Happy New Year everyone (although I am sure that it is nearing the second day of January '010 as I write this up)!
I hope that you all had a very good New Years Eve/Day despite this unpredictable weather (on New England, anyway). I know that I did, despite the weather and a building homework load. Did you do anything really fun or just kick back and relax?
Any writing/literature-related New Year's resolutions? I'm not someone who has really ever been into resolutions, it all just seemed so mundane. However, I still could be a goal setter! I mean, the goal would always come mid-year but, still, it counts for something. This year, though, a novel revision by September is my goal - my so called "resolution. I want to have a first revision done by then, which probably means insanity and choking on my own oxygen to survive...what we writers do for our works of art. >< My second is to read more - lots more - I have a shelf of books (mine and ones friends have lent me) that must be read before anything else. And since I just found a new series I love... it's slowly killing me. O.o The good part is that I get to sink my teeth into Pride and Prejudice for the first time. I'm hoping that it's well-worth the wait to get it from my cousin!
Stay warm and dry!
Love,
The Writing Rants Elf.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Sunday, December 13, 2009
A Not-So-Good-Good-Excuse
So, haha, things have kind of been crazy around here (crazy in the sense that we get this thing going and then it gets quiet!), haven't they? Well, here's my excuse. For the past couple months I have been in this conscious battle - deciding on which story to focus on and finish. I have been juggling between Annora's Story and the first story I ever started writing with the goal to publsh - LoA. I lived in a haze for awhile, setting my feet into Annora's story and getting a lot done, but still, something wasn't right. After a lot of painstaking soul searching, I have decided to finish LoA as my first finished (and revised) novel. My goal, which I am well on my way to achieving, is to have LoA typed up and ready for revision by the first of January 2010.
In essence, all of this deciding and internal fighting has consumed me. I do have some stuff from NaNoWriMo I am going to edit and post but - haha - I'm too lazy to do that now :P. However, I do have some stuff from Annora's story....Ryan's PoV. :] It’s unrevised and not my favorite section of him, but, it’s something, no?
Enjoy :)
"Abram, go home and relax. I'm here so that you all can go home to see your families." Tilting my wrist I opened the top file of the stack I held. The file was the most recent of them all; images of the deceased taken before their demise stared me in the face. In most of the images the people were smiling and happy, beautiful and carefree - they never expected to meet such a horrific end. The targets were always so unsuspecting. Even if I could have felt nauseous as I stared down at the pre and post death photos, I wouldn't have...you got used to being apathetic in my "career field". It was a necessity, otherwise you could never live with yourself, something that was becoming harder and harder to do in times like these.
"How are you supposed to get a family of your own if you don't ever go home?" Abram retorted, folding his arms over his decorated chest. His eyes rested on me but I avoided his gaze behind my dark shades. I didn’t want to have this conversation, not now, not ever – and surely not with the likes of them. They didn’t understand; they could not comprehend it. "Come on, Ryan, when was the last time you really went out and had a chance to meet the next Mrs. Ryan Colle?"
Staying silent I swallowed thickly, my throat dry for more than just the fact that I was a vampire. How are you supposed to get a family of your own if you don't ever go home? It wasn't his fault that the words he had said hit me the way they did, he didn't know me - at least not the real me; none of them did. And with good right. There had only ever been one humani to have broken the strong barrier I had in place between the mysterious humani mask I wore and the monster caged inside. She had slipped in without meaning to and had become the closest thing I had, had to a sister in over a century - it was a mixed and miserable blessing. All that had ever gotten the angelic being of a woman was a cold grave. Tenderly my eyes fell to the crisp folder in my hands, it wasn't hers, but it was close enough. I let out a with-held breath, the memory of the said woman's face as vivid in my mind as if I was staring at her picture. "I prefer the solitude, Michaels." I told him through tight throat muscles.
Giving me that same sad look that all of the other detectives gave me, like I was some sad state of a young man - a waste of twenty-something aged body, Agent Michaels shook his head. "Sometime, someday, you’ll change your mind. And when that happens, maybe you'll come out with us on Friday nights instead of staying here, buried in unsolvable cases and surrounded by the dead."
Closing my eyes I couldn't help but snort silently. If only he knew. "We'll see, Michaels, I like being surrounded by the dead. They're good listeners and they have a story to tell themselves. I've committed my life to defending them and the living against their killers. When you come across those unsolvable cases, I don't know about you, but I feel for them even more than the others. They are usually - but not always - the ones without family there to mourn them. I just feel like they need to be appreciated."
"They grow you guys weird at the F.B.I. office, don't they? I'm as devoted to my job as the next guy - and I feel for the dead - but not like that. I could never spend my after work hours doing all you do. It's going to take a lot of searching on your part to find a girl who is willing to compete with your job."
“That’s why I’m here, so you don’t have to do what I do.” I thought quickly on how to end the present conversation without snapping at the man before me. I was stressed enough as it was, without having to defend myself about my social life. This kind of conversation was not exactly something I wanted to have at the moment. I had other, more pressing issues on my mind. Taking in a deep breath I closed my eyes and released the tight muscles in my stiff shoulders. "Thank you for the files, Abram, I appreciate you getting them for me. However, I think I'll stay here tonight while you and the guys go out - maybe I'll come next time."
"You always say that and never do."
Before me Abram looked like a bit of a small child, frustrated with my lack of interest (of course, compared to my age he was a child anyway). I was old enough to be his great-great grandfather's grandfather. Despite this, I smirked, thoroughly amused by my fellow agents protest, "And I always mean it, Abram, I assure you. I just get pre-occupied, that's all." Of my own accord, of course.
My fellow agent didn't entirely believe me; that much was obvious to the plain and naked humani eye. "One of these days we're going to kidnap you and drag you along - whether you want to come or not." Abram proceeded to tell me, heading for the doorway of my small office. It was ten minutes, maybe fifteen if I was lucky, until closing. Most of the lights in the police station were now off or dimmed, casting a vacant horror story appearance on the rest of the station behind the younger man. Of course, he didn't know how much of a true horror story he was living.
Inwardly I laughed, trying to restrain from rolling my eyes. I would have liked to see them try to drag me anywhere I didn't want to go. Obviously, they were not familiar with my kind; the potential down fall of the human race was just summed up in that one sentence. "Do what you wish, if you feel so inclined, but tonight I am staying right here." He wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he did not protest. Instead, he took in heavy breathes and clenched his jaw. Although he was a good man he did not appreciate a lack of reciprocation when he put his foot forward in kindness or generosity. And by me denying his open invitation, I had just taken part in denying him reciprocation. I ignored his inward tantrum of sorts, knowing that he would get over it eventually, and turned around in my chair as if to pick something up off the floor. Satisfied in his own un-so way, Michaels left my office, shutting the door sharply behind him.
I waited ten minutes until I was sure that everyone was gone before taking off my sun glasses. Even though the light from my eyes was enough, I still kept the poor light from my desk lamp on. It made me feel more human. I stared down at the folders in my hand, placing the newer files aside and onto my desk calendar (which had also served as a place mat of sorts more than once before) with barely a flick of my wrist. With those gone, I fixated on the cover of the folder that had been on the bottom. I knew that file too well; I knew that case too well. It was my entire fault that it had ever occurred, and knowing that devoured me inside.
Talia Lamont. The pictures of her lying face down in a pool of her own blood did not do her beauty justice. In real life, when she was not tortured and was well rested, she had been a beautiful woman with hazel eyes and curly blond hair spun up in a stunning hairdo from an earlier decade. She was a woman who lived in the nineties but whose wardrobe was still stuck in the fifties; any other woman could not have pulled it off. Talia, though, was not any other woman, it fit her and that's all that mattered. My fingers lingered on her crime scene mug shorts for a moment or two, those pictures were the only crime scene photos I had ever had break my apathetic facade. It happened every time I looked at them, like clock work. My eyes traced the image for something -anything - that I may have missed previously. The hunt was impossible, I knew that, but desperation will lead a man to do stupid things.
Finding nothing there I scanned through the other crime scene photos, and then the reports - the same routine as always. I ran over each word precisely three times before continuing on to the next, so it took me an hour to get to the last sentence of the Crime Scene report. Like I had somewhat expected I was not able to find anything new - not that I knew exactly what I was looking for; a strand of hope, I suppose – and the case had been cold for years. Piercing my lips I looked down at the half-turned page, leaning back into the chair as if deciding whether or not I really wanted to turn the page. I was. Clenching my jaw, a strange form of mental preparation, I slowly turned the sheet of paper and stared down at the beautiful young feminine face staring up at me from an orphanage school picture. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms folded across them with her chin resting on the top of the pile. Soft, wavy blonde hair was tucked behind her ears and her blue eyes were sparkling as bright as ever. She looked so happy; so carefree. She had always been good at putting on an act, though, so how true that whole look in her eyes was I could not be sure. Normally, I would have been wondering about how she was feeling now, but I knew the family she was with now and I knew that she would be happy there. No, it wasn't her mental well-being I was worried about now; I had something far more dangerous and fragile to worry about. My family was after her and she didn't appear to have a clue. They would not stop at any obstacle or any length to get to her; they would cut down anyone that got in their way of getting to her - Carter's family included. They wanted her and Annora had no clue. Her two friends, that wolf and that phaser...they could not even begin to protect her against my family.
David had made it clear for me to stay away, to distance myself from Annora and I did, though not in the way I am sure he meant, but he didn't understand. He couldn't. Annora was in danger, she had always been, and I could never have left her before and I couldn't now - she needed me to protect her, even if they denied it. I was the only one that could keep her from my family - not even Jake could deny that. Jake would do anything to protect Annora, as would I.
In essence, all of this deciding and internal fighting has consumed me. I do have some stuff from NaNoWriMo I am going to edit and post but - haha - I'm too lazy to do that now :P. However, I do have some stuff from Annora's story....Ryan's PoV. :] It’s unrevised and not my favorite section of him, but, it’s something, no?
Enjoy :)
"Abram, go home and relax. I'm here so that you all can go home to see your families." Tilting my wrist I opened the top file of the stack I held. The file was the most recent of them all; images of the deceased taken before their demise stared me in the face. In most of the images the people were smiling and happy, beautiful and carefree - they never expected to meet such a horrific end. The targets were always so unsuspecting. Even if I could have felt nauseous as I stared down at the pre and post death photos, I wouldn't have...you got used to being apathetic in my "career field". It was a necessity, otherwise you could never live with yourself, something that was becoming harder and harder to do in times like these.
"How are you supposed to get a family of your own if you don't ever go home?" Abram retorted, folding his arms over his decorated chest. His eyes rested on me but I avoided his gaze behind my dark shades. I didn’t want to have this conversation, not now, not ever – and surely not with the likes of them. They didn’t understand; they could not comprehend it. "Come on, Ryan, when was the last time you really went out and had a chance to meet the next Mrs. Ryan Colle?"
Staying silent I swallowed thickly, my throat dry for more than just the fact that I was a vampire. How are you supposed to get a family of your own if you don't ever go home? It wasn't his fault that the words he had said hit me the way they did, he didn't know me - at least not the real me; none of them did. And with good right. There had only ever been one humani to have broken the strong barrier I had in place between the mysterious humani mask I wore and the monster caged inside. She had slipped in without meaning to and had become the closest thing I had, had to a sister in over a century - it was a mixed and miserable blessing. All that had ever gotten the angelic being of a woman was a cold grave. Tenderly my eyes fell to the crisp folder in my hands, it wasn't hers, but it was close enough. I let out a with-held breath, the memory of the said woman's face as vivid in my mind as if I was staring at her picture. "I prefer the solitude, Michaels." I told him through tight throat muscles.
Giving me that same sad look that all of the other detectives gave me, like I was some sad state of a young man - a waste of twenty-something aged body, Agent Michaels shook his head. "Sometime, someday, you’ll change your mind. And when that happens, maybe you'll come out with us on Friday nights instead of staying here, buried in unsolvable cases and surrounded by the dead."
Closing my eyes I couldn't help but snort silently. If only he knew. "We'll see, Michaels, I like being surrounded by the dead. They're good listeners and they have a story to tell themselves. I've committed my life to defending them and the living against their killers. When you come across those unsolvable cases, I don't know about you, but I feel for them even more than the others. They are usually - but not always - the ones without family there to mourn them. I just feel like they need to be appreciated."
"They grow you guys weird at the F.B.I. office, don't they? I'm as devoted to my job as the next guy - and I feel for the dead - but not like that. I could never spend my after work hours doing all you do. It's going to take a lot of searching on your part to find a girl who is willing to compete with your job."
“That’s why I’m here, so you don’t have to do what I do.” I thought quickly on how to end the present conversation without snapping at the man before me. I was stressed enough as it was, without having to defend myself about my social life. This kind of conversation was not exactly something I wanted to have at the moment. I had other, more pressing issues on my mind. Taking in a deep breath I closed my eyes and released the tight muscles in my stiff shoulders. "Thank you for the files, Abram, I appreciate you getting them for me. However, I think I'll stay here tonight while you and the guys go out - maybe I'll come next time."
"You always say that and never do."
Before me Abram looked like a bit of a small child, frustrated with my lack of interest (of course, compared to my age he was a child anyway). I was old enough to be his great-great grandfather's grandfather. Despite this, I smirked, thoroughly amused by my fellow agents protest, "And I always mean it, Abram, I assure you. I just get pre-occupied, that's all." Of my own accord, of course.
My fellow agent didn't entirely believe me; that much was obvious to the plain and naked humani eye. "One of these days we're going to kidnap you and drag you along - whether you want to come or not." Abram proceeded to tell me, heading for the doorway of my small office. It was ten minutes, maybe fifteen if I was lucky, until closing. Most of the lights in the police station were now off or dimmed, casting a vacant horror story appearance on the rest of the station behind the younger man. Of course, he didn't know how much of a true horror story he was living.
Inwardly I laughed, trying to restrain from rolling my eyes. I would have liked to see them try to drag me anywhere I didn't want to go. Obviously, they were not familiar with my kind; the potential down fall of the human race was just summed up in that one sentence. "Do what you wish, if you feel so inclined, but tonight I am staying right here." He wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he did not protest. Instead, he took in heavy breathes and clenched his jaw. Although he was a good man he did not appreciate a lack of reciprocation when he put his foot forward in kindness or generosity. And by me denying his open invitation, I had just taken part in denying him reciprocation. I ignored his inward tantrum of sorts, knowing that he would get over it eventually, and turned around in my chair as if to pick something up off the floor. Satisfied in his own un-so way, Michaels left my office, shutting the door sharply behind him.
I waited ten minutes until I was sure that everyone was gone before taking off my sun glasses. Even though the light from my eyes was enough, I still kept the poor light from my desk lamp on. It made me feel more human. I stared down at the folders in my hand, placing the newer files aside and onto my desk calendar (which had also served as a place mat of sorts more than once before) with barely a flick of my wrist. With those gone, I fixated on the cover of the folder that had been on the bottom. I knew that file too well; I knew that case too well. It was my entire fault that it had ever occurred, and knowing that devoured me inside.
Talia Lamont. The pictures of her lying face down in a pool of her own blood did not do her beauty justice. In real life, when she was not tortured and was well rested, she had been a beautiful woman with hazel eyes and curly blond hair spun up in a stunning hairdo from an earlier decade. She was a woman who lived in the nineties but whose wardrobe was still stuck in the fifties; any other woman could not have pulled it off. Talia, though, was not any other woman, it fit her and that's all that mattered. My fingers lingered on her crime scene mug shorts for a moment or two, those pictures were the only crime scene photos I had ever had break my apathetic facade. It happened every time I looked at them, like clock work. My eyes traced the image for something -anything - that I may have missed previously. The hunt was impossible, I knew that, but desperation will lead a man to do stupid things.
Finding nothing there I scanned through the other crime scene photos, and then the reports - the same routine as always. I ran over each word precisely three times before continuing on to the next, so it took me an hour to get to the last sentence of the Crime Scene report. Like I had somewhat expected I was not able to find anything new - not that I knew exactly what I was looking for; a strand of hope, I suppose – and the case had been cold for years. Piercing my lips I looked down at the half-turned page, leaning back into the chair as if deciding whether or not I really wanted to turn the page. I was. Clenching my jaw, a strange form of mental preparation, I slowly turned the sheet of paper and stared down at the beautiful young feminine face staring up at me from an orphanage school picture. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms folded across them with her chin resting on the top of the pile. Soft, wavy blonde hair was tucked behind her ears and her blue eyes were sparkling as bright as ever. She looked so happy; so carefree. She had always been good at putting on an act, though, so how true that whole look in her eyes was I could not be sure. Normally, I would have been wondering about how she was feeling now, but I knew the family she was with now and I knew that she would be happy there. No, it wasn't her mental well-being I was worried about now; I had something far more dangerous and fragile to worry about. My family was after her and she didn't appear to have a clue. They would not stop at any obstacle or any length to get to her; they would cut down anyone that got in their way of getting to her - Carter's family included. They wanted her and Annora had no clue. Her two friends, that wolf and that phaser...they could not even begin to protect her against my family.
David had made it clear for me to stay away, to distance myself from Annora and I did, though not in the way I am sure he meant, but he didn't understand. He couldn't. Annora was in danger, she had always been, and I could never have left her before and I couldn't now - she needed me to protect her, even if they denied it. I was the only one that could keep her from my family - not even Jake could deny that. Jake would do anything to protect Annora, as would I.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Nanowrimo!
Hi all!! How is Nano going for you?? I still can't believe it's here already, and we're a week through :P How are all your stories going?
I mostly want to get this site going again (it's nanowrimo, the one month we're all certain to be writing. We have to post more!) But I guess I'll post a bit of my story...
I am rewriting last years nano, but it's very very different. I have a completely different MC. This part isn't right at the beginning, but not much has happened yet.
Tyra frowned as she tried to make sense of the directions written on her hand. She’d been sent to pick up Vera, and she was driving alone for the first time in the city. “Why do cities have to be so big?” She muttered under her breath, squinting as she tried to see the street names. She had just made her way past all the big modern buildings made of glass and steel, and now she was in the older section. All the houses were mansions made of stone, with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. There were parties at several of them, light and people spilled out onto the street. “Finally,” Tyra said, pulling up in the driveway of the house with the number one hundred and seven.
It looked like the party was just starting there, the door was wide open and a little crowd of people stood there welcoming the guests. Limos pulled up to the gates one by one and dropped them off. Tyra caught flashes of tuxes and long dresses and jewelry, but she couldn’t see much more.
Tyra looked over as she heard footsteps. There was a boy near her age leaving the house, he shut the door quietly and started walking towards the road, staying in the shadows. Tyra tried not to stare at him, but it was hard keeping her eyes away. He had messy black hair that flopped onto his forehead and a serious face and was tall and fit--
“EIYAN!” Tyra heard someone shout from the house. The boy froze, grimaced, and continued walking. “Hello?” Tyra looked up at the window, a woman was standing there looking down at her. “You’re here to pick up Vera aren’t you?” The woman asked, frowning distractedly.
“Yes,” Tyra said, watching the boy out of the corner of her eye as he froze again.
“Have you seen my son, Eiyan?” The woman asked. “He’s seventeen and has black hair…” Eiyan was shaking his head no violently, Tyra bit back a grin.
“No I haven’t, sorry,” she said. Eiyan looked relieved.
“Alright,” the woman said, “Vera will be out in a moment, I think.” She walked away and Tyra looked at Eiyan.
“Thank you for that,” he said, smiling. His smile lit up his face. “You have no idea what a long and boring party you saved me from.”
“You’re welcome,” Tyra said, smiling back. She wished she could talk to him like she did with Jagger, one of her best friends at home. But Jagger wasn’t nearly as cute as Eiyan was, and his attractiveness made it difficult to think of anything to say.
Vera came out the door as Eiyan started walking away again, she didn‘t even look tired. “What did they want you to make?” Tyra asked as Vera got in the car.
“An enormous fountain,” she said. “It looks like a weeping willow, and the water parts for anyone who wants to go through. There’s a dance floor inside and candles lining the fountain that never go out of course. It wasn’t hard to enchant.”
“It sounds like it would be pretty,” Tyra said. Vera had a business where she did enchantments for parties or rich people, things like the fountain, or mazes that only took up five square feet but were huge inside.
“It was,” Vera said. “That family is very important. The King and the princess are coming to the party.”
“Huh,” Tyra said. She wondered where Eiyan was escaping to. They drove the rest of the way home in silence, Vera must have been tired after all because she didn’t try to start a conversation. That was fine with Tyra, she was tired too.
It was two days later when it happened. Everyone was in the kitchen, looking through the mail. Macie grabbed an important looking one-- it had the national seal on it-- and ripped it open.
“Hey guys,” she said, her eyes widening as she read, “It’s from the King.”
“The King?” Vera peered over Macie’s shoulder. “It’s to everyone in the city,” she told the rest of them. “There’s going to be an announcement tomorrow in the town square.”
“What about?” Tyra wondered aloud. It seemed unusual to her, and by Jorge’s frown, he thought so too.
The town square was so crowded the next day they couldn’t even see the pedestal where the King would sit. The general family shortness didn’t help any, but Asher couldn’t see it either. Vera quickly set up a magnifying enchantment and soon they could see the pedestal like it was in front of them. Tyra could pick out the Enchanters in the crowd by the little groups of people not pushing and straining to see the King.
Eventually the trumpet sounded and there the King was, he stepped out of a limo, closely followed on either side by bodyguards. None of his advisors were with him, though Tyra caught sight of the princess and her bodyguards right below the pedestal. The crowd’s murmurs died down as the King stood there.
“Before I tell you what I am about to do,” he said, yelling to be heard, “Keep in mind that I am doing this for the good of the whole land.” Whispers broke out again and Tyra saw Jorge and Vera exchange a worried look. The air felt static, like a storm was coming. “I have recently decided,” the King continued, “That magic is dangerous.” Shock rippled through the crowd. Magic had been around for hundreds of years, Tyra couldn’t think of a reason why it would be decided dangerous now.
“Anyone could use it, for awful things,” The King said, his voice booming. He didn’t look anxious about how the people would take it, he almost looked… pleased. “Think of what a tyrant could do if he got his hands on magic. It is not safe to have magic used so commonly. Therefore I am passing a law… from this day forward, other than for the protection of this country, magic is outlawed.”
At that, the crowd exploded. People shouted and screamed, voices rose into the air like a fire leaping. Vera took a step back as if she had been punched in the stomach, losing hold of the magnifying enchantment. Tyra craned her neck to see and caught a glimpse of the King’s bodyguards bundling him into the limo as the crowd surged forward. It was so noisy, Tyra could barely hear the thoughts in her head. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, they were a confused jumble of questions. She suddenly felt sick, all these bodies pressing in around her, anger flowing over her, urging her to shout along with them. She clamped her teeth down and turned away, she wouldn’t give in to the anger that was building inside of her.
“Let’s go,” Jorge tugged at her arm and she followed him out of the crowd. Macie and Asher and Quinn looked shocked, their eyes were wide and confused. Jorge’s face was pinched with worry. And Vera- Vera was livid, her face like stone as she marched back to the house. She started shouting as soon as they were inside, pacing back and forth as she ranted. Jorge stood there and tried to put in calming words, but Tyra couldn’t stand it. She’d never seen Vera this out of control.
She ran to her room and tried to breath slowly, the silence pounded in her ears. She could still hear Vera shouting but it was so much quieter than in the crowd, there was finally room for all the questions to rise up. What were they going to do? Jorge would still provide for them of course, but he didn’t make a ton of money… How could the King do that to all the enchanters? Was he insane?
Exhausted, Tyra sank onto the bed. One thing she knew for certain, no one was happy about this new law. They would have to revoke it, the advisors would have to overrule the King… if they didn’t, she didn’t know what would happen. She was so angry, and Vera was so much angrier.
It was finally quiet in the house. Tyra left her room and went to the kitchen, Vera was sitting at the table with her head in her hands. Jorge sat slumped beside her. “I’ll go back to Maycomb tomorrow,” Vera spoke suddenly, looking up. “The house wasn’t sold yet. We can move back.”
“Do you think we’ll need to?” Jorge asked.
“You can get your job back easily,” Vera said, “Instead of having to look for one here.” Jorge nodded in agreement, and they were silent.
“Do you want some coffee, mom?” Tyra asked. She wished she could do more to make her feel better, but that was all she could think of. No one would eat her dinners anymore. Vera nodded, and gave her a tired smile. Tyra wished they weren’t moving back because of such a bad thing. She would love being back of course, but somehow she didn’t think they could adjust to a life without magic. She hoped they could convince the King that no one could.
Good luck with nano everyone!
KrazyK
I mostly want to get this site going again (it's nanowrimo, the one month we're all certain to be writing. We have to post more!) But I guess I'll post a bit of my story...
I am rewriting last years nano, but it's very very different. I have a completely different MC. This part isn't right at the beginning, but not much has happened yet.
Tyra frowned as she tried to make sense of the directions written on her hand. She’d been sent to pick up Vera, and she was driving alone for the first time in the city. “Why do cities have to be so big?” She muttered under her breath, squinting as she tried to see the street names. She had just made her way past all the big modern buildings made of glass and steel, and now she was in the older section. All the houses were mansions made of stone, with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. There were parties at several of them, light and people spilled out onto the street. “Finally,” Tyra said, pulling up in the driveway of the house with the number one hundred and seven.
It looked like the party was just starting there, the door was wide open and a little crowd of people stood there welcoming the guests. Limos pulled up to the gates one by one and dropped them off. Tyra caught flashes of tuxes and long dresses and jewelry, but she couldn’t see much more.
Tyra looked over as she heard footsteps. There was a boy near her age leaving the house, he shut the door quietly and started walking towards the road, staying in the shadows. Tyra tried not to stare at him, but it was hard keeping her eyes away. He had messy black hair that flopped onto his forehead and a serious face and was tall and fit--
“EIYAN!” Tyra heard someone shout from the house. The boy froze, grimaced, and continued walking. “Hello?” Tyra looked up at the window, a woman was standing there looking down at her. “You’re here to pick up Vera aren’t you?” The woman asked, frowning distractedly.
“Yes,” Tyra said, watching the boy out of the corner of her eye as he froze again.
“Have you seen my son, Eiyan?” The woman asked. “He’s seventeen and has black hair…” Eiyan was shaking his head no violently, Tyra bit back a grin.
“No I haven’t, sorry,” she said. Eiyan looked relieved.
“Alright,” the woman said, “Vera will be out in a moment, I think.” She walked away and Tyra looked at Eiyan.
“Thank you for that,” he said, smiling. His smile lit up his face. “You have no idea what a long and boring party you saved me from.”
“You’re welcome,” Tyra said, smiling back. She wished she could talk to him like she did with Jagger, one of her best friends at home. But Jagger wasn’t nearly as cute as Eiyan was, and his attractiveness made it difficult to think of anything to say.
Vera came out the door as Eiyan started walking away again, she didn‘t even look tired. “What did they want you to make?” Tyra asked as Vera got in the car.
“An enormous fountain,” she said. “It looks like a weeping willow, and the water parts for anyone who wants to go through. There’s a dance floor inside and candles lining the fountain that never go out of course. It wasn’t hard to enchant.”
“It sounds like it would be pretty,” Tyra said. Vera had a business where she did enchantments for parties or rich people, things like the fountain, or mazes that only took up five square feet but were huge inside.
“It was,” Vera said. “That family is very important. The King and the princess are coming to the party.”
“Huh,” Tyra said. She wondered where Eiyan was escaping to. They drove the rest of the way home in silence, Vera must have been tired after all because she didn’t try to start a conversation. That was fine with Tyra, she was tired too.
It was two days later when it happened. Everyone was in the kitchen, looking through the mail. Macie grabbed an important looking one-- it had the national seal on it-- and ripped it open.
“Hey guys,” she said, her eyes widening as she read, “It’s from the King.”
“The King?” Vera peered over Macie’s shoulder. “It’s to everyone in the city,” she told the rest of them. “There’s going to be an announcement tomorrow in the town square.”
“What about?” Tyra wondered aloud. It seemed unusual to her, and by Jorge’s frown, he thought so too.
The town square was so crowded the next day they couldn’t even see the pedestal where the King would sit. The general family shortness didn’t help any, but Asher couldn’t see it either. Vera quickly set up a magnifying enchantment and soon they could see the pedestal like it was in front of them. Tyra could pick out the Enchanters in the crowd by the little groups of people not pushing and straining to see the King.
Eventually the trumpet sounded and there the King was, he stepped out of a limo, closely followed on either side by bodyguards. None of his advisors were with him, though Tyra caught sight of the princess and her bodyguards right below the pedestal. The crowd’s murmurs died down as the King stood there.
“Before I tell you what I am about to do,” he said, yelling to be heard, “Keep in mind that I am doing this for the good of the whole land.” Whispers broke out again and Tyra saw Jorge and Vera exchange a worried look. The air felt static, like a storm was coming. “I have recently decided,” the King continued, “That magic is dangerous.” Shock rippled through the crowd. Magic had been around for hundreds of years, Tyra couldn’t think of a reason why it would be decided dangerous now.
“Anyone could use it, for awful things,” The King said, his voice booming. He didn’t look anxious about how the people would take it, he almost looked… pleased. “Think of what a tyrant could do if he got his hands on magic. It is not safe to have magic used so commonly. Therefore I am passing a law… from this day forward, other than for the protection of this country, magic is outlawed.”
At that, the crowd exploded. People shouted and screamed, voices rose into the air like a fire leaping. Vera took a step back as if she had been punched in the stomach, losing hold of the magnifying enchantment. Tyra craned her neck to see and caught a glimpse of the King’s bodyguards bundling him into the limo as the crowd surged forward. It was so noisy, Tyra could barely hear the thoughts in her head. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, they were a confused jumble of questions. She suddenly felt sick, all these bodies pressing in around her, anger flowing over her, urging her to shout along with them. She clamped her teeth down and turned away, she wouldn’t give in to the anger that was building inside of her.
“Let’s go,” Jorge tugged at her arm and she followed him out of the crowd. Macie and Asher and Quinn looked shocked, their eyes were wide and confused. Jorge’s face was pinched with worry. And Vera- Vera was livid, her face like stone as she marched back to the house. She started shouting as soon as they were inside, pacing back and forth as she ranted. Jorge stood there and tried to put in calming words, but Tyra couldn’t stand it. She’d never seen Vera this out of control.
She ran to her room and tried to breath slowly, the silence pounded in her ears. She could still hear Vera shouting but it was so much quieter than in the crowd, there was finally room for all the questions to rise up. What were they going to do? Jorge would still provide for them of course, but he didn’t make a ton of money… How could the King do that to all the enchanters? Was he insane?
Exhausted, Tyra sank onto the bed. One thing she knew for certain, no one was happy about this new law. They would have to revoke it, the advisors would have to overrule the King… if they didn’t, she didn’t know what would happen. She was so angry, and Vera was so much angrier.
It was finally quiet in the house. Tyra left her room and went to the kitchen, Vera was sitting at the table with her head in her hands. Jorge sat slumped beside her. “I’ll go back to Maycomb tomorrow,” Vera spoke suddenly, looking up. “The house wasn’t sold yet. We can move back.”
“Do you think we’ll need to?” Jorge asked.
“You can get your job back easily,” Vera said, “Instead of having to look for one here.” Jorge nodded in agreement, and they were silent.
“Do you want some coffee, mom?” Tyra asked. She wished she could do more to make her feel better, but that was all she could think of. No one would eat her dinners anymore. Vera nodded, and gave her a tired smile. Tyra wished they weren’t moving back because of such a bad thing. She would love being back of course, but somehow she didn’t think they could adjust to a life without magic. She hoped they could convince the King that no one could.
Good luck with nano everyone!
KrazyK
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
"Listen to Your Heart"
A shaky breath, whether caused from fear or nerves, she did not know, escaped her lips. Her eyes, a usual crystal blue now shaded in gray, rose to meet that of Wilhelm’s. “I don’t think we’re coming back.” She told him quietly, the realization hitting her like a lead block.
His lips formed a frown, perfect, dark brows furred as he nodded in reluctant agreement. “We’ve failed, it’s over.” Even though the words were said, neither stopped looking at each other, praying one would say something, anything, to stop this madness. Both young rangers praying that one would say something to keep them together.
“Mina,” Her mentor spoke abruptly as he walked into the clearing, “It’s time we go.”
I know there's something in the wake of your smile.
I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yea.
You've built a love but that love falls apart.
Your little piece of heaven turns too dark.
Dressed in blue and white, from head to toe, a gown of flowing silk now took place of her ranger’s clothes. R’gon had gone to the West, Wilhelm to the South and She, to the East – back to her people. Now she stood, eyes closed, head bowed as she stood at the temple, feeling the bitterness of her decision. The past years flashed through her young mind, aging her with every thought and every pain. A gasp, full of pain and tears, escaped her lips and she fell to the burnt ground. With reluctance her eyes open to survey the tortured ground covered by a black sky: a land once her home, now nothing but rubble.
“M’lady?” One of the survivors asked, placing a dirtied hand on her slouched shoulders. “We should go, they’ll be back.” Absent mindedly she stood once again, staring out a head of her, “None of this should have happened, Odin, I should have stopped it. Now there’s nothing in this world that can save us. The King's won.” With blurred eyes she turned a somber stare to the grave at her feet, where three others should someday lay but never would- for their bodies would never be truly recognizable. From her hair she pulled a dead blue rose, allowing it’s thorns to cut her fingers as it glided from her hands down onto the grave bellow. “We’ve lost, Tript,” She whispered aloud to her brother, as if he could still somehow hear her wherever he was, “we’ve lost everything.”
Listen to your heart
when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
“Mina?” Her brother’s voice called from the doorway. With a gasp she sat up more, wide eyes turning to meet his. Her breathing was erratic, her nightmare still replaying itself before her eyes. Without another word her brother was there beside her, his arms placed protectively around her and his chin on her head. From beneath his head she could feel the soft texture of his worn robes and the warmth he emitted. “Shh,” Tripton whispered, his voice as soothing as a lullaby. “Go back to sleep – it was a dream.” He said, even if it wasn’t, just to give her comfort.
With a startle, she woke, tears in her eyes as she looked around the cold forest. No, he wasn’t there, none of them were. Sleeping in heaps were what was left of the fight, resting peacefully as if nothing had ever happened. Lying back down against the tree she stared up at the clouded sky, wishing to see a star behind them. The forest was cold, but she was numb to it, it wasn’t nearly as frozen as her heart. “It’s just a dream.” She whispered to herself, closing her eyes. “Just a dream.”
Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile.
The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yea.
They're swept away and nothing is what is seems,
the feeling of belonging to your dreams.
“Who goes there?” A sharp voice demanded. Its tone was familiar, but only just, as it had changed with age. Holding out her arm she ordered her men to lower their weapons, eyes focused on the approaching figures. When their eyes met, neither could speak at first. It didn’t seem possible that they were standing there, together once more after all these years. His hair was a bit longer and stubble shadowed his face but his eyes, his eyes were just as gorgeous as ever. She looked worn to him, weighted by a thousand evils, dragged down by the dead, still from somewhere behind her mask he could see the old her. Long black hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall in his memory and her face held a soft knowing smile, and those eyes of hers...eyes that could read your sole. “Mina?” Wilhelm whispered, “Is that you?”
With a slow, blank stared nod she responded. “Yes…Wilhelm, you,” Her slips struggled to form words, “you look well.” A small lopsided smile was his response as he stepped toward her, arm nestling across her shoulder as if to help carry the invisible load she carried, “And you look like the world around you has fallen apart.”
“It has, Wil, it has.”
Listen to your heart
when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
For a moment she closed her eyes and she wasn’t there, she was back at the lodge with her mentor and her brother; listening to them tease one another like children. She listened to his laughter, to the music it seemed to make as it exited his lips. His laughter was her lullaby; it had been for so many years. Reality set in, the remembrance of the swords dicing her brother before her eyes, his panicked voice as he told her to run. His last words he spoke to her, unfinished, held dead in the air. Opening her eyes she stared ahead of her, watching the flames enclose around what they had of her brother’s body. “We are gathered here,” The preacher began, “to honor a noble warrior for his courageous accomplishments in life and his honorable death.” The sound of Leiha’s sobs behind her drowned out the sound preacher’s voice. For a moment, a split second, she understood how her mentor felt when they’d heard the news about Aizlin. It was like someone had taken a knife and stabbed you in the heart.
And there are voices
that want to be heard.
So much to mention
but you can't find the words.
The scent of magic,
the beauty that's been
when love was wilder than the wind.
when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
“R'gon!” Wilhelm called, eyes focused in the distance. “There’s smoke coming from the hole!” Like that the world stopped, Mina turned to see her mentor rush towards the hole. Of course, the two younger rangers followed his movements faithfully. As R'gon's eyes ran across the scene he looked lost, more pained than even when Tripton had fallen. With lethargic movements he crouched, tapping the ground with his forefinger. “She was not here when it happened.” He spoke in slow, precise words, “This was done after the attack, her tracks are too old and this smoke too fresh. Whoever it was, wanted all evidence of her lost.” Standing up he looked at his charges, “We have to go to the city; they’ll know what’s happened.” Without another word, he headed for the road, expecting them to follow.
What they discovered at the city was not any more comfort than the smoke they’d seen. R'gon had hoped, by some fleeting idea of imagination, that she had fled to the city when she had heard the Kings men coming. He hoped she was safe, furthest from harms way. His hopes, however, were not truth. “R'gon!” A woman exclaimed rushing over and hugging him, pulling back and taking his hands. “Thank goodness it’s you! Thank the Gods you’ve come!” She spoke in fast words with a thick accent, barely understandable to the younger rangers.
“Jade,” R'gon interrupted, holding the woman’s hands as well, “Jade, where is Aizlin.” His voice was urgent and his eyes were searching hers for some strand of hope. The woman stepped back a bit, faltering on her feet. “You did not know?” She asked, looking pained herself. “She’s gone, R'gon. They took her. The King's army came in the night; they jumped Edelweiss and then jumped her. For hours they tortured her, R'gon, hours trying to get some information about the necklace off of her…about you three and where you might be...where you were headed. Naturally she wouldn’t tell them a word, no matter what they did to her. She would protect you all until the King brought death upon her. Oh, R'gon,” She cried, “They took Aizlin to the black tower – to the King himself, nothing but death will find her there, R'gon, nothing but death!” All Rid could do was stare, white faced at the woman before him. The words ‘nothing but death’ ran through his mind like a horror movie.
Listen to your heart, mm-mmmmmm
"Wilhelm!" Mina exclaimed, running over and hugging him, wrapping her arms around his neck as best she could. It seemed to have been far too long since she’d last embraced him. Smiling a bit he did the same, only he wrapped his arms about her waist. "Oh, Wilhelm, I'm so glad to see you. I searched all over the mountain top for R'gon but could find him no where. He isn't the type to just not show, both you and I know that. I fear something bad may have happened to him." Stopping to take a breath the young woman looked up at him, pulling back enough so she could meet his eyes. Looking into the spheres she loved so much she smiled a bit, "I'm so glad to see you're alright, these past few months of unknowing have been torcher."
There was a pause where she looked closer, deeper into his soul, and more at his physical appearance, attempting to push aside her excitement. Upon further investigation she noted that he was pretty well banged up, as if he’d been in a fight. Blinking she looked up at Wilhelm’s face, furring her eyebrows worriedly. "What happened to you?" She demanded but, like he had for the past few moments, Wilhelm remained silent. A frown graced her lips as Minaethial pulled back further, worry clouding her normally crystal clear eyes. Immediately her excitement vanished, being replaced with worry, fear and speculation. "What's wrong?"
Finally, after moments of silence the man before her moved, but not towards her. He ran his hand through his hair, closing his eyes for a moment while he looked down at his feet. Taking in a deep breath he looked up at her, eyes filled with a strange look of guilt, "I'm sorry, Mina." He whispered, speaking up for the first time since she'd last seen him, "I had nothing to do with it, I swear, I didn’t know."
Widening her eyes the young female ranger moved to step towards him in both worry and accusation. "Nothing to do with what, Wilhelm?” Her voice became sharp at the older man, fear – of which out of all feelings she hated the most – soaring through her. When he didn’t respond and stood there, avoiding eye contact she advanced towards him, “What's happened? What did you do?"
Once more, there was a silence. The more experienced ranger turned his head away, looking into the depths of the forest – unable to bare her judgmental gaze. A sudden realization hit Mina, and she took in an unsteady breath. Slowly she lowered her blue eyes to his chest and then to his hand finding what she hoped to see, no where. "Wil, where's the necklace?"
Wilhelm smiled, a melancholy and sarcastic smile, but remained silent. Gritting his teeth he turned to look up at the young woman before him, staring into her eyes apologetically. "I had no idea, Mina." He whispered to her but she shook her head, completely confused. This couldn’t be happening, what had happened? What didn’t he know? How couldn’t he? It wasn't until dark shadows, men and others dressed in black, emerged from the dense brush to join him that she understood.
"Wilhelm," She breathed, stumbling backwards to get as far away from him as she could. Her young face, that was usually joyful despite their hardships, now looked pained. "How could you?" Narrowing her eyes, tears welling behind them the young woman felt the need to throw up. He had betrayed her, betrayed her mentor – betrayed the whole country.
His lips parted as he tried to talk, to say anything to defend him, but nothing would come. All he could do was stand there, staring at her helplessly while she stood there in a form of pain that no medicine could heal. She looked betrayed, and he knew she had full right to feel that way - he would have felt it too if he was in that situation and had he actually betrayed her. "Speak nothing to her, young Bowman," One of the dark figures commanded, coming behind Wilhelm. The taller, older and broader man gripped Wilhelm’s shoulders as if they were good old buddies. Wilhelm winced, but spoke nothing.
After taking a moment to pause the man who had spoken brushed shoulders with the younger man and walked towards the young lady standing before them, an eerie look in his cold eyes. "She is not worth your noble breath." The words were mocking, taunting him to think he had done something gracious. But he hadn’t – he was furthest from noble to either sides and he knew it. Wilhelm grimaced and closed his eyes, wishing to turn back time so he could right things. When he finally did open his eyes, it was only once and only to see Mina's perfect face distorted in pain, and her eyes glossed.
"Don't touch me." Mina hissed when he reached out to touch her as the guards dragged her past him – her captors. With all hate that could fill her small body she looked up at him, eyes narrowed into lethal slits as she glanced from his eyes to his fingers which were inches from her arms. Poison seeped from her gaze, as if she wished death upon him. Instantaneously Wilhelm retracted his hand and looked away, towards the ground not making another move until she passed.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
“I swear to you,” His voice was firm and urgent, his breath moist and fresh as its warmth rolled over her cool skin. “I will never, ever hurt you that way again.”
Out of breath the young woman laughed, closing her eyes and resting herself against his muscular arm. “Don’t promise such things.” She whispered back to him, gasping for breath as they laid in the basement, waiting for the men above to pass without noticing them. In the back of her mind she wondered what punishment would be brought upon Aizlin for helping them escape, “Besides, you have nothing to worry about,” Reaching her hand up she placed its slender form against his dirtied young cheek, “I can turn reality into a fantasy at the snap of a finger. My worst nightmares in reality, can become nothing more than a dream.”
Chuckling under his breath the young man placed his lips to her forehead. His chest rumbled and rocked with every movement of his laughter but the young woman didn’t care – the movement was comforting. “Bless your strange ways, Mina.”
~~~~
Ahh, I've miss you guys.
Originally, I had this set to Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" because of the lyrics, and the fact that Tripton always told Mina that "it's just a dream" when anything went wrong. However, when I was listening to one of my playlists, "Listen to your Heart" by DHT came on and, well, I couldn't resist.
For the most part this thing (whatever you wish to call it) between a 1st and 2nd book...all revolving around three main characters....Mina (who I modelled after Lenia), Wilhelm and R'gon, Mina's mentor. I know it probably makes very little sense, haha, as you really don't know the plot line....but, it's something that has come to me recently....
*sigh*
Now I don't know whether I want to do the first book as my NaNo or do the non-fantasy one I was talking about.....I only have the outline for this one done, and these snippets but the story is well thought out....the other non-fantasy one is kind of....er....not so well thought out.
Pst. Anna. I want mmmooorrreeeeee
..For the sake of anyone who happens to come across this site while filtering through the internet....
Tripton, R'gon, Mina, Aizlin Kalluhan, Odin and plotline © Katherine LaGassie
His lips formed a frown, perfect, dark brows furred as he nodded in reluctant agreement. “We’ve failed, it’s over.” Even though the words were said, neither stopped looking at each other, praying one would say something, anything, to stop this madness. Both young rangers praying that one would say something to keep them together.
“Mina,” Her mentor spoke abruptly as he walked into the clearing, “It’s time we go.”
I know there's something in the wake of your smile.
I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yea.
You've built a love but that love falls apart.
Your little piece of heaven turns too dark.
Dressed in blue and white, from head to toe, a gown of flowing silk now took place of her ranger’s clothes. R’gon had gone to the West, Wilhelm to the South and She, to the East – back to her people. Now she stood, eyes closed, head bowed as she stood at the temple, feeling the bitterness of her decision. The past years flashed through her young mind, aging her with every thought and every pain. A gasp, full of pain and tears, escaped her lips and she fell to the burnt ground. With reluctance her eyes open to survey the tortured ground covered by a black sky: a land once her home, now nothing but rubble.
“M’lady?” One of the survivors asked, placing a dirtied hand on her slouched shoulders. “We should go, they’ll be back.” Absent mindedly she stood once again, staring out a head of her, “None of this should have happened, Odin, I should have stopped it. Now there’s nothing in this world that can save us. The King's won.” With blurred eyes she turned a somber stare to the grave at her feet, where three others should someday lay but never would- for their bodies would never be truly recognizable. From her hair she pulled a dead blue rose, allowing it’s thorns to cut her fingers as it glided from her hands down onto the grave bellow. “We’ve lost, Tript,” She whispered aloud to her brother, as if he could still somehow hear her wherever he was, “we’ve lost everything.”
Listen to your heart
when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
“Mina?” Her brother’s voice called from the doorway. With a gasp she sat up more, wide eyes turning to meet his. Her breathing was erratic, her nightmare still replaying itself before her eyes. Without another word her brother was there beside her, his arms placed protectively around her and his chin on her head. From beneath his head she could feel the soft texture of his worn robes and the warmth he emitted. “Shh,” Tripton whispered, his voice as soothing as a lullaby. “Go back to sleep – it was a dream.” He said, even if it wasn’t, just to give her comfort.
With a startle, she woke, tears in her eyes as she looked around the cold forest. No, he wasn’t there, none of them were. Sleeping in heaps were what was left of the fight, resting peacefully as if nothing had ever happened. Lying back down against the tree she stared up at the clouded sky, wishing to see a star behind them. The forest was cold, but she was numb to it, it wasn’t nearly as frozen as her heart. “It’s just a dream.” She whispered to herself, closing her eyes. “Just a dream.”
Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile.
The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yea.
They're swept away and nothing is what is seems,
the feeling of belonging to your dreams.
“Who goes there?” A sharp voice demanded. Its tone was familiar, but only just, as it had changed with age. Holding out her arm she ordered her men to lower their weapons, eyes focused on the approaching figures. When their eyes met, neither could speak at first. It didn’t seem possible that they were standing there, together once more after all these years. His hair was a bit longer and stubble shadowed his face but his eyes, his eyes were just as gorgeous as ever. She looked worn to him, weighted by a thousand evils, dragged down by the dead, still from somewhere behind her mask he could see the old her. Long black hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall in his memory and her face held a soft knowing smile, and those eyes of hers...eyes that could read your sole. “Mina?” Wilhelm whispered, “Is that you?”
With a slow, blank stared nod she responded. “Yes…Wilhelm, you,” Her slips struggled to form words, “you look well.” A small lopsided smile was his response as he stepped toward her, arm nestling across her shoulder as if to help carry the invisible load she carried, “And you look like the world around you has fallen apart.”
“It has, Wil, it has.”
Listen to your heart
when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
For a moment she closed her eyes and she wasn’t there, she was back at the lodge with her mentor and her brother; listening to them tease one another like children. She listened to his laughter, to the music it seemed to make as it exited his lips. His laughter was her lullaby; it had been for so many years. Reality set in, the remembrance of the swords dicing her brother before her eyes, his panicked voice as he told her to run. His last words he spoke to her, unfinished, held dead in the air. Opening her eyes she stared ahead of her, watching the flames enclose around what they had of her brother’s body. “We are gathered here,” The preacher began, “to honor a noble warrior for his courageous accomplishments in life and his honorable death.” The sound of Leiha’s sobs behind her drowned out the sound preacher’s voice. For a moment, a split second, she understood how her mentor felt when they’d heard the news about Aizlin. It was like someone had taken a knife and stabbed you in the heart.
And there are voices
that want to be heard.
So much to mention
but you can't find the words.
The scent of magic,
the beauty that's been
when love was wilder than the wind.
“These woods are cursed,” Wilhelm hissed in the elder man’s ear, eyes darting around their surroundings, “what kind of nut would send us out here alone? Better yet, what one would let his so-called niece live here.” His eyes shifted along the woods. “You know, he’s known for being a bit crazy, R’gon, how do we even know this supposed ‘niece’ exists? How do we know he’s not trying to kill us all?”
“Shhh!” R’gon whispered harshly, thrusting out his arm to stop both of his apprentices short of him. A silence lingered between the three wanderers, a dense and troublesome silence that brought nothing but the hair on the back of their necks to a point. Over his shoulder the older man signaled the two younger Rangers to be silent.
Within a matter of seconds, on all sides of them their was a rustle in the leaves, starting at the left and then the right until it met in the middle, somewhere in the distance ahead of them.
“Do you hear that?” Minaethial breathed as quietly as she could, although the question’s answer was obvious. Once more the man hushed them both, his own eyes darting around the darkened woods around them. With one hand he outstretched the candle in an attempt to see what was in the distance. He knew these woods too well, more than even such a Ranger as himself should wish to know them.
In perfect time, as he lifted the candle before him, a hard wind blew, it’s cold gust stealing life from the burning wax. A thick fog, once thin, rolled in around them, obstructing their view. The silence around them became eerie once more, and the sound of their breathing echoed like the devils footsteps.
A shadowed form stood upon a hill before them in a mess of robes which were moving in the wind, too indistinct to tell if it was male or female. If it had not been for the voice, mysterious as it rose from every angle of the wood, they would not have known of the gender. But speak the shadow did as it moved ever so carefully from its place upon the hill on the beaten path ahead of them. The shadow’s voice was shady and threatening, and full of mystery, yet oddly gentle for anything that might dwell in that wood.
“In the Dark,
Clouds Shatter,
Thunder Soars,
Out from the depths,
An ominous shadow roars.”
Around them, light footsteps - like that of Mina’s Elvin kin - were crunching leaves were nearly drowned out by the sound of a coming storm. The in-coming front sent yet another whirl of bone chilling wind through the three travelers, causing two of them to shiver. While the other two focused ahead of them, R’gon stood in the front, hiding the dead candle in his robes.
Slight movement to her left caused Minaethial’s head to turn, her eyes piercing the forest beside her. Suspicion rose in her as she could not see the culprit and, instinctively, she raised her hand to cover her necklace. Beside her, Wilhelm moved, leaning forward to whisper to R‘gon . “Who is it?” This question seemed to ignite another verse in the shadow.
“Friend or Foe?
You do not know,
Until the darkness swallows you
By then your fate is sealed.
Take your chances,
If you wish,
But most flee the forest,
And avoid the risk.”
A flash of lightning lit the dark wood, illuminating the shadow’s enough for the group of disheveled warriors to get a better view. The shadow was clearly a woman, as her voice had given hint to the first moment she had spoken. Her eyes were dark and hardened; rage reflecting the terrifying flash of light, her long dark hair was even more wicked and wild in the wind than Mina’s. Still, though, a small smirk, mischievous and dangerous played her face. To her right another shadow moved, darting from behind her and then up in front. It slinked upon the ground, staying low, a soft growl and beady red eyes the only clue to its whereabouts.
“Lightning flashes,
Black wolves growl,
Petty courage turns to ash,
As the wind lets out a mighty howl.”
As if the words were a cue, the red-eyed shadow turned it’s head to the moon, releasing a wild howl. The sound sent pins and needles up your spine, making you think twice about what you may or may not do next. “Let us pass.” Mina was shocked to find Wilhelm demanding with his fingers placed carefully over the hilt of his resting sword. His eyes were hard, like the woman’s, and if any fear of what stood before them was in his body, he did not show it. R’gon, however, appeared quite displeased with the Ranger’s couragous outburst and turned his eyes, then slits, upon the boy and gave him a swipe across the arm.
The woman smirked, walking forward with slow and deadly movement until she stood a few feet from them. From her hip she extracted a candle and with a movement of her long fingers she lit it. The warm glow softened the contours of her face, giving it a more playful look compared to the ferocity it had worn a moment before. Her eyebrow, the same red-brown color of her hair, arched and she tilted her head as if to challenge Wilhelm. “And yet you fools do stay,” She eyed Wilhelm with hard eyes, though she seemed mildly amused, “however, fools do what fools lead them to,” Sharply her darted her bright amber spheres to the head of the group, a smirk slowly forming across her face, “and what a large fool does lead this hefty group of weary men.”
“Only the largest, Lady Kalluhan,” R’gon responded, much to the surprise of his charges. A smile, wider and brighter than the woman’s before him also appeared on his face as he gave her a small bow. A moment’s pause lingered between the two before the woman, whom he had regarded as Lady Kalluhan, reached out her hand and rested it upon his own. “You need not to bow to me, we are beyond formalities.” Her eyes, which were aglow by the candle, rose up to his face, searching in his green eyes for an answer to their coming. “You are being hunted then?” She whispered half to herself, half to the group before her. As she stared ahead over R’gon’s shoulder you could almost see the gears in her mind turning like an old grandfather clock. Suddenly, her eyes dilated and opened wide before retracting a split second later. Her head turned to look at Mina, a knowing look in her eyes, “I am the keeper of these woods and the only guardian from dangers that live in it. So long as you stay with me, I will keep you from harm.” Turning her attention back to R’gon she moved closer, hand wrapping tighter around his own. Against his callused skin her hand was soft and as he embraced its brittle form within his own muscular hand he nearly worried he could break it. “You will come back to my home and rest there for the night…what occurs from there, we will discuss in the morning.” Quickly the mysterious woman released R’gon’s hand and moved away from them, turning to face the hill once again. She held the candle out in front of her, eyes narrowing to pierce through the night. “Edelweiss!”
Listen to your heartwhen he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
“R'gon!” Wilhelm called, eyes focused in the distance. “There’s smoke coming from the hole!” Like that the world stopped, Mina turned to see her mentor rush towards the hole. Of course, the two younger rangers followed his movements faithfully. As R'gon's eyes ran across the scene he looked lost, more pained than even when Tripton had fallen. With lethargic movements he crouched, tapping the ground with his forefinger. “She was not here when it happened.” He spoke in slow, precise words, “This was done after the attack, her tracks are too old and this smoke too fresh. Whoever it was, wanted all evidence of her lost.” Standing up he looked at his charges, “We have to go to the city; they’ll know what’s happened.” Without another word, he headed for the road, expecting them to follow.
What they discovered at the city was not any more comfort than the smoke they’d seen. R'gon had hoped, by some fleeting idea of imagination, that she had fled to the city when she had heard the Kings men coming. He hoped she was safe, furthest from harms way. His hopes, however, were not truth. “R'gon!” A woman exclaimed rushing over and hugging him, pulling back and taking his hands. “Thank goodness it’s you! Thank the Gods you’ve come!” She spoke in fast words with a thick accent, barely understandable to the younger rangers.
“Jade,” R'gon interrupted, holding the woman’s hands as well, “Jade, where is Aizlin.” His voice was urgent and his eyes were searching hers for some strand of hope. The woman stepped back a bit, faltering on her feet. “You did not know?” She asked, looking pained herself. “She’s gone, R'gon. They took her. The King's army came in the night; they jumped Edelweiss and then jumped her. For hours they tortured her, R'gon, hours trying to get some information about the necklace off of her…about you three and where you might be...where you were headed. Naturally she wouldn’t tell them a word, no matter what they did to her. She would protect you all until the King brought death upon her. Oh, R'gon,” She cried, “They took Aizlin to the black tower – to the King himself, nothing but death will find her there, R'gon, nothing but death!” All Rid could do was stare, white faced at the woman before him. The words ‘nothing but death’ ran through his mind like a horror movie.
Listen to your heart, mm-mmmmmm
"Wilhelm!" Mina exclaimed, running over and hugging him, wrapping her arms around his neck as best she could. It seemed to have been far too long since she’d last embraced him. Smiling a bit he did the same, only he wrapped his arms about her waist. "Oh, Wilhelm, I'm so glad to see you. I searched all over the mountain top for R'gon but could find him no where. He isn't the type to just not show, both you and I know that. I fear something bad may have happened to him." Stopping to take a breath the young woman looked up at him, pulling back enough so she could meet his eyes. Looking into the spheres she loved so much she smiled a bit, "I'm so glad to see you're alright, these past few months of unknowing have been torcher."
There was a pause where she looked closer, deeper into his soul, and more at his physical appearance, attempting to push aside her excitement. Upon further investigation she noted that he was pretty well banged up, as if he’d been in a fight. Blinking she looked up at Wilhelm’s face, furring her eyebrows worriedly. "What happened to you?" She demanded but, like he had for the past few moments, Wilhelm remained silent. A frown graced her lips as Minaethial pulled back further, worry clouding her normally crystal clear eyes. Immediately her excitement vanished, being replaced with worry, fear and speculation. "What's wrong?"
Finally, after moments of silence the man before her moved, but not towards her. He ran his hand through his hair, closing his eyes for a moment while he looked down at his feet. Taking in a deep breath he looked up at her, eyes filled with a strange look of guilt, "I'm sorry, Mina." He whispered, speaking up for the first time since she'd last seen him, "I had nothing to do with it, I swear, I didn’t know."
Widening her eyes the young female ranger moved to step towards him in both worry and accusation. "Nothing to do with what, Wilhelm?” Her voice became sharp at the older man, fear – of which out of all feelings she hated the most – soaring through her. When he didn’t respond and stood there, avoiding eye contact she advanced towards him, “What's happened? What did you do?"
Once more, there was a silence. The more experienced ranger turned his head away, looking into the depths of the forest – unable to bare her judgmental gaze. A sudden realization hit Mina, and she took in an unsteady breath. Slowly she lowered her blue eyes to his chest and then to his hand finding what she hoped to see, no where. "Wil, where's the necklace?"
Wilhelm smiled, a melancholy and sarcastic smile, but remained silent. Gritting his teeth he turned to look up at the young woman before him, staring into her eyes apologetically. "I had no idea, Mina." He whispered to her but she shook her head, completely confused. This couldn’t be happening, what had happened? What didn’t he know? How couldn’t he? It wasn't until dark shadows, men and others dressed in black, emerged from the dense brush to join him that she understood.
"Wilhelm," She breathed, stumbling backwards to get as far away from him as she could. Her young face, that was usually joyful despite their hardships, now looked pained. "How could you?" Narrowing her eyes, tears welling behind them the young woman felt the need to throw up. He had betrayed her, betrayed her mentor – betrayed the whole country.
His lips parted as he tried to talk, to say anything to defend him, but nothing would come. All he could do was stand there, staring at her helplessly while she stood there in a form of pain that no medicine could heal. She looked betrayed, and he knew she had full right to feel that way - he would have felt it too if he was in that situation and had he actually betrayed her. "Speak nothing to her, young Bowman," One of the dark figures commanded, coming behind Wilhelm. The taller, older and broader man gripped Wilhelm’s shoulders as if they were good old buddies. Wilhelm winced, but spoke nothing.
After taking a moment to pause the man who had spoken brushed shoulders with the younger man and walked towards the young lady standing before them, an eerie look in his cold eyes. "She is not worth your noble breath." The words were mocking, taunting him to think he had done something gracious. But he hadn’t – he was furthest from noble to either sides and he knew it. Wilhelm grimaced and closed his eyes, wishing to turn back time so he could right things. When he finally did open his eyes, it was only once and only to see Mina's perfect face distorted in pain, and her eyes glossed.
"Don't touch me." Mina hissed when he reached out to touch her as the guards dragged her past him – her captors. With all hate that could fill her small body she looked up at him, eyes narrowed into lethal slits as she glanced from his eyes to his fingers which were inches from her arms. Poison seeped from her gaze, as if she wished death upon him. Instantaneously Wilhelm retracted his hand and looked away, towards the ground not making another move until she passed.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
“I swear to you,” His voice was firm and urgent, his breath moist and fresh as its warmth rolled over her cool skin. “I will never, ever hurt you that way again.”
Out of breath the young woman laughed, closing her eyes and resting herself against his muscular arm. “Don’t promise such things.” She whispered back to him, gasping for breath as they laid in the basement, waiting for the men above to pass without noticing them. In the back of her mind she wondered what punishment would be brought upon Aizlin for helping them escape, “Besides, you have nothing to worry about,” Reaching her hand up she placed its slender form against his dirtied young cheek, “I can turn reality into a fantasy at the snap of a finger. My worst nightmares in reality, can become nothing more than a dream.”
Chuckling under his breath the young man placed his lips to her forehead. His chest rumbled and rocked with every movement of his laughter but the young woman didn’t care – the movement was comforting. “Bless your strange ways, Mina.”
~~~~
Ahh, I've miss you guys.
Originally, I had this set to Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" because of the lyrics, and the fact that Tripton always told Mina that "it's just a dream" when anything went wrong. However, when I was listening to one of my playlists, "Listen to your Heart" by DHT came on and, well, I couldn't resist.
For the most part this thing (whatever you wish to call it) between a 1st and 2nd book...all revolving around three main characters....Mina (who I modelled after Lenia), Wilhelm and R'gon, Mina's mentor. I know it probably makes very little sense, haha, as you really don't know the plot line....but, it's something that has come to me recently....
*sigh*
Now I don't know whether I want to do the first book as my NaNo or do the non-fantasy one I was talking about.....I only have the outline for this one done, and these snippets but the story is well thought out....the other non-fantasy one is kind of....er....not so well thought out.
Pst. Anna. I want mmmooorrreeeeee
..For the sake of anyone who happens to come across this site while filtering through the internet....
Tripton, R'gon, Mina, Aizlin Kalluhan, Odin and plotline © Katherine LaGassie
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Hello all yee writerly friends :D
I don't even want to think about how long it's been since I posted. O_O
But I've still been writing! I'm working on a fairy tale right now (based on another grimms. yeah I know I'm cool.) but it's got a different twist because I'm writing it in verse. If you've never read a poem novel, I can suggest some absolutely fabulous ones. It's a very different style and I'm trying it out because I've always wanted to. I'm not 100% sure it's working/I'm doing it right, but Kelia likes it soo... heh.
This is an excerpt from the middle, and you guys will have absolutely no idea what's going on. :D But I hope it will make you want to read more. And I will explain if you ask me what's going on!
I am not aware
When it happens
Or how it happens
All I know
Is I am heading
Back to the forest
With breakfast for two
That I earned myself
When a group
Of bored young soldiers
Surround me
Crowd around
Until I’m forced to halt.
“Where’d you get
The food, boy?”
One says, threatening.
“Steal it, didn’t you?”
“No! I earned it.
You can ask the baker
He’ll tell you its true.”
My heart is pounding
A bad taste
In my mouth
This will not end well.
“We’ll see about that,”
A guard leers.
“Give me a piece of that,”
A scrawny one
Grabs the cheese
Out of my hands.
“Hey!” I protest.
“My sister
Is hungry.”
“Sister?” the red head
Who stole my cheese
Grins.
“We’ll let you go
If you’d let us come along.
We’d like to meet
This sister of yours.”
Now I am angry
And I feel my eyes
Light with fire.
“You won’t touch her,”
I spit.
“It’s not like
You could really stop us.”
They laugh in my face.
My blood boils
And I push the red head
Sending him stumbling back.
The smiles disappear
From their faces.
“Shouldn’t have done that,
Boy.” They move closer
All at once.
“You can’t just beat me
In the middle of the square,”
I say, trying to mask
My discomfort.
One of the older ones
Smirks.
“You’re right.
Sorry to have
Bothered you.”
He steps out of my way
But I hesitate.
This isn’t right,
I am sure it’s a trap.
“Go on.” He tilts his head.
“Run.”
I don’t know
What else to do
So I walk away
Steps quickening
Despite myself
Until I’m shoving past people
Just trying to get away
And there it is
“Stop, thief!”
And they are chasing
In earnest now.
There is nothing I can do
But run.
Hands grasp at me
But I pull away
Desperate to get back
To my sister
But then they have me
There are too many
And they’re dragging me
Down a tiny alley way.
They slam me against
The stone.
Blood clouds my eyes.
I look up at them
Looming above me
Stand, ready myself
But there are just
Too many
And I end up
Balled up to protect
My broken skin
And finally
There is only black.
Shattered fragments
Pierce my aching skull.
I try to open my eyes
But I can’t
It’s too heavy
This pressure
This pain
Easier to lie still
Let it consume me.
A voice floats
On the edge of my mind
Too far away
I can’t quite grasp it.
“Wake up, wake up.”
Then pain
Different now
So sharp I gasp
As someone lifts me
Carries me
Every step bringing me closer
To a fate
I can’t push away.
I’m not aware
When I’m put down
But voices break through
The wool that’s filled
My head.
“Wren.”
“Oh my God, Wren.”
Leona…
I’m taken away
To a memory
And my mother
Is smiling
Picks little me up
Swings me around
And I laugh.
“Wren wake up!
Come on, you can do this.”
The voice I heard before
Speaks, but it’s so hard
To listen.
The voices fade
In and out.
“Found him…
Horrible guard…
Left for dead.”
“Will he make it?”
“I… he’s lost
a lot of blood.”
“He’s strong.
Wren, come on…”
“I know about you two.”
“What?”
“The curse..
This is the curse.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’ll die.
You know he will.”
“Who are you?”
“I can help.”
“Please…”
“There’s only one way.”
I struggle
To understand
Leona’s upset.
“There’s got
To be another way!
No… no.”
“You’d let him
Die?”
“Why can’t you
Just heal him?
If you’re powerful
Enough to do
What you say?”
“My master
Will never let
Him go
While you live
Both of you.
This is the only way
I know to save you.”
“He’ll stay himself?
Even if he’s not…”
“Yes he’ll have his mind.
When the curse is broken…”
“I can’t let you.
He would never
Forgive me.”
Voices blur.
It’s getting harder
To breathe.
“Wren?”
My body lurches
In a spasm
I can’t control.
My face is wet
But I don’t know why.
A sound rips the air
An anguished groan
But I don’t
Even realize
It’s coming
From me.
The feeling
Of Leona’s arms
Around me
Begins to fade.
“Do it.”
There is no
White light
For me,
Only pain
As if
My skin
Is being ripped
From my bones
And my eyes
Fly open
And the world
Is shattering
Around me.
So... who else is doing NaNoWriMo? It's almost one month away! I must plannnn.
This post would be longer but it's late and I should be in bed. So I will bid adue for now. Hope you are all doing wonderfully and having great writing adventures. :D
Much love and kisses,
Anna
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Strangest Thing...
So, I was sitting here, commenting on KrazyK's last post and decided to post something. Okay, so it was Lauren that got me thinking about it as we were talking about plots today. The Writing Endeavor program I am involved with has tasks for you to do every month (I don't think I even have done another this month, I've just kind of been hanging) and word-count goals for you to "achieve". Well, back in January I posted something for them so I figured I might as well do the same for you...it's nothing special but, this is the introduction I wrote:
My January task is lacking in WC, however, I'm fairly pleased with it's outcome nevertheless. I went through and picked out a part from it for you guys to read. [It's actually the begining of Chapter Two which is why it starts off kind of strange.] To give you a summary the main character [Alexandria] is a minor character in a series I am writing and she has been nagging me for a long time to do her story. When January's task came about she made me grab my pen and get to work because I had no other excuse. The story takes place in a completely different section of the universe with planets and strange technology...the "works". Alexandria is a different kind of girl living in a family who doesn't quite understand her, in a "world" that is about to come into major problems thanks to her two younger brothers.
Enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things changed as Alexandria grew, for the better or for the worst she wasn’t sure. By the time she was sixteen she had two younger, twin brothers that seemed destined to make her life a living terror even though they weren’t even a year-old yet. In a way to find some sort of outlit for her, her parents dropped her into the military – something that fit her personality perfectly. For the most part when Alexandria was home she locked herself in her room, blasting music or doing something similar. However, at the base she roomed with Shelton and Kalani, who had the unfortunate task of being her Lords. This program was used to make the bond between "apprentice and master" closer. Alexandria, however, wasn’t the type of child to easily bond with someone, even if they were her Lord or not. Needless to say neither home felt like a home to her but at least at one she had her own room with a lock on it.
“I’m going to the barn.” She spoke curtly to her parents, grabbing her pack and walking out the door. Had it been six months since she’d last been home? She could hardly remember but all that mattered was that it had been too long since she’d last seen her horse. His name was Amir; Prince. He was a stunning stallion with a finely chiseled bone structure, arched neck and black, high-carried tail. His coat was a dark bay; his face brightened by a white stripe and his eyes dark amber. Even as Alexandria stood on the top of the hill, overlooking the pasture full of horses below she could pick Amir out for he stood with such a regal stance. His head tossed back, mane and tail whipping in the warm breeze as he made his way towards the gate as if he sensed her impending presence.
Upon arriving at the wooden fence Alexandria wrapped her small, slender fingers around the large wooden pegs. Leaning over the rail she placed her foot on the bottom rung to give her height. Her green eyes surveyed the mass of horses, watching as they melded into a melting pot of different colors. As she leaned forward more, cutting into the direction of the wind, her tied back hair which was now a complete sheet of purple shades, whipped around her face and neck.
“Enjoying what you see?”
An unfamiliar male voice caused Alexandria to gasp as if she had been stabbed in the back. Immediately her head turned and her green eyes formed wide circles. Never before had anyone been able to sneak up on her, and never before had she expected anyone to. Now a man who could be no more than eighteen was staring at her, pitch fork stuck into the ground with his arms folded across it. “Who are you?” She demanded, voice struggling to stay in one pitch zone.
The man chuckled, straight black bangs sweeping across his forehead as he ducked his head. From beneath his locks he gazed at her with murky-blue eyes, framed by long black lashes. “Well, isn’t it obvious, M’lady?” He used his arm no longer leaning on his pitch-fork to gesture to himself. “I am your royal stable boy, lover of equines.”
“Well,” Alexandria leaned on the fence, watching the man with one of her purple brows raised. “I wasn’t going to say anything but you do look like you have been playing in horse poop all day.”
“Maybe that’s because I have.”
Both Alexandria and the young man smirked at his comment, neither speaking for a few moments. “Amir’s missed you for quite a long time.” He finally stated.
“Oh?” Alexandria responded in an inquiring manor, “He did, did he?” A small smirk played her lips once more and her brow arched. “Did my loyal steed tell you this?”
The man chuckled whole-heartedly. “He did, actually.” There was a moments paused before he picked up the pitch fork from the ground and walked towards her. “It was blatantly obvious,” He informed her, “His spirit was broken.” He glanced out of the corner of his eyes at the beautiful young Princess, “I can’t blame him, I would feel the same way if I were him.”
The realization of what the stable boy said caused her cheeks to burn and her lashes to flutter uncontrollably. To recover she leaned over the fence’s top rung once more, feet firmly placed on the bottom one. Most importantly her face was not pointed towards the captivating flirt beside of her. “Oh?” She spoke trying not to show much interest. “And why is that, are you suggesting that I should refer to you as my horse from now on?”
Softly the man grinned, “Well, I smell like one ninety-five percent of the time…so I’m already half-way there.” He leaned his elbow on the fence’s top rung so that he could see the contours of Alexandria’s face. “However, I’d prefer it if you referred to me as Declan.”
“Declan?” She mused, “That’s a new one. Where are you from?”
“Here, your planet, of course. Why? Do you have a grudge or something against D names that my parents weren’t aware of when they named me?”
Taking advantage at the open opportunity Alexandria smirked mischeviously, “Possibly.” She told the man, allowing her voice to carry the mischief her smirk suggested.
“Oh, my…" Declan uttered, sighing dramatically and shaking his head, "I guess I’m in trouble then.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, it wasn't long and it needs some work but it's something....And after this, the story decided I needed to temporarily put it down and work on other things *cough* Annora's Story *cough*. The name "Declan" isn't my favorite but it is much better than "Dean" which it was before.
Katie-bo-baity
My January task is lacking in WC, however, I'm fairly pleased with it's outcome nevertheless. I went through and picked out a part from it for you guys to read. [It's actually the begining of Chapter Two which is why it starts off kind of strange.] To give you a summary the main character [Alexandria] is a minor character in a series I am writing and she has been nagging me for a long time to do her story. When January's task came about she made me grab my pen and get to work because I had no other excuse. The story takes place in a completely different section of the universe with planets and strange technology...the "works". Alexandria is a different kind of girl living in a family who doesn't quite understand her, in a "world" that is about to come into major problems thanks to her two younger brothers.
Enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things changed as Alexandria grew, for the better or for the worst she wasn’t sure. By the time she was sixteen she had two younger, twin brothers that seemed destined to make her life a living terror even though they weren’t even a year-old yet. In a way to find some sort of outlit for her, her parents dropped her into the military – something that fit her personality perfectly. For the most part when Alexandria was home she locked herself in her room, blasting music or doing something similar. However, at the base she roomed with Shelton and Kalani, who had the unfortunate task of being her Lords. This program was used to make the bond between "apprentice and master" closer. Alexandria, however, wasn’t the type of child to easily bond with someone, even if they were her Lord or not. Needless to say neither home felt like a home to her but at least at one she had her own room with a lock on it.
“I’m going to the barn.” She spoke curtly to her parents, grabbing her pack and walking out the door. Had it been six months since she’d last been home? She could hardly remember but all that mattered was that it had been too long since she’d last seen her horse. His name was Amir; Prince. He was a stunning stallion with a finely chiseled bone structure, arched neck and black, high-carried tail. His coat was a dark bay; his face brightened by a white stripe and his eyes dark amber. Even as Alexandria stood on the top of the hill, overlooking the pasture full of horses below she could pick Amir out for he stood with such a regal stance. His head tossed back, mane and tail whipping in the warm breeze as he made his way towards the gate as if he sensed her impending presence.
Upon arriving at the wooden fence Alexandria wrapped her small, slender fingers around the large wooden pegs. Leaning over the rail she placed her foot on the bottom rung to give her height. Her green eyes surveyed the mass of horses, watching as they melded into a melting pot of different colors. As she leaned forward more, cutting into the direction of the wind, her tied back hair which was now a complete sheet of purple shades, whipped around her face and neck.
“Enjoying what you see?”
An unfamiliar male voice caused Alexandria to gasp as if she had been stabbed in the back. Immediately her head turned and her green eyes formed wide circles. Never before had anyone been able to sneak up on her, and never before had she expected anyone to. Now a man who could be no more than eighteen was staring at her, pitch fork stuck into the ground with his arms folded across it. “Who are you?” She demanded, voice struggling to stay in one pitch zone.
The man chuckled, straight black bangs sweeping across his forehead as he ducked his head. From beneath his locks he gazed at her with murky-blue eyes, framed by long black lashes. “Well, isn’t it obvious, M’lady?” He used his arm no longer leaning on his pitch-fork to gesture to himself. “I am your royal stable boy, lover of equines.”
“Well,” Alexandria leaned on the fence, watching the man with one of her purple brows raised. “I wasn’t going to say anything but you do look like you have been playing in horse poop all day.”
“Maybe that’s because I have.”
Both Alexandria and the young man smirked at his comment, neither speaking for a few moments. “Amir’s missed you for quite a long time.” He finally stated.
“Oh?” Alexandria responded in an inquiring manor, “He did, did he?” A small smirk played her lips once more and her brow arched. “Did my loyal steed tell you this?”
The man chuckled whole-heartedly. “He did, actually.” There was a moments paused before he picked up the pitch fork from the ground and walked towards her. “It was blatantly obvious,” He informed her, “His spirit was broken.” He glanced out of the corner of his eyes at the beautiful young Princess, “I can’t blame him, I would feel the same way if I were him.”
The realization of what the stable boy said caused her cheeks to burn and her lashes to flutter uncontrollably. To recover she leaned over the fence’s top rung once more, feet firmly placed on the bottom one. Most importantly her face was not pointed towards the captivating flirt beside of her. “Oh?” She spoke trying not to show much interest. “And why is that, are you suggesting that I should refer to you as my horse from now on?”
Softly the man grinned, “Well, I smell like one ninety-five percent of the time…so I’m already half-way there.” He leaned his elbow on the fence’s top rung so that he could see the contours of Alexandria’s face. “However, I’d prefer it if you referred to me as Declan.”
“Declan?” She mused, “That’s a new one. Where are you from?”
“Here, your planet, of course. Why? Do you have a grudge or something against D names that my parents weren’t aware of when they named me?”
Taking advantage at the open opportunity Alexandria smirked mischeviously, “Possibly.” She told the man, allowing her voice to carry the mischief her smirk suggested.
“Oh, my…" Declan uttered, sighing dramatically and shaking his head, "I guess I’m in trouble then.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, it wasn't long and it needs some work but it's something....And after this, the story decided I needed to temporarily put it down and work on other things *cough* Annora's Story *cough*. The name "Declan" isn't my favorite but it is much better than "Dean" which it was before.
Katie-bo-baity
Friday, May 29, 2009
Iris Story
I am posting my Iris story, in celebration of writing 1,000 words today!!!!! That's the first time I've written anything (other than poems) in months. :D Hopefully I'll continue with it. I wrote the first chapter sometime after christmas, the second chapter today. This story was born from a picture prompt so it's pretty much all improv.
Chapter One
A girl flitted into the room, her long braid flying in behind her. She stood at the edge very still, her face distant. A breeze played with her long loose skirt and she turned to the window, eagerly seeking out the pale moon.
“We cannot move tonight,” a whisper came from the shadows outside the house. “It’s too soon, he’ll suspect something.”
‘I wish I had wings,’ the girl thought suddenly, her eyes flicking back upwards. The shadows were too deep, she couldn’t see who had spoken. ‘I’d fly away from here, up to the moon even. Don’t be silly,’ her voice of reason told her sternly. ‘You wouldn’t make it to the moon, you’d suffocate from lack of air. Oh be quiet,’ she ordered her V. o. R. ‘I know it’d never happen. I’m surprised you didn’t point out that wings wouldn’t support humans, either.’
“When will we move then?” A different voice spoke up, this one higher and smoother. “If we wait too long our chance will be lost.”
“Tomorrow night,” the first voice decided, as the girl again tried to make out anything in the darkness. The moon shone dully on fountains and perfectly manicured grass, but it didn’t touch the sides of the house. “Tomorrow will be perfect.”
“It had better be,” the second voice said crisply. “Come on.” There was the sound of something crunching-- ‘that’d be the gravel path,’ the girl thought and hurriedly looked over to it. All she saw were shadows shifting-- and then a barely discernable dark shape was moving down the path, along with the retreating sound of footsteps.
The girl stared after the shape, her eyes narrowed in a frown. They were going towards the shed house where she supposed they were hiding out.
“I still wish I could fly away,” She whispered to herself glumly. “If I really could fly I’d go to the mountains, where I would dance with the wind.”
“Who are you talking to, Iris?” A teasing voice came from behind her, Iris spun around already smiling.
“Only myself,” she replied. “I though you were on the harp tonight, Mari?”
“I am, we’re taking a break,” the young woman in front of Iris grinned again. “It’s about time, I was parched.” The music had stopped, Iris noticed. She couldn’t hear it much here, though in the front of the hall she knew it swirled around the dancers like it was their partner.
“You seem preoccupied,” Mari glanced out at the half-dark lawn, and came forward to the window beside Iris.
“This place is mysterious, is all,” Iris shrugged. “I should have guessed it would be. But it looks so normal…”
“Appearances are often misleading,” Mari said, her gray eyes troubled. “Be careful, Iris. After all,” she grinned again suddenly “People might think you’re normal, to look at you!”
“Mari!” Iris burst out laughing, the sound bouncing off the walls. “I’m wounded,” she gasped, trying to stop. “You’ve finally killed me with your jokes.”
“You’ll forgive me,” Mari giggled with Iris. “Someone has to make you laugh now and then.”
“It’s just as well, you’d make the jokes anyways.” It felt good to laugh, Iris breathed deeply and smiled again.
“That I would,” Mari sighed and glanced back into the hall. “I’d better get back, they’re tuning up.”
“Good luck,” Iris said.
“Like I need it,” Mari snorted at herself and walked off, Iris smiled and watched her go.
She moved forward a step and caught sight of the dancers, lining up and getting ready. The nobles of the castle and their guests stood in groups around them, talking and laughing politely. She’d have to tell them about the whisperers, she supposed, and then the guards would go catch whoever it was and lock them up.
Iris moved towards one of the servants standing by the door. “Excuse me,” she said, the servant turned to look at her with an expression of cool indifference. “I was standing by the window and I heard whispering,” Iris explained, ignoring the expression. “It sounds like two people are planning to do something tomorrow night.”
“Did you see them?” The servant asked, looking alarmed now.
“No, but they went in the shed house.” The servant said thank you quickly and hurried off to tell the news to a superior. Iris watched him go then turned to watch the dancers again. They were doing their scarf dance now, leap swish leap swish. She would be up there with them tomorrow night, with the music to her back, it’s rhythms pounding their way into her body. She smiled thinking of it.
She watched as a servant scurried up to the lord of the house and whispered something in his ear, the man spoke a few words and turned back to his party. His face was as smooth and smiling as ever as he talked to a beautiful lady-- how often did those kind of things happen? Iris wondered. There was a noise behind her and she turned, some guards were trying to sneak up to the shed house. They weren’t doing a very good job of it, one stumbled and grimaced as the gravel path clattered noisily.
“What’s going on?” A high voice said imperiously behind Iris. Iris turned around and stepped back, one of the ornately dressed ladies was staring out at the guards. “What on earth are they doing, Gerald?”
“One of the servants saw someone go into the shed house,” Gerald, the lord of the house explained. “They’re just checking up on it.”
“What, you don’t want any uninvited guests at your party?” The lady laughed shrilly at herself, Gerald laughed politely along.
“Any guests are welcome, as long as they wish me no harm,” he said seriously. “A man of my importance can never be too sure who is friend and who is foe.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Gerald,” she said sighing airily and suppressing a smile. Another noise drew Iris’s attention outside, the guards had flung open the shed house door and now someone was struggling in the guard’s grasp.
“Let go of me, let go of me!” The person yelled, her hair flying as she jerked away from the guard. There was a boom and the guard fell over.
“Martin, reinforcements,” Gerald said to a servant as the witch tried to run away. She instantly stunned anyone who got a hold of her, but when another ten guards rounded the corner she sank to the ground, weeping. Iris caught sight of a shadow slipping past the guards and thought she saw the witch nod to it as it passed-- but she wasn’t sure.
The guards picked up the witch and carried her into the house, as she passed by Gerald she turned to look at him. Her eyes shone red and she bared her teeth, snarling. Gerald shuddered as she passed out of sight.
“Well, you got to see a normal piece of my life there,” Gerald said to the lady, trying to pretend all was fine.
“It must be a hard life,” the lady said softly, her eyes searching the yard for the second person. With a bright smile she wiped away her frown and took Gerald’s arm, chattering away about something.
Iris watched them go and tried to ignore the feeling of danger in her stomach. She couldn’t explain to anyone what she was guessing, that the witch and her partner were much smarter than anyone thought. And she couldn’t even explain to herself why she thought the obnoxious lady knew something. She shivered and turned away from the window, the moon looked cold now as it shone down on this house full of conspiracies and secrets.
Iris stayed and watched the dancers for a while more, but her eyes grew heavy and her thoughts sluggish and she went to bed. Or tried to: outside the room two dancer girls came running up to her.
“Iris!” The older one of the two, Sandra, squealed. “We heard you discovered a witch hiding in the shed!”
“Is it true?” Bri asked breathlessly.
“I just saw her going in,” Iris said uncomfortably. They were nice girls, but a little air headed.
“But how did you know she was a witch?” Sandra asked.
“I didn’t, but she was talking about a plot that had to do with the lord of this castle. It seemed an odd thing for a gardener or a soldier to be talking about.”
“Ooh,” Bri shivered. “Talking to who? Was there a second one?”
“Yes,” Iris sighed. Her head was pounding and she wanted to go to sleep. “I don’t know what happened to him. He might have gotten away.”
“Did you tell the Lord?” Sandra asked, looking alarmed.
“No,” Iris almost laughed. “You’ve heard the stories about this place-- and him-- would you go up to the Lord and tell him they missed one?”
“Probably not,” Sandra still looked troubled, but she shook the thought aside. “Come on Bri,” she said, grinning. “Let’s see if we can find the dungeons.”
“No!” Bri yelped, laughing as Sandra dragged her off. Iris shook her head and went into the room, wishing she had a friend to laugh with. She had Mari, but Mari was more like a protective older sister than a best friend.
‘So talk more,’ her V. o. R. told her sternly. ‘Ask Sandra and Bri if you can sit with them during the travels. Hang out after dinner in the common room, instead of going off and reading.’
‘Be quiet,’ Iris said wearily, too tired to have any control over her V. o. R. ‘I have enough on my mind without adding friend troubles.’
Iris laid out on the bed, her eyes automatically closing. Her mind was already going into that half asleep stage where thoughts swirled and enlarged and mutated until they were moving, living things inside her head. Then her thoughts picked up a sound, footsteps. They were cautious footsteps, stopping every few moments. When they stopped there would be the rustle of skirts as if someone was looking behind them. Iris’s thoughts recognized the oddness of this and wouldn’t let it go, making the footsteps sound louder and louder until each rustle was a boom in her head.
Groaning, Iris sat up. Immediately the sound disappeared. “Hello?” Iris said and reached for the door, struggling to look awake. It opened and Iris blinked. The obnoxious lady was standing frozen in the shadows of the hallway, her eyebrows arched in surprise.
“Hello,” the lady said, slowly releasing her silk skirts which had been bunched up in her hands. “I’m sorry, I think I’m lost,” she said, tittering. “Could you tell me which direction the Hall is in?”
“That way,” Iris said, pointing to her right.
“Thank you ever so much,” the lady smiled condescendingly and walked off in that direction. Iris frowned and stared after her, finally shaking her head and returning to the bed.
Chapter Two
The whole castle woke up feeling groggy. Some of the guests stumbled around holding their heads like they had had too much to drink, and the dancers rubbed their eyes blearily in the kitchen as they ate breakfast.
“How late did the dancing go last night?” Iris asked a half awake Mari who was inhaling her coffee.
“Late,” Mari groaned. “Some of them got ridiculously drunk. You should have seen one lady spill her drink all over herself and run off crying to the kitchen to try to get the stain off.”
“And she got lost coming here too,” one of the kitchen helpers said laughing. “She was halfway to the dungeons when Henri the footman found her and brought her back!”
“Oh, really?” Iris said, her brain waking up a little at this. “Did you get the stain out?”
“Not really,” the kitchen helper sighed. “And it was such a gorgeous dress too.”
“It was pretty, but I wouldn’t be caught dead in that shade of pink,” a cook said, which made the others laugh. Iris only frowned, looking worriedly into her hot chocolate. The obnoxious, frivolous lady whom she had found outside her rooms last night had been wearing pink.
Iris contemplated what she should do while gazing outside after breakfast. She couldn’t see a single break in the clouds-- they hung low on the sky like a blanket. If she told Mari she would be dragged off on some spying mission that would certainly get them caught by the lady, if not thrown out of the castle by the guards. But if she went alone… not spying, just looking to see what she would find…
“Where are you going?” Mari asked as Iris headed for the kitchen door.
“I thought I’d explore the castle,” Iris said, flashing a mischievous smile.
“Good for you,” Mari said. “I would join you, but I’d probably fall asleep on my feet. See you this afternoon then.”
“Bye,” Iris said and ducked into the hall. “Are we allowed to look around?” She asked a servant who was hurrying by.
“Um… I guess so,” the servant said, shrugging. “Just stay out of sight. There are servant passages that go all over the castle, you can use those and peek into the rooms. There‘s a door right there.”
“Thank you,” Iris said, smiling. Servant passages. Those would be useful.
“Just don’t get lost, it’s a maze!” the servant called over her shoulder as she went on her way. Iris opened the door the servant had pointed to and stepped to the side to avoid a group of servant girls carrying half-filled trays of breakfast food. ‘Here I go,’ Iris thought, nervousness and excitement filling her stomach.
She looked into every room she passed, there were little windows to the side of the doors. There was the breakfast room-- and another one-- and a day room where guests sat about-- and a drawing room where important guests sat about-- and the large dining room, and the huge ballroom which doubled as the throne room. There was nothing of interest in any of those rooms, just yawning guests and busy servants. So, to the dungeons Iris went.
It was dark down there, it wasn’t much below the ground but there weren’t any windows. The torches on the walls flickered and danced around quite dramatically. Iris opened the door and stepped quickly off into the shadows, the guard was looking the other way and missed her entrance. She sidled along the wall trying to be as quiet as she could. The guard’s eyes skimmed over her once and she froze, but he just turned the other way and sighed.
Then the dungeon cells came in sight, and Iris stopped and looked at the witch. She was lying on the bench, her red hair almost covering her face. She breathed evenly and deeply but Iris didn’t think she was asleep, her body looked stiff. Then the witch’s eyes suddenly flew open, and she was staring straight at Iris.
“Girl,” the witch whispered, barely mouthing the word but the sound floated to where Iris stood frozen. “Who sent you?”
“I sent myself,” Iris breathed, her mind racing. This had not been a good idea.
“If you merely wanted to see the captive witch out of curiosity,” the witch’s face twisted at the word captive, “You would have come giggling down with your friends, and would be staring at me with horror and fascination.”
‘What am I staring at her with, then?’ Iris thought to herself. But no, she supposed her face was a mask of calm nothingness. It felt like stone.
“Gerald wouldn’t have sent you,” the witch went on. “He would have barged down here himself. The person who sent you would have had some trouble getting down here.” The witch’s eyes narrowed. “She’s interfering again,” she hissed, suddenly livid. “I should have known she would. What message did she give you to tell me, girl?”
“She said to say,” Iris whispered, already regretting getting herself into this. But she couldn’t walk away now. “That we’ll find him before tonight.”
She broke their fierce gaze and stepped back into thick shadows. The witch’s eyes closed again but her face was tense and her hands were clenched into fists.
Iris tiptoed out of the dungeon like she had come and slumped against the wall of the passage as soon as she was inside. ‘I have to find the lady and tell her what I know,’ She was able to pick out from her whirling thoughts. With that decided she straightened up and set off.
Kelia
Chapter One
A girl flitted into the room, her long braid flying in behind her. She stood at the edge very still, her face distant. A breeze played with her long loose skirt and she turned to the window, eagerly seeking out the pale moon.
“We cannot move tonight,” a whisper came from the shadows outside the house. “It’s too soon, he’ll suspect something.”
‘I wish I had wings,’ the girl thought suddenly, her eyes flicking back upwards. The shadows were too deep, she couldn’t see who had spoken. ‘I’d fly away from here, up to the moon even. Don’t be silly,’ her voice of reason told her sternly. ‘You wouldn’t make it to the moon, you’d suffocate from lack of air. Oh be quiet,’ she ordered her V. o. R. ‘I know it’d never happen. I’m surprised you didn’t point out that wings wouldn’t support humans, either.’
“When will we move then?” A different voice spoke up, this one higher and smoother. “If we wait too long our chance will be lost.”
“Tomorrow night,” the first voice decided, as the girl again tried to make out anything in the darkness. The moon shone dully on fountains and perfectly manicured grass, but it didn’t touch the sides of the house. “Tomorrow will be perfect.”
“It had better be,” the second voice said crisply. “Come on.” There was the sound of something crunching-- ‘that’d be the gravel path,’ the girl thought and hurriedly looked over to it. All she saw were shadows shifting-- and then a barely discernable dark shape was moving down the path, along with the retreating sound of footsteps.
The girl stared after the shape, her eyes narrowed in a frown. They were going towards the shed house where she supposed they were hiding out.
“I still wish I could fly away,” She whispered to herself glumly. “If I really could fly I’d go to the mountains, where I would dance with the wind.”
“Who are you talking to, Iris?” A teasing voice came from behind her, Iris spun around already smiling.
“Only myself,” she replied. “I though you were on the harp tonight, Mari?”
“I am, we’re taking a break,” the young woman in front of Iris grinned again. “It’s about time, I was parched.” The music had stopped, Iris noticed. She couldn’t hear it much here, though in the front of the hall she knew it swirled around the dancers like it was their partner.
“You seem preoccupied,” Mari glanced out at the half-dark lawn, and came forward to the window beside Iris.
“This place is mysterious, is all,” Iris shrugged. “I should have guessed it would be. But it looks so normal…”
“Appearances are often misleading,” Mari said, her gray eyes troubled. “Be careful, Iris. After all,” she grinned again suddenly “People might think you’re normal, to look at you!”
“Mari!” Iris burst out laughing, the sound bouncing off the walls. “I’m wounded,” she gasped, trying to stop. “You’ve finally killed me with your jokes.”
“You’ll forgive me,” Mari giggled with Iris. “Someone has to make you laugh now and then.”
“It’s just as well, you’d make the jokes anyways.” It felt good to laugh, Iris breathed deeply and smiled again.
“That I would,” Mari sighed and glanced back into the hall. “I’d better get back, they’re tuning up.”
“Good luck,” Iris said.
“Like I need it,” Mari snorted at herself and walked off, Iris smiled and watched her go.
She moved forward a step and caught sight of the dancers, lining up and getting ready. The nobles of the castle and their guests stood in groups around them, talking and laughing politely. She’d have to tell them about the whisperers, she supposed, and then the guards would go catch whoever it was and lock them up.
Iris moved towards one of the servants standing by the door. “Excuse me,” she said, the servant turned to look at her with an expression of cool indifference. “I was standing by the window and I heard whispering,” Iris explained, ignoring the expression. “It sounds like two people are planning to do something tomorrow night.”
“Did you see them?” The servant asked, looking alarmed now.
“No, but they went in the shed house.” The servant said thank you quickly and hurried off to tell the news to a superior. Iris watched him go then turned to watch the dancers again. They were doing their scarf dance now, leap swish leap swish. She would be up there with them tomorrow night, with the music to her back, it’s rhythms pounding their way into her body. She smiled thinking of it.
She watched as a servant scurried up to the lord of the house and whispered something in his ear, the man spoke a few words and turned back to his party. His face was as smooth and smiling as ever as he talked to a beautiful lady-- how often did those kind of things happen? Iris wondered. There was a noise behind her and she turned, some guards were trying to sneak up to the shed house. They weren’t doing a very good job of it, one stumbled and grimaced as the gravel path clattered noisily.
“What’s going on?” A high voice said imperiously behind Iris. Iris turned around and stepped back, one of the ornately dressed ladies was staring out at the guards. “What on earth are they doing, Gerald?”
“One of the servants saw someone go into the shed house,” Gerald, the lord of the house explained. “They’re just checking up on it.”
“What, you don’t want any uninvited guests at your party?” The lady laughed shrilly at herself, Gerald laughed politely along.
“Any guests are welcome, as long as they wish me no harm,” he said seriously. “A man of my importance can never be too sure who is friend and who is foe.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Gerald,” she said sighing airily and suppressing a smile. Another noise drew Iris’s attention outside, the guards had flung open the shed house door and now someone was struggling in the guard’s grasp.
“Let go of me, let go of me!” The person yelled, her hair flying as she jerked away from the guard. There was a boom and the guard fell over.
“Martin, reinforcements,” Gerald said to a servant as the witch tried to run away. She instantly stunned anyone who got a hold of her, but when another ten guards rounded the corner she sank to the ground, weeping. Iris caught sight of a shadow slipping past the guards and thought she saw the witch nod to it as it passed-- but she wasn’t sure.
The guards picked up the witch and carried her into the house, as she passed by Gerald she turned to look at him. Her eyes shone red and she bared her teeth, snarling. Gerald shuddered as she passed out of sight.
“Well, you got to see a normal piece of my life there,” Gerald said to the lady, trying to pretend all was fine.
“It must be a hard life,” the lady said softly, her eyes searching the yard for the second person. With a bright smile she wiped away her frown and took Gerald’s arm, chattering away about something.
Iris watched them go and tried to ignore the feeling of danger in her stomach. She couldn’t explain to anyone what she was guessing, that the witch and her partner were much smarter than anyone thought. And she couldn’t even explain to herself why she thought the obnoxious lady knew something. She shivered and turned away from the window, the moon looked cold now as it shone down on this house full of conspiracies and secrets.
Iris stayed and watched the dancers for a while more, but her eyes grew heavy and her thoughts sluggish and she went to bed. Or tried to: outside the room two dancer girls came running up to her.
“Iris!” The older one of the two, Sandra, squealed. “We heard you discovered a witch hiding in the shed!”
“Is it true?” Bri asked breathlessly.
“I just saw her going in,” Iris said uncomfortably. They were nice girls, but a little air headed.
“But how did you know she was a witch?” Sandra asked.
“I didn’t, but she was talking about a plot that had to do with the lord of this castle. It seemed an odd thing for a gardener or a soldier to be talking about.”
“Ooh,” Bri shivered. “Talking to who? Was there a second one?”
“Yes,” Iris sighed. Her head was pounding and she wanted to go to sleep. “I don’t know what happened to him. He might have gotten away.”
“Did you tell the Lord?” Sandra asked, looking alarmed.
“No,” Iris almost laughed. “You’ve heard the stories about this place-- and him-- would you go up to the Lord and tell him they missed one?”
“Probably not,” Sandra still looked troubled, but she shook the thought aside. “Come on Bri,” she said, grinning. “Let’s see if we can find the dungeons.”
“No!” Bri yelped, laughing as Sandra dragged her off. Iris shook her head and went into the room, wishing she had a friend to laugh with. She had Mari, but Mari was more like a protective older sister than a best friend.
‘So talk more,’ her V. o. R. told her sternly. ‘Ask Sandra and Bri if you can sit with them during the travels. Hang out after dinner in the common room, instead of going off and reading.’
‘Be quiet,’ Iris said wearily, too tired to have any control over her V. o. R. ‘I have enough on my mind without adding friend troubles.’
Iris laid out on the bed, her eyes automatically closing. Her mind was already going into that half asleep stage where thoughts swirled and enlarged and mutated until they were moving, living things inside her head. Then her thoughts picked up a sound, footsteps. They were cautious footsteps, stopping every few moments. When they stopped there would be the rustle of skirts as if someone was looking behind them. Iris’s thoughts recognized the oddness of this and wouldn’t let it go, making the footsteps sound louder and louder until each rustle was a boom in her head.
Groaning, Iris sat up. Immediately the sound disappeared. “Hello?” Iris said and reached for the door, struggling to look awake. It opened and Iris blinked. The obnoxious lady was standing frozen in the shadows of the hallway, her eyebrows arched in surprise.
“Hello,” the lady said, slowly releasing her silk skirts which had been bunched up in her hands. “I’m sorry, I think I’m lost,” she said, tittering. “Could you tell me which direction the Hall is in?”
“That way,” Iris said, pointing to her right.
“Thank you ever so much,” the lady smiled condescendingly and walked off in that direction. Iris frowned and stared after her, finally shaking her head and returning to the bed.
Chapter Two
The whole castle woke up feeling groggy. Some of the guests stumbled around holding their heads like they had had too much to drink, and the dancers rubbed their eyes blearily in the kitchen as they ate breakfast.
“How late did the dancing go last night?” Iris asked a half awake Mari who was inhaling her coffee.
“Late,” Mari groaned. “Some of them got ridiculously drunk. You should have seen one lady spill her drink all over herself and run off crying to the kitchen to try to get the stain off.”
“And she got lost coming here too,” one of the kitchen helpers said laughing. “She was halfway to the dungeons when Henri the footman found her and brought her back!”
“Oh, really?” Iris said, her brain waking up a little at this. “Did you get the stain out?”
“Not really,” the kitchen helper sighed. “And it was such a gorgeous dress too.”
“It was pretty, but I wouldn’t be caught dead in that shade of pink,” a cook said, which made the others laugh. Iris only frowned, looking worriedly into her hot chocolate. The obnoxious, frivolous lady whom she had found outside her rooms last night had been wearing pink.
Iris contemplated what she should do while gazing outside after breakfast. She couldn’t see a single break in the clouds-- they hung low on the sky like a blanket. If she told Mari she would be dragged off on some spying mission that would certainly get them caught by the lady, if not thrown out of the castle by the guards. But if she went alone… not spying, just looking to see what she would find…
“Where are you going?” Mari asked as Iris headed for the kitchen door.
“I thought I’d explore the castle,” Iris said, flashing a mischievous smile.
“Good for you,” Mari said. “I would join you, but I’d probably fall asleep on my feet. See you this afternoon then.”
“Bye,” Iris said and ducked into the hall. “Are we allowed to look around?” She asked a servant who was hurrying by.
“Um… I guess so,” the servant said, shrugging. “Just stay out of sight. There are servant passages that go all over the castle, you can use those and peek into the rooms. There‘s a door right there.”
“Thank you,” Iris said, smiling. Servant passages. Those would be useful.
“Just don’t get lost, it’s a maze!” the servant called over her shoulder as she went on her way. Iris opened the door the servant had pointed to and stepped to the side to avoid a group of servant girls carrying half-filled trays of breakfast food. ‘Here I go,’ Iris thought, nervousness and excitement filling her stomach.
She looked into every room she passed, there were little windows to the side of the doors. There was the breakfast room-- and another one-- and a day room where guests sat about-- and a drawing room where important guests sat about-- and the large dining room, and the huge ballroom which doubled as the throne room. There was nothing of interest in any of those rooms, just yawning guests and busy servants. So, to the dungeons Iris went.
It was dark down there, it wasn’t much below the ground but there weren’t any windows. The torches on the walls flickered and danced around quite dramatically. Iris opened the door and stepped quickly off into the shadows, the guard was looking the other way and missed her entrance. She sidled along the wall trying to be as quiet as she could. The guard’s eyes skimmed over her once and she froze, but he just turned the other way and sighed.
Then the dungeon cells came in sight, and Iris stopped and looked at the witch. She was lying on the bench, her red hair almost covering her face. She breathed evenly and deeply but Iris didn’t think she was asleep, her body looked stiff. Then the witch’s eyes suddenly flew open, and she was staring straight at Iris.
“Girl,” the witch whispered, barely mouthing the word but the sound floated to where Iris stood frozen. “Who sent you?”
“I sent myself,” Iris breathed, her mind racing. This had not been a good idea.
“If you merely wanted to see the captive witch out of curiosity,” the witch’s face twisted at the word captive, “You would have come giggling down with your friends, and would be staring at me with horror and fascination.”
‘What am I staring at her with, then?’ Iris thought to herself. But no, she supposed her face was a mask of calm nothingness. It felt like stone.
“Gerald wouldn’t have sent you,” the witch went on. “He would have barged down here himself. The person who sent you would have had some trouble getting down here.” The witch’s eyes narrowed. “She’s interfering again,” she hissed, suddenly livid. “I should have known she would. What message did she give you to tell me, girl?”
“She said to say,” Iris whispered, already regretting getting herself into this. But she couldn’t walk away now. “That we’ll find him before tonight.”
She broke their fierce gaze and stepped back into thick shadows. The witch’s eyes closed again but her face was tense and her hands were clenched into fists.
Iris tiptoed out of the dungeon like she had come and slumped against the wall of the passage as soon as she was inside. ‘I have to find the lady and tell her what I know,’ She was able to pick out from her whirling thoughts. With that decided she straightened up and set off.
Kelia
Sunday, May 17, 2009
“Mate, I’m starving. If we don’t feed soon I’m going to kill a village.”
David spoke with a chuckle in his voice. His head inclined up at his friend, his near brother, who was standing, staring out from the woods. Slowly the brunette stood too, walking over and placed a hand on his friends arm. “You okay mate?”
Absently Jake shifted, blinking his eyes and turning his head as if he’d been away far too long. His brother of sorts recognized the dangerous look; he’d been thinking of his past. The words “Let it go mate” didn’t begin to cover up the pain felt from taking your own siblings lives. The elder vampire met David’s eyes and nodded, “There’s a town nearby, if we’re cautious we can go out in the town to pick out our food – it’s cloudy enough.” With one swift movement and without anymore words the two nomads picked up any evidence that they had ever been there and disappeared through the dense brush, headed towards a town somewhere in the distance.
Back then her name was Elizabeth, not Clara which everyone now called her by. She was the eldest daughter of a cobbler and happened to be in the wrong place at the seemingly wrong time. The young woman with long brown hair and plain dress stuck out, for some reason, in both men’s vision – immediately she was their next target.
For the next few hours they followed her, either walking behind her or hiding behind bushes until they got the chance to lour her away. It was at night when they got the chance, any trace of light was fading and she was locking up her father’s shop, groceries in hand before returning home. They followed her down the country road for quite sometime before both thirsty vampires decided to attack.
The morning cold and raining,
dark before the dawn could come
How long in twilight waiting
longing for the rising sun
ohoh ohoh Oh ooh
Suddenly the young woman turned, her hazel eyes meeting the spot in the bushes where they hid, “Can I help you?” She asked, taking a daring step towards them though she could not see their faces. “Are you lost?” Clara, then Elizabeth, inquired, tilting her head to try and see the hiding men. “I can help you find your way home.”
There were only to options in a situation like this, they could full out attack – dispose of her, drink her blood and risk getting caught in the process. No, that was too risky. Instead, they both walked out from the woods into the failing light and damp rural town. Because of what they were they wore long clothing and jackets to hide their skin and hats to shade there face and most importantly, their eyes. “Can I do something for you?” The young woman asked, both frightened by the strange men’s appearance and yet, strangely used to it. Clearly, she wasn’t frightened nearly enough as she should have been in the situation; she was staring ultimate doom in the face.
“We’re new in town,” David said quickly, flashing Clara a charming smile before gesturing over to Jake, “my friend and I were wondering if you could bring us to the far outskirts; we bought a house there for our sisters and want to fix it up to surprise them.”
“New in town?” Clara repeated, her eyes watching the two strangers with extreme care. Something small inside her told her to run as she looked at them, both being taller and strong than she – even more than she even knew – but she didn’t, instead she locked eyes with David’s tall, blonde companion. It was her eyes that did it, Jake would come to tell me briefly upon inquiry. If she had not looked in his eyes, she may have just been another victim. “I’d be more than happy to show you two men to the far outskirts – I was just headed that way myself.” And then she smiled, eyes sparkling. The second part that weakened him was her smile.
“No,” Jake said abruptly and with more urgency than he meant to. He repeated the words precisely three more times while shaking his head and meeting her eyes, only briefly, when he finished. Quickly he recovered from his sudden outburst, “We know the way to the outskirts, I must apologize, my friend here is delusional.” Giving her the only smile he could muster between his confusion and conflict with thirst he tipped his hat. “Thank you for your time ma’am, and your courtesy. Better you get home before it gets much darker. Nasty men like to hang around these parts at night.” He knew she wouldn’t get the underlining meaning to the last sentence but David would. With one quick movement he grabbed David’s arm like he was clenching him for dear life and tried to walk away.
Boldly, though, Clara reached out to stop him. Putting her hand to his chest with only enough pressure on him to make him turn to look at her she placed a basket full of food in his hand. A useless basket of food, but a kind gesture nonetheless. “Have a good night.” She whispered to him before turning to walk away herself.
Horrified with himself for being so mesmerized by what should have been there meal Jake pulled David behind him as he made a v-line towards the woods. “What’s wrong with you?” David asked urgently, “What happened back there.”
“I don’t know.” Jake hissed through his teeth, pupils dilating frantically as his mind raced and thirst soared. Sitting down he clenched his head in his hands, pulling at his hair a bit. Not once before had his human side taken over that much since he had stumbled across David, a boy lying near dead, on the sidewalk. Rocking back and forth he rubbed his temples. “We need to follow her, we’ll get her next time.” His voice was quiet as he spoke to his partner. I need to watch her.
Like they would with any victim they normally tracked, they followed her every move and watched her house. She had three brothers and one sister, all younger than her and her father was a hunter, but not of deer. Despite their tracker actions, they didn’t attack, nor did they attempt to frighten the family.
It was daring for the men to ever try and come out of their hiding places as they risked being caught. But yet, on occasion, they did so. “You play beautifully.” Jake hissed from the dark corner of what should have been Clara’s father’s locked store. Gasping the girl jumped, turning her head and looking at the man in the corner. Her hands slid from the piano keys and she stood, walking towards him.
“How’d you get in?” She demanded, staring at his neon eyes.
“You’re heart’s racing.” The elder man purred, pushing aside a lock of curly blonde bangs.
“And with full right,” She hissed back, “you broke in.”
“On the contrary, dear Elizabeth Ewell, you never fully locked the back door. It’s dangerous to be so trusting…you never know what creeps may walk in under your nose.”
Softly the brunette laughed, “You're proof in the putting. Are you trying to make me fear you? Because if you are, you’re going to have to try harder than that. What? Do you think I don’t know what you are? That you wanted to kill me the first day you saw me? My dad’s a hunter, he kills your kind. I know what one of you looks like when you come walking down the street.”
Leaning back into the wooden wall behind him, Jake opened his arms, “Well then, Elizabeth,” His eyes sparkled devilishly, “why don’t you alert your father that two blood suckers have entered the vicinity. The run will prove good game for our bored souls.”
“I won’t do that.”
The kindness in the woman’s voice shocked him and made the vampire lean forward, his elbows on his knees. “And why not?” He retorted, tilting his head, “I’m a ruthless killer that’s just going to make your life living hell.”
“There’s something different about you.” She whispered, voice dropping to what would be unable to be heard by normal ears. Cautiously she walked towards him and sat across from him. “You’re different than those other things my dad hunts. You’re more human.”
You came like crashing thunder
breaking through these walls of stone
You came with wide eyed wonderinto all this great unknown
ohoh ohoh Ohoooh Oohh
Against his better judgment; Jake had he and David stay in place for several months and he visited the cobbler’s daughter every one of those days. It was risky behavior on a whole scale of levels but there some something about her – the lightness she had that his stone heart didn’t have and her sarcastic wit and stubborn nature – that drew him in. They had fallen for each other without even meaning it. I guess my family has a way of that happening.
Everything changed after those few months. Jake spent a week arguing with himself before pulling her aside one afternoon, in the cover of dense brush and telling her that he and David were moving on – as nomads do – and that she needed to stay right where she was; where she was safest. Being my sister she protested, going as far to tell him that she’d go with them whether it meant being right there in the heat of things with them or twenty miles away. Immediately, for her safety as she was still human then, Jake refused that option and shut the door for negiating.
In an attempt to get him to linger longer my sister asked if he would drop by her house that night before he left, “as usual” to say goodbye. If she got him to come then, maybe she could get him to stay. They would both stubborn souls after all.
“Don’t count on it.” He told her before he left, but he was lying; he did come by.
As liked as my sister’s father was, he was also frowned upon by many. After his wife’s death in labor he had become a bit of an alcoholic as well as a known “hunter”. To the public it was of the normal black bears and dear, but in reality it was werewolves and vampires. This all led up to the events that occurred that night; the night my brother allegedly said he would not be stopping by but, by some grace of his frozen heart, did.
Clara was home with her youngest brother Andrew and her sister Hannah, and while they both played and slept she waited for a non-showing Jake in the safety of her father’s hunting absence. It was well past midnight when the downstairs door opened with an unmentionable force. Though tired with lack of sleep my sister got up from her window seat and rushed down the stairs – assuming it was Jake having changed his mind. However, she was mid-way down the stairs when she caught sight of the scene below; four monsters with neon eyes stood in homes doorway, sniffing the air like dogs although these humans were furthest from one. In their hands they clutched a lifeless man, a familiar lifeless man with a knife in his hand and drained of all his blood.
“Jake?” Clara whispered, praying he was not one of the three. With sharp, precise movements the three thirsty monsters turned to face the woman, not even my brother could look so ruthless. Both of her siblings had woken up by that point after hearing the door open and now stood behind her on the top of the stirs “Liza? What’s happening?” Andrew asked.
“Come on, Andrew, Hannah.” Chasing her own feet up the stairs Clara grabbed her younger sibling’s shoulders and rushed them away from the stairs. “We have to get out of here.” There was urgency in her force but not nearly as much as there should have been by the pounding in her heart. The only exit from the house was the fire escape outside the bathroom window so that’s where she took them. What occurred next was brutal murder, Andrew and Hannah being taken first while Clara was thrown with devastating force into the bathtub. Her neck was broken on impact, so Jake said, and she was forced to watch her siblings die without being able to stop it. When they had finished the young kids they attacked the helpless Clara. She told me once, that her world went black altogether after Hannah was killed but she could still hear some of the world around her even though she could not feel or see what the Monsters were doing. A fifth and sixth party entered the bathroom, stopping an inevitable fate before it could have happened.
“It’s going to be okay.” Jake’s familiar voice whispered in her ear.
Hush now don't you be afraid
I promise you I'll always stay
I'll never be that far away
I'm right here with you
When my sister awoke she was in the woods, covered by my brother’s leather jacket with her head on his lap. A pool of blood and a body were next to her on to opposite sides. She was informed that the dead body was hers to feed on and the blood belonged to Jake and David’s last meal – the body now replaced Clara’s in her family’s house. “You are invisible” Jake told her, and when she inquired about her status he managed to say, through clenched teeth “You are one of us.”
“Did they do it?”
“I did it,” My brother responded, shamefully through his teeth once more. “I had no choice; it was that or watch you die.” Carefully he moved her head from his knee and stood to go find David, but not before he looked down at her. It was that look, Clara once told me, mixed with the tone of his voice and touch of his hand to her cheek that made her know we weren’t just hallow creatures.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...You are
"Well now, Jake, that wouldn't have happened to be a smile would it now?" Clara prodded from the doorway, an innocent smile painted perfectly on her face. It was a stab at my normally stoic facade and I knew that but I did not cave. Instead I narrowed my eyes lightly and pulled the green-blue hospital curtains back so the other nurses new that bed was free. "She liked you," My in-one-world sister continued, this time taking on a more serious note, "a lot, Jake. The same way Annora does, you have a way with children. You would have made a good father." Instinctively I scrunched my nose, back stiffening military-style as I breezed passed her, eyes focused on the computer desk across the way. A dense silence lingered, only filled with the sound of our feet along the tiled floor and medical equipment. "Jake-" Clara whispered, reaching out to touch my shoulder.
In one sharp movement I grabbed her hand but not with the intensity to hurt it. "Let's not go there, okay? That's a life that was thrown away years ago, a past neither of us can retrieve and we..." I swallowed my eyes tracing the contours of her face; I'd nearly forgotten how much I wanted to play with the gentle curls of her hair. I’d nearly forgotten how easily she changed me from one monster to something nearly human.
You came from heaven shining
Breath of God still flows from fresh on you
The beating heart inside me
Crumbled at this one so new
ohoh ohoh Oooh ooohhh
"You know where we stand, Clara. We both do. We have a family now, a good family." Softly, reluctantly I released her hand; feeling like a part of me went with it. Once more I stiffened, a mask used to skillfully hide emotions being pulled over me like a veil. With being turned comes an amazing ability to lie better than any normal human, but it also comes with an impeccable ability to perceive. When lying to another vampire you had to be quick, always one step ahead of them, one thing I could never seem to do with her. "Besides," I smiled softly at her while stuffing a pen in my coats pocket, "you were always the one who didn't want to kill the children."
To my surprise Clara grabbed my hand, "Honestly, Jake, you have to stop thinking like that. You aren't that monster you were then, no, you never were a monster. If you were you would have killed me when you had the chance. You never killed children, you didn't have the heart, both you and I know that." Her hand, soft and smooth reached up to dust a blonde curl from my forehead, only to brush against its marble surface. "You underestimate yourself." She whispered softly, her voice like velvet. How she could ever transfix me, I'll never know.
No matter where or how far you wander
For a thousand years or longer
I will always be there for you
Right here with you
Resting my head on Ryan’s shoulder I closed my eyes temporarily, paying attention to how we swayed before I opened my lids to look over at my family on our lawn. David, under the orders of our parents, was being relatively calm and nice, sitting on the porch railing beside Isaiah. Eli had pulled Zach up to dance like two crazy and wacky siblings only would. Laughing a bit I smiled and moved my eyes across the scene. My other siblings were interacting fairly normal, mom and dad sat on the porch beside Jake. I lingered on Jake, watching as he watched Clara play the piano. Her eyes were closed but his were only on her. Placing the pen he had been holding on the porch I watched as he stood, walking over to sit beside Clara.
At first she didn’t notice him but when he placed his hands on the keys to play in perfect harmony with hers she did. Her eyes opened and she looked at him, smiling a bit as he glanced up at her from his ducked head. He leaned towards her as he reached around her for a key and said merely a word before she closed her eyes again. Taking another minute to watch her he too closed his eyes. Neither spoke again for a long time that night, but it was enough.
Smiling I closed my own eyes and listened to Ryan’s unnecessary breathing.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
As I rounded the corner, shoulder to shoulder with David I fussed with my cuff-links. I stretched my head from side to side and straightened my back; I felt like something out of Pride and Prejudice. Beside me David chuckled. “We look ridiculous.” He told me and I could help but smirk in agreement. Give us a pair of jeans any day, but a tux? Lord, take our immortal lives.
“Oh, wow.” Clara stood, dressed in a knee length dress herself staring at the two of us. Her eyes rose in amusement and a smirk formed across her face. “Tuxes? I’m impressed, Jake.” She teased, “I never thought I’d see you in one of those.”
“Yeah, well, it’s for Annora. She’s one hell of a lucky kid – she better appreciate it too because I don’t dress up like this for just anybody.”
Snorting Clara laughed, “That’s obvious…”
I hope your tears are few and fast
I hope your dreams come true at last
I hope you find love that goes on and on and on and on and on
I hope you wish on every star
I hope you never fall too far
I hope this world can see how wonderful you are
“Where’s Annora?” I asked Clara, on the edge of my toes, my mind was racing. Absently I rubbed my forehead, running through the events of the night – of Annora’s face as she whizzed past me on the way inside like her world had fallen down around her. In many ways; it had.
A shaken Clara met me, half relieved I was alright and half petrified at what Connor must have told her happened. “She’s upstairs,” She said with a shaky voice, like she should have been crying. Her mouth opened as she stared at me but nothing came out. Taking in an un-needed breath she cleared her mind and steadied herself enough to stand and grab my arm. Her grip was firm but soon she released it, wrapping her single arm around mine instead – letting me know she was glad I was alright. “Be gentle, okay? Last thing she needs is a lecture. She’s seventeen and her world’s fallen out from underneath her.” Slowly she released me and went to walk back into the living room to make sure Connor was okay. “Think of her as me, you’ll do just fine.”
Giving Clara the largest small smile I could manage in the heat of the situation I walked over briskly and hugged her; something I hadn’t done it far too long. Leaning down close to her I placed my lips by her ear, feeling her arms wrap temporarily around my torso. “There’s a difference, Clara,” I whispered into her ear, blinking as I could barely understand the words leaving my lips, “I wouldn’t risk my life knowing what it would do to you if something happened to me. I’d get us both the heck out of there; together. I’d keep us safe, not just you or I, but us. We’d stay together.” Pulling away I looked in her eyes before turning on my heel, dashing up the stairs as fast as I could. Annora’s door had slammed shut in the process of my running and I opened it just in time to see her thrust herself backwards onto her bed in hysterics.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing...
“What the heck do you think you’re doing; scaring the crap out of me like that?!” Clara hissed at me as I climbed out of damaged car behind David and Annora. Whatever shards that should have killed me had left minor marks, like I had been through a raspberry bush.
“I wasn’t thinking.” I responded with the same tone of voice, from the squashed trunk I pulled Annora’s bag and tossed it to Zach. “I had one choice, trash the car or risk having to fight them off – 20 plus to three. Would you have rather I do that?”
“It would have been better than you crashing the car with Carter on the phone – we didn’t know what had happened to you. They have weapons that can kill our kind, Jake. You don’t know what was going through my head.” With flaming eyes Clara pulled my cars keys from my hands and walked over to it, too see if it was even still drivable. The engine worked though the front was damaged. Whether by her anger or just pure strength she stretched out the front and back of the car until it was normal again. Although there was no glass in the front window shield or the back Jasmine and Edmund, who were decided to drive with me to pose as David and Annora would be safe without them. “I swear to God, Jake Freeman, you ever scare me like that and I’ll rip your head off.” Shooting me a painful glare she stuffed my car keys back in my hand and grabbed Annora, heading off in the direction of her own car. I winced at the glare, the intensity of her stare had said enough.
“Hey,” I spoke abruptly, reaching out and grabbing David’s arm as he went to follow. I pulled my brother, the man I had spent most of my nomadic years with, close to me. We were inches away, my eyes narrowed into lethal slits. “You keep them safe, you got that? Otherwise-”
Softly David smirked, his eyes sparkling mischievously as Clara’s headlights hit them.
“Otherwise you’ll kill me.” My eyes softened a bit, one side of my mouth turning upwards in a sarcastic smirk. “Darn straight.” Although my words were joking I gave his arm a warning squeeze to let him know that I meant every word – to the bottom of my frozen heart.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
You are
ooooooo
“You jerk,” Clara edged forward on my day bed towards the bed table, as if to examine my play. Folding her legs under her she placed her elbows on her knees. “You faked it, didn’t you? I’ve never beaten you in cards before.”
Shrugging I swiped the cards from the table before she could catch what I had done. “I guess you’re improving.” I told her carefully; she was the only woman I knew who could get completely turned off by a bit of good, clean cards when I tried to let her win. It was a kind gesture as I had been playing cards far longer than she had been alive and knew more ins and outs than she ever would, perhaps it was a bit of my own form of flirtation too. She, however, saw it as a moral sin of some sort.
“You’re one lousy liar.” She scoffed, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. “I want a rematch.”
Giving Clara a fake yawn I checked the clock on the wall. “I’m tired,” I lied with a bit of a joking inclination in my voice, “besides, I have to go to the hospital shortly.” Leaning back into the pillows I stretch my arms, pushing aside the bed table with my foot. The table hit the floor with a bang but I knew no one was sleeping in that house – no one ever slept in our house – so it was safe. Moving my eyes from the fallen table to Clara I looked at her just in time to see her shove a pillow in my face.
“What on earth-?!” I exclaimed, flipping onto my side and off the bed at the same time. My solid body hit the floor with an even larger bang and I was Carter and mom would be down there wondering what on earth I was up to up there.
“This,” Clara said, whacking me once more, “is for letting me win, and this,” She whacked me again, trying not to laugh this time by the pitiful sight I was in, “and this one was just for the pure pleasure of torturing you.”
“Then it is war.” I reached as far as I could behind me to pick up another pillow and collide it with hers, a plume of feathers ensuing.
Absently Jake shifted, blinking his eyes and turning his head as if he’d been away far too long. His brother of sorts recognized the dangerous look; he’d been thinking of his past. The words “Let it go mate” didn’t begin to cover up the pain felt from taking your own siblings lives. The elder vampire met David’s eyes and nodded, “There’s a town nearby, if we’re cautious we can go out in the town to pick out our food – it’s cloudy enough.” With one swift movement and without anymore words the two nomads picked up any evidence that they had ever been there and disappeared through the dense brush, headed towards a town somewhere in the distance.
Back then her name was Elizabeth, not Clara which everyone now called her by. She was the eldest daughter of a cobbler and happened to be in the wrong place at the seemingly wrong time. The young woman with long brown hair and plain dress stuck out, for some reason, in both men’s vision – immediately she was their next target.
For the next few hours they followed her, either walking behind her or hiding behind bushes until they got the chance to lour her away. It was at night when they got the chance, any trace of light was fading and she was locking up her father’s shop, groceries in hand before returning home. They followed her down the country road for quite sometime before both thirsty vampires decided to attack.
The morning cold and raining,
dark before the dawn could come
How long in twilight waiting
longing for the rising sun
ohoh ohoh Oh ooh
Suddenly the young woman turned, her hazel eyes meeting the spot in the bushes where they hid, “Can I help you?” She asked, taking a daring step towards them though she could not see their faces. “Are you lost?” Clara, then Elizabeth, inquired, tilting her head to try and see the hiding men. “I can help you find your way home.”
There were only to options in a situation like this, they could full out attack – dispose of her, drink her blood and risk getting caught in the process. No, that was too risky. Instead, they both walked out from the woods into the failing light and damp rural town. Because of what they were they wore long clothing and jackets to hide their skin and hats to shade there face and most importantly, their eyes. “Can I do something for you?” The young woman asked, both frightened by the strange men’s appearance and yet, strangely used to it. Clearly, she wasn’t frightened nearly enough as she should have been in the situation; she was staring ultimate doom in the face.
“We’re new in town,” David said quickly, flashing Clara a charming smile before gesturing over to Jake, “my friend and I were wondering if you could bring us to the far outskirts; we bought a house there for our sisters and want to fix it up to surprise them.”
“New in town?” Clara repeated, her eyes watching the two strangers with extreme care. Something small inside her told her to run as she looked at them, both being taller and strong than she – even more than she even knew – but she didn’t, instead she locked eyes with David’s tall, blonde companion. It was her eyes that did it, Jake would come to tell me briefly upon inquiry. If she had not looked in his eyes, she may have just been another victim. “I’d be more than happy to show you two men to the far outskirts – I was just headed that way myself.” And then she smiled, eyes sparkling. The second part that weakened him was her smile.
“No,” Jake said abruptly and with more urgency than he meant to. He repeated the words precisely three more times while shaking his head and meeting her eyes, only briefly, when he finished. Quickly he recovered from his sudden outburst, “We know the way to the outskirts, I must apologize, my friend here is delusional.” Giving her the only smile he could muster between his confusion and conflict with thirst he tipped his hat. “Thank you for your time ma’am, and your courtesy. Better you get home before it gets much darker. Nasty men like to hang around these parts at night.” He knew she wouldn’t get the underlining meaning to the last sentence but David would. With one quick movement he grabbed David’s arm like he was clenching him for dear life and tried to walk away.
Boldly, though, Clara reached out to stop him. Putting her hand to his chest with only enough pressure on him to make him turn to look at her she placed a basket full of food in his hand. A useless basket of food, but a kind gesture nonetheless. “Have a good night.” She whispered to him before turning to walk away herself.
Horrified with himself for being so mesmerized by what should have been there meal Jake pulled David behind him as he made a v-line towards the woods. “What’s wrong with you?” David asked urgently, “What happened back there.”
“I don’t know.” Jake hissed through his teeth, pupils dilating frantically as his mind raced and thirst soared. Sitting down he clenched his head in his hands, pulling at his hair a bit. Not once before had his human side taken over that much since he had stumbled across David, a boy lying near dead, on the sidewalk. Rocking back and forth he rubbed his temples. “We need to follow her, we’ll get her next time.” His voice was quiet as he spoke to his partner. I need to watch her.
Like they would with any victim they normally tracked, they followed her every move and watched her house. She had three brothers and one sister, all younger than her and her father was a hunter, but not of deer. Despite their tracker actions, they didn’t attack, nor did they attempt to frighten the family.
It was daring for the men to ever try and come out of their hiding places as they risked being caught. But yet, on occasion, they did so. “You play beautifully.” Jake hissed from the dark corner of what should have been Clara’s father’s locked store. Gasping the girl jumped, turning her head and looking at the man in the corner. Her hands slid from the piano keys and she stood, walking towards him.
“How’d you get in?” She demanded, staring at his neon eyes.
“You’re heart’s racing.” The elder man purred, pushing aside a lock of curly blonde bangs.
“And with full right,” She hissed back, “you broke in.”
“On the contrary, dear Elizabeth Ewell, you never fully locked the back door. It’s dangerous to be so trusting…you never know what creeps may walk in under your nose.”
Softly the brunette laughed, “You're proof in the putting. Are you trying to make me fear you? Because if you are, you’re going to have to try harder than that. What? Do you think I don’t know what you are? That you wanted to kill me the first day you saw me? My dad’s a hunter, he kills your kind. I know what one of you looks like when you come walking down the street.”
Leaning back into the wooden wall behind him, Jake opened his arms, “Well then, Elizabeth,” His eyes sparkled devilishly, “why don’t you alert your father that two blood suckers have entered the vicinity. The run will prove good game for our bored souls.”
“I won’t do that.”
The kindness in the woman’s voice shocked him and made the vampire lean forward, his elbows on his knees. “And why not?” He retorted, tilting his head, “I’m a ruthless killer that’s just going to make your life living hell.”
“There’s something different about you.” She whispered, voice dropping to what would be unable to be heard by normal ears. Cautiously she walked towards him and sat across from him. “You’re different than those other things my dad hunts. You’re more human.”
You came like crashing thunder
breaking through these walls of stone
You came with wide eyed wonderinto all this great unknown
ohoh ohoh Ohoooh Oohh
Against his better judgment; Jake had he and David stay in place for several months and he visited the cobbler’s daughter every one of those days. It was risky behavior on a whole scale of levels but there some something about her – the lightness she had that his stone heart didn’t have and her sarcastic wit and stubborn nature – that drew him in. They had fallen for each other without even meaning it. I guess my family has a way of that happening.
Everything changed after those few months. Jake spent a week arguing with himself before pulling her aside one afternoon, in the cover of dense brush and telling her that he and David were moving on – as nomads do – and that she needed to stay right where she was; where she was safest. Being my sister she protested, going as far to tell him that she’d go with them whether it meant being right there in the heat of things with them or twenty miles away. Immediately, for her safety as she was still human then, Jake refused that option and shut the door for negiating.
In an attempt to get him to linger longer my sister asked if he would drop by her house that night before he left, “as usual” to say goodbye. If she got him to come then, maybe she could get him to stay. They would both stubborn souls after all.
“Don’t count on it.” He told her before he left, but he was lying; he did come by.
As liked as my sister’s father was, he was also frowned upon by many. After his wife’s death in labor he had become a bit of an alcoholic as well as a known “hunter”. To the public it was of the normal black bears and dear, but in reality it was werewolves and vampires. This all led up to the events that occurred that night; the night my brother allegedly said he would not be stopping by but, by some grace of his frozen heart, did.
Clara was home with her youngest brother Andrew and her sister Hannah, and while they both played and slept she waited for a non-showing Jake in the safety of her father’s hunting absence. It was well past midnight when the downstairs door opened with an unmentionable force. Though tired with lack of sleep my sister got up from her window seat and rushed down the stairs – assuming it was Jake having changed his mind. However, she was mid-way down the stairs when she caught sight of the scene below; four monsters with neon eyes stood in homes doorway, sniffing the air like dogs although these humans were furthest from one. In their hands they clutched a lifeless man, a familiar lifeless man with a knife in his hand and drained of all his blood.
“Jake?” Clara whispered, praying he was not one of the three. With sharp, precise movements the three thirsty monsters turned to face the woman, not even my brother could look so ruthless. Both of her siblings had woken up by that point after hearing the door open and now stood behind her on the top of the stirs “Liza? What’s happening?” Andrew asked.
“Come on, Andrew, Hannah.” Chasing her own feet up the stairs Clara grabbed her younger sibling’s shoulders and rushed them away from the stairs. “We have to get out of here.” There was urgency in her force but not nearly as much as there should have been by the pounding in her heart. The only exit from the house was the fire escape outside the bathroom window so that’s where she took them. What occurred next was brutal murder, Andrew and Hannah being taken first while Clara was thrown with devastating force into the bathtub. Her neck was broken on impact, so Jake said, and she was forced to watch her siblings die without being able to stop it. When they had finished the young kids they attacked the helpless Clara. She told me once, that her world went black altogether after Hannah was killed but she could still hear some of the world around her even though she could not feel or see what the Monsters were doing. A fifth and sixth party entered the bathroom, stopping an inevitable fate before it could have happened.
“It’s going to be okay.” Jake’s familiar voice whispered in her ear.
Hush now don't you be afraid
I promise you I'll always stay
I'll never be that far away
I'm right here with you
When my sister awoke she was in the woods, covered by my brother’s leather jacket with her head on his lap. A pool of blood and a body were next to her on to opposite sides. She was informed that the dead body was hers to feed on and the blood belonged to Jake and David’s last meal – the body now replaced Clara’s in her family’s house. “You are invisible” Jake told her, and when she inquired about her status he managed to say, through clenched teeth “You are one of us.”
“Did they do it?”
“I did it,” My brother responded, shamefully through his teeth once more. “I had no choice; it was that or watch you die.” Carefully he moved her head from his knee and stood to go find David, but not before he looked down at her. It was that look, Clara once told me, mixed with the tone of his voice and touch of his hand to her cheek that made her know we weren’t just hallow creatures.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...You are
"Well now, Jake, that wouldn't have happened to be a smile would it now?" Clara prodded from the doorway, an innocent smile painted perfectly on her face. It was a stab at my normally stoic facade and I knew that but I did not cave. Instead I narrowed my eyes lightly and pulled the green-blue hospital curtains back so the other nurses new that bed was free. "She liked you," My in-one-world sister continued, this time taking on a more serious note, "a lot, Jake. The same way Annora does, you have a way with children. You would have made a good father." Instinctively I scrunched my nose, back stiffening military-style as I breezed passed her, eyes focused on the computer desk across the way. A dense silence lingered, only filled with the sound of our feet along the tiled floor and medical equipment. "Jake-" Clara whispered, reaching out to touch my shoulder.
In one sharp movement I grabbed her hand but not with the intensity to hurt it. "Let's not go there, okay? That's a life that was thrown away years ago, a past neither of us can retrieve and we..." I swallowed my eyes tracing the contours of her face; I'd nearly forgotten how much I wanted to play with the gentle curls of her hair. I’d nearly forgotten how easily she changed me from one monster to something nearly human.
You came from heaven shining
Breath of God still flows from fresh on you
The beating heart inside me
Crumbled at this one so new
ohoh ohoh Oooh ooohhh
"You know where we stand, Clara. We both do. We have a family now, a good family." Softly, reluctantly I released her hand; feeling like a part of me went with it. Once more I stiffened, a mask used to skillfully hide emotions being pulled over me like a veil. With being turned comes an amazing ability to lie better than any normal human, but it also comes with an impeccable ability to perceive. When lying to another vampire you had to be quick, always one step ahead of them, one thing I could never seem to do with her. "Besides," I smiled softly at her while stuffing a pen in my coats pocket, "you were always the one who didn't want to kill the children."
To my surprise Clara grabbed my hand, "Honestly, Jake, you have to stop thinking like that. You aren't that monster you were then, no, you never were a monster. If you were you would have killed me when you had the chance. You never killed children, you didn't have the heart, both you and I know that." Her hand, soft and smooth reached up to dust a blonde curl from my forehead, only to brush against its marble surface. "You underestimate yourself." She whispered softly, her voice like velvet. How she could ever transfix me, I'll never know.
No matter where or how far you wander
For a thousand years or longer
I will always be there for you
Right here with you
Resting my head on Ryan’s shoulder I closed my eyes temporarily, paying attention to how we swayed before I opened my lids to look over at my family on our lawn. David, under the orders of our parents, was being relatively calm and nice, sitting on the porch railing beside Isaiah. Eli had pulled Zach up to dance like two crazy and wacky siblings only would. Laughing a bit I smiled and moved my eyes across the scene. My other siblings were interacting fairly normal, mom and dad sat on the porch beside Jake. I lingered on Jake, watching as he watched Clara play the piano. Her eyes were closed but his were only on her. Placing the pen he had been holding on the porch I watched as he stood, walking over to sit beside Clara.
At first she didn’t notice him but when he placed his hands on the keys to play in perfect harmony with hers she did. Her eyes opened and she looked at him, smiling a bit as he glanced up at her from his ducked head. He leaned towards her as he reached around her for a key and said merely a word before she closed her eyes again. Taking another minute to watch her he too closed his eyes. Neither spoke again for a long time that night, but it was enough.
Smiling I closed my own eyes and listened to Ryan’s unnecessary breathing.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
As I rounded the corner, shoulder to shoulder with David I fussed with my cuff-links. I stretched my head from side to side and straightened my back; I felt like something out of Pride and Prejudice. Beside me David chuckled. “We look ridiculous.” He told me and I could help but smirk in agreement. Give us a pair of jeans any day, but a tux? Lord, take our immortal lives.
“Oh, wow.” Clara stood, dressed in a knee length dress herself staring at the two of us. Her eyes rose in amusement and a smirk formed across her face. “Tuxes? I’m impressed, Jake.” She teased, “I never thought I’d see you in one of those.”
“Yeah, well, it’s for Annora. She’s one hell of a lucky kid – she better appreciate it too because I don’t dress up like this for just anybody.”
Snorting Clara laughed, “That’s obvious…”
I hope your tears are few and fast
I hope your dreams come true at last
I hope you find love that goes on and on and on and on and on
I hope you wish on every star
I hope you never fall too far
I hope this world can see how wonderful you are
“Where’s Annora?” I asked Clara, on the edge of my toes, my mind was racing. Absently I rubbed my forehead, running through the events of the night – of Annora’s face as she whizzed past me on the way inside like her world had fallen down around her. In many ways; it had.
A shaken Clara met me, half relieved I was alright and half petrified at what Connor must have told her happened. “She’s upstairs,” She said with a shaky voice, like she should have been crying. Her mouth opened as she stared at me but nothing came out. Taking in an un-needed breath she cleared her mind and steadied herself enough to stand and grab my arm. Her grip was firm but soon she released it, wrapping her single arm around mine instead – letting me know she was glad I was alright. “Be gentle, okay? Last thing she needs is a lecture. She’s seventeen and her world’s fallen out from underneath her.” Slowly she released me and went to walk back into the living room to make sure Connor was okay. “Think of her as me, you’ll do just fine.”
Giving Clara the largest small smile I could manage in the heat of the situation I walked over briskly and hugged her; something I hadn’t done it far too long. Leaning down close to her I placed my lips by her ear, feeling her arms wrap temporarily around my torso. “There’s a difference, Clara,” I whispered into her ear, blinking as I could barely understand the words leaving my lips, “I wouldn’t risk my life knowing what it would do to you if something happened to me. I’d get us both the heck out of there; together. I’d keep us safe, not just you or I, but us. We’d stay together.” Pulling away I looked in her eyes before turning on my heel, dashing up the stairs as fast as I could. Annora’s door had slammed shut in the process of my running and I opened it just in time to see her thrust herself backwards onto her bed in hysterics.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing...
“What the heck do you think you’re doing; scaring the crap out of me like that?!” Clara hissed at me as I climbed out of damaged car behind David and Annora. Whatever shards that should have killed me had left minor marks, like I had been through a raspberry bush.
“I wasn’t thinking.” I responded with the same tone of voice, from the squashed trunk I pulled Annora’s bag and tossed it to Zach. “I had one choice, trash the car or risk having to fight them off – 20 plus to three. Would you have rather I do that?”
“It would have been better than you crashing the car with Carter on the phone – we didn’t know what had happened to you. They have weapons that can kill our kind, Jake. You don’t know what was going through my head.” With flaming eyes Clara pulled my cars keys from my hands and walked over to it, too see if it was even still drivable. The engine worked though the front was damaged. Whether by her anger or just pure strength she stretched out the front and back of the car until it was normal again. Although there was no glass in the front window shield or the back Jasmine and Edmund, who were decided to drive with me to pose as David and Annora would be safe without them. “I swear to God, Jake Freeman, you ever scare me like that and I’ll rip your head off.” Shooting me a painful glare she stuffed my car keys back in my hand and grabbed Annora, heading off in the direction of her own car. I winced at the glare, the intensity of her stare had said enough.
“Hey,” I spoke abruptly, reaching out and grabbing David’s arm as he went to follow. I pulled my brother, the man I had spent most of my nomadic years with, close to me. We were inches away, my eyes narrowed into lethal slits. “You keep them safe, you got that? Otherwise-”
Softly David smirked, his eyes sparkling mischievously as Clara’s headlights hit them.
“Otherwise you’ll kill me.” My eyes softened a bit, one side of my mouth turning upwards in a sarcastic smirk. “Darn straight.” Although my words were joking I gave his arm a warning squeeze to let him know that I meant every word – to the bottom of my frozen heart.
You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
You are
ooooooo
“You jerk,” Clara edged forward on my day bed towards the bed table, as if to examine my play. Folding her legs under her she placed her elbows on her knees. “You faked it, didn’t you? I’ve never beaten you in cards before.”
Shrugging I swiped the cards from the table before she could catch what I had done. “I guess you’re improving.” I told her carefully; she was the only woman I knew who could get completely turned off by a bit of good, clean cards when I tried to let her win. It was a kind gesture as I had been playing cards far longer than she had been alive and knew more ins and outs than she ever would, perhaps it was a bit of my own form of flirtation too. She, however, saw it as a moral sin of some sort.
“You’re one lousy liar.” She scoffed, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. “I want a rematch.”
Giving Clara a fake yawn I checked the clock on the wall. “I’m tired,” I lied with a bit of a joking inclination in my voice, “besides, I have to go to the hospital shortly.” Leaning back into the pillows I stretch my arms, pushing aside the bed table with my foot. The table hit the floor with a bang but I knew no one was sleeping in that house – no one ever slept in our house – so it was safe. Moving my eyes from the fallen table to Clara I looked at her just in time to see her shove a pillow in my face.
“What on earth-?!” I exclaimed, flipping onto my side and off the bed at the same time. My solid body hit the floor with an even larger bang and I was Carter and mom would be down there wondering what on earth I was up to up there.
“This,” Clara said, whacking me once more, “is for letting me win, and this,” She whacked me again, trying not to laugh this time by the pitiful sight I was in, “and this one was just for the pure pleasure of torturing you.”
“Then it is war.” I reached as far as I could behind me to pick up another pillow and collide it with hers, a plume of feathers ensuing.
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