(Click here for links to previous chapters.) I lean against a tree, eating lunch, and mostly listening to Lord Taver expertly spinning an elaborate lie. Only mostly listening because Alan is sitting beside me drinking tea and looking wistfully toward the saddlebags holding the salvaged pages from the three grimoires, pages packed in herbs and … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 65

(Click for links to previous chapters.) “We were unable to find any raw jewels among Orsin’s possessions,” Conners tells Anaslov. I am lurking in the shadows of Taver’s office, as is Taver. Anaslov does not deserve the honor of meeting the Wielder. And we do not want to show any interest in his silent companion. … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 64

(Click here for links to previous chapters.) I wake to the smell of incense. It is way too early in the morning for incense—for anything except cuddling back up in bed. But there is incense, and I am curious and wide awake. I slip out the door, not wanting to wake anyone who is still … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 63

(Click for links to previous chapters.) I look sternly at the mass of misery displayed in ragged lines across the archery field. They are bleary eyed and most likely have pounding heads and angry wives or mothers or both in the surrounding crowd waiting for my verdict. For I am giving the verdict, not Conners. … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 62

(Click for links to previous chapters.) Taver, Conners and Gregor decide to ignore the grimoires—or maybe decide to let Alan and the priests deal with the grimoires—and go back to planning whatever martial thing is on the top of Taver’s list. Alan and two of the priests head back to the workroom, all three looking … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 61

(Click for links to previous chapters.) My guards are still in a snit the next morning, despite knowing for a fact that I spent the night in my own room and Alan spent the night wrapped in a blanket on the floor of the main hall, just like almost everyone else. (He would use Destroyer’s … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 60

(Click for links to prior chapters.) More days pass as Taver prioritizes fixing the holes Orsin created in the defenses and I decide what projects we can undertake on the civil side. The scribe, bless him, kept track of how many people suggested the same thing, and the city aqueduct/fountain system is the winner by … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 59

(Click for links to previous chapters.) So Taver and I divide the work and start trying to set Blythe to rights. Taver, of course, takes charge of the city defenses, determining what weaknesses have developed due to Orsin’s syphoning of funds, and setting priorities for fixing them.  I get to spend time deciding the amount … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 58

(Click for links to previous chapters.) I decide it is time for another walk around the city and demand Alan join me. He doesn’t want to leave the grimoires until Gregor promises to put a guard on them, which insults the priests until Alan explains that he wouldn’t want some other Sorcerer to sneak in … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 57

(Click for links to previous chapters.) Breakfast is too early and too crowded. Leumr had believed Gregor’s ‘first light’ command and had beat on the keep door until the guards let him in despite that it was still a good hour before dawn. Of course, this woke up Alan. Three of the priests are there … Continue reading Spire: Chapter 56