Recent content by Lorinna Astarel

"We are not getting anywhere..." she muttered under her breath to Hector. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Lorinna didn't know if she was trying to calm Hector or herself with the gesture. She couldn't help but wonder if this was what crows were like. Squawking in their own language...

Lorinna tensed. Then she felt that tension bleed away. She knew that feeling. It wasn't relaxation. It was training taking over. Keeping her joints mobile, preparing herself for the fight. It took a modicum of control to keep her hands away from the blade. She took a breath. "Can we see...

“My champion!” She declared. "Needs to get me a drink!" He certainly did not need to get her any more to drink. That was beside the point. Lorinna leaned against the counter top. She kept one arm around Hector. She made a show of slamming down an empty wooden mug. Lorinna leaned forward...

"But of course!" Lori declared. Her words were slightly slurred. "I have beer and...and I don't know if watching you win or watching how uncomfortable you are was the most fun." "Who cares," she replied. She leaned into Hector. Not because she was trying to be possessive, but because her...

Lorinna looked around the space. She had been helpless in the dark forest floor. There was room for the giant ravens to sit in their enclosures above and around them, but not enough room for them to truly fly around the space. She pictured one of them hopping up onto the wall of a nest and...

"I'm not so sure about the second part," Lorinna whispered back. She preferred the nice normally world she was used it. She wouldn't admit it, but even the rules and order of peerages and hierarchies and manners was a comfort. There was nothing too outside of her realm of experience on the...

"Come Syr Hector!" Lorinna slurred her words as she pushed through the throng to Hector. She had a large flagon of ale in one hand. On such a warm day, one needed plenty of drink. Lorinna had had plenty to drink through the day. "We must! Go to...your adoring crowds!" She knew full well...

Lorinna waited until the air had settled around them. For the dust, leaves and detritus to fall back to the soil. She turned slowly to consider the three people she found herself with. Hector, who she would trust with her life without a thought. Then Marannie, a girl she still didn't...

Lorinna held her ground, feet planted even as she mentally reeled. She resisted looking over her shoulder at Hector. Righting the wrong could entail almost anything. She didn't want to spend too much time thinking about which of those might involve demands for Hector to be punished. There...

Lorinna placed her left hand behind her own back towards Hector. She gave a single gesture with that hand. Her palm waving down towards the ground. Calm Another giant raven and the scene was chaotic once more. "Korvo," replied Rhidghast. One long leg that ended in a four-fingered claw drew...

Lori silently reminded herself that they had not come here to be truly tested. They had come to learn from the experienced knights. Yet here she was, trying to negotiate with a three-headed raven. She took her hands far from her sword, crossing them over her chest. She took a half step to put...

It turned out to be a difficult challenge in choosing where to settle her gaze. Anywhere from three to six eyes glaring down at her at any one time. A voice always coming from just one beak. Her expression shifted. It was a small change. Her thumb drew back from the hilt of her sword. A...

Lorinna did not draw her blade, not fully. She drew it just a few inches. Enough for a soft, threatening whisper. Enough for the blade to catch the light. She might have screwed up her face at the sound but she did not back down. "Korvo, is it?" Lorinna asked. Two more strides and she...

Lorinna would never admit to watching Breyer or Julian as they took to the stage fot the show. Their reputation had spread not for their muscular form, but because they enjoyed the sight of themselves more than anyone else would. She had trained alongside so many of the knights and never...

The girl did seem different. Not just overly bold in approaching the knights, something Lorinna would not have dared to do at that age. It seemed like she felt more comfortable here than back at home. But, Lorinna reminded herself again, she was still a child. Naive and easy to manipulate...