C.B. Ash's Blog: Scribbled Notes, page 3

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 15

Amates 20, 1277. Evening. In the middle of way too much trouble.

    It was getting to be a very long night.

    The baron gestured to the white canvas cot behind me before he reached for the sole chair in the tent.

    “Please, have a seat.”

    I scowled and stayed right where I was.

    Lord Marius hesitated, then shrugged.

    “Or we can stand, if you prefer.” He clasped his hands behind his back while he considered me for a moment. “Well, now you have a piece of the Automatic Crystal, and most of...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 14

Amates 20, 1277. Still evening. Still swimming nose-deep in trouble. Inside an overly fancy tent in the middle of nowhere.

    Vargas kept his tent guarded about as well as the other one. Like before, timing and a bit of luck helped me get inside. Once the guard on patrol vanished out of sight, I slipped under the waxed tent cloth.

    The interior was dark, with the only light being a dim glow that seeped in past the front flap. Scents of old hay and musty, weathered canvas hung in the air. They ...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 13

Amates 20, 1277, later that same evening. Middle of nowhere in the prairie.

     I wasn’t ready.

    We rode east out of Banye, following Justicar Copeland to the shallow stream bed. The stream was barely there. It was just enough water to keep the plants fed and possibly give the local wildlife something to drink. During the rainy seasons, it was probably impressive.

    The others continued on south while Evi stayed with me. Once they were out of sight, we put my idea in motion.

    Evi held onto ...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 12

Amates 20, 1277. Town of Banye, early evening. Working just inside Mikasi’s half-open forge in the back of his workshop. The best time for a stupid idea.

    Ki stood outside Mikasi’s forge, hands folded over his chest, his expression a thundercloud.

     “You call this a plan?” he grumbled while he watched me adjust the buckles for the tenth time.

     “No,” I told him. “I call this ‘making it up as I go along’. Besides, this is only part of the plan. You’re in the other part, remember?”

     I did...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 11

Amates 20, 1277. Town of Banye, far too early in the morning. Nursing bruises and a cup of coffee.

    I bit off another piece of Awari root and grimaced. The taste of Awari didn’t improve the more I chewed on it. That spicy, fibrous texture also didn’t go well with coffee. It may help with the new bruises, but it didn’t take the knots out of my frustration.

    The night wound up swallowing Mikasi and his kidnappers whole before I took out after them on a horse. Not that I didn’t try to find them...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 10

Amates 20, 1277. Just past midnight. Town of Banye, aboard the Sheldrake, trying not to wake anyone up.

   Sleep was a lost cause. I tossed and turned until I finally gave up and slipped out of the bunk. My mind just would not let go of the yesterday’s conversation.

   I knew I shouldn’t worry. Everything we talked about, every idea, was just a guess. A ‘maybe’ of how we thought the Automatic Crystal could work, not how it did work. All the talk of it being used as some sort of weapon could be wro...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 9

Amates 19, 1277. Mid-afternoon. Town of Banye. Walking down the south side of town.

   The trip from the Sheldrake to Mikasi’s workshop didn’t take that long.

   As farming and ranching towns on the prairie went, Banye wasn’t that large. Only one hard-packed dirt street meant it was easy to navigate. This quick trip also wasn’t very exciting, other than the conversation.

   “So,” I said slowly to Tyre as we walked. “When were you going to tell me that you set me up?”

   That earned me a look of feig...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 8

Amates 19, 1277. Town of Banye, in the Buckhorn Boardinghouse. The only inn in town.   

​    Scrubbing off the soot was far easier than hearing what Mikasi had to say. I nearly dropped my mug. Fortunately for my food, I didn’t.

    “Wait. What did you just say?”

   Mikasi, his own mug partway to his mouth, looked around the table at us wide-eyed.

   “Say what?” He asked slowly. “All I said was that I realized what I had overlooked when I read the Cesibus’ notes again. He used a counterweight in his ...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 7

Amates 19, 1277. Town of Banye, on the Planus continent, northeast of Ishnanor.

    I was covered in soot. Wood smoke, which stung my eyes, was everywhere.

   Where there weren’t spots of soot on me, there was grime. I smelled burnt hair, which I think was mine, but I hadn’t had time to check. Overall, I felt like a dusky-skinned Chivit smudge leopard in a bad need of a nap.
 
  The fire, bad as it was, hadn’t spread very far by the time Tyre pulled the Sheldrake into Banye at a hard gallop. One bui...

The Dark Device of the Great Chasm, Chapter 6

Amates 19, 1277. Somewhere on the Planus continent, aboard the Sheldrake, moving northeast of Ishnanor.
 
    There had been a lot to think about in the four days since we left Ishnanor.
 
    I untied the canvas shade, then rolled the cloth up to the top of the window frame to let in some air and clear my head. There were too many thoughts fighting for my attention. I needed them all to be quiet for a while. The soft prairie wind rushed through the window, so I pulled the tie from my hair to let my...