Swords with Souls: Fallen Prince (Sir Oisin) B85

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

Fallen Prince

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He moves away from the window. Now that he’s inside, he must hurry. The desiccation of the tops of his ears has one disadvantage. Sounds from above are not as clear as they used to be unless he lifts his head. He steps silently across the hardwood floor to the door. There’s no sound of Propers nearby. He pushes open the door and peers in. To the left of him is a stairway leading up. As he climbs the stairs he hears voices. Halfway up he listens.

“That murderous Sir Ganbold,” a man says with a hiss. “I thought he fled.”

“This is treachery,” another man says. “Sir Olaf is right to send messengers to the giants, dwarves, and quarter moons. They owe it to us to help defeat that betrayer.”

“And we welcomed him and his family,” another man says.

“Imagine how many of Ganbold’s men one arrow from a giant’s bow can gut,” a man with a snarly voice says and laughs.

“Dwarves will cut out their groins while quarter moons will slip into their campsite at night and slit their throats.”

“I also heard Sir Olaf wants to hurry diverting the Tyne River so the new palace will be surrounded by a moat.”

He realizes these are castle staff with obviously minimal military training.  But they understand the skills of each of the races. A giant with a bow or spear had distance advantage. The dwarves they talk about are the ones that came from the mating of giants and dwarves.  Those ones, with their hardy shields would be near indestructible. And his people, the quarter moons, as the Propers call them, are renown for stealth.

The diversion of the Tyne River has been a concern for the Sifs ever since the now deceased king, King Leopold Khalifa, started construction on a new palace. He wonders how many faie will be affected by this diversion. The wildlife might survive by finding new homes elsewhere but many faie he had heard, were attached lifelong to an area of land or water.

He lets out a breath. His people are renown for showing outward disdain towards the giants and dwarves along with the Propers. The Propers believe that the Sifs are arrogant and miserly. They capture any of his people found outside what the Propers call the Kingdom of Snowdropbogbean. The more vicious soldiers often rape the females and cut off the toes of the males.

His own people don’t believe the Sifs are limited to any one land. But his people are naturally full of hubris. That could make for a dangerous situation. But what he’s most interested in, and wonders the most about, is who the castle men aren’t talking about. Sir Olaf is calling upon the giants, dwarves, and Sifs, but not Sir Olafès own northern countrymen.

He needs to get to his own people and tell the elders that an alliance is excepted between the Sifs and Sir Ganbold’s people. And that negotiating a treaty with the giants and dwarves would be wise.

Note: these book will be available again in April

Book review of Lead Without Losing Yourself by Daniel Flitton

Book Review of

“Lead Without Losing Yourself”

-Stoic Wisdom for School Leadership

by Daniel Flitton

Sometimes, I write book reviews on books that were given to me or ones I purchased and really enjoyed.

This one is by someone I know personally.

Daniel Flitton comes from a family of teachers. The type of teachers who put their students first.  And do so with genius and wit that makes learning both fun, easy, and memorable.

I was able to talk to Dan, briefly, about his book.  How I enjoyed it’s flow, practical language, and philosophical insights that come from years of experience. 

As I read through “Lead Without Losing Yourself” I also realized how valuable the lessons in his book are for business leaders, parents, and anyone else in a leadership role.

Dan doesn’t write, ignore or push away your feelings of frustration, but instead, take a breath and reflect before reacting.  A main theme throughout his book is to learn how to diffuse a possibly volatile situation.

He uses quotes by the stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius (160-181 AD); the stoic Epictetus (50-135 AD); St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and from movies, songs, and more to give examples of how to be stoic and listen before reacting.

Throughout the book he asks the reader to jot down answers to questions that encourage contemplation: When was the last time you judged someone’s tone before understanding their context? (There’s space at the back of the book to make a journal)

Whether you’re a teacher, business leader, military leader, or parent, this is an excellent book to remind you that reflection before action is almost always a wiser method.

By Dan Watt

Lead Without Losing Yourself is available on Amazon

Swords with Souls: Fallen Prince (Sir Oisin) B84

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

Fallen Prince

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Now that he can’t use the entranceway from the stable to a stairway that leads to the different floors of the castle he leaps onto the stables sloping roof instead. Nearby, he hears people talking fearfully about the fire and the loss of the prince. The palace must have been evacuated other than those throwing pails of water. He gazes up to the third floor.  The one just below the prince’s. If he has to, he’ll take off his disguise but he would rather not. From his tool bag he takes out a knotted rope and three prong grappling hook. He also slips on a pair of fingerless leather gloves. There’s no light coming from the window he sees directly above. When he was younger, he thought everyone could see at night. Not the same way as in daylight when there is a rainbow of colours but shades of grey and blue. It wasn’t until he lived amongst the Propers that he learned Sifs, and dwarves of mixed blood, could see even during solar midnight. Unfortunately, torch and candlelight decreased the distance. He throws the grappling hook at the window sill.

In the land of the Sifs, perfection was expected but never realized. You tried and tried again until something became easy. Once elders learned what a young Sif excelled at that individual was given a lifelong job. He always excelled at everything but reading and staying still. There were things every Sif learned. Throwing a grappling hook was not one of them. As he trained to be an infiltrator while his ears were covered in salves to make his wounds look normal, he learned all sorts of skills.

He listens for a moment. There are voices but no footsteps. He scales the palace’s wall to the third-floor window. If he’s right it will take him to the second kitchen where prepared food is brought and where extra jugs of mead and wine are stored.

Once inside the storage room he sees shelves and pantries around a table with cutting boards and sharpened knives. As he leans out the window to remove the grappling hook and retrieve the rope he sees the hooded girl on the rooftop. Their eyes meet. She lifts her chin to him and he shivers. She is a Sif but not of his people and that means she might be a Fif; half faie. Legend told that a Fif who lifts her or his chin while staring into another’s eyes is saying ‘We will meet again’.

Swords with Souls: Fallen Prince (Sir Oisin) B83

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

Fallen Prince

Facebook

“You were the only one who brought me water afterwards,” the woman is saying when he gets to the stall.

“I-I didn’t understand what was happening at first,” the man says with a mixture of fear and shame.

Her voice coils with venom, “But you ploughed inside me just like the others.”

He peers into the stall.  The light is dim but he sees the side profile of a woman wearing a cowl standing before a man kneeling on the floor. Although he doesn’t know his name he knows this man. A simple soldier who is always tasked with the least desirable jobs, like cleaning out stalls.   

“At first—at first, I did,” the man says while staring at the woman’s boots.  “I just wanted to be like the others. That’s all.”

“You have a newborn girl?” There’s a softness now to the woman’s voice.

Still not looking up the man replies, “Yes, I do.” He’s shivering now.

The woman lowers her cowl. Sir Oisen gawks. Long blonde hair flows down her shoulders. But peeking through the strands of hair he sees the tips of a quarter moon ear.

“Remember my visage,” she says coldly, “and name her Endellion.”

The man looks up. “Thank you, milady. I will name her Endellion.”

“Will you speak of me to others?” she asks pulling her cowl up.

“Never! I will never forget that you spared me.”

“You will be the only one I do,” she says with a hiss in her voice.  “Stay kneeling until I’m gone.”

She turns so quickly that Sir Oisin jumps back. In that brief glance he can see how her eyes are wider apart than Propers; like his.

He remembers the news about the prince and rushes down the hall to the same stall he entered from. Before dawn appears, he needs to learn how the prince died and what it will mean for this kingdom.

Bo Reese Naesborg

sailing craftsman

Swords with Souls: Fallen Prince (Sir Oisin) B82

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

Fallen Prince

Facebook

He walked here after leaving Ronni untethered in the nearby forest. The elders nicknamed him the Infiltrator. He agreed to have the tips of his ears dissected to become a spy. Now he’s back at Damp Wind, a place he hoped to have left forever. He stares at the familiar wall that surrounds the castle.  He wears a commoners’ white tunic, and dark blue hose, along with well-worn leather boots. Overtop of everything he throws on a simple dark brown cape. They are clothing he only wears when in disguise. Lastly, he tightens a belt with a tool bag around his waist.

As he pays to enter the kingdom a fire erupts from one of the palaces windows. He stares intently for a moment until he’s sure that it’s Prince James’s bedroom window.

“That’s bad news Alwyn,” the guard beside him says.  They have met before when he wore the same or a similar disguise.  The guard believes he’s a carpenter.

“I’ll see what’s happening,” Sir Oisin says and hurries into the city.

As he gets closer the fire is extinguished. “Prince James is dead!” a crier from a tower built near the castle cries out. The few people on the street stop staring at the smoke from the fire and gather in groups.  He can hear them gossiping about the news.  The air is filled with tension at the news of the one-handed prince’s demise.  Those that loved him cried out that it can’t be true.  Others, who never liked the ‘brat’ as they called him under their breaths, keep quiet.

He walks briskly towards the mortar and wood wall that surrounds the palace. Once he’s near where he knows the stables are he leaps higher than his own height to grab the fence’s top. On the other side he sees the staggard buttresses that helps the wall stay up.  The ledge is just wide enough for him to crouch and run along until he sees a spot with no guards. He jumps down and crouches near a stable.

Listening carefully for any guards he hears the quiet voice of a woman speaking in a deathly tone.  He scampers through a stall window. Touching the shoulder of the horse inside he waits for her to calm before opening the stall door and slipping into a hallway.  He follows the woman’s voice to a stall a short distance down the hall.

Chloe Bruce — stuntwoman and martial artist

Swords with Souls: King of the Giants and Dwarves (Lara) B81

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

King of the Giants and Dwarves

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She tries not to gag from the terrible smell emitting from his body. Though that horrible scent helps her from shivering with fear and fleeing. Jedreck gently pushes her upper back and she slips in between a male giant and a female dwarf.  

The king’s head turns towards her. A macabre grin appears between the wheezing breaths. “My brothers and sisters used to dress up as bears to steal children like you out of second-storey windows; where the parents thought their young ones would be safe.” His voice is weak but determined and nearly too deep for her to understand. His smile lingers before he continues between wheezes. “Delicious.”

“His memory is going,” one of the giant daughters says.

“That was before I fell in love with one of you,” the king continues in a softer voice. “Evelyn stole my heart first. So lithe and fragile in appearance yet so willful and tall for your kind.” He gasps and a dwarven daughter gives him liquid from a jug. “‘No more eating us Propers, my love, she demanded.’ I was blinded by my love for her. My brothers and sisters were unhappy and took to hunting dwarves and other tiny peoples.  Then, when Evelyn grew old and passed, I fell for Nina, a dwarven maiden with wide hips and such a beautiful smile and joyous laugh.”

She stares dumbfounded as the king’s malevolent eyes grow soft and the pale-yellow yokes grow red with the trickles of tears. Jedreck passes her a large leather bag and a quartz stone with iron inside. She pinches the bottom of the bag and covers the king’s mouth with the opening of the bag.

He gives one final exhale into the bag.  She pinches it closed. “We need some blood,” she says.

She is surprised when Jedreck fumbles with a glass flask and knife with ruins on its blade. One of the dwarven daughters takes both from him. She cuts her father’s wrist and holds the flask so it can gather the warm blood.

Lara realizes they were all told about the procedure before she arrived. Would they have tried without her? And would they have succeeded? Or did her faie blood make her the only one who could perform the procedure?

People I Follow

Carolina Wells at divewells

The Life of Chuck: a movie review

Movie Review of: The Life of Chuck

Original story by Stephen King

Directed by Mike Flanagan

A genius movie that intertwines philosophy with dance, drum rhythms, life, the importance of math, precognition, and death.

Chuck Krantz, played by Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, and Tom Hiddleston is the pith, literally, of this movie.  Like Inception, it’s best to watch the movie all the way through, or pause it before going for snacks.  Arguably, Marty Anderson played by Chiwetel Ejiofor is the other main character.  Interacting with other characters while awaiting the End.  To understand the End, pay close attention to young Chuck as Benjamin Pajak’s conversation with Miss Richards (Kate Siegel).

There is a dance scene with Chuck (Tom Hiddleston), Janice Halliday (Annalise Basso), and an incredible drum performance by Taylor Franck (The Pocket Queen).  Remember the drum scene later on when you hear Chuck’s grandfather, Albie Krantz (Mark Hamill), explain why math is Truth and omnipresent.

Believability is a mixture of script and cast portrayal. 

This is an ensemble piece with Felicia Gordon, Marty Anderson’s ex-wife (Karen Gillan), and Sam Yarborough (Carl Lumbly) helping Marty at the End.

There’s also Miss Rohrbacher (Samantha Sloyan) who encourages young Chuck to dance, and Sarah Krantz (Mia Sara) Chuck’s grandmother who reminds him to enjoy life. These characters along with others help the movie flow so that each important piece connects to make The Life of Chuck complete.  

At the end, or later on, when your mind continues to sort through all the layers of depth in the film, you might find yourself asking: are we our own reality?

Swords with Souls: King of the Giants and Dwarves (Lara) B80

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

King of the Giants and Dwarves

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She thinks of the ancient tomes Haashir has brough her family and the secrets within them.  “Will the king of the giants and dwarves attack us Propers?”

“Only if the faie ask him to.”

Her mouth opens and she freezes inside. Does Jederick know who her and Gwen’s mother is? Or about her grandfather?

“We must leave today,” Jederick says, his dark blue eyes studying her. “Will Aminah let me take her rein? You need to be blindfolded.” His voice is soft and respectful.

“Are you going to tie my hands to the stirrup as well?” she asks with a mock snarl.

“No. I trust you. The blindfold is more for show for those who might not.”

“And if I can see through the cloth?”

“Just don’t tell anyone. I give you my word Lady Некромансер, I will try to protect you but we must leave now.”  His voice is calm but the acidic smell of his sweat says the opposite.

“You’ll try to protect me?” She says in a haughty tone. “Fine.”

His hands look like they could crush her head, yet, she hardly feels them as he ties a red strip of cloth around her eyes. The fibers of the cloth are not tight and she can see the back of Aminah’s head and a bit beyond. Jedreck must have Aminah’s reign because she feels a gentle jerk just before Aminah starts a slow trot.

The air becomes cooler and windless as they travel. She can smell the distinct resinous scent of juniper. Aminah’s steps are more cautious and she can feel through her hips that the ground is uneven.

A long time later she can smell the sweet smell of burning alder.  Aminah halts and a moment later Jedreck helps her down.

She feels his hand engulf hers. “We’ll be there soon,” he says with trepidation in his voice as he leads her along a wide dirt path cleared of stones and roots.

A short while later she feels stone, like cobblestones, under her feet. “Step up and forward,” she hears Jedreck say.

On the fifth step she hears creaking and can just see a giant wooden door opening.

Even with the alder burning she can smell the stench of something rotting. It makes her gag.

The blindfold is removed and Jedreck reties it so that it covers her nose and mouth.

She gazes up and sees he already has a cloth around his own nose and mouth.

Her eyes widen and she takes an involuntary step backwards. Deep inside the hall of the building is a crowd of real giants and exceptionally wide shouldered dwarves. They are standing with somber expressions on either side of a bed. The giants are easily eighteen to twenty or more of her hand lengths tall.  A few of the giants are female. Their hair is braided and oiled to show off their long, determined faces. The younger women have faces similar to the men’s. The faces are also similar to some of the dwarves. She gulps.  Except for the older ones, are these all the king’s children?

Lying on a bed with posts made of thick oak is the tallest giant of all, the king.  A blanket made up brown bear hides covers his frail body. Long fingers with skin so thin she can see the bones underneath clench the blankets, relax and clench again with each breath. His shaggy head of white with intermingled strands of red hair flows well past his sunken chest. His head rests on layers of pillows. Deep wrinkles cover his slightly lopsided pale face. His sunken eyes glimmer unevenly with conceit that emits from intense pale blue eyes. His mouth stays open as he wheezes in and out each breath. There’s something in his mouth behind his front teeth.  She feels Jedreck take her wrist and gently pull her forward. Now she sees what the objects are, another row of teeth.

Humayra’s Story World (decorative cooking)

The reading of the blurbs for BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone and Owner of the Gemstone; and WHISPERS

This will be my last post his year.

Have a Merry Christmas and holiday season,

and a Happy New Year most of all!!!

Swords with Souls: King of the Giants and Dwarves (Lara) B79

A Medieval Fantasy Fiction Story

(Adult Content)

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone

(Author of the Plagueborn series)

A Viral Imperium Book one of the Plagueborn series

King of the Giants and Dwarves

caedar-writig-artwork.com

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Lara just wants to return home.  Helping to craft not one but two swords with souls has drained her, especially the one with her grandfather’s soul, the one that now hangs on her left side. She named the sword Stian after her grandfather.  Every time she grasps the handle of the sword, she can hear her grandfather’s voice commenting on the surroundings. She hasn’t tried to ask any questions because hearing his voice answer her might break her heart. She rests her head against Aminah’s neck and sobs. Sniffing and wiping the tears away she climbs onto Aminah’s back. Nearby, Jedreck is waiting on Angus, a massive shire horse that looks more like a pony with Jedreck sitting on his back.

She swats a mosquito away. “I’d like to go now,” she says to the giant. He had told her he would guard her on her way back home. She told him she didn’t need a guardian, but he had insisted. Now he’s moving in front of her and Aminah, cutting them off from traveling down the path. Lara grabs onto the handle of her soul sword. This time her grandfather voice is silent.

Jederick is looking down at her with a conflicted expression. “I ask you to go on a side trip with me. To make another soul sword.”

She wonders how powerful the soul sword in her hand is. She had seen how well Sir Oliver’s had performed against Jederick. There is a determined but gentle glow emitting from the giant’s unblinking stare. With a sigh, she asks, “What is this for?”

“The king of the giants and dwarves is dying,” he blurts out.

“King Leopold is dying?” she asks, confused.  He seemed very much alive last she knew.  

“No, the king of the giants and dwarves,” Jederick repeats.

“There is another king?” Lara asks.

“Yes, but his existence is unknown to the Propers, as your people call themselves.”

“You want me to make a soul sword using the soul of this dying king?” She wonders if that is a good idea. She still isn’t sure how powerful these swords are. “Do I have a choice?”

Jederick bows his head. “I—I would rather it was your choice.”

“But if I refuse, you’ll try to force me?”

Now he’s looking at her with a wan smile.  His lips quiver for a moment.  “Yes.”

“You can’t make me do this, Jederick,” she says glaring up at him while clenching tighter onto the handle of the soul sword.

“Haashir has ways to,” he replies.

*Except for a possible video, this will be my last post until the New Year.