Rórlain leads his half-company of archers through the narrow streets of the city, though now they fight not so much with bow as with sword, lance, and axe. For these streets are flooded with the creatures of darkness, the vrû’ádach, who, even with bare claw and teeth, sow terror among the people. If these beasts […]

It is evening of the day of Eldárien’s meeting with the hæras, and Cirien walks with head bowed in the inner courtyard of the temple. He hopes that the meeting brought forth good fruit, and he is concerned also for the conversation that he encouraged Eldárien to have with Rórlain. Ever since these men arrived […]

After the conversation with Elmáriyë in the courtyard, Eldárien returns to his room. Stepping through the darkness and lighting a lantern fastened to the wall, he notices a folded note on the floor—clearly slipped under his door. He takes it, unfolds it, and reads: Eldárien, Rórlain spoke with me this evening and brought the news […]

Eldárien wakes early, long before dawn, and his heart is restless. He rises from bed and dresses, then sits in a chair, his head resting against his hands. Only gradually does he remember what woke him: a dream, or rather a nightmare. Many of the specifics are gone now and may never return, having fled […]

The clatter of wood against wood echoes through the training ground as Rórlain parries the strike of the captain of the guard. He then lunges forward and seeks to land a blow on his trainer, but the latter deftly steps to the side and blocks the wooden training axe with his shield and then, in […]

The earth crunches softly under Tilliána’s feet as she paces slowly between the ruined buildings of the ghetto. Long already have the burned bodies of her fellows been removed and buried, and the roads—more like paths of loose dirt and stone—cleared of rubble and refuse. But even with this, the ghetto remains, and may always […]

A few days later, Eldárien walks through the fields surrounding the city of Ristfánd, immersed in thought. Scattered homesteads dot the landscape, simple houses of wood or stone with thatched roofs, and here or there a larger estate, smoke spiraling into the clear sky from many a hearth. There are numerous livestock fenced or stabled: […]

Rórlain walks alone through the streets of Ristfánd and passes through a high archway of stone into the southwestern section of the city, where the barracks and training grounds of the militia are located. So much has happened already in the short time since he and Eldárien arrived in the city, and he finds the […]

Fire surrounds him, licking at the hem of his garments like poisonous tongues and billowing forth smoke of blackest night, filling his lungs and blinding his eyes. It sweeps across the land, scorching earth and sky, turning the air itself into living flame. He opens his mouth to cry out, but no sound emerges. Instead, […]

Eldárien and Rórlain make their way through the streets of the city to the haeras’ palace, an imposing structure of stone in the center of Ristfánd, surrounded by a grove of trees and a narrow moat dug more for decoration than for defense. Its water glistens in the dappled light of the sun shining through […]