Stories in the series "Talisman"
# 21: Talisman Five Part 3
A great deal of attention had been paid to the fashioning of the entrance hall of the College of Bards in Magnus. The outer doors were massive: tall, wide and thick. Their inner faces were intricately carved with figures of dancing musical instruments interspersed with fruits and vines. The space they opened onto was in scale with those doors; the expansive floor was patterned with the star-and-harp symbol of the college surrounded by the twelve symbols of rank, from apprentice ... [ Read More ]
# 22: Talisman Six Part 1
There were no ill omens that morning as I rode into the tiny village of Densur. No grey hawks flying upside down, no bucks heying around two birch trees, no hedgehogs parading backwards along the hedgerows. I suppose it is presumptuous of me to expect such obvious warnings, as the tragedy to come was not so great as to threaten the very crown of Baranur. Yet I would have liked to have had the time to prepare myself. So I, Bard ... [ Read More ]
# 23: Talisman Six Part 2
I had seen death before, of both natural and unnatural causes. There is a great difference between the body of someone who dies of a disease, or by simply living to the end of their given days, and the corpse of someone murdered by man's hand. The ending of Shorel's life by means of two crossbow bolts in her back as she fled along a forested path stunned me. Shorel my fellow bard, my companion, my lover, was dead. She lay ... [ Read More ]
# 24: Talisman Seven Part 1
The guest wing of Welspeare Castle had been the scene of bustling activity for most of the previous sennight. Each room had been diligently cleaned and prepared for the coming visitors. One suite had received extra care in an effort to save the chief roomskeeper's pride. The small shield beside the door of that suite -- a red oval, surrounded by a gold disk, within a brown diamond, on a white field -- marked who was assigned to those rooms ... [ Read More ]
# 25: Talisman Seven Part 2
The baronial seat of Bindrmon was a medium-sized town called Beeikar. It lay along the north bank of the Renev River, which ran through Welspeare and Northfield to the sea. Situated against the Renev, east and upstream of the docks area, was one of Beeikar's inns. It offered good ale and food that was usually acceptable. The bargemen who worked the river, and who were known for their rowdy behavior, only occasionally ventured as far from their own dockside taverns as ... [ Read More ]
# 26: Talisman Seven Part 3
Baron Chak Bindrmon stormed through the halls of his own keep. His jaw was clenched so tightly that his lips were as white as his hair, and his hands were balled into fists so hard that he could feel his short nails digging into his palms. He was walking fury, and he was headed toward his only child's room to teach the boy some sense. Chak had recently returned from his journey to Fremlow City, the ducal seat of Welspeare. Every ... [ Read More ]
# 27: Talisman Seven Part 4
Lord Aldan Bindrmon sat in his fiancee's boarding house room and stared at the grisly contents of the box on his lap. Could the note be true? Could the lump of greyish-brown meat laying at the center of the coiled golden-blond hair actually be Tillna's heart? Aldan shuddered in revulsion at that thought. He lifted the package off his lap and stood, knocking the chair over in the process. He dashed to a window, dropping the bundle of cloth and box ... [ Read More ]
# 28: Talisman Eight Part 1
The girl's screams sounded in Rhonwn's ears as he stabbed at her. He grinned as he worked: those screams were exactly what he was striving for. The louder she cried, the harder he worked. His hands moved, his weapon thrust, and her voice was silent for a brief moment, her face crumpled in surprise, before the screams rang out once again. Rhonwn felt it would soon be over, that his efforts would soon bring their inevitable climax. He put more effort ... [ Read More ]
# 29: Talisman Eight Part 2
Early in the morning of the 13th of Yuli, not much past second bell, Rhonwn charged into the clearing where he and his father were staying, crying, "Bobere! Murntedd!" over and over. His heart sank when he saw that no progress had been made toward readying the wagon for travel; there were crates of wares stacked on one side of the clearing, the horses were bare of tack on the other side, and around the embers in the fire pit ... [ Read More ]
# 30: Talisman Nine Part 1
"What did you call me?" The broad-shouldered, homespun-clad man rose like a thunderhead from his seat. "Cummon, Nat, I dare you ta say that again!" His voice rumbled across the crowded taproom, stilling all other conversation. The object of the thunderhead's wrath stammered, "Hold, Borl, hold now. I didn' call you nothing. Sit down, straight? Sit down and have another." The man's reedy voice and weedy body seemed ill-suited to weathering the storm brewing to his right, though he lifted his ... [ Read More ]