Category: Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea

Journey to the Water Chapter XXV: The House of the Weaver-Woman

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

The man who greeted me at the bridge gave his name as Sala and his profession as the village smith, though Nagara had not seen a new shipment of iron for many months. I feared the great mine of Phyreios had not yet reopened, and that it perhaps never would, but Sala had no way of knowing what occurred on the other side of the rust-red desert, and I would not press him for answers that he would not possess. The less I knew of Phyreios, the better I could focus on the task before me.

Though I had sailed many miles and walked for four long weeks to reach this place, a terrible dread came over me in place of my anticipated relief. Sala’s face was grim, his brows heavy and his mouth a thin line. I had brought this quiet village the news it had feared for two long years, that their favored son would not return. 

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New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water, Chapter XXV

“I am Eske, son of Ivor, of the Clan of the Bear,” I said. “I met your son in the great city of the desert.”

Chapter XXV: The House of the Weaver-Woman

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Journey to the Water Chapter XXIV: A Vast, Green Country

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

For four weeks I journeyed through those mountains, in the shadow of the sacred peak of Abora. At its top, the villagers among the cliffs told me, was the shrine of the great serpent-god, the wisest and craftiest of all the ancient beings that had once built cities in the highest reaches, whose eyes were like rubies and whose feathered wings could blot out the sun. Each morning, sunlight blazed from behind the mountain, and I thought again of climbing it; by the time I had packed up my camp and saddled Bran again, the desire had burned away like fog. I returned to the road north and did not stop again until nightfall. 

The sun set a little earlier each evening, and as I followed the pilgrim’s road, the forest turned from deep emerald to the yellow-brown of the kelp that grew in the warm waters of the south. From the highest places of the world to the bottom of the ocean, the turn of the seasons followed me. I had allowed my quest to stretch on for two years, and I was determined not to let another pass without Khalim by my side. 

Fate, however, had other plans for me. Perhaps if I had sought the aid of the winged serpent of Mount Abora, my journey would have proceeded differently. 

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New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Chapter XXIV

“If you’re looking to be healed, I’m afraid he is no longer here. He left for the north almost three years ago, and we yet await his return.”

Chapter XXIV: A Vast, Green Country

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Journey to the Water Chapter XXIII: The Port of Charkand

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

The Lady of Osona passed into the storm’s eye. Where there had been wailing wind and rain beating against my back, there was now an empty, yawning stillness. The ship rested lightly upon calm waters. 

My hands had contorted into stiff, aching claws, and splinters dug into my palms and the exposed skin of my legs. I climbed down from the mast, forcing my limbs to stretch. My head spun; though the ship beneath me lay as if in a deep, dreamless sleep, I felt as though it would throw me into the sea. When my rope-burned feet reached the deck, I fell to my knees and shut my eyes, forcing myself to breathe evenly until rain brushed against my shoulders and the back of my neck once again. 

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New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Chapter XXIII

I once had a traveler in my inn, years ago, who told a story like yours. He said he met a boy in the river valley who possessed a strange talent for magic.

Chapter XXIII: The Port of Charkand

There is a new chapter of Journey to the Water available on Patreon! Eske leaves the sea and his new friends behind as his quest continues. You can read this chapter RIGHT NOW by becoming a subscriber, or you can wait until next week, when it makes its appearance here on the blog.

Journey to the Water Interlude Three: The Broken Road

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

The creature clung to Khalim’s back, breathing a quick, shallow rhythm against his neck. It was light as a bird, and its fingers ended in tiny, sharp talons, black and shiny as obsidian, that clicked together as it adjusted its hold on his shoulders. It was a meat-eating creature, Khalim guessed, based on the claws and its many pointed teeth—though maybe it didn’t eat anything. He hadn’t been hungry since his still-shaky memories of the world before the citadel, and there wasn’t anything identifiable to eat in this place even if he had been. He was lost, and so very cold, but the world beyond had not been as cruel as he’d feared. 

The question remained, then, why someone would lay a trap to catch small creatures in the wood, if not to eat them. Its iron jaws could have easily closed on Khalim, had he been less fortunate. At the very least, he wouldn’t have starved to death before he freed himself.

“So,” he said. His voice was flat and muffled to his own ears, swallowed up by the forest. “Where are we going?”

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New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Interlude Three

“Other places.” The creature’s bone mask found a spot in the crook of his shoulder, left bare by his ragged clothing, and came to rest there, sending a chill through his chest and down his back. When it spoke, its teeth brushed against his skin. “Places with people. Gods’ places. You’ll see.”

Interlude Three: The Broken Road

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Journey to the Water Chapter XXII: The Tempest

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

We left the shallow seas and the sandy isles the following day, our ship heavy with provisions and our hearts light. We would sail north, Hamilcar said, and in a few short weeks we would find ourselves on the shores of a vast green country, the land that my Khalim had called home. It must have been a gentle land, I thought, one of soft rains and bountiful harvests. My homeland was harsh, and my people scratched out a living among the mountain stones and struggled with one another for everything we had, and it had made me a warrior. I feared I would be too much a stranger in a country that produced healers. 

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New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Chapter XXII

Once, I had climbed the side of the great worm as it laid waste to Phyreios. With only a sword and the texture of its filthy hide to aid me, I had reached the crest of its head. If I had completed that feat, I thought, then a rope ladder would be an easy task, even in a tropical storm.

As soon as my feet left the pitching deck, I understood how wrong I had been.

Chapter XXII: The Tempest

Eske and his pirate friends find themselves caught in a storm at sea in the latest chapter! You can read it right now by becoming a Patreon subscriber, or you can wait a week for its appearance here on the blog. Either way, I appreciate you reading!