The Flying Hound was back on the sea, this time setting out across the Bay of Nordos with no land in sight. The massive bay was filled with clear blue water, and the shining sun filled it with light. They had passed no ships in a few days, but they saw a massive Numa coupled barge on the horizon that morning. Continue reading Vaenuth 28
Tiny trails of smoke rose from all around the meditation yard as Aralim and Miresh walked past half a dozen magicians to meet, at last, with Great Mage Rattar. Many of the candles or stems of incense had such a strong aroma that Aralim found his eyes watering as they walked quietly along the central walkway toward an arching kapok tree. Small silver chains dangled from its branches holding more lamps. Continue reading Aralim 17
“Twelve,” agreed Tagg, and handed the merchant in the tall red hat a handful of coins. The warrior gently took a thin wooden slab from the man, covered in small kelp wraps with a variety of fish, meat, and cassava within. He held the plate between their group, and Vaenuth grabbed on at the same time as Arloe. Continue reading Vaenuth 27
As was his custom before a hunt, Arn used a wide leaf from a berry bush to dab the black paste across his cheeks smelled strongly of the dark fruit, and faintly of an alcohol fermented from the large citrus growing on Scoa Isle. It covered his forehead next, and his chin. When he hid in the brush, none could see him. Others painted a pattern, but the only distinction to Arn’s dark mask were two white spots he left above his eyes, like a second set. Continue reading Arn 3
There were a few circular town centres in Sheld. The city had a population, according to the copy of last year’s consensus that Lerran now owned, of some four-hundred thousand, and it seemed like a quarter of them had packed into the central ring of the city to see the hanging. Lerran and his escort marched through the busy streets and up the scaffolding in the middle of the town circle without giving the crowd much of a word or reaction. Some people shouted “murderer!” and “patricide” at him—it seemed many in Sheld thought he had killed his own father. But for every taunt, there was a praise. The Family provided many of these people with finances or jobs or even just security, and many were glad that they now ran the city instead of the greedy Lord Employers. Continue reading Lerran 22
The Rogue River Inn was a three storey building, with a stable and a storage house adjacent to it; it was built on a rocky cliff above the uptown rapids, where the Shalan River roared in the direction of Comet’s Cove. A balcony extended out, so the patrons could enjoy the cloud of spray from the water while they drank their fill. It was a popular tavern, with an intermediate price range and a wide selection. Continue reading Lerran 21
Nothing seemed old about the Elder Coast. The dense wall of trees and vines crept right up to the rocky coast, where moss and seaweed clung. Sometimes, animals could be seen in the shadows of the rainforest, but many times it was just a stoic bastion of plant life. Vaenuth knew why it was called the Elder Coast—these were the lands upon which humans had first arrived on the continent, thousands of years ago. Continue reading Vaenuth 26
For a few hours after the sun rose, Lerran kept training in their yard. Antha had been using the field less, but Lerran picked up the slack. He had seen the carnage wrought by Okarnan in Worker’s Rise, even if he had not solved the mystery of that attack’s savagery and strength. The man had no extra-human abilities, as far as he could tell—not like Paksis. He had just surprised all the Lord Employers and had set to work on them with his blade. Between that, and the shadow that a still-living Gharo cast, Lerran needed every edge he could get. The fever he had fought a few weeks earlier, left over from the poison in his father’s lockbox, had finally passed and he needed to rebuild what muscle it had wasted. Continue reading Lerran 20
“Your friends ought to stay here,” Athanu said, as they strode through the first orange curtain of the aura to enter the grounds of the Iron Palace. “The Emperor, if it is decided you should meet with him, will not speak with a group so large.” Continue reading Aralim 16
Arn’s village had been his home for his whole life, and he had never seen another settlement like it, just a few remote huts and camps at different points on Razaad. The village was built in the rocky interior of a lagoon, with a view to the west, where lay Scoa Isle. There were cliffs there, which rose above the soft swampland. Caves in the cliffs made for reliable shelter during storms, while the wooden houses above housed most of their goods and livelihood. Each house had a square eave, some three feet deep, before a ten foot peak rose up, like each house had a second storey. Only one actually did; the steeples on their houses were to channel the smoke from fires up, without losing the healthy humours produced by the aromas of cooking and burning. Continue reading Arn 2