From Vagren, Renado and friends went to a hillside for a few days, then to the village of Toreya, and then camped beside a brook. According to a pair of hunters they had passed two days ago, they would stay in a village again in a few days, a little place called Binnom. Their days—in town or out—were filled with bitter drinking and wayward thoughts. Ren’s beard matted longer, Ira’s attempts at cheering him grew lamer, and Virn’s constant stupor deepened. Continue reading Renado 59
Last time that he arrived in the port of Varravar, Aralim’s pet reed cat had run off to lose itself in the winding city streets. Sadly, he did not spot the cat again on his return journey.
It was sunny today. The humidity felt stifling, but Aralim was quite certain it was only his own impressions after acclimatizing to the arid climes north of the Elder Coast or on the now-distant Torn Shore. Aralim moved with purpose, both out of desire to minimize his time moving around on a day like today, but also to hurry their visit to Varravar. Continue reading Aralim 109
Lannon was tied to a chair and gagged when Farek strode into the guardhouse. The guards had given their space for Farek’s questioning. He stood with Lannon alone, while one of his personal guards waited at the door. Aside from a table and nearby armoury racks, the space was as undecorated as the sackcloth Lannon now wore. Continue reading Farek 58
Raya couldn’t see the sun from her cell except for one hour each day through the slot in the hefty bronze-banded door of the cell that contained her. It was just a small streak on the floor, widening and narrowing rapidly as the hole through which it shone allowed. On days like today, when rain was pouring out of what she presumed were dark, drowning clouds, there was no sun at all on the floor inside her room. Continue reading Raya 54
Supposedly, the great Toringa River flowed through five biomes; Aralim would see three this journey, though he had seen the fourth on his approach to the Eye of Maga as they fled from the bandits. According to Maga and Rema residents, the river began in the foothills of the Iron Mountains, though it would take Aralim the next few months of sailing to reach them by the recommended route. Their riverboat drifted south along the wide waterway, passing fishing dugouts and passenger vessels as they transitioned from savannah fields to algae-strangled swamps. The marshes didn’t last long, if Aralim recalled his first adventure through these parts correctly. Continue reading Aralim 108
It took only a day for the populace of Bogtown to find another family missing from their neighborhoods: this one was missing from next door to the Tenedars. It seemed that a group—their identities and numbers unknown—had dragged their hostages next door from the Tenedars’ fateful evening party. By the evening of the 3rd, a mighty mob had rounded up about the boarded windows and barricaded doors. Farek’s guards kept careful watch. Continue reading Farek 57
It was another sunny day when Raya and her team of guards set out for their meeting. The abandoned building where the gang would meet them was hidden in one of the shadows from the scattered clumps of clouds in the broad blue sky. As they walked toward it, Raya glanced past Avri at a small dining patio. Were any of Rama’s guards there, waiting incognito? If they were, their disguises made them invisible to her eyes. Continue reading Raya 53
It was another damp day in Saanazar. Therelin was beginning to become accustomed to constant rain here. According to his research at one of Ular Graan’s libraries, this was supposed to be the middle of Radregar’s dry season, but the southern city had not received this news. The drizzle did little to discourage Therelin on his eventual day off. He rose in the morning, broke his fast on a nutty flatbread and honey, and then hurried out the front door of the tavern. Continue reading Therelin 10
Raya was speaking with a few of the ex-slaves when the messenger came. It was midday and Raya had been taking a break from her administrative work in the inn to get some sunlight and check on a few of their patrols. She missed her times of wandering through the fields all day. Her eyes ached some days—a sign of spending too much time hunched over a candlelit table. Continue reading Raya 52
Time slipped by. Aralim entered the Eye of Maga every other day, carrying his wounded subordinate into the famed water. After the fifth unsuccessful attempt, he grew anxious to move on. He was quite certain that the mages in Rema would be capable of healing the poor guardswoman, so there was little point in wasting week after week in King Eilar’s cursed lake. At last, Aralim told his guards to begin their preparations for departure. Rel, notified by the servants, hurriedly pleaded with Aralim. He told Aralim that often the Lake took this long to work, and it was too soon to know if the gift from their Goddess was truly gone. Continue reading Aralim 107