(Click here for links to previous chapters.) My Ladies have gone mad; they want to pack ball gowns and jewels. They might not know where I am going, but they know I’m going with an army battalion and that should give them a clue. I chase them out and pack myself. All I need is … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 46

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) Snow melts, turning city streets into rivers, roads into mud, and dispositions sour. Father and Mother debate for days about arresting Orsin, hoping the mysterious letter from Afred will provide evidence of his guilt. Neither are willing to take the gamble. I start for the stable, intending to … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 45

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) Chapter  Forty-four “Why are you up here?” Alan’s question doesn’t surprise me, I heard the rustling of someone filtering through the guards on the steps below.  I am surprised it isn’t Mynar; he is usually the only one who follows me to my favorite tower. “Watching,” I answer … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 44

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) I have overloaded the rumor mill with Lej’s lecture to my guards; there are arguments raging about the existence of the communes, if they were historical or fable.  The historians are weighing in with a great number of words, and even my inventive journeyman bard is supporting the … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 43

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) I try to decide if I want to talk first to Alan or father.  As I’m looking around me, thinking, I see the priest on duty with this group of guards, and decide what I really need to do first. “Sir priest.”  He looks surprised, I usually try … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 42

(Click her for links to previous chapters.) Clouds come in from the west, and we have more snow, but it is big flakes, drifting down gently.  Father can’t decide about Alan.  For him to be effective, we would have to tell him our conclusions about a traitor seeking the throne, and father does not want … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 41

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) After Alan promises, I send him back to helping Dryn.  I need to talk to father, but first I head out the East Gate.  I want to talk to Sister Mays. Her chairs are as uncomfortable as the ones in the council chamber, but I suspect for different … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 40-part 2

(Click here for links to prior chapters.) Three days later father orders the Spires lit again, one beacon for warning.  I watch them march across the horizon, coming to life one after another as their warders see the link before them lit.  It is a political decision more than a military one, father explained to … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 40-part 1

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) By the time the sun comes above the horizon, the castle has been busy for hours.  Dryn is  measuring windows, and making plans to put every smith in the city to work.  He is designing decorative openwork shutters mounted to the inside wall, and able to be open … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 39

(Click for links to previous chapters.) I was deeply asleep, dreaming pleasantly for a change, when the strident ‘Wielder’ wakes me.  Reflexively I roll from the bed and draw my Sword, seeing only my darkened bedroom.  I didn’t need the ‘attacker’ warning, I felt draft where there should be none, and a heavy shadow moves … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 38-part 2