Tag: duels

The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Twenty-One

Vengeance

The Book of the New Moon Door cover image: A book with yellowing, wrinkled pages lies open on an old wooden desk, with a sprig of lavender lying in the center.

Table of Contents

Hybrook Belisia tosses the pistol aside and draws the rapier from his hip. He’s light on his feet, one polished toe pointed, his fingers loose around the hilt. “After all this,” he says with a sneer, “you still don’t have the good sense to lie down and die.”

In contrast, Berend grips his saber like he’s hanging from a cliff. It was a glancing blow, the pistol shot, otherwise his guts would be several feet behind him, but he’s still losing blood at an alarming rate. His shirt is already soaked through, and a thick, red stain spreads down one leg and into the heavy fabric of his borrowed coat. He presses his free hand onto the wound, hoping the pressure will keep him upright a little longer. He’ll worry about infection later, if he lives that long. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Twenty-One” →

The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Nineteen

Gone

The Book of the New Moon Door cover image: A book with yellowing, wrinkled pages lies open on an old wooden desk, with a sprig of lavender lying in the center.

Table of Contents

Fallen leaves, turned from pale yellow to deep gold in the bizarre evening light, collect around Berend’s feet as he crosses the wide, central thoroughfare. On either side, the buildings loom tall and shadowed, and a thin green-black sliver of the vertical forest in the south cuts a dark line through the red-tinted sky. It’s shorter than it used to be, and something flickers in and out of view at the top, jutting out at different sharp angles whenever it appears. Berend tries not to look at it. His eye still aches from the last time he tried. 

It’s quiet here, and all the windows up and down the street are shuttered. So lights, not even a burning scarlet reflection, shine out from amongst the dark wood casements and between climbing vines. If any of the wealthy citizens who live in this district are at home, they’re hiding very well. Berend hopes—because he’s less inclined than usual to pray, given that the gods are either dead or about to be—that Lady Breckenridge is among them.

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Nineteen” →

Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter XIII

Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea cover image: a wide, still river with forested mountain peaks rising on either side, underneath a clouded sky.
In which there are several duels.

Table of Contents

From where I stood, I could see the high seats where the Seven observed the games. They shone in the sunlight, their skin and their draped garments shimmering as though woven of metal, their faces serene and unmoving. At the center sat Andam the emperor and Shanzia his consort, father and mother to all of Phyreios. Watching them there in all of their finery, I felt I understood their haughty assurance that they could command all within their borders, including the worm under the mountain. 

They had already once been wrong, however. I was certain that during the night they believed Khalim to be dead, but he had overcome. Now, of course, they knew the truth: he yet lived, and he was mostly unharmed, his magic having overcome the Serpents’ poison. If they still wished him ill, they would have to try harder. I had slain two Serpents, myself, and Aysulu had taken the third. I would only have to be faster and more vigilant the next time. 

The arbiter called me forth to the ring. Were the Ascended watching me, studying my performance in this contest to find the means by which I could be bested? There was nothing to be done about it but to win the contest and the approval of the citizens, and make certain that the Sword of Heaven was awarded either to our team or to an ally.

Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter XIII” →