Tobimar and Poplock had decided that Rion had to be watched... ----- Chapter 20 "You lost him? You?" Tobimar couldn't keep the incredulity from his voice. There was a part of him that felt almost betrayed, and he finally identified it as the same feeling he'd had the first time he realized his mother couldn't fix everything. Poplock had always been the one who got things done when other people couldn't. The diminuitive Toad couldn't meet his gaze. "Yeah. I lost him." "Where?" "He'd taken a walk [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 19
January 25, 2016 By Leave a Comment
So there were some questions to be answered... ----- Chapter 19. "You wish to see… what, precisely?" Arbiter Kelsley asked. "Well, that's part of the problem," Poplock said. "We're not sure." Kelsley jumped. "By the Balance… were you always able to talk?" "Yep," he answered. It was still amusing to see people suddenly have to revise their entire evaluation of him in an instant. "Then why… ah. Because you were a far more dangerous weapon when not suspected. Obvious, really. But why reveal [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 18
January 22, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Having broken the Watchland's enchantment, the question is what to do next... ---- Chapter 18. Tobimar watched as Xavier and Rion sparred. Rion wielded what Tobimar thought of as an Odinsyrnen sword and some others called a knight's weapon – a fairly long one-handed blade, double-fullered along most of its length, with a dragon-motif hilt – and a small shield, slightly larger than a buckler, and wore chain armor with some plate elements. Xavier, of course, wore no apparent armor and used two [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 17
January 20, 2016 By Leave a Comment
They had to begin addressing the problems... and one of them isn't far away... ------ Chapter 17. The Watchland's Fortress lay in front of them, only a few hundred yards distant. Of their dual group, only Rion was not present; he had remained behind with Lythos at Vantage Fortress. His presence would have vastly complicated the entire issue. Kyri looked to the five younger people. "Ready?" Toshi nodded. "This should not be complicated, only potentially dangerous. For our purposes, there are really only [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 16
January 18, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Xavier and his friends finally tell something about their adventures... ----- Chapter 16. Poplock watched from his perch on one of the unlit candleholders, nibbling on a thimbleberry, as the others slowly filtered in. Xavier practically leaped back into his chair and started eating. "You know," said the Toad, "you seem to eat like twice as much as everyone else." "Yeah," Xavier mumbled around a mouthful of crispwing, "my sensei said something about that being a consequence of burning more energy than [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 15
January 15, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Finally, after hearing about them since Phoenix Rising, we get to meet Xavier's four companions! ------ Chapter 15. Kyri gave a full, formal Armed Bow to the five young people – all of them definitely younger than she was, Xavier's age, sixteen or seventeen at the most. "Welcome to my estate, all of you." She was dressed in the Raiment; not only was this an official council of war, with hopefully new allies, but also if somehow their enemy realized what was going on, she wasn't going to be caught [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 14
January 13, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Poplock had made a welcome discovery in the last chapter... ------- Chapter 14. Once more, Tobimar found himself hiding in shadows, watching an inn. A misty, warm drizzle of rain wet his hair and dripped from the eaves above. Poplock was on his shoulder as they stared at the Balanced Meal from the darkness of a narrow alley between a clothier and a farrier's stables across from the main inn of Evanwyl proper. "This is going to be difficult," he murmured. "Why in Blackwart's name aren't they [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 13
January 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment
At long last, Kyri and Tobimar have come back to Evanwyl... ----- Chapter 13. "Gharis again," murmured Tobimar. "Appropriate. It was the easiest of the outlying towns for us to get to from Rivendream," Poplock said. He was feeling perhaps unreasonably cheerful and optimistic; getting out of the vile, sanity-eroding nastiness of Rivendream had that effect. Maybe Evanwyl wasn't the sparkling perfection of Kaizatenzei, but compared to Rivendream Pass, well, close enough. "How do you want to do [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 12
January 8, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Well, between Kaizatenzei and Evanwyl lies an area not nearly so pleasant as either... ------ Chapter 12. Tobimar heard the triple twang-twang-twang as Poplock's clockwork crossbow fired. "Behind you!" Tobimar whirled, silver-green swords out, slashing across the shadow wraith which was already burning white in three places, shattering it to fading shards of night. "Close." "We're not done!" Two more shadow wraiths, graverisen affected by the dark powers in Rivendream Pass, had [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 11
January 6, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Where there are heroes, there must be a villain... ------ Chapter 11. Once more the scroll remained silvery, blank, even as the voice spoke from it. "A few weeks only, now." "Really? You have made good time. The matrix remains intact?" "Astonishingly so. I need only focus on my intended path and impression, and it brings forth the words, the posture, the gestures… everything I need." The voice paused, and in the silence it read something else. "You sound troubled, my friend." "It [ Continue reading... ]
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