#rb original

from my morbo @oh-no-another-idea <3 here’s a little snippet of a scene from chapter 4, the witch trials :)

the raedoran cycle

He is burning. He screams, writhing against the hands that hold him down. Burning, burning, burning—

His mother was laying on the floor, her neck bent at a strange angle. His father was in one of their dining chairs, tied in place with his throat slit and bruises all over his face. Keelan lifted the sword in his hands as the raiders turned sluggishly to him.

“What the fuck—” he heard one say before the sword bit into his neck.

“Can’t you do something about the pain?” Maura’s voice demands, thick with tears.

“Princess, it may be kinder to—”

“Suggest that to me again and I’ll have your tongue.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

i finished them all! please look at them

going left to right top to bottom we have emilia, keelan, maura, arthur, jack, fabin, and birdie as well as a family photo of everyone together!

raedoran cycle taglist: <3 @k--havok @oh-no-another-idea @space-writes @lyssa-ink @savvyminnow

i’m still on vacation but here is the anxious boy himself, Arthur!

from the lovely @space-writes <3 pulling this from the witch of the west endgame :)))))

the raedoran cycle

Keelan’s eye slides down to Fabin’s hands, still down at his sides. His fingers are longer, thinner—claws, curved and wickedly sharp. The realization hits Keelan like a bucket of cold water—he hadn’t used a weapon. He’d ripped their throats out with his bare hands.

this time from @akindofmagictoo <3 my words are dance, evening, voice, and light. still searching the whole cycle :)

dance (the knight of lacuna lake)

Keelan steps forward on trembling legs and bows. “Yes, my princess?” “Allow me your first dance,” she says, sinking into a curtsy in front of him. He feels his heart stuttering, heavy and sudden in his chest, and wonders if he might literally die from how beautiful she looks. “It would be my honor,” he manages to say, and she reaches out to take his hand. He sets the other on her waist and she bites her lip. He lowers his voice. “I don’t think I know how to dance.” She muffles a laugh. “Just follow my lead.”

evening (salt and brine)

Time passes like honey dripping from a tree, stretched and golden and sweet—the summer afternoon blending into the evening, the sky slowly staining with the sunset. The only flaw of her cove is that the cliffs block the view of the sun setting over Bjerkja’s peaks. Someday she’ll have to show Kamon the way the sky and snow refract the light into a thousand colors.

voice (the thieves of morbhard)

A shadow passes over them, wind stirring dust up from the grass. Arthur looks up and his knees nearly give out. He hears Jack let out a scream. A dragon is flying overhead, feathered green wings cutting through the air as it flies closer to the ground. It lands in the field between Arthur and Jack and the cottage, shaking out its wings. Jack makes a small whimper when it turns its head and looks directly at the two of them. “You know,” Arthur says in a small voice. “Maybe we should head back to the village.”

light (the witch of the west)

The dark spots are growing bigger, but she has finished healing the wound. She steps back and collapses into the moss, her limbs refusing to hold her any longer. Silver sparks drip off her fingertips as she stares up at the canopy of leaves above her. The sun is shining through, dappled light across her face. “Birdie,” Fabin’s human voice says, exhausted and panicked. “Birdie, please, look at me.” She drags her gaze away from the green light and focuses on the blur of Fabin kneeling over her. “You shouldn't shift.” “Shut up,” he says, though his voice doesn’t carry any venom. His pupils are still blown wide from the pain-relief spell. “Can you stand?” Her arms twitch weakly at her sides. “I’m sorry.” “Shut up,” he repeats, though softer and sadder.

again from @oh-no-another-idea thank you love. pulling from thieves this time but still featuring jack's daddy issues :)

the raedoran cycle

“An old friend,” Jack laughs, and Arthur feels his chest twinge. “This is Arthur. I figured it was about time he tasted Meja’s cooking.”

“Mama will be happy to meet him,” the barmaid says with a twinkle in her eye. “Does this mean you’ll sing for us?”

“Oh, twist my arm,” Jack replies, and she laughs. Jack pulls Arthur down the bar towards the man and the older woman, an odd tension in his shoulders. The woman gives them a kind smile, mesmerizing golden eyes taking Arthur in with a critical gaze. The man’s smile hasn’t moved, but the lines around his eyes are tighter. Jack pushes Arthur forward, clearing his throat. “This is my friend Arthur.” He looks back at Arthur, that same odd tension in his eyes as well. “Arthur, this is Kamon and Meja. They used to let me sleep in the stables.”

The woman, Meja, laughs something in a language that Arthur doesn’t recognize. Jack’s expression doesn’t move and Arthur wonders if he knows what she said. Kamon’s eyes are still tight as he looks Arthur over, but his smile remains friendly. Meja says something to Kamon in the same language and the tightness leaves his expression when he looks at her, his eyes softening. She says something else and Kamon clears his throat, looking to Jack.

“You’ll play few songs for dinner,” he says with a thick trading accent, and some of the odd tension leaves Jack’s shoulders. He gives a sharp nod that Kamon returns, the two of them staring at each other for another moment before Jack turns back to Arthur. Kamon’s gaze moves to Arthur as well and he feels pinned under it, like a fish about to be clubbed. “Dinner for friend as well.”

Meja stands and disappears through a door behind the bar while Jack hops over it, rummaging through one of the crates back there. Arthur squirms a little as Kamon examines him. Jack emerges with a stringed instrument Arthur remembers stealing somewhere in Ivy Reach. He always thought Jack sold it. Jack hops back over the bar, all the tension drained from him, his wild grin firmly in place. “What do you think, Arthur, the ballad of Keelan O’Leyne?”

Arthur rolls his eyes. “I’ll throw myself in the lake if you play that one more time.”