The Falcon's Children

1 week ago | falconschildren.com | Ross Douthat

The braziers that ringed the practice yard smelled ghastly all morning and when the fog had burned away and the air had warmed sufficiently, Padrec ordered them extinguished. One of his pages, a thin, freckled boy named Lammen, fetched water from a well in the east bailey and poured it over the flames, sending a curtain of foul smoke rising into the winter sky.

1 month ago | falconschildren.com | Ross Douthat

The snow had ceased, but only for a time. The sweet, brisk taste of it still hung in the frosty air, and the looming clouds above the Three Horns promised another fall before night. For now, though, a patch of blue sky had opened above the battlements, and the rays of a cold sun glinted on the drifts and icicles and dark mountain stone. From where he stood, on the walls of Caldmark, Varelis bar Veruna could see to where the empire ended.

Mar 5, 2025 | falconschildren.com | Ross Douthat

The snow ceased before midnight, and fireworks blossomed above the Castle, fiery streamers in the frosty air. The banquet hall slowly emptied, and the revelers staggered outside to stand in the bailey and courtyards or climb the towers, craning their heads to the pinprick stars and the rockets exploding red and green and gold. Inside, the celebrations continued along halls and into private chambers.

Feb 25, 2025 | falconschildren.com | Ross Douthat

This is Chapter 18 of The Falcon’s Children, a fantasy novel being published serially on this Substack. For an explanation of the project, click here. For the table of contents, click here. For an archive of world building, click here. “And when the One Who Is had withdrawn into the empyrean, his children the Archangels created the spinning stars and placed them in the firmament, and set the sun and moon to wax and wane above the green fields and life-giving water.

Feb 18, 2025 | falconschildren.com | Ross Douthat

This is Chapter 17 of The Falcon’s Children, a fantasy novel being published serially on this Substack. For an explanation of the project, click here. For the table of contents, click here. For an archive of world building, click here. Eventually summer’s humid fist relaxed its grip, and there was a swift succession of lovely high-skied days and warm mosquito nights that died away into the cooler weather of early autumn.