Friday, March 3, 2017

Writing Prompt 2 Food & Clip



Today's themes are Food, and Clip. Let me know what you think! 
Woof!

She yawned, slowly swishing her tail, belly full. It had been a great night. Midsummer’s eve celebration always was, but tonight seemed even better somehow. There had been games, prizes, a ring toss, even a magician! She rolled over, almost buried in blankets in the back of the cart. She could hear the soft clip clop of the horse’s hooves over the path. Night had fallen, and the fog began to set in. She was just dozing off when the cart stopped. “There’s something ahead on the road” her father whispered. Stay in the cart, I’m going to check it out. She heard him dismount, and walk slowly up the road. “Ere now, what do you mean by blocking the road?” He called out. She couldn’t make out the conversation, but someone else was talking, in a low, urgent tone. She popped her head out, trying to see the road ahead. A tall dark shape, taller than even the soldiers in town. He was wearing a great black travelers cloak shrouded in fog. After some more words with the stranger, her father came hurrying back to the cart.
“We need to get off the road, find someplace safe” he cried. His eyes were wide. “They’ve come back!” he whispered, in a tone almost to faint to hear.
“Who’s come back?”
He paused, as if weighing how much to say. “Remember those bedtime stories I used to tell about the fearless warriors of old and the curse of the black lake?”
She nodded. She loved hearing about their town lore, and the great deeds of long ago.
“They weren’t just stories. And this time, we no longer have the strength to repel them!”
He gave the reigns a tug, and quickly pulled the cart off the road and into the brush.
“This fog is welcome, it will help muffle our breathing, and hide our trail.” He whispered.
“All the same, no sense in taking chances my dear. Git under those blankets and keep quiet!”
The cart rattled and creaked as it left the road, and into the forest. They hadn’t gone more than an arrow’s pace of the road when he halted.
“Listen!” He gestured. The fog was too thick to see the road, but straining her ears, she could hear a faint sound. Almost a hissing, and quick pace of a dozen or so large, heavy sets of feet. They passed in the night, never slowing, nor changing their direction. Soon they were gone. She could hear her father breathing a sigh of relief.
“What were those things? Who was that figure on the road who warned us? What will happen to our village?” Questions came bursting out of her mouth.
“Hush my little one. I will explain everything. But not now. Now we have a long journey ahead of us. The town, and our home are no longer safe. Let’s be off!” He pulled the horse back towards the road, and then off in the direction away from town. She looked back and thought she saw prints on the road, deep in the mud tracks of the like she had never seen before. She curled into a ball, and tried to stave off the horrible images of these creatures.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Writing Prompt: Salt, Dancing

Good Afternoon!

Sorry for missing the last couple weeks, I shall attempt to make up for those with a double post today. wot wot! These next two posts will be writing prompts borrowed from Eleanor. I usually tend to do a lot of rambling with my posts, so here's an attempt at some coherence. :-)

Subject: Dancing     Theme: Salt

There they were in the dark; the Duke with his dagger, the Doge with his dart, Duchess with her dirk.Oops, haha! Let's try that again:

The Mariana Trench. Deepest part of the ocean. One of the few places still mostly uninhabited by the humans. Strange creatures dwelt there, from the dawn of time, or so twas said. It was there, 200 years ago, that the trouble started.  For generations beyond memory, she dwelt there, the largest creature in the sea. A blue whale was similar in size to her as a grain of rice might be to a human. When she moved, so did the sea. Waves and tides, so often attributed to science, were in fact created by her. She was a Kraken, the Eldest and largest. And she loved to dance. For a while, she danced alone, to the music of the ocean, bobbing her mantle to the time of the beginning. Then, she heard him. She felt him. He had a flute, and played the most beautiful music, chanting, and playing. She couldn't see him, but she felt a magnetic tug or pull, every time he played. He was the moon, and he was asking her to dance. For centuries they danced together, whirling, spinning, round and around, sometimes so fast large storms were created, other times so gentle that the sea itself seemed to stop moving. The two were inseparable...
Then the humans came. Disturbed from their land-based habitat for some unknown reason, they had begun to flee, in mass numbers to the moon, off-world, and as yet even to the depths of the ocean. They were tiny, but their ships came by the thousands, and they brought terrible machines of destruction. The moon's music was soon shut out, blocked by giant reflector dishes designed to capture the remaining sunlight. The trench was breached, and massive underwater dwellings were crafted. They were everywhere. And the endless cycle of the Dance was stopped.
Enraged, the Kraken began a horrible dance, putting voice her frustration. The seas turned into a never ending series of typhoons, the sky grew dark and stormy, and the air grew cold. Terrified, the humans began to leave the sea, fleeing upwards to the stars. The world lay abandoned, left to its fate. The moon was still shielded, and he was unable to communicate with her. She felt lost, and alone.
Then the moon began to shrug off the humans as well. He began to spin, faster and faster round and round until the humans were flung to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Together again, the Moon and the Sea returned in peace to their endless dance, Twee and La, ying and yang, push, and pull.

--I liked the storyline, but has having trouble with the ending. Any other thoughts or ideas appreciated--

Sheepdog