Recent content by Ruslan Gildal

THE WESTERN GATE "I have learned much," Ruslan said to Anfisa. And he most certainly had. His travels had begun heading up north, till the familiarity vanished from the roads and the mountain paths. He had gone to Belgrath to visit the dwarves from whose stock came the ancestral Gildan...

THE WESTERN GATE Two figures rode on horseback in the encompassing dark. What scant light from the stars from above had been squelched by the thick clouds, yet all was not completely pitch: for the two figures had lanterns they held aloft, those precious flames therein protected from the...

In Gild they called it "the Long Dark". Scholars and travelers from other Campanian kingdoms, nations, and city-states had returned with the name bestowed upon the upcoming celestial event by leading figures of Elbion, the Triennial Syzygy, yet by then the simpler name had become entrenched...

The line. Here, on that bold demarcation between the Quarterfell and Elbion proper, Ruslan and Zael would come to say their farewells to one another. "Good luck on your journey," Zael said. "What'd you call it?" "Gezi." "That's it." "Farewell, and may similar fortune be yours, madi."...

"We're becoming...quite familiar with this place," said Ruslan. Indeed, chance had something of a sense of humor, because once more Ruslan and Zael had, after evading enraged enforcers from the Marte Cartel, ended up back in the same dark and cozy spot as before, that deadend alley nestled...

This was not something Ruslan had expected. Nor anything he wished to be part of. Tonight was meant to be only an experience of cultural exploration, and this to be done with an open and inquisitive mind but, also, to be done with a certain distance respectful to both parties. The kind of...

Tonight marked a strange sort of milestone for Ruslan, and it was certainly due to his Gezi, to his traveling to a foreign place with a different culture from whence he came, and, most specifically, to the various establishments he sought out in particular tonight. That milestone was this: he...

Through a circuitous route did they vacate the sight of the doorman and come around again to the sides of the Ten-One-Three. The first outside wall they checked didn't look especially promising, but the next one did: a boarded-up door, some old side entrance taken out of service. "Alright,"...

And what more definitive end than that? "Feel better?" "Better's not quite the right word for it." "At ease, then." Zael's head bounced first to the left and then to the right in his brief consideration. "We'll go with that. Yeah, we'll go with that." "Then I believe we've got one last stop...

Ruslan and Goffred shared a quick glance with one another. Neither man spoke. Neither man needed to. The questions Maranae posed had plenty of answers, some earthen and practical, some metaphysical and elemental. They could tell any of them. Let the words roll over her. But what good would it...

"Never underestimate that of which families are capable," Ruslan said with an exaggeratedly sardonic grin. More teasing, this time at the very core of civilization itself, the family. What could be more precious and more imperfect at the same time? With his own legion of uncles, aunts, cousins...

"First of all, because they fucking deserved it," said Goffred, snorting with a little laughter and then looking to his side and spitting and looking back. "Bastards." Ruslan's explanation was a fair bit gentler, even if he shared in large degree the sentiment expressed by Goffred. "Most...

"It is good that you have spoken that aloud," Ruslan said. "Better is it to give voice to these things rather than have them haunt your mind, formless, forever." "Yeah, tell me about it." "So what will you do now?" Hardly was it a definitive answer, in matters like these and many others...

Ruslan waved it off. "The name of Gildal is proven, but the name of Ruslan far from it," he said, offering another genial smile. "In that way, Anfisa, we are equals." His smile changing its character just a touch, adding in a pinch of playfulness (and a pinch of genuine curiosity, to be fair)...

"Of course," Ruslan said. "Where else am I to find the most reliable companion amongst the Fourth Years? Who else carries the name of Ironhammer?" Certainly his other friends in their class might well be chafed by that, but was he not known for a healthy dose of teasing here and there? And...