Daniel Thompson
Stories
13
Chapters
4,688
Words
1.4 M
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Reading
4 d, 20 h
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For some reason the news that the Swinging Sabers were going to be testing out a group of girls attracted a bunch more attention than I think even the guy on the boxes was expecting. My friends and I are gathered up on one side of the makeshift arena, behind a wooden barrier and with a bit of room left around us from the other onlookers. On the other side is our competition, four men, though two of them are about our own age. They look really confident. “Who goes first?” I ask. Esme shrugs. “Might…
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I nodded, then took a small step forward and shifted Felix’s shoulders. “Like this,” I said. “You don’t want to hunch forward when you punch, even if it gives you a bit more range. It’ll throw your centre of gravity forwards, and then someone can sweep you off your feet or just grab your wrist and tug you towards them.” “Oh,” Felix said. She stepped on the spot, then lowered her hips a little while her arm returned to her side. She breathed out, then punched forwards. In that same…
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Morning happens as it usually does, with fights over who gets to use the bathroom first, and Felix urging everyone to move faster so that she can get to breakfast a couple of minutes sooner. Bianca, whose whole ice-princess attitude doesn’t hold up quite as well at this hour, watches us all with detached curiosity, as if we’re a bunch of animals that have snuck into her living room and are making a mess of things. “So!” I say as I toss on my cloak. It wouldn’t do to be seen as some sort of…
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I drag one of the seats around so that it’s facing the others a bit better. Felix has opted for leaning against the nearest doorframe while Esme is slumped next to me on the loveseat, her eyes blinking every so often as she tries to stay awake. Across from us is Bianca, who seems entirely comfortable with being the centre of attention. Then again, there’s only the three of us (and a few little friends) watching her. “Arlight,” I say. “Where do we start?” “I suspect from the beginning. How…
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I don’t expect the monsters to do much here. Sure, they outnumber the guards on the wall by a lot, even counting the guards that haven’t arrived and the adventurers and caravan guards that are still inside the city. Most monsters don’t really have an answer to walls. They can’t exactly scale up the wall, and there aren’t that many weaker monsters with any sort of ranged ability. The slimes might be able to ooze up, and the flying monsters won’t have a problem, except that they’re pretty…
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“Mom!” I called out, my voice echoing down the corridor, soon followed by the patta-patta of my feet before I crashed into Mom hug-first. “Hello Valeria,” Mom said. She idly ran her hands over my head. “Did you have a good night?” “Yeah. It’s nice to be back home,” I said as I pulled back a little, just enough to read her expression. She seemed happy too. “Felix and Esme slept in my room, is that okay?” “It defeats the point of insisting that they have their own rooms, but I…
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“Let’s go see,” I say. “See what?” Felix asks. She has to know what I’m talking about. After all, there are a lot of people streaming away from the edge of the city. Obviously I want to go in the opposite direction. “I’m not entirely sure if that would be wise,” Bianca says. “Why not? If it is monsters, then they’ll hardly hurt us. Well, not Felix and I, and we can help defend you. And if it’s something else, then I’d rather know now rather than later.” “What else could…
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“And when is it leaving?” I ask again, just to make sure. “At two hours before mid-day, on the tenth bell,” the man behind the counter says. Arranging for a carriage to join a convoy is a lot more painless than I’d assumed it would be; It’s a lot more expensive too, and I can tell that Felix is cringing next to me for every gold coin added. Mostly those are a joining fee, a fee for supplies along the way, travel insurance (which mostly means that if our carriage breaks down, the entire convoy…
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Once we set everything out in our respective rooms--which really doesn’t take a lot of time--my friends and I reunite on the third floor. I’m not too sure what to do... which isn’t quite true. There’s a list of things to get done, but I’m not sure where to start with them. “Okay,” I say. “First, we need to secure passage over to the capital. That means a carriage. Uh, Bianca, you don’t happen to have a family carriage with you?” “I do,” Bianca says. “I’m not entirely sure how…
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I gestured into one of the rooms. “This can be for either of you,” I said. “There’s another room just over there that’s empty too. Mine’s the one in the middle.” Felix stuck her head into the bedroom and sniffed around. “It’s big,” she said. The rooms were decently sized, with a four-poster in the back and a small living area. There were empty drawers for stuff, a few little sofas set on a nice oval rug. A window at the back overlooked the side of the castle, not one of the more…
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