Dantes was floating for a moment, over the table he’d seen so many times before in his dreams, but this time it was empty. He saw no sign of the woman in green or the man in blue. Suddenly, he was falling, his body twisting at the last moment so that his back slammed against the table. He could feel the impact even though it was a dream. He tried to sit up, but before he could, two large daggers impaled each of his hands, locki...
2025-01-16 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostDantes stood to the side, a little bit behind the platform. He’d combed back his hair, and was wearing a new long green coat with silver buttons over a matching green vest covered in patterns of wildflowers, a crisp black shirt, and matching black pants held up by a black belt with a buckle in the shape of a silver leaf. On his arm was Syn, still wearing the form she’d grown used to as Sevryn, and making small adjustments to her own outfit...
2025-01-14 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostDantes sat across from Stone on the Mountaintop in his VIP booth at the Vixen. He’d never met Stone, but knew him by reputation. He was the head of the Adventurer’s Guild, a noble, and a member of the council. In the council he represented all of the guilds within the city. He was short and squat, even for a dwarf, with dark gray hair, and a face covered in scars including one that tore clear across his scalp. He wore a simple leather outf...
2025-01-11 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostDantes walked down Midtown’s main street with Jacque tucked under his arm, Jacopo on his shoulder, and his remaining hound walking patiently at his side. It was a warm, wet day, but he still wore his jacket, if only to keep Jacopo from needing to sink his claws into him to maintain his perch. Jacque was awake and looking around as they moved. Dantes was walking without purpose, simply to stretch his legs and spend some time with his son. It ...
2025-01-09 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostDantes walked through Uptown boldly with Jacopo on his shoulder and a bouquet of flowers under his arm. Men and women weren’t sure how to react to him as he walked through the wide and clean alleys of that part of the city. In the past he’d only come into Uptown in a disguise of some sort, and even then he wasn’t as well known there as he had been in Midtown, but now, everyone knew him. His actions in the war had been too widely seen by ...
2025-01-07 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHello Everyone,
Wanted to give everyone a heads-up that the ending for the story will be dropped on January 23rd here on Patreon. This ending was planned, I always intended to do 3 books and while it's tempting to drag things on for a few extra bucks, I don't have the stamina for that.
I'd recommend cancelling your sub after that point, and I'll be deleting the 5$ tier shortly after that date.
I mean, if you want to keep givi...
2025-01-06 15:49:54 +0000 UTC View PostGavain sat in his cell, meditating with his arms shackled above him. The whippings had ceased for nearly a week as nearly every able bodied man in Frasheid became otherwise occupied. He’d heard whispers in the halls. The slave revolt that was supposed to be quashed had won an upset battle. The soldiers they’d sent to Rendhold…
He gritted his teeth. He’d sacrificed so much to prevent that from happening. He knew he’d needed to t...
2025-01-04 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostDantes arrived back at Vixen with Jacque cradled carefully in his arms and Jacopo sleeping in the hood of his coat. Argenta and Alby had kept his son safe and protected him through until the end of the siege, a kindness that he would remember.
He pushed the door open to find the Vixen buzzing with activity. Those whores who’d been left behind were acting as nurses. Tearing bandages from cloth and wrapping them around those men and wome...
2025-01-02 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostDantes let out a cry of anguish as he ran for the side of the building. His raw emotion reverberated across the city as he screamed. Dogs and cats howled, bats shrieked, rats began going wild across the city, the flowers that had been blossoming began to close, even the roaches went still, unable to process the emotion that Dantes had unconsciously sent out throughout Rendhold.
Godfrey didn’t stop him from running for the side of the r...
2024-12-31 13:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostArgenta dodged the goldmask’s swing as she summoned a blade of black smoke into her hand. She swung the blade and the goldmask attempted to block it with his shield, but part of the sword she held turned to smoke, and it flew right through his shield, cutting a deep gorge across his chest. She dismissed that sword, and summoned a gauntlet into her hand that she slammed into the door in front of her, smashing it inward.
She hadn’t exp...
2024-12-28 13:00:32 +0000 UTC View PostDantes and Jacopo, weakened, flew toward the closest of their allies to help prepare for the Viscent forces that were approaching. The nearest of them was Wane, who was waiting at the end of an alley with his inscribed stave and muttering under his breath. Dantes could feel the tips of his wings tingle as he landed behind him. He shifted into himself, and felt his fingers tingle in the same way, but stayed still so as not to interrupt whatever...
2024-12-26 13:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostZak stood at the only entrance to the gambling den, a wide stairway that had been blocked off with debris light enough that they could push it out of the way from the inside, but heavy enough to block the entrance from view just in case. He checked the balance of the new sword Hema had given him. It felt good in the hand, right, and he could feel the heat from it when he sent his will through it as Jayk had taught him years ago when they’d s...
2024-12-24 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Viscent ships ceased their bombardment, leaving only a pregnant calm that hung over the docks. The sailors that had survived expected them to start loading men onto rowboats to bring them ashore, but instead, the ships simply began to to turn until their prows faced the docks, and moved forward.
The sailors had no cannons left with which to counterattack as the Viscent ships own cannons were more accurate and had a longer range, allo...
2024-12-21 13:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDantes landed on the roof of the vixen, and made his way to Jacque’s and Alessa’s rooms first, Jacopo deciding to head to the garden to eat something while he checked on them. Everything in the rooms had been packed and moved, which Dantes found relieving. The plan was to hide them and a number of the other more vulnerable people from both the Vixen and Midtown in his gambling den. It could be entered from both the basement door with a mag...
2024-12-19 13:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe Frasheid soldiers hesitated for just a moment as they attempted to size up Dantes and Jacopo. When more grayclad men made their way over the barricade though, the hesitant ones were pushed forward and attacked. They were young, Dantes noted, and not very well trained or prepared. Frasheid had perhaps saved their best men for putting down the slave rebellion back home. Between all the work he’d managed to do in the Pit and now this, he’...
2024-12-17 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostDarien had gotten used to the cannonfire. The sound of the blast followed by the shattering of the cannonball against the wall making blue sparks splash across it. It had become almost routine over the week’s assault. A few volleys had gotten through of course, but Darien’s portion of the wall hadn’t had any pierce the magical forcefield. Their mage was older, a retiree from the Academy rather than one of the young novices that were post...
2024-12-14 13:00:32 +0000 UTC View PostDantes took a small seed from his pocket and sent some of his will through it. It grew rapidly, and Dantes had it wrap itself around his midsection to stabilize his fractured ribs while he focused on mending them. He leaned down, and took the fiery sword from Drake’s hand, sliding it through his own belt as he did so. He was certain there were more magical goods he could find in the house, so he sent a number of rats to search for them as he...
2024-12-12 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostDantes leapt down, shifting into himself, and landing perfectly on his feet as he did so. He drew his pistol and aimed it at Drake.
“Ooooh, a pistol? Another weapon of the cowardly and meek, but at least one that draws blood. Go ahead and sh-”
Dantes pulled the trigger and the bullet bounced off of Drake’s chest with a spark.
Drake let out a low rumbling laugh. “Well, I do have to say I appreciate your bloo...
2024-12-10 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt was early morning when the cannonfire began. It could be heard all across the city like a distant thunderclap. Those closer to the walls in Midtown could see flashes of blue light where the cannonballs and their enchantments struck against the invisible walls maintained by those few mages that the city had left. Several of the cannonballs broke through, crashing into homes, and businesses and obliterating any flesh they came across. When on...
2024-12-07 13:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDantes arrived back at the club a bit later, and found Jayk waiting for him by the tree.
“Where were you?” he asked.
“Setting some things up for later.”
“I’ve finished looking into the other Finger’s dealings.”
“Oh?”
“I had Tak help me, he has a real knack for this kind of work. We figured out that one of them is definitely linked to Godfrey.”
“Fritz?” Dantes asked. Both ...
2024-12-05 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostA soldier in gray sat in the mud as he watched the cannons get loaded. He’d seen plenty of guns on the farm, but cannons were new to him. Massive hunks of metal that needed to be dragged by several draft horses or made weightless by magic just to move them into position. He felt his teeth buzz a bit as one of the mages cast some kind of spell on the cannonball before it was dropped in, his hands glowed with intense blue light for a moment, t...
2024-12-03 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostJacopo stood on one side of a small hill in Uptown, holding the saber that had been provided to him for the duel. He tested the edge against the flat of his thumb, and found it to be quite dull. Someone trying to tip the duel in the consort’s favor? It didn’t matter. Just another of a long line of annoyances. All of the underhanded nonsense in Uptown was exhausting.
Vampa was in the center of the hill negotiating with the consorts se...
2024-11-30 13:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDantes sat in the center of the Undermarket, in a small shack made of living wood that he’d willed to grow into the proper shape, with Celeste sitting next to him idly shifting her form to pass the time. There was a line of men waiting to reach him, most wearing rags, and a number of them even less than that. He was guarded by his six men from the surface, all of whom were well fed, dressed, and armed in sharp contrast to the line moving tow...
2024-11-28 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostJacopo grimaced as he lifted his lion mask up from his mouth to eat. He’d wanted a rat mask, as rat’s are of course the best thing to be, but Vampa had said it didn’t fit with the image that he needed to be projecting. The food he was eating appeared to be a baby bird covered in sauce. He enjoyed the crunch of its bones as he bit down and began to chew, then took another of them. It was the best of the dishes that had been prepared for t...
2024-11-26 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDantes gave Jacque a small kiss on the forehead as he handed him off to Alessa. He’d slept the entire time Dantes had him, but that was okay, babies needed their sleep. Dantes walked up to the roof, and shifted into a pigeon. He could’ve chosen to tree-walk to the nearest large garden to the Silken Sin for his meeting, but wanted to see the city and stretch his wings. His flying forms didn’t get as much use in the confines of the Pit.&nb...
2024-11-23 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDantes walked through the dark corridors of the Pit as he moved toward his blood tree. Moving in the Pit still came very naturally to him, though now he could do it with his eyes closed, and frequently did while he monitored things both above and below him. He’d been sparing in the feeding of his blood tree, giving it only drops when he fed it and doing his best to nourish it in other ways. He understood the risk and reward provided by blood...
2024-11-21 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostJacopo sat across from Magister Desha, the woman Dantes had given money to so that she could become a magister. She wore a black dress with silver thread in an intricate pattern around the neck and sleeves. Her hair, which had still had a bit of orange in it when Dantes had last spoken to her, was now completely blonde, freeing her of any connection she once had to Danglars. She sat up a bit straighter, there was more steal in her spine than s...
2024-11-19 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDantes looked out over the no-man’s land that surrounded the Pit as he rode in a caged wagon protected by more than two dozen guards. It was a wild, overgrown area filled with all manner of vermin and strays. He wondered idly why he’d never considered focusing on building a garden within it. It seemed like a stupid waste. Was it because he had been avoiding thinking about the Pit? That seemed the likeliest answer, but it was foolish of him...
2024-11-16 13:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostDantes sat at his exclusive table in the Viridian Vixen, sipping hot tea and looking out over it from his elevated position. He’d only rarely seen it empty, and he found himself enjoying the quiet of it, and noting with satisfaction that he still liked the aesthetics of it. The work he and Vera had put into it had been substantial, so it was nice that he could still appreciate it.
There were no knocks when Gavain and Pacha arrived. The...
2024-11-14 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostDantes sat at his table eating breakfast as he always did. Vera and Jake sat across from him. It had only been a month since he’d defeated Serpica and the city was finally on its way to recovery. A few ships had started docking again, and the overland trade had slowly begun to trickle back in, though everything was slow to recover. Bodies were still being removed from houses as the smell of the dead began to inform those around them of their...
2024-11-12 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post