NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 5

I really need to have another double chapter day.  I am still ahead of the curve at 11890 words, but it no longer feels like I am nearly as far ahead as I was.  I wrapped up chapter 7 last night and would have continued but I felt like I needed to mull over the direction things were taking a bit before continuing.  The first few chapters I had plotted in my head well ahead of time, now the story has a life of its own and I am just trying to tell it the way it should be.  Without further ado, here is Chapter 5, still in much need of editing and revision.

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

5 – The Incursion

A bead of sweat formed on Baigan’s brow as he pushed forward with his outstretched palms forcing more energy into the opening tear.  The slit of purple light began to sizzle slightly as the influx of energy poured into it.  With a loud shaking thunder the tear cracked wide open, the room was bathed in a purple glow for a moment before the shockwave hit throwing Bai back against the carved chamber walls.  They were through, he could see the mortal world on the otherside of the now round and pulsing opening.  Looking around him he saw all the big dumb Orts looking down at him, confused at what he had just done.

“What are you waiting for you lummoxes… get through the gate before it starts to close” Baigan spit back with frustration.  Slowly one by one the thirty or so Ort Backbreakers pushed through the gap having to duck to clear the opening.  After a few minutes they were all standing together in a small cave at the head of a stream.  As they moved forward they saw that the opening was a root cellar of sorts underneath a giant Willow tree.  A sudden wave of realization hit Bai as he realized that this was in fact the fabled “Way Willow” he had heard stories about as a child.

That could only mean one thing… “The Queen will be at the end of this stream.  Remember… everyone dies but the Queen.  We need her alive.”  The breakers formed loose ranks and began marching downstream flanked by their unlikely leader.  Baigan felt absolutely tiny in this forest of 20 ft tall Orts, but also he felt the power that he wielded over them.  He was their key to taking the summer wall and pushing forward into the Americas.  The Trogish had a constant drive for warfare and that kept them constantly pushing the boundaries of their territory.  Little did they know that this constant push forward would eventually serve his masters plan.

—

Bemel strained his ears to hear what had just entered the world, and after a few moments he heard the slow rhythmic crashing of feet entirely too large to be here.  He glaced sideways at Benj whos cloak was slowly shifting around his body to form what looked like armor made of bark.  Benj nodded “It seems to be an invasion force…  no matter what we have to protect the Queen.:  The folds of Morrow’s dress began shifting slowly to form silver leaf scale mail, and from her pack a hand mirror began expanding until it had formed a gleaming silver hammer.  Josah was similarly attired by had a pair of gleaming silver handed short blades.  Oakswurv instead had taken up his own ironwood stave that had grown into a silver creset at its tip and was now humming with a cold blue light.

“We are horribly outnumbered, and trapped in this hollow.  They have the high ground.”  Remarked Bemel as his own wooden lyre had grown into a full sized longbow.  Benj nodded grimly at him “They don’t stand a chance.”  This caused a rousing chuckle to arise from the group, but as they watched the first of the Ort Backbreakers coming through the treeline the faces went solemn again.  Bemel knocked an arrow and let loose at the nearest Ort, hitting it square between the eyes causing the huge beast to fall sideways onto the next breaker sending both tumbling to the ground.

Morrow moved with a swiftness that you would not expect from a woman with her girth, and she lept high into the air bringing down her silver hammer upon a rock a few feet in front of the party.  When the hammer struck ground it sent up a great spark, forming a wall of fire that pushed forwards into the oncoming Orts, setting a few ablaze and knocking a few others down.  A purple bolt of light came leaping from within the ranks and it caught Morrow offguard knocking her back, the force of it extinguished the fire wall, letting the breakers push forward again.

“Morrow!” screamed Josah as he dropped his blades and rushed to his wife’s side.  With that Oakswurv stepped forward and planted his staff in the ground, bearing down upon it with eyes shut the little shards of frost began forming around the crescent.  Within moments the frost had become a swirling vortex of crystals.  Picking the staff back up he whirled it around towards oncoming horde letting loose a rain of icy flechettes.  While some struck deep into the hides of the encroaching brutes, they were for the most part ignored.  The pack came to a halt at the edge of the treeline as though waiting on an order.

Stepping out from behind the pack was a wispy man cloaked in black with his own version of Oakswurv’s stave.  A sudden wave of realization swept Oaks face as the man peeled back his hood and show a very familiar face.  “Baigan…  what have you done…”.he mumbled as he dropped his stave, pained look washing over his face.  The other started to chuckle and it echoed throughout the now silent hollow.  “I am freeing us of the yoke of summer father.” With a swipe of his own staff he knocked back Benj a few feet a with another swipe knocked away Bemel who had been readying another arrow.  “We were born to rule Father, not bow like subservient dogs.  I have found a way to be free of these fools.”

“Bai.. you don’t know what you are doing.” mutter Oakswurv his voice quavering.  A look of sheer hatred washed across the others face.  “No father… it is YOU who do not know.  It is you who have allowed ourselves to wither and die under the thumb of Summer.  It is you… that must stop” screamed Baigan who sudden thrust forward his staff with almost impossible speed.  It gathered the cold mist that had been hanging in the air and pushed it forward with a deadly purpose.  As it moved it coalesced into a large spear of ice, which struck Oakswurv in his chest, driving it forward into his heart.  “It is you that must die.” Baigan replied coldly.

Turning to look at the Orts, Baigan screamed “Finish these fools, I will find the queen” and at once the mass of blue flesh moved towards the others.  Baigan strode confidently and with another blast of force from his staff knocked the old farmhouse door from its hinges.  He pulled from underneath his cloak a crystal and cautiously strode into the house.  “Bethilda, I know you are in here… if you come with me willingly I will spare your precious council.” Baigan yelled into the house cloyingly. Bethilda heard the voice immediately recognizing who it was, who had betrayed them.

Beth looked at Kale, taking her squarely by the shoulders.  “I know you are special, I saw it the moment you stepped out of the house.  You will be a great protector someday.  No matter what transpires today… you must get Jace out of here.  Within him lies a very special purpose, one that he cannot realize yet.”  Kale gulped slightly, not really understand what this woman was talking about… but against her better judgement she nodded slowly.  These strangers had been better to her than anyone in a really long time.  She didn’t owe them anything,but she felt like she had to protect them.  “Jace doesn’t know what he is yet, I know you have dealings with the Wildfae.  Seek them out… they can help.” Bethilda pleaded.  “Whatever you do… keep Jace safe” looking over at him lovingly “he’s my son, and the prince of summer.”

Jace welled up with a sudden rush of tears…but all he could muster was “Mom…”.  She put her hand over his mouth.  “No, now is not the time, you have to leave, you have to go with Kale. We will see each other again.”  Bethilda begged as she pushed her son towards Kale.  The big girl grabbed hold of Jace with both her arms in a bear hug, and like she had done many times built the tunnel in her mind.  This time carrying Jace with her down the tunnel, and the world shimmered purple for a moment and then there was nothing but night time and the open plains that she had seen so many times before.

Bethilda steadied her rapidly beating heart and pushed away the wave of emotion welling up inside her as she watched Jace and Kale shift into the shadows.  “I will come with you willingly Baigan, if you spare my friends” Bethilda called down as she began slowly walking down the staircase leading to the room in which Bai had been standing.  “Well enough my queen, you know what to do… he said while stretching out his arm with the crystal held tight in it.”  Mused Baigan with mocked reverence.  Sure enough Beth did know exactly what to do, and as she reached the bottom of the staircase she very gently touched the tip of the crystal.  Within seconds there was a blinding flash of orange light, and when it faded gone was the Queen.  Replaced by an humming orange glow from within the depths of the crystal.

Baigan was a bit pleased with himself, this had gone entirely too easily.  He stepped back onto the porch of the old farm house and was greeted by the sight of the council desperately trying to fight back the backbreaker attack squad.  A few of the giant oafs had fallen here and there, but the majority were still putting up a fight.  Morrow had fallen and Josah was fighting with blind fury trying to all too obviously to avenge her death.  He looked down at the crystal “Oh you silly Queen, did you really think I would spare them” Baigan said dryly as he outstretched his arm and made a waving motion across the scene in front of him.  “They too will all die today, just like my father did.”

Yelling at the top of his lungs Baigan barked “Kill them! I am bored of this place!”

NaNoWriMo 4

I had a relatively productive night last night.  I finished a chapter and it weighed in at roughly 1800 words.  That brings the total so far as of last night up to 9901 words.  So almost 1/5th of the way to the goal.  I should have probably written more last night but I was feeling a bit drained.  For anyone wanting to catch up here are the chapters I have posted so far.

1. Shadowed Stone
2. Little Giant Girl
3. Birthday Wishes

4 – The Gifts

By the time that Jace made it out of the house with a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses, the warm light of evening was beginning to shower down on the grove.  As he had expected the family had more or less arranged themselves around a circle of logs that set beside the stream behind the house.  Uncle Benj was mussing with the fire pit to provide some warmth as the evening drew on, as this place had been the location of many a late night conversation.  Uncle Bemel was amusing the circle with a tale about some fantastical beast as was often the case.  Benj looked up from the firepit to notice that Kale was in tow behind Jace with a tray of cookies.

Kale had looked frail and weak when he found her in town trying to steal something to eat, but now she looked almost happy with the life seemingly restored to her cheeks.  Benj smiled as the pair trailed into the circle “I see you brought our guest as well, have a seat… everyone this is Kale she will be staying with us for awhile.  She is going to help me get the farm ready for winter.”  Kale nodded awkwardly to the strange arrangement of figures around the circle.  All of them looked as oddly out of place as she felt. 

For a bit she had wondered if she had stumbled into some circus family.  Bemel with his twiggy stature and busy red beard, Morrow with her heavy set earthen look and almost green cast hair, Oaks with his with his brown cast skin and grey mane of flowing hair, and finally Bethilda with her fine features and vibrant yellow hair.  None of them looked like they belonged in this world, but each and every one beamed a gigantic smile at her as they noticed her surveying them.  This of course made Kale feel more than a bit self conscious about her own visual oddities.   She took a seat on one of the stumps as the murmur of welcomes circled around her.

She was feeling a little odd, and not because of the awkwardness of being welcomed into such a strange setting.  That coldness she associated with the other world was growing inside her.  Based on the occasional worried look up the stream, she thought that maybe Bemel felt it too.  In the south along the stream there seemed to be a group of thunder clouds growing and slowly working their way towards the farm.  Bemel and Oaks motioned towards them with slightly worried looks, but these were brushed aside by a silent reproach from Morrow.  With that the group continued on their generally merry conversations.  Kale however could not shake the feeling that something was just wrong here.

As evening turned to night a cold wind began to blow in from the south, which caused the group to huddle closer to the fire.  Bemel began rummaging through his packs and produced a small wrapped present.  “Jace my boy, a little something in honor of your new year.” he said handing it over to the boy.  He unwrapped the delicate paper carefully and in the core of the package was a small pendant on a silver chain.  Kale looked at it with suspicion as it looked an awful lot like the waypass she had received from the Wildfae.  Mixed in with the silver were enabled gold, brown and red autumn leaves.

It was time for Morrow to rummage in her own pack to pull out a fine green cloak that looked horribly out of place, and something you would see in a Hollywood fantasy movie.  Jace however seemed to like it quite a bit and pulled it on to guard against the cold wind that had now picked up considerably and was causing the fire to dance wildly in the pit.  Oaks produced a thick and sturdy walking staff, which she assumed would be of use on a farm.  None of the gifts really seemed to fit a sixteen year old boy however, or at the very least they were a bit old fashioned.

Next up was Uncle Josah, who produced some sort of a wooden musical instrument that looked like a tiny harp.  “Let it’s music protect you from harm.” he said to Jace, which Kale remarked seemed a little odd.  Finally it was time for Bethilda who produced from the folds of her dress a small vial of some sort that was glowing with an amber red light.  At first she thought it was some sort of a firefly and then a wave of sick realization washed over her, as she saw a tiny woman with furiously beating amber and red wings inside it.  Almost falling off her stump she backed away from the circle.

Kale stood taking a scared defensive posture, and the group all looked at her with some shock at the commotion.  “wildfae…  you are all wildfae” she said with slow realization sinking into her voice with just an edge of fear.  Bethilda let out a long chuckle “No my dear we are not wildfae at all”, Jace looked rather confused at the whole exchange as well.  Not really understanding the gifts he had been given nor especially what this Wildfae thing was that Kale asked.  He looked down at the vial that Aunt Beth had produced and finally saw the small woman inside.  “Aunt Beth, what is that?” pointing at the vial.

“This my dearest Jace is a firespirte, her name is Dimcy.  She has served my court faithfully for years, and now I give her to you… so that she can protect the most precious thing in the worlds.  The vial is for her own protection, here on the mortal plane she would burn so brightly that she would extinguish herself.” Bethilda said as she carefully handed over the vial.  Jace looked at it for a moment dumbstruck.  He had so many questions and did not even begin to know where to start.`  All he could manage was to mumble a questioning “Mortal plane?”

“This new year of yours is a rather auspicious one, for you Jace are coming of age.  We are not of this world, and you are only partly so.” Bethilda continued addressing a rather confused Jace.  “We are of the Elfen courts of Avalon.  Your Uncle Bemel is from the Autumn Court, Your Aunt Morrow and Josah are of Spring.  Uncle Oakswurv is a shade and one of the last remaining loyal members of the Winter Court.  Finally I am a member of the Summer Court and Benj is my Woodsblade protector.” Benj fidgeted slightly and let out a disapproving clearing of his throat when Beth mentioned she was a “member” of the court, but was quickly given a stern look that caused him to back off the point.

Jace looked down at the ground for a moment, and then back his Aunt Beth with confused eyes.  Before he could think of a question to ask, there came a loud crash from upstream that sounded like the peal of a thousand thunderclouds.  Moments later the entire hollow was awash in this strange purple glow originating from what seemed to be the site of the sound somewhere upstream.  The loving eyes of Bethilda turned to sheer terror of realization at what was happening.  “Jace, Kale… Take Bethilda inside…  something is coming through!” Yelled Benj with more determination in his voice than Jace can ever remember hearing.

Jace did as he was told, dragging his Aunt Beth by the arm and tugging her towards the house.  He watched in amazement as his Uncle Benj picked up a branch from the ground and it began to transform to his touch shifting, elongating and within a few moments where once was a branch was what appeared to be a gleaming saber.  There were just too many questions and not enough answers.  Beth resisted slightly but within moments Kale was at her other side trying to drag her inside the farmhouse.  The terror on Kales face from earlier was replaced with a cold look of determination, as though she had seen things like this before.  This alone worried Jace more than anything.

NaNoWriMo 3

Still trucking along, have not abandoned this whole thing yet.  As of last night I was sitting at 8050 word count, so I managed to put a significant dent in this weekend.  That was my goal as I would really like to get to the point where I don’t have to write more than a chapter any given week night.  At this point I am five chapters in with a clear vision for the next three or so chapters, but past that everything is very fluid.  Once again… I am posting the next chapter completely unedited.  I figure December is a fine time for edits and rewrites.

Birthday Wishes

Jace awoke to the gentle rustling of the leaves blown up by a brief gust of wind.  He expected to open his eyes and see the low light of early morning, but instead was greeted with the high mid day light streaming blindingly in through his window.  He briefly wondered why exactly he had not been woken up by Uncle Benj to do his chores like he normally was, but then almost as a spark or recognition hit him he remembered.  Today was his birthday, and I guess Benj had let him sleep in for once.

How could he have forgotten, even if momentarily that today was his birthday?  This was the big one, sixteen, and finally he could turn the learners permit in his wallet into a real drivers license.  For the last several months Benj had been sneaking off to the old barn each night.  A few weeks back there was a loud peal as the old chargers engine roared to life.  Jace guessed the big secret was that Benj had planned to give it to him for his birthday.  He pictured himself roaring down the county roads and into town whenever he wanted.

Not that he disliked farm life, but he always felt so isolated from everyone else.  As a result he had a hard time forming ties to the other kids at school.  He was never able to attend the birthday parties growing up due to being so far out of town and the never ending string of chores needing to be done around this old farm.  After awhile the invites just stopped happening.  There was always a stream of family visiting, but never anyone his age.  As a result he spent a lot of time day dreaming about the day when he would get a car and his freedom.

He pushed himself over the edge of the bed and stood up stretching the afternoon light.  He was suddenly hit by a pang of hunger realizing that he was absolutely starving.  Jace wandered down the hall and flight of stairs leading to the kitchen below.  In the kitchen he rummaged around the cabinets for a bit before finally settling on a bowl of cereal.  On the door to the fridge was a short note.

Did your chores

Went to town for supplies

Benj

Jace wondered how long he had to himself before Uncle Benj would make it back from town.  No sooner than he had asked himself that did he hear the sound of the old farm truck rumbling down the dirt road towards the house.  He figured he at least had time to finish the bowl of cereal and run upstairs to put on some clothes before Benj would be walking through the door needing his help to carry in the supplies.  One of these supply runs normally meant Groceries, but since we were expecting company tonight for his birthday, he had no idea what all Benj might have picked up while in town.

Jace was only partly correct, about the time he had finished his bowl and walked over to the sink to rinse it, the front door creaked open.  He heard the gruff and familiar voice of Benj “Jace?  You up and dressed?”  Jace turned to face the voice, but before he could reply he saw his Uncle Benj standing in the door with someone extremely tall behind him.  Within a few moments the other stepped out from behind Benj and he could see that it was rather tall, but also rather lovely girl.  He felt a sudden wave of realization rush over him as he realized that he was now standing face to face with a stranger wearing nothing but his boxers.

She met his gaze and he could see her starting to blush slightly as well, eventually turning her head to be polite.  “Jace, get upstairs and get dressed, we have company” Benj scolded then turned to the girl and apologized “I’m sorry maam, I expected him to be up and dressed”.  Jace quickly darted back upstairs and rummaged through his room to find something to wear.  After a few minutes he had pulled on a pair of jeans and a red hot chilli peppers tee.  He stopped at the mirror and noticed he was still bright red from embarrassment.  He forced himself to breathe deeply and after a few moments he had calmed down and his cheeks were returning to their natural color.

By the time Jace had gotten back downstairs, the girl had taken his place at the kitchen table and was viciously devouring a plate of cold chicken and a few biscuits that Benj had apparently fixed for her.  He saw his Uncle out on the porch, and rather than risk further embarrassment he decided to join him out there.  Questioningly Jace gave his uncle a look that was quickly translated by the elder Waxwood.  “I met her in town, and she looked like she had not eaten in days.  Based on the way she took to that plate of food I guessed my assumption was right.  She needed a safe place to be…  and we could use another hand around here” Benj said in a rather plain and matter of fact way.

“Her names, Kale.  Something special about her… but she’s a bit twitchy.”  he said looking down the hall from the porch to the sight of her decimating the food. Changing the subject Jace asked “When is the family getting here?  I expected for someone to be here by now.”  Almost on queue Benj nodded to the lane, and coming into view was a group of figures walking down the lane.  Jace always wondered why none of his family seemed to drive cars, especially since most of them lived so far away.  Benj never really would explain much of anything to him, he would just clam up and get real quiet anytime he asked.

He outright refused to say anything about his parents, other than they died when Jace was really young.  He certainly had no shortage of family growing up, and one of them always seemed to be lurking around in the background.  As the figures came into view he could make out Aunt Morrow, Uncle Oaks, Uncle Bemel, Uncle Josah, and trailing behind the pack his favorite… Aunt Beth.  While he loved all of us Aunts and Uncles, there was just something special about Bethilda.  Whenever he was having a hard time, or feeling lonely, she knew exactly what to say to make him feel better.  Jace had never been able to figure out why exactly they walked like this, it seemed like it would be easier if we just met them at the bus depot in town.

By this time Uncle Bemel had pulled ahead of the group slightly and was walking down the path to the porch from the front gate.  With his great red beard wrinkling into a smile he yelled up at Jace with arms stretched out “Happy New Year Jace!”  Jace of course went out to meet him and returned with a big hug.  He never really understood why his family seemed to call a birthday a “new year” but he had gotten used to it.  He remembered the embarrassment the first time one of the town kids had a party at school and he wished them “Happy New Year”.  To tell you the truth there was a lot of things his family did that never really synced with the rest of the world.

The rest of his relatives had now made their way up the path as well and similarly wished him a happy new year and gave him a big hug.  Leading up the pack was Beth, she lingered extra long giving him a tight squeeze against his ribs.  “You are looking handsome as ever Jace, did you have a good year?”  It just hit him that sure enough… the last time he had seen Beth was on his birthday last year.  “Yeah it was, looking forward to finally getting my drivers license so I can leave the farm when I want to.” Jace replied.  Bethilda made a slight grimace when he talked about leaving the farm, but she quickly shrugged that away.

“Jace go in and gather up some drinks, I am sure they are thirsty after their walk” Uncle Benj bellowed from behind him.  With that Jace turned and wandered into the house, by now he had all but forgotten about Kale, so when he saw her again now sitting against the back of her chair slowly sipping a coke he jumped slightly.  “I’m sorry about earlier… I” Jace started to stammer but was cut off abruptly with a reply from the other “It’s fine…  you didn’t know” muttered Kale, to be truthful she didn’t even know she would be there.

She was surprised at the turn of events herself.  She had finally gotten up the nerve and saw that old farm truck sitting outside the feed store, loaded down with packages. She had only just begun rummaging through the bags, found a banana and cracked it open when she felt a huge hand on her back. “Can I help you with that miss?” grumbled a gruff voice of the hands owner.  She thought about shifting, leaping back into the shadow to get away, but something kept her from doing it this time.  She turned to face the man, sheepishly chewing on the stolen banana, surprised to find that he did not seem angry in the least.

“I’m sorry mister…  I haven’t…  it’s been days since.”  Kale stammered breaking down into tears still holding the banana loosely.  Benj wrapped his arms around the girl saying gently “It’s okay, we’ve all done things we aint proud of.  Tell ya what, I got a big farm not too far from here.  I could use some help preparing for winter.  We’ll give you a warm bed and warm meals for as long as you need them.”  With this Kale allowed herself to completely break down, despite everything she had been through the big man felt safe.  She needed work, she needed a place to stay, and it had to be better than the foster system had been.

She finished her banana as the big man finished loading the truck.  When he finally got in the truck he look at the girl with a sideways glance.  “You got a name?” questioned the big man.  “Kale” she replied rather simply “Just Kale”.  Benj looked her over for a bit before responding “and I’m Benjanatos Waxwood, but most folk just call me Benj or Uncle Benj.  You’re gonna be fine now.”  And with that they pulled out of the town and onto the long series of winding roads eventually leading to the farm.  Against her better judgement she felt a bit of hope creep into her… you know she thought maybe she would be fine.

Nanowrimo Day Two

Well day two was equally successful to the first one.  I am still not sure if anything I am writing is pure shit or not, but I am making progress.  At the end of last night my official word count was 4986 with three chapters written.  Goal is to try and write another couple today to give myself a good boost into the work week.  As per yesterday I am posting the next chapter as my daily blog post here.

Little Giant Girl

Kale had never exactly had an easy lot in life, but as she sat shivering in the corner of this abandoned building she thought “Surely this has to be rock bottom… right?”  The last foster home seemed promising until that bastard tried to stick his hands down her pants.  That had happened one time too many and more than that it was the fact that she had instinctively bashed his skull in as a muscle reflex.  Something was changing in her and it was not the summers eve commercial bullshit… there was a deep hatred growing and it honestly scared her at times.  She had killed a guy with her bare fist without really thinking about it.

“No sense dwelling on it, I can’t undo it” she thought to herself as she gathered her things thinking that getting up and around would get her warm.  She was not really sure the last time she had eaten, but in order to do that she needed to find work.  She could not go back to the system, especially after what she had done, but every moment she was out on the streets was another moment for the snatchers to find her.  She had always been a bit different, I mean a 6’10” fourteen year old girl stands out in a crowd… but the fact that her skin had a slightly greyish tint made things even worse.

When Kale turned twelve she had two major shocks, the first of which was to be expected with “becoming a woman”, the second was that when she got angry she was powerful.  It was only a little while later that she first encountered the snatchers.  She was walking on her way home from school and this man jumped out of the shadows grabbed her and did something.  The world changed colors around her, a swirling vortex of purple, and then finally it was night time around her.  All the while she was struggling to break free of the mans hold.  He was significantly less capable of defending himself than she was… but wherever he had brought her he had friends.

They had decided to grab the wrong girl because what should have caused fear only invoked cold hatred in Kale.  She bucked out of his hold throwing him across the open ground, stretching her arms she appeared to almost gain mass as she flexed.  This was also the first time she noticed her skin darkening and becoming more greyish blue than anything resembling flesh.  She met the nearest snatcher with her fist collapsing his skull like it were a rotten pumpkin.  Apparently the sight of this caused the other two snatchers and the one she had sent flying across the opening to rethink their actions.

Within a few minutes she was standing alone in an open field with nothing remaining of the city around her.  What she had taken for night time while she was struggling with the snatchers, she realized was more of a early morning twilight.  She could see almost as well as if it were daytime, but there was no sign of anything she remembered.  Confused and frightened she sat down leaning up against a large oak tree.  She broke down and sobbed, it was the first time in years she had done so and it felt better than she could ever imagine.  Oddly enough though she was really not that scared, being here alone was preferable to being picked on and called names like “giant” and “freak”.

She had been there what felt like hours when off to her left she saw a green glimmer.  She turned to look and it was what seemed like a parade of fireflies.  As they drew closer she could see that they were not fireflies at all but instead little people with a green halo surrounding their backs, that upon closer inspection appeared to be immensely rapid beating wings.  As she sat there, they surrounding the tree upon which she was leaning, making a neat ring around her.  When they all got in place they drew spears from their backs and began pointing them at her.  She knew she should likely be frightened but the entire sight was so fantastical that she just could not react in any other way than amusement.

From within the ranks of the circle emerged a little man decked in what appeared to be bark armor.  “What is an Ort girl doing in Wilder lands?  Tell us now or we make dinner of you.”  said the little man with barken armor and tiny spear.  She could tell he was being serious, but she had no clue at all what he was talking about.  “What is an Ort?” bumbled Kale, not really knowing what else to say.  The small man paused confused for a moment before recovering “I know you are Trogkin, I can smell it.  Are you with an army?  How did you get here?”

Kale looked down at the ground and replied with utter honesty “I don’t know how I got her, a man grabbed hold of me… and then I was just here.”  The little man nodded and motioned to the circle and one by one they lowered their tiny pikes.  “You were snatched, but that means you are a halfkin.  Do you not know what this means?”  Kale found herself tearing up a bit and sniffled slightly as she said “No… I don’t know what any of this means.”  The tiny man glowered slightly and said “Silly Ort, you can go back at any time you want… you halfkin can move freely between the worlds.  Why did none of your own kin tell you this?  Is dangerous not to know.  Snatchers snatch the unknowing and sell them as slaves  Your kin should have trained you better.”  The little man nodded furiously upon that last statement.

Kale found herself getting angry again “I have no “kin” okay?  I am was abandoned as a baby, so I don’t HAVE anyone to teach me anything.”  She stared viciously at the little man for reminding her that she was always going to be alone no matter how bad she wanted someone else. The little man shook his head slightly “I am Dobin, and we are Wildfae.  We can’t shift like you can, but I’ve heard it explained by a wilderkin.  They picture a long tunnel in their mind, with a light at the end of it.  Then they picture themselves walking down it…  then the shift just happens.”  Dobin shrugged as he delivered the advice.  “You need to leave now, before more wilder arrive.  We have been kind, but others will not be.  Wildfae don’t like the Trogkin, and would have likely killed you on sight.”

Kale tried as hard as she could to imagine a long tunnel in her mind.  At first she found it hard to push out the other thoughts, like the kids who teased her and the string of foster families.  But with effort she built a long bricked tunnel in her mind, much like the walls of her school.  As she imagined herself walking down the tunnel she began to feel a fluttering feeling in her stomach, almost like butterflies.  As she got closer and closer to the end of the tunnel she began to feel it more.  There was a sudden wave of warmth over her body as she pictured herself entering the light.  She felt what she was certain was sunlight on her skin, and when she finally allowed herself to open her eyes she was sitting down in a alleyway a few blocks from her school.

That had been the first time Kale had shifted, and since then she had been forced to do it a few times.  She learned that she could sneak into places by shifting over into the other world briefly to bypass locked doors.  She did it last night to get inside this locked abandoned building.  She had done it also to get away from that foster home after killing that bastard.  Over the years she had developed a relationship with the Wildfae and as such Dobin had given her a silver coin, that she suddenly felt her pockets to make sure it was there.  The coin had a very delicate leaf pattern made by hands far smaller than her own.  Dobin had explained that this was the waypass of the “Wild Court”, and that it would grant her safe passage if she ever ran into a wilder warband again.

She had thought many times about just shifting over to the other world and living there.  Here there is sunlight, but over there is nothing but various kinds of night.  She also did not like the way she changed when she entered that realm.  She became colder, more brutal…  she became more like her Ort heritage as she had learned from the fae.  No she thought… “I like the sun, and no matter how bad it gets here… there will always be that.”  She mused as she stretched, picking up her backpack and preparing to do a short shift out into the alleyway that she could see from the window.  She had learned that she could do these short leaps without ever really transitioning into the other world.  As much as she detested stealing… she was afraid she might have to do some more of these leaps… at least until she could find some kind of work.