The castle keep is cold and dank - no one has lived here, worked here, for years. Not since the night Morgana came to steal The Rising and instead made off with his life. But he's here anyway, his breath frosting in the chill autumn air ( Read more... )

He did it he did it he did it. It takes all the self-control Balthazar has not to dance a jig when Dave finally trusts what he can do and sets that thrice-damned dragon on fire. And it's a very good thing he does too - the boy doesn't seem to have any instinct (so far) regarding finishing a kill, and no one wants to see what a truly pissed-off ( Read more... )

Ten years. Ten years without days to mark the time, the seconds stretching to infinity when they don't have any context. He contemplates everything he's learned, everything he hopes is happening. Surely Dave has a new master by now - someone must have noticed the young boy with the dragon ring. He hopes Dave had the good sense to hide the ( Read more... )

There is still so much excitement about the new millennium. Everything is new, and different, and Balthazar has to forcibly keep himself from rolling his eyes every time he hears it. There is nothing new here - he is still waiting, still hoping that the next miracle child he hears about will be the one that will save the world. Sometimes he ( Read more... )