Author’s Note: The Knave of Nodderton, Episode 3

On Friday September 30, 2022, I published the third episode of The Knave of Nodderton on Amazon Vella, “Heavy is the Crown.”

This is the third and last “free” episode offered through Vella; starting with episode four, Vella imposes their token exchange to eke out fractions of pennies from readers.

Like just about everything I put on Vella, readership is practically zilch. I find that there’s a lot of noise on Vella and no real way to put titles in front of readers. If you write YA-vampire-werewolf-BDSM-slash-fic, or romance, it seems like your work bubbles into their featured carousels. Not so much when you’re writing about fun halflings. Yay for you. Not that I’m bitter.

Anyway, this is the third installment of Knave, and the POV shifts back to Danros. It explains the events following the Bird & Rye incident and the predicament that he’s gotten himself into, and can’t seem to find a way out of.

I revealed a couple of truths in the story.

One, it’s apparent from this story that the pearl Danros keeps on him is, in fact, a Palantir - a scrying orb. Unlike the wrathwizard stuff, Danros isn’t making that up. It is ridiculously small and he has trouble actually using it because the images are so tiny. The use of the Palantir has helped Danros acquire power and prestige, and boot Lord Rendaldo from power.

Two, it was also noted that Danros was intimately familiar with the jails and dungeons of Nodderton, and I throw in a couple of suggestions that he's a trim, fit, nimble rogue, who talks too much, and doesn’t do well sitting. He’s most definitely a criminal.

Three, I elude to a runner to Nodderton in this piece as a reference to Gammond’s discovery in Episode 2, and sets up the conflict in Episode 4.

Finally, four, it’s also revealed that Danros, as a character, isn’t necessarily a bad guy. Sure, he’s helping Auchenshuggle for a 10% cut but, for the most part, he hasn’t killed anybody (except for the events at the Bird & Rye).

I pretty much say that Danros is the “knave” of the story and introduce the central arc of the story. He’s a scam artist who got everything he wanted, but, is in over his head and wants out.

Thanks for reading!

R