Ardent_Tears

Question to my Patrons.

So as most of you probably know, I'm taking part in Royal Roads Anniversary Writathon. The goal of this is to write 55,000 words in 5 weeks with a half way point of 25k by midday tomorrow (UK time).

I'm currently at almost 16k words and I believe I can write 9k more by that initial deadline if I keep writing through the day. However, if I release everything, I'll be behind on patreon again. As such, I have two options for you all. I can pace myself and write only the 9k words, or I can ...

Chapter 29: Bonds of Sisterhood

The girls left Baromiir as soon as they were ready. They rode hard and fast and remained quiet for the most part until the town was but a distant memory. Rowan was glad to be done with the place, but at the same time she was a wee bit sad. Baromiir was a nice enough town, but Rowan would never be able to look at it the same way again. It would forever be proof that a single bad apple could ruin a bunch.

When they stopped for lunch on that first day, Rowan decided to ask Seres about the ...

Chapter 28: Bye Bye Baromiir

 
Seres rose early the next morning. Being woken up by the ring and the fear of losing Rowan had given fuel to her own nightmares. They weren’t as bad as Rowan's, but there was no escaping it after the many years they had spent in the caves. Seres was even convinced that Amran’s nights had to be at least slightly haunted. The anger from how Rowan had been treated certainly didn't help and it still flowed through her veins as she made her morning preparations.

Seres set out t...

Chapter 27: On the Road III

Content Warning: This chapter features a vivid account of an attempted rape and security harassment. If this bothers or is likely to trigger you, read the second scene at your own discretion. 

"I'm surprised they let us in without so much as a question."

The two girls were getting ready to start their training. Rowan was amazed at how easily they had been granted access to the local garrison's training grounds. 2021-11-03 03:26:52 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 26: On the Road II

Rowan woke up screaming. The nightmares were finally back in full force. Flashes of pain and suffering so real, so visceral, that she could feel them now. She had dreamed of the eclipse in vivid detail, only every mistake, every moment of terror was punctuated by the touch of the Silent Sisters. Rowan's back roared in agony.

That isn't what woke Rowan up, however. Not even reliving her mother's death was enough to grant her bitter release from the torment. No, that came from seeing Tehr...

Chapter 25: On the Road I

Rowan gave the Queen a pointed look which was returned by her own piercing sea green gaze.

"Why did it take you so long to discover the raiders and their operation?"

"That's a good question," Queen Elarin responded, "I'm surprised you hadn't already asked it."

"It hadn’t crossed my mind until yesterday."

"Well the answer is mult-faceted. First and foremost, they primarily acted on the other islands and the northern and southern sides of this island, far from the capi...

Chapter 24: Goodbye

A few days had passed since the ball. In that time, Queen Elarin met with everyone that had been involved in the escape, from the other prisoners to Ædarik and his party. She made sure that they were fully rewarded or given a head start where appropriate.

From what Rowan could tell, part of that included arranging transport for those that wished to return home or set up somewhere outside of the capital along with a fair amount of coin. A few were granted apprenticeships instead.

...

Chapter 23: The Next Step

“Ah ah choo.”

Rowan woke up sneezing loudly from a wandering tail tickling her nose. Not exactly the most romantic start to the morning after your first time. Alas, there was no helping it as Alena had found her way into the nook of Rowan’s armpit, and while she was fast asleep, purring away, her tail had a mind of its own.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Rowan didn’t need to be a tail whisperer to know that the rogue tail wanted to play. It was almost as if it was ...

Interlude: A Voice on the Wind

Two river petals and a dawn flower to go and Tehri’s bouquet would be complete. She had spent the entire morning picking out flowers from the now surprisingly abundant flower garden that she had been tending to for the past four years. It wasn’t much but it let her stretch her creative juices without being overly expensive; which is to say it cost nothing other than time and a few seeds, most of which Tehri had harvested herself.

At some point in the future, Tehri wanted to learn ho...

Chapter 22: The Ball (Censored)

Not a moment had passed after the two girls had sat down for breakfast that Seres started to inquire about Rowan’s dawn time exhibitionism.

“You don’t need to answer me, Rowan, but why did you decide to present yourself to gardeners in the nude?”

“That wasn’t my intent,” Rowan answered with a face redder than the tomatoes on her plate.

“Oh?”

“Well not exactly.”

The inquisitive look that Seres gave her made it clear that, despite the initial ...

Chapter 21: The Blush of Dawn

The touch of crimson settled on Rowan’s cheeks as a euphoric tingling rushed through her body, jolting her awake. She settled back down into the plump mattress that had been struggling to lull her to sleep since she had arrived. Last night it had finally succeeded in bringing her comfort. Unfortunately, that comfort was now marred by a slight damp feeling between her legs. Rowan looked to the glistening wetness of her fingers and sighed.

She had found the partner in crime to her dream...

Chapter 20: Soulforged

In the brief moments where Rowan was alone she realised that she still wasn’t dressed. This left her with the highly awkward conundrum of whether or not she should rush to get dressed. In the end she decided against it as she was convinced that her brother and Seres would walk in while she was half naked or even completely naked if she was unlucky. Instead she stayed wrapped in the blanket that had kept her modest in front of the queen.

As if to spite her decision, her brother and Ser...

Chapter 19: Elan Fiir

Rowan stood in the training grounds, a gentle breeze caressing her face. She held Elan Fiir in her hands. It was an exhilarating feeling; difficult to describe. Stronger and more nimble. Weightier and more graceful. The Resonance of the sword ripple through every inch of her body.

“It’s bizarre, isn’t it?” Tyris asked from where he was standing, just across from her near some training dummies. “Even with only the familial Resonance, I could still feel the latent power. You mus...

Chapter 18: Reunion

Rowan’s heart was beating a thousand times a minute. She could hardly believe that Tyris was right there on the other side of the door. Part of her was scared. A large part. It was all so sudden. What happened to being given a chance to prepare? How had Tyris had the chance to prepare? Her thoughts were racing; a feeling she still wasn’t used to.

“Ow!”

Something hit her on the forehead. It was sudden and instantly brought her back to the present. When she looked around to ...

Chapter 17: Midiris

“Hoist the sails! We’re bringing her into port.”

The large captain of The Wind Rose boomed instructions at his crew as he took the helm. The change in the ship’s energy was palpable; Rowan felt it in her bones. That isn’t to say that everyone felt the same way. Many were excited or, at the very least, relieved, but a sizable few felt an anxious trepidation at the prospect of being taken to a foreign land. Seeing the response, Rowan started to realise how only a couple were act...

Chapter 16: The Wind Rose II

On the sixth morning, Rowan sat against the aft railing and looked up to the sun over the port side of the ship. She still couldn’t quite believe it wasn’t all some cruel dream or a new form of torture that the Silent Sisters had devised. Even so, she could not deny how real the warm light felt or how it filled her with hope. There was too much detail for it to be a fabrication, too many things that she hadn’t known before. She took solace in that thought.

“I’m gonna have so m...

Chapter 15: The Wind Rose I

The sun was low in the sky when The Wind Rose raised its anchor. Everyone was on board and they had been given as much room as Dralik could spare. Admittedly, that wasn’t much as his hold was filled with goods and food for the voyage.

The crew was remarkably quiet as they set sail. Ædarik hadn’t expected it with how boisterous Captain Dralik had been the night before, but he appreciated it, especially as everyone else was still sleeping. Ædarik, however, was leaning on the portsid...

Chapter 14: The Escape II

The small group sighed in relief as they stepped out into the soft blush of dawn. Freedom! They had finally done it. Gone were the hellborn caves that had come so close to breaking them. They had been destroyed by Illyria’s wrath. The first part of Rowan’s quest was complete. She hadn’t saved everyone, far from it, but she had made a start and Lord Fein was dead. Rowan also took solace in knowing that Maro could have also lead people to freedom.

Out of the thirteen individuals in ...

Chapter 13: The Escape I

Ædarik was face-first on the ground and seeing stars. The earth shattering quake had brought the cave ceiling down around him and his escort. One of them was crushed from the waist down by a large boulder. The other went running for the hills and he was alone. He could feel the blood trickling down the back of his head.

“Fuck!” His head was still ringing. “Get up, Arik. You still have a job to do.”

The way back was closed off from the cave in. His only option was to go fu...

Chapter 12: Pandemonium

Ædarik felt cold from anger and the ebon flow of night as he followed the two shrouded men garbed in thick, black gambeson. He wanted to kill them, to gut them mercilessly for what they did. In the long hours he had waited, listening to the poor girl’s cries, he knew true torment and that was nothing compared to what she had suffered. If he could, he would go back and beat Lord Feilan within an inch of his life before having him confess all of his crimes. That was, however, beyond him and ...

Interlude: Lordly Discoveries

Content Warning: Heavily implied rape and sexual abuse. If this is something you wish to avoid at all costs, follow this link to learn where the scene in question begins.

A melancholic lord of perhaps thirty looked down at his indignant son. “No arguments, Ædarik. Until the King decides to extend his protections to the East, you will live with your Aunt and Uncle in the Capital.”

Interlude: Broken Silver

Agony. That is what Kiriin felt as her torturer worked his craft. She was strapped to a chair and she was adorned with a crystalline crown. He played a grim melody on the crystals that Resonated deep within her soul. Each note gave rise to a different kind of pain. The only way she could hide from it was by retreating into her mind. She found a place so deep that she could barely hear the crystalline tumult.

Then it stopped. She couldn’t hear a thing. Lord Fein had walked into the roo...

Interlude: A Voice Unheard

Tehri woke up screaming; a silent cry that no one could hear. Night terrors. She had been suffering from them for almost a year, ever since she had woken up in that strange room. They haunted her every single night and they would wake her without fail. She had nothing. Her family was gone and she was alone; at night at least. No one could hear her silent cries, so no one would come to comfort her. During the day at least, she wasn’t completely without company. She was still in the care of H...

Chapter 11: Ardent Awakening

For many long arduous hours, Rowan was tortured by the Silent Sisters. As they worked their grim art, a warden, one of the educators, droned on with an unrelenting tirade of blame. Each word hammered on that Anri’s death was her fault, that Rowan’s unwillingness to act and her feeble attempts at comfort led Anri to the irrational decision that would cause her own demise. The warden let Rowan know that had she only done what had been expected, then the fight would have eliminated any chanc...

Chapter 10: Loss

Content Warning: Descriptions of violence, implications of rape and graphic depictions of unintended suicide

For two weeks, the Silent Sisters continued to torture Rowan, trying to break her and for two weeks, they failed. Amran remained strong of mind in the face of adversity as always. With Seres, they had slowly started introducing more and more physical elements to her torment. Fortunately, she had been managing relatively well, all things considered. She had made ...

Chapter 9: Pain

Content Warning: Vivid descriptions of torture and attempts at coercion.

Three days had passed since Anri returned to the cell and Rowan was almost entirely healed. It had only been seventeen days since the strange symbol had been carved into her back. Such rapid healing for a wound that large was unfathomable. Rowan originally chalked it up to her Awakening, but the others were healing just as fast, if not faster. Out of the six who underwent the scarring ritual along...

Interlude: A Silent Voice

For what felt like hours, Tehri ran, her body growing weaker with each passing moment. She was confused and terrified. Everything that had happened since she woke up made no sense. Cruel people had surrounded her while she lay with her hands bound and mouth gagged. They wanted to kill her or sell her and they nearly did when they dragged her away. Then Rowan appeared.

Sis saved me. She killed someone.

Because of Rowan, Tehri had been able to escape. But escape from what? ...

Chapter 8: Stoic Introductions

The days that followed Rowan’s rather awkward first encounter with the Ferran boy passed much as the rest had, except for the embarrassment that she felt towards the matter. After some encouragement from Anri and Seres, she worked up the courage to approach him again and apologise for her awkward behaviour.

This time, the boy was looking straight at Rowan when she approached. “I’m sorry about before,” she apologized. “I know I was acting really strange with all those things I ...

Chapter 7: The Caves

Content Warning: Significant descriptions of emotional and physical trauma.

For several days, perhaps even a week after the attack, the raiders rode hard and fast. It was difficult for Rowan to say for sure, especially with the canvas sack over her head. After the first day, it became even harder when the raiders replaced the sack with several layers of cloth, wrapped tightly around her eyes and ears. From that point on, Rowan lost all sense of time and it compounded w...

Chapter 6: Bloodmoon

Content Warning: Significant descriptions violence and physical/emotional trauma.

Rowan’s mood improved little as evening approached on the day of the eclipse. If anything she felt confused and conflicted and her mood was a cacophony of emotion. If only apologising were easy. If only things had never gotten to this point. Such thoughts flooded her mind and she knew it wasn’t that simple and her determination to make amends did little in the face of fear and overwhe...