The Winter and the Flame

***The Winter and the Flame*** is a novel by Michael Brandenburg set ten years after the Day of Dark Hands.

The book follows the perspectives of four characters: Raoul Anastaise, Finlay Armelle, Alfred Temple, and Mirielle Rayer.

It is the first book of the *Aestra Chronicles* Duology.

## Summary

A nine-year-old girl is with her mother and father during the Day of Dark Hands. The girl's father leads the girl and her mother towards safety, but are stopped by a man. The girl's father insists to the man that nothing needs to happen, and when the girl finally gathers the courage to open her eyes and look at the man, he slits her father's throat.

Ten years later, Raoul Anastaise is visiting Alfred Temple, who Raoul hasn't seen in a year. He also meets Miri, who "disappeared" at around the same time. Alfred has been at the University for the past year, and Miri had been in Anderberge, hoping to awaken her powers. Miri invites the two of them to the gladiator fights, which has a current fighter nicknamed the *Sokhul*. Raoul recognizes her as Sylvie Rousseau, a lieutenant for the Silver Angels and a person he thought he had killed.

When the fight is over, Raoul excuses himself, follows Sylvie home, and burns her house down using his fire magic. Seeing the burning house causes Raoul to flashback to the Day of Dark Hands, where he watched his family’s house burn down. Raoul’s father abandons him, and he is approached by a man.

Raoul then climbs the inner walls and sits on top, looking over the city of Marnau. After a while, he scales down the walls and walks carefully to his home in West Ward, and when he arrives at his house, he gets cornered by Caesar. He gives Raoul an offer: one assassination for complete forgiveness of "the incident" and reinstatement as lieutenant of the Crimsons, the rival gang to the Silver Angels. Raoul accepts.

Raoul visits Finlay Armelle, the owner of the Auré Verre, and asks for her help, offering to argue for her reinstatement in the gang. Finlay refuses, as Raoul was the one who got her outed from the gang due to "the incident". The Silver Angels arrive and set the tavern on fire, and together the two fight them off. They go to a nearby bar to regroup, and Finlay agrees to help, though notes that she still doesn't trust Raoul. The two get on a boat to Valenou.

Alfred goes to visit Raoul and finds no one home and Raoul's gear gone. He goes to Caesar with Calland Nordstrom, and demands to know where Raoul is, offering up his *bucraet* as a trade. Caesar tells them he's gone to Debezova, and notes that the Auré Verre was attacked, trying to get under Alfred's skin by saying he's being replaced. Calland threatens Caesar and the two leave.

Sylvie walks into the bar Raoul and Finlay visited, and asks if anyone knows where he is headed. After being threatened, one patron mentions that the two talked about going to Debezova and potentially Zarovnik.

Alfred gathers Calland, Miri, and Serena Harrett, and the four set off towards Zarovnik, hoping to cut Raoul off on the road between Zarovnik and Debezova. A few days in, they get ambushed by a group of thieves.

In Valenou, Raoul and Finlay attempt to get information on their target, but instead are told about the *Mahn oau der Beurgens*, the Man of the Mountains. They are told the man lives in the mountains of Raesha and that he performs acts for those who pray for them and have a pure heart, but the two dismiss the story.

Sylvie finds the group of four and slaughters the gang, but suffers a stab wound. Miri sees the wound and convinces her to join the group. Miri brings Sylvie tools for her wound, offering to treat it for her, but she refuses. Miri calls her “snow”, which she mentions is due to her being "beautiful but cold".

In Debezova, the two come up empty-handed with information about their target, hearing only about the Man of the Mountains, so they meet up with Lucie Allard. Lucie clues them in on underground experiments on aberrant children, as the scientists hope to learn how to strengthen *aberrant* powers. Finlay initially doesn’t want to help, but Raoul convinces her to do something, and the three set off to destroy the laboratory.

Miri leaves her and goes back to where the group has made camp, wondering aloud why her eye is black and orange. Alfred explains to her the Tyrant’s Curse, and reveals that he has the curse as well, though conceals its physical symptoms using magic. Sylvie comes back, and they decide to go to sleep, with Sylvie offering first watch. While on watch she pulls out her knife, and when she turns towards the group, the gem in the middle glows.

Raoul, Finlay, and Lucie finish freeing the children and destroying the laboratory, and decide to leave for Zarovnik. While walking, Raoul mentions how it’s exactly like how they used to work, but Finlay expresses doubts about Caesar’s motivations behind the assassination. The conversation turns to Raoul’s friends, and he says that they don’t know where he is or what he’s doing.

...

...

When Miri asks about Sylvie's knife, she explains *Livele* and hands it to her, telling her to look around. The gem in the middle of the knife glows when the wielder is facing in the direction of what they most desire. The gem glows weirdly when Miri is holding *Livele*, so Sylvie hands it to Alfred, and the gem glows when facing Northwest. She explains that the geometry of their location means that what the knife is pointing towards, Raoul, can’t be in Debezova anymore.

To be added.