NaNoWriMo 15

So another weekend, one which I hope I can push far ahead of the curve.  I’ve already written roughly 2000 words this morning.  My hope is that I  can do another 2000 or so tonight, then another 4000 tomorrow as well.  I really want to finish before thanksgiving madness sets in, though honestly this would be a good excuse for why I can’t stay around for too long after thanksgiving dinner.  Here is the story so far for anyone wanting to catch up.  Once again remember completely raw and unedited.

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
10. The Lady
11. Cambridge Beneath
12. Prisoner of War
13. Woodbinding
14. Parting the Veil

15 – People of the Earth

Torklah watched as the strange man thing thrashed against the leafcloth covering the mat he was laying on.  It had been three days since he had appeared delirious on the outskirts of the village.  The dim light of fireflies flickered around the hollowed shroomstalk home and bounced off of the strangers face.  He had collapsed upon reaching the village and had been in some sort of a sleeping sickness.  As shaman it fell to Torklah to watch over him, and either help him recover or ease his passing to the world beyond.

It was today that the man thing began to stir finally.  Torklah though this was a sign of him fighting the sleeping sickness.  He moved over to the man and smeared a smelly paste on his forhead.  It was a mixture his father and his father before him had taught him to prepare.  It was to draw out the sickness, capturing it in the smelly mixture.  “Morrow” the man thing murmured but this meant nothing to Torklah.  Maybe this was his name, or his tribe.

The shaman watched over him wondering where he had come from.  He looked elfen, but he did not know of any wilder that had them within their tribes.  It was nearing high shadow when the man began to jitter slightly.  Then came a violent series of convulsions and he was completely still again.  For a few moments he took no breathes and Torklah thought he may have passed on.  Then as quickly as the silence came it was broken by him sitting up on the mat and gasping for breathe.

The man looked around the room frantic, finally locking eyes on the thick grey-brown furred sasquatch shaman. “Where am I?  How did I get here?” the man pleaded.  Torklah thought about the questions for a moment before answering.  He was in fact speaking in Elfen, and while it was not as common to him as Saskalah, he could muddle through with it as the wildfae also spoke it.  Trying to speak slowly as not to distort the meaning he replied “You are in the village of the earth people, I am Torklah High Shaman.  As to how you got here, you stumbled here under a great sleeping sickness.”

The man thought on the Sasquatch’s words for a moment startling as though he had suddenly remembered something “Morrow! Where is Morrow, is she here too?” he said frighteningly peering around the corners of the shroom hut.  “You mentioned this Morrow in your sleeping sickness.  We found you at outskirts of village alone.”  The man tried to stand but ended up collapsing back onto the mat.  “I have to find my wife.”  The big sasquatch moved over to the mat and helped him to a nearby chair.  “What you need is more rest, you just beat the sickness.  Give your body time.”

The man leaned against the chair slightly resigned.  He was feeling more weak than he likely ever had, but he was thankful for the kindness the shaman was showing.  In his years he had very few meetings with Sasquatch, and had heard of the tribe of the earth but never actually met one.  He remembered his manners and that he had never actually introduced himself.  “Sorry for forgetting my manners,  I am Josah one of the Scions of Spring of the Elfen Court of Avalon.  Morrow is my wife, and we were split up.”

Josah began to remember how exactly he had gotten there.  He remembered the white fire that tore into him.  How it pushed him back into the shadowlands but set apart from the rest of the council.  He wandered trying to find his beloved Morrow but had the bad luck to stumble into a Vespid nest.  Stung he must have grown delirious on the poison and wandered into Sasquatch lands.  The meant he was somewhere to the north and west of the way willow.  How had he gotten thrown so far from where they were.  If he was here, he could only imagine where the others ended up.

Josah explained to the elder sasquatch the events of the farmhouse and how the queen had sacrificed herself in an attempt to save them.  “Your Queen was very brave to face death to save you.  She died with great honor.”  Josah flinched a bit at the words.  “She is not dead but transformed into crystal.”  After saying it he thought a few moments about just that.  Why was Baigan so determined to capture her, instead of simply kill her.  He needed her power for something.  Something inside his brain clicked as though opening a door.

“Torklah, does your tribe track the course of the seasons?  How many days do we have til the equinox?”  The elder shaman thought about this statement for a moment.  He had heard the term equinox before, and while his tribe did not have a term for that, he knew it meant the point at which the power of summer and winter are equal and with summer on the decline and winter on the rise.  He thought for a moment, then walked across the room to consult some glyphs marked onto the shroomstalk wall in red paint.  He gave a rather unsteady answer “There are thirteen high shadows, until the equinox” the word felt strange in his mouth.

“Thats it then, Baigan means to attack the summer wall at the point which summer begins the wane and winter rise.  He needs the power of both to do it., he needs them to be equal.”  He thought for moment not sure if the Sasquatch understood what the summer wall was.  “Torklah, do your people know where the summer wall is?  The great barrier of light that protects the north from the Trogjan.” Torklah thought for a moment, while he did not understand the name Summer Wall, he did know of a great river of sun in the north.  “Yes we know of it, the river of sun is north of our village.  Several days journey.”

“The man who attacked us at the Farmhouse, means to destroy the ‘river of sun’.  When he does this land will be invaded by the Trogjan.  They are a cruel empire of powerful warriors, with an insatiable desire for conquest.  No one in these lands will be safe.”  Trying to stand again Josah found it a bit easier and was able to support his own weight.  “If you can take me to the ‘river of sun’ I may be able to stop them.”  The great shaman could sense the weight and truth of his words.  He was a man who could be trusted, but it was a long journey to the river of sun.

The old sasquatch thought for a moment before speaking.  He knew as High Shaman, his word held weight and whatever decision he made was final.  He wanted to protect his people from the falling of the sun, but it was the time of harvest.  All of the strong warriors were needed to help bring in the large carrowmelons now bursting with fruit in the fields.  Each one could be as large as a brave, and it took multiple to bring each back to the village to be preserved for the winter months. Weighing the options he finally spoke “I cannot give you any of our warriors for your journey, but I will take you myself to the river of sun.”

Josah looked a bit relieved that the shaman was willing to help him, and he knew it would not be an easy journey for either of them.  “Thank you Torklah, you are a wise leader.”  The old shaman nodded slightly at the words.  “But now you and I must rest.  We will pack for our journey in the morning and leave as soon as it is high light.  I am old and need my rest, and you are not yet yourself”.  Josah nodded an agreement and leaned back on the mat sinking into the leafcloth once more.  Torklah moved slowly over to his own bed, reaching to the outcropping of shroomstalk beside it for a tiny whistle.  Giving it a short low trill he reclined back upon his bed as the myriad of fireflies that had lit the home flew out through the windows and into the night sky.

Torklah was true to his word and Josah was woken after what felt like only a few minutes of sleep.  He focused around the room trying to force himself to become cognisant.  He noticed that the old sasquatch had already gathered supplies and they were bound to two pack frames near the door of his hut.  “We should get started, it is a long ways to get to the river of sun.”  Torklah replied as Josah was lifting up off of the mat.  “We would normally take a kurz pulled wagon, but they are all needed for the harvest.  I am not old enough that I cannot walk it, and you look to have recovered from the poison.”  With that the elder shaman slung the larger of the two packs onto his back, and Josah followed his lead taking the other.  They walked through the village to the edge and began following a path northward towards the sunwall.

NaNoWriMo 14

Last night was a pretty crazy night.  I had to go eat dinner with my mother-in-law… and her boyfriend.  The awkward was strong with that one.  So as a result I got started on my wordcount super late, but still managed to knock out around 1900 words taking my total wordcount at this point to 24,297.  So I am now within spitting distance of the halfway point.  Still managing to drum up something to write about, even though I keep deviating from the path I had set aside as it feels right.  It feels a lot like Doctor Who, with fixed points but everything between them is wibbly wobby timey wimey.

Here is the story to date.  Just a friendly reminder no editing at all has been applied.  That will start probably in January.

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
10. The Lady
11. Cambridge Beneath
12. Prisoner of War
13. Woodbinding

14 – Parting the Veil

The sensation of passing through the portal was something that Pico was simply not prepared for.  It was like submerging yourself in a pool and then breaking the surface again.  There was a rush that came with the air pressure change, a burst of wind, and then a feeling of falling.  She had been unable to keep her balance when she broke through to the other side as she toppled over clumsily.  As she righted herself and climbed back to her feet she noticed that she was in a very similar circular room save for a few pretty significant changes.

Firstly there was no stone frame on this side, and even more shockingly no sign of the portal she had just come through.  Before stepping through she could clearly see the other side, but from this side there was absolutely no sign of anything even resembling a portal.  Slight difference number two, there was nothing that appeared to be a doorway leading out of the room.  The round stone dome appeared to be completely sealed.  Pico had done many foolish things in her time, but this may in fact be the worst.

She sat down on the cold stone floor trying to tell herself that she was not in fact now trapped in a sealed room in another dimension.  The two rooms had been connected at one point, that much was certain, but as she examined the floor around her she saw what appeared to be the remnants of the stone frame in the form of a thinly strewn line of rubble.  So someone or something had seemingly broken the frame, but the real question was why.  If they were trying to keep someone from travelling from her world they obviously had failed.  More likely it seemed to her that they were trying to keep someone from returning.

She laid down on her back and began examining the entirity of the room.  The shapes were significantly different from that of the dome on the other side, however after some time she started to piece together a sort of symbology.  She noticed there was this one shape that repeated itself at regular intervals around the room.  It was a sort of S shape with a bar intersecting it diagonally making it look like a really oddly formed dollar sign.  There was one place however where the symbol changed slightly.  In that location in the pattern it was upside down.

Pushing off the floor and getting to her feet again she moved over to the place with the upside down version of the symbol.  At first she tried to turn it but it seemed as though something was in the way.  Digging through her pack she uncovered a small flathead screwdriver, the kind that you would use to take apart delicate electronics.  She often found it handy if she got into a jam, and had used it to bypass more locks that she would ever admit.  She gently used the tip to work around the bevel at the base of the symbol.  She cleared a bit of debris that had built up over time, and when she tried the symbol again it began to turn every so slowly.

When she reached the upright position that the rest of the symbols were in there was a clicking sound and the room began to shake.  At first Pico thought a crack was forming along one of the walls, but as it grew she realized it was the edge of a doorway swinging inwards.  Within a few minutes the fissure was wide enough that she could pass through it.  She stowed the screwdriver and picked up her pack slinging it over her shoulder.  “That wasn’t so hard” she thought to herself as she inched towards the now open doorway.

When she passed through she saw a long hallway, that appeared to be a mirror of the one she had seen on the other side.  Similarly she passed along chambers on either side choked with dust and cobwebs but containing the same deep bookshelves as the ones underneath Cambridge.  The two bases had at one time or another been used by the same group.  She found the staircase in exactly the spot she would expect it and begin climbing up.  Wherever she was, she as now committed to the mission, as she had no real way back.

At the top of the stairs she saw a sort of hatch, and could see a thin line of light protruding around it.  She pushed up slightly testing it, and saw that she could push it open.  She slid it up and over to the side noticing that some sort of a rug was also covering the opening.  It did not take much to find the edge and roll it back as well.  She climbed up into what appeared to be a kitchen.  There was a great pot of something cooking on the stove and it smelt amazing.  Nothing in the kitchen looked modern, but instead something she would imagine as medieval.

The house appeared to be made from the same sturdy stone that the under chamber had been, leading to the appearance that the house itself was built at the same time as the other.  She had pulled herself out of the hatch and gotten to her feet when she heard a shuffling of feet off to the far side of the room.  Within a few moments a blond haired boy came bounding into the room making a direct line for a cupboard on the far side of the stove seemingly oblivious to the woman standing there.  He rifled through the cupboard for a moment producing what looked to be some sort of a sweet roll.

It was around this time that Pico must have made a sound, as the boy spun around quickly staring in her direction.  His happy face quickly turned to terror as his eyes widened to saucers.  At the top of his lungs he screamed and before Pico could react went running out of the room and from the sound of it upstairs.  “Shit” was all she could bring herself to say, there was really no place to hide other than to go back down into the chamber below.  However it was pretty certain that the houses owner knew that the chamber existed and would find her before long despite her best efforts.  No she thought, she would face whatever was to come and hope for the best.

There was a sound of footsteps rushing towards the kitchen door.  A similarly blond man wearing thick blue robes came rushing into the room.  He was holding out some sort of a staff in front of him, the tip of it emitting a bright green light.  “Who are you? Where did you come from?” the man yammered nervously all the while pointing the end of the staff in Pico’s direction.  “I came from a portal in the chamber below.” was the best explanation that she could muster.  She sheepishly raised her hands showing her empty palms “I come in peace?” she said with a slight shrug.

The look of surprise faded slightly from the mans face, but he no less continued pointing the staff at her.  “What do you mean you came from the other side?  The portal has been destroyed for decades.”  She shrugged again explaining “apparently it doesn’t work that way.  There was a giant stone frame with two crystals on our side.  I’ve come here in search of the Order of Merlin.”  With the utterance of “Merlin” the man’s expression changed drastically to a look of terror.  Looking around quickly he stammered “Never say that name.  Never say it again!”

“They have enchantments listening for that word, we can never say it.  We’ve created counter measures, but no place is safe.  Instead just say ‘The Order’.”  He furiously looked around listening for a few more tense seconds before relaxing again “Well… they would have arrived by now so I think we are safe.  I am Astanax the steward of the former order house.  There are not many of us left.”  She saw a look of concern flash across his face “I’m Pico, I come from the other side.  Over there we have a thing called the Watch, that guard the wards…  but they are failing.”

She explained how over the years the wards have continued to degrade in strength, and how her own analytical weapons had managed to damage them further.  “We need dragon bones to repair them.” she said without much thought to it.  With that the other started chuckling.  “So you ONLY need dragon bones?  You might as well ask for a diamond scepter or for a magical gold laying goose.  Dragons are extremely powerful beings, and even more so are extremely secretive.  It might take us years to find a single dragon, let alone the list of types that you claim to need.”

It was as though all the wind was let out of a balloon as Pico almost shrunk visibly under the news.  She was not sure exactly what she had expected.  To some extent she thought she would bumble over to this magical realm and ask to borrow a cup of dragon bone and be back by dinner.  Nothing was ever as easy as she made it out to be in her head, and now she just had to prepare a contingency plan. “Are there any dragon bones at all that we can get?” She mused looking at Astanax.

“I will have to make some inquiries, but in the mean time we have to get you into something less obvious.  You cannot be found to be from the other realm.  Merlin became a pariah when he built the wards, and inadvertently damned all magic users to exile here in this realm.  His opponents brutally hunted the members of his order, and now only a handful of us remain.”  Astanax leveled his eyes at her “You would be all the proof those same opponents would need to destroy my family.”

Astanax lead Pico upstairs to a large bedroom, as they went the young boy returned apparently changing from fear to amusement at the new guest.  “You should be able to find something here suiting you.  These wardrobes belonged to my wife.  She was…”  he trailed off but Pico could guess that she had passed on, and not in a pleasant way.  She thanked him for being so understanding.  “I will leave you to it, I have to go out now for fear I will be missed and they will get suspicious.”  There would be time for answers later, but she wanted to know who exactly “they” were.

Pico rifled through the wardrobe attempting to disturb as little as possible.  Before long she had found a rather lovely lavender gown.  She felt like she belonged in a period faire, but she supposed it did look nice on her.  Hopefully Astanax could help her find what she needed, and if not that a way back home.  She could only imagine how infuriated Farragut must be by now, but this was yet another in a long line of decisions she had made where it was simply easier to ask forgiveness.  As she sat down on the bed she wondered if maybe she had finally leapt one step too far.

NaNoWriMo 13

Yesterday was pretty busy but I managed to squeeze in some writing time before our 8 man night in Final Fantasy XIV.  I had started this earlier in the day in a lag between meetings but only made it a few paragraphs before having to stop again.  I have essentially lost the lead I once had and am hoping this weekend I can make it up again.  This week I have felt under the gun to produce something each day.  As always this is completely unedited and that will occur sometime in the future.  Here is a recap of the story so far if you are wanting to catch up.

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
10. The Lady
11. Cambridge Beneath
12. Prisoner of War

13 – Woodbinding

Jace sat on a rock near the campfire trying to piece together just how many days had passed since he had been drug into the shadowlands by Kale.  He found the day night of the shadowlands often times hard to perceive.  Night time looked like night time to him, and while the ambient light varied it very much felt like a single hellishly long night to him.  At his best guess he would say it had been three days since the events of the farmhouse.  Kale agreed that this was likely the case.  He would say they had been walking all day, but he was uncertain when the day actually began.

They had left the wildfae camp with Merowyn and a small band of sprites, comprised mostly of Dobin’s Wingard as he called them.  The made a hard march for as long as their strength lasted and finally had stopped to rest near this stream.  With the help of Dimcy they had a roaring fire in no time and Jace had settled down on the rock he was currently perched.  After some time staring at the crackling mushroom logs he broke the silence.  “I have no idea how we are going to find… mom” the word still felt odd in his mouth.  He still thought her as Aunt Beth even though he knew the truth.

Merowyn spoke up from across the camp “If we follow this stream it should lead us eventually to the wildfae enclave that borders Valkore territory.  From there we should be able to find our way to Hagengarde, and to the Trogjan forces on their border.  The Queens crystal will be wherever the forces are preparing to strike.”  she explained in a flat and even tone.  Jace sat quietly for a moment before continuing “Why will the crystal be there? How do you know that?”  Merowyn assessed the boy and spoke again in a very flat and even tone, as though this should all be common sense.  “The only chance they will have to strike at the summerwall is during the equinox, the moment which the powers of summer begin to wain as the forces of winter begin to rise.  With the combined powers of summer and winter, they should be able to take out the summerwall.”

Kale did some calculation in her head and burst out “But that is less than two weeks away!”  She had sat patiently through many of these conversations but time was running out.  “That doesn’t give us much time to get there, let alone do we really know how to defeat them.  I know I am strong but I don’t think I can take on a single Ort and we will be facing an army.”  Jace got animated chiming in as well “And I don’t even have half the strength Kale does.  Benj taught me to fight, and he was dead set on me learning to sword fight, but it is going to take more than that to defeat an army.”

“Do you know nothing at all?”  Merowyn exclaimed coldly “Jace you are the prince of summer, this makes you a formidable woodbinder.  You Kale are an ortkin, you are capable of possessing far more strength can you could even imagine yet.”  Mero motioned to the staff that was laying on the ground beside Jace “You use that as a walking stick, but it is a powerful weapon that you apparently don’t even know how to wield.  In fact all of the gifts you were given were done so for a very specific purpose, to prepare you for battle.”  Merowyn rose up from her seat “Put that cloak on, we will start with it.”

Jace rummaged in the pack and unfolded the cloak standing up, sitting the pack down on the rock.  He pulled on the cloak, wrapping it around him.  “Close your eyes, imagine yourself being wrapped in leaves.  Imagine them pressing upon your body forming a tight mesh”  Merowyn explained.  Jace did just that, he imagined a huge pile of leaves stepping into it.  He imagined the leaves flying up from the pile and coating his body.  He felt warm and safe and as his opened his eyes, much to his surprise the cloak was morphing around him, wrapping his body forming a mesh of tiny silver leaves.  The end result was a sort of scale male, with the tiny leaves making up the individual leaves.

Jace stood there a bit dumbstruck flexing his arms and watching the scales ripple to his movements.  “How did I do that?”  Merowyn laughed “Boy you are a wood binder and a prince of summer, you simply utilized the magic in the item to bend it to your will.  This is far from the only form that cloak can take, but we will keep it simply to the armored form for now.”  Kale watched in fascination wondering if her own gifts had a special purpose as well.  “What do the other things do” he mused.

“That staff can be morphed into a grand weapon, and that lyre can turn into a shield or a bow to protect you.  See if you can bend them on your own without my explaination.”  Jace picked up the staff and reached into the pack for the lyre.  He never really understood why they had given him a musical instrument, but if it was in fact what Mero suggested it all made a little sense. Once again he closed his eyes imagining the staff was a longsword and the lyre his shield.  When he opened his eyes he watched as the staff shortened in length and morphed into a long skinny blade with a curved handle.

He knew that the sword was called a Scimitar.  Benj had showed him about many different kinds of swords.  At the time he thought it was just a hobby, but he never could have imagined that all the sword fighting was an attempt to prepare him for something greater.  The blame gleamed in the firelight as he thrashed it back and forth.  The lyre had turned into a long pointed shield.  He knew that it was called a kite shield, and it was emblazoned with a ring of leaves that looked similar to the medallion that he was given.  The primary difference was that instead of fall leaves they were brilliant green with a ring of fire in the center of them.

Jace was beginning to feel like a proper warrior.  He knew how to wield the weapons thanks to the tutelage of Benj.  He held the broad kite shield up to his shoulder forming a barrier and practiced taking strikes around the shield.  While wielding the weapons he felt more powerful than he ever had in his life.  It felt as though his muscles and even his focus were tightening in preparation.  “So I really am a warrior aren’t I?”  Jace mumbled slightly slackjawed.  “Yes Jace, you were born to be a warrior for the court of summer.  Benjanatos taught you in the ways of combat.  He was the greatest court swordsman, so much so that he was given the coveted position of woodsblade, the queens protector.”  Merowyn explained.

Turning her attention to Kale she looked over at the tall ortkin.  “I believe you recieved gifts as well.  Your cloak reacts the same way that Jaces does, and similarly you can use it to protect you.  However the most special item you have is that mirror.”  She said pointing at that pack sitting at Kales feet.  “My sister had a mirror just like that, if I had to guess she left it for you.  Pull it out of your pack and I will show you out to use it.”  Kale did as the woman requested, reaching down and grasping the mirror by the handle.  She was not sure how the mirror could be of any use to her.  She was not really fond of looking at her own reflection, so she had almost forgotten it was in the pack.

She stood up turning to face Merowyn “What do you want me to do now?” Kale had serious doubt that she would be able to use the mirror.  “Hold the mirror with both hands out in front of you.  Imagine your anger welling up inside of you.  Imagine that anger striking down your enemies.”  Kale did as she said and remembered the way she felt the day the scatchers got to her.  She imagined the anger washing over her as she struck the gobbley in his head causing it to explode in a shower of ichor.  As the anger pooled up inside of her, the mirror began shifting in her hands.  The handled expanded in size and the mirror itself flattened into a square and them morphed into the shape of a great silver hammer.

She remembered catching a glimpse of Morrow wielding a hammer that looked exactly like this one.  The weight felt perfect in her hands and she swung it through the air like a baseball bat.  She imagined what it would feel like to bring it down upon her foes.  The anger still building inside her cascaded through her arms and she brought the hammer down on a nearby rock.  The campsite was showered in a blinding white light as the rock exploded into shards.  She stood there staring at what the hammer had just done, heaving slightly as she took long deep breaths trying to calm down.  She felt powerful.  She felt as though she had a chance against the army that awaits them.

“See, I told you that great power lay within you both.  You simply lacked the tools to free it.”  Merowyn returned to her rather flat tone.  “Now you should both get some rest.  We have a long way to travel before we reach the Wildfae enclave.  I am sure you both will see battle before this is all said and done”  Mero stood up and moved towards a canopy of shroomstalks where they had arranged some makeshift bedding.  Jace and Kale stood there for a moment, looking at each other, their weapons, and trying to wrap their heads around what had happened.  They managed to morph the items back into their resting form, stowing them away in their packs before joining Merowyn and drifting off to sleep.