Writing Timeline

• Intro - Pre-Spirit Rider / Early Scraps / Version 0.01 - AKA The Lost Draft

• Version 1.0 - AKA The Blue Book - 2008 - 2009

• Version 1.5 - AKA The Palace Cover - 2010

• Version 2.0 - AKA The Reaper Living Room Cover - 2013 - 2015

• Version 3.0 - AKA The Definitely Final One! - 2019 - Present

Between 2008-2009 this version was created. Named after its all-over blue cover. Upon completion I spent no more than 10 minutes 'creating' a slapdash front with a picture from the first page of an image-search for 'fantasy castle'. 

Only two copies of this draft were ever printed, purely so I could have it. I did query with literary agents at the time, but unsurprisingly received no offers. With enough rejections, I let it lie and tried writing other things, even if Spirit Rider was never out of mind entirely. 

See below for some of the biggest differences, compared to the modern final version.

Opening Chapters 

We open with an Acheron POV prelude. In his tower, Acheron receives some mysterious instructions, which set his plot in motion. He meets up with Legio - who possesses a skeleton - and they head to a lower office within the tower to retrieve the Heritage Tracer, which Acheron just had a feeling would be active. He's using it to track down the Spirit Rider.

In Besfen, Sam is having a dream - about someone narrating Besfen's history. He's awoken by the arrival of a Bictionary in his bedroom. It's a small beaver-like creature which endlessly spouts religious sermons at people. Sam eventually catches it, denounces the Bictionary's religion, and the creature politely leaps out of his window. Sam coughs up blue smoke here in his bedroom. Sam's surname here is Martyr - because it sounded cool.

A greater emphasis is given to Sam's clothing with a new 'cool slogan' t-shirt described in each new scene. Not a trace of silly ideas. His house comes with an extremely inconvenient staircase which leads directly into the living room and which then needs to be squeezed past to get to the kitchen.

Having breakfast with his parents - they own something more akin to a take-away / café instead of a bakery - Sam lies poorly about pilfering some of their store's profits from the till. This was intended to foreshadow Sam not being such a nice boy much later on in the story. Said plot point was eventually dropped and it just made Sam look like a nasty brat here anyway. He visits the 'Besfen Barrier' here a magical enchantment encircling the town. The ducks are mentioned but play no role in anything.

Grim simply turns up at Sam's front door, trying to recruit him to stop Acheron. But Sam takes one look at Grim and is too scared to say very much. He ends up just slamming the door and shouting for Grim to go away.

When the jaserta arrives, this version is vulnerable to fire, water... and mouth-wash, so Sam lures it into the bathroom and incapacitates it with an overflowing sink. Sam escapes the house and meets up with Grim at the duck pond. Grim agrees to help and casts a spell which floods the house with mouth-wash, before then explaining the Spirit Rider business to Sam, magical map and all. Grim's plan is to go after the Cyan Sword, located near Dersey, in order to give Sam the strength to beat Acheron. Here, quirks of being the Spirit Rider include having one eye bluer than the other and (following initially coughing blue smoke) having Sam's throat glow in the dark. At this point the jaserta grows to gigantic size, destroying Sam's house. This is because "two minuses equals a plus and so two weaknesses inflicted becomes an enhancement". It comes to nothing because no one besides Sam and Grim notice and the jaserta is still trapped within the boundary of Sam's house. They just sort of leave it. (This was literally all so that the chapter could be called "We're Gonna' Need A Bigger House" in reference to Jaws). Sam doesn't want to go on any quests, so Grim carries him off anyway.

Alec-Cassem to Dersey

Grim brings Sam to the ruins of Mereton, mentions Acheron for the first time, and gives the Luceurge's full backstory. When cornered by Acheron, Sam pushes him and unintentionally casts a Blasting Spell. This is later explained as being a random burst of magic that activated because Sam was in danger and only works once. Sam's changed his tune, now agreeing to the quest if Grim agrees to teach him magic.

Grim has an aversion to teleporting, not because it is painful, but because the magic rejects metallic items, leaving them at your departure-point infused with the coordinates of where you're going.

A short distance from Mereton, Grim summons Athena - magistructs all simply called Summons at this point - who takes the form of a giant blue eagle and opens a gateway to Alec-Cassem. They meet Matt. In this version his full title is: Lord High Archmage Executive Chairman of the Council of Uttermost Important Magical Matters. Though still a young man, Matt lacks his trademark staff and is a far different character. He's extremely nervous, stuttering and awkwardly asking Grim what's happening. Here, Grim takes down the hood to put Matt at ease and confirm to him they're not imposters.

Shortly after, Grim explains to Sam how Grim Reapers work. In this version, Grim is one of six possible forms the Reaper can take, which alternate precisely every 200 years. During each change, the Reaper dies in a fiery explosion.

All the towers of this Alec-Cassem are named with acronyms. For example, Matt gives Sam and Grim rooms in the Hotels Overnight Stays and Temporary Accommodation Guaranteed Emporium - called H.O.S.T.A.G.E after the initial mention.

Grim takes Sam for his first magic lesson in the Logs Information Books Rarities and Articles Repository of Yesteryear - L.I.B.R.A.R.Y. Matt attends the magic lesson too. Sam tries out a few spells, including the Blasting Spell again. The reflex for it is applied simply via a Reflex Spell. Sam goes a little too hard on the Blasting Spell and wrecks the room.

They leave for Dersey, taking an overcrowded carriage through some large portal-doors. After a bumpy ride, they arrive at the capital and go for lunch in an expensive café. They overhear the roar of a monster, which Grim dismisses as an urban legend called the Dersey Jevil but also says it was probably the wind. Grim purchases Sam a sword, to see how he handles it. He's not very good but says his parents made him take ballroom dancing lessons. Sam and Grim head to Dersey woods, but are stumped to find a Royal Barrier barring their way. They go to the Palace.

Palace Part 1

There's no anti-magic barrier. Here, the Queen is Amanda Jennifer Matriarch. She won't let them go after the Cyan Sword yet as she doesn't trust them. She does however command them to be her Royal Bodyguards and to protect her from Acheron, who had recently tried to poison her. Mr. Cinnamon believes Acheron wants to usurp the Queen and declare himself King. 

Sam adjusts to life in the Palace, whilst Grim continues to train him in sword-play. But it makes no difference and Sam seems incapable of improving. Whenever they cross paths with the Queen, they pester her to let them go after the Cyan Sword. Whilst lost in the Palace one day, Sam chances across Lady Rosemary, sleeping in a chair in a random corridor. Grim, the Queen, and her retinue arrive and it's explained Lady Rosemary is under a Cursed Slumber.

Early one morning, the Queen, Mr. Cinnamon, Pheris, and Pharis head out of the Palace to perform the Re-Energising Ceremony. Grim forces Sam out of bed and they catch up to them just as the carriage was about to leave the Palace, because it's a once-in-a-lifetime event and Grim didn't want to miss it. The Re-Energising Ceremony involves the planting of a new Energy Tree, the source of Paralex's electrical grid. A few hours' journey brings them to the edge of the Stratigent Jep, where the Queen uses her Royal Powers to magically clear a path for them. They proceed into the jungle and stop at a clearing that holds only a wooden shack. Matt teleports to meet them there and nervously removes various powerful enchantments protecting the shack. Inside, a doorway leads below ground to a small passageway. At one end is the withered and dying Energy Tree, at the other is a patch of soil for the new one. The Queen personally lays the seed (stomping it into the ground) and they leave. Back in the shack, Acheron is waiting for them and he duels Grim and Matt both at once. The two are more than a match for him and keep him occupied. Acheron also summons a gold-eating slug-monster who (slowly) chases the Queen. With the help of his trusty Blasting Spell, Sam saves the Queen. Ending their duel, Grim and Matt conjure an immense glass wall, trapping Acheron on the other side. They make a hasty getaway, with Matt teleporting back to Alec-Cassem. During a tense carriage-ride back to the Palace, Grim deduces that due to the secrecy of the Re-Energising Ceremony, there must be a traitor in their midst. The Queen still won't let them go after the Cyan Sword.

Halloween exists in this version, so Sam and Grim go trick-or-treating around Dersey on the night. Grim tells Sam the origin of Halloween in Paralex - different to Earth, it involves an invading force of pumpkin-headed monsters who ate sweets and burnt people in their homes. A massive clockface upon the Palace lights up, announcing the Confucius Clock Tower, by which everyone in Paralex sets their clocks, has been repaired. Grim suggests they go and trick-or-treat at the Palace. The Queen comes to greet them but is very condescending. Following another refusal to let them go after the Cyan Sword, Grim pulls a prank on the Palace, sending flying toilet-rolls whizzing all over the interior. This sufficiently annoys the Queen that she finally lets them go.

The Cyan Sword

At St. Tamlin's they whack the church's altar, which activates an elevator and takes them to the trials. There, waves of skeletons attack them. It turns out that whilst the skeletons can harm Grim, they pass through Sam like ghosts. Once he commands them to stop, the trial is over. The floor vanishes, dropping them into another level, resembling a maze, where they're immediately separated. Sam runs straight into Acheron, who was waiting for them. Legio is there too, possessing a ferret. Sam escapes, using the Blasting Spell and Acheron chases him through the maze, with no sign of Grim. Reaching a dead-end passage, Sam thinks he's done for, but the dead-end is actually a false wall and when he goes through, it leads to the Cyan Sword chamber.

Sam retrieves the Cyan Sword just as Acheron corners him again. But the sword is ancient and has lost near all its power - part of the blade falling off when Sam swings it. Grim reappears and holds off Acheron whilst Sam takes a hidden passage that leads out of the catacombs back into St. Tamlin's graveyard. 

Once back at the Palace, Grim finds a way to transfer all the powers from the crumbling ancient Cyan Sword, into a new, near-identical blade for Sam. They reiterate to the Queen that Acheron could only have been there if a traitor in the Palace had informed him they'd be coming for the Cyan Sword that day, which the Queen still refuses to believe. We have a brief Grim POV section whilst Sam tries and fails to get better at wielding the Cyan Sword.

Palace Part 2

One night shortly after, Sam is nearly kidnapped by the monstrous Dersey Jevil, which is possessed by Legio. It snatches him from his room and makes it to the Palace Gardens, before Grim intervenes. Grim fights the Jevil until Legio vacates the monster, leaving it much more peaceable. It returns to the woods without a fuss, as Grim explains possession to Sam.

Christmas exists in this version, so Sam goes to buy some (not very good) presents for everyone he knows: Besfen parents (steel abacus and some pots), Matt Pinely (a book on how to be a good Archmage), the Queen (royal stress-balls), Pheris and Pharis (a pair of swords), Mr. Cinnamon (a 'World's Sourest Person' award), and Grim (fan-mail from a Grim Reaper appreciation society). Sam and Grim spend Christmas morning with the Queen and her close staff, exchanging gifts, in a room with an immense Christmas tree. Matt sends Sam a copy of Cretchis Cretis - Paralex's famous encyclopaedia of creatures. An unexpected 'present' from Acheron contains a swarm of appibites - apple-looking insects with a mouth of pointed teeth - which chase everyone up the Christmas tree. Grim transforms everyone bar Sam into apples, to confuse the creatures. Sam takes his chance to swiftly look up the appibites in Cretchis Cretis and find a weakness. They can be put into a deep sleep with exposure to mistletoe (thank goodness it's Christmas). He grabs a handful and incapacitates the vicious insects just as everyone else returns to normal. Grim speculates Acheron could only have gotten the 'present' into the Palace with the help of the traitor.

Ending Chapters

Broadly speaking, events around the last part of the book have always been much the same. At one point, Sam and Grim are separated and we have another brief Grim POV section.

In the final chapter, Sam is summoned away to an endless green field called the Gap. Here he meets a boy called Will who hints at future events, before sending Sam back with no memory of their meeting. Meanwhile, word has gotten out about the events at the Palace involving Acheron and the press are braying for answers. The Queen goes to them and says she recalls nothing.

Finally comes an Acheron POV epilogue, where he summons an army of skeletons from out of the Stratigent Jep, but is furious because there's only 101 when he says he ordered 1001

I'd known from the start there were issues with 'the Blue Book' and certainly recall rushing it out in the end as I was so excited to just be able to hold it in my hands (though I do STILL get excited writing final lines of anything to this day). So what followed was much the same parts of the last version, but with a few tweaks mostly for grammar and spelling. 

The most notable thing about this version was I actually commissioned an artist to design the cover. In hindsight, I should have been a lot clearer on what I wanted from the artist. Whilst I was ecstatic at first glance, just being able to see my characters in something beyond words, not long after I realised half the cast certainly didn't look as I'd imagined. Plus the title was slapped on by myself in an appalling font.

A small number of copies were produced for close friends and family, to prove I had written something. I was still querying agents during this time, before deciding to try other projects.

The only noteworthy difference from 'the Blue Book' was the first trial when going after the Cyan Sword. Here the guardian skeletons attack both Sam and Grim. Grim figures out the enchantment sustaining the skeletons was within the altar from the church above. Once they destroy the altar, the trial is complete and they fall through to the semi-maze as before.

After taking a break out to try something completely different (see 'Letters From the Dead') then taking a first swing at a Spirit Rider sequel, around 2013 I was seeing issues with Royal Problem. It started as a few tweaks here and there. Then I rewrote the first few chapters. More tweaks eventually became more rewrites. Eventually, I thought that I had improved enough as a writer, compared to when I started out in 2007, that the first Spirit Rider book deserved my best work and thus a full rewrite.

I had very real intentions of self-publishing this one, so when this version was finished, I commissioned an editor to help work over it. Doing so taught me many lessons and definitely helped to improve me as a writer. If I ever moved to self-publish again, I would undoubtedly hire an editor again.

A new cover was commissioned for this one as well - and it's brilliant, capturing the ending of (what is now) chapter 2, where Grim appears in Sam's living room. There were of course just a few minor alterations to that scene in the current, final version.

Opening Chapters 

For the first time, we open with Sam as Chapter 1, rather than an Acheron POV prelude (said events were moved to become Chapter 2 in this version). The actual opening went through a few versions here, including Sam waking up to find Ms. Lint being levitated up to his window by the ducks. I eventually settled on Sam being amongst a crowd of people watching helplessly as the ducks levitate Ms. Lint in the street. Sam has an idea and tries to help her - basically him running into the nearest house, going to the top floor, and leaping out of the window to grab her. It doesn't go to plan and both Sam and Ms. Lint need to be rescued from the ducks by a young girl named Penny Klouser. This was the first version to see the Mundle surname, when I realised Martyr was perhaps too religious. 

After some sweeping in his parents bakery, where there's a greater emphasis on more one-off Besfen characters, Sam actually has a second encounter with the ducks outside. Despite trying to scare them off with his broom, the ducks opt to telekinetically place Sam on the roof, so he has to climb down later. At this point he goes to the Besfen Barrier - here still a magical barrier - and gets spooked by Grim, followed by a very brief Grim POV.

The Acheron POV is slightly extended compared to prior versions, with Acheron meeting up with the jaserta, who is already in Acheron's tower, and telling them to go after Sam. They teleport away together at the end of the chapter.

After meeting Grim, Sam's more intrigued than afraid and goes to the meeting atop the Bell-Tower to get his questions answered. But once there, after a short chat, Grim attacks Sam, thinking he must be Acheron in disguise. Sam escapes and goes on to encounter the jaserta. The monster traps Sam indoors using its own abilities. Sam fends it off by tossing a vase of flowers at it, before Grim comes crashing to the rescue, through the ceiling. Grim breaks a faucet to spray the jaserta, not realising Sam had already gotten it with the vase. Here, the double-inflicting of its weakness causes the jaserta to start multiplying. Grim produces a shield enchantment for protection and Sam points out the jaserta gives off a burst of magical energy each time it multiplies. Grim expands the shield enchantment at the correct moment, magnifying the magical charge. This blows up the house and finishes off the jaserta.

Alec-Cassem to Dersey

Following an encounter with Acheron in Mereton, there's a more extended discussion between Sam and Grim, involving presenting Sam with two clear options, demonstrated with two stones, where he agrees to help save Paralex.

Grim takes down the hood, in order to gain Sam's trust when the two of them head through a violent gateway to Alec-Cassem. Meeting Matt, he now has his staff and is much closer in character to the final version. By having another magician examine the scythe, they determine Grim is indeed hunting Acheron's soul. 

Whilst Sam and Grim spend time in Alec-Cassem, there's another Acheron POV chapter, where we see him track down a knight who's living under an assumed identity. Said knight had helped the King escape many years earlier. Acheron tortures the knight for information, then has Legio possess him to make the deaths of him and his family look less suspicious.

Sam's first magic lesson takes place in Alec-Cassem and went through a few versions here. One take had Sam and Grim on the run from Matt, following a route through the Minus Floors. They encounter various monsters there and Grim teaches Sam a spell, boon, curse, enchantment, and augmer to fend them off.  A variation of this had Sam and Grim in the bowels of the Great Library of Alec-Cassem, where Grim summons a monster made of books and has Sam fight it using several forms of magic. Matt catches up to them and Grim tells Sam how to summon a small magistruct - still called 'Summons' here - which distracts Matt whilst they escape.

The final version, in this draft, was a chapter called Two Lessons, which I wanted very much to keep, even in the latest iteration, but just couldn't find a way to make it fit. After insulting Grim's magic and teaching prowess, Matt insists on personally teaching Sam his first magic lesson (Sam turns down the chance to study at several prestigious magical schools). But Matt's lesson is entirely focussed on extremely dull mathematics / physics-based theoretical magic. Beforehand, Grim casts a complex enchantment on Sam, which causes him to be magically transported one room over, for a lesson with Grim, whenever Matt turns his back (which happens a lot as he's writing complex sums and such on a board). What proceeds was a fun chapter of Sam being switched back and forth between the rooms, learning the Blasting Spell with Grim in one, and awkwardly dodging mathematical questions with Matt in the other, trying to keep him from discovering Grim's trick. Matt does have a nice moment, gifting Sam a deck of cards, here a commemorative token that someone is a true magician. Grim being merely a 'Summon', doesn't have one and it's a sore point. However, Matt had planted a Dislocation Curse in the deck, trying to keep Sam trapped in Alec-Cassem. Grim discovers and dispels this when they leave.

At the Palace

Arriving at the Palace, this is the first draft to include the anti-magic barrier (as pointed out by the editor I picked up during this draft - if the magical Halloween chaos Grim causes is all it takes for the Queen to let them go after the Cyan Sword, why not just do that in the first place?).

This version alters the Queen's name to Amalia Geneva Magnovalis. Amalia evoked a more royal sound to my ear and Geneva was taken from the Geneva Convention - to suggest she's a fair and kind ruler. Magnovalis as the royal surname took a bit longer, with a couple of alternatives considered. I eventually took it as a corruption of the Latin Magna / Magnus meaning 'great' with -valis just being a made up ending that I thought had a certain Latinate / French flair to match the first part of the name.

The day after arriving at the Palace, Grim delivers Sam's magical reflex lesson in the Palace Gardens. Sam gets a final push to forge the reflex because Grim leaves him alone with an enchanted training-dummy, which suddenly takes on the appearance of Acheron, spurring him to use the Blasting Spell properly.

There was a half-written Acheron POV scene where he and Legio discuss his plan and preface him going to the Re-Energising Ceremony. The Re-Energising Ceremony still occurred here, with the Queen telling Sam and Grim about it after they discover Lady Rosemary. (Many thanks to the editor I hired, for suggesting poor Lady Rosemary ought to be in a bed, not left on a chair!) Unlike previously, the Queen gives them advanced warning and in fact asks Grim to transport her there. Grim is still against teleporting, there's no portals leading there, and the Stratigent Jep is too dangerous to go through on foot, so it seems everyone is at a dead end. However, Grim spends the night constructing a circuit of magical items that will transport them instead. They use this to get to the Re-Energising Ceremony and meet up with Matt. 

Acheron ambushes them with the Inexorable Bond, before launching into a duel with Grim and Matt. Sam and the others rush on to perform the Re-Energising Ceremony. This is slightly more elaborate here, with a tree that grows instantly once its seed is planted by the Queen. Acheron tries to stop them with a 'Summon' as before, yet now a giant centipede rather than an oversized slug. Sam fights it off with a well-timed Blasting Spell and everyone escapes unscathed.

After being attacked by the possessed Jevil, Sam tries to tell the Queen about a suspected traitor in the Palace, but she won't listen, so Sam and Grim devise a plan to get magic into the Palace and force her hand. They enact the plan across the nights of the Wellahone festival, an old vampire holiday, which sees Grand Count Castellion come to the Palace. (Here, he's a combination of Lord Virgil & the Grand Count from the final draft.) Following the magical chaos Sam and Grim cause, the Queen begrudgingly sends them to get the Cyan Sword.

The Cyan Sword

In this version, Acheron has sent an assassin to stop Sam and Grim (even though this doesn't necessarily fit with his plan). Once reaching St. Tamlin's, Sam first needs to 'restore' the church by tidying it up, before the entrance to the trials is revealed. Only once that happens does the assassin reveal themselves and battles with Grim, whilst Sam heads into the trials.

Cut trials here included a sort of rotating death-machine (blades, flame-throwers etc.) wherein Sam had to locate it's weak-point to beat it, and a wall of spikes that acted as a test of faith / courage. In its written form, the first trial was a sentient attacking spear, with the same test of faith / courage idea. Following this was an immense, ever shifting maze of frosted glass. Once into there, Sam was having to find his way, plus dodging a minotaur and the assassin from earlier (who had overpowered Grim). 

The frosted glass maze was another part I really wanted to keep. It made for a striking image with the murky shapes of the minotaur and assassin reflecting around corners and through the walls, everything lit by icy blue light. But ultimately I think it was too elaborate and whilst it leads to a similar conclusion as the final draft, it perhaps strays too far from the 'themes' I wanted in the trials.

Once the trials are beaten, Sam and Grim escape the assassin. A short Acheron POV followed where Acheron meets with the assassin and kills him because he didn't follow the instructions Acheron had set.

Ending Chapters

As before, Christmas exists and is celebrated, however Acheron and / or the traitor don't send any traps or such. Grim invites Sam's Besfen parents to the Palace. 

Following the events of the Royal Ball, there's an Acheron POV epilogue again, though here he has a conversation with Legio to indicate their partnership isn't quite what it seems and recruits some vampires for a new scheme.

After taking another crack at a Spirit Rider sequel, I fell into the trap of becoming a stronger writer than I was in the past. Once again, I'd teased myself into 'tweaking' the opening chapters of Royal Problem. The biggest thing I wanted at first, was to alter Sam and Grim's relationship, which I think creates a better story in this final version. But that soon meant changing basically all of their interactions.

Then I got onto another thought, realising that some of the ideas in the previous versions were things that I'd come up with right at the very start of my Spirit Rider journey - and they weren't all good. In many cases I'd bent over backwards in prior versions, warping the story around just so I could stick to those original ideas and plot beats. For the first time in this version, I stripped everything back and dared myself to fix the parts I was never really happy with.

That's part of the reason these above sections are so long - this final version is the most different compared to the past - and for the better. I really did try not to make this one a full rewrite after all the work I'd put in so far. I had a large note on my notice board that read: 'IMPORTANT - Do NOT rewrite the whole thing from scratch!'

Several months later, I added an amendment to the note:

'Too late'

During edits, there were still more changes to come as I dared myself to see if I could trim down the word-count, without mangling the story beyond recognition. I pleasantly surprised myself, managing to make most cuts with tighter description and narrative, rather than massively shifting the plot.

Pre-editing, this version still originally had Acheron POV chapters, including two brand new ones. One took place between chapter 1-2 and saw him breaking into a werren museum (with a focus on a specific werren relic which WAS going to feature in the final chapters, but which I ultimately dropped) and encountering and barely escaping Grim. The other Acheron section would have seen him track down an important character and torture them for information. All of the Acheron sections were ultimately cut as they were the first thing that stood out as being 'cool' but not adding anything to the plot.

Opening Chapters 

Relatively few 'global' changes here. When seeing the seedug's message Sam originally climbed on Halfred's roof to do so. He also overhears an old wives' tale that if a person can get a hold of the scythe, then that put them in command of the Grim Reaper. When Sam and Grim later meet and Sam in still wary, he tries this trick, but it's swiftly proven false when Grim magically restrains him. When explaining Spirit Riders, Grim originally gave more details, that ultimately weren't needed.

Alec-Cassem to Dersey

There was a longer conversation before first meeting Acheron, where Grim talks more about the magic he used and the background that led to people knowing about his plans. Grim and Acheron's fight played out with different spells and magic. After Sam's first spell, there was a lull where Acheron appears to flee and Grim pretends to attack Sam to lure the magician back out. The moment leads to an argument between Sam and Grim but which ends with them starting to understand one another and bond. Whilst I did like this moment, it was too much of an awkward break in the action and worked much better as subtext rather than everything being neatly spelled out.

In Alec-Cassem, Sam and Grim were initially confronted by a squad of magicians, before later being joined by Matt when they proved easy to overcome. When Sam and Grim are separated, we followed Sam and Matt on the journey to the Magus Tower, passing through and learning about the Council of Whispers. Sam is left in a bedroom, before being retrieved by Grim and taken through the city, stopping at a closed-up restaurant, where the rest of the chapter takes place. Their conversation at the end of the chapter was more dramatic, with Grim being needlessly antagonistic.

After watching magicians line up to use regulated portal-doors, Grim takes Sam out of the city via an unregulated one on an upper floor. Beforehand Sam admires one of the city's landmarks and Grim exposits about it. In the portal Sam scarcely escapes being attacked by a rhinoceros and the portal exits at tailor's shop in Dersey. Grim knocks the owner unconscious and they leave.  

At the Palace

Following Sam learning his first magical reflex, the Queen originally took Sam off to an interior courtyard for their following conversation. The chapter continued as they returned together to the Dining Room, much to Mr. Cinnamon's distress. 

There was a brief scene scene where Sam and Grim interview the tengu brothers as part of their staff interviews, but only learn that Pheris had dated a tengu who had spurned his brother. In the final text it's noted that Sam sends a letter to his parents. This was a fuller scene initially, where Sam has to deal with the unpleasant Palace Postmaster and Grim steps in to begrudgingly cover the cost. The chapter originally ended after Sam and Grim's conversation once they leave Lady Rosemary's room. 'The Impossible Enemy' instead opened with Sam's Rabbitifcation practice and all the events up to when he goes to sleep that night. Later in that same chapter, when hunting the person sending messages in the stars, they have to go magically leaping across the Palace roofs before they realise they need to go to the Starlight Spire.

The next chapter opened earlier, with a breakfast scene in the Dining Room, where everyone is tense after the events of the previous night. The chapter ended quite abruptly when Sam was in the Palace Gardens. Mr. Cinnamon's office was in a different part of the Palace to his bedroom, leading to a longer scene going between the two. 

Once they learn who the spy in, Sam and Grim trailed them to Alec-Cassem. They diverge in a portal-door and end up in the Minus Floors, where they have to escape some feral witches. Along the way they create Façade Enchantments from a pair of magicians to blend in. At the meeting location Grim casts an enchantment to record the encounter as proof. Sam and Grim magically disguise themselves as flies and observe the meeting. Back at the Palace, the Queen dismisses their proof, but soon after the spy is exposed in the same way as the final text.

The Cyan Sword

There was a cut trial here, where Sam is trapped in a room with a descending ceiling, an immoveable gate and a pair of statues. After finding a hidden message, Sam realises he needs to ask the statues to help him (suggesting a lesson in not being too prideful and knowing his own limitations) which completes the trial.

Ending Chapters

Relatively few changes here. There was a scene in Dersey where Grim leaves Sam to do some work and Sam goes to out get some food. After using his Spirit Rider status to get free food and gifts, Grim goes crazy at him, saying him acting like a beacon was a sure-fire way to get himself killed, not necessarily by Acheron.