Thrane’s estate once again, but was allowed onto the grounds by the main gate. Continue reading Farek 11
Four days after Aralim’s appointment with the Third Court, he received a courier at his home to inform him that he had been chosen to be one of the Selected. He wasn’t to start for a week, he learned. The courier looked at him in confusion when he asked if there were no training days or preparation to be done before that date approached. Continue reading Aralim 43
Bodies had collected in an eddy pool upstream from Kykai, a pond of red and purple-rotting flesh painting the fringe of the stark yellow fields and skies. Zanna’s skiff rushed past the liquid crypt. Ahead, a cloud of black smoke hung over the white clay walls of the river town. The gate on the land-side was hidden from view and the docks on the water-side blocked by smoke and the trees on the banks between. Continue reading Zanna 6