#selane

I made my way to the stairs, practically dragging the dazed dynamancer. She was heavier than she looked, especially with that armor. The Drakar warrior had apparently assumed command of the Crossbred, setting them to various tasks – Avians working in teams to drift Marinians down to the water and seize a ship, Lycans to help clear a path, Ursings to help carry the wounded. I was more than happy…

There was a thunderclap, a rush of wind, and the sound of glass, followed by a profound silence.

Holding Essedri tighter to make sure we were still in the land of the living, I cracked open an eye to see Candidius had been replaced by a young woman in gleaming green and gold armor, teeth bared and eyes blazing – wisps of light swirling about her with an almost tangible glamor.

Trinisa?

Tearing my…

Knife’s Edge

I was forced to my knees, the pain bringing a bit of clarity with it, and I looked up to see the head priest gazing down at me, clad in his mantle of cold moonlight, his vaguely-seen visage pale and twisted like the statues in the hall, features uncanny in the unnatural illumination. Inhuman, almost.

One thing I didn’t have any trouble seeing was the mirror-bright blade of Sa’Lithra hovering mere…

The Sunspire Cathedral was an entirely different place at night.

As the guards dragged me through multiple corridors and several flights of stairs,  plain practicality gradually gave way to the elaborate ornamentation I had come to expect – carved friezes creeping around the edges of one level, blooming into full reliefs of religious scenes on the next, and then finally bearing fruit on the main…

“So let’s say Oresida is waiting over here, and the Avians have blankets…”

I made the changes, rearranging a dead beetle and two pieces of lint with a string between them.

“That gives the Marinians a chance to strike. Then, when the next pair arrive, we douse the lights, with the Lycans flanking from either side…”

Two slivers of fingernail pounced on their hapless prey, two buttons blinded by…

“But bring me that one,” she added, crooking a finger at me. “I think it’s well past time we had a little chat – person to person.”

The intent behind her choice of words was clear: driving wedges into the gap that already existed between us. I didn’t like what that implied.

But what choice did I have? I could endure a few minutes of Luceal if it meant sparing the Lycans from the ministrations of…

The manor didn’t seem like a place meant to be seen in moonlight. These were summer ruins, built from stones made to bask in sunlight, covered with greenery that should be buzzing with bees and hummingbirds. A warm, sleepy sort of place, where I could doze off easy as blinking.

Not so under the silver half-light, with the breeze roving restless through the courtyard. I was too tired to sleep, and…