Tag: Journey to the Water

Journey to the Water Chapter VIII: Volcano’s Edge

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

I leapt up and stumbled backward. The embers of my campfire flared as my feet kicked into them, and heat seared through the soles of my boots. I stepped clear and reached for my weapon. 

The snake hissed, sounding as surprised as I was. Though its fang-lined maw did not move, it was clearly the source of the strange voice. “No, hold still,” it muttered. 

“You can talk?” I asked aloud. My hand found my spear in the darkness, and I levered the point between the snake’s eyes. In the fading light of the remains of my fire, I could see the scar on its neck where I had injured it earlier in the day. The scales there had already begun to knit together. It was healing, and fast—too quickly to be anything but magic. This was no ordinary beast. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter VIII: Volcano’s Edge” →

New Patreon Post/Journey to the Water Chapter VIII

No living person had touched that lake since the volcano had last awoken an age ago. I may have been the first to see it in a hundred years.

Journey to the Water Chapter VIII

The latest chapter of Journey to the Water is now available on Patreon! This is the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea, and Patreon subscribers get chapters a full week early, plus some other good stuff.

Journey to the Water Chapter VII: The Slope of Ewandar

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

My first tasks were menial ones: mending a roof, hauling water from a spring in the forest, and helping Kala reset her fish traps. The work was no great effort, though my eyes wandered every moment to the stone edifice behind the huts. I assumed, with no stretch of the imagination, that this was the temple, and when my work was done, I would enter it, and perhaps catch a glimpse of my beloved for the first time since he was stolen from me.

His god had promised me he would be safe. I would only believe it once I saw him—I had lost my faith in gods. I hoped that the god of this island, to whom the grandmothers paid homage, would prove more worthy of trust.

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter VII: The Slope of Ewandar” →

New Patreon Post/Journey to the Water Chapter VII

I had lost my faith in gods. I hoped the god of this island, to whom the grandmothers paid homage, would prove more worthy of my trust.

Journey to the Water Chapter VII

The latest chapter of Journey to the Water is now available on Patreon!

Journey to the Water Chapter VI: The Isle of the Priestesses

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 girl led me through a forest unlike any I had ever seen. Bright golden fruit peered out between leaves of deepest emerald green, and birds with cerulean feathers called out to each other from the tops of tall trees. A scarlet lizard, a tiny cousin of the fire-breathing salamander I had fought in the arena of Phyreios, skittered across the narrow footpath.

I asked the girl her name, and between bites of the pastry with which the captain had bribed her, she told me it was Kala. She was handmaiden to the grandmothers—a position of great honor, I inferred, especially for one so young. 

Our path sloped upward, toward the mountain at the island’s center. The only clouds on that bright blue morning ringed the black peak like a crown. Though the earth did not tremble and the mountain was still, it was a volcano, no less mighty than the ones that sprang forth in fire and steam from the sea in my homeland. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter VI: The Isle of the Priestesses” →

New Patreon Post/Journey to the Water Chapter VI

Oh, my dear boy. What’s dead should stay dead.

Journey to the Water Chapter VI

As promised, the latest chapter is now available on Patreon! It will be up here in a few days, but if you just can’t wait, my Patreon is only $3 a month and will have some exclusive new projects on it pretty soon (in a month or so), plus you get Patreon livestreams and the opportunity to say you supported me before I was cool.

Journey to the Water Interlude One: Citadel Gate

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

“I’ve remembered my name,” Khalim said. “Will you help me?”

The moon-faced owl preened the crook of one wing with its beak. “And why should I do that, little one?” 

Khalim walked to the base of the arch on which the owl perched, beside the stair that led to the temple he could never open. “Why do you call me that? I’m larger than you.”

“Is that what you see?” 

He nodded. He was half as tall as the arch, and though the owl’s wings were broad, he guessed he could hold its body in his arms. 

The owl lowered its wing and studied him with one eye. “Interesting. And what do you look like?”

It was a strange question, seeing as the owl was looking him in the face, but Khalim would play along. The last thing he wished to do was offend the only being he had seen in such a long time—perhaps forever. He wasn’t sure. He looked down at his hands. 

For a brief flash, he saw what he expected to see—brown skin, calluses, the frayed hem of a sleeve. Then his flesh turned to white marble, with two black veins twining up each of his wrists. His clothing became ridges of stone, exquisitely carved of the same material that formed the walls of the citadel.

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Interlude One: Citadel Gate” →

New Patreon Post / Journey to the Water Interlude One

You cannot return from whence you came, and beyond the borders of this place lie the spirit wilds. You’d be likely to have your face stolen, or worse.

Journey to the Water Interlude One

The latest chapter of Journey to the Water is now available on Patreon! I’m very excited about this one, as you’ll not only be able to check on what’s going on with Khalim, but you’ll also find out a little about the cosmology of this setting.

Thank you to everyone who supports me on Patreon. It’s been really helpful, and I’m so, so grateful.

If you’re not a Patreon subscriber, would you consider becoming one? It’s only $3 a month, and if I get one more subscriber, I can pay for both the meds I have to take to keep me functional (and writing!) all year round. Plus, you get all chapters a week early, Patreon livestreams where you can chat with me about fantasy tropes and whatever else you like, and there will be a new, Patreon-exclusive story starting sometime in the near-ish future.

If not, don’t worry, I still appreciate you and you can read this chapter here on the blog next week!

Journey to the Water Chapter V: The Emerald Sea

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

I was a day out of Banwa town, and I had yet to see another soul on the muddy road beside the river. It likely would not have made a difference—Bran was a steppe horse, an exceedingly rare sight this far south. Any other traveler would have been just as much at a loss as I. 

I took him down the riverbank and into the snow-fed water, letting it cool his legs and his belly. He rallied after a few minutes, and we continued on our way, but after an hour he slowed again, panting. 

Aysulu would have known what to do. But she was half a world away, and I had not seen her in more than a year, since I had left Phyreios. Bran had been her last gift to me. I considered, briefly, leaving him, or selling him in the hopes that he would find his way into the hands of someone who could better care for him, but as soon as the thought came to me, I pushed it aside. He deserved better, as did Aysulu’s friendship, and I feared he was the only thing keeping me from the madness of solitude as I traveled alone in this strange land. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter V: The Emerald Sea” →

New Patreon Post/Journey to the Water Chapter V

“I am looking for the seers of these islands. A dragon told me that they could help me.”

Journey to the Water Chapter V

The latest chapter is now available on Patreon! You can unlock it and also get all future chapters early for less than a medium cup of black coffee a month. There are also added benefits, like Patreon livestreams and my undying gratitude.

If not, you’ll see this chapter here on the website next week.