(Some people will understand why I named a rat Alan after I ’sploded it.  Others will not.  I’ll go back later (ie, when editing this disaster) and fill in some descriptions to make the rat murdering more fun.  This was written entirely in word wars, yay!  So nonsense abounds.  (Then again, I write pretty much everything in word wars…))

Apparently, for Katryn, it did not.  That room would never be the same as it was before the fire damage.

The rest of the week passed in much the same fashion – Katryn constantly overpowered her spells and blew things up (much to her delight, Poehr had given up on asking her to power down the magic once he realised she was doing it on purpose), Weorn got his ass handed to him in the practice yard, Lillian had moved on from healing paper cuts to mending broken bones and deep gashes, Carson had managed to summon a small ferret (much to his everlasting horror – Katryn alternatively thought it was the cutest thing ever and the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.  She ended up keeping it as a pet.) and Cassandra had rapidly assimilated the lute and proved to Eilyn that she was perfectly capable of barding.  Eilyn, happy to get rid of a student (they rarely interested her for more than a week), passed Cassandra off to Silvanus.  Under Silvanus’ tutelage, Cassandra started pick pocketing with some additions of her own – she had discovered that music had its own kind of magic in this world and, if she hummed the right melody, she could keep people from noticing her existence.  Very useful for a thief.

By the end of the week, Viandir was ready to throw them out to the wolves, so to speak, so he gathered them together to explain their first quest.  Their reactions were not quite what he was hoping for.

(more…)

(Another day, another 2k!  Apparently I decided that I really wanted to talk about food today… also, I’m getting bored with this palace-y bullshit.  I wanna write about them slaughtering giant rats in the sewer!  (Yes, I’ve added RPGs onto my list of things I’m parodying.))

“Ahh!  No!  I don’t want to be seen in public like this!” Carson yelped, arms flailing.

“Too bad,” Rainier said, “If the rest of us have to be in ridiculous outfits, so do you.”

“But you have paaaants!”

(more…)

(I wrote pretty much all of this tonight.  Technically I wrote several thousand words on the 8th, but I count that as the 7th since I haven’t slept yet and I’m one of those people who writes better past midnight.  Actually, I’m not sure about that… suddenly this novel has devolved into (wet and) naked people, slutty clothes and glow in the dark alien boxers.)

“If you really wish to find out… be my guest,” Katryn gestured dramatically.  Carson froze.

“I’ll pass.  I developed a fear of dead bodies when I was five – alas, my poor grandmother never finished her morning coffee the morning after our sleepover.”

Katryn looked at him.  “I’m not certain if you’re making that up or not.”

The door flung open with a bang and Cassandra stormed out, shouting.  “I wish I was living with dad – he wouldn’t care that I went out into the city!”

“And that is why I got sole custody!” Lillian shouted back whilst following Cassandra out of the room, “And don’t walk away from me!”

Cassandra opened her mouth to give another heated response, but she was interrupted by another angry shout bouncing off the corridor’s walls.

“Viandir!” A large, middle aged woman with a glorious mass of dark shining curls stalked towards the group, “Not only do you tear me away from the grips of my muse, but you instructed me to report to an empty room!  What kind of cruel game are you playing with me?”

(more…)

(I’m 100x happier with this batch of the novel than I was with yesterday’s.  Less pointless meandering and characters getting out of hand.  Overall, it was a very good writing day – I more than doubled my output and only the last shreds of my sanity kept me from writing the next thousand words necessary to hit 10k.  On a more technical note, I reposted some of yesterday’s batch since it ended in the middle of a paragraph.)

Chapter 2

Katryn leaned back with a smile.  For once, being ‘that redhead’ was a benefit rather than a curse.  Right now, since she wasn’t one of the prophesised ones, she just got to kick back, relax and watch as four ‘destined ones’ got to learn their trades.

It really was quite hilarious – Lillian was currently trying to lift a sword, let along swing it, almost as big as her whilst Carson somehow managed to splatter ink up his arms and onto his face.  Rainier looked incredibly bored and half asleep as Viandir droned on about leadership rhetoric.  And Cassandra?  Cassandra was holding a staff and stabbing a book with a pencil as Peohr looked on.  Apparently no one felt that they were suited to their assigned role.

Once again the group was in a large, spacious room.  It certainly wasn’t as cavernous as the sanctuary area they first arrived in, but it had echoes of that room with its high, vaulted ceilings and gilded walls.  Despite the lavish decorating, however, it was imminently suited for a training room, even if its occupants didn’t wish to learn.

(more…)

(Ugh, too much dialogue…)

“That the Prophesised Heroes were predicted to be… younger.” The short man hedged.

“What, like Narnia young?” Carson asked.  The men in hats just stared at him.  “You know… eight to fourteen years old?”

“Um, yes.  I suppose that the Sorcerer is in the right age range, however.” The small man smiled hopefully.

“Uh, nuh uh buddy!  I’m fifteen – I know how to drive!” Cassandra stuck out her tongue whilst her mother snorted.

“As long as you don’t have to parallel park, that is.  The last time you attempted to do so, you hit the curb so hard you knocked the tires out of alignment.”

“It wasn’t that bad!” Cassandra protested.

(more…)