He was sure his companions were too exhausted to wake. The days of climbing and hiking through freezing temperatures and bitter windsthe glare, sunburn, crevasses, and thin icehad taken its toll on them all. Then there was the hunger and sickness, the wyrms, giants, tirichiks, colossal bears, a...
Before that moment, it seemed to Dorn Graybrook that life was perfect: The nine-year-old boy rarely escaped his round of chores in the master’s cheerless house, and it was only to run errands through the city with its surly crowds and high gray walls that blocked the sun. Today, though… Open expa...
The soldier found his immediate superior in consultation with Aoth. When the two comrades investigated, they discovered a griffon crouching outside the hut in question. No doubt its master had stationed it there to keep anyone from interfering with the mischief inside. Aoth brandished his spear a...
The siege engines and battle sorceries of the ancient rebels had shattered battlements and toppled towers, and time had chipped and scraped at all that had survived the initial onslaught. Yet the Mulhorandi had built their provincial capital to last, and much remained essentially intact. Bareris ...
As he had. And more than a hundred years later, he still relished it just as much as ever. But this was the sort of morning that took the joy right out of it. The cold rain chilled him despite the magical tattoo and minor charms intended to keep him warm and dry. Maybe he was sensing Jet’s discom...
Nothing there yet, or at least, nothing he could see. The problem was that despite the enchantment a sea-elf Dukar had cast on him to augment his vision, he couldn’t see much. Like all mermen, he was a creature of the upper waters. He wasn’t used to these cold, desolate depths. Light as he knew i...
So eager were the wyrms to rip their meal apart and gobble down the shreds that much of it was already unrecognizable. But Kara could still make out some coppery scales glinting in the sunlight. Fury swelled inside her. She hated the chromatics for desecrating the body of her friend, almost as mu...
She immediately sprang into distance, feinted a head cut, and then, when her husband’s blade came up to parry, attempted a strike to the chest. Thamalon reacted to the true attack in time. Retreating, he swept his sword to his left to close the line. The two blades rang together, and Shamur waite...