Friday, April 26, 2024

W is for Westerleigh

A Portrait Is Worth a Thousand Words and Elizabeth Hartford’s portrait spoke volumes to me; even before I saw it in person. Poet, philosopher, storyteller, and sorceress who set her own style, she left behind reams of writing I poured through as a child. Her words and image inspired me, yet she remained a mystery. Nothing evokes that mystery, that sense of her more than the portrait her lover, Judith Cross, left behind. The portrait hangs in Hartford Hall and now my cousin, Fiona Hartford; heiress to all that Elizabeth left behind, is inviting me, another heiress to share in that fortune. There’s just one problem. I’m not an heiress, I’m not even a girl. Yuri, Judith Cross’s descendent and an artist in their own right, can make me look like an heiress, a heroine out of a Gothic novel, if I’m willing to deceive my cousin. I want this so badly, to go to Hartford Hall, to live where Elizabeth once lived; breathe in the same air Elizabeth once breathed. Yuri fears my fate will be like a Gothic heroine if I go, that danger and disappointment await me, but it’s a chance to get closer to my idol. I would risk everything to get closer, no matter what sinster secrets Fiona may be hiding.

Thursday, April 25, 2024

V is for Varwyth

I came to Caerac Keep, cloaked my mystery, shrouded in secrets. I offer my hand in friendship to the children William has chosen to chase down Trouble at Caerac Keep. He regards my hand with suspicion of one’s who’s ruled from the shadows for too long, prickly that his power may be taken from him. As if I had an interest in his toy walled city. I do have an interest in whom is circulating rumours that the Vampire Corwyth has risen. This is why I put up with little cleric’s tantrums and the Aethyrian maiden’s influence. They should be more grateful that I’m aiding them to find their lost ones, even if it’s only because Daeric is lost. I’m as anxious as Rhodry is to find him. I’m as concerned as Wiliam is about what could have made the Serpent-Born sorcerer disappear. All of this is an opportunity to get closer to Rhodry, my Rhodry, even though I haven’t revealed he’s mine yet. I tell myself this, even though there’s a part of me agreeing with Daeric’s choice to lock him away in a tower, away from hot-headed clerics and smiling barmen who might take him from me. I relish a chance to watch him, to find out what’s capable of, even if our other companions continue to get under foot. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for far too long. They’d better not spoil it. Enough. I am trying to be discreet, even if my temper is sorely tried at times.

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

U is Undine

I cry out in my captivity. I sing to sympathetic souls in their dreams, hoping they’ll come to me, hoping they’ll free me. I’m part of the Trouble at Caerac Keep, but I’m in trouble too. I may have seen A Suitor’s Challenge in my prouder days, but where is my pride now? Bound within this shell, I do wicked deeds, but I cry out for mercy. I sing for freedom. Please, Alyx. Please, Rhodry. Please, Faith. Please, Ariadne. Come and find me. I beg you all. Come and find me.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

T is for Troile

The home is doomed. My selfish brother angered gods and Achaens alike with his choices.

Troy isn’t without allies among the gods. I’m not without allies. If only Ganymede’s voice carried as much weight as Hera, but he’s decided to champion me by sending to the side of an Achaen whom might also be an ally.

Achille delights in battle. He might well delight in Troy’s destruction along with my own. His friends and loved ones are our enemies.

Everyone and everything dear to me is in danger from him. As Troile and Achille, we’re fated to fight each other.

As Aissa and Polyxena, can we challenge that fate? I pray we can, but how can we succeed in skirts when our swords are destined to clash?

The gods only know how we’ll free ourselves from the tangle of tragedy the Fates have waiting for us.

Monday, April 22, 2024

S is for Shelley

The only power I had in Paradise was to choose my name. Byron and I took those of rebel poets from a lost world remembered only in book and tales. Our names gave us the courage to raise A Rebel Song in Paradise. Cast from the church choir, we were given to one of the Pale Lords of our holy city who dwell in great estates apart from simpler folk. Byron and I were separated, tended by Lord Ruthvyn’s doll-like servants, and struggling to find our way through the labyrinthe of living art which is our master’s estate. We’re starting to see what’s On the Other Side of the Mask Lord Ruthvyn and his servants show to the outside world. Byron and I are losing ourselves and each other as we become part of our master’s world. Our only hope is to hold on, to find Lord Ruthvyn’s lost humanity with our songs. If we don’t, we’ll lose ourselves, our mind, and become part of our master’s collection of statues, paintings, and other furnishings whom were once like us. Caught between Paradise and mad decadence, it’s all we can do, not to slip away.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

R is for Rhodry

I was born in a roleplaying campaign, only to be changed for different one-shot convention games, changed in the campaign its. I struggled for a new existence in The Keep, formed true bonds there as Rhodry Mavelyne.

The scribbler must have loved Rhodry Mavelyne as much as I loved being Rhodry Mavelyne. Why else would she use the name rhodrymavelyne for her identity on Twitter, Archive of Our Own, Wordpress, NaNoWriMo, her Facebook Author Page, and one of her livejournals?

Rhodry Mavelyne had deep ties of blood and love to other characters belonging to other authors. When I was him, I was truly entrenched in The Keep.

As Rhodry Nevalyn, I’m descended from a dangerous evil called the Serpent. Nevalyn was the other name She used. Daeric is proud of the name, yet fears to use it. Daeric came with me from The Keep along the gargoyles Imp and Smirk. They guard the top of Daeric’s tower now. Daeric himself has a touch of the sinister which my father/uncle in the original campaign possessed. I don’t think he plans on sacrificing me, but if I’m the key to the Vampire Corwyth or worse Nevalyn herself returning to the World of Ouroborous, I fear he would.

Look at what he did to Kyra Nevalyn, whom was also his kin. She was a tiny dragon imprisoned in a box in his study for at least a hundred years. Kyra assures me her own actions had as much to with this as anything. I thought she was the hero who stopped the Serpent from returning to the world a hundred years ago. She seems to think she’s responsible for the fall of an empire and the rise of vampires.

Vampires are returning to the world. They’re causing Trouble at Caerac Keep, according to Faith, a Unicorn acolyte fate has been rude enough to link my destiny to. She’s not happy about it either. She blames me for everything since I’m Serpent-Born. To make matters worse, I’ve started to get visions of her hate, her fear.

I know vampires aren’t behind the disappearances, nor the strange sickness striking down many people of Caerac Keep, including Faith’s own sister. A vampire has been visiting me nightly, feeding upon me.

Daeric knew nothing of this. He would definitely disapprove. He already disapproves of my visits to the Tipsy Hedgehog, to hear the owner’s stories of being an adventurer, and to see Kevin, who works at the bar. The strange visions I get of an Aethyrian sorceress in peril, the strange song I hear of someone crying for help have him ready to lock me up in his tower.

Only Daeric isn’t going to be locking anyone up. He’s disappeared, along with one of Faith’s sister clerics.

Lord William of Caerac Keep has ordered Faith and myself to help the lost sorceress’s sister find our missing people, to solve the mystery of Caerac Keep. As if working with Faith and a stranger wasn’t hard enough, a seductively sinister sorcerer has decided to join us in our quest.

We had enough Trouble at Caerac Keep. Now it’s going to get worse.

Friday, April 19, 2024

Q is for Quartz

No, I’m not the dead dwarf among seven brothers who once lived with the Fairest of them all in the Forest of Tears! I’m just sleeping off the nasty backlash of a curse which struck down my poor Fairest and was absorbed by the poor crystal trying to heal her. I guess I took a blow for both of them. I’d tell you more Of Cuckoo Clocks and Crystal Coffins, a yellow-stockinged sprite named Nimmie Not, and the deal I made with a dragon if that blasted scribbler ever finishes my story! Secondary Characters Speak Out once a month at inspirationcauldron.wordpress.com, getting their long overdue, thanks to me. Right, the other Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration. Trust that scribbler to confuse us with two Cauldrons, eh? Go on and read my Fairest’s tale if you can follow the links. She deserves a little love in her life. Just don’t believe that I’m dead, you hear?

Nine Star Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/fairest/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fairest-K-S-Trenten-ebook/dp/B0CNSL28YR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26Q4LNG7UIVW2&keywords=Fairest+by+K.S.Trenten&qid=1701720288&s=books&sprefix=fairest+by+k.s.trenten,stripbooks,143&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fairest-ks-trenten/1123806892?ean=2940179155874

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fairest-19

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1483368

Apple Book: https://books.apple.com/us/book/fairest/id6472735190