Maertyn didn’t sense any special scrutiny from the others in the car, but when the train was less than a half hour from Semelin, he stood and walked from his seat to the facilities in the middle of the car. Once inside a stall, he eased the special stunner from his shoulder bag into his jacket po...
Along the way, Alucius had decided on his approach. There was no sense in merely putting himself and his companies under the command of some colonel and being ordered to destroy as many Matrites as possible. Not when the crystal spear-throwers remained. Without them, as events had proved twice, t...
The man probably could have loosened the post if he had struggled enough, but he still would have been fastened to what amounted to a heavy log.“The men are here-all we could find quickly, ser,” announced Teras, his voice carrying over the slight whistle of the wind.“Thank you.” Cerryl cleared hi...
He looked down and discovered he wore but simple under-drawers, rather than his nightsilk undergarments. As he raised his eyes, a woman with shimmering black hair, violet eyes, and flawless white skin, clad in less even than Alucius wore, stepped through the archway opposite him, swaying toward t...
Dainyl looked eastward toward the Spine of Coras and what lay at the base of the red cliffs footing those snow-capped winter giants. The late afternoon light fell across the redstone spires of the Vault of the Ages, turning them a deeper and duskier shade, outlining them against the lighter stone...
He looked around. Someone was hurrying away’t from him, down the stone hallway outside the cell. How had he ended up in a cell? Was he still in Luba?“So…” The voice was that of a guard who wore black, except for thin and bright blue piping on his tunic sleeves and cuffs. “How is our would-be mage...
Kharl kept busy at whatever tasks were set before him. Some of that was internal work on bulkheads and decks, anywhere that water had managed to damage wood. He even repaired one of the cover panels on the port paddle wheel. When he was not working, sleeping, or eating, he was reading or—far less...
With the heat, few of the peddlers and vendors remained, and the low stone wall that surrounded the near-empty square was vacant. Topped with redstone with rounded edges, the wall was a good place for sitting and resting, and there had always been a beggar or two there. Today, there were none. ...
So you get the fur. We all share the meat. That's a dubious benefit." Saryn laughed, and Nylan joined her. Snow-cat meat was tough, gamy, and no pleasure for teeth or tongue, even in a well-cooked stew. Nylan adjusted the bow in its cover and checked the quiver. "What will you do with the f...
Even so, I didn’t head in to the station until close to ninth glass, but the day was still damp and chill. Lyonyt greeted me with an announcement. “Captain, we just got a report. First District thinks they just picked up the body of that elver you asked about. Red hair…same scar along the forearm...
Finding the Way of Seven Steps took a little longer than it would have in, say, Westi or Vallura, or most towns or cities in Noram. I walked past it twice—once walking to the Grand Hotel, and, again, after getting directions, walking back past the narrow lane between what looked to be a boarding ...
Although the sky was a cloudless and bright silver-green, the sun had not yet cleared the higher peaks of the barrier range to the east of the compound, and the courtyard remained shadowed. He had barely left the senior officers’ quarters before Captain Fhentyl approached. “Good morning, sir.” Fh...
Although it was Duadi, he had decided to wait another few days to send a report to Colonel Herolt. His arm was immobilized in a splintlike dressing that left him unable to write. If he did dictate a report for Rhystan to draft, he wanted to report that while his shoulder had been injured, he was ...
From there he had to head farther upstream to find an unoccupied wharf from which he could drop Chardyn’s body and staff into the dark water. That way, if the body happened to be found, there would be a certain mystery as to how it arrived there, especially with no marks or wounds. If no one ever...
Something does not feel right. He glances toward Kusyl. On the morning of the second day of the patrol, the second squad is deploying inward from the outer perimeter road, while Olisenn's first squad will deploy in a line outward from the ward-wall road. "Kusyl-this morning, I'll be riding with t...