Series: The Rusted Blade
- Swordmaiden
- Paladin
- Rust, Blood, and Flame
- Light, Faith, and Sacrament
- Feeding the Flame
- The Fire Consuming
- An Embrace Eternal
- Dancing with Death
- A Chosen Tool
- Silence after the Storm
- A True Beginning
- Distant Whispers
- In Presence Exalted
- Servants of Fire
- Of the Dark, Of the Light
- A Warm Glow
- An Introduction and a Challenge
- Flames of the Fire
- Blazing Sparks
- Burning Coals
- Rebirth by Flame
- Aspects of Divinity
- Burden’s Release
- Cold Fire – and Hot Fury
- Resolve and Passion
- Grim Purpose
- That Which Is Given
- Grim Focus
- Weight and Depth
- Grim Satisfaction
- Slaughter and Sacrifice
- Grim Determination
- Duty and Death
- Grim Destruction
- Grim Fury
There was a silent explosion of glittering light that swept through the forest in a radiant blast.
Orthael was thrown aside, tumbling away in a dreadful kinematic arc. Orthael swayed but held on, enfolding the girl under ghostly wings of supernatural glory.
An oak tree older than living memory stopped Orthael, chips of bark sent flying by deadweight momentum. An oak tree proud and strong basked in the glow, bowing before the holy presence of the Original Flame.
The girl wept and cried out, but there was no answer; she was alone and friendless in a still clearing. The girl wept and cried out, but the answer had always been with her; the Fire dried her tears and warmed her heart.
For several moments it was the former, but the All-Consumer is not cold. Then it was both – the two fates overlapping in flickering simultaneity – but the All-Consumer is not ambiguous. Lastly it was the latter, because the All-Consumer gives, and that settled as the only truth in a night full of strangeness and uncertainty.
