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February 1085
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Latest Chapters

February 22 Waxing Crescent 1085

Ralf learns what was not lies

He had to think of a way to extract himself from Ralf's company.

Ethelwyn stuffed his hand beneath the collar of his shirt and rubbed his collarbone thoughtfully. He had just spent an agreeable half hour watching the King and the Duke pound on one another’s shields with their heavy swords, but the sky was threatening snow, and he had to think of a way to extract himself from Ralf’s company so he could return home.

First he tried the snow. “Was sunny this morning, but if I had known the sky was going to look like this, I might have stayed home.”

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February 22 Waxing Crescent 1085

The thing is said

Malcolm saw what he had interrupted.

In that first instant after the door was opened, Malcolm saw what he had interrupted: a joke, apparently, in that last Malcolm-​less moment, for the Prince was laughing, his young cousin Malcolm was chuckling, and even sober Cenwulf was smiling.

Only Alred was ready and waiting for him, already staring at him with such a look that even the door must have been nervous before it was opened.

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February 22 Waxing Crescent 1085

A meeting is interrupted

Sigefrith was uncharacteristically silent, for he was listening to his son.

Sigefrith was uncharacteristically silent, for he was listening to his son.

The boy was fifteen, he reminded himself, and not quite a boy any longer. At fifteen, Sigefrith had already been lord in his castle for years. At fifteen, he had already led knights into battle. However, he was not certain that at fifteen he would have had the cunning to read the hidden meaning of these letters.

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February 15 Waning Crescent 1085

Surr sees his father's friends

'Have a girl waiting for you?'

“Have a girl waiting for you?” Lar muttered, breaking their brief silence.

“What?”

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February 14 Waning Crescent 1085

The time is for farewell

Flann closed her eyes and tried to kiss him.

Flann closed her eyes and tried to kiss him, but her eyelids quivered against the force of tears, and her mouth squirmed and twisted shut to catch a sob.

He lifted his lips away from hers. “Don’t be crying for me, my treasure.”

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February 11 Waning Crescent 1085

A living body is claimed

It lit the priest's office like the undersea.

The sky was veiled with ice-​clouds, and the pale sunlight came down blue. Filtered through the screen of pines and tinted by the green and golden glass, it lit the priest’s office like the undersea.

For forty days and forty nights Araphel had stared up through dark and roiling water; for a hundred and fifty days, bound to his stone, he had stared up through the sea. For seventy generations he had stared up at the sky, tortured by the faces he imagined in the drifting clouds; and for half seventy he had been drifting himself, freed from the stone but bound to body after body, still staring.

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February 8 Waning Gibbous 1085

Myrddin offers aid and advice

'Well!  Brother Myrddin!'

“Well! Brother Myrddin!”

“Forgive me for coming to the house, Ethelmund,” the old monk said, meekly smiling. “I went to the workshop, but they told me you were here.”

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February 4 Waning Gibbous 1085

The elf is assigned to read

The elf stood in the open doorway.

The elf stood in the open doorway, and the slow gusts of wind lifted his hair in passing as they filled the chapel with cold. The damp air carried scents of incense, wax, and stone to him as it rushed back out the door, ruffling his hair again.

His tentative hand felt out the wall on his right, and he took a step into the chapel. As soon as he released the door, the wind grabbed it and swung it shut with a bang and a rattle of its glass panes. The elf winced in embarrassment.

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February 2 Full Moon 1085

Father Brude faces the consequences

He only smiled at her, stroking her fingers between his.

For a long moment, until the door clinked shut at the bottom of the stairs, he only smiled at her, stroking her fingers between his, one by one, lovingly. All of the fear and frustration evaporated; the hurt and the humiliation melted away.

“My treasure…” he murmured.

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February 2 Full Moon 1085

Father Brude is indiscreet

Catan was giddy for no reason that Flann could see.

“No one in here but us mice!” Catan cried, giddy for no reason that Flann could see.

“That sounds more like a cat to me!”

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