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Guild Mage 169
Chapter 169: The Lady of ThornsWhen Caspian Loredan had called Liv into his office after she returned from Lendh ka Dakruim, she’d been terrified that he would press her about the Lucanian royal family’s word of power. When she’d been questioned by Genevieve Arundell, it had been even worse - because Liv had known the other woman was already an enemy, and on Benedict’s side.Standing before the Elden council of elders in Al’Fenthia, Liv was surprised to find that she hardly felt any worry at all. There was only the calm confidence that...
Guild Mage 168
Chapter 168: Aira Tär KeriaThe rooms they were given were warm with the glow of carved and polished wood. Not only the furniture, but the panelling of the walls and the boards of the floors, had been smoothed by hours of labour and years of guests. To Liv’s surprise, the hallway of the guest wing squeaked with every step.“Nightingale floors,” Saana Tär Taavetti explained, waiting in the open doorway while Liv turned about to examine the guest room. The bed and the windows were hung with diaphanous, brightly colored curtains, and they gl...
Faerie Knight 176
176 - A Meeting in the WoodEven Sir Maddoc of the Wood made his ill-considered bargain out of love, and his desire to protect the princess. Of course, the price he paid in the end was more than he could have ever imagined.François du Lutetia, A History of Narvonne☀26th Day of Deep Summer’s Moon, AC 297Cazador’s ears perked up when the north road from Rocher de la Garde brought them into sight of the Ardenwood. At Trist’s side, Claire rode her palfrey, Tystie, but the mare had never lived in Camaret-à-Arden for long enough to think of ...
Guild Mage 167
Chapter 167: Al’FenthiaAl’Fenthia bloomed at the northern end of the high pass between Lucania and Elden lands, surrounded by mountains to either side. To the east was a great green valley, and Liv could tell even from a distance that it contained a rift. The mana boiling out over the mountain slopes was wild, surging with the power that spoke of an active eruption.There were camps at the edges of the valley, with trails of smoke rising from the cook-fires of Elden warriors. Liv assumed they were culling the rift: even from this great heigh...
Guild Mage 166
Chapter 166: The Flowers of HomeWhen Liv went back inside the Vædic ruins, she found Sidonie once again standing before the curved glass panes in the control room. The journeyman’s book was spread out next to her, along with her small pot of ink and quill pen, and Liv noticed that she had managed to get smudges of dark ink on her nose – probably from adjusting her spectacles.“You asked me to take you when I next entered a rift,” Liv recalled. “I’m sorry this one doesn’t have the corpse of a goddess, or an army of skeletons.”“...
Faerie Knight 175
175 - BaronWithout the logistical support of the empire, the structure of the legions is simply beyond our means to maintain. I must reorganize the men, and find a different solution.The Campaign Journals of General Aurelius, volume V☀4th Day of Deep Summer’s Moon, AC 297“I cannot say I understand the king’s reasoning,” Trist admitted to Claire. He kept his voice low, though he doubted that anyone but her would have been able to hear what he was saying over the cheers of the crowd. “I understand that he needed to name a new Baron du...
Guild Mage 165
Chapter 165: The Sins of the Mother“Good evening, Liv,” Kazimir Grenfell said.Liv saw, at a glance, that they were seated in her old teacher’s study at Whitehill: she at her old desk, with a slate in front of her, and Grenfell at the front of the room. The walls were still lined with bookshelves and cabinets, which led Liv to the strangest observation.Each one of the titles on the spines were familiar, like old friends - but only when she looked at them directly, and focused her attention. The rest of the time, the lettering swam indistin...
Guild Mage 164
Chapter 164: The HeightsThe enormous eagle brooding over her eggs was clearly disturbed.Liv, crouched on a plane of blue mana fixed just close enough to the crest of the summit to allow her and her friends to get a glimpse of the nest, could imagine the bird’s point of view. Her mate had gone out to hunt, and never returned. The eagle didn’t want to leave her eggs, but sooner or later she would need to eat. Sooner, most likely: for a mana beast that large, an enormous amount of food would have to be found each day. That was, Liv realized, w...
Faerie Knight 174
174 - HonorsBack home, the old men used to give a general a laurel wreath, when they won. Always seemed stupid to me. I’d rather have gold, wine, and women.The Life and Times of Legionary Titus Nasica☀4th Day of Deep Summer’s Moon, AC 297Henry was halfway through a sip of wine when the king said his name, and at first the sounds didn’t make any sense to him. The knights at the table all looked at him, and he had the sudden and overwhelming urge to hide, or to sneak out of the courtyard. Instead, he simply froze, with a goblet still rais...
Guild Mage 163
Chapter 163: The Eagle’s NestWhen Liv opened her eyes again, at first she wasn’t certain how much time had passed. The sun hadn’t descended yet - it was still day. There were more clouds in the sky, she thought, and a few isolated flakes of snow were falling down, tossed on gusts of wind that made them dance. The stench of burned meat made her wrinkle her nose, and she rolled over to see that the carcass of the giant eagle was still there. The absence of scavengers told her that she;d only lost consciousness for a moment or two.Liv rolled...
Guild Mage 162
Chapter 162: Among the PeaksIt was not the cool light of dawn in the mountains that woke Liv, but the smell of bacon cooking over a campfire. She had been dimly aware, in the night, of being pressed between Rosamund and Sidonie for warmth, and now it took a moment of bleary eyed rearrangement of limbs to extract herself from the pile of her friends’ bodies.Liv had raised a hemisphere of adamant ice a few paces from the fire, once it had become clear that Wren would not be returning before sleep took them all, complete with a low arched openin...
Guild Mage 161
Chapter 161: Into the Wild“The nerve of that bastard,” Matthew exclaimed. “Sending his men into a duchy without so much courtesy as a warning!”Triss promptly elbowed him in the side.“What– oh. My apologies, Liv,” Matthew said, somewhat crestfallen. “I know that’s not a comfortable word for you.”“I’m more worried about what we do next,” Liv admitted. “They’ll be here for me, of course, after what happened at Coral Bay.”Julianne walked over to a nearby shelf of rock, swept a few bits of rusted metal away with her h...
Faerie Knight 173
173 - Deep SummerLet all common men who have fought for the late usurper come forward and swear their loyalty, and they shall be forgiven.King Lionel Aurelianus☀4th Day of Deep Summer’s Moon, AC 297It took weeks for the mud to finally dry; by that time, King Lionel’s army had been moved into the city itself, and the temporary camp on the heights disassembled. Much of the capital had been damaged by the siege engines, but Lutetia had not suffered under the extended siege that had devastated Rocher de la Garde.Trist and Clarisant had been g...
Guild Mage 160
Chapter 160: The Second DawnCrossing the Airaduinë to the southern bank had been easy enough, and the Eld had remained downriver from the edge of the shoal by a considerable margin so as to avoid the sharp-toothed fish which had grown into mana beasts.The day before their assault on the waystone had been spent in fortifying their camp, caring for their weapons and armor, and making sure that every warrior was as well-rested as they possibly could be. For Keri’s part, the long hours of enforced idleness only made the anxiety that came before ...
Guild Mage 159
Chapter 159: LandslideLiv walked over to where Arjun knelt next to Rosamund, examining her shoulder with not only his eyes, but his fingers, as well. The dark haired girl winced whenever he probed her body, but managed not to make any noise other than a few hissed intakes of breath.“Is she going to be alright?” Liv asked.“I pulled the arm back into place while you were fighting,” Arjun said. “But I don’t have enough mana left to heal it all properly. She has torn ligaments, at the very least. Even after I finish treating her, she’...
Guild Mage 158
Chapter 158: Calevis kæn IravataSteam hissed from the joints of Calevis’ rebuilt legs, and the clicking of gears came to Liv’s ears from his movements. The half-mechanical Eld took two steps away from the cradle in which he had been hanging when Liv, Wren, Rose and Arjun entered the dim chamber. Without even waiting for Liv to speak, Wren began to drift to the left, clearly intending to flank their enemy, while Rose stepped forward and raised her sword.“My Lady will reward me greatly when I bring her the cracked skulls of these two,” C...
Faerie Knight 172
172 - The Surgeon’s TentsWe pray the Angelus grant us healing, mercy, and a release from the suffering of this world.Narvonnian Prayer☀17th Day of High Summer’s Moon, AC 297“How,” Bors panted, settling down to the ground with a heavy thump, “in the name of the Angelus did you do that?” The older knight fumbled around his belt for a wineskin, but it was Yaél who finally passed him hers.Trist had collapsed back into himself, as soon as the strike was complete, and it was a relief to be no longer desperately splitting his focus in t...
Guild Mage 157
Chapter 157: Night RaidLiv accepted a cup of watered wine from Thora; once she’d been served, the lady’s maid stepped back to take her place along the stone wall of Baron Arnold’s war room. It was not nearly so grand as the one Liv had seen at Akela Kila, but the Crosbies had the requisite large table in the center, along with a great hide map of the valley to spread over it.“From our walls to the Foundry itself is just under seven miles,” Arnold Crosbie said, waving a hand to indicate the space between the two ends of the map. “Our...
Guild Mage 156
Chapter 156: ReconnaissanceAfter an entire evening on the wall, Wren’s fingers were numb. She’d emptied two quivers of arrows into successive waves of Antrian war-machines, though the normal arrowheads she used for hunting were completely ineffective against the mechanisms of the enemy.Instead, she and the other archers waited for the trebuchets on the walls to launch great clay pots of oil into the thickest press of the assault. When the pots broke, splashing oil everywhere, Wren and the Crosbie bowmen launched a wave of fire arrows to ign...
Faerie Knight 171
171 - The HordeI have ordered the priests to seal what remains of the city away, so that no one can ever get to that damned gate again. Nothing good can come of that place – it is a festering sore on the flesh of the world.The Campaign Journals of General Aurelius, volume V☀17th Day of High Summer’s Moon, AC 297“I do not have time for this,” Trist shouted, lunging forward with the blade of ice in his hand. The daemon Balan reared its heads back, each on their own long, serpentine neck, so he pivoted on his boot and turned the stab int...
Guild Mage 155
Chapter 155: ValegardWhen Liv woke up, her left leg was throbbing painfully.She thought, at first glance, that she was most likely still in the same bedroom that she’d been brought to upon arrival at Valegard. The walls were of gray stone, and two narrow windows set into the right-hand wall admitted beams of morning sunlight. The door out of the bedchamber was open, and Liv could feel that she’d been undressed, though there was a clean sheet over her.The bed itself had four stout wooden posts, and was draped with gauzy, light fabric that bi...
Guild Mage 154
Chapter 154: Fall“Journeyman Brodbeck is still a student at this college,” Caspian Loredan began. “She is our responsibility.”Liv didn’t look away from Genevieve Arundell – Guild Mistress Arundell, it now seemed – even when the old archmage spoke.“We have credible testimony that Journeyman Brodbeck is illegally in possession of restricted magic,” Arundell said, and another ripple of murmurs spread throughout the room. “She will be questioned and examined this evening, and if evidence is found to implicate her, she will be br...
Guild Mage 153
Chapter 153: To SpeakTriss frowned. “Come after Julianne? What do you mean?”“Not here, Liv,” Wren said. “Come on. Let’s walk down to the beach or something, where we have a bit of privacy.”Liv nodded, and rose from her seat. Together, the three women walked down the road and into town, with Triss commenting on her favorite shops from her time as a student, or occasionally on what had changed.“There used to be a fish stand there,” Triss said, pointing to a cobbler’s shop. “When Matthew and I first got to Coral Bay, we’d g...
Faerie Knight 170
170 - The Battle of Maʿīn III: The Living and the DeadReturn swiftly, my beloved sister. I’ve a gift for you.Letter from Avitus to Cecilia☀17th Day of High Summer’s Moon, AC 297As the plague ravaged every man within her sight, Ismet rolled across the broken earth and scooped her sword up by the hilt. She only just managed to get to her feet before Valeria, wounded and maddened with pain, leapt at her.At the beginning of the battle, the infernal Exarch had, without a doubt, been quicker on her feet that Ismet was. The wound to Valeria’...
Guild Mage 152
Chapter 152: A Year Come and Gone“I was half afraid you wouldn’t be there by the time I got back,” Wren said, as the two women burst out of Blackstone Hall into the courtyard.“I’m just glad you understood what I meant, and that they came,” Liv said. Her hands were trembling: she paused in the middle of the courtyard and lifted them up in front of her, and could actually see the shaking.“Come on,” Wren said, wrapping an arm around Liv’s waist. “Let’s get you upstairs.”The lower floor of High Hall was dark, save for the oi...
Ismet ibnah Salah, Exarch of Epinoia
For Faerie Knight readers, Sarah did a new piece of Ismet ibnah Salah, Exarch of Epinoia!
Guild Mage 151
Chapter 151: Put to the QuestionIn Liv’s opinion, nothing productive happened after Archmagus Loredan’s comment. A number of mages stood up to speak, but the professors and Genevieve mostly just watched and listened, which told her that nothing was going to be decided that evening.A culling mage who introduced himself as Alisander spoke in favor of eliminating the current charter so that the rule about all guild members being prevented from inheriting could be renegotiated. “When I swore my oath four years ago,” he explained, “my olde...
Faerie Knight 169
169 - CamielI will open the way with a sacrifice. Like all things most precious, the price must be paid in blood.The Journal of Decimus Avitus☀17th Day of High Summer’s Moon, AC 297It was Bors that struck first, as the monster moved forward, and Trist caught the shimmer of crackling strands just beneath the surface of his body, empowering his muscles with a strength beyond anything natural. The Tithes Bors had taken from Adrammelech served him well, and though Camiel flung up a wing of bronze to deflect the blow, the shattering impact of th...
Guild Mage 150
Chapter 150: The Watchful Guild of MagimWithin only a few days of the king’s proclamation, the campus was flooded with people.The professors, journeymen and staff of the college had already been preparing for the arrival of a new year’s crop of students, but when the carriages began to roll out of the waystone down on the beach, now court mages from all across Lucania joined the procession through Coral Bay and up the road to ascend the bluff. Some new students – those coming from towns without a convenient waystone, or from families with...
Final map image
Sarah just finished her revisions!
