Now they finally have someone they can ask questions... ----- Chapter 23. Poplock looked at Kyri, who was clearly weakened and shaking with reaction from the attack and shock, and Tobimar standing near her. Right, I can take this myself. "Okay, you've got a chance to talk. Better make the talk good. So you're a demon under Viedraverion's command?" Tashriel's face twisted in half-amusement, half-misery. "I was… on loan to Viedraverion. He made my real master, Balinshar, give me to him for a special project – [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 22
February 1, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Well, we'd left off with Kyri in a rather bad spot... ----- Chapter 22. "This is going to look so stupid, Poplock," Tobimar said, settling his swords back into place. "We –" "I'll take all the blame if it looks stupid. I know that it seemed like we pretty much settled it just now, but there's still that chance left, and can we afford it if you're wrong? We can take a little embarrassment, even getting Kyri mad at us, but…" "Fine, fine. You're right. You generally have been. I just hope we're all [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 21
January 29, 2016 By Leave a Comment
They had discovered a possible problem... ----- Chapter 21. "A vampire?" Kyri repeated in shock. There hadn't been a vampire of any type in Evanwyl for years, maybe decades, at least as far as she knew. "And it might be Rion," Poplock said. She found herself half out of her chair, hammering her fist down on the table. "Rion is NOT…!" Then she realized how ridiculous her reaction was. These are my friends and best companions. They wouldn't say things like this to me idly. She sat back down slowly, [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 20
January 27, 2016 By Leave a Comment
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... ]
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