Recent content by Galen

“Get rid of it?” Galen looked at her stunned. No. Appalled. “Why the blazes would you want to do that?” His eyes went big as an owl’s. “You - you’ve got more magic in your pinky than I do in my whole body. And you just want to get rid of it?” He snatched the pendant out of her hand and waved...

“Oh,” his mouth hung slightly open, looking between her and the glittering pendant. The blue shift brought out her eyes and they burned through him in the dim light, accusation in their cold stare as she stared at him in the mirror. Galen stared back, then smiled weakly. “A bit of sleep did...

“Huh,” the young mage looked perplexed. The quilt dropped, revealing the sleepy-eyed Vinran with hair all wild and askew, a proper lion’s mane. Galen beamed, then she said something about impropriety and gentlemanly and he stopped beaming. “Oh right.” Dutifully, the mage turned and looked the...

Two days later, the sun just started sinking beyond the horizon when there came a rapping at Ciana's bedroom window shutters before they suddenly swung open of their own accord and a lanky mage stumbled through, carrying two books under an arm, while the other held one open. "Ciana!" He cried...

He was incredibly serious. His master had been a great conjurer. And who better knew the mysteries of the world than the ones who dwelled on different planes. After you sorted through the riddles and the lies they could be quite useful. Uh. When they weren’t trying to get you killed, of...

Casual death threats. The sailors were right after all. . “Seems fair,” Galen nodded, “But if you melt my face off you have to deal with the mercenaries when they come to collect my corpse for necromantic resurrection.” Gods, what a pain that would be. He admitted to some reluctance to...

“Ciana,” repeated the mage from where crouched beside this syncope-prone noble. “That an Allirian name?” The name reminded him of an Allirian pasta he once had, delicious. Why the pasta? Hmm. Maybe because he had not eaten this morning. But uh. He looked at her. He should not tell her that. No...

Galen's eyes widened as he caught sight of the smoke rising from between her fingers and the smell of woodfire. He nearly fell out of his chair, lurching forward. A fire? In a library? Not just any library, but this particular one? Oh gods. Oh gods above and below. There was a reason candles...

“Not to worry, we must be just missing an important step,” Galen said cheerfully, patting her bare hand absently. “Ouch,” he yanked his hand away and shook it. “You’re blazing.” Wait. He held up his hand to forestall a noble-sensibilities meltdown, “I mean you’re burning up. Feverish. Here...

“Ordinary?” Galen chuckled. “You’re already some type of noble so that’s out of the question. Besides, if you were really ordinary you wouldn’t have a sunlight allergy.” He leaned forward again, elbows on the table, head conspiratorially low. “You’ve done magic then, without even meaning to?”...

“Hm. Innate magic. So you’re some sort of sorceress, you just haven’t learned how to use it proper yet.” Galen nodded and mirrored her, leaning back in his chair, hands folding behind the back of his head in thought. He stretched out his feet and accidentally bumped something. Oh. Her feet...

Odd. He expected her to keep up the noble act. You know, ordering him around, backhanded insults about his status, references to things he’d never once had in life like a maid or a coatman. Only she did not, not really. She seemed sorry, which was funny in itself. Hadn’t he been the one who...

A horrific spasm assaulted her features and he thought she might be in a throe of what they called a seizure, until realization struck. My gods. The poor lady tried to smile at him. Galen offered up a spindly smile in return, though that disappeared as she started talking about putting him on...

“Wait,” Galen called out, standing and snatching up the coin purse. Oh. It had quite a heft to it. He almost set it back down. Almost. But then Galen had never been the sharpest student or the brightest mage. He sighed. He would probably regret this. The purse weighed in the palm of his hand...

Well, she sounded exhausted. Not the way these students sounded, all book-tired from studying. More like gutter-tired, ready to lay down in the street and let the wagon wheels roll over her if it meant she got a few winks. Of course, Galen was not sure how well he would sleep either if someone...