#Doing it the way Adin did all those generations ago

[wickedcriminal]

King Lief, where he wasn't actually the true heir to Adin by blood, but was still the true heir by heart.

Where Endon's bloodline really did die, but by uniting the belt, using it wisely, and proving himself worthy to all the tribes in Deltora, Lief became king anyway.

[withickmire]

hands so bloody

Fandom: Deltora Quest Summary: Unbeknownst to its intended victims, the Shadow Lord begins the Conversion Project. Characters: Barda, Jasmine, Lief, mentions of others. Notes: This is for @anniebogoni​ who requested Barda and Jasmine between series 1 and 2. Thanks for the prompt! AO3 Content Warning: A suicide that is referenced in The Isle of Illusion makes an appearance here.  

Weak sunlight cast the palace in a watery, washed-out glow. Barda squinted through the light to peer at the massive structure before him. It had been two months since he had called it home again, and yet it felt so terribly strange to walk up the wide steps.

He looked back at his companion, trailing just behind him. Without an official title or position, and with Lief and Doom almost always preoccupied, Jasmine would occasionally shadow Barda on his rounds. He did not discourage this habit, for otherwise she spent her time alone, and besides, she was the best kind of company.

“There is a place for you in the palace guards, should you wish it,” Barda had told her the week before, doing his best to keep his voice unaffected. “You would not need to apply.”

Jasmine had stared blankly ahead. Months earlier, he would have thought that the girl’s face was unreadable like this. But he could see the thought behind her sharp eyes, and the way her lips pulled downwards when she concentrated.

“Thank you,” she had said awkwardly. “But I would not want it.”

He had meant his words, but so had she, and so Barda had never offered again.

“Are you finished, already?” Jasmine asked, pulling him from the memory.

“My shift has ended, but I wish to look in on how the meetings are going. Mobley has only been my deputy for a few weeks, and I have left him in charge of guarding them.”

Jasmine grimaced. "I do not understand why all those people crowd into that room just for a chance to speak to Lief or Sharn. They all want food and money. As if Lief would not give it to them if he had any to give at all!”

“It is better that he listens to them say the same things, than ignore them and fall back into the old ways,” he said darkly, as if Jasmine’s thoughts had not crossed his own mind.

They reached the top of the stairs and Kree took flight from Jasmine’s shoulder, choosing the open air rather than the confines of the palace. Barda did not miss the wistful look that Jasmine followed him with.

The huge doors were splayed open in what was meant to be a sign of welcome. Barda had always thought they made the great hall appear cavernous, but he did not feel the need to say so. The line to speak to the king and his mother nearly spilled out of the entrance.

A young woman stood just outside of the doors. She was awfully thin, and the rough brown dress she wore did little to shield her from the cool morning air. She trembled and swayed as she gazed up at the massive palace, and Barda softened, despite himself. He had learned in his years as a beggar that looking upon the palace with hate and fear had been a ritual etched into the bones of the citizens of Del for generations. As he and Jasmine drew closer, he realized the woman was trembling. He recalled how he had shaken, when he fled the palace the night of the Shadowlord’s invasion. How he had stumbled away from the monstrous structure, gasping to catch hold of his panicked breath, clutching his sword with a sweat-slicked hand. But that had been so long ago, and there was no evil left to drive from inside the palace walls.

“You need not fear it any longer,” he said gently. The woman flinched, and turned to him, staring up with wide blue eyes framed by brown curls. A flash of recognition passed over her face; he and Jasmine had become as recognizable as Lief. Her eyes looked far away, but she gave him a brief smile, and darted away into the hall.

They went in after her, but the woman had already been swallowed by the crowd. Barda could see Lief and Sharn from where he stood. Lief was listening intently to a man surrounded by three children who clutched their father’s patched coat and stared at the king with undisguised awe. Lief had grown taller and broader during their journey, but he had only just turned seventeen. His face was still very much that of a boy.

Suddenly, Jasmine stiffened beside Barda, and placed a hand on his arm. Something was wrong, he realized. Jasmine’s instincts had never failed them before.

Screams suddenly rose like a symphony, starting near where they stood, and spreading through the crowd. Swifter than lightning, Barda and Jasmine swung around, pulling their weapons from their sheaths. Filli wailed from under Jasmine’s scarf, his thin voice joining the others.

“Get out of the way!” Barda boomed, but the people before him did not need to be told. The crowd parted as a figure barrelled through. It was the woman he had only just seen, but she had shed all of her fear. She was shockingly fast, and clenched a wicked knife in her hands. Mobley and Dale were at Lief and Sharn’s sides, but they could not see the source that was causing such panic. Lief had drawn his own sword and was searching for the culprit in vain, for she was shielded by the crowd.

“Son of Adin! Son of Endon!” The woman shrieked; a terrible cry of hate and rage. “Little Lief, come to me! We must away together, you and I! Do you not tire of playing a king? Does the game not grow old? I know a game that is much more fun!”

Jasmine dodged through the people, sweeping nimbly through the crowd as she had once darted between the trees in the Forests of Silence. Barda followed a little behind, keeping his eyes carefully placed on Jasmine’s back. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the woman and hooked her foot underneath her legs, causing her to stagger and fall to the floor. Jasmine had the flat of her dagger pressed against the woman’s heaving throat when Barda arrived. He pressed his mighty hands against the woman’s slim shoulders, pinning her to the cold stone floor. She wailed and spat in his face.

“Do that again, and die,” Jasmine hissed. The woman turned her savage eyes to the girl and bared her teeth.

Barda used the woman’s distraction and tried to pull the knife from her hand. Her grip was of iron, and her fingers were white-knuckled. She flailed her free hand, catching Jasmine hard on her cheek, and grasped at the knife with both hands. Barda’s own hand slid down the hilt, and the blade bit into his palm. He gritted his teeth and tried to pry her fingers from the weapon, but the woman was relentless. Jasmine pulled her own knife away to give him room.

“No, no, no, no,” the woman sobbed hysterically. Blood ringed her arms in delicate trails; she had cut her own hands on the blade. It streamed onto Barda’s hand, and his fingers skidded down her arm for just a moment. It was all she needed. As her sobs turned to wordless screams, she raised the blade high and plunged it into her own heart. Her eyes rolled and her lips opened and closed like a fish out water, as she laboured toward the death she had chosen. Barda did not look away as her blood pooled under his legs. Finally she was still, and her empty eyes stared dully at the high ceiling.

Jasmine did not hesitate before pulling the knife from the dead woman’s ruined hands, as if she feared someone might pick it up and finish what had been started. She knelt beside him, and stared at the body with eyes of unflinching stone.  

Barda finally raised his head. The silence in the room was deafening. Many of the people had fled the palace in the scuffle, but still more were staring at the body on the floor. His face was wet with the woman’s saliva and blood. He reached a hand out to Jasmine and together they staggered to their feet.

“We will reconvene tomorrow,” Lief’s voiced echoed through the massive room. One by one, the remaining people turned from the body to face their king. “I ask you to return to your homes for your own safety. Please.”

Slowly, as if recovering from an enchantment, they found their voices. Whispers and murmurs rose high, but they did as they were told, trickling from the palace achingly slow. Many eyes lingered on the body, and the two blood-splattered people that stood beside it, but Barda and Jasmine stared them all down.

“Get the king away,” Barda bellowed at Mobley and Dale when the crowd had finally left. “And find Doom.”

The guards nodded and followed Sharn as she steered Lief out of the hall, ignoring his protests and the desperate looks he shot back at his friends. A wave of exhaustion hit Barda like a blow.

“They failed him,” Jasmine said fiercely, watching the guards go. “They are supposed to protect Lief, are they not?”

“They did not leave his side, and he is alive,” Barda said firmly. “For now, that is enough.”

“And so protecting Lief falls to us?” Jasmine snapped. She let the dead woman’s knife clatter to the floor, and sheathed her own.

“Just as it has before. You knew that,” Barda said, just as angrily. “That, at least, has not changed.”

Still, he could not help but admit to himself that she was half-right. Had we not been here…

Jasmine’s brow was smeared with the woman’s blood, but her own trickled from the cut on her cheek left by desperate fingernails.

“You should bandage that,” he said gruffly.

She shrugged. “Yours is worse.”

Barda looked down. The battle-heat was wearing away and the nasty gash on his palm was beginning to throb. It would need to be sewn.

He looked at the dead woman, a thousand questions swirling in his mind.

“No one will claim her now,” was all he said aloud. “If she had any family, they will not come forward. Not when the Lief’s rule is so new. No one will want that kind of mark.”

Jasmine crouched by the body. She slipped her hands into the bloodstained pockets of the woman’s dress, and ran her hands along the seams. Barda looked away.

“She has nothing,” Jasmine said finally. “Nothing at all.”

Barda looked at the woman’s spindly wrists and hollow cheeks. Jasmine was not wrong. He cursed harshly.

Jasmine rose to her feet, pressing a ginger finger to her cut. Despite her anger with the guards, she appeared satisfied at least with the conclusion. But Barda’s dread only increased the longer he stared at the body.

It has only been two months, he thought grimly. This is not a good omen.

As the woman’s blood began to tighten against his skin where it dried, Barda could not help but think that something much worse was still to come.

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I wanted to write something pre-series 2 before things started to go poorly with Lief and Jasmine, and Lief and the people. I imagine there was tension even before it became apparent that there were lies and secrets. I think it’s interesting how the attempted assassination attempts via the Conversion Project were really the catalyst for Lief very nearly losing the people’s faith. The Enemy is sly, indeed…

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Halak, Markstrom, Gibson, Ferland, Shattenkirk and even more goalie talk (Jan 14)

Ramblings: Halak, Markstrom, Gibson, Ferland, Shattenkirk and even more goalie talk (Jan 14)

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I released the 11th annual Midseason Fantasy Guide on Friday. It has deeper, more-ready prospect info, plus KHL/Euro/NCAA free agents, trade block musings and of course second-half projections. It’s a great way to step back and take a look at your team, take a look at your league, and figure out a strategy for the second half. It also supports the site and damn if it isn’t a great read. It’s also my longest ever at 231 (!) pages. Pick it up here!

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I’m getting a lot of questions on Twitter about goaltending. All season long, to be honest, but it’s really picked up again over the past week as the early-on struggling starters begin to take their jobs back from the red-hot backups. And some of these are just so tough to answer. Drop Casey DeSmith for MacKenzie Blackwood? A proven guy who is losing starts for an unproven guy who may get the starts but is on a weak team? Another tough one – drop Jaroslav Halak, who is losing his grip on starts as Tuukka Rask is on fire and will get most starts down the stretch…to pick up Alexandar Georgiev who is a backup and is terrible but he’s behind a starter who is even worse? Sure, you could take the guy who will get you 0.8 points over the next week instead of the guy who might get you 1.2 points. But maybe it could be vice-versa? Your guys who have really helped you in the first half are no longer helping you. Sorry, but there’s no solution, if he’s your second goalie you’ll just have to take the two starts every three weeks that you’ll be getting from now on. Adding Georgiev is not going to save you. If you’re in this position I am guessing you were lucky to grab Halak (or DeSmith, or Domingue, etc.) in the first place so the time to stabilize your goaltending for when this happens would have been a month ago. But instead, you bet against the contract and hung on.

Mikko Koskinen sits for three out of four games when he’s the superior goalie, what to do with that guy? Same thing as with Halak, except Cam Talbot isn’t exactly stealing his job back just yet – he’s just getting most of the starts again. David Rittich could be in the same boat soon, despite how awesome he’s been. Louis Domingue was helpful too, but his time is over. Ditto for Casey DeSmith – and those of you in keeper leagues hoping he would parlay this great season into a starting gig somewhere else, well, his new contract isn’t a starter’s contract. So he’s doomed to be a backup and that’s that.

Long story short, this is why I follow the contract. Because even though it can be painful owning some of these guys for 10, 20 or even 40 games, eventually they retain the starting gig and generally do okay with it. Chasing backups is something that I don’t do in keeper leagues unless I see a chance at his becoming a starter. I had mild interest in DeSmith, now that interest is gone. I have interest in Collin Delia, I have interest in Rittich, and I like Cal Petersen over Jack Campbell. That’s it.

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Adin Hill coughed up seven goals on Sunday but it really wasn’t his fault, the Coyotes were horrible. But he is 3-5-0, 3.75 and 0.872 since December 6.

Darcy Kuemper has posted four solid games in a row and has six Quality Starts over his last eight.

Calvin Pickard was underwhelming in his AHL conditioning stint, allowing 11 goals on 99 shots for Tucson. Although he did go 3-0-0 so he stopped ‘enough’ pucks to get it done (he’s 4-2-2 in the NHL too, so maybe that’s just how he works?). Pickard was recalled from his stint Sunday, but he’s not looking like the answer for Arizona. But I don’t think they would mind his warming the bench while they give Hill some better starts down in Tucson. I suspect they’ll send Hill down soon.

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Three more points for Mark Giordano and he was also a plus-5. He’s now a ridiculous plus-36 with 47 points in 45 games on the season.

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Arizona line combinations with Jordan Weal in the lineup:

#1

28.6%

COUSINS,NICK – GALCHENYUK,ALEX – GARLAND,CONOR

#2

25.4%

ARCHIBALD,JOSH – CROUSE,LAWSON – KEMPE,MARIO

#3

22.2%

HINOSTROZA,VINNIE – PANIK,RICHARD – STEPAN,DEREK

#4

12.7%

FISCHER,CHRISTIAN – KELLER,CLAYTON – WEAL,JORDAN

Immediately tried out with the big guns. But he did cough up a tough one on the fourth Calgary goal so I’m not sure how long that will last.

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I was worried about Sergei Bobrovsky after this weekend’s mysterious team suspension. And now I’m worried that his focus is blown. He got the win but gave up five goals on 27 shots. It really hasn’t been fun owning Bobrovsky this year.

With two assists Sunday, Ryan Murray is still humming along at a point every two games.

Kevin Stenlund played his first and second career NHL games Saturday and Sunday. He is a solid middle-six prospect who had a great training camp and as an AHL rookie so far appears to be a 20-goal scorer this year. He was plunked on a line with Alexander Wennberg and Anthony Duclair this weekend, but was held without a point. His DobberProspects profile is here.

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Neal Pionk has one point in his last 10 games. Kevin Shattenkirk has four points in that span. The Rangers also gave up their five-forward top power-play-unit experiment and let Shatty back on it. A few games ago he was moved to the second PP while Coach Quinn went with five forwards on the top one. Shattenkirk has seen 10 minutes of PP time over the last three games so it appears things have returned to normal. Other than the ‘scoring points’ thing. Shattenkirk’s last PP point was on November 9. The one before that was October 16. The one before that was last season.

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Loui Eriksson was on nobody’s active roster yesterday as he went out and had himself a three-point game. This after going eight games without a point. He was also plus-4. He was still on a depth line playing with checking-line players, he just happened to have a good game.

After a couple of rough games, Jacob Markstrom bounced back with a Quality Start. Since December 6 he is 10-3-1, 2.13 and 0.925%.

I don’t care how great Thatcher Demko is, I am the lone wolf of the DobberHockey writers – Demko isn’t going to usurp this. Markstrom is posting stellar numbers, he was a highly-touted prospect (more highly-touted than Demko is now, even), and yes he had some rough years and took six years longer to ‘make it’ than we wanted – but he’s getting it done and he’s making $4 million next year. So he’s getting all the starts he wants for the next year and a half. And you know what? If he keeps posting a 0.920 SV% as this team gets better, the best prospect in the world isn’t going to take it from him. I’ve seen it before and I’ll see it again (remember Jonathan Bernier was the next big thing, but couldn’t wrench the job away from a fella named Quick who got there a year earlier).

Sometimes, starting goaltending is about timing. Mid-level, lesser-touted goalie prospects can become great fantasy assets because they arrive in an organization at the perfect time (Corey Crawford, Jimmy Howard, Chris Osgood, and maybe soon Delia?). And sometimes amazing goalie prospects never get rolling because the timing just missed (Bernier a great example of this, Cory Schneider another one). I know the simple, reflexive answer is “well, trade one!” But it never seems to be that simple. Obvious trades never seem to get done in real life. If Markstrom continues to play above average and gets paid $4 million next year, what if they extend him in the summer? You know the Canucks will try to lock him in, so what if he gets extended for even higher salary for three or four more years? Then what happens to Demko then? I’ll tell you what happens – he gets the Schneider treatment. An extra couple of years too long in the AHL, plus far too long as a backup goalie.

So, here I am. The lone wolf. I think highly of Demko and his upside. I would trade him away in my keeper league because I want someone who will actually play a lot in the next couple of years.

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Victor Hedman left the game after taking a ref’s shoulder to the eye. Doesn’t sound like an injury that would cost him future games, but be wary of a possible concussion.

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Micheal Ferland is back on a line with the big guns Sebastian Aho/Teuvo Teravainen and he’s racking up the points again. Give him five in the last two games. He added seven PIM on Sunday. He’s back on the power play as well, both of Sunday’s points were with the man advantage.

And with four points on Sunday, Aho now has 22 points in his last 15 games, so playing on a line with him is like striking gold these days.

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Colton Sissons, who is filling in for Kyle Turris, seems to be doing better than Turris was on the Kevin Fiala line. Then again, Calle Jarnkrok was doing great there as well. In fact, it seems like if your name isn’t Turris, you’re going to do great with Fiala. Which begs the question – why does Turris get to play with Fiala? Sissons has a four-game points streak, which was preceded by four pointless games, which was preceded by another four-game points streak. In all, Sissons has 11 points in 12 games.

Pekka Rinne was pulled after giving up five goals on 20 shots. In his last 11 games, Rinne is 3-6-2, 3.18 and 0.896. Meanwhile, Juuse Saros has posted five consecutive Quality Starts.

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Anaheim has lost 11 games in a row. The GM announced that he was going to fire Randy Carlyle by saying “I am not considering a coaching change at this time” which, as we know, is the kiss of death.

The sign of desperation? Playing two of your six defensemen 8:30 or less. That leaves the other four defensemen killing themselves out there. Another sign? Jakob Silfverberg was up playing with Ryan Getzlaf and I almost never see that. It’s happened, I just rarely catch it. Another sign? Pontus Aberg is now getting scratched – three games in a row now. Carlyle is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this problem.

John Gibson is 0-5-4 with a 0.896 SV% during this stretch. He is the goalie I would say has the biggest fan club around these parts – I have probably received the most questions about my perceived low ranking of Gibson over the past several years than any other goaltender. Or maybe the Gibson owners are just more vocal. Anyway, I digress. I noted here a few weeks ago that if the Ducks made the playoffs then Gibson should get the Vezina and the Hart, because I felt that the team was terrible but the goalie was doing amazing. Now he’s not stealing games anymore and their crappiness is catching up with them.

One good thing for the Ducks – Daniel Sprong has five points in his last seven games and has wired 29 shots on goal over his last nine. He seems to settling into his new home okay now.

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When I was putting the Midseason Guide together I was surprised at the kind of season Brandon Tanev was having. And with an assist Sunday he has a five-game points streak going. He also added five SOG and six hits.  Since November 14 here is the line on Tanev:

29-9-5-14, plus-4, 13 PIM, 54 SOG, 100 Hits and 26 BLKs.

Just picked him up, myself.

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I just took a look at the hot/cold tool and there are seven players at the 15-game max window we look at that have 23 points or more. That is to say, seven players have at least 23 points in their last 15 games. How about that. Nikita Kucherov (32), Johnny Gaudreau (28 before Sunday night’s three points), Connor McDavid (26), Steven Stamkos (25), Patrick Kane (24), Sidney Crosby (23) and Brayden Point (23).

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{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">19 points in last 20 games for Erik K̶a̶r̶l̶- I mean Gustafsson</p>— Dobber (@DobberHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/DobberHockey/status/1084288158043385856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2019</a></blockquote>

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See you next Monday.

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-halak-markstrom-gibson-ferland-shattenkirk-and-even-more-goalie-talk-jan-14/