dkstories

The good news is a new chapter should answer the question. Better news is the chapter is already written. Pretty sure it gets posted in the morning.

Let's hope the healers manage to get Dellinar back on his feet quickly!

What is it with everyone hoping Selenay isn't in charge?

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Lee asked Dalen as they watched the figure disappearing into the distance. The Companion, Radev, moved awful fast, and soon he and Blake would be far out of sight. “He’ll be fine.” Dalen assured the officer who had wanted to send an escort with the boy. “As I understand it, the trip back to Haven is a ritual for Heralds and their Companions.” Bard Lackley said soberly. “It allows the bond between Herald and Companion to form and grow deep.” Dalen supplied quie

A primer about companions for those that haven't read the original books. 1) The first companions were 'spirits' sent by the gods to King Valdemar and his most trusted advisors as well as his heir. Basically they were angels in horse form. There are five of these spirits that do not age and are present only one at a time. They are the companions to the Monarch's Own Herald - the chief advisor of the King/Queen who has a lot of special authority. 2)Most companions are born the ordinary, mortal way. They age and grow old, usually of the same age with their Chosen, although it's not uncommon for some companions to be older than their chosen by quite a few years 3) Valdemar's belief system is heavy on the concept of rebirth. Normally a soul is reborn with no memories of their past lives - but companions are the exception. Most of the time they are former heralds or companions who choose to reenter the world as a companion and are able to remember most of their past lives. That gives them a lot of experience and skill to draw on in guiding their Heralds. 4) Companions are GOOD. They are there to make sure their heralds stay on the side of right, act as transportation and advisors - but they don't let their Chosen become dependent on them. A Herald asking "What should I do?" will get no answer. If they ask "Is this the right thing to do?" they'll get an answer (short in dangerous situations, long mysterious answers making their Chosen want ot pull their hair out when it's safe). Finally - Companions can access ley-lines or nodes and use the energy to enhance their speed and their endurance. They also have some natural shielding from magical attacks. They also cannot be corrupted by their very nature - and if their Herald becomes corrupt they will repudiate that Herald, break their soul-deep bond. If that happens the Companion usually suicides and the Herald goes insane - suiciding as well. There are only two known events of Companions repudiating their Herald. The first of those events can be found in the book "Magic's Pawn" which is also the first of the trilogy featuring Vanyel Ashkevron, Dalen's ancestor. It's also the first story I ever read with a gay character and it started me on the road of accepting myself as gay and that is okay to be gay...in other words go buy it and read it.

It worked this time, with this set of shields. Will it work next time? Who knows. If it can be done, it can be blocked or reproduced so there's never really any guarantee it will work at any time. Dalen's learned though that a smart mage can win faster and more easily than someone who relies on the 'classic' form of magecraft.

“See, I told you that everything would be fine.” Lee told Dalen who had woken two hours before dawn, looking southward in a state of near panic. They were now approaching the farm, the Alsense farm, and everything looked normal. Sure, there weren’t any people in the fields, but the sun was barely over the horizon. Several girls were feeding the chickens, and it was easy to see boys and younger men going about what were likely their morning chores. “Do you want us to continue scouting southward

I am, I think, not nearly as bad as certain other authors when it comes to cliffhangers. Unfortunately they cannot always be avoided.

Hopefully he'll survive the next chapter enough to learn a lesson!

One of the important aspects of this chapter is that we see a holderkin settlement that is more...tolerant of the Valdemaran viewpoint than the last one we saw.

“You think they might be heading this direction, sir?” The middle-aged man asked Dalen with a frown on his face. His dark beard was liberally streaked with gray, and he stroked it down near where it reached his chest as he considered what Dalen had been telling him. “If they haven’t reached here yet, Goodman Balder, they won’t.” Dalen said with more confidence than he really felt. Every lesson he’d ever had in leadership, no matter the source, said expressing confidence was essential. Around t

“Any word yet?” Herald-Mage Loishia asked Dalen, who was sitting in the workroom, staring into the large silver scrying bowl that had come with the reinforcements. The image in the bowl was opaque at the moment and he had stopped trying to break through the spell protecting the area he was trying to scry. “None.” Dalen said with a sigh as he waved his hand over the bowl, cancelling the spell. The oil in the bowl glistened for a few moments before settling into its normal coloring and he breath

If Dalen was a Herald-Mage at this point, giving him command would likely have been a foregone conclusion. As it is, it's important to remember that while he commands the mission, he isn't being put in a position to command troops directly. We're talking a company size force here (in Valdemaran terms that's close to 500 or so) If he really starts to screw up, the senior heralds or commanders will step in and take over, but as long as he keeps his head about him, he's in charge. Personally I think the King is trying to push him into being ready to be Chosen, pushing him to accepting responsibility whether he wants it or not, and is canny enough to know Dalen is not the top to turn away from what he sees as his duty.

When writing this I had considered 'showing' the death of the herald and trainee, but decided it had a little more impact as an off-camera event. Another thing to remember is that I don't have any compunction as a writer to have everything seen or heard be 'the truth'. Just because someone tells you something in the story, don't automatically assume it is the truth, or even a partial truth. Also be careful when Dalen is presuming things - he CAN be wrong.

The series of caves in the western hills had proven to be more than adequate for the needs of both Healer Elsa and Dalen. When she’d arrived that afternoon after Dalen and the cavalry units had begun setting up the camp, Elsa had looked over the caves with a great deal of satisfaction. After a brief discussion with Dalen over what he needed as far as space, she had six soldiers assigned to her and began to make the caves ‘suitable’ for her needs. Dalen had helped with some of the work, usi

Rich Boy: Growing Pains will be posted sometime soon. GA is reposting my stories to the site with one story at a time, releasing chapters in the morning and evening. So many of the stories are multi-part stories that we're trying to get the first books all out and then get the sequels posted. The third book, Rich Boy: Inheritance is an on again/off again project for years now - but it's something that is groing higher on priority list to finish up.

He's a Herald. You should always be worried about the Herald. For some reason Heralds always get themselves into trouble and not every time are they able to get themselves out of trouble.

thanks for the compliments - there are also many stories on the site to enjoy. I'm enjoying Mark Arbour's Odyssey at the moment and enjoyed the entire series it belongs to - so that's one suggestion. The rest of this story will be posted in the same schedule of morning and evening releases.

I had forgotten how much I loved that first skirmish. It's a great example of smart magecraft being more important than power alone - both from the opponent and from Dalen.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the story. It was originally posted a long time ago and as we bring my stories back to GA they are going up in a pattern that doesn't knock any other stories out the way they wood if we posted all of the chapters at once. As for the teasing - sorry it's just soooo fun

“Dalen, what is going on down there?” The worried expression on Herald-Prince Dellinar’s face was clear for all standing in the command tent. Dalen had gotten his silver scrying bowl out of the rescued saddlebags that had been left with the pack animals. At least the Holderkin hadn’t rummaged through them when the animals appeared back at their farmstead. Instead they’d just kept them separated from their own animals until the Guard arrived. Prince Dellinar’s image was standing in the bowl of

“Where the hell are they?” Paet growled as they scanned the rendezvous point for the fifth time. They were hundreds of lengths from the rendezvous point, hidden in the trees that provided some cover, looking with eyes and distance glasses. “I can’t see anything with Farsight either.” Dalen said with a frown as he finished scanning. He’d been using warding magic and shielding magic ever since their escape and didn’t hesitate to use it again. They had been found once, and the other mage had to k

“Shhhh” Paet’s whisper wasn’t really needed as they crawled up the ridge of the hill. The lands they were in now were the higher foothills just before the imposing mountains of Menmillith, and they had surprisingly caught up to the heavily-laden bandits that had raided the Holderkin. It was two days after they’d split off from Landir and Junie, and it had only been the whiff of smoke that Paet had caught that had warned them how close they were. We’re both mindspeakers, Paet. Dalen sent. I tho

Unfortunately, in Dalen's family history, destiny usually ends up resulting in spectacular deaths...so he might not like being pulled towards destiny.

I think this was one of my favorite chapters in that it is the beginning of Dalen's change into what he will be as an adult in the future.