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The Eighth Warden Book 5 - Chapters 18 to 20 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-06-22 22:21:10
Imported:
2026-10
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Hi folks,

Here we go, chapters 18 to 20.

I hope you enjoy, and please let me know if you have any feedback.

--Ivy

Comments

Dang Fool

I do like following more characters. I'm particularly loving Ned's story. And Bobo is more complete now.

Aspiring Sage

"How hard could it be?" ... famous last words? Great chapters Ivy. The only bad part about reading them is that now I have to wait 6 weeks for the next batch lol. Thank you.

And Then There Was None

> “Shana says I need to decide who I am. She says I can’t be half of a concubine. I need to choose, one way or the other.” Wouldn't half a concubine just be a personal secretary? Sounds like Shana is wrong to me. Overall I think Treya needs to sort out her feelings before she commits to being a concubine.

ivyveritas

What Shana actually said is that Treya needs to decide. She specifically said that Treya could continue acting as an advisor if that was what she wanted, but she couldn't leave the decision up in the air (Treya's been mulling this over in her mind since at least Book 3). Treya's just simplifying the conversation for Katrin, mostly so I didn't have to repeat the same phrases from the earlier scene.

Aspiring Sage

Ivy, On the second read, I like the story even more. As usual. A pet dragon at the keep can't be beat and I love how you made risingwind have his own character. The curiosity of youth really shined. The treatment of the 3 2nd sons was cogent ad well. I suspect we will see at least one of them rallying to help King Rasul when he invades... probably offering his observations of the keep, very outdated by then I am sure, in return for some small barony or something. Finally getting clarity on Corec's special Warden power was also nice. Surviving the beam attack in Cordillia was an obvious hint, but this really settles it. And won't this be a nasty surprise for all those bondmates of Rasul who have worked so hard on their offensive magic prowess. A few more things I liked: Bobo getting some screen time; Rezai training a new generation of assassins; Rezai's whispers dogging her; a squad of Trevesian Sentinels helping defend Warden's keep when Rusol finally arrives; love seeing Nedley's growth and character development;I really liked the travel to demon realms, I can only imagine when that chekov's gun is going to go off; I liked the Yelana-Shereen negotiations, and Yelena coming out of her shell a bit. A few questions 1) How much magical punishment can Corec take? Just one or two spells, or does he have full immunity? 2) we never really got clarity as to where Shana has been. Could you enlighten us as to her mission? 3) can you remind us who Carn Tammerly is? 4) I still don't understand the 'map' at all. Are you able to provide some insights or is this one of those things we'll have to wait to see? 5) could you tell us a bit more about Deece? We have heard multiple references to it now and Rezai wants to go there. But she mentioned islands, and I thought Deece was south near the ogre country and table lands. 6) poor Toman, he is going to be tortured badly isn't he? That's going to suck.

ivyveritas

1. It's not full immunity, but he's stronger now than he was during the ambush in Cordaea. 2. Shana's other missions weren't pertinent to the story, so I kept them to a minimum. She solved a jewelry heist in Chondor, then went to Matagor to speak to the concubine schools there about joining the Three Orders, then she had a few other tasks in Larso, including visiting Highfell for Treya. Basically, she's just off having her own adventures, but there isn't enough space to include them in The Eighth Warden. 3. Carn Tammerly was one of Branth's assistants, the one he offered to loan to Corec to help with steward-related stuff. Carn is Baron Tammerly's cousin's son (Tammerly is the barony that shares Tarwen Valley with Corec's family--they put their capitals close together, even though the baronies themselves are much larger than the valley). 4. Which part of the map? The map of northern Aravor (where most of the story takes place) is available for download here on Patreon (filter posts by the 'image' tag). The cat destroyed my other sketches, but the 'List of Important Names and Characters' document sort of describes where the southern nations are in relation to each other. I can try to answer any questions that aren't covered by that. 5. Chondor and Deece are on the west coast, directly south of Terevas. It's more accurate to say they're south of Stone Home, because the coast curves in eastward along Terevas's southern border. I believe that would put Chondor and Deece west or northwest of the Table Lands, but that was one of the sketches the cat destroyed, so I'll have to map it all out again at some point. Deece is smaller than Chondor. If I remember right, I believe Deece was in the southwest corner of Chondor, consisting of a small mainland area and a large bay, with a chain of islands curving outward from it. Both nations are known for having warm weather year-round (think southern California, but not as dry).

Jesse

Another set of excellent chapters. Well worth the wait. It was a nice touch having Corec carry the baby dragon in his arms walking through the village. I am sure that had a good effect on the villagers. I really like the continuing efforts on rebuilding the village and keep. All the little decisions and problems really feel natural to what is going on and not contrived in any sense. I liked seeing The Sanvari Empress meet with Yelena and how Yelena stuck to her guns on only bonding worthy individuals. It was a good touch on Ansel knowing the sounds of his village. Shows that he has lived there long enough and cares enough about it to sense such things. Toman's situation with his family seems to mirror that of Burton Senshall. That said it seems Burton is handling his stress better than Toman with Burton keeping the eye on his business and not jumping on getting out for awhile or hitting the drink. I am not sure who I am about to pity more in the coming chapters, Toman or Rusol. Toman seems fool enough to get Rusol angry enough to lash out at a very ill opportune moment. I do have a question though. Does Empress Shereen know (or believe) about the long life span granted by the Warden's Bond? It just seems like she is more concerned about improving a traveler as opposed to say having Pavan around for centuries for her descendants. I was unsure if this was because she doesn't believe it really or if she is just focused on the here and now.

ivyveritas

Shereen knows enough that her spies were able to discover Yelena's identity from the last time she lived in Sanvar (Carise, which was at least two identities ago, because I think I've said she last lived there something like 80 years ago, though I don't have that scene pulled up at the moment to double-check). Shereen got her initial info from Rohav, who got his info from what Leena has told him (though Leena did also meet with Shereen a second time to strategize how to approach Yelena, but we don't know what else they discussed at that meeting). The group tends to downplay just how long their potential lifespans are, because who would believe it? So Leena probably said something along the lines of "live longer than normal" without going into much detail. At the moment, Shereen is primarily worried about plugging the gap left by the dead Travelers, and extending Sanvar's reach to the north. Pavan already works for her, so turning a relatively strong Traveler into a very strong Traveler doesn't seem like as big of a gain as turning a completely useless Traveler into a very strong Traveler, because she still has Pavan on top of that.

Jesse

One more question but I totally understand if you don't want to answer it due to a possible spoiler. Did Udit get his puppy yet and do they understand what danger Risingwind is to the puppy?

George Nicholson

Excellent! Thank you! I hesitate to mention this, but it jumped out at me while reading. At the end of Razai's section, consider shortening "The whispers laughed in her mind" to simply "The whispers laughed."? A bit more emphatic button for the scene end. Besides, the reader should be aware by now the whispers are only in her mind. "The whispers laughed" struck me as such a great turn of phrase, it should stand by itself.

ivyveritas

Hmm, let me think about that one. I haven't mentioned the whispers since Book 4, so for anyone who isn't re-reading the story, it's been over a year. Without a reminder, they might not understand the reference. One possibility is if the whispers said something earlier in this same scene. That's the most direct way for readers to understand what's going on, and then the last line could be shortened as you suggest. I'll think about it. Not sure I've got anything for them to say, but maybe there's something.

ivyveritas

hahaha. Don't worry, I don't plan to write a puppy-eating storyline.

Aspiring Sage

Ivy, thanks for the responses. 1. So I presume the 'resistance' if not 'immunity' applies to all 4 forms of magic right? We have witnessed the beam attack in Cordea which was Wizardry, and Elder magic in this chapter. Can we assume the resistance extends to demonic and divine magic too, or would that be a premature conjecture? 2. Hot space for short stories later or maybe some good fan fiction!!!? Thanks for the reply. 3. Oh yes, now I recall the scene. I thought I recalled that a Tammerly was married to Toman. The cousin angle makes perfect sense. I don't even want to guess where in the barony succession line Carn would stand if Rasul sakes his vengence and demonic anger on both the Tarwen and Tammerly family lines. 4. Sorry for being unclear. I put map in quotes because I was trying to reference the eight lines map that Bobo gave to Leena. Obviously, this set of chapters has the best clues we have gotten so far, as one of the lines clearly represents one of possibly 3 demon realms. But the other 7 and the meaning of their arrangement are still unclear to us. Anything you are willing to add? 4A. One thought I had was that each line represented the 8 old Gods, with 3 still alive being flat, while the 5 haphazard lines were the others... but I am less convinced of that now. 5. That really helps. The two maps you have posted only go as far south as Terevas and the seaborn enclave. But the coast seems to expand westward rather than turn back in toward the east. But your explanation helps. Yes, would love another map. I would be willing to help you with that. 6. I see you didn't even pretend to want to answer this rhetorical question. 😜 Thanks for taking the time to respond to the questions.

Aspiring Sage

That is an insightful comparison between Toman and Burton Jesse. And agreed on all counts about Ivy's skillful scene setting and imagery build-up. I like that we see advances occurring without being privy to every minor detail over a span of time. However, I think the story would benefit from a few more time-stamps. Seasonal references, or 'months since xxx happened' would help give us some more temporal guidance.

ivyveritas

Everything in Book 5 so far, through the end of Chapter 20 (not counting the prologue, of course), has taken place over the span of 67 days. The majority of the scenes have taken place over the past 33 days, which marks the time since Boktar's first caravan returned to the keep. Not too much time has passed, so I've mostly used end-of-spring/beginning-of-summer to mark it. However, for the rest of the book, we'll start seeing some larger time gaps as we wait for certain people to travel where they need to be.

ivyveritas

1. We've seen Corec resist Vatarxis's pressure to bond Razai, per the Book 2 epilogue, though ultimately Vatarxis's spell succeeded. However, it does have to be a direct magical attack and not a side effect (such as a regular fire started by a magic fire). 4. I can't say much about Fox's map, but I'll give you one clue ... there's only one demon realm, not three. There are multiple hell domains, but they're all in the same 'realm' or 'world'.

George Nicholson

If not here, maybe chapter 4, when Leena finds a disguised Razai in the tavern? Soldiers come in looking for Razai without a heads up from the whipsers. Always wondered what the whispers responded to and what they didn't. Even if they remain silent, maybe Razai could mentally berate them for their silence, thereby reminding readers of their existence. Which could mean their laughter here is them breaking their silence? On the other hand, it may not be worth upending anything to accommodate a nice phrase.

Raman BNV

An intriguing set of Chapters, Ivy! More questions emerge... 1) The map with the lines is clearly a map for going to different realms.The top line is the demonic realm, and i'm assuming that the middle line is the mortal realm, because nothing happens when Leena uses that line to travel, since she's already in the mortal realm. The last line seems to be one with the mists (or the dream realm that Warden No. 1 uses to talk to other wardens). The nausea felt by Leena when she tries the line intersecting the centre line is very intriguing. Could it be the Divine Realm? 2) Blaine and the other 2 people seem to be part of Chekov's gun system somehow? Would they be used by Ivy to give information to Rusol about the Keep and its defences? also, would they have seen the baby dragon? and inform Rusol about it? 3) Harri and Ditte also seem peripheral to the whole plot, but Ivy is weaving their stories in tighter and tighter. Would Ditte be sacrificed (not on purpose, of course) to Rusol's armies / agents by Ivy in order to get Razai back into Corec's Bondmates? Razai seems to have formed a bond with Ditte at this point. 4) Is the jade bracelet a power amplifier for mages? or is it only an instrument for travellers to use? 5) and could one of the lines represent the home realm for the Totems? Ivy does mention elsewhere that the totems are not from the mortal realm, and the animal forms they take are not native to them. 6) Still puzzling: what is the significance of the lines intersecting one another, and the angles and positions of the lines? 7) And it looks like Toman will be tortured for Rusol to get more details about Corec in Telfort?

ivyveritas

1. Just to clarify, the "top" line is just the top of the three parallel lines, but those lines are near the bottom of the diagram. There are other lines above them, if you take a look at the image I posted a while back. Though I would note that "top" and "bottom" are subjective, and don't actually matter--the map is a two-dimensional representation of something that can't be represented in two dimensions. It's a mental guide to help Leena's mind process something she can't begin to imagine. 2. Sometimes three useless lordlings in exile are just three useless lordlings in exile. A window into what Corec's fate could have been if he hadn't been trained by the knights before his exile. A dangling storyline I wanted to close the loop on, since I've mentioned them (not by name) a couple times before. I started to think -- okay, we know Corec's not the only son of a Larsonian noble family in the free lands, so what would the others be doing right now? It seemed like some of them would be attracted to the nearest source of power. Will they show up again? That depends on whether I need them for something. 4. The bracelet doesn't amplify power, it just removes certain restrictions on crossing the boundary between worlds. It's not limited to Travelers--it would work on some other types of teleportation spells as well. Not all of them, though. It wouldn't work with the ritual magic that Ellerie mentioned, for example, since it has to be a single mage casting the spell. And Leena's speculation is correct: A Chosar enchanter created it because they wanted a way to strike back at the demons in their own realm, but the person chosen to test it didn't like what he or she encountered (and didn't see any demons). The research was put on hold until they could learn more, but then the war ended.

Jesse

On Number 7, Rusol doesn't seem like the type to torture people needlessly (Unless it is Yassi and he is oblivious to him doing that). I foresee Rusol either putting Toman under his hunter spell or losing control of his demonborn temper and giving Toman a taste of what Sharri got. Also I am not sure if Toman even knows anything useful about Corec given he doesn't correspond via letters like the rest of the family does. Branth doesn't strike me as the type to confide in Toman and Ansel doesn't strike me as the type to bring Corec up with Toman needlessly. This said I am not sure what Toman's game is, but he was drunk (or heavily liquored up at minimum) so there may not be that cohesive of a plan to start with. Still the coming chapters from Rusol's POV will be very interesting. I look forward to how Rusol will handle sending Blessed Priests with the attacking force or if he just sends a bunch of non-blessed priests. Either way will have consequences I imagine. And will Ser Barat be the only bondmate sent? He had the runaway apprentice learning combat spells. Or has Rusol learned after Jasper's death?

Aspiring Sage

Hey Ivy, can you give us an estimate for your next release?

ivyveritas

It's still a little early to make a good estimate. It definitely won't be out by the end of July--there's still too much left to write.

Raman BNV

@Ivy, so technically, even Ariadne should be able to use the jade bracelet, since she also uses teleportation spells?

S. G.

Any chance next post will happen before the end of August?

ivyveritas

Ariadne's blink spell has too short of a range to work with the bracelet.

ivyveritas

Yes, it will definitely be before the end of August. But it will be in the second half of August, which is later than I was hoping for.

S. G.

Sounds great, I look forward to reading it!

Ranger55

Hey, Ivy. Just checking up on you. I hope you are doing well.

ivyveritas

Finished the first draft on Sunday, and deep in editing mode now. I'll post another comment when I finish the second draft (hopefully tonight), along with a potential release date.

Jesse

Wahoo!

ivyveritas

Second draft is done for the next batch of chapters. That means we're probably four days out from release (third draft, fourth draft, and beta review still left to go). Could be more, if the beta readers catch some problems, but let's cross our fingers.

ivyveritas

Beta reading can be tough work. It involves reading an early version of the chapters and identifying which pieces work well and which pieces don't, but knowing that I may or may not make changes based on your suggestions. It also requires hearing some spoilers in advance, including some that don't end up making their way into the chapters. That said, if you're still interested, I could try out a few new beta readers. We communicate over the story's Discord server. If you link your Discord account to your Patreon account, it should connect you automatically. If not, let me know and I can send you an invite (whether you want to be a beta reader or not). Once you're on the Discord server, send me a private message about wanting to be a beta reader. I can only take a few more, so if I get a lot of offers, I won't be able to accept them all