The Still Parade is a short story that acts a fourth installment for Circle of Magie, a series of stories centered on various sorcerers who live in the fantastical land of Oliviani, itself based on the nation of Belgium at the turn of the 19th century. The Still Parade takes place several weeks since the events of The Barren Fields, with Marcel Recker having spent several weeks away from most of the cast from the previous stories, Tanneke Daamen having vanished, and Felicity Pavona and Agnés Robben remaining in Stavelot. Walking back to his apartment within the bustling city of Leuven, however, Marcel ends up reuniting with some of his old friends, while also finding himself in the midst of both a conspiracy in his city, and a complicated familial conflict.
The Still Parade can be downloaded as a PDF in the following formats:
The above photograph is that of the real-life Leuven,
a capital city within West Flanders, where Flemish / Dutch is the primary language (in French, it's called Louvain instead). As a capital city hosting some of Europe's oldest and largest universities and libraries, alongside the world's largest beer brewer, it made sense to name my own large fictional city after it. Leuven itself also has a sadly chequered history, having been occupied and attacked by innumerable armies over the years, including during both World Wars, which felt rather fitting given what happens in this story. Hamont, where Tanneke's family lives, is another actual city within Belgium as well, located in the far north of Flanders, right against the border with Netherlands. Hamont itself is known for being a major fruit-growing area in Belgium, with its denizens speaking the Limburgish language and speaking Flemish with a marked accent, making it a fitting place for Tanneke's farmer background.