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Since it’s July Camp NaNoWriMo and I’ll be working on Song and Shadow, I thought I’d kind of step back from posting from it for a bit and instead show you what led to writing it by introducing the adult Hierik in Song and Sword.
To set the scene: Marlia, a Paladin of Arithen, the Elven God of Justice has been arrested for murder. The “she” in the first paragraph is Lethea, the woman who runs the boarding house they are staying at.
“I have news,” she said as they moved to help her with her packages. “The judge from the capital has arrived. He’s going to go talk to your friend, and have the trial tomorrow morning.”
All three of them suddenly felt a cold clutch of fear. They had known it would be happening, but this made it real.
“Do you know who it is?” Pashevel asked.
“They said his name was Hierik. They said that he’s… cruel. An interrogator as well as a judge.”
Pashevel smiled. “Dakkas, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to go to the jail to see Marlia. Stay with her. Tell her not to mention my name.”
Dakkas frowned. “All right, but where will you be?”
“Getting ready to pay a visit to an old friend – but I don’t want him to recognize me.”
“Pash, if he’s been in this town more than an hour I’m sure he’s heard your name at the tavern.”
“Maybe,” Pashevel said. “But if he has, I doubt he’s said anything about knowing me.”
“You know him?” Dakkas asked.
“We’ve met,” Pashevel replied.
“Did you part on good terms?” Dakkas asked, then shook his head. “Of course you did. Stupid question.”
Pashevel: a simple Elven Bard — and the Crown Prince
Marlia: a Paladin of Arithen, the Elven God of Justice – seeking vengeance for the destruction of her village
Dakkas: heir to the Drow throne — if his father and elder half-brother don’t kill him first
Kashrya: raised among a tribe of nomadic Humans, she is unaware of her true heritage — or of the prophecy that made her mother an outcast
Their goal: build a bridge between the Elves and their outcast brethren, the Drow, reuniting them and undoing the damage caused in a time so far gone that history has become legend and legend has become myth.
But first, they have a problem to solve: how do you stop a war that hasn’t started?
Novel Notes 
Oh, if hierik is such a bad person, I wonder what went wrong ?