Stories in the series "Talisman"
# 11: Talisman One Part 4
Kendra rose from the table along with everyone else, as the servants started to clear the plates and serving platters away. The dinner had been full of memories for her. She recalled when she had sat at the high table with the duke, presiding over dinners and entertainments, parties and ceremonies. The celebrations among the Siizhayip were seldom as elegant as a formal dinner in Plethiss, but those formal dinners were seldom as wildly exuberant as even the smallest Siizhayip ... [ Read More ]
# 12: Talisman Two Part 1
Author's Note: This segment of the Talisman Saga takes place about three hundred and fifty years after Talisman One. The Fretheod Empire has fallen, torn apart by both internal strife and external invaders. Once conquered nations have become sovereign lands again under their own rule. Some returned to their former state, while others banded together to form new kingdoms. Talisman Two takes place in the newly-reformed Gerolevan Kingdom, which was once the north-western province of Geronlel on the continent of ... [ Read More ]
# 13: Talisman Two Part 2
Gerthafel, Duke Arvinsosh's chief Justicer, found the duke's summer processions to be an odd mixture of light work and festival celebrations. Normally, he spent the summer riding the quarters of the duchy, distributing high justice where it was needed, serving in the duke's, and when necessary, the king's stead. But during the duke's periodic processions his role was more than official. He usually only had to take up his office when a decision by local justicers was questioned by someone ... [ Read More ]
# 14: Talisman Three Part 1
Author's Note: This segment of the Talisman Saga begins approximately 420 years after Talisman Two in a portion of the continent of Duurom that has all but forgotten the Fretheod Empire. Called Farevlin, which means 'thousand lands', it is made up of hundreds and hundreds of tiny kingdoms, dukedoms, city-states, and autonomous towns, some no larger than an average crossroads village. While Farevlin shares a common language, background, and legends of unity, each state within the area tends toward fierce ... [ Read More ]
# 15: Talisman Three Part 2
Virrila, who had been Kersh's sponsor, stood in the doorway of the large room where Kersh had been accepted as a student just a few days before. She said, "He's here, Tchad." Zarilt, the Tchad -- teacher -- of the students of his Way, was alone in the room, standing in front of the stone table that bore the five objects that made up the contents of the Treasury of Farevlin. He sighed, paused, and then nodded and gestured. Virrila stepped to ... [ Read More ]
# 16: Talisman Three Part 3
The next morning saw most of Torenda's Troupe reloading the wagons and cleaning up the clearing by the way-cabin where they had spent the night. Meanwhile, Orla, Naka, Elin, Kend, and Thanj were sitting around the table that had been fetched from inside the cabin, and debating their next move. The odd stone that had been found in the cabin rested on the table in front of Elin. Its marble-like surface gleamed in the sunlight, and the metal and glass bands ... [ Read More ]
# 17: Talisman Three Part 4
Torenda's Troupe, plus one student of the Way, traveled south at a much slower pace than any of them wanted. It was nearing the end of the same day Virrila had come across the troupe in the clearing of a way-cabin. They had listened to her story of the Treasurer of Farevlin, who was also a teacher of some kind of pacifist philosophy, and of a renegade warlord intent on conquering the thousand lands of Farevlin with the aid of ... [ Read More ]
# 18: Talisman Four
Ah yes, by grace, it is a beautiful day. What could be better than sitting here in my own courtyard under the limbs of this wide-spread chestnut tree, just watching as the shadow of the tree moves from the left side of the courtyard to the right? But my chair is in the perfect place, because the shade never abandons me, never. Watching the shadows move is not all I do, of course. My chair faces the corner of the courtyard where ... [ Read More ]
# 19: Talisman Five Part 1
Author's Note: Just over two thousand years have passed since three lovers and a meddling outsider created a Talisman that was more than any of them knew. An accident destroyed it, and started those four individuals on a round of reincarnations to attempt to piece the artifact back together. The six pieces have become three over the centuries, but one of the original fragments remains hidden, having not been exposed to the open air since that lightning-riven winter solstice so ... [ Read More ]
# 20: Talisman Five Part 2
Roharvardenul watched the man walk through the doors into the taproom of the Fighting Unicorns, a tavern on the edges of the unsavory Fifth Quarter of Magnus. The tall, thin, dark-haired man walked purposefully through the sparsely-tabled room directly toward Vard's seat. There were only two other occupied tables in the room, but Vard wasn't surprised that the man had detected him so quickly; they had arranged to meet in one of the privacy booths that lined the back wall ... [ Read More ]