Relics of the Rune Imperium (Jie's Lost Years)

by J.C. Kang

the pour soul had been too high on gooseweed to even walk in a straight line, let alone find his god. Though, religion was supposedly a winding path, so who was Cassius to judge?

As every mercenary knew, the best work was one where you never had to actually fight. It meant getting paid to hurl insults at the army of seven thousand encamped outside, and using the money he made to smoke some of the purest gooseweed available outside of his home in exile. Now, the enemy—no, not enemy, the Teleri soldiers were just a job—was going to make him work for his pay.

Both tactics were sheer insanity. Cyrus shook his head. The locals were just wasting arrows; meanwhile, the grunting and shouting Bovyans had no hope of denting the gate, let alone breaking through. Not only were they just giving themselves up for target practice, they were keeping him from his gooseweed.

Jie would’ve gawked if not for the urgency. Gravity was probably also gawking, because no one should’ve been able to accomplish such a feat of balance and evasion.

“That’s where I started the rebellion against the Bovyan occupation of Lorium, by drowning four men.” His voice grew ominous. “Do you know why?” If this was meant as a threat, Tomas was doing a good job. Cassius licked his lips. “Uh, why?” “Because they threatened all that is dear to me. If you keep trying to sabotage me, if you keep trying to trick me into give you the crown, we will learn how well you swim.”

Cassius didn’t need to Divine this one truth: whatever else could be said for Paladins, they were good to have in a fight.

Watching the two Ayuri practice, Brehane’s head spun. The evidence supporting her heretical idea that all magic overlapped was piling up like a Geomancer’s fortress.

The man’s face scrunched up, the gears in his mind turning around her words. Their unlubricated state probably accounted for the burning smell hanging in the air.

Mirsala and Calistos were holding hands as they continued. It was sickeningly cute, forcing Jie to push thoughts of a certain clueless spy back home out of her mind. The closest they ever got to affection was sparring.