Lidarion: Chapter 28

The trip to Cela’an was uneventful until the very last day. The man in the crow’s nest called down early in the morning to warn of cloud bank It was impossibly thick and completely immobile. They changed their course to sail west of the fog bank and saw no end to it. Sailing into it was their only course. They slowed, drastically as their visibility wasn’t much further than a ship length or two. They had every potential to get lost and with no knowledge of how big the fog bank was they could come out of it anywhere, if they ever came out of it at all. It took a few hours but the crew began to whisper about the unnaturalness of what they had come across and the fate of the ship. The unease amongst the sailors grew until Dean had to forbid talk of the mystical nature of the fog and their impending doom.

By nightfall they had no come to the end of the bank nor found anything of note. They were destined to ride out the night and most likely get even more lost along the way. Dean himself took the wheel, figuring if they were to doom themselves to death then it should be by the Captain’s hand. Though they tried, neither sailor no passenger went to sleep easy.

He didn’t know when it was, the fog blocked all light from the stars and moon. But not too long into the night two yellow lights appeared. The man in the crow’s nest spotted them and called down. Dean acknowledged and steered steady for the only marked they had. As they got closer He saw that they were positively massive torches set into the side of an impressive cliff face. The further they traveled the more Torch lights appeared, leading like a trail. Dean steered she ship to follow the line until the lights got larger and brighter, and they passed a sign set into the cliff, written first in the flowering script of elvish and then in common below. “Welcome to Blind Man’s Bay.” The sign was as large, or larger than the Womamel, and inset into the cliff side and advertised to everyone within a maximum of five hundred yards.

Dean commanded a deckhand to wake their passengers, and by the time they arrived at his side they could just make out the furthest edges of Blind Man’s Bay. “How do we let them know we mean to dock?” Trent asked.

Dean pointed to another sign at the edge of visibility, there were smaller torch lights on it, and the sign cleared up as they came closer. ‘This way to port’ The sign said. He looked at Trent. “I don’t think they see many visitors.” He replied.

They followed the sign, and the two after it until Dean had steered the ship into dock and the hands had tied it down.

Trent and the others surveyed the foggy port area they could see. “Well Squints. I don’t know where we are, but you gave Dean the information he needed to get us here, so thanks for that.” He said with a smile.

Squints made a rude gesture and made his way toward the walkway that the hands had just placed between the ship and the dock. He stopped midway down the plank when a shadow appeared at the edge of the fog and was clearly making its way toward the edge of the boat. The creature was huge, it’s footsteps vibrated through the wooden dock. Squints thought better of disembarking and walked back onto the ship. He made his way to his viewing box and stepped up on top of it to see over the side of the boat.

He finally saw what the others saw. A minotaur, a large blind humanoid looking buffalo covered in shaman’s blankets, and a cloth blindfold over his eyes. He had a tree trunk strapped to his back and a large branch in one hand he used as a staff. He stopped just short of the ship and turned to face the vessel. “Ladies and gentlemen form the legendary kingdom of Lidarion. I am Haruff, of Cliffside and I am here to take you to the Library of forgotten secrets.” He completed his introduction and awkwardly bowed.

Trent’s jaw was on the floor. Squints gave him a smug smile. “Keep doubting me, see what happens.”

Trent pointed at Haruff. “Oh come on! There’s absolutely no way you knew he was here!” The others ignored him as they disembarked the boat. “Wait? How did he know we were coming? We’re just going to trust this, this –“

“Haruff.” The minotaur said again.” A smile on his face.

Trent pointed at Haruff. “How do we know we can trust you?” He yelled.

Haruff pulled a small clay trinket out of a pocket and broke it. He turned and looked directly at Trent. Even though he was blind, and could not see through the cloth over his eyes he looked straight at Trent and in Brandon’s voice he said. “Trent, you’ve got a job to do, so get your butt off the boat and do it.” Haruff closed his mouth and dropped the broken trinket.

Trent shook his head. “Now that’s just down right unsettling.” He said as he made his way toward the gang plank. 

Melody and Harmony: Chapter 2

Once the airlock door closed behind him, Foster lifted the shades of his headphones and turned the dial on the left ear of his phones until it switched from blue to green. His music gave way to a song playing in the club. He couldn’t make out much of what lied in the darkness beyond the dance floor but the dance floor was packed with people. Every dancer had lights wired into their clothing that built patterns of light in time with the music. The more dancers synced to the same song the more insane the patterns became. So while there were probably two hundred dancers on the floor, each person using their bodies and an expression of faith, the patterns of light and color united them, a visual prayer to gods they could only hear on the dance floor.

The DJ was all the way on the far side of the dance floor, standing on a stage against the wall. He was lit from below by tiny blue spotlights. He wore a white leather trench coat. In the back of his coat he had white spot lights that were aimed at the wall making it look like he had grand wings of light, like and angel. Thick wires protruded from the shoulders and neck of his coat. They led to the clubs speakers and sound systems. His face was obscured by a Neon white armored mask that covered his nose and mouth and wrapped around his neck. He had a separate pair of impossibly neon white sunglasses that completely covered his eyes. Even if he could have seen his face.

Foster would have had no clue who the DJ was. He took a seat at a small table and was immediately greeted by the waitress, her outfit would have been plain if it had not been augmented by sound reactive lighting. Her dress danced for her even when she could not. The volume of the music in the club required her eyes to speak for her, she gave a welcoming smile and Foster nodded, she nodded back and gave a tiny curtsey before sure left him alone again.

Foster sat and watched the dancers and listened to the music, until a more formally dressed associate arrived at his table. He saw her mouth moving but heard only the music. He reached up and turned his left ear dial from green to red, causing the music of the club to fade away and leaving only the voice of the woman in the plain black suit.

She slowly pulled the chair in front of her out so she could sit. “You are new here.” She said taking her seat.

Foster nodded trying to look calm. “Just came in for a drink.” He replied.

She nodded. “We have many fine beverages.” She gave a fake, predatory smile.

Foster nodded slowly. “I am grateful for the hospitality.” He thanked her carefully.

She waved his thanks off. “Not at all, The shadow Church is one of the finest clubs in all of Melody.” Her gaze sharpened. “Most people don’t even know how to find it.” She smiled but it was a warning.

Foster’s eyes darted around the club, over the dancers praying to music he could no longer hear, trying to spot the guards in the crowd. “I was following directions given to me by a friend.” He said not looking back to the woman.

The waitress returned with a drink on a tray. She delicately picked up the drink and carefully bent over to set it on Fosters table. Foster looked at his drink and then back to the woman in the suit. She smiled. “You must be blessed to have such knowledgeable friends.” She complimented him, and gestured to his drink.

He didn’t break her gaze. “Yeah, I’m a lucky guy all right.” He sighed.

As if he had a spasm Foster kicked the table at the woman in the suit. The drink splashed on arms of her suit jacket as she brought them up to protect her face. Foster scrambled for the airlock door which had just let other guests in and was slowly closing.

The woman took off her suit jacket carefully as the arms were smoking intensely. Guards from the club moved to her side. “I want his head!” She shouted.

Foster barely made it through the inner airlock as the door closed with a thud.

Spoonerville: Teaser

Humans have short memories, each generation forgetting the horrors of the one before it. Over time they learned to compensate with stories and songs, writing and presenting, recording their past, reaching as far back as possible to define the things that sit just beyond the edges of human existence. The things we fear are older than our oldest memories, and the land we share with those things is older than us all.

There was nothing hip, cool, or new about the town of Spoonerville. It was a little logging town bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north, east, and most of the south by National park land which included a massive dormant volcano. The rest of the south was a native reservation so small most folks never would have known it was there.

But folks knew about the native reservation, and the national forests, and the ocean, and the volcano. 

Spoonerville was the very real town where a very fake paranormal romance took place in a very popular book series, read by a very large number of girls and surprisingly large number of women.

The book talked about the area but the author had never been there. She discovered the town by throwing requirements into Google and uncovering the disturbingly boring town. She imagined werewolves and vampires living secret lives among the humans and falling in love with disturbingly ordinary girls who turned out to be disturbingly spectacular at everything they did, from moping to being vampires.

The author never knew what she had uncovered, the balance she had upset. She had no real respect for the underlying legends she filled her narratives with and never gave the attention the town got a second thought.

Thousands of people flocked to Spoonerville every year, expecting to see Oceanside, the nearby city where the movies were filmed. Most were upset that while the books did not over exaggerate the town the story was set in, it did not under exaggerate the town either. There were no almost famous hole in the wall restaurants, or trendy coffee shops, or cool teen hangouts. Spoonerville is, was, and always had been a logging town and nothing more. 

And so the diehard fans came to get their selfies taken in front of the Spoonerville sign and many even ventured out to the beaches the characters visited in the novels, only to discover that Quora beach was not the kind of place anyone who wished to live, would ever willingly surf.

Rodney Edgars’ family had ancient roots in Spoonerville. Roots his mother and father never wanted him to know about. Which is why they had never visited, never called, and never talked about the town. If it weren’t for the car accident that killed Rodney’s parents the summer before his junior year of high school, he probably would never have known Spoonerville ever actually existed.

But once the state shipped him off to live with his grandmother, Spoonerville became a very real place. The quirky towns folk became real, the annoying tourists became real, the native tribe became real, the beach with the angry ocean became real, the songs the ocean sang when the tide wasn’t raging became real, the laughter from something just behind the furthest trees became real, and deep in the woods, somewhere under the ancient volcano, the timeless hunger became real.

And Rodney Edgars learned that when terrors older than human memory are real, they see humans serving only one purpose, and it isn’t romantic.

Beginning September 20^th, take a tour of a little town where traditions are upheld, nature is respected, and everything closes at dusk for a damn good reason.

Welcome to Spoonerville.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 32

Sonya looked down the shaft again. She looked up for anything she might be able to use to climb down the shaft with. She saw a metal loop protruding from wall but had nothing to repel down with. “Computer, suit thing?” She said out loud.

The readout in her visor responded. [GRAYSCALE ONLINE] it flashed.

Technarious rocked violently and she held tightly onto the wall. “I need a way to repel about a hundred feet” She requested.

There was a pause as the suit went through the available options. [CALL FOR SCALING ARM] The visor flashed.

Sonya held out her left hand. “Scaling arm!” she commanded.

A reasonably sized gadget with a clasping hook at the end of it appeared around her left arm. She reached up and clasped the hook onto the loop above her. She looked down one more time and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” She lept over the edge and the hook held her weight. Even with Technarious moving chaotically fighting Blinding Light she only bounced around a little as she walked backwards down the shaft as quickly as she dared.

She got to the bottom of the shaft and stepped into the next hallway. “How do I get this off my arm.” She asked her suit.

[COMMAND: RELEASE] The visor instructed.

She looked down at her arm. “Release” She commanded and the contraption opened like shuttle bay doors and dropped off her arm. Hung for a second in the air and then disappeared. She turned and ran the last little bit of hallway until she came to the room where the power core and the backup energy systems for Technarious were.

The room was filled with neon blinking lights, cords that had blue light running through them, and the main power cell which was a giant red monolith in the middle of the room.

Her visor showed her where the backup power was and once she had destroyed the connectors to all three Technarious began to shudder violently.

She was thrown against the wall but kept her eyes on the red monolith power supply. She made her way up the now slight incline to reach the power supply. She tried to lift it out of its slot but it would not budge. “Guys I can’t get the power supply out of its socket!” She updated the rest of the shades.

There was silence for a second before she Heard Kelly’s voice. “You have to destroy it Sonya. We’re getting killed up here and the city is in ruins!” she said over explosions and static.

Sonya groaned. “I’m sorry Technarious. Comedy and Tragedy!” She commanded her weapons into her hands.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 55

Kepi had not yet been to the forest. She set in motion the requests for supplies and transports and grabbed a shuttle to the forest. She was excited to see the alien forest, and the giant ship tree they were growing.

When she arrived she was disappointed to find that most of the forest was covered by the darkness that Eamon had told her about. She landed her shuttle next Eamon’s and was greeted by two Starseeds. They summoned vines from the canopy above which carried them to the tree ships clearing.

Eamon had had incredible success teaching the Starseeds the purpose of and how to make books. They had already needed them as it was clear they had been forced to cut back the collective consciousness away from the shiptree’s clearing. When the vines set Kepi and her companions down at the edge of the clearing her jaw hit the floor.

The ship tree had grown an incredible amount in such a short time. It now easily dwarfed the rest of the forest and was taking up more than half of the clearing. She found Eamon and Rootan working on books that were in different stages of assembly. Other Starseeds were filling completed books with the knowledge they could not afford to loose. They already had a large bookshelf full of completed volumes.

Kepi was stunned. “How have you gotten so many done?” She asked in awe.

Eamon turned and stood to embrace her. “Kepi! Time flies I could have sworn we only spoke a few moments ago.” He looked at the books they had completed. “The Starseeds don’t sleep and once I showed Rootan how to make a book they all took to the process like addicted bibliophiles. They haven’t stopped building or writing since.” He said with a great smile. “How goes the council meetings?” He asked.

Kepi smiled. “Better than I would have hoped.” She grabbed his hand and they began to walk together. “They aren’t stupid people. You just never learned to talk to them the way they liked to be talked to. Once they saw reason the vote was a simple matter.” She explained.

He patted her arm in excitement. “You were always more cut out for that work than I was.” He complimented.

She nodded. “Perhaps, but there are more than a few ways for a person to be useful and there is no shame in it not being through public service.” She pardoned him. “All the districts are going to start gathering supplies and ships in the next twenty four hours.” She explained.

He nodded. “Not a moment too soon, and possible too little to late” He said with a furrowed brow.

She shook her head. “What will be, will be.” She said looking up beyond the canopy in a second of silent prayer. “Will you be coming back to the capitol or staying here a while longer?” She asked him.

He stopped walking and she stopped with him. “I am making sure these people don’t lose everything because they came to help us. What in the capitol could possibly be important enough to take me away from this?” He asked.

She smiled sadly. “I’ll contact your sister and father and make sure their ready to leave then.” She looked back to the clearing behind them. “Can you even ride in that thing with them?” She asked.

He laughed. “Humans to their ships, Starseeds to theirs. I want to be left here for a while, not left behind.” He said with a smile. “Come on, let me introduce you to Rootan.” He pulled her back to the edge of the clearing where the Starseeds were working on books.

Lidarion: Chapter 27

The Womamel was just short of a week at sea and Squints had yet to leave the top deck. He ate, drank, and slept as close to the open water as he could get. On the sixth day Trent found him watching the wake as they passed through the water. Squints was standing on a box so he was tall enough to see over the side. Trent smiled as he leaned on the rear railing of the ship. “I still cannot believe how quickly you took to the sea.” He commented.

Squints didn’t take his eyes off the turmoil in the water behind them. “It’s like a part of me I never knew existed. Just waiting to be set free.” He sounded hopeful and renewed.

Trent nodded. “I’m glad someone is getting something positive out of this at least. We’re not likely to have such good fortune every step of the way.” Trent sighed.

Squints looked at his friend. “Each of us knows what’s at stake. We all have our own reasons for doing this. And contrary to what ever fantasy is rolling around your little pea brain.” He ruffled Trent’s hair and Trent shoved him back playfully. “It’s not out of some sense of misguided loyalty for you.” He assured.

Trent nodded. “I know that everyone has their reasons.” He started. “But none of this would have happened if I had just settled things with the king thirteen years ago.” He said.

Squints looked to the starboard side where on the edge of the horizon you could just barely make out the eastern most Gnomish islands. “Look, one of those is my ancestral home.” He said. “Before I stepped foot on this thing I had less than no desire to ever find out where my family came from or what they left behind when they came to Lidarion.” He watched the horizon in silence for a moment. “You left for thirteen years. And everything that happened while you were gone could have been stopped multiple times.” Squints looked back at the ships wake. “The only thing you could have done back then was love her in the privacy of night and die a little more every day once she was married off to the prince of another house.” Squints sighed. “Personally where we are now is a situation far better suited for the talents we’ve come to possess.” He smiled.

Trent looked at the water but did not see the same majesty that Squints clearly did. All he saw was the swirling churn of counter currents crashing into each other and bubbling to the surface before they faded away back into the glass like uniformity of the rest of the ocean. “I hope that fate has as high a regard for our plans and skills as you do.” Trent pretended to pray. “But that’s not why I came up here.” He switched gears suddenly. “With all the excitement I never got a chance to ask you what is supposed to be in this book that were going to collect.” He asked.

Squints shrugged his shoulders. “All the book I found said was where the book that mentioned the sigils was located.” He admitted.

Trent tried not to look surprised. “Located on the continent, located in the building, located on the shelf between this book and that book? Where is this thing? I can read, what the hell did we just sail across the world to get Squints?” He was getting excited.

Squints held up his hands. “Relax I  have the name of the book we’re looking for, and where in the library to look for it.” He assured.

Trent nodded. “Ok and where on the continent is the library?” he asked.

Squints smiled awkwardly. “We’re traveling with royal gold, I’m sure when we dock it’ll be a simple matter to find someone who knows where the library is and take us there.” Trent was so mad he was turning red in the face. Squints hopped off his box. “Oh what? Like you were going to suggest we not go and let those people die? It’s more than nothing to go on so keep your pants on!” He shouted as Trent chased him into the hold.

Melody and Harmony: Chapter 1

Four miles an hour. That’s how fast Foster liked to set the engine on his skateboard when he rode down the Harmony’s sidewalks. He loved the beat his wheels pounded out every time he went over the divots in in-between the concrete slabs. With his headphones on he couldn’t hear them but he felt the CLUNK-CLUNK of each one as he rolled over them and it pulled the music from his ears all the way down to his feet.

He lived a few miles beyond the electric blue environmental shield that protected the wealthy Melody’s inner city, he had never been under the shield and had never given it much thought. He was a fringer, just as his parents, and their parents, and their parents before. He loved the feeling of the unfiltered sun on his back as he rode through the unshielded slums of Melody. He wasn’t worried about cancer, or sunburns, everyone’s clothes had protective UV layers built into them and like all but the poorest of the fingers he never went outside with uncovered skin and always in the early morning or late evening just before sunset.

It was evening shift change now. Foster didn’t look anyone in the eyes as they were either leaving or starting work. He knew in his heart that he was never going to be one of the wage slaves, trading his life for slightly less than his family needed to survive. He had grown up listening to his father talk about that life and now as a young adult he feared it greatly.

He rode into a street side marketplace. Hundreds of carts were loaded with questionable food, second hand electronics, and scraps of clothing. He rode through the shoppers, leaving ripples in the waves of people he passed by. The band of his over ear headphones were sunglasses dark enough to hide his eyes from everyone who tried to catch his attention.

He slipped out of the market as quickly as he had entered it and turned down an alley. He stopped his board next to a large sky blue steel door. The color had not always been sky blue. The years of sun had caused it to fade from a much more remarkable blue. He picked his skateboard up off the dirty alleyway and held it in his left hand. He knocked three times on the faded blue sky door with his right hand.

It felt like the door was never going to open, which is what alerted him to the fact that he was beginning to get nervous. He took a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves, but when the door opened slowly his heart beat kicked up a notch.

The automated door creaked and screeched as it opened up to him presenting an airlock lit by neon white light. The walls were white and completely bare. He stepped into the airlock and noticed the giant one way mirror on the wall. The outer airlock door closed behind him.

In the upper corner by the outer airlock door there was a speaker that had been spray painted white. “Stow your board.” It squawked.

Foster looked into the one way mirror for a second and then slowly slid his back pack off his shoulders. The backpack was covered with cloth patches that were styled to resemble pieces of an old pirate treasure map. He released the clips of two straps on the back of his bag and pressed a button on his wrist control. The board folded up until the wheels nearly touched each other. He took the folded up board and held it to the bag with the straps he clipped back in place.

With his bag back on his shoulders he stood back up and looked back into the one way mirror.

The inner door of the airlock opened much faster and much quieter. A song came through the inner airlock door and Foster could feel the beat in his chest. He pressed a button on his wrist command and his music in his headphones gave way to the music of the club as he stepped inside.