The Frewyn Herald: Home of the Haanta Series

Secret hoarding is one of the Royal Tailor's favourite pastimes. He had been used to collect secrets with his friend Rithea before she passed on, and now he sits in his office, occupied with his needle while his ears are busy trinkling away, slenching secrets he hopes to spread in the servant's hall: The tea was poured and handed out, and Gaumhin melted in from the shadows, removing his mantle, sitting with his husband at the worktable and leaning back in his chair for the first of many evening delibations.                 “So,” said Pastaddams presently. “What are all these machinations Searle has planned which he thinks nobody else in the keep knows about?”                 “Doan’t know,” Gaumhin shrugged. “Ah heard hem talkin’ tae Vyrdin about announcin’ somethin’ at a comin’ burthdae, but he didnae sae anaethin’ about which b...

While there are many things around the keep that have changed over the years-- the amount of children running about, the number of captains and commanders marching through the barracks, the amount of cake that is eaten in the larder-- there is one thing that always remains the same: Classic Rautu Boudicca quitted the tailory, walking away from the kitchen, where Alasdair was still sat with Searle talking over the day’s business, and toward the courtyard, to avoid being noticed by anyone who might question her about why Pastaddams had asked her into his office. Through the gallery and thence toward the garrison she went, and after nodding a good morning to everyone in the barracks, she marched into the training yard, where Rautu was currently training, standing astride two quintains and attacking both sides with his sword at the same time, the cerns standing a little farther off, watching the giant wield an enormous slab of steel without any apparent effort. Boudicca approach...