In the world of the Circled Plain, most of humanity lives within walled cities, protected from the monsters outside.

The cities' walls are nested, circle within circle within circle, and the richest and most powerful live the deepest in the city.

They call the social and economic climb from the outer rings towards the inner the Ladder. The climb is hard, but there are always ways to jump rungs.

Jumping Rings
Taslin and Valran have both knelt in service to climb the ladder.
But they will have to make it through their ten years before they'll see the fruit of their labor.
Jumping Rings updates every other Tuesday.

Chapter One: Taslin (LJ) Kneel
Chapter Two: Valran (LJ) Kneel
Chapter Three: Taslin (LJ) Duck
Chapter Four: Valran (LJ) Duck
Chapter Five: Taslin )LJ) Thrust

subsequent chapters posted here.

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Other Stories
...This turned out a little creepy... (LJ) Marri & her Patron, Biccon
Meeting (LJ) another Servus
The Flow and the Fountain (LJ) - why one doesn't use too much magic
Remembering the Fallen (LJ) - how the Flow changes one
Now Hiring (LJ) - fic around demific
Meeting the Archmage (LJ)
(LJ)

Meta
Teswarnen Eshmarn, the Second Circle Deputy Oligarch of New Indapala
(LJ) - character information
The Lands of the Circled Plain (LJ) a setting story for 3WW

Worldbuilding 1: Architecture (LJ)
Worldbuilding 2: Inside and Outside (LJ)

“Duck your head a bit. There, like that.” Keldra Dre’s hand rested lightly on the back of Valran’s head. “There.” She tousled his hair gently. “Keep your eyes on the floor, but keep– here.” Her hand went down to the small of his back, her other hand to his shoulder. “Keep your spine straight, feet solid on the floor. You’re not bowing, you’re not kneeling.”

read on...

Valran – Here

“Here.” Keldra Dre stood up and strode away from Valran. He swallowed until his throat no longer felt too dry to speak again.

“Here, ma’am?”

“Stay there.” She called it over her shoulder; if Valran hadn’t been so confused, if his legs hadn’t been falling asleep, he would have been grateful. As it was, he held still and hoped it was the right thing to do.

read on...

“Agree. Or don’t. You have to be agreeing to it, Taslin, you know that. They can’t force you to take a Patronage.”

“But they can make my life very difficult if I do not. They can make everything unpleasant. They can lean on the owners of the pit. They can Patronize someone else and encourage them to hurt me, or just hire people to attack me.”

“That’s illegal.”

Read On...

Chapter Eight: Valran

Come

“Come.”

The female voice, again. Valran didn’t move.

“Come, Valran Servus. I am buying you.”

He risked looking up, now. It didn’t seem like the wisest idea, but there was something about her voice that demanded attention. So up Valran looked, into eyes like amber.

Keep reading on the webpage!

Chapter Seven: Taslin

Come

“Come, Taslin Gladiator.” Vinroth touched Taslin gently on the elbow. “You have fought well, and now you must deal with another sort of battle.”

She blinked at him. The guards had taken away her opponent, and a medic had bound her wounds and fed her something that was supposed to make the pain go away. It had mostly made her muzzy-headed and a little bit silly.

“No more battles today. I’m not that good, yet.”

Continue reading on Inner Circle's new webpage!

Chapter Five: Taslin

Thrust

Thrust. That was step one. Step two was definitely don’t get thrust into. Taslin danced out of the way of her larger opponent’s blade and, because she could, made a twist out of it so that she could then go for another thrust, this one a move that looked far more complicated than it was.

The audience - such as it was - cheered. Her opponent - such as he was - barely managed to dodge in time. Her teammates - such as they were - shouted encouragement and his - such as they really, really weren’t - hissed and yelled.

Taslin loved it. She slapped him in the face with the flat of her blade - not grandstanding, she told herself, she could tell Gan she’d done it because she wanted to get him angry.

If she’d been trying for that, it worked. He bellowed in rage and came running at her, head down and sword out.

It was too easy. It had to be a trick. If it was a trick, if he was actually planning this out, his off hand would come up like thus.
( Read more... )
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Chapter Three: Taslin

Duck

“Duck! Damnit, Taslin, I said duck! The next time you miss, I’m going to leave you so sore you can’t lift a sword nor spear for a week!”

Gan was shouting. Taslin found her lips curling back in a grin, so, instead, she ducked her head. “Again, ma’am Ganlenrel?”

“Again! I’ll give you again, you worthless Outer-Circle mutant of a waste of armour, again, now, and what did I tell you about keeping that left arm up, Gladiator, keep your arm up and keep that shield up! Now duck, and what did I tell you about playing to the crowd?”

Taslin dropped down under Gan’s blade, rolled in a move she’d been practicing on her own, and came up just behind the trainer’s off-hand. “Don’t do it unless I can do it right, and forget playing to the crowd until I can survive three fights in a row with no new scars. Right now I’m fodder for the mill.”
( Read more... )

Chapter Four: Valran (LJ) Duck

Chapter One: Taslin

Kneel

“Kneel, Taslin Altreka.”

It was not the first thing the man had said to Taslin, but it was the first important thing.

He had begun many minutes before, as law and his conscience dictated, with a series of disclaimers and explanations. “You understand that, once you take a knee, you cannot take it back? You will be committing to ten years, or to death, or until a resident of the First Circle calls you to service.”
( Read more... )

Chapter Two: Valran (LJ) Kneel
( Read more... )