Emperor Galant heard the merrymaking before he reached the palace walls. The sunlight had not yet faded from the golden spire, so Galant...

It was well past noon when the sun broke between the sycamores through the windows of a cottage low on the seaward side of the western...

Dawn broke on the hazy bay and in the tangled streets of Merendir, and the entire city seemed exhausted with anticipation. It was not yet...

Following the pace set by Berekker and the Islander soldier meant abandoning any notion of stealth, but Marta was drunk and the men were...

To keep the rituals of the God of the Seas, a sailor must take a handful of sea water and splash it onto his face, and to keep the the...

“Your Holiness, there is an Adept here to see you,” a knight announced, stepping into room and closing the door behind him. “Tyner...

“Marta!" A white cloud billowed around her as Marta shifted the weight of the sack of flour to her knee. She lifted her head above the...

Even in the shade of the ancient cypress in Berekker's garden, the afternoon was oppressively hot and still. Berekker reclined in his...

It was shortly after midday and Cadras still had not slept. He threaded his way through the hectic third ring of the palace, toward the...

It was the time of the afternoon when most people went indoors, or to the city park, or the baths, and so Market Street was quiet. Many...

"South of the Siltian peninsula there is a stretch of sea where the winds do not blow and the currents die. In these becalmed waters,...

The Candle had just started to doze in the back of the chapel, when Lord Dilluther finished his prayers and stood. Although Dilluther was...

In contrast to his two companions, there was no fury— not even alarm— in the eyes of the lanky archer as he handed his bundle of...

Flickering lamplight from out on the street casting pleasing shadows across the illuminations in the Candle’s book. Wyrms and stars...

Emperor Galant IV, Aspect of Quelestel, Scion of the True and Holy Line, Defender of the Five Provinces, Premier Justice of the Realm,...

There was a chapel in the second ring of the imperial palace that for many years had been tended by a single priest. The priest was...

Cadras was still groggy from the effects of the laced cigarette. Deep blue encroached on the night sky from the east, snuffing out the...

“Find the wall,” Renzo hissed, drawing a look from Catyan that silenced him immediately. A low fog had rolled in suddenly, obscuring the...

It was nearly dawn and the rain had not let up. In the fields, the parched soil could not take the water, and they splashed through deep...

"It will not sit lightly on my conscience." Exotic chords drifted through the room as elaborate clockwork plucked strings in a white...