Year: 2020

Rational Fiction as Narrative Focus

Preamble (you can skip this) /r/plotholes is one of my least favorite subreddits, mostly because there simply aren’t that many plotholes in popular films and books. What the sub gets filled with instead, as often pointed out by commenters there, are questions that seek explanation or clarification of the plot, or questions that point out […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 16: Epilogue

Hirrush sat down on the bed beside Hirrush, laid back, closed his eyes, and dipped into the mental realm. He looked over his cottage, spent some time making sure that everything was in order, and then breached into Hirrush’s mind. He found Hirrush sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking out onto calm clouds. […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 15: The Crown in the Castle

Sofia had visited the seedy parts of Marurbo before, hiding under her cloak while seeking out spirits, but none so bad as this. There were parts of the capital city where wages were low and troubles were high, where the city guards treaded lightly and people kept their mouths shut when questioned about a crime. […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 14: The Dark Wizard of Donkerk

“Forward movement,” said Henry. Sofia had thought that the world had gone silent when she’d used the power of the Boreal Crown. This was something else entirely, silence that left only the sound of her beating heart and the rustle of her hair. Yet it was familiar somehow, and stirred up a memory of — […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 13: The Revelations

Henry had given Sofia the magical bracelet to smooth out his passage through the walls, then she had left with it. Sister Verna had locked the door behind them when she’d left, after a brief but angry questioning about how it was Henry had gotten out of his room. Leaving the room through the door […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 12: The Foresworn Citadel

To say that Ventor was fast was an understatement. After thinking about it for quite some time, Miriam came to the conclusion that the only thing she had ever seen that was faster than Ventor was an arrow in flight. Ventor could move more quickly than every other point of comparison; he was faster than […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 11: The Twist in the Winds

The sitting room had become Rowan’s private place. It was the site of his first foray into disobedience against Ibrahim, as well as the accomplishment of a martial victory in the mental realm over his old master. Both those victories were private ones, never to be shared with another living soul, which made the sitting […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 10: The Dueling Deceptions

The small, unassuming cottage with a sod-covered roof looked just the same as it ever had. Omarr and Hirrush stood back to look at their work, which mostly amounted to making sure that their work couldn’t be seen. Some of the wards would be activated only in the event of an emergency, but they had […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 9: The Fated Meeting

Rowan sipped his wine across from his father, not looking at the conspicuously absent chair to his left. They were eating in the Blue Room, as was custom. Dinner was venison steak and mashed yams, both done with an expertise that elevated them above their status as common peoples’ food. For the first three days […]

The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk, Chapter 8: The Journey North

Ventor was called into throne room on a particularly bad morning. One of the serving girls, a freshly hired one, had brought breakfast to his room by mistake. He had stared that the tray of food. The sausages had been fried enough that the skin had cracked, revealing grease and juice inside. There were six […]

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