Originally published on January 06, 2006
“There are creatures in the world where day is night and night is day. They are fearsome savages set on blood and nightmares. They prey on those alone and helpless. Even the drow fear them. They are beautiful, but do not believe everything you see. Talons grow from their hands and feet and their teeth are sharp and long. Their eyes can shatter stone and their lips whisper pain. People that have been devoured by them are only found as bloody skeletons lost and long gone in the middle of the woods. They are the Orne-gwaith and their home is an unsurpassable labyrinth of trees.”
“If you are telling me this to frighten me, I have no fear,” the young man said. His chin rested in his palm and his face was drawn.
“Only the fearful say that.” The older woman had silver white hair and she sat at the table with her embroidery in her lap. Her needle moved in and out of the cloth with expert speed. Scenes of dragons and wraiths lay on the cloth, destruction and chaos portrayed in its threads.
“Or, the very foolish,” a young girl walked into the room. Her onyx black hair fell over her shoulders and her arms. Her steps made soft clicks on the marble floor as she crossed over to the window. “Perhaps he is not ready for such stories, Safta.”
“Don’t be silly, girl. If he wishes to be a true king, then he will know of such creatures. It’s important that he knows the dangers and responsibilities of a ruler.”
The girl raised one eyebrow, but she remained silent. The boy rose and pushed in his chair. “Thank you, Safta,” he said glancing at the girl. He bowed before leaving the room.
“Poor boy, he doesn’t know what kind of things are out there. Head always in the clouds,” the girl watched him leave and shook her head.
“You shouldn’t talk about your brother like that,” the woman reprimanded, “Besides, he is plenty ready to be king.”
The girl snickered, but her back was to the woman. “He better be.”
Filed under: Fantasy by Bri
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Originally published on January 05, 2006
It was one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made. She was sitting nervously a large padded wooden chair in front of a balding old man. He had on a black cloak and was gently caressing a crystal ball, which he would occasionally call Aggie. It was her first time getting a reading and she was already nervous.
They had been having a conversation for the past ten minutes. The man was silent and reassuring as she checked her watched every minute or so in an attempt to signal that she wanted to go.
“Don’t be afraid, I haven’t even begun to talk about anything really unusual.”
“What are you talking about? I know that I’m going to have two kids, I’m going to marry a childhood sweetheart and I will spend the rest of my life in the police force, I don’t know how much freakier it gets.”
“Would you like to find out?”
She was taken aback, but still nervous. She looked down at the crystal ball, which seemed to stare up at her, smiling. “What the heck,” she said shakily, “might as well.”
“A year after your death, your daughter will be going to your grave with her children as they always do every year. You will have been ninety-three, a good life. This year however, when she gets home, her daughter will ask about your life. She will pause to think and cut her finger. When she goes to clean it up, her son will bump into the pot on the stove and send hot soup all over scalding himself. They will drive to the hospital while he is treated for some minor burns. Meanwhile, the rest of the family will come in for the annual Thanksgiving dinner and not see the family. They will however, see the knife and expect the worse. Shall I go on?”
She was pale and stricken; her hands were clutching the chair and pushing her body away from the man at the table. “Absolutely not!” she yelled and ran out of the tent.
He quietly placed Aggie on the table and closed the door to the tent. “You didn’t have to be quite so thorough, Aggie. You scared the poor girl to death.”
“You didn’t have to stop there, you could have gone on,” Aggie said.
Neither said another word and they left it at that.
Filed under: Fantasy, Uncategorized by Bri
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