Author's Notes
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Chapters 22 - 28
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Chapter 22
One of my favorite experiences in high school JROTC was land navigation (or "orienteering"), and it's one of few things from that age I wish I could still be doing today. It just seemed a natural fit to make it part of paladin training, since they live in a world that's significantly less urbanized than ours.
Originally, Flasch didn't come off quite as quick-witted as I'd intended. Oh I said he was quick-witted, but in a number of scenes his deliberate antics overtook this other aspect of his character, and while he never came across as dumb, he just didn't have the fast-paced, razor-sharp wit I'd intended for him. The scene with the shadow tip was a perfect example, since Garnet originally had to explain it to him.
I thought about dragging out the hints about Trebor's abilities to make it more subtle, but I was under some time constraints on the pacing of the story and I didn't really feel like bogging things down any more than absolutely necessary. I think there's just enough there to give you an idea how he tripped up (Danner is, after all, a fairly bright guy), but not so much that it outright gives away what's going on until the time comes.
The story of the man offering money to a woman for sex is apparently fairly well known, but the only time I'd ever heard it was from a teacher in high school, who pretty much made the same point Danner's instructor did about doing well on the tests. Good teacher, good class, and yes, I did just fine on the tests.
Just a note on formatting - The conversations that take place telepathically and the internal monologues of various characters (all the stuff in italics, basically) were a nightmare to get formatted properly when I was getting this ready to publish on the Kindle. Almost none of it converted properly, and I had to go back through line-by-line to make sure every sentence and even certain words in those sentences were italicized (or not) as they should have been.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
Not much of a spoiler, but it's worth noting that the group doesn't necessarily have a set "leader" as of this point. Danner gets asked a lot of questions and his opinion is sought (partially because so many of the chapters focus from his perspective), but it's still quite nebulous, as befits people who've only known each other a matter of weeks. Not every group of friends has a "leader" of course, but certain scenarios will typically result in someone calling the shots.
The denarae are yet another happy accident for me. They were always going to be mind-readers and closely linked with humans, but when I was doing some work in book 3, the origins of their people sprang to mind and set up some interesting moral issues that will eventually get played out. They fit so smoothly into the narrative I was building that I'm not convinced they weren't subconsciously linked all along and it just took me that long to uncover it.
It's worth pointing out how quickly Danner picks up kything with Trebor. He's not projecting his thoughts nor reading Trebor's, just focusing his thoughts so Trebor can read them, but still, he gets it pretty damn fast. Since it's already been stated (in the footnotes) that kything is used by the immortals to communicate, it should be pretty obvious why Danner feels so comfortable with it.
Originally, Flasch didn't come off quite as quick-witted as I'd intended. Oh I said he was quick-witted, but in a number of scenes his deliberate antics overtook this other aspect of his character, and while he never came across as dumb, he just didn't have the fast-paced, razor-sharp wit I'd intended for him. The scene with the shadow tip was a perfect example, since Garnet originally had to explain it to him.
I thought about dragging out the hints about Trebor's abilities to make it more subtle, but I was under some time constraints on the pacing of the story and I didn't really feel like bogging things down any more than absolutely necessary. I think there's just enough there to give you an idea how he tripped up (Danner is, after all, a fairly bright guy), but not so much that it outright gives away what's going on until the time comes.
The story of the man offering money to a woman for sex is apparently fairly well known, but the only time I'd ever heard it was from a teacher in high school, who pretty much made the same point Danner's instructor did about doing well on the tests. Good teacher, good class, and yes, I did just fine on the tests.
Just a note on formatting - The conversations that take place telepathically and the internal monologues of various characters (all the stuff in italics, basically) were a nightmare to get formatted properly when I was getting this ready to publish on the Kindle. Almost none of it converted properly, and I had to go back through line-by-line to make sure every sentence and even certain words in those sentences were italicized (or not) as they should have been.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
Not much of a spoiler, but it's worth noting that the group doesn't necessarily have a set "leader" as of this point. Danner gets asked a lot of questions and his opinion is sought (partially because so many of the chapters focus from his perspective), but it's still quite nebulous, as befits people who've only known each other a matter of weeks. Not every group of friends has a "leader" of course, but certain scenarios will typically result in someone calling the shots.
The denarae are yet another happy accident for me. They were always going to be mind-readers and closely linked with humans, but when I was doing some work in book 3, the origins of their people sprang to mind and set up some interesting moral issues that will eventually get played out. They fit so smoothly into the narrative I was building that I'm not convinced they weren't subconsciously linked all along and it just took me that long to uncover it.
It's worth pointing out how quickly Danner picks up kything with Trebor. He's not projecting his thoughts nor reading Trebor's, just focusing his thoughts so Trebor can read them, but still, he gets it pretty damn fast. Since it's already been stated (in the footnotes) that kything is used by the immortals to communicate, it should be pretty obvious why Danner feels so comfortable with it.
Chapter 23
If someone can see into your thoughts, it occurred to me they could quite possibly see, hear, and feel everything you're experiencing in real-time as well. Your senses are translated in your brain, and if you're aware of the input, then some part of your brain is actively thinking about it, even if it's not at the conscious level. Even in your memories, things you might not have consciously noted are still recorded, so they would be accessible to a mind reader with enough skill. I think of some of the things hypnotherapists can uncover, little details that you don't consciously remember, but they're all there.
No, Danner did not really frighten off the faerer demon (who is Min, by the way, if you didn't guess), but at this point its only goal was information and observation. Danner is the nephew of the paladin The Three are seeking, so the interest in him is natural, and while Danner's threat to use the Tricrus wouldn't kill Min (and he knows it), it would still weaken him and disrupt the connection between him and his brothers that was so recently restored. Plus, you have to figure there are paladins scattered throughout the woods to track and observe the trainees, so it's not the safest place for Min to get into a scuffle.
Ben was a light-hearted moment amidst a branch of the story that occasionally threatens to turn too grim. (If it wasn't for Nuse, I'd worry more about the somber makeup of this group.) His complete inability to get Birch's name right, combined with his own unique speech pattern and backstory, make him a fun guy to have around for a little while here. For some reason, I don't find his speech nearly as annoying as I do Brit's.
As I said, not much mystery in who the "traitor" is in their midst. Wein just isn't cunning or subtle enough to keep his observation of Birch a secret.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
Again, Danner encounters an immortal creature and his awareness and/or powers grow in some way (and he faints).
No, Danner did not really frighten off the faerer demon (who is Min, by the way, if you didn't guess), but at this point its only goal was information and observation. Danner is the nephew of the paladin The Three are seeking, so the interest in him is natural, and while Danner's threat to use the Tricrus wouldn't kill Min (and he knows it), it would still weaken him and disrupt the connection between him and his brothers that was so recently restored. Plus, you have to figure there are paladins scattered throughout the woods to track and observe the trainees, so it's not the safest place for Min to get into a scuffle.
Ben was a light-hearted moment amidst a branch of the story that occasionally threatens to turn too grim. (If it wasn't for Nuse, I'd worry more about the somber makeup of this group.) His complete inability to get Birch's name right, combined with his own unique speech pattern and backstory, make him a fun guy to have around for a little while here. For some reason, I don't find his speech nearly as annoying as I do Brit's.
As I said, not much mystery in who the "traitor" is in their midst. Wein just isn't cunning or subtle enough to keep his observation of Birch a secret.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
Again, Danner encounters an immortal creature and his awareness and/or powers grow in some way (and he faints).
Chapter 24
One of my brothers came to visit me for a concert in Chicago while I was in school, and the first time we were walking around outside in the sunlight, he was looking around like something was just... off. "The sunlight here is yellow," I told him. "That's it!" (We grew up in Texas where the sunlight is white.) To me, Trebor's skin coloration is like that. He doesn't tan, he doesn't blush, and he probably doesn't even bruise the same since his skin tone is artificial. If he was standing right next to you, you might be bugged by something being off and not able to place it, but until someone actually points it out, you might never be able to put your finger on it. Logistically, his skin tone only presented problems because I hadn't thought through all of these implications, and I think in the version first published (which I hope to be correcting soon), there's still one mention of him "flushing" in embarrassment, which is impossible.
Ashfen isn't based on any one person I know, but there are pieces of him in several people I've met. They just never seem to believe there's not a trick to success beyond hard work. Yes, sometimes there is a trick, and Ashfen is quite adept in identifying and exploiting them, but in the end he's the type who looks for shortcuts and tears other people down to make himself look better by comparison.
Okay, here's the other chapter that makes me uncomfortable knowing my parents will read this (just, you know... because), but to me, this place just makes sense. This is a group of young, hot-blooded men who are surrounded by nothing but other men day in and day out, so where else would they go but somewhere they can see mostly naked women? Maybe that's more of a modern convention and I'm projecting (honestly, I was never into the strip club scene except via the odd bachelor party), but if strip clubs exist, young men will go visit them. As Marc explains, Aunt Delia's is upscale and a reputable establishment, and a paladin or respected businessman could be expected to enter without being looked down upon. Just remember, these aren't girls "putting themselves through college" - women in Lokka do not have the same opportunities they have in our world, and a job even in a place as well-regarded as Aunt Delia's is still an act of desperation. I think parents in any world would be horrified to hear their daughter say "I want to be a stripper when I grow up" - it's not a career plan, it's Plan Z. So don't expect to be treated like a knight in shining armor if you start dating a stripper in our world, but in Lokka, treating one like a woman is a rare treat to them.
I know at least one friend of mine recognizes some moments from Aunt Delia's, since he was there for the original inspiration and is the source of the "talking stupid inside of fifteen minutes" line. (Much to his chagrin, I wasn't.)
Oh, and I have absolutely no idea why they serve pies there, but I assume it's for the same reason they serve steak and shrimp at strip clubs in our world. To me, the pies look sort of like hot pockets stuffed with apple pie filling (etc), which sounds really good right about now.....
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
Flasch is the first person to notice the influx of paladins into the chapterhouse. This gathering is only mentioned a few times in the book, because the trainees are not generally in a position to notice anything out of the ordinary. As good a story as it makes for in some cases, it's always felt more than a little contrived to me when the heroes just happen to overhear the right thing in the right place by the right person purely by happenstance. I'll admit, I do it once in this book with the conversation Danner overhears, but that was mainly a plot device pointing toward his heritage and not a clue to some great mystery the heroes must uncover or they're screwed.
Once more, here's one of those moments you're meant to brush right over without noticing the significance. Marc has a sister who's a barmaid. Big deal, right?
Did you notice Marc's aunt's name? Sound like anyone else's name in the family?
Ashfen isn't based on any one person I know, but there are pieces of him in several people I've met. They just never seem to believe there's not a trick to success beyond hard work. Yes, sometimes there is a trick, and Ashfen is quite adept in identifying and exploiting them, but in the end he's the type who looks for shortcuts and tears other people down to make himself look better by comparison.
Okay, here's the other chapter that makes me uncomfortable knowing my parents will read this (just, you know... because), but to me, this place just makes sense. This is a group of young, hot-blooded men who are surrounded by nothing but other men day in and day out, so where else would they go but somewhere they can see mostly naked women? Maybe that's more of a modern convention and I'm projecting (honestly, I was never into the strip club scene except via the odd bachelor party), but if strip clubs exist, young men will go visit them. As Marc explains, Aunt Delia's is upscale and a reputable establishment, and a paladin or respected businessman could be expected to enter without being looked down upon. Just remember, these aren't girls "putting themselves through college" - women in Lokka do not have the same opportunities they have in our world, and a job even in a place as well-regarded as Aunt Delia's is still an act of desperation. I think parents in any world would be horrified to hear their daughter say "I want to be a stripper when I grow up" - it's not a career plan, it's Plan Z. So don't expect to be treated like a knight in shining armor if you start dating a stripper in our world, but in Lokka, treating one like a woman is a rare treat to them.
I know at least one friend of mine recognizes some moments from Aunt Delia's, since he was there for the original inspiration and is the source of the "talking stupid inside of fifteen minutes" line. (Much to his chagrin, I wasn't.)
Oh, and I have absolutely no idea why they serve pies there, but I assume it's for the same reason they serve steak and shrimp at strip clubs in our world. To me, the pies look sort of like hot pockets stuffed with apple pie filling (etc), which sounds really good right about now.....
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
Flasch is the first person to notice the influx of paladins into the chapterhouse. This gathering is only mentioned a few times in the book, because the trainees are not generally in a position to notice anything out of the ordinary. As good a story as it makes for in some cases, it's always felt more than a little contrived to me when the heroes just happen to overhear the right thing in the right place by the right person purely by happenstance. I'll admit, I do it once in this book with the conversation Danner overhears, but that was mainly a plot device pointing toward his heritage and not a clue to some great mystery the heroes must uncover or they're screwed.
Once more, here's one of those moments you're meant to brush right over without noticing the significance. Marc has a sister who's a barmaid. Big deal, right?
Did you notice Marc's aunt's name? Sound like anyone else's name in the family?
Chapter 25
Now you finally discover why Faldergash is still alive and why his eyebrows are still intact. You also see how much Faldergash genuinely cares for Danner, since he's willing to expose his secret to him as a point of honesty in their friendship.
The setup for the encounter with Alicia might seem a little contrived at first glance, but no, she didn't just happen to stumble across Danner and Faldergash and follow him home. (Technically, Faldergash just sort of stumbled across Danner, which is a little contrived, but it's on his way home, so what do you expect?) Alicia has stalked Danner off-screen ever since she got to Nocka and caught him sneaking out of the chapterhouse to visit Faldergash on a weekend. Since then, she's been staking out Faldergash's house and tracking the gnome in the hopes of catching Danner unawares. I rather like the moment of recognition between her and Garnet, and I hope her identify and relation to Marc comes as a genuine surprise to you. (Remember, Garnet and Marc have known each other for a number of years, so he's met Alicia before.)
Obviously Alicia's rationale for coming to Nocka had to have a resolution, and Trebor provided a ready means discovering the truth. One of my favorite moments here is when Marc reacts to Alicia's accusation. He's about one wrong word away from turning violent, but it's all contained.
Notice the different reactions to Trebor's kything of Alicia's experience. They only have Alicia's memories to work with, but somewhere in her subconscious mind, the sensations Sal's presence evoked are stored. Danner interprets them one way, as does Flasch to a lesser degree, but others don't sense anything at all.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
I mentioned before that Alicia and Danner are a love interest in this series, and damn, do they even make beginnings to relationships that are rockier than this? I suppose if Danner had killed her mother or something, that might qualify. This is going to take some doing to get over for both of them, and the next book picks up their relationship where this one leaves off.
The setup for the encounter with Alicia might seem a little contrived at first glance, but no, she didn't just happen to stumble across Danner and Faldergash and follow him home. (Technically, Faldergash just sort of stumbled across Danner, which is a little contrived, but it's on his way home, so what do you expect?) Alicia has stalked Danner off-screen ever since she got to Nocka and caught him sneaking out of the chapterhouse to visit Faldergash on a weekend. Since then, she's been staking out Faldergash's house and tracking the gnome in the hopes of catching Danner unawares. I rather like the moment of recognition between her and Garnet, and I hope her identify and relation to Marc comes as a genuine surprise to you. (Remember, Garnet and Marc have known each other for a number of years, so he's met Alicia before.)
Obviously Alicia's rationale for coming to Nocka had to have a resolution, and Trebor provided a ready means discovering the truth. One of my favorite moments here is when Marc reacts to Alicia's accusation. He's about one wrong word away from turning violent, but it's all contained.
Notice the different reactions to Trebor's kything of Alicia's experience. They only have Alicia's memories to work with, but somewhere in her subconscious mind, the sensations Sal's presence evoked are stored. Danner interprets them one way, as does Flasch to a lesser degree, but others don't sense anything at all.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
I mentioned before that Alicia and Danner are a love interest in this series, and damn, do they even make beginnings to relationships that are rockier than this? I suppose if Danner had killed her mother or something, that might qualify. This is going to take some doing to get over for both of them, and the next book picks up their relationship where this one leaves off.
Chapter 26
The delay in Ankor is an example of some unfortunate rewriting I had to do to account for a change to the calendar of Lokka. I previously mentioned that character traits and descriptions were one of the most painful retroactive corrections I had to do. Well, this was THE most painful one. Originally my brain defaulted to a 7-day week, a 12-month year, and a 24-hour day, because that's what's familiar. Then at some point, I realized that on a completely different world, the odds of that being the time scale were astronomically ridiculous, so it made logical sense to change things. Since I also needed to map out the phases of the moon, this seemed like the time to figure everything out at once and just go for it. I decided on the various measurements of time, crafted month and day names, researched full-moon names, and mapped out the phases of both moons for about 1,000 years of history (to before the date of the Devil's Horns and the Merging appearing) and the next 300 or so years going forward. It's a very big list.
Unfortunately, the result of these changes was when I mentioned something taking "a week" in the book, I now had an extra three days to account for. Danner's training was easy to accommodate and fix, but Birch's journey was a bit more problematic. I didn't want to rewrite whole sections to have him run around chasing leads, taking side trips, or anything along those lines, so instead he gets delayed via more bad luck than a guy who runs under a ladder in order to kick a black cat into a mirror. Since you don't have to suffer through the delays but essentially keep up with what's going on in the "now" of the story at the same points in time they originally occurred, most of these delays should pass by relatively unnoticed. Unless some chucklehead goes out of his way to point them out to you, that is.
If the dashboard lens seems odd, remember the roads they drive on aren't the perfectly smooth roads some of you may be used to. (I live in Texas, and "perfectly smooth" doesn't describe a lot of the roads I'm on.) The ground isn't subtly banked to accommodate high speed turns, there aren't road signs to tell you when there's a dip or a bump, and the animals can't look for X-ing signs so they know where to cross. Being able to see what's ahead with more detail than the naked eye can see sounds pretty good in those circumstances, huh?
If you weren't really thinking about what Facet each of the main characters will join, the comment made about Jorgins should jumpstart that process a little bit, just as it does for Danner.
Ah, cloak training. I don't remember which came first, the cloaks as a safety mechanism for flying or the cloaks as colored indicators of the paladins' respective Facets. It always sort of struck me as dumb in reading stories that involve riding on dragons (or other great winged beasts) that the riders have absolutely no safety measures beyond some straps holding them down. Some plots even involve people falling (or almost falling) to their deaths, but nobody thinks, "Hey, maybe we should work on that." (Remember, Birch wouldn't ride Selti into the air to fight Sal because he didn't have his cloak, it just wasn't explained then why this was a big deal). In this case, the cloaks enable some very cool moments in the next two books, as I started wondering what I could do with a tool like that.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
The moment where James sees into Birch's mind will come up again in the next book. It's much more significant than it first appears here.
Yes, as a matter of fact, there will probably be a time when they have half of Hell on their heels and will want Danner in the driver's seat. Thank you for wondering.
Jorgins gets picked on a lot, cuz it seems to me there's always that guy in the group. He's a day late and a dollar short and some part of you is always wondering why he's still there. Keep wondering.
Unfortunately, the result of these changes was when I mentioned something taking "a week" in the book, I now had an extra three days to account for. Danner's training was easy to accommodate and fix, but Birch's journey was a bit more problematic. I didn't want to rewrite whole sections to have him run around chasing leads, taking side trips, or anything along those lines, so instead he gets delayed via more bad luck than a guy who runs under a ladder in order to kick a black cat into a mirror. Since you don't have to suffer through the delays but essentially keep up with what's going on in the "now" of the story at the same points in time they originally occurred, most of these delays should pass by relatively unnoticed. Unless some chucklehead goes out of his way to point them out to you, that is.
If the dashboard lens seems odd, remember the roads they drive on aren't the perfectly smooth roads some of you may be used to. (I live in Texas, and "perfectly smooth" doesn't describe a lot of the roads I'm on.) The ground isn't subtly banked to accommodate high speed turns, there aren't road signs to tell you when there's a dip or a bump, and the animals can't look for X-ing signs so they know where to cross. Being able to see what's ahead with more detail than the naked eye can see sounds pretty good in those circumstances, huh?
If you weren't really thinking about what Facet each of the main characters will join, the comment made about Jorgins should jumpstart that process a little bit, just as it does for Danner.
Ah, cloak training. I don't remember which came first, the cloaks as a safety mechanism for flying or the cloaks as colored indicators of the paladins' respective Facets. It always sort of struck me as dumb in reading stories that involve riding on dragons (or other great winged beasts) that the riders have absolutely no safety measures beyond some straps holding them down. Some plots even involve people falling (or almost falling) to their deaths, but nobody thinks, "Hey, maybe we should work on that." (Remember, Birch wouldn't ride Selti into the air to fight Sal because he didn't have his cloak, it just wasn't explained then why this was a big deal). In this case, the cloaks enable some very cool moments in the next two books, as I started wondering what I could do with a tool like that.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
The moment where James sees into Birch's mind will come up again in the next book. It's much more significant than it first appears here.
Yes, as a matter of fact, there will probably be a time when they have half of Hell on their heels and will want Danner in the driver's seat. Thank you for wondering.
Jorgins gets picked on a lot, cuz it seems to me there's always that guy in the group. He's a day late and a dollar short and some part of you is always wondering why he's still there. Keep wondering.
Chapter 27
This conversation between Wein and Min shows some of the difficulties inherent in trying to keep the Violet paladin under the demon's control. Wein has to be encouraged along certain trains of thought, but doing so limits his effectiveness in rooting out some information. He's been "convinced" that Birch is a traitor and lying about his experiences, so he does a poor job of ferreting out the information Min is trying to glean from Birch. Wein also starts to fight back against the control, and the only way to keep him under Min's thumb results in breaking his mind.
The extra cloak training is essentially via parasailing, just without the boat. I have to say my one experience with parasailing was slightly underwhelming, in that it was perfectly calm, safe, and quiet. My expectations were for more roaring wind and perhaps even the odd jolt of adrenaline. It was fun, just not what I was expecting.
Aaaaand Danner collapses. Again.
The conversation Danner overhears is a sticking point for me. I always wonder at the dumb luck of protagonists who stumble onto crucial information because they accidentally overhear something, but at the same time I really needed this to happen to forward some key plot points. I don't like it, but it was necessary. <grumble grumble>
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
The harness training serves two functions, the first of which is the stated reason of helping Danner to get over his fear of heights. The second is to setup something for use in the next book, where this mechanism will be repurposed.
I don't know if you asked the questions at the time, but by the end of the book, two things occurred to me: 1) who is Min talking to?, and 2) why is Min even talking to someone in the immortal language instead of communicating telepathically with him? The first will be answered in the next book. The second question will be answered... tomorrow. Come back tomorrow.
The extra cloak training is essentially via parasailing, just without the boat. I have to say my one experience with parasailing was slightly underwhelming, in that it was perfectly calm, safe, and quiet. My expectations were for more roaring wind and perhaps even the odd jolt of adrenaline. It was fun, just not what I was expecting.
Aaaaand Danner collapses. Again.
The conversation Danner overhears is a sticking point for me. I always wonder at the dumb luck of protagonists who stumble onto crucial information because they accidentally overhear something, but at the same time I really needed this to happen to forward some key plot points. I don't like it, but it was necessary. <grumble grumble>
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
The harness training serves two functions, the first of which is the stated reason of helping Danner to get over his fear of heights. The second is to setup something for use in the next book, where this mechanism will be repurposed.
I don't know if you asked the questions at the time, but by the end of the book, two things occurred to me: 1) who is Min talking to?, and 2) why is Min even talking to someone in the immortal language instead of communicating telepathically with him? The first will be answered in the next book. The second question will be answered... tomorrow. Come back tomorrow.
Chapter 28
Another two days of delay in Birch's journey? Of all the dumb luck.
Den-Furral is one of those places I expect to see in some book written to tell a story that takes place a few hundred years earlier in Lokka. Maybe the story of the Cleansing War. There's just a history there waiting to be told.
This is the first mention of Dis, the city in Hell. The name comes from Dante's Inferno as "the city whose name is Dis" which was in turn inspired by Dis Pater, the ruler of the underworld in Roman mythology (as seen in such works as the Aeneid). It seemed like an appropriate name for the one and only city in Hell, and it's the first of many things I borrowed from classical literature and the religions of our world. I was an English literature major in college, which is when the first two books were written, so the inspirations were readily at-hand. Heck, I read Milton's Paradise Lost three times for three separate classes and struggled through the Aeneid in Latin. Is it any wonder I ended up writing books that center around a war between Heaven and Hell?
Moreen made pretty good time, didn't she? Of course, she wasn't hampered by all the unlucky delays Birch was. You might be tempted to wonder why, if she arrives in Den-Furral so soon after Birch, didn't Birch and company sail from the same place she did? It's obviously faster. Well, on a normal day, no, their route through the Thorn Straights would have been faster than what Moreen did. Traveling her route would have involved a lot more over-land travel, which is obviously slower in general than taking to the sea. It really does work out logically, it's just unfortunate that all the crap kept happening to delay Birch.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
No real spoilers for this chapter.
Den-Furral is one of those places I expect to see in some book written to tell a story that takes place a few hundred years earlier in Lokka. Maybe the story of the Cleansing War. There's just a history there waiting to be told.
This is the first mention of Dis, the city in Hell. The name comes from Dante's Inferno as "the city whose name is Dis" which was in turn inspired by Dis Pater, the ruler of the underworld in Roman mythology (as seen in such works as the Aeneid). It seemed like an appropriate name for the one and only city in Hell, and it's the first of many things I borrowed from classical literature and the religions of our world. I was an English literature major in college, which is when the first two books were written, so the inspirations were readily at-hand. Heck, I read Milton's Paradise Lost three times for three separate classes and struggled through the Aeneid in Latin. Is it any wonder I ended up writing books that center around a war between Heaven and Hell?
Moreen made pretty good time, didn't she? Of course, she wasn't hampered by all the unlucky delays Birch was. You might be tempted to wonder why, if she arrives in Den-Furral so soon after Birch, didn't Birch and company sail from the same place she did? It's obviously faster. Well, on a normal day, no, their route through the Thorn Straights would have been faster than what Moreen did. Traveling her route would have involved a lot more over-land travel, which is obviously slower in general than taking to the sea. It really does work out logically, it's just unfortunate that all the crap kept happening to delay Birch.
Spoiler Section - Only read this if you've finished the book.
No real spoilers for this chapter.
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Chapters 22 - 28
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