Eros and C&C update + teaser · 9:02pm Jan 26th, 2022
The Eros update is simple: Chapter 13 will be released tonight at around 7pm US Eastern Standard Time, and thus far most of my prereaders seem to love it. I might have indulged a little fanservice with them as well, adding a couple things they requested along the way. But I don’t think readers will mind!
I’ve also inquired with AJ_Aficionado to see if he would like to guest-write a side chapter (yes, a side story to a side story) involving Lieutenant Nantz and Merlina Marcus, since he liked that pairing. He’s expressed some interest, and if he wants it, it’s his to do. I have set no deadline upon it, so he can do it at his own pace.
The next main story chapter of Feathered Hearts will be draft complete tonight, aiming for a weekend release. And tomorrow, I’ll be starting work on the Rarity chapter of Harmonic Resonance for my next clop entry. But more on that later. In the meantime, here’s a quick teaser for the new main story chapter:
A minute later, Gilda and Fortrakt returned to receive the other scouting reports from the Ravens and sky griffons alike. To her relief, all had made it back, and all reported no enemy contact or any further sign of nearby Cloven. Giraldi also reported the wagon wheel was fixed, ordering a clearly unhappy Spear Jade Jumentum to pull it.
“By your command,” she said slightly grudgingly with a glance at Gilda. She then ordered the civilians, Nydia and Chief Jacobs to walk beside it and protect it, given it contained what might be sorely needed supplies.
It also contained the Ambassador’s aide, as to her great annoyance, Raleigh had simply invited himself to ride within it instead of walk. Though tempted to order him out, she didn’t, given that in his overweight state, there was practically no chance he could make a two-league march on his own. That still left her sole remaining earth griffon Spear in effect carrying him again, but at least this time, he wouldn’t be accidentally groping her shoulders.
Their march order set, they assembled for movement as planned, with the Ravens in the lead and Imlay assigning his three fire teams to cover the flanks and rear. Fortrakt’s aerial group, which he had split into two smaller squads, flew low over the formation to keep below the level of the recently restored area enchantment; Nydia further reported she sensed at least two additional mages in the area.
“If you can sense them, they can sense you,” Giraldi instantly warned her. “Cease all magic use unless we enter battle.”
“By your command,” Nydia replied obediently. “But there’s also something else…”
“Something else?” GIlda asked.
Nydia hesitated for a moment. “I sense another magical signature I can’t identify or pinpoint. It’s weak, but it’s present. And it seems to be moving with us.”
“Is it dangerous?” Gilda immediately asked. “Another enchantment or curse?”
“I don’t think so. It feels… passive. Maybe some form of sensory magic,” her brow furrowed. “But it’s so weak I can’t tell you more than that.”
“‘Moving with us’ implies we have a spy in our midst,” Ebon Umbreon warned her over the radio. “Whatever it is, I would strongly suggest we find and discard the source of that spell before we set off.”
“Agreed,” Gilda said, even though she didn’t like waiting again given the sun was rapidly heading for the horizon and the sky turning a much more fiery orange than usual with all the smoke in the air. “By my order, find it, Decanus.”
“By your command,” she said again, closing her eyes while pointing her stave to and fro. Her bow furrowed in concentration as she moved in a slow circle around the wagon and the human civilians watching her, but her stave kept drifting as it floated to point inwards, towards the group.
Then she approached the wagon, her stave pointed directly at it. “Is there something in the cart?” Giraldi asked her, which was Gilda’s initial guess as well. But the Decanus shook her head.
“No, sir, it’s…” her voice trailed off again as she took flight briefly over the cart, letting her staff float freely; Gilda guessed that she was using it as a magical magnet of sorts, to try to find the source of the mysterious spell.
Chris began to back away as the staff neared him, but Nydia told him to stay still as the staff floated downwards and then hovered at his left hip. “Whatever it is, it’s coming from your pocket, Mister McLain.”
“My pocket?” Chris blinked in confusion as all eyes turned on him, reaching in to pull out his small portal device. “But I’ve only got my smartphone in there. It’s not even charged.”
“I don’t know what that means, but there’s some kind of subtle magic on it,” Nydia warned again, to which Chris just shrugged.
“Of course there is. We had our gear enchanted back in Equestria to protect it from theft or magical scans.”
But Nydia seemed unmollified, floating it up out of his hand to scan it more fully. “But that’s not unicorn spellcasting I sense,” she said, then her eyes widened in alarm. “It feels… Ibexian!”
You’ve heard about them, and now it’s finally time to meet them, folks. They finally appear this chapter, and I’ll say no more than that. Be looking for new Eros chapter tonight, and the next main story chapter this weekend, followed by a new entry to Harmonic Resonance being released most likely the weekend after. Thanks in advance for reading!
Party hard
Those sly Ibexian bastards.
I'm so excited to see how the Ibexian contingent is going to fit in to all this.
I have to admire my Sensei's faith in me. Most people wouldn't ask a guy to write clopfic for them with a handicap working against them, much less three. I haven't written human x anything in six years and I've never written anything with griffons. Nothing at all. And because they're griffons, this means no earplay as they lack external auricles.
This is the difference between sending out a fully-armed TIger tank to take on Soviet armor and sending out four dismounted tankists with a pair of MG-42's. The Pokémon porn fic I posted to Archive of Our Own is more familiar to my Fimfiction work than this proposed chapter is and that was written with two hours' worth of experience playing a Mystery Dungeon game on the DS.
I'm going to have to try it though. If Firesight says I can do it, then I must be the very best. Like no one ever was.