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Year of Our Lord, After Ascension, 761AA
dark corner of a grimy tavern in northern Angloss.
‘A healer and a wise man, eh? A healer certainly, but perhaps not always so wise, friend.’
Instantly, Caddin felt the boy’s scrutiny and inspection as something akin to a physical impact; assailing him, pushing against him, attempting to invade him. Immediately, he felt his breath quicken and his heart beat faster. Associated with that, an emotion lurched into Caddin’s mind from which he had long since become detached. Fear.
Lord Aiduel, he recited to himself, Make my thoughts and actions true, and deliver me from evil.
Could he finally have found the thing which he had been searching for, after all of these years?
This first part of the prologue does a great job of creating intrigue for me. Having the townsperson come up to this healer and request help while giving no details is very interesting. I'm very interested in learning about the gaze, why it creates fear, and what about it Caddin was looking fof
The boy frowned, looking perturbed, not taking his eyes from Caddin even as he addressed his father. ‘Is he really just a healer, Da? I think he’s more than a healer. I think maybe he’s a… holy man, Da.’
This kid is creeping me out
‘A priest, master? You didn’t share that with me when we first spoke? Had I known that, I mightn’t have asked you here.’ The farmer looked uncomfortable. ‘How… strongly… do you feel your beliefs, master?’
Is this common for the people to distrust priests or is this family suspicions
Lord Aiduel, let me forever walk with you in the light, and keep me from the all-consuming darkness.
‘I’ve been having… dreams. Lots of dreams. Often the same one. Over and over, almost every night.’
‘There’s a path, up a mountain. I’m on the path, and there’s four others with me. I can see them, they’re walking with me, but we don’t speak. We walk up the path, and it leads to an opening. Like an arch, a gate. The gate is bright, so very bright. Brighter than a fire, it hurts my eyes. And I get there, and I can see a figure on the other side of the gate. He’s… even brighter than the gate. He scares me and makes my heart pound and my head hurt. And then he waves his hand at us, calling us forward. So I try to go to him. So do the others. But then he puts his hand up, shakes it, stops us.
...more
Repeated dream
Caddin’s arm and hand moved backwards a little, behind his chair. Reaching. If he was going to act, the time would be soon.
Well done
The mace crashed down onto the head of the boy, killing him instantly.
However, he saw little gain in being anything less than thorough, and for the next minute his mace crashed down repeatedly onto the small, dead boy. Bludgeoning him, and breaking him apart.
He felt satisfied by his afternoon’s work, and once he had made good his escape from this place, he would need to write to notify the appropriate people of his actions here. How to summarise what he had achieved today? One dead. Four more to find.
Just wow. Fantastic prologue. Loved starting in this perspective .
Part One — Allana, Corin, Leanna and Arion — Year of Our Lord, After Ascension, 767AA
Allana dei Monis wondered daily about which would be the first to fade away to nothing; her mother’s life, or their dwindling remaining money. At no point in her childhood had she imagined that this was how she would spend her eighteenth birthday, wiping vomit from her mother’s chin and changing soiled bedsheets.
The light burns her eyes, sears into her mind, and makes her want to weep with joy and terror combined. But still she and her companions walk on, ever closer, drawn forward like moths to the light.
Allana had sometimes secretly watched her mother’s encounters,
Ew
After the traumas of the last day, this intimately peaceful moment of holding her felt wonderful.
These two are so sweet. I love them
‘After tonight, in my heart and in every way that matters, I already am. And you are my husband.’ He smiled, feeling full of joy, and kissed the top of her head. ‘I am. Your husband. And I will always love you and protect you. From spirits. From felrin. From everything.’
So precious
dominating and intimidating the still silent forest. It was the confident cry of a hunter, of a dominant predator. Marking its territory. And then the sky outside was interrupted by a blanket of falling whiteness, as it started to snow.
This was legit a bit spooky. I feel like Jackson would write a really good horror or thriller book
And she knew in her heart that, if the circumstances of the killing were ever to be repeated, she would do the same thing again.
Yes queen
Her intention now was to utilise some of the money that she had looted from Ronis, to set herself up in a small home. And from that home she would try to work as a seamstress, utilising the skills that she had once been taught by her mother, when they had made clothes together. The other option which she had considered and dismissed was to seek work as a servant somewhere, but she wanted to try to avoid that if possible.
I love the money scarcity element and that she needs to find work. This feels like a real struggle a person would have in this situation
This physical training manifested itself in wake-up calls at fifth hour, followed by long runs in the early light of dawn. This was succeeded in turn by extensive drilling exercises, marching and manoeuvring as a group to various drum and bugle calls, in the morning heat. This was all mixed in with a number of strength and weight exercises, to physically develop all of the cadets.
Not sure why, but one of my favorite things is when an author describes training
As the weeks went by, Leanna increasingly embraced the peace and goodness at the College.
I love how the time jump is handled for each character
Comrel interacted with the priests and trainees around him, that he lived by the values which he preached. The respect and fondness with which he was regarded by the other priests was very apparent to Leanna. She could see that he maintained strong authority, but never raised his voice in an unkind way to anyone around him.
‘That’s correct, child. But if you’d like to understand what we do here, let me tell you a little more first. Do you know anything about Saint Helena herself?’ ‘No, Sister.’ ‘Well, our blessed Helena was born over seven hundred years ago, daughter to a powerful senator within the Republic. And she became obsessed about the appalling quality of healing provisions across Angall. Helena then devoted her life, using her father’s power and influence, to encouraging the Holy Church to take on the task of delivering healing to all of the faithful. ‘Before she died, the Church had agreed to support
...more
‘I’m going to go now, Lea. And I think this will be the last time that we see each other. But please, just answer me this. Even if you have this calling, to come here, why leave it so late to dump me? And why humiliate me by leaving on our wedding day, by not telling me?’
Honestly though
And upon hearing those words, Leanna experienced an abnormal sensation within herself. A feeling like a ripple passing over her and through her. Touching and caressing her senses, her mind. A wave of emotion. A wave which seemed to be emanating from Lohan, raw and uncensored by word or thought. Love. Hurt. Love. Hate. Love. Lord Aiduel, what is that? How can I feel that?
I love how cinematic their powers developing is
And each night, despite the rigours of the hard day, he would whisper, ‘I love you, Agbeth.’ ‘And I love you, Corin,’ she would reply.
Cuties
Fear. Control. Order.
He was growing certain that the dream was somehow associated with the strange out-of-mind experience that had happened several times now; with the rabbit, the deer, and the felrin.
He's The first to make this connection
Strength. Victory. Glory.
hill. She had been invited to go and meet with Ami Randle, whom Captain Thatcher had described as the Head of Household for the House of Sepian.
Eeeeee
Any offer of a role here would be subject to me checking with Lord Gerrion. Understand?’
!!!!!
Arion. Oh, he’s proper good-looking, that one. Proper good-looking. Lock up your daughters, I say to all the fathers here, when that one’s around. Mind you, if he were here, he’d no doubt be taking a shine to you, too, same as all the other men.’
Loving Ami's personality
Whereas in the early months at the College it might have captured her in its restless arms once per week at most, now it had started to draw her into its intrusive clutches almost every other night.
This writing <3
But, right now, Leanna was bathed within a warm radiant waterfall of the smaller girl’s innermost feelings. Love. Protect. Love. Leanna drifted back to sleep, feeling safe and protected. And much loved.
Obsessed. I hope they become a couple. I ship it
Within this newly emerged slowness of the world around her, she realised that she possessed the power to heal the man. To cure him, to drag the illness and pain out of his body. She concentrated… focused… staring…
The visuals of this scene are amazing
feet of my mother, the late Duchess. Never mind aspiring to take her place. She was a beautiful, kind, considerate noblewoman. You’re just a grubby little common whore.
Well, looks like i won't be liking you then, ass
His opponent’s fist seemed to move so pathetically sluggishly now that it was a trifling effort to turn his shoulders and to observe the punch sailing past his head, leaving his foe off-balance and exposed.
Some matrix shit
‘No, Sendar, no. Never that.’ Arion
I'd ship it
‘Oh my goodness, he really is as tall and as handsome as you said, Lennion!’
*eyes*
Duchess Rednar embraced him prior to his departure from them, and then warmly invited him to come and spend a month at the Rednar estates near Rednarron, after his time in the military had ended.
Okaaaaay matchmaker
Lord Aiduel, why is he interested in people of my age?
Oooh wait are all of them the same age?? :O I never realized that. I honestly should have
‘To the Great Darkening. Of 748AA. The young people, whom Aiduel’s Guards seem to be spending their time interviewing, are all those children who were born in the year after the Great Darkening. Children like you.’
Intrigue
But nowhere else was it so very dark, or lasted for so long or as intensely, as in Sen Aiduel itself.
Her own birthday was on the fourteenth day of Morningsong, 749AA. Almost exactly nine months later. Lord Aiduel, can this truly be a coincidence? Lord, what am I?
:O Now i want to go back and see if each look like their parents. Are they all related ??? Half siblings to an angel parent??? The people need to know!!
He smiled again, and Leanna felt a shiver of unease running through her. Was there a pulse of darkness emanating from the stage, or was it just her imagination?
