Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 377
November 24, 2015
TKC Collage 10
Another two weeks have passed! Time for a collage :)
The King's Challenge #115
TKC 115
Only birdsong and horse snuffles speak to the day thereafter. We are wordless; two women caught up in private thoughts … and fears.
As night approaches, I finally speak of what has grown in my mind during the day.
“Hanna.”
She glances at me. “Do you want to stop? There is light left.”
“I need to ask you to do something for me. For all of us.”
Her lips tighten. She knows me well enough now to understand she will not like what I am going to ask of her.
“Go back,” I say. When her eyes widen, I state, “You must keep the marchers on the rim, Hanna. If the asteroid does not hit, they can go back immediately and none of what awaits here will happen to them.”
“Go back to what, Lyra?” she blurts. “Even if that rock goes on its merry way, we have all burned our bridges.”
“That will be easier to bear than slavery.”
Hanna stares at me. “You had a protected upbringing, girl. If we go back, we will be slaves anyway. There is nothing to return to, do you not understand that yet?”
She is right. I close my eyes as the truth of her words settle into my heart and soul. “Then the best we can hope for is to remain on the outer edges of this trap. Go back and tell them to stay close. To penetrate this place will mean losing their souls.”
“And you?”
I gesture at the peaks we attempt to reach. “I go on.”
Hanna shakes her head. “You will not make it in time without my guidance.”
Bringing Leaf to a halt, I say, “I will get there. You must do this. Keep them there, but send Horin to me. If what I suspect about him is true, he will make it safe for all of us.”
Only birdsong and horse snuffles speak to the day thereafter. We are wordless; two women caught up in private thoughts … and fears.
As night approaches, I finally speak of what has grown in my mind during the day.
“Hanna.”
She glances at me. “Do you want to stop? There is light left.”
“I need to ask you to do something for me. For all of us.”
Her lips tighten. She knows me well enough now to understand she will not like what I am going to ask of her.
“Go back,” I say. When her eyes widen, I state, “You must keep the marchers on the rim, Hanna. If the asteroid does not hit, they can go back immediately and none of what awaits here will happen to them.”
“Go back to what, Lyra?” she blurts. “Even if that rock goes on its merry way, we have all burned our bridges.”
“That will be easier to bear than slavery.”
Hanna stares at me. “You had a protected upbringing, girl. If we go back, we will be slaves anyway. There is nothing to return to, do you not understand that yet?”
She is right. I close my eyes as the truth of her words settle into my heart and soul. “Then the best we can hope for is to remain on the outer edges of this trap. Go back and tell them to stay close. To penetrate this place will mean losing their souls.”
“And you?”
I gesture at the peaks we attempt to reach. “I go on.”
Hanna shakes her head. “You will not make it in time without my guidance.”
Bringing Leaf to a halt, I say, “I will get there. You must do this. Keep them there, but send Horin to me. If what I suspect about him is true, he will make it safe for all of us.”
November 23, 2015
The King's Challenge (mini omnibus)
TKC112 / 113 / 114
“Lyra, we are here because we follow the old ones. Why doubt now?” Hanna demands.
Sitting on a boulder, I sip at my water. Nearby our horses take the opportunity to graze a while.
“Arc exists, despite the fact it took someone like Mirlin, a man from the west, to tell me about it. An old legend is thus real, and Joseph confirmed it for us via his map. But that only tells us that there was a before, Hanna; it does not mean the people from that before were benevolent. We have been hasty in trusting to an old story to save us.”
“Fine, I follow your reasoning.” Hanna retrieves her water from Pretty and sits on the grass. “Yet we did trust. Why is it different now?”
“Sassen got me to thinking. A being of light? She was the last to succeed, and she threw up this ring of mountains? Fantastic, but let’s place it in perspective. She cannot be from our world, for nature here is not her normality.” After setting my water down, I stare at the river. “She created the fortification, I believe that. Maybe with others, maybe alone, who knows? But she did it to keep her kind in, safe from the influences of the locals.”
“They came from elsewhere and needed a place to hide,” Hanna breathed.
“Yes! I cannot say what they needed to flee from, the event that drove them from their spaces, but here they hid.”
Hanna lifts a finger into the air. “The locals would not have been able harm beings of light, though. More than likely, they wouldn’t even have seen them. There are many isolated places on Massin; why create a sanctuary?”
I now stare into Hanna’s inner self, hoping she will hear me. “They had no free will. The locals then did as they pleased and that kind of freedom would be dangerous, would it not? We used it. Hanna, despite the restrictions of our society. When the situation demanded it of us, we used our free will to walk away that society. We may die, but we still choose to try. I bet folk back in the early times had fewer restrictions. Can you imagine what would happen to a strict society if such freedom is seen and felt?”
“How do you know?”
I wave at the air around us. “I saw them. I heard them. I felt them. They are not ghosts; they are beings of steadily dimming light. The laws of their kind keep them here. All they needed to do was float over the peaks, but they never tried. It is an assailable barrier for them, because they cannot think for themselves. They warn that we will be similarly trapped. To survive at first, we will follow the resident directives, and one day we won’t know any different. All who have sought haven here could not leave again … and they are still here. Every human seeking sanctuary in this place became a being of light in death, for that is the barrier. Death. Death ends residual freedom and it strengthens the barrier.”
Leaf and Pretty amble down to the river. I stand to follow, but Hanna’s next statement roots me.
“The voices we are meant to ignore in the Spire are of our ancestors.”
Blinking, I nod. “Yes. I had not realised that yet. They will warn us and Sassen desires that we ignore them.”
Hanna stands arms akimbo. “Yet we need a place to escape the fireball. And we also need to try and deflect the rock. It seems to me we have quite the conundrum here. Stay out there and we are dead. Stay in here and we are … what? What would we be, Lyra? Seems to me we will be, at the very least, alive.”
“Slaves,” I whisper. “Living slaves.”
Hanna stamps her foot. “Why do they need to keep us in?”
Inhaling sharply over the rush of clarity that shivers through me, I say, “They are dying. They need new souls.” Sinking to my knees, I claw at the grit. “I don’t know how, but the life essence we carry gifts them time. They are waiting for something and need time.” My head jerks up. “The host around us were human once. Light beings now, but dimmer. The originals feed off them. At first they needed to keep others out, now they need to keep others in.”
Shaking her head, Hanna moves to the horses. “Too complicated for me. You contradict yourself with every word.”
I am aware how contradictory I sound, but the tale comes to me in snatches of clarity. I stand shakily. If we stay here, we are doomed. Yet Hanna is right; if we remain out there beyond these mountains, we will die. By the stars, I need a guide. I need someone to tell me what to do.
The answer comes to me then, although only dimly perceived. It is not an answer, really; more a means to a solution. My guide is coming. He will also be my shield. Our shield. He will stand between us and them. I must deflect the asteroid from the Spire and trust he will lead us out again when the time of renewal blossoms beyond these mountains.
“Lyra!” Hanna shouts, falling to her knees beside me, shaking me. “You collapsed. You are burning.”
I stare at her. “My brother is coming.” Sobs overtake me then. Horin, sweet boy, you do not deserve this fate.
“Lyra, we are here because we follow the old ones. Why doubt now?” Hanna demands.
Sitting on a boulder, I sip at my water. Nearby our horses take the opportunity to graze a while.
“Arc exists, despite the fact it took someone like Mirlin, a man from the west, to tell me about it. An old legend is thus real, and Joseph confirmed it for us via his map. But that only tells us that there was a before, Hanna; it does not mean the people from that before were benevolent. We have been hasty in trusting to an old story to save us.”
“Fine, I follow your reasoning.” Hanna retrieves her water from Pretty and sits on the grass. “Yet we did trust. Why is it different now?”
“Sassen got me to thinking. A being of light? She was the last to succeed, and she threw up this ring of mountains? Fantastic, but let’s place it in perspective. She cannot be from our world, for nature here is not her normality.” After setting my water down, I stare at the river. “She created the fortification, I believe that. Maybe with others, maybe alone, who knows? But she did it to keep her kind in, safe from the influences of the locals.”
“They came from elsewhere and needed a place to hide,” Hanna breathed.
“Yes! I cannot say what they needed to flee from, the event that drove them from their spaces, but here they hid.”
Hanna lifts a finger into the air. “The locals would not have been able harm beings of light, though. More than likely, they wouldn’t even have seen them. There are many isolated places on Massin; why create a sanctuary?”
I now stare into Hanna’s inner self, hoping she will hear me. “They had no free will. The locals then did as they pleased and that kind of freedom would be dangerous, would it not? We used it. Hanna, despite the restrictions of our society. When the situation demanded it of us, we used our free will to walk away that society. We may die, but we still choose to try. I bet folk back in the early times had fewer restrictions. Can you imagine what would happen to a strict society if such freedom is seen and felt?”
“How do you know?”
I wave at the air around us. “I saw them. I heard them. I felt them. They are not ghosts; they are beings of steadily dimming light. The laws of their kind keep them here. All they needed to do was float over the peaks, but they never tried. It is an assailable barrier for them, because they cannot think for themselves. They warn that we will be similarly trapped. To survive at first, we will follow the resident directives, and one day we won’t know any different. All who have sought haven here could not leave again … and they are still here. Every human seeking sanctuary in this place became a being of light in death, for that is the barrier. Death. Death ends residual freedom and it strengthens the barrier.”
Leaf and Pretty amble down to the river. I stand to follow, but Hanna’s next statement roots me.
“The voices we are meant to ignore in the Spire are of our ancestors.”
Blinking, I nod. “Yes. I had not realised that yet. They will warn us and Sassen desires that we ignore them.”
Hanna stands arms akimbo. “Yet we need a place to escape the fireball. And we also need to try and deflect the rock. It seems to me we have quite the conundrum here. Stay out there and we are dead. Stay in here and we are … what? What would we be, Lyra? Seems to me we will be, at the very least, alive.”
“Slaves,” I whisper. “Living slaves.”
Hanna stamps her foot. “Why do they need to keep us in?”
Inhaling sharply over the rush of clarity that shivers through me, I say, “They are dying. They need new souls.” Sinking to my knees, I claw at the grit. “I don’t know how, but the life essence we carry gifts them time. They are waiting for something and need time.” My head jerks up. “The host around us were human once. Light beings now, but dimmer. The originals feed off them. At first they needed to keep others out, now they need to keep others in.”
Shaking her head, Hanna moves to the horses. “Too complicated for me. You contradict yourself with every word.”
I am aware how contradictory I sound, but the tale comes to me in snatches of clarity. I stand shakily. If we stay here, we are doomed. Yet Hanna is right; if we remain out there beyond these mountains, we will die. By the stars, I need a guide. I need someone to tell me what to do.
The answer comes to me then, although only dimly perceived. It is not an answer, really; more a means to a solution. My guide is coming. He will also be my shield. Our shield. He will stand between us and them. I must deflect the asteroid from the Spire and trust he will lead us out again when the time of renewal blossoms beyond these mountains.
“Lyra!” Hanna shouts, falling to her knees beside me, shaking me. “You collapsed. You are burning.”
I stare at her. “My brother is coming.” Sobs overtake me then. Horin, sweet boy, you do not deserve this fate.
TKC Update
Hi, everyone! Due to circumstances this weekend I was unable to write. I hope to catch up this afternoon. Expect a small 'omnibus' of episodes 112, 113 and 114!
Around my corner
The magic around the corner where I live :)
November 21, 2015
November 20, 2015
The King's Challenge #111
TKC 111
I do not move. Hanna will know to do the same, merely by looking at me. I do not open my eyes. I concentrate on the host I see behind my eyelids.
They are ghostly in appearance. The silence is unnerving, as is their motionless state. But they are watching … and waiting. For what? They have weight in the tangible world, for ghosts cannot mark paths as these have. Do they wait for us to leave, in order to assume form once more and continue walking? To where? Forest or river, ceaselessly? None of this has logic, and I am at a loss.
A part of me thinks they wait for the Healer in me to send them onwards. To release them from this eternal wandering. Yet it is true Hanna and I would have continued on our way without stopping, had not the trampled crossroads garnered our attention. I would thus not have known to close my eyes to see them.
We did stop, however. We did notice the crossroads. I have seen them.
Ah.
This is about the crossroads.
This is about choice.
The moment I make the connection, the horde of pale apparitions wafts upwards as smoke, and they vanish.
I open my eyes.
“I get the feeling we were in the company of many until a moment ago,” Hanna says.
“A host, yes.” I step into the very centre of the crossroads. “We have a choice before us, Hanna.”
She pinches her chin. “A hard one, I assume?”
“Maybe not,” I respond absently. I hunker, but gaze towards the peaks instead of the ground. “They were warning me about the Spire, I think. To continue may be to the downfall of all.”
“Now you are not making sense, Lyra. Surely the goal is to deflect that rock in the sky? How else, but with the help of the old ones’.”
I shift my gaze to the Messenger. “The old ones cannot be trusted.”
I do not move. Hanna will know to do the same, merely by looking at me. I do not open my eyes. I concentrate on the host I see behind my eyelids.
They are ghostly in appearance. The silence is unnerving, as is their motionless state. But they are watching … and waiting. For what? They have weight in the tangible world, for ghosts cannot mark paths as these have. Do they wait for us to leave, in order to assume form once more and continue walking? To where? Forest or river, ceaselessly? None of this has logic, and I am at a loss.
A part of me thinks they wait for the Healer in me to send them onwards. To release them from this eternal wandering. Yet it is true Hanna and I would have continued on our way without stopping, had not the trampled crossroads garnered our attention. I would thus not have known to close my eyes to see them.
We did stop, however. We did notice the crossroads. I have seen them.
Ah.
This is about the crossroads.
This is about choice.
The moment I make the connection, the horde of pale apparitions wafts upwards as smoke, and they vanish.
I open my eyes.
“I get the feeling we were in the company of many until a moment ago,” Hanna says.
“A host, yes.” I step into the very centre of the crossroads. “We have a choice before us, Hanna.”
She pinches her chin. “A hard one, I assume?”
“Maybe not,” I respond absently. I hunker, but gaze towards the peaks instead of the ground. “They were warning me about the Spire, I think. To continue may be to the downfall of all.”
“Now you are not making sense, Lyra. Surely the goal is to deflect that rock in the sky? How else, but with the help of the old ones’.”
I shift my gaze to the Messenger. “The old ones cannot be trusted.”
Review - The Love of the Dead
Seriously, I could not put this down! This has so many elements – ghosts, supernatural, murder, broken people – that it captured me from the first word. Add in a fast pace, some serious soul-searching, a terrifying serial killer, surprising twists, and I promise you that you will be as enthralled. Grab a copy right now!!
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