Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Page 996

“Relaxing already?” Imas said in Valgan. “Where is Qorvass?”

“With Hector and Garovel,” said Asad.

They seem to have become fast friends,’ said Orjand. Her little scorpionfly wings buzzed silently as she hovered there in midair. ‘Qorvass is usually the last of us to warm up to new people.

She wasn’t wrong, Asad knew. It had taken Qorvass years to finally accept his friendship with Zeff. “I think he senses an opportunity for an alliance,” said Asad. “Or maybe he just wants me to stop calling him a surly bastard.”

“An alliance?” said Imas. “With the young Atreyan lord? Why? Not to knock the boy, but his strength is not his own.”

“So you noticed it, too,” said Asad.

“Of course. And I am a little annoyed that Haqq did not give that shield to me. Or something like it, at least.”

“Be sure to chew him out when we get back to Kuros.”

“Oh, I will.”

Orjand hovered closer. ‘By the way, have you heard the news? We just heard about it downstairs.

“Which news would that be?” Asad scratched his cheek absently.

The war between Jesbol and Horsht. It’s over.

Asad blinked and sat up straighter. “What? Since when?”

Since earlier today. Jesbol won. They’re already talking about dissolving Horsht completely. It seems Jesbol will have territory on the mainland now.

“So sudden,” said Asad. “How long has that war been going? It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten.”

Oh, it’s been a collection of wars, really,’ said Orjand. ‘The one you’re familiar with started about thirty years ago, but it’s been on and off for more than than a hundred now. I’m still not sure whether to believe it. If it were merely news of another “cease in hostilities,” I wouldn’t buy it for a moment, but this is the first time that one of them has been reported of conquering the other.

“And there’s more to it,” said Imas. “The victory is being attributed to Field Marshal Jackson. They’re saying he cut through Abolish like a knife and killed Gunther and Dunhouser both.”

Asad’s eyes widened. “By himself?”

She nodded. “And in order to pull something like that off, the smart money says he achieved emergence.”

If it’s all true, then this means a major victory for the Vanguard.

16 comments:

  1. "They seem have become fast friends "
    needs to be a "to" in there. EXCELLENT story!

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  2. I want to be happy that a bunch of abolish are dead, but I don't like the Vanguard right now. All of them we've met so far have been dicks. Not serial killer dicks like the abolish, but still dicks.

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  3. Ty for the pages!

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  4. I think ima take a break from the story for a while, if I can. It's hard reading a story only a few pages a week, especially for me, binge reader that I am :P

    Great story, see you in a few months.

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  5. Make hector stronger george!
    It just feels slightly sad when they think of him as weak :(

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  6. Because he's weak.

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  7. By the way guys, don't forget to vote.

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  8. Hey, Mr. Frost, can we have a list of names and titles of the major players? I just want to confirm the west star, iceheart... and everyone else :)

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  9. I'll make something more formal eventually, after more have been revealed, but for now, these are the ones that have been mentioned so far:

    Sai-hee (unrevealed title)

    Sermung -- the Crystal Titan
    Jackson -- the Radiant Sentinel, the Star of the West
    Sanko -- the Gargoyle
    Lamont -- Iceheart

    Morgunov -- the Mad Demon
    Dozer -- the Living Void
    Gohvis -- the Black Scourge, the Monster of the East
    Ivan (unrevealed title)
    Jercash (unrevealed title)
    Dunhouser (now dead)
    Gunther (now dead)
    and one unaffiliated title "the Salesman of Death"

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  10. Also:

    Lawrence -- the Blue Bear

    Melchor -- Darktide
    Octavia -- the Red Lady
    Rayen (unrevealed title)
    Xuan -- the Seadevil

    Asad -- the Lion of the Desert
    Zeff (unrevealed title)

    Hector -- the Darksteel Soldier
    Lynnette -- the White Sword

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  11. Harper will be sad to hear that.

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  12. Okay OTHER than Harper. But he's just basically freeroam, he was the only one who's helped anyone the story focuses on so far.

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  13. My guess is that the salesman is Damien, since his name sounds like an evil but unaffiliated character.

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  14. So far we've met only 2 actual members, Harper and Sanko. Harper is nice, and Sanko probably would be if she wasn't dealing with those she thought were traitors. Of course, we also know that the ones that Lynn and Roman stole from were also jerks, but then we also know that Sermung himself is a decent guy.

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  15. I assume you meant "only two members who weren't part of a subversive cell."

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