Recent content by Xeraphine Yldore

The humble nun followed Afanas in his wake, two forms wrapped in stark black, one taller than the other, cutting an inky line through the colourful masses like two black letters having bewildered themselves into a prismatic illumation. An invitation to walk with the Lord Commander was, of...

"Me? Deceive you? Perish the thought." There was something approaching wry amusement in the nun's tone. With Afanas looming over her, she appeared to keep her nerve admirably, not slinking from him, but standing as if merely under the shade of a tree. Her hand reached up to her neck and...

The nun couldn't help but smile slightly, but affected gentle surprise well enough, fluttering her eye. "Security concern? Oh, no, not at all, my lord. We simply wished to offer this." She raised the finely carved casket in her hand, imitating a pair of dragons breathing fire, their...

Xeraphine saw Lilette off, donning a faint smile of consolation and a small bow of respect. She watched the nun from a window, stepping through the sordid streets, Nightspell on her back. Soon enough, the smog claimed her, rendering her black-and-white form into little more than a shade. True...

Master Marsh looked more flummoxed than if half the city had come besieging their doors, his beardless, nearly shaven head swiveling and turning to take in all that was transpiring. Rarely had he seen his mistress so paralysed, deadlier even than the disease in his old master, Kezrim. "Aye, of...

They said that a warrior's choice of weapon spoke volumes more about them than any tabard or heraldry could. Xeraphine carefully observed Lilette caressing each weapon like long-lost mementos. Xeraphine couldn't help but wonder if someone as old as her had ever seen these blades before, held in...

"He will listen," Xeraphine assured her. "He may complain like a whipped mule, but he is not daft enough to defy our House." Xeraphine let out a lilting laughter, surprising even herself, her gloved hand covering her mouth. "Him? Forging? I'd be a'feared to let him anywhere near a hammer, let...

Fane bristled at being called 'mister,' but before he could speak Xeraphine took word: "Despite appearances, Mister Fane is fairly proficient with a rapier and dagger, the bow and incendiary artillery. He can ride a horse well and knows these lands. Father and he did enjoy the occasional hunt...

"No, that shan't be necessary." Xeraphine's voice was calm. Calm as a poised blade of cold steel. But her eyes burned like the forge such a blade might spawn from, searing into her brother. "Grant him a moment or two and he shall remember his manners." Fane stepped forward with a bestial snarl...

From the crowd appeared someone who might be mistaken for a nun or a grieving widow, garbed in a starkly black dress and a hood approximating a wimple. She approached the two generals, carrying a small elm-wood casket in her hands. Black hair cascaded over her right eye, leaving one...

Xeraphine counted them in the establishment. One barkeep. Two at the bar. Six seated at tables. Nine. With luck, she could kill two or three of them, should it come to it. But if they all attacked? Her chances would be slim then. She had expected one viper for her meeting. Not a pit of them...

"You shall find them outside Pitchgate, the northernmost gate out of the Outer City. I will summon them to meet you there. Master Marsh shall accompany you. As to your mount and blade, I believe I have the ideal choices in mind." An interruption announced itself outside the parlour. A long...

Patrons left, boots trudging out. The doors shut, bolts and locks clicked. Curtains drew before windows like the whispers of blades sheathing. The clatter of cutlery and mugs muted, ceased and died. Absolute silence reigned in the wake of Kid's words. For those who remained, the leering grin of...

"We do not know. It should have arrived last month. But reports place it close to our city now. Within a week of sailing under fair winds and a fortnight by land. I will show the route, however, so that you might encounter it. It will be coast-bound for the rest of its journey, a schooner...