CHAPTER 12
Slowly, she put down the vase. That would significantly decrease the temptation of hitting foreign royalty with low quality ceramics. She licked her lips. The man himself sauntered into the room, not letting up on his examination of her.
An older man of perhaps sixty stayed in the entry. He had hi...
2022-09-12 07:19:13 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 11
Rose wrenched herself upright, scrambling to put a little distance between herself and the skirmish. Her leg was broken. She ran her left hand over it, feeling a panic struggle to get out behind the soap bubble that seemed to separate her from the world.
All of the soldiers were in Harrod's livery. She ...
2022-08-31 16:34:48 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 10
"I already told my brother," Rose disagreed. She put a hand up to stop the messenger from leaving. "We shouldn't send another messenger until we have more information to convey."
Duke Harrod's brows raised but he nodded agreement. "Do we dig in, or do we try to break the walls before we are beset?" He r...
2022-08-30 05:27:26 +0000 UTC View PostAiko was still shaken the next morning. She laid in bed and watched her ceiling, aching for home.
It couldn’t have been. People who weren’t born yet didn’t have ghosts. But she could have sworn that the man who Hana had run off was Sasuke. Sasuke dressed like a painting, Sasuke with his cockiness and ability to ch...
2022-08-29 17:27:31 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 9
Camp flew by in a blur of smoke and lights. The warm night air was full of laughter and the tantalizing scents of the dinner that he’d been interrupted before eating. It seemed like a different lifetime that he had sat down to an uneventful dinner. The people he ran past didn’t know yet to be afraid. Kian ...
2022-08-25 14:48:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun was beating down on her neck. Hana felt sweat begin to trail down from her hairline onto her brows. She grimaced and heaved her weight into her work again. Her arms were shaking with the strain of grinding.
"Good morning," called out a cheerful, male, and unfamiliar voice.
She flinched and looked up wit...
CHAPTER 8
Rose ran a hand down her braid and frowned at the empty paddock. She'd lost her good mood as she ran around unsuccessfully looking for one man in a military camp of hundreds.
'Looks like there's no page training today, and he's not near the officers' area. Is it meal time? Maybe he's in the mess.'<...
Rose stomped through camp with an extremely sour attitude after she parted from Kian. She had the uncomfortable feeling that she had been the one to behave badly.
Technically, he hadn’t done anything wrong by answering her questions. She had to admit that to herself. And there was nothing wrong with having clever subo...
2022-08-01 01:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostMayumi gripped the tree trunk. Her fingers dug into the rough bark.
The priestess was walking slowly down the path. Her dark eyes were fixed ahead at the cloud of dust heralding men on horseback.
'She looks the part,' Mayumi thought regretfully. 'It's going to be a shame to watch her die.'
...
2022-07-29 13:04:17 +0000 UTC View PostHi, I have life whiplash. Left my job, sold my car, and moved out of my apartment in 48 hours. Please clap now.
This will probably translate to an update tomorrow of at least two things. I'm editing the next Swordpoint Diplomacy so that's locked down, but would you rather have a Wolf Moon update or an outtake from M...
There was really only one option, and she was fast enough to take it. Dirt swirled around from the force of how fast she'd moved to be in front of Tanjiro. Aiko smiled directly into the child's face, hands cupped on both sides of his cheeks to block his peripheral vision. Even on her knees, her body was big enough to block hi...
2022-07-20 03:07:56 +0000 UTC View Post"You don't have to come," she said. The words came out raspy. The effort to talk her advisors through a potential frontal assault on the gate had taxed her voice. Rose cleared her throat. She didn't look over at Kian. She knew he would still be waiting in a neat "at rest" position while she redid her hair and changed around h...
2022-07-18 09:53:24 +0000 UTC View PostThat's because for some reason I'm way less depressed now. (I'm leaving my job, the reason isn't very mysterious)
However I am extremely busy moving house so I'm personally very pleased with myself for all the writing I'm doing.
I'm aiming to post original fiction on most Mondays (4 times per month), and update ei...
2022-07-15 14:36:50 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 6
That week, she started her school. Aiko began gathering the children too young to work and teaching them hiragana in the mornings. Their minders were obviously interested as well.
She started holding classes in the evenings for adults. One night a week was open for anyone to learn the first syllabary. Tw...
2022-07-15 12:54:25 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 5
She swept in, trusting that he would be at her heels. She gestured at a chair across the table as she sat.
He sat without any hesitation, as if it was normal for him to be in a princess's personal tent.
Her lips quirked up. "I'd offer refreshments, but it's hardly tea time."
"...
CHAPTER 4
There were three prisoners to question, but only two made it until morning. Rose waited at the command tent with freshly washed hair and tired, resentful eyes.
"Celestin," she greeted, the second he entered the tent.
He gave her a cursory bow. "Princess," he rasped. "Forgive the delay."
"I un...
2022-07-03 10:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 5
It took a few days to tiptoe towards making something that might put her village on the map as a religious site of importance. While her little flock was doing their regular seasonal work, Aiko put up another building to serve as a clinic, and then one for a school. She gradually outfitted them both with ...
In the morning, scouts managed to track the blood and other signs. Whoever she'd hit had basically dragged themselves a truly impressive distance before signs disappeared.
At a guess, Rose would say that her injured friend had met up with an accomplice who had slowed the bleeding and carried them to safety.
'They'...
2022-06-30 22:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
She moved. There was no conscious thought involved, only her desire to survive and the heightened instincts that her family was known for. The assassin adjusted quickly, lunging around her cot. Light glinted off a strange, short blade.
Rose rolled under the cot. In the same motion, she grabbed the sword that ha...
They began encircling the city the next day. By her calculations, they did have enough soldiers to do it, but it was a close thing. The tactic spread her army thinner than she wanted, but there was no way around that. This was one of the largest walled cities on the continent.
The biggest saving grace was that it had no...
2022-06-30 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
CHAPTER 4
"Woodworking or stone carving?" Ichirou the bald sucked in a deep breath. "No, I don't know of anyone with those skills. I could give carving a try, if you like…" He trailed off uncertainly.
Aiko gave him a smile. "I would appreciate that." She smoothed down the front of her red miko pants. "I w...
SWORDPOINT DIPLOMACY PROLOGUE
The twins took their first hard look at war from a flowering hilltop.
"It seems cruel," Etienne said in an undertone. In his discomfort he shifted, lowering his head. The sunlight glinted as it caught on the distinctive golden hair that their family was known for. "And it...
She rested that afternoon, idly dragging her fingers through the plush fibers of a rug that Orochimaru had once purchased for his bedroom. Aiko was lying on her back with her arms sprawled above her head. She straightened her arms and stretched, feeling it lengthen her back.
Her ankle was totally fine by that point. The...
2022-06-16 22:56:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe first test of Aiko's self-assigned status as the protector of a tiny mountain village came in the form of hoofbeats.
She held a hand to shade her eyes as she came out of her shrine to see the visitor. A heavily armored man alighted from his horse and looked around before heading to the village community center. He w...
2022-06-03 09:19:48 +0000 UTC View PostOk I got sick of trying to write the practical things that are glue for a story and I am just skipping to the good parts, the fun parts I have been wanting to write. I remembered that AIC was never supposed to be a big serious story with serious expectations of coherency and I have actually found the serotonin I was looking f...
2022-06-01 06:30:43 +0000 UTC View PostThank you for your patronage and patience, we truly appreciate it. The Lilliad will be continually updated until the book (and yeah, it's already over 200,000 words long, why did I do this to myself) is finished. AIC is in process, the draft chapters will be updated within the next few days with the final chapters. At some po...
2022-05-31 20:49:22 +0000 UTC View PostLorit clenched his teeth and braced himself. The sickly feeling from before was rising in his belly, and ringing in his ears.
The bundle began to shake and unfold on the ground, quickly gaining mass and muchness that a simple cloth bundle should never have possessed.
Lorit felt sick to his stomach. He’d brought ...
2022-05-31 20:32:59 +0000 UTC View PostLilli felt, all things considered, that this was going pretty well so far. Elathor had not in fact been murdered, no one had noticed that she was just as much of a thief as they were, and most importantly- she didn’t have to go up the creepy death mountain again.
The crunch of old bones underneath her feet somewhat un...
2022-05-31 20:30:37 +0000 UTC View PostThe spectral wolf stopped at a giant stone, larger than even Aiko could ever hope to move. She glanced between the guide and the dead end, brow furrowed.
“This is the entrance to the land of the dead,” the wolf said. He shook out his coat and lifted a paw at the rock. “I cannot enter. You can. A guide will meet yo...
2022-05-01 04:11:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe night had worn dark by the time they arrived at the temple, bloodied and bruised.
The soreness radiating from Arelt's body made him want to collapse. A quick glance at his companions reassured him of their joint suffering. The sorceress was finally slumping, from magical exertion if nothing else. Even Igni seemed wo...
2022-05-01 02:00:38 +0000 UTC View Post
