Tal's Spacebar

Chapter Twenty-five

The Kesselmire south of Kreshalt was a very different experience from the reedy marshes and forests of the East Fens. The trees here were dead or half-drowned beneath the overcast Midautumn sky, smelling of decay. The ground often gave way to watery mud, the road narrowing to ...

Chapters 17-18: The Road (first getting on the road and traveling to Altenrast)

Miren dances (Removed scene, non-canon)
Really, the forest was overwhelmingly lovely. I'd heard Rurik's customers talk about the forests, of course - trees so thick you couldn't see houses past them - but seeing it ...

Chapter Twenty-four

That night, we sheltered in what was left of the abandoned hilltop manor in the broken, looted ruins of Verfhall. It was the only building still properly standing, the village beneath it rotting in the mud. We sheltered from the storm in its towering central room, lighting a ...

Chapter Twenty-three

The next morning we arose early, and Corradin and Everet immediately got into an argument: Everet had wandered off at dawn, and came back to find that Corradin, for all his traveling, thought you could put out a campfire by piling a few rocks on it. Avelyn settled the ...

Chapter Twenty-two

Panicked, I glanced around our clifftop clearing, but I saw nothing except trees, stony terrain, and haggard brush. I crouched down low while Everet stepped towards the voice. "Come out," he shouted, tense and controlled. "Step out or I'll find you myself!"
With a rustle of ...

Chapters 15-16 (after being fitted by Branka, up until Branka leaves and they hit the road)


Miren is too self-aware about her feelings (deleted text)

a strange fluttering tightness in my chest. I would settle into the chair across from him, basking in his sunshine.
Slow down, stupid, my mind ...

Chapter Twenty-one

The climb grew steeper, the ancient path narrower and hedged with rocks, curving up winding slopes choked with bush and briar. At times we encountered sections of path washed away by mud or rockslides; Everet led us skillfully through the gaps and over fallen stones.
And then ...

It's a small continent, but it's the only one they really know. There are others but they're distant enough to force long voyages, thus...

The Continent

Also, Belgium apparently has dragons, so that's neat.

Chapter Twenty

Everet, Corradin and I left the tavern early the next morning before the thugs from Weihenmark could awaken. As we turned down the older, more overgrown trail towards the Blackspine mountains, I fell into pace behind the two men, mourning the loss of my ability to chat with Everet ...