Zuberan Irony wasn’t in her room. I still knocked and waited at the door for a moment, shifting my weight from foot to foot, and enjoyed, for once, the moment of being alone. Even being alone felt wrong, like a second skin that wasn’t quite pressed so I couldn’t feel it, like a shirt too tight … Read moreBallad of the Venturing Owl (Part 6)
Thyn ruffled the hood of my robes again, and led me through the port. Here and there, fisherman pulled in catches, both professional and student, the only difference being a few years. Strange smells rang up from kitchens, mint leaves and fry oil, watermelon and nougat. The gulls overhead screeched for garbage, and in the … Read moreBallad of the Venturing Owl (Part 5)
Slipping into the middle of town and checking bars, I didn’t find them among any of the student affairs. Would be mages and actual mages traded stories of the mysterious hidden academs, which I didn’t care to hear about, though eyes settled on my uniform and a few saluted me as we walked off. Vali … Read moreBallad of the Venturing Owl (Part 4)
It didn’t take long for Irony to dig through the professor’s things, crate up everything she was interested in, and then haul them over her shoulders, despite her slim frame. I held the door open for her, and when I turned the corner, the Captain was already there, waiting. She gave me a quiet wave, … Read moreBallad of the Venturing Owl (Part 3)
It was just past noon, so the streets weren’t packed so much as they were scarce. A few restaurants bubbled with lunch going students, but it wasn’t exactly a prime season for visitors, so only the most popular joints were too packed for entry. After weeks of nothing but ship rations and literal memories of … Read moreBallad of the Venturing Owl (Part 2)
The waves beat at the edge of the island, flecked with grey from the silty sand on the shore. The Captain stood on the prow of the ship, her mighty grey wings spread as far apart as she could manage, her talons dug into the wood for purchase. A storm brewed off of the horizon, … Read moreBallad of the Venturing Owl (Part 1)
The memories all came in a great flood, a muddle, like cans of paint mixed to keep the shades consistent. At first, Pinion picked up the eye, and the island was burning, and her people begged her to come with them, to flee from the approaching army, and she looked down upon her dying people … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 44)
“This isn’t real,” The reaper queen whispered as the skin on her face burned off, enraptured in dark fire. “But it could be, couldn’t it? We could pretend this was real, we could pretend the battle meant something, we could pretend that we are safe here, that we can cling to this moment, this most … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 43)
As her sword tumbled hilt over blade away from her, the Colonel reached into her belt and pulled a final dagger. It gleamed, carved out of exotic metals, a blue sheen to the blade. Then she lunged in, half mad, a snarl on her lips even as blood fouled up the speckles of saliva frothing … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 42)
It wasn’t fast. Most of the students had been hobbled or hurt so they couldn’t run, so it wasn’t an elegant sort of move that brought us there, but rather a hurried procession of limping. Every so often, a soldier would stumble upon us, and the sirens would fall upon him like rain, and he’d … Read moreSong of the Venturing Owl (Part 41)