It was an overcast day, Lerran noticed, when he finally left his apartment that morning. The sky couldn’t make up its mind, to rain or not to. Lerran wore his freshly cleaned red jacket, with a belt and scabbard over top of it. At his waist, he sheathed his real sword, though he prayed he would not need to spill blood this day. Continue reading Lerran 13
The Iron Palace was built with a stone outer wall to guard its grounds. The Palace itself consisted of an iron-walled first floor, slanted inward at a steep angle, while the second floor had no walls at all. While the first floor suggested the creation of a ziggurat, a set of columns made of iron rose above, ten by ten. Far above, three storeys up perhaps, was supported another floor, but it was little more than a balcony and rampart. Somewhere in the midst of that forest of iron pillars was the shape of a stone keep, plated with iron, where the Emperor’s private quarters were; it also housed his order of priests, the Aura. Continue reading Vaenuth 20
Iloli was more up tight than Vaenuth expected her to be, for at first she seemed comfortable. They spent weeks on the road, as the caravan rode east, and she became acquainted with Tagg and Banno. They shared stories of the venture into the Expanse, and, despite Hulean’s nearby ears, they told her everything that had transpired in Logren. As they sat around the campfire or cleaned their equipment, the leaders of Vaenuth’s caravans helped Iloli become one of them. Continue reading Vaenuth 19
Lerran walked down to the Emerald Eye that afternoon, to plan his father’s downfall. At his side, Tass strode purposefully, with her brown hair pulled back behind her shoulders and a grey blouse on. Her arms held his right arm, as they descended the hill to the Gharo’s loyalty tavern. They were admitted without question or charge into the two-storey pub built out of small grey bricks and teak beams. Continue reading Lerran 12
Across Stone Channel from Old Numa, a decrepit shanty town had formed, on the Old Point where the ferry landed. Aralim and his fellowship had landed there a few days after their arrival in Old Numa, and spent a night in an abandoned wooden shack on the edge of the town. People came and left Old Point like the tide, and at low tide there was space for them to enjoy a roof above them, instead of just the stars. In Old Numa, they had slept below the moonlit skies. Continue reading Aralim 8
For close to three months, Aralim and Miresh served as they could aboard His Fifth Vision, drifting across the seas of Gethra. Aralim was finding his way along the Path, he knew, for his trust in Miresh had given him a firsthand look at the Orrish. He wasn’t certain if he should feel disappointed or enlightened—the crew told him when they were above the great fallen star, but they never saw anything from the ocean’s surface. Continue reading Aralim 7
Someone pounded on Raya’s door, in the early hours of the morning. It was still dark outside, she saw through her window, as she stood up from her cot. She strode into the main room of their house, to see her father coming out of his room. Mister Ganner had a walking stick in his hand, ready for action. She glared at him with a smile, and he set it against the wall nearby. Continue reading Raya 14
In the morning, Raya left her home as soon as the sun had surpassed the eastern horizon; it had been difficult to sit on her hands that long. She wanted to run, hide, hunt… not wait. Her parents had been up most of the night, sharing pleasant memories of Novar. Of course, he had not treated them well in years either. He had used their home as a roof and a food supplier, little more. But his loss was still upsetting to them, understandably so. Continue reading Raya 13
Another rainstorm had swept the hills the day before, sending streams and brooks of water down into the northern savannah. Most of Olston hid in their homes or worked in the mines, though even those began to flood in the storm, and Novar’s trial was postponed another day, like it was a meeting to play dice, not the life and death consequences of a youth’s mistake. Raya sat in her house all day, listening to her mother hum or sing short stanzas of folk music from the Radregar northlands. When she got too bored of watching rain through an slightly ajar window, she whittled wood into arrow shafts. Continue reading Raya 12
When they arrived at Nokire this time, Vaenuth allowed her small caravan a whole day of rest. When they had rushed past to reach the Expanse and to trade with the Slither tribe, they had barely stopped at all. Nokire was abuzz, as always, with other caravans or jungle tribes arriving and leaving without much warning. Vaenuth chose to stay in her camp that night, rather than finding some distraction in Rainrest. Continue reading Vaenuth 18