At first I thought it was a revision mage, undoing the fight, which would have been manifestly unfair, given that it was to the death, but maybe a bit understandable. If everyone admitted that I was the winner, well, I would take it. But no, it wasn’t a revision mage at all, that would have […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 190: To Know One’s Onions
Amaryllis and Simuryllis had a private conversation early the next morning, and I watched carefully as Simuryllis turned to dust, which dissolved in the air. It was a neat effect: I had never seen anything like it. I hadn’t really expected Simuryllis to go back on her word, but I’d thought that there would be […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 189: B-Side
We were taken to the Erstwhile Manor by an armored car, bulky and frankly ugly by Earth standards. I was multi-threading, as I always did, watching for threats from beyond the car, but the other half of my mind was the more important one, focused purely on Amaryllis. Her face was completely blank and controlled. […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 188: Common Law
We finally reunited at that awkward time when you’re not sure whether it’s late at night or early morning. I’d done a values ping on Amaryllis, and she’d responded back, rapidly moving values in the low-level range so that we could have a crude channel of communication that wouldn’t be too disruptive. Our method basically […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 187: Penndraig’s Rules of Order
“So,” said Rosemallow once Amaryllis had arrived at the White Room. “How did your meeting go?” Rosemallow wore a pink and white dress that deepened in color toward the top, mimicking the general shape and appearance of the flower from which she took her name. Almost everyone in the Court had flower-themed names, and on […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 186: Paladin
There was a fair bit of mopping up to do. I sent one of the guards down into the expansive site in order to bottle the souls of the other guards I killed, hoping that by the time he got there, the timer wouldn’t have run down. You were supposed to have thirty minutes from […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 185: Mirror Room
The Mirror Room was called that because it was arranged down a center line that bisected the large, central table, with both halves of the room being designed to be exactly matching opposites. The center of the room was a large vertical ward, separating the two halves from each other with all the might that […]