A Boy & A Dragon

So, finally, I wrote something else! Well, in fact, I have been writing but it's been for my book (actually, in fact, my second book *grin*). This is just a short story I wrote in one sitting. No proof reading has been done so forgive any mistakes. I thought it was cute, so enjoy!

The small boy knelt in the dirt. Large, questioning brown eyes turning from one side to the other. He remained alone. The forest remained calm; chattering birds, the soft shuffle of a squirrel, and, of course, the occasional snort from the dragon beside him.

He stood. Slim, lithe, the form of a child not yet fifteen. The bow on his back almost matching him in height. He swallowed a breath of air and turned to his silver-clad beast.

The dragon tilted her head, fierce eyes watching as the boy approached her side and, with a little effort, pulled himself onto her back. She stood taller than any horse--with a wingspan twice that of her length.

She snorted a curl of smoke and raised her wings. With a single, powerful stroke, they lifted effortlessly into the air. Quickly rising above the green of the forest and drifting toward the east.

Three days. Four nights. Their journey would soon reach it’s end.

Aerie--The City in the Sky. Home of the legendary Dragon Lords. Guardians of the nine realms. Rulers of the Seven Kingdoms. This place was their destination. And the only way to get there was by dragon-wing.

Silver lifted higher, sensing the eagerness of her young companion, and burst through the thick of rain-laden clouds. They blinked, clearing their eyes, and seeing a golden-white expanse beneath them and nothing but blue sky above.

Chad smiled.

Free. They were finally free. Free from the orphanage. Free from the hunters who would rather sell Silver’s scales than venture above the clouds.

This. This is Dragon country! He threw his arms wide, Silver catching onto his joy and winging faster--twisting through sun-illuminated wisps of cloud. She hummed a song of joy. He laughed along with her.

And there it was. Rising from among the clouds, white as a pearl, glistening in the sun. The City in the Sky. Small on the horizon, but ever growing in size as each thrust of wings drove them closer.

“We’ve made it,” Chad breathed, patting Silver’s smooth shoulder.

Bursting from the cloud cover beneath them, a dragon six times Silver’s size rose in their path. Cloud-mist streaming from its amber scales like water, churning around it’s powerful wings.

Silver writhed in the air, desperately halting her momentum, drawing back from the massive fire-breather in their path.

The dragon remained there, suspended between sky and cloud, the wind from it’s wings buffeting Chad’s face as he blinked in awe.

“Who enters the Dragon’s Realm?” A voice called from the dragon.

A man stood--stood--on the creature’s back, shrouded in a cloak matching that of the dragon’s scales, a feathered helm on his head, a long golden spear in his left hand.

Silver rose higher, giving Chad a better view of the man. He leaned forward on his dragon’s back, blinking wind drawn tears. “My name is Chad. I’m going to Aerie.”

“And what brings you the the Sky City?” The man did not yell. His voice calm and calculated, the voice of one who does not have many fears.

“My dragon brings me,” Chad called, his voice feeble in the wind.

“Your dragon? And what have you done to earn the right to call her your dragon?”

He blinked, tears rising again, “N-nothing?”

The amber dragon lifted higher, and Silver rose with it. The dragon’s rider took a step forward, motioning toward the City.

“You cannot chose your dragon. She must choose you.” He pointed toward the clouds--and earth--beneath them. “You will release her. If you are to be among the Dragon Lords you must let her decide if you are worthy. Get off.”

Chad’s heart thundered in his throat, eyes growing wide in terror. “W-what?”

“Climb free and fall. If you are worthy, she will catch you.”

He peered past his knee, toward the fluffy clouds beneath. “And what if she doesn’t catch me?”

The man didn’t miss a beat. “Then you fall.”

Chad glanced toward the horizon--at the pearlescent city gleaming above the clouds--then at the amber dragon hovering in their path. He patted Silver’s neck. “You’ll catch me,” he swallowed, glancing down again, “right?”

Silver released a puff of smoke, a gurgle deep in her belly.

“I sure hope that doesn’t mean you’ll eat me.” He laughed softly, nervously, then pulled his feet free of the stirrups, tipped to the side, and fell.

In a blink, he seemed to fall into the clouds, for a moment losing all sense of direction. Then he broke through, dropping beneath the clouds, his wide eyes taking in the patches of green, blobs of brown mixed with strings of blue creating the earth beneath him. It was glorious for a moment, he could almost convince himself that he had become a dragon, soaring through the sky.

But the lurch in his stomach knew he was falling.

He would scream but the wind in his face stole his breath away and his heart thundered louder than the rush in his ears.

His wide eyes wouldn’t close. The ground was there. Ever greener. Ever closer.

Then a flash of sunlight against scales and Silver was flying beneath him, her head turned to look up at him, an amused trail of smoke winding from her nostrils, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

Chad laughed.

His belly hitting the saddle on Silver’s back as she rose up under him and lifted him back through the clouds. He laughed as the amber dragon raced Silver toward the gleaming city. He laughed as the man removed his helm and welcomed Chad with open arms into the Aerie.



© Copyright Charity K, 2015

The Wall

Alright, first post of 2015! This is a short story (from a writing prompt, which is the first sentence) from off the top of my head without any revisions. I'm going to be attempting some different styles and perspectives with my short stories, so look for those in the next few months. Enjoy.

“The last man who tried to scale the wall was never seen or heard from again. I still don’t know if that means he succeeded or he failed.” The elderly storyteller leaned back in his chair, taking a deep draw from his pipe and watching the smoke curl in the air for a moment before looking back at the group of listeners.

“That’s it?” Ori leaned forward with a frustrated exhale, hand on his knees, eyes narrowed. “But you never told us why the wall was built in the first place.”

The storyteller shrugged, motioning toward the young man with his pipe. “Nobody knows why it was built, lad. It just showed up one day, higher than the clouds and thicker than the ocean is deep.”

“No one even saw it being built? A giant wall?” He leveled a sarcastic glare at the man, crossing his arms.

“That’s because it wasn’t built.”

The group of men listening, ranging in age from youths barely in their teens to men who had seen far too many years as a field-working slave.  Their skin was darkened by the sun, their hands calloused, their eyes lacking the light of hope that some of the youths still held onto. Ori glanced around at them, bothered by their silent acceptance of what this man said.

The Wall stood for longer than any generation or historian could recall. It was too tall, too smooth to climb, and reportedly to thick to dig through. Reportedly.

He stood and stretched. The past few weeks working on the fields of Lord Kend’s plantation had left his back protesting the hours of working hunched over. The field workers, however had it easy. He knew firsthand.

Ori watched as the storyteller slipped out of the building--leaving the haggard group of slaves to stare silently into the flames of the hearth with nothing but their growling stomachs to keep them company.

Lad. That man had called him lad. Ori smiled to himself, shrugging into his cloak and working his way around the perimeter of the room toward the exit. Of course, the storyteller wouldn’t know a Changer when he saw one, but Ori was no lad. In fact, they had celebrated his seventy-ninth birthday just a few months ago.

He was one of the Changers--a faction of appearance-shifting Vendorians who had escaped King Matthan’s Great Purge. Now, they flitted from one Lord’s plantation to another, finding and collecting their own, never staying in one place for long.

Gifted with long life and youthful dexterity, the Changers had been working for six years now--ever since the King had decided to destroy all magic-users--with a single goal in mind. They were going to get to the other side of that Wall.

Or die trying.

Ori ducked out the door, pulling his cloak tighter at the cool wind that greeted him. He glanced around in the darkening light, but there was little motion between the common houses where the slaves lived. One bonus in working on plantations--the slaves weren’t closely monitored.

He paused at the edge of the houses--looking toward the trees, and beyond them, the giant stone face of the Wall. He checked his surroundings again, then he breathed in, and Changed.

It was a simple Change, only taking a little Breath, but the feeling of life-giving air being pulled from his lungs always brought a small touch of panic--even after all these years.

He entered the woods. A little taller, an average male face--brown hair, brown eyes, dark skin--and a strong body. He would need to be strong. This month was his turn to work on the tunnel. He approached the wall slowly, slinking from one tree to the next, watching for any sign of movement.

“You’re really bad at sneaking around Ori,” a female voice to his side made him jump and he turned to see Cayse.

She had taken an exotic form--as usual--with dark blue skin and narrow yellow eyes. Like all Changers--they could always recognize each other despite the forms they took. It was like recognizing someone you’d known all your life. You just know them.

Cayse slinked ahead of him, small and lithe in form she covered ground quickly. “You weren’t seen were you?”

“Of course not,” he assured her as they reached the base of the wall.

He helped her roll the boulder back--revealing the tunnel. It was damp and dark--Cayse lifted a small firebrand, giving just enough light to make the tunnel even creepier.

“Ready?” she asked.

Ori shrugged and drew in on his Breath. It was twenty-seven miles to where the workers would be. Walking on two feet would be too slow.

He Changed, fighting back the desperate urge to draw in a Breath, as he fell onto all fours. He hated animal-form. Especially dogs. He glanced at Cayse who had, of course, turned into a large cat--lean and speckled. She turned a glinting eye toward him, then took off with a bound.

He followed behind, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he ran. There was something freeing about being such a simple beast. He could almost sink into the simplicity of a dog’s mind--forget his worries--slip away . . .

NO! He shook his head, focusing on counting each footfall as he ran. Animal-forms were dangerous because you could forget yourself in them. And if you forget--you never can change back.

Seeing torch-light ahead, he Changed back. Suffering through several panic-ridden moments as his body screamed for oxygen. His vision tunneled, but he still didn’t breathe. If you took a Breath mid-change you would interrupt the change and became two-form. Which was extremely painful, and inconvenient, to say the least.

He gasped, straightening upright, returned to his previous form of choice.

Kael and Winn greeted them, both in the form of average Vendorian males--tall, dark, strong bones and muscles.

Cayse--of course--had opted for a different form again. Short, slender, dark hair, ghostly white skin. She pushed past the two men and stopped at the end of the tunnel. She stared at the rock--a scowl across her face.

“I’m sick of this stinking wall,” she grumbled, “what if it’s true and we can’t get to the other side?”

“Then we’ll have to live the rest of eternity in hiding,” Winn walked up beside her. The eldest of the group--it had been his idea to tunnel through the wall in the first place. Most of the Changers had given up on the idea.

She kicked the stone, grimacing and retrieved a pick-axe, “well, what are we waiting for?” She growled, lifting the axe and swinging with strength that defied her small form.

Ori blinked as the axe hit the rock with a loud ringing sound. Stone crumbled. Dust filled the tunnel.  Coughing, he lifted a hand at the bright light that streamed into his eyes.

“Sunlight?” Kael said in awe.

“Sunlight!” Cayse screamed.

They rushed forward. A crack opened in the wall ahead of them--barely a finger’s breadth wide--but light streamed through. With an expression of awe, the four looked at each other, then with exuberant shouts they all started hacking at the rock--chipping away each piece in a race toward freedom.

© Copyright Charity K, 2015

Writer's Block

I'm sure anyone who has sat down to write a paper of any kind has experienced  trouble getting the words to come, from being unable to express your thoughts to complete loss of any relevant ideas, we all have suffered some form of the notorious "writer's block".

How do I conquer it? I've compiled a list of  ideas that help me out.

1. Just write. Stop being lazy.
Sometimes it just boils down to sitting yourself down and forcing yourself to write. Let's face it, we all can be pretty lazy!

2. Look at pictures.
This idea helps me out quite a bit. In fact, I have an entire board on Pinterest just as a place to go when I need some inspiration (granted, I probably waste too much time finding and pinning these pictures, but let's not go there). Most of the short stories I write are based on pictures--from landscapes, to faces, medieval castles and abandoned asylums, pictures can feed the imagination in amazing ways.

3. Read.
Don't forget to read during all of your writing! This, I believe, is the best way for writers to grow. Try all kinds of different styles of writing--grab a young adult dystopian novel, visit some of Charles Dickens' masterpieces, take a walk in one of Edgar Allan Poe's dark tales, try out a mystery or a "choose your adventure" novel. There's a world of words out there--all of which will help ignite your creativity and broaden your perspective.

4. Take a walk.
So, this might be a bit cliche, but sometimes getting out in nature and simply relaxing will help clear your head and get your creativity going again. Take a deep breath, enjoy some sunshine and birdsong, then go write!

5. Put away social media, TV, cellphone, etc.
This one is a no-brainer. Entertainment--at least most of the time--kills creativity. It turns your brain off and tells you not to think. Set aside 24 hours (or if you can't go that long, at least half a day) and choose to avoid the internet, television, and using your cellphone. Fewer distractions mean more writing.

6. Find your "quiet spot"
At my grandparent's farm in Indiana, they have a large field centered with a single tree on the grassy rise. This tree has a particular branch with a perfect crook in it just right for perching in to read or write--I would call this my "quiet spot". It's probably my favorite spot on planet earth (besides the back of my horse, perhaps). Now, I doubt many people prefer to sit in a tree or pen their novel while on horseback, but I think you see my point. Find a place where you are comfortable, can relax and limit distractions, then dedicate that spot for pursuing creativity! Believe me, it works.

7. Change up the perspective.
While working on a story, I often find it helpful to do what I refer to as "character building exercises" and write your story from a different perspective. What do I mean? If you are writing from third person, try writing a section in first person. Take a scene and write it from the perspective of something else--an inanimate object, an otherwise forgotten onlooker, or a different character. I find this sort of exercise helps me get through spots that I get really stuck on.

I hope these tips can help you if you're ever stuck! Whatever you're working on, stick with it and always look for ways to improve and expand your writing! Good luck :)

Laughter Lane

Another short story. Enjoy!

                It was in the midst of the hottest summer I can remember, out in the foothills of Kentucky among the trees and the rocks, when the car came to a slow halt. My papa slammed a hand against the steering wheel and said a phrase that hardly ever meant something good;

                “Well, that’s that.”

                We were out of gas on a little back road, far from any gas station, with a car full of suitcases and camping supplies, halfway to our destination. I remember my ma, twenty-some minutes earlier, saying we should fill up before we got too far out into the hills. But papa just chuckled and said we’d make it just fine. Well, I guess we now know who was right.

                “I’ll have to walk back down to the corner where we saw that house an’ see if they’ll give me a hand,” Papa ran a large, calloused hand through his already tousled hair and glanced into the rear-view mirror—looking at me first, and then at little baby Jill.

                Ma nodded, turning to look at me where I sat all wide-eyed and curious. It was to be my first camping trip out in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and so far it had been the strangest trip I’d experienced in all of my eight years on this earth.

                “Well, I’ll be back as quick as I can,” Papa opened the door and glanced at all of us, a line running down the center of his forehead that ma said always meant he was thinking too hard. “Stay in the car.”

                Then he took off on his way back down the road, and we were left to watch the tall trees wave their branches with the wind. All was good and fine until little Jill started crying. Ma held her in her lap and sang a few songs, glancing out the window at the trees, thinking about papa.

                It started getting dark, and ma was obviously worried. Jill finally fell back to sleep, but I was awake and scared too. The wind started howling outside and the sun ducked behind some big, dark clouds and didn’t come back out. Ma crawled back to sit with me and told me stories, but after a bit we both just sat real quiet, watching the wind and hoping for papa to get back soon.

                That’s when we saw something frightening. An animal was coming up the road toward us—a mighty big dog, as dark as the storm clouds overhead. Then we heard some men hollering, and I got real scared, and started crying. Ma held me tight, but didn’t say a thing—I only learned how scared she was later when we laughed about the story.

                Two men came into view, battling against the wind, and I recognized papa. Elated, I sprang from Ma’s arms plastered myself against the window, watching as he approached. Gas can in hand and a smile on his face, he tapped on the window and gave us all big hugs when we opened the door.

                It may have been the scariest moment of my young life, but now our family laughs in its memory. We later learned that the road we broke down on was called Laughter Lane, and the tale of that long-gone summer day has been a favorite ever since.

© Copyright Charity K, 2014

Here's To My Sister

On May 17, 2014 my family and I got to celebrate a wonderful occasion. My older sister, Carissa, married the love of her life. It was a beautiful, sun-filled day full of joy, family, and the promise of a great and exciting future for the new couple. I was privileged to be my sister’s Maid of Honor. It was a day that will go down as one of my favorites.

Since this momentous occasion is now past, I decided to dedicate this month’s blog post to my sister and her special day. I will share the speech I gave at the wedding’s reception.

Hi.  For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Charity.  I am the maid of honor and sister of the bride.  I have to admit that it was hard for me to decide what to say today because it isn’t easy to sum up everything I would love to say in just a short speech. 

Carissa, I have known you my whole life.  We have laughed together, we have cried together … You’ve been a role model for me to look up to, and a friend I could always rely on and share my deepest thoughts with. You tolerated me through my awkward pre-teen years—shared in my disappointments and dreams. I can’t think of anything perfect enough to describe just how much I love you.  There are no words to define the kind of friend you are to me and I certainly have no idea how to summarize everything that I want to say … but I will say this … 

You are the best sister a girl could ever ask for.  You have always been there for me, and I will ALWAYS be here for you. I don’t know where I would be without you, and I don’t know what the future has in store or what God has planned, but I do know that standing here today … on your wedding day … is exactly where I’m supposed to be. 

Every once in a while when two people meet, you know that it is meant to be.  And in my case, I have a journal entry proving just that. A few months ago, I was paging through an old journal of mine from 2008 and came across the phrase ... “I think Nathan likes Carissa” ... Just those words with no explanation as to what drove me to write them, but I can say this: I called it first J 

Nathan, I can’t say I was always happy that you chose to pursue my sister, but looking back I can see how perfect you two are together. It has been an incredible experience watching how you two have grown together and complete each other.  Not only do you love each other, but you love God and other people as well, and that is a truly beautiful thing.  As her Husband, I understand that YOU are her very best friend, and I am willing to pass that torch to you because I know you make her happy, I know you will take care of her, and I know that she loves you more than words can describe … 

I wish you both a very beautiful and blessed life together.

The happy couple shared their first dance to the song “Soulmate” by Josh Turner. It was a beautiful, touching moment. I will share the lyrics for everyone to enjoy.

Soulmate

Until the end of time

You're my soulmate

I'll love you till I get to heaven's gate

And if I go first sweetheart

I'll wait

'Cause I know I'll never find another

Soulmate

Your love

There's no telling where I'd be

Without your love

Stumbling in the dark

Would be pretty rough

When I get down you're the one

That lifts me up

I thank the Lord above

For your love

[Chorus:]

In this day and time

The right one is hard to find

Girl, that's why I'm holding on to you

Each and every night

When we turn out the light

There's no mistaking what we have is true

Soulmate

I hope that we grow old together

Soulmate

In the good and bad

Even through the heartache

We've got a special bond

That'll never break

'Cause darling you and I are

Soulmates

[Repeat Chorus:]

Soulmate

Until the end of time

You're my soulmate

I'll love you till I get to

Heaven's gate

We've got a special bond

That'll never break

'Cause darling you and I are

Soulmates

Yeah, I know I'll never find another

Soulmate