William Jones
Stories
10
Chapters
3,868
Words
2.6 M
Comments
0
Reading
8 d, 21 h
-
They skipped Black House’s communal breakfast, instead bothering the servants for simpler fare served directly in Song’s room. There were only two chairs in there, so Maryam brought her own before locking the door behind her. By common accord – and to Angharad’s relief - the three of them finished breaking their fast before getting into the report about her activities in the country. Angharad laid it all out for them. The ambush laid by the Varochas and how it had made her stumble into a carriage…-
560 •
-
-
The thing about being the lowest rung on the ladder was that everyone stepped on you. It was Tristan’s fourth day as a Kassa traveling man, which meant he was still swallowing an awful lot of boot: there hadn’t been a single trip across the city where he wasn’t the one hanging onto the back of the carriage and he’d thrice been volunteered to clean vomit or horseshit. The pay, to be honest, wasn’t great. Four coppers a day, one of which went to the injury fund, and then an additional twelve if he…
-
560 •
-
-
Angharad rose shortly after dawn, washed and came down to break her fast with the Eirenos. Her back ached, as much from last night’s exertions as the fact that she’d burned an entire candle translating the secret correspondence. It had gone into the empty pages of the cyphered journal she’d obtained from the carriage, secrets added to secrets in a turn that stirred an ember of exhausted amusement. It was better than asking the servants for fresh paper in the middle of the night, anyway. The spread…
-
560 •
-
-
Mistakes had been made. “A She hadn’t even killed the thing, she mutinously thought. So why was half of Chalcia convinced she had saved them from being murdered in the night by a tower-sized satyrian leading an army of lupines? A few of them had While Angharad suspected the old woman had been trying to do her a good turn, the rumors spawned by whatever she said the previous night had swiftly got out of hand. While it was true satyrians were clever enough to use tools and open gates, they rarely…
-
560 •
-
-
By the end of the first day, Angharad would have been willing to fight another gray mirror for the prize of never again having to ride a coach. It was no reflection on the coachman, a grizzled old woman who knew the country roads like the back of her hand and drove to Chalcia – the town nearest to the Eirenos estate – at least twice a week. It was the roads themselves that were devil’s work, the quality having wildly dropped a mere two hours out of Tratheke and never daring another swing upwards…
-
560 •
-
-
Come night, Tratheke looked like a sea of lights. Black House was not so tall that the view from the roof garden was not cut into by higher edifices still, but the spread offered to Song’s eyes was still a striking sight. The gas lamps of the capital lit up the dark like a thousand fireflies, their burning glow reflected on green glass and brass, and above it all towered the Collegium. That grand structure’s bones of brass were hard to make out from a distance, weaving the illusion that its massive…
-
560 •
-
-
Her mornings on Asphodel had become routine, if not rote. ( Letting out a long breath, Angharad opened her eyes and found an expectant Maryam looking at her from across the table, steel tip pen at the ready. “Leftmost book, seventh page,” she said. “Seven, nineteen, three hundred and two, one.” It had been one of the more interesting discoveries that everything she saw in a vision was temporarily fixed in her mind, near impossible to forget for at least a day afterwards. Maryam hummed, jotting…
-
560 •
-
-
It wasn’t a Meadow, as the Guild would never allow one to be built outside land they controlled, but Black House did have a lovely roof garden centered around a pond fed by a false river. Sitting by it felt like drinking half a swallow of lukewarm water instead of quenching your thirst, but it still soothed Maryam’s mind to listen to the flow while Lieutenant Mitra finished his examination. The wild-haired signifier let out a small noise of interest, then withdrew his nav from her. “I have rarely…
-
560 •
-
-
Song had not worn formal clothes this regularly since leaving Tianxia and was not sure she cared for it. While formality was a demonstration of respect for the interlocutor, the facts of the matter remained that Song Ren had a lot to do and only so many hours in her day to do it. Consequently, the time spent getting in and out of her layered That and it would be indiscreet to discuss the investigation when she was being helped into her clothes by a Black House maid. Servants gossiped, and Tristan was…
-
560 •
-
-
The Thirteenth usually ate its evening meal together, occasionally alongside the other brigades, but with Song and Tristan out tonight Angharad had elected to make other arrangements. Though she had a working truce of sorts with Maryam, she would much prefer not to eat an entire meal alone with the other woman. Besides, it had been too long since she shared a table with her uncle. Osian Tredegar was a commander of the Watch, which meant that unlike her he had been able to make requests of the Black House…
-
560 •
-
- Previous 1 … 381 382 383 … 387 Next
