Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 88
October 9, 2023
October 8, 2023
Petunya: EURUE - The Forgotten World
Petunya
Frond
NorthernCoast
THE TWOCentuar maintained theirhumanoid guise for reconnaissance on Petunya’s southern continent. While theirusual forms would eat up distance, it didn’t allow for proper scrutiny of thesituation.
Assint and Mahler arrived where birdsong hadthe upper hand. Despite the harmonies, never had a place felt so empty. Everywhere there was sign ofhabitation, but no people. In this type of cold one expected to see smokerising from chimneys, but the air was dead and still.
“One plus about these daetal is that theydon’t leave bodies behind,” Assint grimaced. “This would be worse if we had tostumble over the dead.”
Mahler nodded.
They walked inland. Most fields were fallowfor winter, ploughed, and sporting a thin layer of green, the winter wildflowerseeds that had sprouted before proper cold set in. Orchards awaited pruningtime, their branches leafless.
The farms were large, with only the occasionalhouse and barn dotting the landscape. It was agricultural territory,fortunately. No animals were in sight. If it had been about husbandry, animalswould now be penned for winter, and that was a terrible state to contemplate.Those animals would now be starving without their minders to feed them whileindoors.
“Maybe the daetal ate the animals,” Mahlermuttered after a few hours.
“Maybe,” Assint whispered.
There was no sign of even a dog, never mind afox or boar or something.
“Horrific,” Mahler said.
“Shut up.”
Eventually they came to a cluster ofbuildings. It had to be what passed for a town or gathering centre, becausesaddles were on display in one window, preserves in another. A small outdoorarea contained multiple tables and chairs, under a pergola. A vine clamberedthe structure, as leafless as the trees surrounding the village.
The two Centuar investigated every building,but found no signs of life. They moved on.
“We’re wasting our time,” Assint eventuallysaid.
“We need to sniff out the presence of life,”Mahler agreed.
Glancing at each other, they shifted intotheir Centuar forms.
And galloped through the landscape, swift asthe wind.
SouthernFrond
KILA, a farmer’s daughter in another life, paled markedly. Sheand Prima had arrived in a stable to find a skeletal horse barely clinging tolife, and the affront of that nearlyundid her.
Prima was as horrified, but he clamped itdown, and moved to the poor animal, and swiftly put it out of its misery.
She sobbed, once, and then squared hershoulders to exit the stable. Outside, nothing moved. When Prima joined her,she said, “I aim to kill them … slowly.”
Prima was grim. “And I aim to help you do so.”
Together, of like mind, they set out.
IT WASA fertile land, and it was also a goddamned wasteland. Nothingwarm-blooded lived, anywhere. Trees were mute accusers. As midday approached,having been through two villages, they rested alongside a fast-flowing river.
“I need to dosomething,” Kila muttered.
Looking around, Prima agreed. “I am of theopinion that these daetal keep Tristan and Alusin hostage somewhere. They nolonger roam the countryside, because, well …”
“… there is nothing left.”
“Precisely. I am also of the opinion that wewill find nothing to shed light on the conundrum we face in this aimlesswander.”
Kila’s red tresses swung his way. “What areyou saying?”
“We meet up with Assint and Mahler andtogether bloody find Tristan and Alusin.” Prima never swore; he had clearlyreached a point where action, whatever the cost, was better than simplywalking.
“While I agree with you, shouldn’t we informBelun first?”
Prima was silent a time, thinking about that.“I am of the opinion Belun is too protective of his brothers.”
Kila licked her lips. “He can, um, neighpretty loudly if crossed.”
Prima snorted. “You should have heardTorrullin in the old days. Now thatscared me.”
Laughing, Kila stood. “Let’s do this.”
THE UNIVERSE IS populated, and many worlds are far-flung,forgotten. Until the day Gabryl, a man both alive and dead, his body reposingin a sarcophagus, his spirit roaming as a shifting being, bellows a call toarms. Eurue, as world and civilisation, after ages of isolation, will now stepinto the ultimate arena.
Tristanand Alusin of the Kaval hasten to answer the summons to where tentacled miasmasare consuming people body and soul. Savier, as Keeper of the sarcophagus, shedslight on an ancient legend. Tianoman, Vallorin of the Valleur, brings theValleur host to Eurue, and Emperor Teighlar of Grinwallin pledges his army.
But howdoes one fight miasma?
Who is thetrue enemy?
Meanwhile,as the spaces become frantic, a woman in a turret somewhere, elsewhere, plansher revenge. The schism between what went before and the reality of the presentpresents to her the power to control the fate of all.
Who willstop her?
October 7, 2023
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