The first story, The City in Shadows, after the initial three took Peregrine and Blade to a new part of the world – the deserts. I like deserts, and stories and settings that take place in them, like Dune and Dark Sun. I also visit them a fair bit in my stories, but this is the first time I took Peregrine and Blade into them.

There was, once again, some DNA that came from other stories; you might be able to pick which Conan stories inspired it, in parts.

But this story sends the duo off on mercenary work for the first time, though one that didn’t quite work out, and also continued to expand more on the history of the setting, and of the world in general.

The first three Peregrine and Blade stories I wrote in very quick succession, with the second being The Scroll in the Tower. Sadly, my early attempts at names for the stories weren’t great; in hindsight I could have done better. It was still a learning process at the time, which was also why I wrote the first three in a rush; to get to know more of the characters and the settings.

And yes, that meant there were still cliches in the story as a result. I mean, it starts off in a tavern, with a tavern fight and a mysterious stranger approaching the heroes to undertake a quest. And it wouldn’t be the last time either.

What is does do is introduce for the first time a recurring side character, though at the time that wasn’t the plan. Bakanon, the hard done by owner of the tavern in question, was to make a number more appearances in later stories, as does his tavern, which remained unnamed for the time, and which served as a base of operations for the duo when they were present in the city. And it also introduced the Souk of the Crimson Mists, in which the tavern resided, another place oft visited, a hang out for the ne’er-do-wells of the city. A perfect home, then, for Peregrine and Blade, and for them to start – and end – their adventures in.

Darkness in the Flames was the very first S&S story that I wrote, and one of the earliest attempts at short fiction as well. This is where it all started, around fifteen years ago. Looking back on it, I do have a fondness for the story because of that, though it does wear its DNA on its sleeve. It is a little bit cliche in parts, and its inspirations fairly obvious to see, but we all have to start somewhere.

And this is where Peregrine and Blade’s story starts. At least from a writing point of view, not a chronological one. From that point of view, it takes place much later on in their adventures.

The inspiration for the story was not the characters though – they grew through the story to take form when they had started fairly vague in my mind – but the city itself; Qaiqala. I wanted to make a memorable city and so was Qaiqala born, the pre-eminent city of the Swordlands. I know it is a fanciful place that probably couldn’t function, but nonetheless it is an interesting place, and Peregrine and Blade’s stories keep coming back to it, and the various parts of it, especially the Souk of the Crimson Mists. But more of that in later stories.