Ian

  It was the kind of miserable spring day that makes you want to pick fights with meteorologists about the definition of seasons. Water hung in the air like rain run through a fine cheesegrater, its fall dictated more by the wind than gravity. I hunched against the tree, sharing the curled misery of its barely-budding branches and peering through the grey at the farmhouse two hundred yards away down the hill.

  This was as close as I could get and be sure of remaining unnoticed. It was open field all the way from here, probably only recently planted. I hadn't seen anything to indicate the presence of security personnel, but the location was so perfectly and simply secure that I couldn't be sure there weren't people inside watching on cameras. This last tree was close enough that I could see if activity down there picked up, and I had my binoculars if it did.

  Collected water was starting to drip from the brim of my hood. The waterproof was scratchy and sweaty but for now at least it was keeping me dry. I could feel the lumps of the tree's bark imprinting themselves on my shoulder. The base of my spine was slowly turning to stone.

  The road past the farm's driveway was pretty quiet, so when a dark van slowed to turn up the drive, it stuck out despite the distance. I slipped my binocs out of their rainproof cover, wiped moisture off the lenses anyway, and peered through them.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Magnified, the van didn't look quite so black. It was more a dark, old-timey brown, and there was something ornate written on the side in gold. It parked up in the yard by the barn, the angle just too narrow for me to read the logo. Probably a delivery from some swanky boutique.

  I was about to put the binocs down again but the man who opened the van door and dismounted was anything but what I'd expected. His hair flipped and curled in at least three improbable directions, a huge blonde cowlick standing up from what I assumed was his natural black mop. The flickering purple haze around his head was unmistakably sorcery. Not a normal delivery, then.

  He certainly acted like a normal delivery guy, though, going round to the back of the van and reappearing with a large box. He hunched his shoulders and headed for the house, out of my line of sight. I waited, squinting through the binocs at the van as if I could magically spin it in place to look at the writing on the side.

  The sorcerer returned to the van and I heard the engine growl distantly to life. As he worked through his three-point turn to get out of the yard, I finally got a clear look at the logo and shivered. The extravagant cursive read 'PURE DARKNESS', which seemed like a pretty ominous thing to name a business, especially one where a sorcerer was low enough in the pecking order to be the delivery driver.

  Maybe I'd get lucky and find something in the business directory about them. God forbid I had to actually find the place and check it out myself. Somehow I doubted that magicians would be open to taking my bribes. What had Lachlan gotten me into? He was odd enough as a client that his interest in the farm might be magic-related.

  Friday: Brynna - major update (1489 words)

  Saturday: Brynna - supplement (266 words)

  Sunday: Race (3220 words)

  articles from a sports website covering dragon racing, if you want a broader perspective on the lore, the world and the sport.

  Second race: Buildup starts June 10th, race day June 16th

  Third race: Buildup starts June 17th, race day June 23rd

  Fourth race: Buildup starts June 26th, race day July 7th

  Fifth race: Buildup starts July 8th, race day July 20th

  Sixth race: Buildup starts July 22nd, race day 4th August

  Seventh race: Buildup starts 5th August, race day 12th August

  Eighth race: Buildup starts 13th August, race day 18th August

  Ninth race: Buildup starts 19th August, race day 25th August

  Tenth race: Buildup starts 26th August, race day 1st September

  Mid-season break: 4th-8th September

  Eleventh race: Buildup starts 9th September, race day 15th September

  Twelfth race: Buildup starts 16th September, race day 22nd September

  Thirteenth race: Buildup starts 23rd September, race day 6th October

  Fourteenth race: Buildup starts 7th October, race day 13th October

  Fifteenth race: Buildup starts 14th October, race day 20th October

  Sixteenth race: Buildup starts 23rd October, race day 27th October

  Seventeenth race: Buildup starts 30th October, race day 10th November

  Final race: Buildup starts 11th November, race day tbd (likely 1st week in December)