Saithorthepyro

Chapter 99 - Endgame III

The main cathedral of Halspus was a towering structure, hewed from white marble in centuries past, spires reaching up to scrap the sky. Six of them at each corner of the hexagonal temple stretched upwards, narrowing only at the very end to form points. Otherwise the rest of the temple sat relativ...

Chapter 98 - Endgame II

The grate didn’t take long to melt. After that had been the wards, a pair of them laid perpendicular to each other, ready to trigger the moment they were crossed. I hurriedly chipped away at the sides of the chimney, cutting a hole above where an anchor had been set for each, and poured more ac...

Chapter 97 - Endgame I

When I stumbled out of meeting the drakes, my face was numb, my leg sore, and my taste buds obliterated. Voltar waited in the front room, talking calmly but insistently with some guards.

“Ms. Harrow,” Mr. Voltar said, a bit of a shock in his voice. “Are you alright?”

Oh, right...

Chapter 96 - Conversation over Tea VI

By the time the multiple guards who joined the first had finished, I was actually still in better shape than when Melissa had worked me over.

Oh sure, every inch of my face ached, but they’d managed to not break my nose, or an orbital bone. I had my teeth, and I wasn’t drooling blood ou...

Chapter 95 - Conversation over Tea IV

“Lily,” my uncle replied stiffly. “You finally show your face after abandoning your family for five years? After leaving the care of your mother to a diabolism-wielding lunatic, it’s only after your ill judgment is revealed that you dare come back?”

I breathed out, forcing slow br...

Chapter 94 - Conversation over Tea III

The next morning, my head felt much better.

At least by now, it felt like a mere needle plumbing in the depths of my grey matter to cause me pain. Still an agonizing feeling, but less than the chisel that had been attempting to split it in twain the day before.

I kept the curtains dra...

Chapter 93 - Conversation over Tea II

After I’d finished emptying the contents of my stomach all over poor Doctor Dawes’ shoes, they’d settled me down at the tea table. Voltar had cleaned it up and returned, while Dr. Dawes poured us all some tea.

I hadn’t tasted it yet, my fingers gripping the handle in a death grip as...

Chapter 92 - Conversation over Tea I

When I woke up, it was blinding.

Light scoured my eyes, a searing brightness that felt like hot pokers being pushed into their sockets. Something moved near me, and I tried to scream. All that came out was a weak whine as my throat burned.

I blinked tears out of my eyes, then wrenched...

Chapter 91 -Rats in a Maze IV

I moved, running back towards Dawes and Malstein, hoping I could make it.

Two steps and the ground beneath me shifted as the low rumble of the earth elemental grew. My hoof stepped on a section as it cracked, and it sent me to the ground. 

The shaking didn’t stop, sending me fr...

Chapter 90 - Rats in a Maze III

More had survived than I thought.

Calamities always seem worse at first glance, and this had been no exception. Plenty of those I’d thought were dead had turned out to be alive. 

Morbid and cruel it might be to think, but that had caused more problems. A mad scramble developed ...

Chapter 89 - Rats in a Maze II

As soon as that Malstein was yelling, already quelling a brewing panic.

“Everyone starts cutting blindfolds now!” he roared. “I want them ready and able to be donned at a moment’s notice!”

I cocked my ear as another roar echoed across the walls. It wasn’t that close.

Chapter 88 - Rats in a Maze I

 “Malvia?” someone asked me. I couldn’t tell who, but I got my laughter under control.

“Sorry,” I said as I passed the piece of paper back to Dawes. “I simply can not believe how gullible those Pure Bloods are to fall for this. This must be fake.”

It had to be fake....

Chapter 87 - Interrogations V

It took quite a bit of time to get Kalasyp out of the tomb he’d been placed in. It had proved too risky to take him through the tunnel we’d dug, so we needed to remove the planks. I’d gone under, skinned my leg, and hit my broken one hard enough I think something had broken again. 

Chapter 86 - Interrogations IV

This wasn’t going to be subtle.

Watchmen marched down a tunnel, the sound of dozens of boots on stonework cacophonous to the point I’d covered my still-enhanced ears. They’d broken out armor for this, breastplates shining as they trod through the narrow tunnels, barely able to fit two...

Chapter 85 - Interrogations III

“I can’t really blame whoever was supposed to do research on us for missing that information,” I said, leaning forward on my chair, head resting on my hands as I grinned. “We ran quite a game past the Watch and others for years on some of that. I do need to ask around exactly what the rea...

Chapter 84 - Interrogations II

I’d had to wait nearly an hour for the Watch carriage to take me to the Coffin.

Waiting that long had been an hour of impatience, but going alone was out of the question, so instead I had tapped my foot just inside Voltar’s house till the carriage had arrived.

A quick exchange of ...

Chapter 83 - Interrogations I

Half an hour after deciding on this plan with Elise, I became convinced we were heading for disaster.

The alterations had gone well. At first. Then the staff had knocked on the door and telling Elise that because of security concerns, the entire first layer would need to be evacuated within...

Chapter 82 - Archive VI

I was halfway across the records room, weaving in and out of patches of Hellfire, when I realized something important.

The list I had was circumstantial evidence that Lord Montague had been researching things the shape-changers desired. The paper he’d given to two of them granting them en...

Chapter 81 - Archive V

I hurried over to Martel, grabbing the back of his bonds.

“Not a word,” I hissed as I dragged him with both hands, stuffing the list of Lord Montague’s titles into my pockets using my tail.

The skin of my diabolism-tainted arm tingled, bits of crimson deepening in hue. Deepening...

Chapter 80 - Archive IV

“Spppf!” 

I paused, the edge of my teeth lightly poking into his skin. The archivist was nodding vigorously while also screaming loud enough that it sounded like a hog squealing.

Wrong comparison to make. My stomach grumbled in response as my mouth salivated. The Archivist’...

Chapter 79 - Tea Party III

Gregory sat numbly among the bodies, watching as the two shapechangers flew across the sky.

They didn’t remain in the air for long, already making for a rooftop. It made sense. There were things in the sky that wouldn’t tolerate sharing the airspace. Best to just change into human peopl...

Chapter 78 - Archive III

Finally, some of what Gregory and Elise described matched reality.

I stood next to a bookshelf, using the ladder and a nearby cart loaded with returns as cover. Someone would be back to finish these, some of which I’d perused for a few moments. For now, it worked to keep me hidden from si...

Chapter 76 - Tea Party II

Gregory stared mutely as Malvia’s body twitched, a finger-blade pushing through her eye.

Screams broke out. The fake Elise twisted her finger, grinning as the other fingers on that hand elongated. People moved away from the tables while the constant drumbeat of the rain hit overhead.

Chapter 75 - Archive II

I had to hand it to the archives. Whatever they may have skimped on, the quality of their bookshelves wasn’t one of them.

Several inches thick, it was proving difficult to rot through at a reasonable pace. Instead, individual spots would take second after agonizing second as magic simulat...

Chapter 74 - Tea Party I

Gregory Montague considered the person across from him in the carriage as they rode, while a discordant orchestra played in his head.

Rebecca Barnes had talked to him only a little since they’d entered the carriage, mostly very inappropriate suggestions that he could only assume were beca...

Chapter 73 - Archive III

For once, I shared a carriage with a Montague who wasn’t Gregory.

Elise Montague was very much like her brother, mainly in the sense I’d had to remind myself thrice now that staring into someone else’s eyes could be considered rude at best, creepy at worst, and….who knows what when ...

Chapter 72 - Archive II

Waking up felt….weird.

I’d always slept best on my back, even with that awkward pressure on my tail, but waking up without that felt even more off.

My eyes opened. I forced down that sense of shock at seeing a tanned, weathered hand in front of me responding to the commands I was ...

Chapter 71 - Archive I

Today was a day of staying indoors.

The last three days had been nothing but that, and I wished I could pretend it was simply me preparing for the upcoming infiltration of the Archives.

It wasn’t. There’d been no marches in the Infernal Quarter since the day of the bombings. Inste...

Chapter 70 - Butchery VI

 It didn’t take long for the screaming to start.

Whatever lull had occurred in the immediate aftermath of the first explosion had ended before I even made it a hundred feet. A few isolated voices shrieking sorrow turned into a deluge that joined the ringing in my ears. For the next d...

Chapter 69 - Butchery V

Ears ringing, I lay on the ground, the dirt road rough underneath me as I groaned.

I could remember the explosion, just as I’d begun to turn. I’d been far away but the forced must have shoved me to the ground. I turned over, getting me hands underneath me. Dust swirled around me, and th...