flame

All Flames Cast – Harael VII

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The fog was finally beginning to thin out when they crested the ridge and looked down into a long, narrow valley. Harael could see a small lake, nestled against a sheer cliff along the east side. The village itself stretched along most of the length of the valley, hugging the shore of the lake for much of its breadth. As they made their way down the trail, winding back and forth against the slope, their view became clearer and clearer.

By the time they reached the bottom, Harael couldn’t help but stare: the valley was mostly brown, of course, but the winter couldn’t fully grasp the pines coating the far slope. Tall and oddly angular, they gave the area a sort of green fur unlike anything he was used to in Letaal—or even in his hometown of Arbor, many miles north of the capitol. The peaks, rising high ahead, were crowned with white. Continue reading

NaNoWriMo – All Flames Cast Edition

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As many of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month. Now, I’ve never participated in NanNoWriMo in the traditional sense before. I’m usually immersed in a project already—as I am now—and I prefer to move at my own pace. I’m not the fastest writer in the world, and I generally like my first drafts to be cleaner than usual. It takes time.

However, this year I’ll be undertaking a kind of NaNo of my own: finishing All Flames Cast this month! This is a pretty big goal, and I’m already starting behind the ball a bit, as I was out of town and away from my computer for most of the weekend. As of this writing, I’ve written about 2,400 words so far in November; to finish All Flames Cast, it looks like I’m going to need to do about 80,000-90,000 words. That’s a lot, but I can bear down when I need to. Broken down into 3,000 words a day, it looks a lot more manageable.

I’ve also already planned out several of what I’m calling “Surge Days”, where I cleared my schedule and I’m setting a goal of 10,000 words. With those, I’m confident that I can meet my goal.

In celebration of the end (hopefully) being in sight, another, final, Harael chapter will be going up later today. I haven’t fully decided yet, but there is a good chance I will start posting more Tymun chapters in the future, but if that happens, I’m guessing that won’t be until the end of this month or in early December. There will be more updates coming as the month goes on.

Anyway, good luck to all of you NaNo people out there, and happy writing!

All Flames Cast – Harael VI

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A brief note before the chapter: this will be the second to last Harael chapter posted on here, at least until the book is finished. Things are getting to a point where I don’t want to give away too much as the plot gets going. I might move on to posting a few Tymun chapters after a week or two, though.

 

 

It was late in the morning when Harael, Teramus, and their accompanying Guards and soldiers made their way through the Three Gates. Katreina and two of her own Phoenix Guards rode along with them. Harael was glad for the extra hours of sleep, especially considering how draining the clash had been the night before. He wasn’t used to the things demanded of him, and he had had unsettling dreams.

The sun was overhead, though, and only a few small white puffs of clouds marred the otherwise clear sky. It was unseasonably warm. He managed a smile, breathing in the crisp air—until they came out of the Second Gate and into the killing field from the night before. Then, his breath caught and his attempts to inhale were rewarded by the acrid stench of smoke and char. Continue reading

All Flames Cast – Harael V

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Yep, they keep coming. I’m in a good mood, what with hockey season starting, so I’m letting you all have another chapter—and a battle scene, no less!

 

 

The Third Gate loomed up before them as Harael followed Teramus, a half dozen other priests, and a horde of Phoenix Guards through the camp. The top of the Second Gate lit up briefly as fires were summoned and thrown down beyond it. The slopes of the mountain pass ahead flickered with light. Priests were involved already. Continue reading

All Flames Cast – Harael IV

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Another chapter so soon? Crazy, I know. I’ve been really making these sparse for the last while, but with how close I’m getting to finishing, I thought I’d let a couple more trickle out here over the next few weeks. They’ll likely all be Harael chapters. And without further ado, I give you Harael’s fourth chapter…

 

Harael sighed in relief as he crested the rise in the road. Down the far slope, winding north, the stone road led to the sprawl that was Barrier. The military camp, and the city that had sprung up around it, pooled around the foothills of the Pirin Mountains, clutching the road north like a stone and metal fist. Continue reading