Yesterday I cross-linked to my guest post on the Orbit blog “Myth, Legend and History: The Shaping of The Heir of Night“ — but added an additional feature on the role of “place” in shaping the story, here. Because ” … on Anything, Really” there is always more! 😉

I also included quotes centred the region of the Haarth world known as Jaransor, as well as an excerpt that touched on the Wall of Night itself, the Border Mark and the Gate of Dreams—so today I thought perhaps we’d look at excerpts around some of those other places mentioned, like:

The Old Keep

“The wind blew out of the northwest in dry, fierce gusts, sweeping across the face of the Gray Lands.  It clawed at the close-hauled shutters and billowed every tapestry and hanging banner in the keep.  Loose tiles rattled and slid, bouncing off tall towers into the black depths below, and the wind whistled through the Old Keep, finding every crack and chink in its shutters and blowing the dust of years along the floors.  It whispered in the tattered hangings that had once graced the High Hall, back in those far-off days when the hall had blazed with light and laughter, gleaming with jewel and sword.  Now the cool, dry fingers of wind teased their frayed edges and banged a whole succession of doors that long neglect had loosened on their hinges.  Stone and mortar were still strong, even here, and the shutters held against the elements, but everything else was given over to the slow corrosion of time.

~ from Chapter 1, The Keep of Winds

and:

“The stairs wound tightly down and the blackness was intense.  The silence, too, felt tangible, pressing in on Kalan as though the Old Keep itself were aware of him.  The muted echo of his sandals on stone sounded frighteningly loud, and Kalan tried to step and breathe more quietly.  As he descended, the darkness grew thicker, even to his cat-like vision; he listened intently to compensate, his neck and shoulders tense with strain. But there was no sign of any other route leading upward again, let alone back into the New Keep. Eventually, Kalan stopped.”

~ from Chapter 3, Whispers in the Dark

—

And then there’s:

The Winter Country

“It had been one of those bright-as-diamond days between blizzards, with the sky pale blue crystal and the snow stretching away forever, white and gleaming.  She had been out hunting and come upon him some distance from the camp, a solitary figure in the circling world of white and blue, staring at something far up in the sky.  Rowan had stopped, following his gaze, and seen the hovering speck that was a snow falcon, riding the currents of the air.  

The Earl had watched it for a long time and when at last he turned his head he had looked straight into her eyes and smiled, an expression as rare as winter sunshine in the grimness of his face.  “It is Winter itself that hawk,” he had said, “the brightness and the wildness and the freedom of it.  I could watch it forever.”

~ from Chapter 16, Woman of Winter