Short Stories of Witchkind

By Don Jones

Explore the rich and wonderful world of witchkind with this collection of 8 short stories! 

 

The world of witchkind is steeped in ancient history and recent conflict. It's a world where magic is controlled by beautiful, complex runes, and where magic aligns itself with the fundamental forces of Sea and Sky, and Earth and Flame. It's a place where witchkind lives in secret alongside humans, living and working in hidden spaces that somehow exist within the buildings erected by humans. A world where the ancient powers once ran amuck, only to be bound by five brave Archons into the great Axes of Power. A world where youngsters' Tests determine their destinies, and where magic is an everyday part of life—even for the unknowing humans of the world. It's a world of mystery and wonder that will seize your imagination!

 

These 8 tales range across the history of the universe of witchkind, including the beforetimes ("The Hunt"), and the Age of the Adherents ("Coins of a Witch," "Lessons," "Nothing But Tests," "Witchwood," "Transfer to Thornwaithe's," and "Fisherwitch"). You'll even enjoy a short historical tale that's also a puzzle for you to solve ("The True Language"). 

 

These stories offer an opportunity to explore the edges and unseen parts of the world of witchkind, touching on some of their most significant historical events as well as their everyday lives. If you've read "Daniel Scratch: a story of witchkind," then you'll love these additional peeks into the world's backstories. If you haven't, then this collection is a great way to get a feel for this deeply imagined world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Don Jones
• Release date: Dec 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393917403

Don Jones

Don Jones is a PowerShell MVP, speaker, and trainer. He developed the Microsoft PowerShell courseware and has taught PowerShell to more than 20,000 IT pros. Don writes the PowerShell column for TechNet Magazine and blogs about PowerShell at PowerShell.com. Ask Don your PowerShell questions at http://bit.ly/AskDon.

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short stories of witchkind

witchkind.com

Don Jones

Copyright © 2020 Don Jones

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You can learn more about the universe of witchkind at witchkind.com.

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Paperbacks available on Amazon and in wide distribution.

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Stories of Witchkind

Daniel Scratch • Master of the Tower • The Fifth Axis

The Order of Some • The Conspiracy of One • The Truth of All

Sundered • The Forge

The Achillios Chronicles

Alabaster • Onyx • Verdant

Also available in a Kindle omnibus edition

The Prime Wave Accounting

Power Wave • Superior Wave

witchkind.com • DonJones.com

About this Collection

THIS COLLECTION IS set in the universe of witchkind, the world first seen in the novel Daniel Scratch: a story of witchkind and its sequels. These stories seek to explore the edges of that world, examining aspects of life, and even some of Daniel’s own experiences, that fall outside the main novels. Within these stories, you’ll find glimpses of secrets only hinted at in the novels and find new portions of the world that have yet to be fully opened and examined. Some of these stories are contemporaneous with Daniel Scratch, while others occur long in the past. Most of these stories do occur in the Middle Age of Witchkind, which is the centuries-long period of time in which Daniel Scratch is set.

Transfer to Thornwaith's

CLASS, WE HAVE a transfer student joining us today. This is Ryzan, formerly of Disemstoke’s.

The other teenagers in the class looked intently at Ryzan, and a few offered knowing nods. Transfer student only meant one thing at Thornwaith’s, and they all knew it. Most of the hard, flat looks he was receiving were probably from children who’d been assigned to Thornwaith’s from the outset. The couple of cold, calculating glares were likely from students who’d also been transferred and who were wondering what he’d done to get sent here.

Ryzan had arrived early that same morning, shepherded by Disemstoke’s Head Disciplinarian. They’d left directly from her office after Ryzan’s parents had signed the transfer forms. They’d had little choice; Ryzan had been Tested and found worthy of schooling, which in effect meant he was required to be educated at one of witchkind’s schools until he reached his majority. Ryzan could still see the bitter disappointment on his parents’ faces. His father had been educated at Disemstoke’s, the first in his family to be so honored. His mother, like the rest of her family, had only modest magic, and none of them had ever been admitted to one of the great schools. His parents had been thrilled when he’d been Tested and found worthy, and very obviously crushed when they’d been told he’d be transferred to Thornwaith’s.

Not that Thornwaith’s was a bad school.

The Disciplinarian had taken Ryzan’s hand, led him out of the school’s grand front entrance, and begun stepping southward. Ryzan had only travelled this way once before, when his father had brought him to Disemstoke’s at the beginning of the semester. The sensation was exhilarating and chaotic at the same time, the scenery whizzing by as each step covered a league or more. The Disciplinarian hadn’t paused when they’d reached the southern coast, her steps carrying them across the deep blue sea to the lonely island where Thornwaith’s awaited. She’d paused for a moment when they finally reached the shore of the island, and Ryzan caught a glimpse of the strange trees growing along the sandy beach. Their slim, tall trunks were bare of leaves until the very top, where they practically exploded with huge, flat leaves unlike anything Ryzan had seen in the North. Then the Disciplinarian had stepped onward, moving quickly through the thick, more traditional wood at the island’s heart, until they came to Thornwaith’s itself.

The ancient school consisted of a single stone tower perched upon a rocky hill, looming over the surrounding landscape. Looking up, Ryzan had made out only a few window-slits along its otherwise featureless walls. The broad, square tower was topped with crenelated battlements, and Ryzan wondered if it had originally been built as a fortress of some kind. A metal staircase, incongruous in any building made by witchkind, clung to the side of the tower and provided access from a single dark opening to the upper battlements.

On the whole, the tower looked far too small to contain an entire school of magic. It wasn’t until the Disciplinarian led him into a small opening at the foot of the rocky hill that Ryzan realized almost the entire school was underground.

The transfer of custody went quickly, smoothly, and almost silently, as a Thornwaith’s administrator met them. The Disciplinarian left as quickly as she could, leaving Ryzan feeling even more alone and depressed. The administrator had him sit on a cold, stone bench, next to a flickering torch that provided the only illumination in a dim hallway. Before long, the sounds of the school coming to life began to echo down the hall as students made their way up from wherever they’d spent the night. Ryzan’s stomach grumbled just as the administrator returned with a plate of hot buttered rolls, bidding him to eat quickly. He did so, and was once again taken by the hand and led to the classroom, where the teacher introduced him to the room full of knowing stares..

Ryzan ducked his head quickly to his new classmates and took the seat the teacher indicated. It was directly in the front row, and Ryzan imagined he could feel the hot glares of the entire class on the back of his neck.

The teacher began his lecture.

⁂

Life at Thornwaith’s was not unlike that at Disemstoke’s. Despite full knowledge of where they were and why they were there, Thornwaith’s students were still teenagers, and tended to focus on their day to day studies, whatever mischief the administrators and teachers would permit them, and the little cliques that formed, ebbed, and flowed throughout the student body’s ever-changing social structure. The dire feeling of being at Thornwaith’s didn’t seem to press so heavily during the busy days.

Each morning began with a modest breakfast and was filled primarily with lectures from a variety of teachers. Ryzan was a first-year student, an Entrant in the formal language of a school and a Baby in the crueler language of the upperclassmen. He’d be in Thornwaith’s for six years, progressing to Supplicant, then from Freshman to Sophomore to Junior, and finally to the exalted title of Senior. Upon his graduation—and his teachers had quickly made it clear that failing to graduate was not an option—he’d at least be permitted to leave, traveling to whatever town or village he wished and entering the ordinary life of witchkind. Like the other great schools, Thornwaith’s offered