( I'm sorry I betrayed my family. I'm sorry for the knights I killed. I'm sorry for my defiance and for the assorted times I tried to kill you. And in a sort of horrific irony, in good conscience, if we presume for the sake of argument that I have one, I can't wish I did it differently. My children, you know. )

The Troll Gods prove more useful, if unwillingly cooperative, than Stragen had anticipated. Aphrael - not without some regretfulness - wrung from them an agreement that would ultimately be the end of their species. Trolls were from a time past, and their time had passed; at least, now, they might age and die as men do ( Read more... )

It's the following day that Princess Danae falls ill, with no definable malady. No fever, no rash, no cough--a listless sort of weakness. A lack of appetite and a difficulty in waking her. While Mirtai assures the royal couple that their child only needs a tonic--that it's the same as it was the previous month--Martel has his doubts about the ( Read more... )

They all gather once more the following morning, with Kalten and Talen apparently in competition to see who can eat the most for breakfast. Casual discussion rules the table before they consider getting down to business, and when Ehlana asks Maryani with some alarm about the state of her wrists it is--to Martel's surprise and outright laughter-- ( Read more... )

Only at Ehlana's urging--and then express command--does Sephrenia join them for breakfast the following morning, dark circles under her eyes and a sleeveless black overmantle that none of them had seen her wear before partially covering her traditional white Styric robe. She sits slightly apart from the others, her injury drawn around herself like ( Read more... )

It's some time later--after Ehlana has already deduced for herself (by dint of his well-polished letters that are nothing like the usual style that tends to suggest he does his writing with his broadsword) that Sparhawk's been spinning her fairytales (and then shouted at Martel when he couldn't look properly surprised in time), and after Oscagne ( Read more... )

In the wake of the uprising, several things change. The emperor, feigning cowardice, flatly refuses to come out of the clearly far safer home of the Elene castle, and remains there only with the moat kept full and the drawbridge raised, accompanied by his family (all of his family). His ministers, accustomed to arranging his every movement, are ( Read more... )

They leave Sarsos as planned the following morning--not quite so early as anticipated originally, but there's still a good day's travel ahead of them. Martel's typical antisocial habits are kicked up a few notches, garnering him at the very least a quiet ride, and he chooses not to wonder too much about how Maryani's faring in the carriage now. He ( Read more... )

Around noon or so on their fourth day traveling through a birchwood forest toward Sarsos, the Atan scouts report soldiers ahead of them--waiting, more than likely for the Queen's entourage and its small army. A quarter of a mile ahead of their position Mirtai's found a small hill, jutting up boulders covered in moss--Sparhawk's decision is ( Read more... )

As the weather gets increasingly threatening, the prospect of stopping somewhere for shelter becomes less of a prospect and more of a requirement. The (granted tedious) proposition of setting up tents is put off by the arrival of Kring riding back with a small carriage behind him to introduce 'Baron Kotyk', a landowner who seems very pleased by the ( Read more... )