Tiding 29: Sword to Sword

C/W: death (from opening), moderate violence

“I know you won’t want to talk to me after I tell you, or even listen. So, I’m writing – in case I don’t make it, in case that one day after you want to read it. Maybe when the day comes that I’m gone and Korrin is grown, you might let him read it too.

It’s dangerous out here, doing this. I do it because it’s what I know. It’s what I’m good at. Out here the winds seem to grow colder and colder; knowing that you’re safe, the both of you, warms me against them. Stay warm by your fires. Stay safe.”

     – Bris

Tiding 28: Forged Provenance

“I think that was when I began to question my place in the Splintered Breath. Funny really, that when you joined was when I first thought about leaving.

It wasn’t that I disagreed with what we were trying to do – Calloa did not deserve its imprisonment. However, seeing Ferrox Urstraet’s unwillingness to consider that the citizens of Frailty would be punished as much as its rulers, terrified me. I saw then that she would put her ideals above the safety of others.”

     – Venz

Tiding 27: The Chains

“Other rogues began to create counterfeits. A great shadow industry of fakes and forgeries blossomed. While most peddled shoddy imitations and bluffed at their provenance, experts made sure to replicate every detail. To their books, they would attach chains and etch tell-tale insignia down the spines. They would use glues to emulate the strange fusion that was the inevitable fate of all of Eulogy’s tomes.”

     – Avyn Fiir Vorunt

Tiding 24: Paper and Clay, Wood and Gold

C/W: Death, violence, memory loss

“It is hard, to rewrite what has been written. To change the thing completely is a long and weary task; harder still alone. A myriad of paths which must be followed to their ends, a detangling of possible and probable and maybe. The more you try to alter in that moment, the further out the tears will spread. Still.

With time, with patience. With purpose.

Yes.

I suppose it can be done”

  – Belka

Shards and Fragments: The Mustang

C/W: death, mild horror

You’re crouched outside the lair of the Mustang, near the burned tree. Your friends are with you, exchanging nervous looks. Like you, they’re having second thoughts. Like you, they smell death in the air and wonder if it’s their deaths. Keen has a big piece of sheet metal with a rope across the back, because the Mustang breathes fire. Niamh has a rifle, because the Mustang is far too swift to catch. Yelena has the teachings, because maybe the Mustang can still be reasoned with. You have a knife because, in the end, someone has to cut the Mustang’s throat. It’s the witching hour, the moon is full, and fresh blood is on the ground. The Mustang will surely run tonight.

Tiding 22: Bound

CW: Violence, memory loss

“My own mission progresses. I am closer to Venz than ever before. You may question the wisdom of focusing on him and not the Splinters, but I suspect a connection their. That their paths lead to the same place. If strength and conviction were the weapons of your other soldiers, patience is mine.”

   –   Rugate Ullun Bakkal

Tiding 21: Making a Statement

CW: Violence, memory loss

“If you’re reading this, if you’re the one they’ve sent, this is my record. If this monk does their job right, after this I won’t remember any of what happened. I don’t know who I’ll be, but I will be no threat to you. I beg you to take this book, and destroy it if that’s what you want, but let me live out whatever life I have left.”

– Serrata Paige