NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 9 – People of the Storm

by

NaNoWriMo 9

Well I failed miserably yesterday and did not write a blessed word.  I had a rough day, and it ended with finding out that one of our ferrets was seemingly near death.  We did our best to nurse him back to health but when we found him in the cage his body temperature was extremely low.  We built a little sick bay of sorts to isolate him from the others and this morning he was drinking water and eating again.  Still extremely weak but seems to be doing better.  So at this point we are going to continue to nursemaid him throughout the day, and hopefully I will catch back up on my writing.

Here is where we are to date…  also no real editing.

  1. Shadowed Stone
  2. Little Giant Girl
  3. Birthday Wishes
  4. The Gifts
  5. The Incursion
  6. The Watch
  7. Rough Landing
  8. Dragon Bone

9 – People of the Storm

Grandfather Torgos crossed the room to stoke the fire against the morning chill.  Within moments he was joined by the littlest of the Torgos line.  Minjin watched the old man stir the crackling coals with a poker before setting it in a rack beside the fire.  “Granpa, tell me about the Storm” said the little one eyes staring up at the old man in wonder.  “I think you mean, People of the Storm yes?” The old man reached down giving the boys head a scratch.  Torgos moved across the room to his favorite chair “Bring me my cider and I will tell you a story.”

The boy wandered off into the kitchen and poured from the hot kettle into a large cup, bringing it to the old man being ever so careful not to spill a drop.  Torgos took the cup with a friendly nod and the boy sat down on the floor in front of him, wrapping a thick fur around him making a personal tent with it.”The People of the Storm, the Valkore lived in great floating cities.  We had mastered the power of the storm, using it to keep aloft our fortresses.  We were a proud people, too proud.”  Torgos continued watching the little one nod his heading having heard the words all before.

“In our pride we ignored a growing enemy on the ground around us, the Trogjan.  They were once our slaves and laborers, but they rose up against the their masters.  They learned how to use the magic, and with it struck down our cities in the sky.  One by one they drove us from our old homeland into this new place.” The old man said motioning with his arms waving around him.  We met another proud people, the Elfen, who feared the approach of this new army.  Using their strongest magics they created a barrier that the Trogjan could not pass.”  The old man pointed out the window to the crackling orange wall of power on the outskirts of the settlement.

“Here we have thrived in the shadow of the summer wall.  It gives us light and warmth and keeps the Trogjan at bay.”  Torgos finished taking a sip of cider.  “Grampa, can I live in the sky someday?” the youngest beamed.  Taking a moment to savor the flavor of the rich cider before responding.  “Maybe oneday you will lead our people back to our forgotten greatness.  In the meantime though we have the skyships and the power of the storm to protect us.” Nodding to the window and the summer wall outside “And of course we have the wall.”

There was a bustle of motion outside the house and a tall man dressed in furs and leather stepped through the threshold.  “Elder Torgos” the man greeted making a fist and clutching it to his chest in salute.  “Huntsman Velden, do you have something to report?  I was just telling my grandson about the Valkore again.”  The face of the other softened a bit “I have troubling news from the other side of the wall.”  Velden said as he took a seat near the elder.  “Our scouts have seen a massing of Trogjan forces at For Kraken.  An entire legion of of Ort Backbreakers have set up camp around the fort and there are all manner of gobbley machinations as well.  It looks like they are going to make another push on the wall.”

The elder thought for a moment before speaking “This is troubling of course, but the wall has protected us for centuries against so many waves of Trogjan forces.”  Torgos looked at his grandson who was lost in play, pantomiming a great battle with skyships.  “We have no portents that the wall is weakening, it will hold again as it has held so many times before.”  The old man looked at the face of the young blond haired warrior “If there is nothing else, I would like to return to my grandson.”  Velden rose nodding, giving the salute again and walking briskly out the door.

Velden was certain something was different this time.  In the past when his scouts had passed through the barrier wall, it had been a challenge to do so.  Lately however they have been able to walk through without much effort.  Something was changing in its consistency and he did not know how or why.  He did know however that they would be prepared for an invasion if it happened.  He would rally the guard and send quiet dispatches to the other settlements letting him know his thoughts as well.  He would openly defy the Elder, but they could not ignore the threat.

Velden walked along the sea wall lining the village.  The skyships moored there, represented the last of the proud technology of his people.  He regretted no longer having access to the great float ballast mines of the icy steppes.  Without a fresh supply they could no longer built the massive skyships they once had, but instead only repair and rework the few that remained.  He was thankful however that it seemed the Trogjan never figured out to manipulate the ballast we had them mine.  The sky was still ours he could take a small amount of solace in that.

—

It had been a day roughly since the events of the farmhouse, but as Bemel thought about it now that seemed so long ago.  He had thought it was the end when the white fire hit him, but instead it did something he was not expecting.  It pushed him through to the shadowlands but he did not immediately recognize where.  After roaming around the coastal area for a bit he found Morrow laying half submerged in the sand.  She had been doing really badly when he found her, barely alive.  But over the course of the hours since he had been wounded, he scoured the beaches for the right components to healing poultice like he had been taught by his mother.

It was not easy, and he had to use rock as both a makeshift pestle and mortar but he made it work.  After he had applied the thick tar consistency salve to her wounds she appeared to start recovering.  It was a long while before she was able to speak but when she did she asked about Josah, to which he had no real answer.  It seems that the weapon had a bit of a random component to it.  The two of them had been pushed a good distance apart, he could only imagine that if Benj and Josah survived they could be almost anywhere.

Morrow was still barely coherent, and definitely able to move herself, but he felt they were woefully unprotected out here.  Surely there had to be a settlement somewhere nearby.  If he was on eastern coast, then he was well into Valkore territory.  They were a mostly peaceful and shamanistic race, and luckily one with which the elfen courts had treaties.  He just had to find them and hopefully they could mend to Morrow better than he could.  He had yet to explore the region north of here, and as he was preparing to go off in that direction he noticed a large shape on the horizon, flitting over the tops of the treeshrooms.

As the shape got closer he noticed it was some sort of ship.  Remembering back to the days before the summer wall, the Valkore were a skyfaring people with great floating cities.  He wondered if that could be one of their skyships.  Moving closer towards it he saw many shapes moving around on board of it.  Mustering all of his strength he poured as much force into his lungs directing it up at the ship.  “Hello! We Need Help!” Screamed bemel at the floating skyship.

The others seemed to notice him, and the looming ship slowly descended to the coastline.  A plank extended out of the side of the hull and slapped down hard upon the sandy shore.  Across the plank strolled a woman dressed in furs and leather accompanied by two male warriors brandishing broad headed axes.  She made her way cautiously up to Bemel stopping a few meters away.  “My name is Captain Barret” she replied in a cautious tone “Who are you and what seems to be the problem.”

Bemel turned his hands palm sign up as a sign of surrender.  “I am Bemel Foxfire, a member of the Autumn Court” motioning to the woman laying on the ground “This is Morrow a member of the Spring Court.  She is badly wounded, we need help.”  Bemel end almost pleading.  The captain looked both him and the woman over before responding.  “You are Elfen correct?  You built the summer wall.  I am sure Velden would like to speak with you.  Our village is just a ways up the coast, I can take you there.”

The two warriors slung their axes across the backs and bent down, gently lifting up morrow together and carrying her back to the skyship.  Bemel followed the captain and within moments of boarding the plank was retracted and the large ship began to float up delicately off the sandy perch.  Bemel had never seen a skyship before, let alone ridden in one.  The motion was something he had not been expecting.  He could feel the wind whip past him and see the world buzzing by, but onboard the ship there was no visible sign that they were moving at all.  The craft simply floating along silently staying perfectly level and stable the entire time.

The  captain was right, it did not take long at all to reach the village.  The great ship perched teetering on the edge of what looked like a giant rock seawall.  The village itself was nestled next to the summer wall with its warm orange glow, bathing the area in its eternal light.  He could see why someone would build their home here, much like the suntraps of his own avalon it gave this place a sense of high sun all of the time.  He was escorted from the ship to a long building decorated with a flying eagle motif.  He was ushered inside and told to take a seat at a long table.

He had only waited there a matter of minutes when a large blonde man wearing leathers and furs strode into the building.  Bemel arose from his chair to greet him as he spoke “I am Velden, the chief huntsman of Morden, this village.  The captain explained who you are.  We have our shaman tending to your friend, she was badly wounded but I am sure they can heal her.”  With this Bemel relaxed a bit, it was good to hear they were going to be okay.  “Your people built the summer wall is that correct?”  asked the huntsman.

“Our people built the wall based on the technologies that we use to guard our home of Avalon.  But I am not gifted with magic, so I do not understand how it works.”  With this the huntsman frowned.  He had hoped that the elfen would have some clue as to what was going wrong.  “Something is wrong with the wall, it seems to be losing strength.” Velden continued.  “Over the last several days across the wall at Fort Kraken, the Trogjan have begun building what looks like an invasion force.  Our scouts have reported their numbers growing almost by the hour.

Bemel thought for a moment and then like a light flickering on, he understood what Baigan had done.  Capturing the queen had weakened the power of the summer wall, and the Trogjan could exploit this to break through.  Bemel took the next few minutes explaining what had happened at the farmhouse and that the queen had been captured.  When finished both Bemel and the huntsman looked withered.  “That’s it then… we are going to be invaded.  We have to prepare.  We will help Morrow recover, but our efforts now must be on the impending war.”  Velden got up from the table, and went out to start preparing.  Bemel was left alone in the long house and found himself wondering about the others and if they were okay.

NaNoWriMo 8 – Dragon Bone

by

NaNoWriMo 8

It has been a crazy busy day.  We spent most of it running errands from the moment I got up.  As a result this is the first time I have sat down at my computer.  No writing yet today but yesterday I managed to push through to 15198 and finish up chapter nine.  Hopefully I will find the will to write today and get another few chapters.  However even if I do not, I can pretty much write all day tomorrow.

  1. Shadowed Stone
  2. Little Giant Girl
  3. Birthday Wishes
  4. The Gifts
  5. The Incursion
  6. The Watch
  7. Rough Landing

8 – Dragon Bone

“This just can’t be” remarked a woman staring blankly at a readout on a lcd screen.  Pico had been pouring over the same readings for two hours, analyzing them in every possible way trying to make her conclusion not be true.  However many times she did it she ended up with exactly the same results.  The ward strength had fallen by roughly 11% in the last day.  At first she thought it was a fluctuation, like had happened before after an event.  However the levels were not recovering.  The wards were seemingly permanently weakened.

Reaching over to the intercom she hovered her finger over the switch that had been labelled “Farragut” with masking tape and sharpie letters.  She took a breath in and pressed it.  Within seconds the com channel snapped to life. “Yes Pico?  What is it?”  the man on the other side questioned.  “Sir, you are going to need to come see this.  I can’t really explain this over the com.”  She replied tenatively, dreading the news she was about to deliver.  The com channel clicked closed.  Farragut recognized the fear in her voice, and knew this was not going to be good.

Pico preferred to keep her offices as far away from anyone else as possible.  The lab was a room lit only by the momentary flashes of colored text against black screen.  When they had found her, she was had been running a little racket, using her ability to sidestep to build a rather large and unofficial bitcoin mining operation.  She had bots within bots catching tidbits of information floating around the net, and then extorting when she found something that should have been kept secret. 

The watch had changed that, given her a purpose, a reason to care about the fact that the world was rapidly going to hell in a handbasket.  They told her about the wards.  Ancient machines buried within the earth, submerged within underground rivers.  She knew she could do what she could do, but she never knew why until they told her that she was a betweener, someone who lives between the two worlds not really a true part of either.  Since that day she had been the director of the analytical weapons division here deep under the Texas soil at Lone Star watch base.  It was here that she made the first breakthroughs in decades on creating the calculation matrix weapons, and here she tried to unlock secrets of the dragon bone matrix deep beneath the earth.

It took a few minutes for Farragut to reach the dungeon, as Pico lovingly referred to it.  He opened the door with a very worried look on his face and stepped into the dim light.  “What happened?  I heard the “something very wrong” tone in your voice”.  Pico spun around in her chair and oriented to look up at him.  “I’ve gone over the data as many ways as I know how to… but I keep getting the same results.” She turned slightly and within a few mouse clicks brought up a line graph on her monitor.  “You see this big drop?  This aligns precisely to the moment Chief Aimes ordered the dropping of the Lovelace device.  Then each of these” she pointed to a number of smaller drops in the line “Relates to the moment that a calculation matrix round was discharged.”

“What are we looking at Pico?  What does that line represent?” he replied the concern on his face growing.  “Today we strength of the wards dropped permanently by 11%.  Instead of protecting the wards, we destroyed a piece of them.  We can’t risk ever using them again… the Ward levels are already down below 60% now.”  She said with an almost somber reverence.  Farragut let out a deep sigh acknowledging the news.  “What does this mean Pico?”  He asked with an edge of desperation.

She turned and grabbed a ancient looking leatherbound book from a nearby shelf, the sound of the vellum cracking and straining as she opened it to a specific passage.  “We don’t know who created the wards, but for as long as the watch history goes back they have protected humanity from the chaotic influence of the shadowlands.”  flipping to a another page “It was the watch’s great engineer Babbage that first devised a way to measure the strength of the wards.  He recorded the first drops in their strength.  As the signal of the wards have weakened so too has increased the chaotic influence on our own world.”

Farragut nodded “I’ve read the debriefings, increased frequency and severity of weather patterns.”  Pico shook her head in acknowledgement “But there is more than just that” she clicked her mouse and opened a program on her desktop.  “This is a model that I have created, while I cannot say with any certainty how long we have…  but when the wards the earth itself will buckle under the forces of the two worlds merging.  The model indicates it will be an extinction level event.”  A cold look of fear crossed the others face, they had just sped up that clock by a very significant amount.  “Those weapons can never be used again, but that leaves us defenseless as well.”  Farragut found himself feeling a little weak, so he took a seat on a nearby stool.

“Babbage didn’t have the models we do, but he came to this same conclusion.  The difference engine was his attempt to create a man made ward.  Other ward engineers have followed in his footsteps, but we have so far to go.  The recent improvements exhibited with the Oakridge Titan, still product less than one one-hundredths of the raw computational field exerted by one of the wards.”  Grabbing an even older tome from her shelf, she flipped slowly to the last page.  This book was written on that shimmered in the light, almost rippling as she touched it.  “This book pre-dates the founding of the watch by several centuries.  It mentions something called the Order of Merlin, and a magical colony called Brittagus.”

She held the book up showing an illustration to Farragut.  “This is a diagram of the wards, the components needed to create one, and the incantations needed to start the computational core.”  Pico let the words sink for a moment “The wards came from the other world, they list components like dragon bone.  We have to find this order of merlin, they may be able to repair the wards.”  Farragut was not sure exactly what she was suggesting “Surely you aren’t saying we need to send someone into the shadowlands are you?”

“That is precisely what I am suggesting, we are still hundreds of years away from the computational power needing to build our own wards.  We have to find a way to repair them, or at the present rate of decay they will not last our lifetimes.”  Farragut stood pacing around the room a moment before responding.  “This is going to have to be confirmed by other groups, and we will have to convene the high council”  his words trailed off lost in the list of things that had to be done before he could order action.  “Pico… please make sure the weapons are destroyed.  I will work on the council and see what can be done.”  He looked at her with a sadness in his eyes “We have to do what we have to do…”  He walked out of the room and Pico returned to her screens.  She thought to herself “Now we just have to find a way to get there”.

NaNoWriMo 7–Rough Landing

by

NaNoWriMo 7

Well I am officially back on the wagon after taking Wednesday off from writing.  I did not really write as much as I had hoped last night but I am up to 13156 word count which still puts me a tiny bit ahead of the curve.  I hope to write quite a bit today, especially now that I have a decent chain of events I want to follow.  Oddly enough really looking forward to seeing some of the news out of Blizzcon today.  All the big announcements generally happen on the first day, so here is hoping that we see something cool.  Without further ado… here is the next chapter.  Again zero editing went into this as of yet.  I plan on sitting on this until maybe January and then working it over then, once I have some distance from it.

  1. Shadowed Stone
  2. Little Giant Girl
  3. Birthday Wishes
  4. The Gifts
  5. The Incursion
  6. The Watch

7 – Rough Landing

Jace awoke to a sizzling sound nearby and the smell of smoke drifting into his nostrils.  For a brief moment he thought about the breakfasts Uncle Benj would cook with heaps of thick cut maple bacon and huge stacks of pancakes.  For this brief moment everything was right with the world and he expected to hear Benj calling up to him to wake up.  The memories unraveled around him quickly and replaced as a sick realization that things were very not alright.  He gasped for air, sitting up quickly opening his eyes and looking around in a panic.

The world around him was a thick inky blackness perforated only by a flicker of light coming from a nearby fire.  Hunched down beside the fire was Kale, tending to what looked like a slab of meat cooking on a stone.  Looking around he saw absolutely nothing he recognized, the trees were not trees at all, but instead thick ropey tangles of vines leading up to what appeared to be a canopy of mushrooms.  He remembered the battle, he remembered Aunt Beth, he remembered Kale grabbing hold of him… then nothing.  Wait… not Aunt Beth, but mother…  why did she never tell me.  Jace felt tears welling up inside him but he tried hard to push them back down.

Kale looked over at him, hearing him stir slightly.  “Good you’re up, I was concerned.  We took a bit of a spill coming through.” she said quietly.  Jace stared back at her blankly, trying to pull himself out of his sudden onslaught of memory. “Where are we?” was all he could muster.  “I am not honestly sure what to call this place.  It is kind of a shadow of our world, so I guess that fits as good as anything.”  She cocked her head slightly as she thought about it.  “We aren’t too far from the Wildfae camp where Dobin lives.  Your.. Mother… said we should find help there.”  She stumbled over the words not really sure what to say about that.

“How long have we been here?”  Jace asked after sitting in silence for a bit.  “You’ve been out for roughly a day, best as I could tell.  Day and night are pretty different here, so it is hard to tell.”  She looked at him sheepishly as she pointed to a sharpened stick near the fire. “I got hungry waiting on you to wake up, and I figured you would be too.”  She looked down at the cooked meat sizzling on the stone “I am not really sure what this is, it looked like some kind of giant rabbit.  It moved fast but I moved faster.”  She tore off a chunk of a piece she had cooked earlier and tossed it at him.

Jace caught the meat and he had to admit it smelled pretty great.  He was far hungrier than he had realized because he had eaten most of it before realizing he never really said thank you.  “Thanks for looking after me” he mustered still half chewing.  “Why did you look after me?  You barely know me…  and definitely didn’t owe me anything” He said without really thinking.  Kale gave him a long angry stare before responding “She told me to protect you, and I did.”  Realizing he had offended her he stumbled over his own words.  “I’m sorry, I was never really good at saying the right thing.  I appreciate it, really.”

He got up and stretched, looking around the tidy little camp that Kale had built for them.  He had to admit it was pretty impressive.  On the far side of the fire there were two large packs sitting there, puzzled he asked “Where did those come from?”  Kale turned to look at the direction he was pointing “Those must have been sent through by your Mom somehow, they were there already when I recovered myself from the rough landing.”  Jace walked over to examine one of the packs and inside were all the gifts his aunts and uncles had given him.  Inside the other was a cloak similar to his, what looked like a small hammer that was cool to the touch, and a mirror.  Kale motioned to the dagger she was using to slice the meat “This was in there too, not sure what the other things are all about.”

Jace felt overwhelmed, this is the first time he had really been without Benj to tell him what he needed to do.  He knew that Bethilda would want him to be strong, and do what needed to be done… but he just didn’t know exactly what that was at the moment.  He thought back to what Kale had just said and remembered what Beth said before they made the leap to this world.  Seek out the Wildfae…  so that had to be what we were meanted to do.  Feeling a bit more confident Jace suggested “We should pack the rest of that meat and get moving to that Wildfae camp you talked of earlier.  Mom..”  he paused at the word it feeling odd in his mouth “thought we could find help there.”

Kale nodded in silent agreement as she stamped out the fire preparing to break camp.  She stowed her knife and picked up the back, beginning to walk towards what appeared to be a trail.  Jace fell in behind her as they walked together into the grove of treeshrooms.  “I really do appreciate your help” Jace added to break the silence.  Kale glaced sideways at him softening her gaze a bit and replying  “I said I would protect you, and that is what I am going to do.”

—

“Papa! How much further?” replied the small dark silver skinned boy as he bounded after his father, who walked slowly and deliberately ahead of him dragging his crescent staff through the loose ground.  “Not much further Bai” replied Oakswurv stopping to neal down to his son’s eye level.  “You see those fires in the distance, that is where we are going” replied the man smiling broadly at his impatient son.  Oaks could tell his son could barely contain the excitement of getting to attend a conclave.

When the pair arrived the other members had already seated themselves.  At the head of the table was the very formidable looking Burlguff, to his left Sarenth, and to his right the lady Morganth.  Together they represented the Court of Winter, one of the strongest of all the Elfen Courts.  Noting the arrival of Oakswurv, Burlguff cleared his throat chiding “So good of you to join us Oakswurv.”  He made a motion at Baigan “Why exactly did you bring your offspring?”  Oakswurv shrugged deeply “It is high time he see how the business of our Court is conducted” he said taking his seat at the end of the table opposite Burlguff.

“While I admire your civic duty, this is hardly the time to start.  We have important matters to discuss.”  With a motion of his hand, Burlguff summoned a retainer who took the young boy by the hand escorting him outside of the circle.  Bai hunched down on a stump outside the circle and listened as intently as he could, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside the conclave.  Within moments the retainer moved off to return to the circle, and the young boy ever so cautiously inched closer to the circle until he could hide behind a plant and hear the proceedings.

“No it is you who do not understand!” Shouted the loud booming voice of Burlguff.  “Too long have we suffered silently under the yoke of the Spring and Summer Courts.  Are we not as powerful as they are?  Is not the might of Winter even more powerful?”  Oakswurv shook his head and sighed deeply.  “Burlguff, we have had our generations… now is the time of Spring and soon it will be the time of Summer.  Just as surely it will be the time of Fall and Winter will rise after that.  You suggest a chance in the order of things that is just unnatural.”

Burlguff grew angrier as he rebuked “You are mired in the old ways.  The time for change is now, you have sold your people for a place at the council.”  He looked at Sarenth and Morganth narrowing his eyes.  “We will seek a new way, and new more powerful allies.  A power rises in the north, that if combined with our own might would crush Summer.  Is it not right that the most powerful lead the way?”  Oakswurv pushed his chair back from the table, standing up abruptly. 

“It is you who will lead us to our doom.  It is you who wish to break the natural order of things.  Each season has its place.”  Bellowed Oakswurv.  “If you act, you do so without my support.  Know that I will fight you every step of the way.”  He turned to walk out of the circle yelling “Baigan, we are leaving… the talks have finished.”  Seeing Bai sitting there in the bushes, he held out his hand and the young boy nervously took hold of it.  Burlguff stood screaming at the top of his lungs as Oaks walked away “You’ve signed your own death Oaks!  Winter is Rising!”

Baigan remembered looking up into his fathers eyes, worried about what was to become of the conclave… worried that he would never see his friends again.  In the coming months a war did indeed start, and the combined forces of Summer, Spring and Fall pushed the Court of Winter further into the northlands, eventually sealing them off by erecting the summer wall.  This was the moment that changed Bai’s life forever.  How could his father have turned his back on his own people, how could he have betrayed them?

Baigan pushed back the memories taking in the realization that he was now laying face down on the floor of the stone antichamber from which he opened the waygate.  A sudden rush of feelings washed over his body as his legs began to stir pushing off the ground with his hands into a kneeling position.  There was a sharp pain burning into his side, and as he looked down he saw one of Bemels arrows tearing into the flesh there.  As he allowed himself to breath in he screamed out in pain as the arrow seemed to have punctured one of his lungs.  Reaching down he grasped the shaft of the arrow and in one quick jerk he pulled free the arrow screaming again as the fletchings sliced into him.

Baigan reached inside of his jacket and pulled out a stoppered vial with a green-grey liquid.  With his thumb he popped loose the cork and put the vial to his lips drinking roughly half of it.  With the rest he pushed a finger into the vial coating it.  Biting his teeth, and closing his eyes shut, he rammed the finger into the pulsing wound in his side.  Screaming again he withdrew his finger, collapsing back down onto the cold stone floor.  Within moments a cool feeling washed over his body, causing every inch of him to tingle.  The bleeding slowed to a stop, and over the next few moments the wounds closed.

Finally he allowed himself to breathe in deeply.  While it still hurt quite a bit, the pain was subsiding. Now sitting up on the hard floor he frantically surveyed the scene.  It appeared the other had not made it through the portal after all. From the corner of the room there came a soft orange humming glow.  Baigan let out a chuckle as he realized he had succeeded.  He had trapped the queen in the crystal and gotten away with it.  The master would indeed be pleased, his father’s betrayal had finally been answered.  Now it was time for the courts to answer as well.

NaNoWriMo 6–The Watch

by

NaNoWriMo 6

I was a bad little monkey last night, and added nothing to my word count.  Thankfully I was a bit ahead of the game so I can recover from that.  Essentially a bunch of circumstances happened and last night was the collision of needs of my wife, needs of my friends and me being open to suggestion since I think I am coming down with a bug going around.  I knew it was bound to happen during the run and in part that’s why I pushed myself over the weekend.

However this is not to say I did NOTHING last night of value towards the NaNoWriMo path.  Basically I am at a point seven chapters in where I need a clearer path for me to take from this point onwards.  So I retrenched a bit and worked on some outline plans.  That way I can have a better goal in mind as I write additional chapters.  Hopefully it will pay off and today the chapters will flow more freely.  Yesterday I was two chapters ahead of these posts… now I am just one chapter ahead.  Once again… no editing has been done I am just posting as is to fullfill my daily blogging mission.

  1. Shadowed Stone
  2. Little Giant Girl
  3. Birthday Wishes
  4. The Gifts
  5. The Incursion

6 – The Watch

Farragut awoke to the god awful ringing of the warning klaxon echoing through the underground chambers.  He opened his eyes trying to bring the fuzzy picture of the bottom of the bunk above him into focus, and slowly he slid back the blankets before tentatively swinging over the edge of the bunk.  He muttered to himself “this better not be a false alarm again” as he moved across the room to pull on some clothing.  As he cleared the door to his cabin, he heard the chime of the secondary klaxon, at a slightly different pitch.  “Shit… not a warning” he mumbled as he picked up pace jogging down the corridor to watch one.

When he entered the watch room it was already a flurry of activity as the various analysts poured over the monitors tracking various indicators and colorful spikes of light.  About this time a rather rotund scientist spun around in his chair, and upon seeing the Farragut standing there reported excitedly “Lieutenant! err… Sir…  we have a big one!”  He closed the distance from his station to the Lieutenant while stopping to grab something off a printer that was furiously spewing out information to printed pages.  “We have over 30 class C signatures, and around a half dozen class A.  We’ve never seen anything like this!”

Farragut thumbed through the papers confirming what the little man had just told him.  “Have you confirmed with with the other stations Aimes?”  The little man nodded emphatically clearly about to the point of bursting with excitement.  The Lieutenant continued “What options do we have in the area currently?”  Aimes practically vibrated with excitement as he had apparently already forseen this question “We have an Mathemagus Strike Team 10 minutes out already on maneuvers, would you like to redirect them to the site?”  Farragut nodded in agreement “Get them on the Com, I will address them myself.”

Within moments the little man had done just that and the radio near the Lieutenant crackled to life.  “Mathemagus Strike Team Gamma, Chief Aimes reporting in.”  spoke the man on the other end of the speaker.  “Chief this is Lieutenant Farragut of the Lonestar Watch base.  We have reports of a breach in your vicinity.  Request that you move to intercept.  Over 30 class C signatures and at least six class A signatures.  This is not a training exercise.”  Farragut paused for a moment taking in the gravity of his words.  “I repeat this is not part of your exercise.  Close on the target and seal the breach.  Do you copy Chief?”

The coms were silent for a moment and then in a somber and deliberate tone the chief responded that he copied.  It had been fifteen years since the last reported incursion of this magnitude.  Then it was three strike teams against only 2 class A signatures, and even at that the casualties were massive.  They held the field and sealed the breach but at such massive costs.  Farragut hoped that they had prepared better for this one.  The infinity drive weapons were new, and had yet to be tested against in real battle.  He hoped that the calculation matrix would be enough to make the difference this time.  The lieutenant swallowed hard at the thoughts of what might have come through that tear.

Aimes clicked off the coms and let the headset fall to his lap for a moment, pressing the heel of his hands against his eyes.  By now the members of his strike team were watching every movement he made with tense anticipation.  Without moving his hands he spoke “I am sure you heard some of that.  Our training mission is being cut short.”  He opened his eyes to look out at the worried faces of the different members of his watch unit.  “We are minutes away from the drop zone.  We have reports of 30 class C entities and 6 confirmed class A entities.  We will intercept and make sure the tear is closed, and do our best to disable any hostiles in the process.”  Looking from face to face trying to present as confident a front as he could muster.  “Go over your gear and make sure you change out the core of your weapons to the calculation matrix generator.”

—

In the moments since the battle had begun Bemel, Josah and Benj had managed to make meager progress and more of them lay scattered around the farm grounds.  Morrow was badly wounded but seemingly stable, as the trio of men built a wall between the rampaging Orts and her slowly breathing body.  When Baigan emerged from the farm house, it was plain to see what exactly he was playing at as he held up the essence crystal.  Benj knew without a doubt that Bethilda had sacrificed herself in a bid to save them.  A deep boiling anger built up inside of him and started to overflow.

Breaking from the current conflict with the Orts, he steadied his shield and began to charge Baigan.  Seeing the big warrior closing in on his position the shade made a break for the upstream tear.  Bemel seeing the flight took up pursuit as well, fighting round after round of arrows in his direction.  “Benj, you have to go back…  you have to protect Morrow.  Josah can’t hold off against this wall of flesh alone.”  Benj grunted a disagreement and spat back “I failed to protect the queen, I must save her.”  Running desperately to catch up Bemel panted “She made her choice, now we have to protect what is left.  Besides…  my bow can reach the traitor faster than you can.  Go back I will run him down.”  Resigned Benj grunted a somber agreement and broke from the pursuit.

Bemel slowed steadying his aim and fired an arrow that dug into the shades leg, causing him to trip and tumble before regaining his footing and scrambling upstream with renewed fervor.  Mere yards away from the glowing purple tear Baigan picked up speed again heading straight for the event horizon.  The archer nocked another arrow guiding it with his unnatural vision, hitting the other through his core knocking him forward eventually collapsing into the breach and disappearing from sight.  Bemel ran with all of his might but arrived at the tear just as it was sputtering shut with a few pink sparks.

While he had struck the traitor with what appeared to be a killing blow, he had tumbled into the rift shifting to the other world.  He had no idea where the shade had tapped into the Way Willow from, nor how to get there, but he had to return to the battle and salvage what he could.  As her ran back towards his brethren, he heard a new sound… an odd hushed beating sound.  Looking up to track the noise he saw a great black shape gliding quietly above the treeline heading towards the pack of Orts.  There was a brilliant flash of light and the craft had dropped something upon the battlefield, sending a row of Orts flying off in different directions streaming.

Bemel watched as thin ropes streamed down from the craft sending armored men to the ground below.  With weapons they opened fire on the dozen remaining Orts, each one erupting in a violent display of light before simply fading out in a purple mist.  The remaining backbreaker charged a large man but was simply too slow because the brilliant fire caught him causing him to dissipate into the same purple mist.  Within moments the newcomers had one the battle and were turning their weapons to bear down at Bemel’s friends.  He screamed at the top of his lungs “Wait!”.

What appeared to be the leader of the group gave a signal and two of the troopers turned to face Bemel, who had slowed his run down to a walk.  He threw aside his bow, spreading his hands out to his side in what he felt was a universal sign of peace.  Seeing this Benj and Josah did the same in hopes of at least learning more about this newcomer who had so quickly claimed the field from the Orts.  The leader spoke “Halt!  You have violated the sanctity of this world.  State your names and your purpose for crossing the breach.”  Aimes turned to point his own analytic bolter at the entity that had spoken.  “We will not give a second warning.”

Bemel as calmly as he could muster responded “We mean you no harm.  We are members of the Unified Courts of Avalon.” Motioning to himself “I am Bemel.  That there is Benj and Josah, and the wounded one is Morrow.”  Aimes kept up his gaze nodding in understanding as each of the others were introduced.  “We were attacked by a backbreaker squad from the Trogjan Empire.  Does any of what I just said make sense?”  Aimes had heard all the terms before but never actually met a pan-dimensional entity before.  “I know of some of what you speak.  Why are you here?”  Bemel thought for a moment wondering just how much of what had transpired he should explain.

“Our prince of summer, is a being of your world.  We came here to visit him.”  Growing more desperate at the thought of it “The Summer queen was attacked and captured, and taken back through the tear just before you arrived.  We have to get to her, save her.  You must understand we mean you no harm.”  Aimes thought about the others words for a bit, wondering just what he should do, there were no protocols for this.  Hostiles were supposed to be big monsters, not reasonably talking human looking entities.

“I believe what you are saying, and that you mean us no harm.  But that is just not a chance I can take.”  Turning to his troops “Open fire, take them down”.  Bemel screamed but it was too late, as he watched white streams of light pouring from their weapons bearing down on them.  First was Benj that took a shot in the chest and faded into mist, followed by Josah who caught a round while leaping mid air towards the attackers.  Finally Bemel and Morrow were struck by the fire and disappeared as well.  Within moments the scene had fallen deathly quiet, with nothing but the rustle of the leaves.

“Survey the scene and secure the area.”  Motioning up stream “Chaco take a few troops and make sure the breach is sealed tight”.  Aimes looked around at the battlefield littered with the corpses of the giant creatures that were slayed before they had arrived.  He could not shake the feeling that he had done the wrong thing, that the entities really did mean us no harm.  The watch just could not take chances like that.  The repeated the mantra he had been taught so many years ago.  The watch protects those who don’t know they need protected.  If nothing else, the calculation matrix generators proved to be deadly effective in their first usage.