Search Results for 'art'

Forums Search Search Results for 'art'

Viewing 20 results - 961 through 980 (of 2,711 total)
  • Author
    Search Results
  • #4406

    In reply to: Scrying the Word Cloud

    TracyTracy
    Participant

      mansion away
      believe woke hut
      enchanted laughing ladies
      master matter
      rainbow carried approaching silence
      starting fact thoughts
      question turns wet
      breakfast

      #4405

      In reply to: Scrying the Word Cloud

      ÉricÉric
      Keymaster

        hut silence arrived humans
        air fell comes above ape raised
        paused taking particular powerful window entrance
        death rather waiting minutes dry

        #4403
        F LoveF Love
        Participant

          random plot generator

          A BOOK SHOP – IT IS THE AFTERNOON AFTER ALBIE HIT HIS MOTHER WITH A FEATHER.

          Newly unemployed ALBIE is arguing with his friend JENNY RAMSBOTTOM. ALBIE tries to hug JENNY but she shakes him off angrily.

          ALBIE
          Please Jenny, don’t leave me.

          JENNY
          I’m sorry Albie, but I’m looking for somebody a bit more brave. Somebody who faces his fears head on, instead of running away. You hit your mother with a feather! You could have just talked to her!

          ALBIE
          I am such a person!

          JENNY
          I’m sorry, Albie. I just don’t feel excited by this relationship anymore.

          JENNY leaves and ALBIE sits down, looking defeated.

          Moments later, gentle sweet shop owner MR MATT HUMBLE barges in looking flustered.

          ALBIE
          Goodness, Matt! Is everything okay?

          MATT
          I’m afraid not.

          ALBIE
          What is it? Don’t keep me in suspense…

          MATT
          It’s … a hooligan … I saw an evil hooligan frighten a bunch of elderly ladies!

          ALBIE
          Defenseless elderly ladies?

          MATT
          Yes, defenseless elderly ladies!

          ALBIE
          Bloomin’ heck, Matt! We’ve got to do something.

          MATT
          I agree, but I wouldn’t know where to start.

          ALBIE
          You can start by telling me where this happened.

          MATT
          I was…
          MATT fans himself and begins to wheeze.

          ALBIE
          Focus Matt, focus! Where did it happen?

          MATT
          The Library! That’s right – the Library!

          ALBIE springs up and begins to run.

          EXT. A ROADCONTINUOUS

          ALBIE rushes along the street, followed by MATT. They take a short cut through some back gardens, jumping fences along the way.

          INT. A LIBRARYSHORTLY AFTER

          ROGER BLUNDER a forgetful hooligan terrorises two elderly ladies.

          ALBIE, closely followed by MATT, rushes towards ROGER, but suddenly stops in his tracks.

          MATT
          What is is? What’s the matter?

          ALBIE
          That’s not just any old hooligan, that’s Roger Blunder!

          MATT
          Who’s Roger Blunder?

          ALBIE
          Who’s Roger Blunder? Who’s Roger Blunder? Only the most forgetful hooligan in the universe!

          MATT
          Blinkin’ knickers, Albie! We’re going to need some help if we’re going to stop the most forgetful hooligan in the universe!

          ALBIE
          You can say that again.

          MATT
          Blinkin’ knickers, Albie! We’re going to need some help if we’re going to stop the most forgetful hooligan in the universe!

          ALBIE
          I’m going to need candlesticks, lots of candlesticks.

          Roger turns and sees Albie and Matt. He grins an evil grin.

          ROGER
          Albie Jones, we meet again!

          MATT
          You’ve met?

          ALBIE
          Yes. It was a long, long time ago…

          EXT. A PARKBACK IN TIME

          A young ALBIE is sitting in a park listening to some trance music, when suddenly a dark shadow casts over him.

          He looks up and sees ROGER. He takes off his headphones.

          ROGER
          Would you like some wine gums?

          ALBIE’s eyes light up, but then he studies ROGER more closely, and looks uneasy.

          ALBIE
          I don’t know, you look kind of forgetful.

          ROGER
          Me? No. I’m not forgetful. I’m the least forgetful hooligan in the world.

          ALBIE
          Wait, you’re a hooligan?

          ALBIE runs away, screaming.

          INT. A LIBRARYPRESENT DAY

          ROGER
          You were a coward then, and you are a coward now.

          MATT
          (To ALBIE) You ran away?
          ALBIE
          (To MATT) I was a young child. What was I supposed to do?
          ALBIE turns to ROGER.

          ALBIE
          I may have run away from you then, but I won’t run away this time!
          ALBIE runs away.

          He turns back and shouts.

          ALBIE
          I mean, I am running away, but I’ll be back – with candlesticks.

          ROGER
          I’m not scared of you.

          ALBIE
          You should be.

          INT. A SWEET SHOPLATER THAT DAY

          ALBIE and MATT walk around searching for something.

          ALBIE
          I feel sure I left my candlesticks somewhere around here.

          MATT
          Are you sure? It does seem like an odd place to keep deadly candlesticks.

          ALBIE
          You know nothing Matt Humble.

          MATT
          We’ve been searching for ages. I really don’t think they’re here.

          Suddenly, ROGER appears, holding a pair of candlesticks.

          ROGER
          Looking for something?

          MATT
          Crikey, Albie, he’s got your candlesticks.

          ALBIE
          Tell me something I don’t already know!

          MATT
          The earth’s circumference at the equator is about 40,075 km.

          ALBIE
          I know that already!

          MATT
          I’m afraid of dust.

          ROGER
          (appalled) Dude!

          While ROGER is looking at MATT with disgust, ALBIE lunges forward and grabs his deadly candlesticks. He wields them, triumphantly.

          ALBIE
          Prepare to die, you forgetful aubergine!

          ROGER
          No please! All I did was frighten a bunch of elderly ladies!

          JENNY enters, unseen by any of the others.

          ALBIE
          I cannot tolerate that kind of behaviour! Those elderly ladies were defenceless! Well now they have a defender – and that’s me! Albie Jones defender of innocent elderly ladies.

          ROGER
          Don’t hurt me! Please!

          ALBIE
          Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t use these candlesticks on you right away!

          ROGER
          Because Albie, I am your father.

          ALBIE looks stunned for a few moments, but then collects himself.

          ALBIE
          No you’re not!

          ROGER
          Ah well, it had to be worth a try.

          ROGER tries to grab the candlesticks but ALBIE dodges out of the way.

          ALBIE
          Who’s the daddy now? Huh? Huh?

          Unexpectedly, ROGER slumps to the ground.

          MATT
          Did he just faint?

          ALBIE
          I think so. Well that’s disappointing. I was rather hoping for a more dramatic conclusion, involving my deadly candlesticks.

          ALBIE crouches over ROGER’s body.

          MATT
          Be careful, Albie. It could be a trick.

          ALBIE
          No, it’s not a trick. It appears that… It would seem… Roger Blunder is dead!

          ALBIE
          What?

          ALBIE
          Yes, it appears that I scared him to death.

          MATT claps his hands.

          MATT
          So your candlesticks did save the day, after all.

          JENNY steps forward.

          JENNY
          Is it true? Did you kill the forgetful hooligan?

          ALBIE
          Jenny how long have you been…?

          JENNY puts her arm around ALBIE.

          JENNY
          Long enough.

          ALBIE
          Then you saw it for yourself. I killed Roger Blunder.

          JENNY
          Then the elderly ladies are safe?

          ALBIE
          It does seem that way!

          A crowd of vulnerable elderly ladies enter, looking relived.

          JENNY
          You are their hero.

          The elderly ladies bow to ALBIE.

          ALBIE
          There is no need to bow to me. I seek no worship. The knowledge that Roger Blunder will never frighten elderly ladies ever again, is enough for me.

          JENNY
          You are humble as well as brave! And I think that makes up for hitting your mother with a feather. It does in my opinion!

          One of the elderly ladies passes ALBIE a healing ring

          JENNY
          I think they want you to have it, as a symbol of their gratitude.

          ALBIE
          I couldn’t possibly.
          Pause.

          ALBIE
          Well, if you insist. It could come in handy when I go to the Doline tomorrow. With my friend Matt. It is dangerous and only for brave people and a healing ring could come in handy.

          ALBIE takes the ring.

          ALBIE
          Thank you.
          The elderly ladies bow their heads once more, and leave.

          ALBIE turns to JENNY.

          ALBIE
          Does this mean you want me back?

          JENNY
          Oh, Albie, of course I want you back!
          ALBIE smiles for a few seconds, but then looks defiant.

          ALBIE
          Well you can’t have me.

          JENNY
          WHAT?

          ALBIE
          You had no faith in me. You had to see my scare a hooligan to death before you would believe in me. I don’t want a lover like that. And I am going to the Doline and I may not be back!

          JENNY
          But…

          ALBIE
          Please leave. I want to spend time with the one person who stayed with me through thick and thin – my best friend, Matt.

          MATT grins.

          JENNY
          But…

          MATT
          You heard the gentleman. Now be off with you. Skidaddle! Shoo!

          JENNY
          Albie?

          ALBIE
          I’m sorry Jenny, but I think you should skidaddle.
          JENNY leaves.

          MATT turns to ALBIE.

          MATT
          Did you mean that? You know … that I’m your best friend?

          ALBIE
          Of course you are!
          The two walk off arm in arm.

          Suddenly MATT stops.

          MATT
          When I said I’m afraid of dust, you know I was just trying to distract the hooligan don’t you?

          #4402
          F LoveF Love
          Participant

            (With thanks to random story generator for this comment)

            Albie looked at the soft feather in his hands and felt happy.

            He walked over to the window and reflected on his silent surroundings. He had always loved haunting the village near the doline with its few, but faithful inhabitants. It was a place that encouraged his tendency to feel happiness.

            Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Ma. He felt his mood drop. Ma was ambitious and a mean-spirited bossy boots.

            Albie gulped. He glanced at his own reflection. He was an impulsive, kind-hearted, beer drinker. His friends saw him as an amusing foolish clown. But he was kind-hearted and once, he had even brought a brave baby bird back from the brink of death.

            But not even an impulsive person who had once brought a brave baby bird back from the brink of death, was prepared for what Ma had in store today.

            The inclement brooding silence teased like a sitting praying mantis, making Albie anticipate the worst.

            As Albie stepped outside and Ma came closer, he could see the mean glint in her eye.

            Ma glared with all the wrath of 9 thoughtless hurt hippo. She said, in hushed tones, “I disown you and I want you to leave.”

            Albie looked back, even more nervous and still fingering the soft feather. “Ma, please don’t boss me. I am going to the doline,” he replied.

            They looked at each other with conflicted feelings, like two deep donkeys chatting at a very funny farewell.

            Suddenly, Ma lunged forward and tried to punch Albie in the face. Quickly, Albie grabbed the soft feather and brought it down on Ma’s skull.

            Ma’s skinny ear trembled and her short legs wobbled. She looked excited, her emotions raw like a rabblesnatching, rare rock.

            Then she let out an agonising groan and collapsed onto the ground. Moments later Ma was dead.

            Albie went back inside and had himself a cold beer.

            #4401
            TracyTracy
            Participant

              Aunt Idle:

              Amazing how you can change your mind about things in the twinkling of an eye, and as I said to Bert (when he’d come down off those mushrooms or whatever was in those brownies that passing hippy gave him on the way to the guru camp over at the old copperworks place), I said to Bert, Bert I said, if you own the place lock stock and barrel, our financial worries are over. He said don’t be daft, you can’t eat the windows and doors, and what about all these dogs to feed, they can’t eat wooden beams, and I said, no listen Bert, I’ve had an idea. We don’t like banks, that’s true, and we don’t like debts, but why stand on principle and shoot yourself in the foot, I said, and I’ve heard about this thing with old people like us, that you can get the bank to give you loads of cash, and you don’t even have to pay them back until after you’re dead, and then he said, don’t be daft, how can you pay them back when you’re dead and I said Exactly, Bert! This is the beauty of it, and who knows if there will even be any more banks by the time we kick the bucket anyway, why not have our cake now and eat it, that’s what I said to Bert. And so he says, Well go on then, tell me why the bank would give us cash an I told him that they give you money because you own a house, and then when you snuff it, they have their money back. So Bert says, Yeah but they take far too much money, it’s another bank scam! And I said, Who the fuck cares, if we get the cash now when we need it? And then he said, Yeah, but what about the kids? I was gonna leave it to the kids, and I said, and I’ll be quite frank here, Fuck the kids! Who in the hell knows what the future will be like for the kids, and I told him straight: You can’t plan you’re own future, let alone trying to plan the kid’s future. Now is what matters, and right now, I need a new camera, and I need to get those tax hounds off my back. Then Bert started to smile and said, Hey, I could get me them new false teeth.

              #4399
              F LoveF Love
              Participant

                FLACY TROVE COMMENT

                “What on earth do you mean, Bert?” asked Mater. She sounded a tad irritated and stared at Bert intently for a few moments. “Are you losing your mind perhaps?” she said in a more conciliatory tone.

                Bert glared at her. “YOU know, Mater. If anyone knows it is MY inn, it is you.”

                “I have no idea what you are talking about!” said Mater backing away from Bert nervously. “And you will have to excuse me but my bladder calls!” And Mater sprinted inside at great speed. Faster than the speed of light, said Devan later when he recounted the story to Prune.

                “The inn is mine and you can’t sell it!” shouted Bert after Mater’s retreating back. He grabbed the FOR SALE sign and threw it violently into the bushes.

                #4397
                TracyTracy
                Participant

                  “How’s the new dog settling in, Ma?” asked Albie, playing for time.

                  “Oh, she’s doing fine, don’t you worry about that, and don’t try and change the subject!” retorted Freda. “Lottie told me all about it this morning. You had one job to do, one job!”

                  “That’s what Lottie said,” replied Albie, looking down at his shoes and halfheartedly attempting to knock the dried mud off them on the chair leg. “Sorry, Ma,” he added sadly. “Shall I take the new dog for a walk?”

                  Freda sighed. “Oh alright then, but don’t let her off the lead. And make sure you get back before the rain. And stop kicking mud all over the floor!”

                  #4394
                  ÉricÉric
                  Keymaster

                    For the festival of lights, the sleepy guard had all dressed up in their traditional pajams and were extolling psalmodies in longing voices.

                    Small bells rang in clusters of lighthearted peels, soon covered by the deep lingering sounds of the foghorns echoing along the rocky slopes muffled out by the abundant vegetation.

                    Expectation was in the air.

                    #4393
                    TracyTracy
                    Participant

                      They have entered, now peace is all shattered,
                      And the quiet was all that had mattered,
                      But alas that is over,
                      And blown is my cover,
                      And I’m sulky and not feeling flattered.

                      Petra was scribbling furiously in her expedition notebook, not wanting to forget the exact wording of the curious message she had received on waking from her nap behind the rocks. It was not the first time she had heard telepathic messages in rhyme, and wondered briefly about the possible connections, but then Lillianne woke up farting dreadfully, and she was distracted.

                      #4392
                      Jib
                      Participant

                        “Tourists!” shouted Ugo the gecko to his albino friends. They all stopped and turned their heads in unison to look at the two humans who had entered the premises, inside their small chests their hearts beating fast with excitement like so many small shamanic drums that only gecko ears could hear. Ugo was so engrossed in those two humongous creatures and the hypnotic rhythm of his friends’ heartbeats that he didn’t see the suckers from his front left paw were getting loose again. They had been damaged in a fight with a twirling bat one week ago and they still hadn’t heal nicely because he didn’t care so much. Soon his left paw got detached from the ancient stones of the wall, followed by his right and soon he fell. But like he was made of sticking rubber the fall was short and he got stuck again on a lower stone, walking on the head of a few friends in the process.

                        “Sorry for that! I’ll have them checked, promise.”

                        Some of the geckos missed a heartbeat, frightened by the sudden turmoil. They ran in what might appear random directions and panic quickly spread among the albino geckolony on the wall. By a miracle of nature and because they were all so fascinated by tourists, the geckos rearranged nicely only to stop a sucking steps away and turned their head back again toward the tourists. Their hearts beating in unison again.

                        “Look! that dark wall over there with the white hieroglyphs. I’m sure it just moved!” said the tallest of the tourists. She was curious and decided to go watch by herself what that curious wall was about.

                        #4390
                        F LoveF Love
                        Participant

                          “She found the entrance, you say?”

                          “I am afraid so. I am sorry indeed to say that this is the case.”

                          “How could she have found the way in? Where were the guards? And who is she who would dare to enter the Doline?”

                          “It’s been so long … I think the guards got lazy. And who can blame them … so many years they stood at their post and nobody even trying to find the way in. I think they got tired of waiting for something to happen. And as to who it is … all I have heard is she is a traveller and not anyone from the Village. A traveller from far off parts, I have heard.”

                          “Dearie me … always the way, isn’t it? Heads are going to roll of course and I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. What’s going to happen now?”

                          “It’s very hard to get someone out once they have found the way in. That’s a well known truth.”

                          “It is indeed. Indeed it is.”

                          #4387
                          ÉricÉric
                          Keymaster

                            The Doline was brimming with unseen life, glistening below the twinkling star-lighted sky overhead. Albino geckos were dancing on the walls of ancient stones, while the twirling bats were hunting near the flowing streams of pristine water. Cooing late birds were singing old stories, while the scurrying rodents shuffling the leaves coverage ventured outside, carefully out of the gaze of nocturnal birds of prey.

                            There was a traveler that day who had found the entrance long forgotten. The trees had parted to let her gain access. So it began.

                            #4386
                            F LoveF Love
                            Participant

                              “Charter,” said Finnley popping back into the room.

                              #4384
                              TracyTracy
                              Participant

                                “What we all need now”, Liz was thinking out loud, “Is a more relaxed approach. We should stop trying to be proper clever writers and just blather.”

                                “If it’s supposed to be relaxed blather, why did you just fix three typo’s?” asked Finnley, the annoying maid, who had once again been peering over Elizabeth’s shoulder, looking for something to find fault with.

                                “Oh come on, that’s a bit much, Liz!” Finnley retorted, accidentally on purpose slopping Liz’s tea into her ashtray, knowing a pet hate of hers was a wet ashtray.

                                “Do be careful, Finnely! snapped Liz.

                                “Just taking a relaxed approach to being a maid, Ma’am,” she replied rudely with a flamboyant gesture with her feather duster, which whacked Liz smartly across the back of the head as she swanned out of the room with her nose in the air.

                                #4381
                                Jib
                                Participant

                                  Liz’s smile melted away when Roberto entered the living room, he was covered in dust and spider webs. What flustered her most wasn’t the trail of dirt and insects the gardener was leaving behind him, but that he was not in India.

                                  Liz threw knives at Godfrey with her eyes, a useful skill she had developed during her (long) spare time, but he dodged them easily and they sank straight into the wall with a thud.
                                  Finnley rolled her eyes and ordered one of the guy from the TV crew to take the knives off the wall. “Don’t forget to repaint afterward”, she said with a satisfied smile.

                                  Godfrey leaned closer to the door. Liz felt words of frustration gather at her lips.

                                  “I think I slept too much long,” Roberto said with his charming latino accent. At that time, Liz could almost forgive him not to be in India. “Funny thing is I dreamt I was doing yoga in India, near Colombo.”

                                  Godfrey raised his eyebrows and gave Liz a meaningful look, telling he had been almost right all along. He relaxed and smirked. She hated it.

                                  “Well, that must be a clue”, Liz said with a look at the butler. “Godfrey, Roberto needs to be in India, and we need to go with him. Book the plane tickets.”

                                  “Well, technically, Colombo is in Sri Lanka, not India,” said Finnley.
                                  “Small detail,” countered Liz.

                                  “What do I do with the knives?” said the TV crew man.
                                  Liz looked at the knives, then at Godfrey.
                                  “I’ll take them back, they can always be useful where we are going.”

                                  “What about the interview?” asked the woman from the TV.
                                  “We’ll need a charter,” said Finnley who liked very much to give orders.

                                  #4378
                                  TracyTracy
                                  Participant

                                    “The mansion to yourself?” snorted Liz. “You, Godfrey, will be going on ahead to make sure everything is ready for us. We’d like a nice leafy garden and a balcony, and do make sure we have a really good cook.”

                                    “And we want first class tickets,” added Finnley. “Because we are worth it,” she added defiantly, noticing the various raised eyebrows. “I’ll go and find Roberto then shall I?”

                                    “That’s a very good question, Finnley. Where the devil is he anyway? Godfrey, perhaps you should go and find him, and lay the law down a bit about wandering off the thread while on duty.”

                                    “Funnily enough,” said Godfrey, clearing his throat, “Roberto appears to have fetched up in Mumbai. He was spotted a few days ago chasing chickens and trying to stuff them into a story thread. I was, ahem, going to mention it…”

                                    Liz was just about to start complaining about always being the last to know what was going on, when a thought struck her about how marvelously fortuitous it was that she wanted Godfrey to go on ahead to India, and to also look for Roberto ~ who was conveniently in India!

                                    #4370

                                    The memories of the strange vision had faded away. Only the feeling of awe was lingering in his heart.

                                    Fox was walking in the forest near Margoritt’s cottage. The smell of humid soil was everywhere. Despite it being mostly decomposing leaves and insects, Fox found it quite pleasant. It carried within it childhood memories of running outside after the rain whild Master Gibbon was trying to teach him cleanliness. It had been a game for many years to roll into the mud and play with the malleable forest ground to make shapes of foxes and other animals to make a public to Gibbon’s teachings.

                                    Fox had been walking around listening to the sucking sound made by his steps to help him focus back on reality. He was trying to catch sunlight patches with his bare feet, the sensations were cold and exquisite. The noise of the heavy rain had been replaced by the random dripping of the drops falling from the canopy as the trees were letting go of the excess of water they received.

                                    It was not long before he found Gorrash. The dwarf was back in his statue state, he was face down, deep in the mud. Fox crouched down and gripped his friend where he could. He tried to release him from the ground but the mud was stronger, sucking, full of water.

                                    “You can leave him there and wait the soil to dry. You can’t fight with water”, said Margorrit. “And I think that when it’s dry, we’ll have a nice half-mold to make a copy of your friend.”

                                    Fox laughed. “You have so many strange ideas”, he told the old woman.

                                    “Well, it has been my strength and my weakness, I have two hands and a strong mind, and they have always functioned together. I only think properly when I use my hands. And my thoughts always lead me to make use of my hands.”

                                    Fox looked at Margoritt’s wrinkled hands, they were a bit deformed by arthritis but he could feel the experience they contained.

                                    “Breakfast’s ready”, she said. “I’ve made some honey cookies with what was left of the the flour. And Glynis has prepared some interesting juices. I like her, she has a gift with colours.”

                                    They left the dwarf to dry in the sun and walked back to the house where the others had already put everything on the table. Fox looked at everyone for a moment, maybe to take in that moment of grace and unlikely reunion of so many different people. He stopped at Rukshan who had a look of concern on his face. Then he started when Eleri talked right behind him. He hadn’t hear her come.

                                    “I think I lost him”, she said. “What’s for breakfast? I’m always starving after shrooms.”

                                    #4369
                                    Jib
                                    Participant

                                      The door bell rang and Finnley left Liz confused by the present the maid had brought her from Bali. It was the statue of a man in a strange position. Liz had no clue what he was doing, but the statue was so big she could imaging using it as a stool with small silk cushion to make it more comfortable. It was made of wood. Liz touched the head of the statue and felt a momentary lapse.

                                      “hum!”
                                      Liz started. “Oh you’re back”, she said to Finnley with a smile. Finnley looked at her suspiciously.

                                      “Did you take something while I was answering at the door?”

                                      “Oh! right the door. Who was that?”

                                      “Journalists. They are here for the documentary movie.”

                                      The fleeting state of bliss was gone. “Journalists? For me?”

                                      “For who else?” asked Finnley, raising her eyes. “Godfrey?”

                                      #4368

                                      When the rain stopped, Eleri stood motionless, suspended in between the enveloping cocophony of pattering drops. Already the saturated foliage was steaming and a dense mist arose from the sodden ground. The effects of the cake were wearing off, and the sudden change from exhuberance in the lashing rain, to the whispering silence and eerie rising fog left her speechless, and still. A moment, hanging like a swaying rope bridge between one scene and another.

                                      And it was at that very moment, as is so often the case, that the mysterious Mr Minn appeared, dressed, it would seem, for a formal event. Raising his tall black hat he said with a smile, “Eleri! WE meet again!”

                                      She swooned, and fell into his arms. Later, in retrospect, Eleri had to admit it was an extraordinarily well timed whitey, due to the after effects of the cake, but was pleased with the theatrical symbolism and timing.

                                      Rolling his eyes, Micawber Minn called for Festus, his young assistant. “Carry her back to the party, and tell Margoritt I’m on my way. But first,” he said, “A necessary detour…”

                                      #4365

                                      The rain had poured again and again, across the night, with short fits of howling winds. There had been no sign of Eleri or Gorrash, and people in the cabin had waited for the first ray of light to venture outside to find them.
                                      The newcomer, the quiet potion maker, stayed in her small quarters and hadn’t really mingled, but Margoritt wasn’t concerned about it. She was actually quite protective of her, and had continued her own chatter all through the night, doing small chores or being busy at her small loom, stopping at times in the middle of painful walking. She would however not cease speaking to whomever was listening at the time, or to her goat, or at times just to the wind or herself.

                                      Rukshan had had several dreams during the night, and could tell he wasn’t the only one. Everyone had a tired look. Images came and went, but there was a sense of work to be done.

                                      There were a few things he had managed to gather during that time awake when meditative state brought some clarity to the confused images.
                                      First, they were all in this together.
                                      Then, they probably needed a plan to repair the old.
                                      As soon as they would find the two missing ones, he would share it with everyone.

                                      ‘Hng hng’ — Rukshan opened his eyes to find Olliver drawing on his sleeve. The boy wasn’t very eloquent, but his postures would speak volumes. He was pointing to something outside.

                                      Rukshan looked at the clearing just outside the cabin, at first not realising two things had happened. Then they both dawned on him: the first ray of light had come across the cloudy sky, and second, the clearing was empty of the vengeful God.

                                      “Grumpf” he swore in the old Elvish tongue “that rascal is surely going after Eleri — Eleri who he now knew was the laughing crone of the story, rendered younger by the powers of her goddaughter, the tricked girl. Eleri, who having inherited of the transmutation powers, had turned the angry God who had been left behind into stone to protect all of them.
                                      If the God would find her before they could get her to extract her Shard, at best they would be condemned to another cycle of rebirth, or worse, he would try to kill all of them to extract the other Shards from the others, one by one, until the Gods old powers would be his…

                                    Viewing 20 results - 961 through 980 (of 2,711 total)