“Be careful,” Argrave told Anneliese as he held her hand. “I think’s it’s pretty well-established you can take care of yourself, but I always hate sending you off.”
“I know. You want to protect me.” She leaned in and kissed him. “But need I remind you… that you still have to catch up to me?” With a cheeky smile, she turned away and walked off, and Argrave’s hand sl...
2023-04-26 06:56:53 +0000 UTC View Post“This isn’t the same continent,” Argrave explained as his people looked around the vast open grasslands. “This isn’t even the same world. This is a different realm. Bridges between our realm and others can only form in specific, connected places—in this case, the bridge was that of a mirror image. On one side, trees as tall as anyone can imagine. On this one… only this,” he decl...
2023-04-25 06:56:24 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave reached into his duster’s breast pocket and pulled free a silver medallion. It was of crude make, with strange letters and a worn image of a woman pouring water from a horn. He twisted it between his fingers as he looked out at the gathering crowd of centaurs, using it to allay his fears. He’d felt it weighing on him the whole journey—a reminder of what was coming as constant as t...
2023-04-24 06:55:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe capital of the wood elves in the Bloodwoods was not grand at all. It couldn’t be, for it never stayed in one place for too long. The only thing notable about it was that it was a true building, and presently surrounded by an army well-prepared for war. It looked like a longhouse placed atop a thick branch, supported by curling branches. It had only two entrances, one on each side. Within ...
2023-04-21 06:55:38 +0000 UTC View PostOrion stepped up a mound of roots, using several separate branches like steps of stairs until he crested the top. He looked out across the vastness of the Bloodwoods, then up, up, and up, at its towering branches far removed from the earth. He turned back and waved, shepherding people onwards.
With the signal given, Argrave’s party advanced fluidly up the mound of roots just after him. ...
2023-04-20 06:55:36 +0000 UTC View Post“I trust your journey here wasn’t difficult?” Princess Elenore asked from her desk, staring at the two in front of her. She had four golden-armored royal knights standing behind her.
The red-headed siblings Elaine and Rivien Vyrbell shook their heads fiercely. “Not at all,” Rivien began, a statement which Elaine agreed with a mumbled affirmation. “We were accosted by the undea...
2023-04-19 06:54:26 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Grimalt’s new liege returned, he thought that king looked rather trepidatious. He always had a keen intuition about how others felt, and the times he was wrong was more so misinterpretation than mistake. Nevertheless, Argrave had a strong composure in wake of whatever crisis he faced, and he gave orders to the three Veidimen officers—namely, himself, Bastal, and Rasten.
King Argr...
2023-04-18 06:55:10 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave stared at Nikoletta without batting an eye even as her eyes wavered on the point of frustrated tears. He couldn’t blame her for being distraught that he’d not come to help when her father had been captured. Were his reasons understandable, logically? He thought so. He had to prioritize stabilizing the country over saving one man. But with her father caught by Vasquer loyalists and d...
2023-04-17 06:55:55 +0000 UTC View PostIt was the morning of the next day. They had slept in a separate tent with the Veidimen. Argrave stared at a piece of soft bread with distinct finger marks. That had been his doing—in grabbing the bread, he underestimated his strength and crushed it. There had been several other similar incidents this morning alone to the point where Orion had even given him advice. That wasn’t something he...
2023-04-14 06:56:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe night came and went very quickly. Argrave and Anneliese spent a lot of time together, but they seldom did so while doing nothing more than enjoying each other’s company. In this manner, the joining ceremony was a precious opportunity that reminded him of the good fortune he’d had in meeting her. Argrave had been complaining about not having a proper wedding, but by the morning he came t...
2023-04-13 06:58:46 +0000 UTC View PostAnneliese pushed open the fur flap of a traditional Veidimen tent, walking within. The first thing she saw was a wood-burning iron stove, its makeshift chimney piping smoke through a hole in the top of the circular tent. These dwellings could be constructed in thirty minutes by veteran Veidimen, and the fur padding outside and wood stove could stave off the coldest conditions. It brought back m...
2023-04-12 06:56:32 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave stepped into the courtyard of the grand fortress that had been constructed at his behest some months ago. It marked the northern entrance to Blackgard where they’d tunneled through the mountain to bridge the Indanus Divide. The garrison had made the place much more habitable since he last visited, building ramshackle if effective homes like some sort of castle town. He didn’t intend...
2023-04-11 06:56:06 +0000 UTC View PostCompletely slipped my mind to mention that 350 was the last chapter in volume 6. We're now on volume 7.
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A few dozen people occupied a spacious stone hall. They looked about the place and spoke to each other in hushed tones so as not to send their voices echoing on the unadorned and immaculate walls brightly lit by yellow magic lamps. There were three sections to this room, divide...
“I know that it might seem ridiculous,” Argrave said, one hand hovering near the other which held a wriggling salamander. “But these things… they’re the key.”
Reinhardt shook his head. “We’re the ones to ask you for help, Your Majesty. Why would we doubt what you do?”
Argrave looked down at the margrave. It had been perhaps three or four months since last they spok...
2023-04-07 06:56:38 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave crossed his arms as he stared at Dras. “You’re poaching my talent? Really?”
Dras held his arms out as he sunk back into the purple couch. “I’m borrowing an old friend for a few months.”
“A few months.” Argrave nodded intently, then countered, “Just when I’m at the pivotal moment, you want to borrow Galamon for at least a month?” he pointed his hand at G...
2023-04-06 06:56:20 +0000 UTC View Post“As it turns out… I was right the entire time,” the brown-haired Duke Sumner said with a dignified triumph as he looked out across all the nobles of the south arrayed before him. “Argrave was allied with the Veidimen.”
“But wrong in all the ways that mattered.” Margrave Reinhardt, who was standing across from the duke, rebutted. “The snow elves are allies, not conquerors....
2023-04-05 06:55:50 +0000 UTC View PostGalamon opened the door for Argrave and stepped through it ahead of him. Argrave followed after warily, keeping his eye on the knight-commander as though searching for a reaction. Within, Rowe and Dras sat on pristine purple couches that looked out of place in the battered and worn stone palace. They had been talking, but with Argrave’s arrival their exchange stopped.
“There he is.”...
2023-04-04 06:55:46 +0000 UTC View PostKing Argrave’s unequivocal denial of the Order of the Gray Owl’s terms sent the throne room into a brief silence. Castro, who’d been keeping his eyes closed and stating his demands mechanically, opened them wide. When the old spellcaster set eyes upon Argrave’s cold gray eyes, a smile rose to his face. He quickly hid it with his hand until he regained control of his features.
“W...
2023-04-03 06:55:29 +0000 UTC View PostAfter Elenore’s declaration that the summit could begin, there was a prevailing indecision in the parties arrayed before Argrave. Despite not having been declared the leader of this summit, his bombastic displays made all defer to him despite the undeniable fact the group of Magisters held the most personal power in the room.
And so the king seated on his living throne spoke first. “T...
2023-03-31 06:55:33 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave hefted a crown in his hand—it had a black metal band, chicken egg-sized gemstones at several points, and gold decorating it gaudily. Everything seemed to be in order with it, so he looked up and said, “Thanks for bringing this, Leopold.”
“Hmm,” the wizened old man grunted. “Let’s not forget I provided even more manpower for those forts you took. Some of them had only...
2023-03-30 06:56:22 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave stared at the dark gray corpse of the Shadowlander from his place at the entrance to the Dragon Palace. The monstrous humanoid had been laid across a makeshift wooden platform and secured by ropes, and now twenty men carried it by wooden poles fixed to the platform. Despite the days gone by, its corpse had not decayed even slightly. Nothing, not even the ants, would touch it willingly. ...
2023-03-29 06:57:31 +0000 UTC View PostCrackling from flames echoed against stone walls, the sound rebounding countless times throughout the vast chamber. These flames burned in braziers before grand statues of stone owls, illuminating the stony birds and casting twisted shadows on the walls behind. Active enchantments kept the braziers alight. These enchantments all came from black chairs in a tight circle at the center of the room...
2023-03-28 06:59:05 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave’s hand hovered near a heavy wooden door. He clenched his fingers into a fist and then slackened them time and time again, taking deep breaths all the while. He glanced backwards where Galamon and Anneliese stood by as silent, if impatient, support. Argrave rolled his shoulders, and then as if he was jumping into cold water, hastily knocked thrice on the door.
Instead of a vocal ...
2023-03-27 06:56:55 +0000 UTC View PostAnneliese held her finger up to the air, and her Starsparrow settled atop it as a perch. Argrave looked out where he could see the dust clouds left by the retreating army.
“I think they head to Rovostar’s fiefdom,” Anneliese guessed. “Whitefields. I remember seeing it on the map.”
Argrave nodded. “It’s a poorly defended place, considering it’s both newly constructed ...
2023-03-24 06:59:15 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave judged Traugott with cold, calculating eyes, the two of them standing atop opposite roofs with the city square between them. Though they’d not had time sufficient to interrogate Orion as to the source of the humanoid monster lying dead between them, no one else could reasonably be responsible for bringing the Shadowlander to this city. That he helped put an end to it after it’d kill...
2023-03-23 06:57:01 +0000 UTC View PostElenore had absolute focus on the area where the Shadowlander had tumbled down the mountainous path to the Dragon Palace. Sumner’s men were hardened warriors, fiercely loyal, well-equipped, and prepared for what was to come—prepared enough to stake their lives. That dedication to a leader did not come easy.
And these factors working in tandem were the only reason they did not break ag...
2023-03-22 06:56:20 +0000 UTC View PostElenore stepped into the grand chamber housing Vasquer, ancient ancestor of all the royal family of House Vasquer. The now freed serpent appeared emotionless, but it curved its huge body slowly around, snout facing Elenore. It was like some sort of embrace, and Elenore held her hands out even as her royal guard seemed nervous from the prospect. A small white bird settled on her shoulder, and th...
2023-03-21 07:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post“It’ll be hard,” Argrave stared at Anneliese, both now on foot. “Not to mention the other problems we might encounter in the city. Everyone will need heavy security.”
Argrave’s whole inner circle had gathered, and everyone sent nervous glances towards the distant blackening Dragon Palace. There was someone else with them—Duke Sumner.
“But it could be all we have,” ...
2023-03-20 06:57:18 +0000 UTC View PostDuke Rovostar crouched at the top of a hill, watching the Dragon Palace radiate shadow with morbid fascination. He, just as all his men, had felt the strange force that emanated outwards… and now witnessed what seemed to pull the world inwards. And as he did, he recalled the conversations with Traugott.
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“Why are you doing this?” Rovostar had asked, his scarred face danci...
2023-03-17 06:55:36 +0000 UTC View PostOrion stepped into the throne room of the Dragon Palace. He didn’t especially like coming here. It had grandiose carved marble walls depicting the gods, but that was about the only part of this place he’d ever liked. Ever since he’d learned the truth, nothing of this place appealed to him. And now, he entered armed and armored. The point of the sword in his right hand dragged just above t...
2023-03-16 06:56:48 +0000 UTC View Post