Luzo had a strange charm to it, Hector felt. When he’d first arrived, the place had seemed kind of ominous and horrible to him, perhaps because the thunder had been so loud before, but now that it had mellowed out into a series of faint rumblings, he was beginning to enjoy himself. Combined with the constant drumming of rain and the moderate temperature, Hector found this place actually quite relaxing. Though, the ceasefire had surely contributed to that feeling as well.
Still, he was beginning to understand why people might choose to live here, despite the threat of floods and lightning. At least a third of the buildings on this street had been crowned with huge metal spires, and the road didn’t seem to have any trouble draining all the water. Hector could only imagine how insanely efficient a Rainlord sewage system needed to be.
‘So why were you in Kuros?’ Chergoa asked. ‘And how in the world did you end up crossing paths with Axiolis?’
‘We were escorting Atreyan royalty,’ said Garovel.
Chergoa paused. ‘Are you joking?’
‘Nope. Prince Meriwether of House Lumenbel. We’re on pretty good terms with his sister, the Queen, so she asked us for a favor.’
‘Huh.’ Chergoa allowed a beat to pass. ‘There must not be very many servants in Atreya.’
‘Rude. You don’t know how strong Hector is.’ Garovel also allowed a beat to pass. ‘You’re right, though. I only know of like three others.’
‘Ha. So this prince didn’t mind you just abandoning your duty to come help us?’
‘He had another bodyguard to rely on, and we were only doing it as a favor, anyway. Also, I don’t think he was particularly worried for his safety once he made it inside the Golden Fort. He’s married to one of the Saqqaf women, after all.’
‘Ah,’ said Chergoa. ‘Woulda been nice to have those folks on our side. Are the Saqqafs as impressive as their reputation suggests?’
‘We didn’t meet any of them personally. The Lord Abbas Saqqaf, though--we saw him speak during a meeting, and his soul was strong enough that Hector could actually feel his presence a little bit, which suggests to me that he’s even older than Melchor and Xuan. So just from that, I would have to say, yes, Hahl Saqqaf was quite impressive.’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Last page went up a few hours ago. Careful not to skip it, folks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, votes over at Top Web Fiction would be super neato. Thanks for reading, everybody.
Was Abbas Saqqaf the one who used soul strengthening on his shield?
ReplyDeleteHOLY SHIT! I was right bout Abbas being potentially stronger than Melchor or Xuan!
ReplyDeleteYes. Permanent Soul-strengthening to be exact, if I'm not mistaken
ReplyDeleteI just reread looking for that, and I don't think it actually mentioned that at the time. The whole scene was from Asad's POV.
ReplyDeleteI see, so that's why Melchor couldn't bypass the defense of Hector.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Abbas didn't plan to give the shield away and use Hector as a lab rat.
ReplyDeleteGot it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteYup
ReplyDeleteHmm then that's why I didn't remember...
ReplyDeleteI was kind of expecting ibai to pop out of thin air and ask Emiliana if she was ready for there adventure, scaring the crap out of everyone. Come on, i can't be the only one waiting for that.
ReplyDeleteCease-fire or not, he probably shouldn't be waltzing around talking to non-Blackburns. People might get itchy blasting hands. Now, whether that would actually stop him doing it...
ReplyDeleteHector is not sure about Ibai, and the same can be said to Dimas. They're still doubt about him.
ReplyDeleteI have an odd question for ya. Is the way the reapers speak affected by their partners?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like someone who lived for 3,000 years might have different patterns of speech (language was explained, but language isn't all there is. Regions have dialects and the like too). Garovel speaks well, but sometimes very much like a youth Hector would know might, rather then a more wizened and ancient being.
I could have sworn Asad was from house Saqqaf, but sure enough when I checked, it says he's a member of house Najir. I kinda wonder why the lords get along so badly given that they are both good guys. I mean a friendly rivalry to see who can kill more Abolishers and invent better integration tech (to lord over the other house for a few years and then share for the good of all Abolish's enemies), and so on, but the long and seemingly quite bitter hostility, and not helping them in a time of crisis seems a bit much.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I used quotation mark...
ReplyDeleteVery soon Chergoa is going to ask just how strong Hector is and how long he has been a servant.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious as to whether Garovel will tell her the truth, go with what he said last (3 years I think) or say something else.
Each Sandlords have their own problem, you can't really blame them. And as far as the Sandlord is concerned, the Rainlords are an enemies. It's been like that for millenniums. I think the Sandlords are the descendant of the one trying to conquer the whole continent, but the Rainlords put a stopped to their plan.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us read.
ReplyDeleteSince Garovel told the Sandlords that he has been a servant for 8 years. I think if Garovel wanted to lie, those number will be the one he will give to Chergoa.
ReplyDeleteDam my "interesting" memory and thanks for the correction.
ReplyDeleteGarovel said Hector was a servant for 3 years, but he told Hector that his power is closer to a servant of 8 years
ReplyDeleteYou weren't wrong
ReplyDeleteWhat page did you read the Rainlords and Sandlords are enemies?
ReplyDeleteI mixed the two, sorry for that.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the clarification.
I only assume, since the two Clan seems to have a bad blood, and the way Garovel told the history of their continent to Hector.
ReplyDeleteI assume that the one invading the continent would be the Sandlords, while the one who stopped them were the Rainlords.
Ooh, I think we've had this discussion before. For one, early on Hector and Garovel were reading a newspaper together and Hector was making fun of Garovel for being a slow reader.
ReplyDeletehttp://thezombieknight.blogspot.com/2013/07/page-125.html
“Ugh... Y’know, I thought you’d be a faster reader than this.”
‘Oh, I’m sorry. How many non-native languages can YOU read? Because I’m only fluent in about three hundred or so.’
Hector blinked. “Three hundred?!”
‘Well. A good number of them are dead, but still.’
“Hmm... You’re thousands of years old, though. So that’s only like one new language every hundred years. Not all that impressive, really.”
‘Oh, shut up.’
So there are (or have been) a lot of different languages over time.
I have also asked about languages before, see here (oh hey look, you're there as well):
http://thezombieknight.blogspot.com/2014/01/page-535.html#comment-1224595780
I don't mean the language itself so much as the mannerisms within that language. Cursing, for instance, has evolved over the years. Yet Garovel has mentioned not having a partner for a while. I understand the general attitude probably hasn't changed, but I'm talking specifics. If what Hector sees with reapears is affected by perception, could the same be said for how they say things? Could an older dialect come out as a younger one?
ReplyDeleteI reiterate, "What page did you read the *Rainlords* and *Sandlords* are enemies? I knew the Rainlord/Sandlords' ancestors waged war, but they eventually established peace. Now, there are several Houses and Hahls in Varden. The Rainlords and Sandlords may not be friends like Asad and Zeff are, but saying they're enemies is pushing things a bit.
ReplyDeleteI do believe this topic came up in comment thread. Forgive me for not remembering which one, but I think Frost basically said that we (the readers) are having preconceived notions bout how a 3K year old being is supposed to sound like. That just because an old being will sound a certain way in one series, doesn't mean that it has to sound the same in every one. Remember, no one knows what person that's lived for millennia is gonna sound like
ReplyDeleteNo apology needed
ReplyDeleteActually, we can guess. It helps that many cultures from at least 3,000 years ago passed down their history through written language. We'll never have exact translations, but people did speak differently. Ontop of that, several cultures that still exist today have been around for 3,000 years. And finally, we don't need to look back 3,000 years. We really don't. We can look back 20, 50, 100 or even 200 and know that isn't how people spoke.
ReplyDeleteIf he wanted to explain it away, he could simply say thats what happens when you learn 300 languages, you start to get so good at it that you even pick up moderate changes over the years, decades, centuries.
Wait....so you're basically telling me that a being has to stay the same over the course of its existence? That there can't be an alternate way of thinking of immortality, different from what we're used to reading (since immortality is still just a CONCEPT)? Are you saying that Garovel can't pick up words here and there from watching humans? Since, you know, that's what he does when waiting to ferry a dead soul. He doesn't need a servant to learn from. Are you telling me all this, cause that's sure what I'm reading in your post...
ReplyDeleteAccording to Octavia, she won't help the Sandlords if they're the one in the bind, and I assume every Rainlords(I don't know about Zeff) think the same. And the Sandlords, also think the same as them. When Asad was asking every Sandlords to help the Rainlords, they disagree with helping them, and I think they don't like the idea of helping the Rainlords. Well I think since both of them are the descendants of Armans and Lyzakks, I think even now there is still a war going on between them, or more like cold war.
ReplyDelete"Enemies" is the wrong word to describe the current relationship between the Rainlords and Sandlords. That's why I used "Frenemies," though the relationship might be a bit more amiable than that even
ReplyDeleteIf you're wondering, Abbas and his reaper Worwal explain the crux of their reasons for not helping the Rainlords on page 802.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that re-info, which I'd forgotten.
ReplyDeleteAh thank you. Just needed confirmation of what I was saying
ReplyDeleteYeah, sure, insult me. That's a great way to have a conversation.
ReplyDeleteThat's not what I'm saying but I'm done talking to you.
I would very much love to know how you saw that as an insult, but since you're done talking to me, I guess that will be something I'll never find out. Perhaps someone else will enlighten me. In any case, good day to you, sir
ReplyDelete