2/18/2020

We are pleased to bring you our next fiction series, Grim Moments which continues where our epic adventure left off following Jolly Roger.  We invite you to sit back and enjoy Omens & Flicker,

By EM Malachi

Omens

The flames consumed the parchment, the blackened edges echoing the paladin’s mood. After five failed attempts to write down his thoughts, Dupre had given up and finished packing his kit.

The soldier had done his duty. The ship he was responsible for had returned to port with all hands. Despite his own injuries and fatigue, Dupre had been part of the detail to move the critically wounded to the city’s healer. He had made sure he was not needed elsewhere. Vesper was safe. The threat of the Eventide had passed.

Dupre was on his way out of his room at the inn, when he bumped into the last person he wanted to see. Geoffrey gave his friend a surprised look but then held up a roll of bandages and a bottle.

“I’d heard you’d returned to your room. I was worried you might have an injury you’d refused to let the healer see to.”

Adjusting his pack, Dupre frowned. “I was about to head out.”

“Leaving town after a battle without rest or even a celebratory toast isn’t like you. We won, didn’t we?”

“We did the job and came back.”

“What’s wrong? What did you see out there?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. You can read my official report.”

“We all know things are left out of those. As your friend, I want to know what really happened.”

Dupre sighed and put down his pack. Taking a seat, he accepted the bottle from Geoffrey and took a swig. “Where to begin? The sea was dark with Jack’s ships. It was hard to tell where the decks and bodies began, and the whole bloody fleet screamed. Some of the younger sailors seemed ready to flee, but there was nowhere to go. I let them borrow the flask of liquid courage I keep for just such times.”

“I know such magic is terrible, but you must have seen worse during the fall of Trinsic. I remember how you rallied people even as we abandoned the city.”

“Necromancers make my skin crawl, but I stayed focused on the job. We did our best to fight off the bloated swimmers that tried to board, but we knew we needed to scuttle the ships. We were in position for a broadside against the flagship when I saw the face of Shamino. Our friend’s head, propped up on the prow like a trophy!”

Geoffrey grimaced but let him continue.

“Shamino’s head didn’t scream like the others. It spoke in a rasping voice. It said my name! It knew things only the ranger would have known. When our cannon blast knocked the head into the water and the head was sinking beneath the waves, it gave a final ill omen: ‘Do not be sad, not with a thread so short.’”

“It was a necromancer’s trick, to upset and confuse.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. These are uncertain times for the entire world, but I can’t be ruled by doubt. I need to know. Even if my life is near its end, I must know where I am needed.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“There was a seeress I met years ago, Penumbra. The Daughter of the Eclipse might have answers, so I will find her.”

“I don’t suppose the lone paladin needs allies on his quest?”

When Dupre shook his head and stood up, Geoffrey said, “Safe travels to you then.”

Flicker

The druid caught her friend before the mage fell into a thorn bush. Jaana knew these forests well and had chosen suitable boots for the hike. Mariah wore shoes popular on the streets of Moonglow, and the mage seemed more distracted than usual. The short journey had taken twice as long as planned.

The wisp hung in the air like a sad rain cloud. The normally brilliant light was a dull grey, and the other parts of Xorinia nearby seemed to avoid the defective wisp. “What’s wrong with it?” Jaana asked.

Mariah caught her breath and studied the creature. “If I had to guess, it’s been separated from the whole for too long. Even with magic, some injuries cannot be repaired.”

“But I got help to deactivate one of the generators affecting them. The rest of the wisps seem fine.”

“And some wisps have attacked people without provocation. There may be subtle differences between Xorinian wisps that we can’t see.”

“Can you do anything to help this one? It looks like it’s dying.”

“I could try to mend the connection to the larger whole, but it will be difficult. I’ll need an hour just to prepare.”

“Are you sure you want to attempt something so involved? You look tired.”

Mariah had already removed her spellbook from her bag. “We have to do something.”

While Mariah set up for the ritual, Jaana consulted with the other wisps in the area. They were very upset about something called “sharp ethereal waves.” Had the Xorinite wisps been able to leave Sosaria, there would have been a mass flight back to their home dimension.

When Mariah had finished drawing an ornate ritual circle around the wisp, the mage started chanting, “Ort Lor In Grav Vas Wis.” She began to glow, and a pattern of sparkles appeared around the wisp. The creature’s own inner light began to intensify and blink in tandem with the sparkles.

Then the wind shifted, and everything stopped. The energy in the air exploded, throwing Mariah across the clearing. Every wisp gave a scream, like glass breaking. Jaana ran over to help her friend. “Are you all right?”

Mariah sat up, visibly shaken. “No. My magic, my connection to mana, is gone.” She looked over at the wisp. It shuddered slightly, and its lights went out completely.

12/4/2019

As we begin Jolly Roger we invite you to sit back and enjoy, The Devilish Drover.

By EM Malachi

The Devilish Drover

The wind howled, promising snow. Iolo limped into the poorhouse and dropped his crutch, shutting the door. He moved the heavy pack off his back and leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

Little Merideth ran over to pick up the crutch and hand it back to him. Under her arm was an old doll with mismatched button eyes; Iolo had found the blue one during a supply run into Britain proper. “Can you tell us a story?”

“Of course.” Iolo pulled a chair closer to the fire. “What would everyone like to hear?”

An orphaned mudlark named Finn bounded over. “I want a scary story. With monsters!”

A little girl named Cassie whispered something to her mother Alina who passed it on, “We’d love to hear a winter story.”

Merideth sat on the rug in front of Iolo, her doll sitting in her lap. “Can it be a true story? Something real?”

Iolo smiled as he tuned his lute. “I think I have just the story. This happened to me a few years ago, during the coldest winter I’ve ever seen.” Iolo started playing a series of deeper and deeper chords.

“I was making my way to Cove, when my horse threw a shoe. While walking through the deep snow and trying to guide my poor steed, I heard howls that chilled my blood cold. They got louder and closer!

 Looking around, I found the source on the top of a nearby hill: four giant wolves, bound by iron chains. The chains lead to a bloodwood sleigh, driven by a beast-man of fur and fang. He had giant goat horns and was holding a cruel whip. He gave a terrible grin when he saw me. Then that wolf-drover lashed the team forward, with a sound like a great tree being snapped in half!

 With the daemon after us, my horse was in a frenzy to flee. Terrified myself, I let go of the reins and started running. My horse disappeared into the woods. The snow slowed me down, and the sleigh never lost ground, smashing through brush and small trees. The fiend was gaining on me!

 The monster would have caught this poor bard, but on the road ahead, a rider appeared, racing toward the source of the calamity. The horse stopped, rearing up before me, and I saw the rider was a woman with ginger hair. She yelled for me to hurry and get on, which I did without hesitation. Then we were off!

 The horse was strong and knew the way, but with the weight of two riders, the noble steed was struggling to stay ahead of the sleigh. With my wits back, I fired my crossbow at the drover, but when the bolt struck, he just gave a terrible laugh and cracked his whip again!

 I couldn’t let this kind soul die for trying to help me, so I offered to jump down and face the beast. She was focused on the path ahead and pointed to a snowdrift we would have to go around. If I jumped down there and hid, she could lead our pursuers off.

 It was a dangerous and desperate plan, but I didn’t have one better! She slowed the horse down a little, and I prepared to jump. The leap went well, but the landing did not. I fell hard despite the snow. I managed to crawl behind the snow pile. Still, my bow was broken, and my ankle twisted.

 Those were the longest moments of my life, not knowing which way the sleigh would come and with no means to fight back. Then I heard a loud whoop from in front of me. The rider started taunting the monster, daring him to catch her.

 The drover shouted back in a foul daemonic tongue and cracked his whip three times. The wolves grew frenzied and chased after my rescuer. The last thing I saw was the fire of her hair as she raced to escape that horrible sleigh.”

As the story ended, Iolo looked to his audience. Cassie was asleep in her mother’s arms. Finn gave a small yawn. “Not enough blood, but I liked the wolves.”

Merideth had questions. “Did the woman on the horse get away? What happened to the drover?”

Iolo smiled. “Don’t worry. I met her again in Minoc years later, but that is another story. As for the monster, there will always be good people around to deal with such fiends.”

*****

Later, after most of the house’s residents were asleep, Iolo sat by the window, watching the heavy snowfall. The days were grey and short, and it would be a cold winter. Iolo gave a heavy sigh. The world was troubled. The ruins of the shrines were silent. The Fellowship was entrenched in Britannian life. His friend Shamino was still missing. What was an old bard to do?

Iolo heard the sleeping murmuring of one of the children behind him. He dimmed the lamp and turned to look at the displaced families crowded in the poorhouse. These people were his responsibility. It didn’t matter how dark things got. There was still work to be done.