Posted by admin on July 27, 2009
The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.
We hurried inside and found an abandoned house. Through the windows I watched several more creatures scurry past out the main gate and off into the deepening darkness.
In the dead of winter I found myself holed up with an irascible wizard and a lame huntress. Dina’s arm had broken. Pascalli complained bitterly to me. “Why didn’t you think, boy? It’s a fight for your life. There are no rules. I wanted into the palace by now, but we can’t leave her alone, and we can’t bring her along like this.”
We had taken refuge in a large mansion near the palace. With little else to do except eat and sleep, Pascalli quadrupled my training. Every chore imaginable he required that I perform by magic alone, without the aid of my hands. Though I had often dreamt as a child of being able to simply wish the dinner pots would clean themselves, I found that asking them to do it was equally rigorous. Catching the right voices among the myriad swirls of so many different elements proved nearly impossible. At first I managed by conjuring water and having it slosh around the same as I would by hand, but Pascalli pointedly dismissed this idea. “Use the meat between your ears, Scratch. You’ve magic now, do something interesting.”
I now realize that no matter what I could have invented there would have been no pleasing that old man, but at the time I scrambled through idea after idea. By the first signs of spring I had become adept at lighting fires and manipulating water and air. I mastered causing small objects to fly, but I had difficulty with anything larger or heavier than a stone the size of my fist.
Pascalli also invented a new, rather disturbing game that truly annoyed me. At odd moments he would toss a stone at me, and I either stopped it with magic or took a lump. As if that game weren’t bad enough, it quickly progressed to a knife aimed at an arm or leg and eventually my more vital parts. He began encouraging Dina to do the same with her free arm, which she did far too willingly for my pleasure. I am sure that had time permitted we would have progressed to stopping arrows or some other nonsense, but Dina’s arm took time to heal.
After some ten markets Dina’s arm knit completely and the weather had turned enough for Pascalli to finally venture a visit to the palace. To my great dismay, however, he did not invite me. Instead he said, “Scratch, my lad, I shall need some supplies. Now I’ve done some looking and turned up a coin or two, and there’s bound to be more about. Go down to Last Gate and see what you can buy. What’s more, see who you can entice into joining us here. The city is open now, and I think we can begin to breathe some life into it.”
I set off with Dina back down the mountain towards Last Gate. Going down seemed much easier than coming up. No enemies pursued us, though in the hills and forest remained a constant danger filled with many strange creatures from the breaking. Our horses delighted in the journey for they had not much exercise in many markets. Dina also acted as gay as any young lass for she was returning alive, though a certain dread did still shadow us. For my part I knew that Pascalli had brought me to the city for a reason that remained as yet unaccomplished. I believe Dina still wondered about her station with her family.
The guards at Last Gate saw us approach easily a kilometer before we reached the wall. Even in the distance we heard someone call into the town, though the words were muffled. A small crowd gathered atop the gate to watch us, and I felt a stirring of pride as they gaped in disbelief at our approach.
Naturally, Garret, the gate captain assumed we were returning in failure. “I see you return one windbag less,” he said with a commanding voice. “These gates are closed by imperial law.”
Dina stood up in her stirrups and I’m sure was prepared to invoke her father’s name, but I motioned for her to relax.
“The Lord of Darnuth Keep does not leave his domain without a steward,” I replied. “My tutor and friend is safe and well, I assure you, preparing my palace for my return.” I must admit at the time I had meant merely to bluff my way through a closed door. I had no idea how near the truth I really hit. “I have come to seek parlance with the imperial regent and to negotiate a treaty to our mutual benefit. Let us pass.”
There were no more replies from the guard towers, only muttered voices beyond my hearing. The gate opened and we passed inside.
The village of Last Gate had swollen over the winter with the news of the three strangers who forced their way through. Swarms of rogues and adventurers all in the guise of merchants crowded the streets peddling anything that passed the guards’ mandates. These merchants brought with them their servants and slaves, and the commotion attracted the attention of yet other visitors. In particular many members of the local nobility lent their curiosity. The moment that drove home the importance of our situation most poignantly happened when Dina suddenly reined her horse in and dismounted. She dropped to her knees before a haughty man some eight or ten winters my elder. He rode a tall black stallion with his hair tied back in a topknot after the fashion of the western nobility. I knew at once from his manner and his eyes that this must be a brother. I waited, facing him silently.
He ignored his sister and instead spoke to me. His shirt and pantaloons were finest silk, and the cutlass at his side had a hilt worked masterfully. I caught the distinct clink of mail and knew that he was protected and surely trained to fight.
“You have broken our law,” he said flatly. His voice carried a deadly steel that I knew came from a life of giving orders.
“That is impossible,” I replied. A slice of anger pierced his eyes. “I am Colter Halfspear, Lord of Darnuth Keep. There is no law here that binds me.” After watching Pascalli for so long I had developed a bit of pomp for bullying. This man, Dina’s brother, however, was not a man to be bullied, especially not by an un-bearded youth such as myself.
“You will give me your weapons, now,” he said. “Then my court shall decide your fate.”
“I know your law,” I said. “It is the emperor’s law. You cannot take my weapons, and you should not try.”
Soldiers had now surrounded us. I began to have some second thoughts about my situation, but I had gone too far to back down. Pascalli had beaten too much pride into me. I couldn’t give it away.
Suddenly Dina spoke, and for the first time her brother paid her attention, “Zaban, you must not try it. He is who he says he is.” She had not raised her head, and I’m sure the muddy streets made her knees quite uncomfortable.
Zaban’s steely eyes turned into a scowl. “Come with me,” he said, relenting slightly. “We have much to discuss. You may retain your weapons for the present.” He did not fear me. That much I could read in his eyes. I believe he saw the wisdom of avoiding conflict despite my forced breach of custom.
He still did not speak to Dina, even as we paraded, with imperial guards on either side through the streets to a large camp just outside of town. His personal tent dominated a small village of tents that housed his many servants and personal warriors.
Pascalli had warned me of the formality of the courts of nobility, particularly in the west. I don’t believe he had planned for me to be introduced just yet, but I was determined not to disappoint. Zaban, to be sure, leaned heavily on formality and custom. His personal guard kept a tight line, much better than typical soldiers, and their gear was polished bright enough to make Iven smile. I suddenly realized how haggard I must look, dressed in home-cut buckskin with wild hair Dina cropped with our crude tools. Though I groomed my horse better than anyone I knew and I tended my weapons and armor as only one whose life depends on it, I had seen too much wear for too long.
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman
On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Fourty Five
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Posted by admin on July 22, 2009
Painting, drawing, sculpting – anything artistic. I wanted to take a moment and send props to anyone out there with an artistic bent. I have a deep respect and admirations for anyone with that kind of talent and dedication. The rewards are often non-existent. The hours often difficult. The life-style demanding and the support often missing.
I just wanted to say thank you for making the world a more comfortable and beautiful place. For making things happier (or sadder). For helping us all feel more and see more and come to understand more about ourselves and the world around us.
If you are an aspiring artist then don’t give up. If you are successful already – then keep up the good work.
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Posted by admin on July 20, 2009
The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.
The next markets passed quite uneventfully. With Dina’s help I tied skins of animals filled with very smelly powder to poles three to four meters tall all around the valley. Pascalli had both Dina and I make arrows by the dozen and practice firing them with their tips dipped and lit on fire. Of course wherever I traveled I had that stupid pebble following me, and lighting arrows with magic quickly turned into a tedious chore.
The snow began to deepen, and the edges of the lake began to freeze. Pascalli warned that it would not be safe to try to catch anymore of the enormous trout for the ice was thin and unsafe but the water could not be reached without walking on it. We built two watch points outside of the walls where Dina and I could reach the poles with a long arrow shot. Pascalli had a signal fire ready to go atop the city wall. With our poles safely planted and our winter stores in, all we could do was watch and wait.
I had long lost the reckoning of days and markets though I know it must have been sometime after the midwinter festival. Needless to say we did not celebrate. Pascalli saw to it that day and night someone watched over the valley, and sure enough one evening just as the gray sun began to slip over the mountains Dina called to us from the city wall.
We all took our positions without questions. Pascalli warned us that the shock might upset some of the keep’s current occupants and we should be on the lookout for creatures running out of the valley and out of the keep. “Especially watch out for what might be inside the palace. We’ve not ventured in there yet, but you can be sure it is not friendly.”
The Kaarum approached like a cold, slow, black snake. Though I knew that their masters drove them on with whips at a running gait across the ice and snow, to me, sitting on my frozen perch the minutes seemed to pass like hours. Much to my surprise and chagrin as the black army entered the narrow valley their pace slackened. They moved carefully. Clearly they knew that some armed resistance had taken at least a few of their scouts. I looked to the place where the signal fire would light. Nothing. My heart sank more as the night began to surround us. If they intended to move in the night my toes would surely freeze from staying still so long, but I had no choice. I had a tiny flame concealed in a little earthenware pot scavenged from an abandoned home. I moved it between my toes and waited.
The troops in the lead slowed and came to a halt. At first I did not understand, but then I realized that they had encountered terrain more difficult than anticipated. Some markets back at Pascalli’s behest Dina and I had struggled to fell trees and drag them with our horses across the road. Covered with two or three meters of snow, the debris would make it dangerous and difficult even for the supply carts on runners. Soldiers on foot could not move through the valley without risking a nasty fall that could easily break a limb. Troops began to pile up behind. Confusion ensued with Kaarum moving every direction but forwards. Suddenly the signal fire flared.
Almost as one, the entire army shouted in collective panic. I lit my arrow in my tiny flame and loosed it at the first target. I knew by memory where each lay and did not need even the little bit of starlight that now filtered through the thin clouds. My first arrow struck and I lit the next. Before I could shoot a second arrow an enormous explosion rocked the valley. I did not know if my second arrow found its mark because just after I let it go a second explosion shook the valley. I found my last target and fired.
If there were more explosions I could not say because in the next moments the entire valley became one continuous rumbling tumult. I grabbed my earthenware jar and scrambled to the relative safety of the abandoned city. All around the snow had begun to fall off of the teetering mountain peaks dumping thousands of tons of white death onto the army below. Somewhere I think I heard the cracking of the ice in the lake, but I can’t be certain. The morning found a valley floor covered in white mounds where the night before an army had tried to cross.
I am glad that I could only catch faint glimpses of crushed bodies in the dark and that the massive avalanche drowned their screams. Death is horrible, even for the Kaarum. When spring arrived, bringing new life, we found a valley floor littered with bones and rot and old gear. The deep valley lake covered much of the destruction and smell, but for a long time afterwards the marks of our triumph remained.
The shaking of the avalanche startled the entire city, including the palace. Pascalli’s counsel to keep up our guard proved wise. Dina and I both returned to the city wall about the same time. We had opened the city gates, knowing that the Kaarum would not attempt to get in, but we had not really planned on facing down enemies trying to get out.
A dog, perhaps the size of a pony, surprised us in its terror. The scales along its torso, like those of a fish, glittered slightly in the starlight. It cracked a long, bony tail like a whip. The enormous jaws growled in unmistakable anger and fear. Yellow eyes darted everywhere in panic.
We pulled up short. I took a step backwards slowly, giving it plenty of room to pass. Dina did the same, but her hand moved too quickly to her quiver. Before I could warn her, the beast had already decided she was a threat and lunged. It grabbed her arm in its teeth and flung her like a doll. I had a brief second to knock my own arrow, but the point bounced harmlessly off of the creature’s natural armor. I’m sure I panicked. Dina had the good sense to lie still and it turned its attention on me. I found my father’s spear and dropped my bow. It would not be useful in this fight.
Though wide enough for several horses, the area in front of the gate did not leave a great deal of room for maneuvering. I circled carefully, waiting for an overwhelming lunge. I tried to put myself between it and Dina, but it seemed to sense my tactic and feinted. I parried with a jab to the snout, but it pulled back in time. Clearly this thing, whatever it was, had experience fighting and understood much more than the average wild animal.
Although I managed to hold my own for several more minutes, I am reasonably sure that in the end Dina and I would have met a rather unpleasant fate had Pascalli not been curious about us. Suddenly I heard his voice, booming like thunder from atop the city walls. “Use your blasted magic, boy! I’ve not spent my life blood training you to watch you waste it away like this.”
I will admit that I felt stupid, and to this day feel a little guilt that I did not think of the idea myself, an idea that could very well have saved Dina some pain. Of course the entire time my rock still flickered about me as it always had. I think the rock, more than anything had caused the creature to hesitate when it attacked me. I quickly focused on the rock, begging it to blaze to molten heat and sent it effortlessly into the dog’s eye. I had expected it to burn and frighten the creature, but instead the rock’s intense heat actually melted through the eye and burned into its brain. It dropped dead at Dina’s feet.
“Now that’s much better, lad,” said Pascalli. “Best get inside quick, and take it careful with her arm.”
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman
On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Fourty Four
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Posted by admin on July 17, 2009
Whip Stickitt
Get a ticket
Then go lick it.
About a toffit
To Ms. Moffit
On a loftit.
Ham scramble
In a bramble
I can ramble.
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Posted by admin on July 15, 2009
I write a couple of blogs in addition to this one. This blog is my favorite as I include the information that is most important to me and I get to share my most creative stuff. Sometimes, however, it can be pretty tough to find inspiration to keep putting out any kind of post let alone publish anything of quality 3 times each week.
The great thing about this, however, is that I have learned to find inspiration from just about everything around me. I wrote a poem about chewing gum because I asked my 4 year old daughter what I should write about. She has an obsession about gum and made her suggestion.
I can’t say that every poem I write is a masterpiece. There are those that I love more than others. There are stories that I enjoy more than others, and I don’t always have time to work on the latest chapter of my novel, but I have learned to take nearly any topic or thought and turn it into a poem or a string of sentences that I am willing to share with the public.
Inspiration can be found in any tangible object, or in a strand of conversation. A song on the radio. A news broadcast. The people in our lives – especially friends and family. All of these make good topics for poetry and stories. The trick is looking closely enough at the world to care enough about it to write.
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Posted by admin on July 13, 2009
The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.
With autumn fading quickly into winter I hunted each morning and then returned to skin and cure hides and smoke meat for our winter store. So many supplies had been left behind that we needed blankets, clothes and food. The cold mountains would have to provide our needs for the coming winter.
Dina handled her bow expertly, though she lacked my experience in the wild. At first we hunted separately, scouring the valley and mountain near the keep. Each day Dina grew a little more frustrated as I found more success. Pascalli suggested after a few days that we would be much safer hunting together while he worked on his preparations. Whatever he prepared for the Kaarum he did not explain to us.
We set out together, and I immediately noticed the noise she made as we walked. At first I ignored it, hoping she could learn by watching, but eventually I realized she needed help. “Let’s rest a bit,” I said. She didn’t want to stop. “We won’t find anything this morning.”
“How can you be so sure?” she asked. “This game trail is fresh.”
“The trail is fresh, but you aren’t,” I replied.
“I’m not tired,” she said, frowning.
“You move like you are tired. And I know that I am tired,” I said.
“You haven’t been yourself since you opened the gate to the inner circle. You don’t cook anymore, and you never join us at the fire in the evening anymore.” I didn’t expect to feel any concern in her voice, and the comfort surprised me. “What’s wrong?”
“I saw horrible things.” I know tears came to my eyes, but I did my best to hide them and keep my voice steady. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Will you at least tell me why you always find more game than me?” she asked. “My father taught me to hunt when I was only a girl, but I’m not having any luck here.”
“Hunting for sport is not the same as hunting when your life hangs on your skill. You are too nervous. You make a lot of noise, and you miss the small details. You have to know not only to look, but to see and understand.” I hoped I didn’t sound like Pascalli lecturing, but I knew I did.
“I would like to move the way you do. I always wanted to be better than my brothers. They have glory and honor already, but I will have to earn mine,” she said.
“I don’t know anything about glory, but I know that you don’t need to hunt like me to earn respect. You have a strength that is all your own. You gave up your life to be with us. I can respect that,” I said.
For the first time, I think she smiled at me. Although she never mastered everything about the wild, she put her heart into it with each step. Later that day we found two Kaarum, which we shot at a safe distance before they caught our scent. I learned to forgive what I viewed as her shortcomings, and she began to overlook mine. Such friendships are bought hard and dear, and only come with time and trial.
“What will your family do when you return?” I asked her as we sat around the fire. I needed something to take my mind away from the flames.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “My family has a great responsibility to the emperor. I met him once, you know.”
“Who?” I asked.
She laughed, the sort of laugh I expected from Laural. “The emperor, silly. I lived three summers in Dynwater, learning the ways of the courts. I know well my duties, and so does all my family. My father may not be able to let me live if I go back. Certainly he can no longer claim me as a daughter.”
“Why not? All you did was cross a gate,” I said.
“I aided you. There are some in Dynwater, and other places, who do not want you wandering free.”
“I haven’t seen or heard from my mother or sister since I left the village. I don’t know if they are still alive, though I hope they’ve had an easier time than I have.”
“You’ll see them again someday,” she reassured me. “Maybe one day we can visit them together.”
“And maybe you will introduce me to your family.” We laughed away our fears. I came to know that her great resentment of me stemmed only from fear of my father’s legend. Together we found game and gathered nuts and roots while forging a bond tempered through hardship.
Pascalli did not forget any of my other duties. At times Dina hunted alone, scouting only the fringes of the city, or stayed in camp preparing stores for winter. On those days she stayed because Pascalli kept me busy with my training and my learning. The daily efforts with sword and spear were redoubled, but he added to this meditation and serious practice with magic.
“Living matter is the most difficult to master,” explained Pascalli. “So we will begin with that which was never alive, or at least only alive so long ago that it has no memory of itself. That is to say it has no intelligence.” He held up a pebble. “Begin with that.”
I looked at the pebble. It seemed rather ordinary and uninteresting.
“Remember, you must focus. Find its voice and the voice of the element you want to use to control it. You have proven you can listen to the air, which is the easiest, go ahead and lift the pebble.”
So I began each day lifting the pebble. Eventually Pascalli moved me on to not just lifting the pebble but having it fly in circles or other patterns, and eventually to keeping it hovering over my shoulder as I moved around the camp. Controlling magic can be very tiring, and long before the first snows fell I had already grown weary of my daily routine.
Still Pascalli proved relentless. Each night when I returned he checked that the stone had not fallen. Then he introduced me to the other elements. “There are many elements all around us, and many kinds of energy. Understanding magic means understanding all of these things and bending them to your will. Take fire, for example. It is all around us, but you must ask the air to give it to you. The same is true of water and of lightning and of the force that causes things to fall. Concentrate on your stone again, but this time try to find the voice of fire within it.”
I concentrated. Instead of the usually wispy voice of the air I could hear a low rumbling, crackling whisper like a very distant forest fire.
“Now ask it to warm the rock.”
I found that I was not surprised when the pebble grew intensely hot.
“Very good,” said Pascalli. “You did not break your concentration. From now on you will use magic to light our campfires. Also practice collecting water from the air into your canteen as you hunt. I do not expect miracles yet, but time is short and you will soon be tested.”
When the first flakes of snow trickled from the sky Pascalli ordered us to stop our hunting efforts. By then we had a large stock of supplies in one of the smaller mansions in the citadel. We still had not entered the palace proper, which Pascalli seemed to regard with both dread and curiosity.
“Now then,” he began, using his lecture tone. “The time has come for us to begin in earnest one of the many reasons we came here. That is to say the main reason I came here, though you two are of course involved. As you both know, the Kaarum have sent their scouts through this valley. It is one of the few passes open during the winter though they have not tried it in many summers because the wild beyond it is both dangerous and unrewarding. The passes to the east are much better. Unless I am very much mistaken they will be forced to send their army through the valley this winter. They will wait until the lake is frozen over and until their own supplies of food far to the north have nearly dwindled until they are forced to hunt for plunder. We have come to stop them here.”
“How are we going to do that?” gasped Dina. “Three people against thousands of Kaarum do not make good odds.”
I had to agree, but I knew from the twinkle in the wizard’s eye that he had a plan. “There once was a time, young lady, when I alone could have stood against them without bothering so many markets in advance to prepare. Should time prove to be on my side, I shall prepare young Scratch here to do the same. In the meantime trust that this old bag of bones has a plan larger than his belly.”
Clearly Dina was not taken in by his smile. Pascalli ignored her glare and continued.
“There are ample supplies of certain minerals in the mountain, which I have been constantly mixing and preparing. Scratch, you may recall that the Veldmen make such powders from time to time to help delve. We shall place quantities of these powders in strategic locations around the valley and when the Kaarum arrive they will explode causing all of the snow to fall from the mountain on top of them. With any luck the frozen top of the lake will also give way and in one swift crack we’ll have them all.”
Naturally I thought he had lost his mind, but I had the good sense to hide it. Dina, however, exploded in a short-lived fit of incredulous rage. She was right, of course, there were far too many ways the plan could go wrong, but I knew Pascalli too well to really doubt him much. Besides, I had done crazier things already.
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman
On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Fourty Three
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Posted by admin on July 10, 2009
Icky, sticky, chewy.
Chomp, Squish, Ooze.
Day and Night she chews.
Doesn’t spit.
Doesn’t swallow.
All the taste is gone.
Behind her ear.
In her hair.
Sticky everywhere.
Around her toes.
On her nose.
Sticky fingers
Sticky thumbs
Sticky elbows
Sticky gum.
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Posted by admin on July 8, 2009
A decade.
High School twice over.
All that time and nobody but you.
A thrill.
More than just fun.
Everyday and nobody but you.
A picture,
Books of photos,
Filled with kids and memories with you.
A dream,
Waking too soon,
Only one lifetime to share with you.
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Posted by admin on July 6, 2009
The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.
I had prepared to say my name, but my heart froze as I looked into the pale dead eyes that stared unflinching back at me. Once a fat priest, now the flesh had faded into nothing by thin gray whiteness and the wispy hair drifted into smoky etherealness from behind a once balding pate. The dead eyes had no pupils, only rolling cloudy orbs above a clear-white face. As I looked into those eyes I saw not only the depths of fear, anger, and pain, but also the walls and decorations of the temple. Weapon or not, this foe I could not destroy in battle. I could not speak for a long time for it held me transfixed in anguish with its stare. The creature appeared to be waiting, but for what I could not tell.
As if in response to my thoughts the temple door opened and slowly a procession of other smoky-white entities began to file into the large worship hall. Though many seemed still to be dressed in clear or white versions of their earthly clothes, most had torsos and legs that faded into wispy nothingness with only faces and arms bearing their human resemblance. Slowly I began to understand. The eyes of long dead nobility focused on me and the simple offering I had made to my goddess. Though they barely filled the hall a quarter of the way, the procession ended and the door closed behind them as suddenly as it had opened. I felt at once trapped, frightened and exhilarated.
I stood, a mere spectator, as events beyond my control unfolded. I suddenly felt the chill in my blood give way to warmth that encompassed my entire body. The bright, snowy light I had seen only once before suddenly surrounded the offering pit and began to fill the entire chamber. Against that brightness the angry spirits became nearly invisible. The threatening eyes recoiled in confusion and awe. The majestic, sublime and simple voice addressed them.
“Give way now, my loyal children for the time has come for the world to be healed again. Your vow to protect my holy place is fulfilled, come now and enter my rest.”
Just as suddenly as it had appeared the light began to fade, but behind me my little fire flared into life beyond its means. One by one the specters moved forward. I stepped aside though they now seemed oblivious of my presence. Each in turn entered my fire, and as they did it flared up until the last, the deadly priest that first addressed me vanished in its heat and the fire died suddenly into cold black ashes.
For the briefest moment I stared about into the encroaching darkness. I found that I was covered in sweat and grime from the day’s labors and from the intense heat of the fire. I could not separate the confusion swimming in my head. Clearly Tylos wanted me for something, but there, alone in a forsaken dead city I could not have guessed my future.
Much later, long after dark I reached our camp. I approached silently, for that had long become my habit and found them guarding a little fire. Dina jumped in surprise and fear when I stepped from the shadows but Pascalli merely smiled and quipped, “I see you’ve done well lad.”
“Is there any hot food,” I asked, for I felt my strength had all drained away. Something about those garish faces seemed to have stolen the life from my limbs.
“Not yet, though we got some meat today,” winked Pascalli. Dina will cook.” Dina glared at the wizard and clearly meant to refuse. I shrugged and went to find their kill, but Pascalli called me back. “Sit down, Scratch. By the look of you I’d say you’ve seen death, or worse. Now go one girl, I’m sure you can manage.”
I found a comfortable spot out of the smoke near our fire and waited. Dina retrieved a scrawny rabbit, which Pascalli helped her prepare. After they had it roasting she looked me over, and with some hesitation asked, “What happened?”
I didn’t mean to ignore her, but I couldn’t begin to describe anything. Pascalli gave her a disapproving look, but said nothing.
“Is there some secret?” she asked. I sensed the frustration in her voice. “I feel like I have a right to know what’s going on. I’m out here too, you know!”
I turned away from her, numbly staring into the flames, but I quickly found that too horrible as my mind kept conjuring images of the dead as they walked into a different fire.
“There are some questions, which cannot be answered,” said Pascalli. “There are some questions that should not be asked.”
Dina glared, rolled her eyes and sighed. “Did you at least open the gate?” she asked.
I did not answer, I was still lost in thought, but Pascalli brought me to my senses. “I believe the young woman asked a question,” he said.
I didn’t care for his tone, but then I didn’t much care for the conversation. “It’s open,” I said simply.
Pascalli forced me to eat before going to sleep. I ate mechanically, tasting nothing. Dina had never before cooked during our journey together, so it should have been a memorable moment, but it was lost to me. I saw the hurt in her eyes as I ignored them both, but lacked the strength of will to respond.
“Whatever evil remains we will have to face ourselves,” I mumbled. “The dead have gone, but they left their work behind.”
So many of my memories have been lost in the well of time, but I can never look at a fire without seeing the dead or recalling the night of nightmares that ensued. If Pascalli or Dina asked me more that night, I didn’t answer. I drifted into exhausted oblivion, chased by the images of the dead. For days and nights afterwards I slept only fitfully, and Pascalli did not let me stand watch alone.
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman
On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Fourty Two
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Posted by admin on July 3, 2009
Tiptoes,
Sliptoes,
Don’t step on my toes.
No heels,
Slow heels,
Careful with the pills.
Quiet,
Silent,
Screeming to hide it.
Lash out,
Crash out,
Watching you check out.
You try,
We cry,
They hear all your lies.
I slip,
I trip,
You lose your last grip.
Your words,
Your curse,
Hands, anger over burst.
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