1)
“I take it a direct, clear royal command would simply be ignored?”
“This IS Lord Wolf we’re speaking of.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 9, 2020

2)
“As if he’s not even here; how polite. And may I remind you all that enemy soldiers are everywhere down here, and some of them have ears that function?”
“Don’t you always have some magic up your sleeve?”#epicfantasy 3)
{sigh} “The perils of a reputation for competence, among those who lack it entirely.”
“NOW who’s being rude?”
“Candid is not rude, except among the deluded.”
{cough} “Royalty and Castle courtiers, Lord?”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 9, 2020

4)
“Good point, Palonder. Finished festooning the King with waterbags yet?”
“I believe so, Lord.”
“Good. Push him to the fore. He’ll be mistaken for a downtrodden servant, and allowed to live longer.”
“While we shelter behind him?”#epicfantasy 5)
“You’re learning tactics, I see. Good man. There’s a future for you after all.”
“What sort of future, Lord?”
“Oh, don’t spoil things with demands for candor, Palonder. I can only gild airy fantasy so much.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 9, 2020

1)
The blinded enemy soldier reels away, cursing, to carom off the passage wall and—get his throat slit open by Wolf.
The third soldier sees just enough of this to recoil and claw for a shuttered storm-lantern in the grasp of 2)
…the fourth soldier, to get it open and illuminating the fray. Wolf shoves the dying, throat-slit second soldier at the third, who turns to flee. Forcing the lantern-bearing fourth soldier back. So he’s out of reach as…#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 12, 2020

4)
…up the fallen swords of the second and third soldiers and throws them at the fourth man’s feet. The second skirling blade makes the fleeing soldier stumble and fall heavily, the lantern’s innards shattering noisily—and Wolf…#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 12, 2020

5)
…pounces and sees to another throat.
“What was THAT?” another voice demands, from some distance away in the gloom.
“They have BIG rats down here,” replies a sour male voice. “Best left undisturbed.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 12, 2020

1)
“Well, it’s nice to know that other kingdoms are home to practical, sensible delusionists,” Wolf whispers, leading a retreat into the darkness.
“Eh? What d’you mean by that?”
“Elvar, yon enemy soldier knows full well no rats… 2)
…made the din we just did. He also knows it would be suicidal insanity to head into our midst to do something about us. So he lies to his fellow warriors about the cause of all the metallic crashings, and lets us hear his…#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 13, 2020

43)
…falsehood, so we know he’ll not be tangling with us—so we can leave him and his fellows alone, and slip away.”
“And are we going to oblige him?”
“Of course not. He’s in the way of something I want, so he’s a foe and must die)
“A crudely simple life philosophy.”
“To some, Chant, to some. Others find it refreshing.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 13, 2020

I’ve found adventurers make the most memorable guests
Thanks to the odd nature of what they consider hilarious jests
And that’s why silencing them makes me feel relief, and not gloat
As all their bodies pile up until they quite choke the moat

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 11, 2020

Their portraits quite fail the true depths of their sneering to depict
So I quite enjoyed with my sword, hilt deep, their opinions to contradict

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 12, 2020

Along the dark passages the gleeping horrors slunk
In their talons and gaping maws my fervent hopes are sunk
For they shall my foes catch and claw
And munch on them, and eat them raw

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 13, 2020

1)
“Don’t let any lawkeepers hear you talk like that, Wolf.”
“Why not? WE are the makers of laws, remember? Their job is to enforce the laws we make. If they start thinking for themselves, they’re disloyal traitors who must be…#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 14, 2020

2)
…removed from their posts—and, usually, promptly relieved of their lives. Purely as a matter of public safety, of course.”
“You’ve got it all figured out, haven’t you?” 3)
“Courtier, remember? The first tool in any courtier’s arsenal is a glib line of self-justifying reasoning.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 14, 2020

1)
“Could your glib line of reasoning lead my stomach to something to eat?”
“Elvar, I realize kings need their bellies filled often and with things that taste good rather than being good for you, but a little patience, please. …#epicfantasy 2)
… It’s a long way to the surface from here.”
“And whose fault is that? I didn’t choose to go strolling about the dungeons of this keep!”
“True. However, any other course of action would have meant our swift deaths.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 15, 2020

3)
“And we did retrieve the Julthoon.”
“Which, Lady, proved to be as swiftly unreliable as all of Wolf’s other magical toys.”
“And let that be a lesson to you, Elvar. Trust not in magic; trust in yourself.”
“I’m more trustworthy?”#epicfantasy 4)
“You have your own interests at heart. Magic serves the interests of whoever enchanted it. And most such folk are less than sane.”
“They were all kings? Or all courtiers?”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 15, 2020

1)
“Palonder, there’s a time and a place for that sort of levity. And if the time is now, the place is out of earshot. Being as we’re all either courtiers or kings.”
“Yes, Lord. I just heard another clink, Lord.”#2)
“Yes. That’d be the delusionist failing to delude us.”
“Eh?”
“Yon enemy soldier was trying to be clever. Saying he’ll not disturb the rats, to lull us, when he’s actually silently waving his fellows into a stealthy advance on…#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 17, 2020

3)
…us. Or rather, an insufficiently stealthy advance; I’ve been hearing those clinks, too, without truly attentive listening.”
“So what now?” 4)
“We eliminate him, of course. Such deceit, in our fair kingdom, cannot be tolerated.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 17, 2020

1)
“You’ll say ANYTHING to justify doing whatever most benefits you, won’t you?”
“I do possess the guiding principles of a courtier, yes.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 18, 2020

2)
“The problem with that is the limited patience of individuals like the King, here. And their tendencies to grow tired of clever speechifying and to cut it short with a handy sword.” 3)
“Bad governance, we courtiers call that.”
“EFFECTIVE governance, we kings term it.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 18, 2020