Post by Saya Shuri on Jan 29, 2008 14:37:56 GMT -5
YAY! I found a small snippet of my old novel I was writing a few years ago! Not all of it, but enough to spark my memory ^-^ I think I may just start writing it again 
Anyway, here's the snippet. Not much, and kinda odd if you don't know the story a bit already.
Keda was meditating. She and Sphynx had been contacted by Jarek, and they were preparing to emerge in front of the Advisors. Sphynx was impatiently waiting for Jarek to collect them. She was not in the best of moods.
"If you would please stop moving around, I might be able to make some headway." Keda said irately, without opening her eyes or moving.
"Why do you need to meditate? I mean, what can you do?" Sphynx asked sharply.
Keda opened her eyes. They had gained intelligence, and glittered with a new light, so to speak. She looked at Sphynx, raising an eyebrow. "You should know that already, friend." She closed her eyes again. "Now, quiet! And stop squirming." She barked.
Sphynx did know why keda had to meditate. Ever since they had gotten word of the coming of the Advisors - whoever they were - Keda had been afraid that her madness would take over during the - Sphynx searched for a word to fit it - prosecution. She looked at Keda, sitting still as a statue in the corner of the cell, cross-legged with her hands palms-down on her knwws. She was the epitome of peaceful sadness, repressed grief. Sphynx was surprised at the bond of friendship they had forged in so short a time.
Sphynx mused on everything that had happaned in the last two weeks as the hours slowly passed....
~~
Keda's eyes snapped open as she heard soft footsteps. Sphynx lay on her side, asleep. Keda stood and stretched as she wondered how long she had been meditating.
Gods! she thought. I must have sat there for hours! I'm stiff as a rock. Keda groaned as her muscles loosened painfully. She turned to the door, listening for the footsteps, and was shocked that they had not seemed to get any nearer. She frowned. How many more abilities do I have that I don't know about?
Keda shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts and turned to wake Sphynx, only to find a blade-point at her throat. She froze.
Sphynx laughed and pulled her sword away.
"Never turn your back on anything with a weapon, Keda. I had ample time to drive this through the back of your skull, if I had wanted to." She grinned as Keda flushed with indignity and embarrassment, rubbing her throat.
"Someone's coming." was all Keda said.
As if on cue, the door opened. Jarek stood a little way off, with rope coils dangling from one arm. He looked as though he were in pain. Keda stepped slowly, warily, out of the cell, eyeing the rope.
"I am truly sorry, keda." Jarek said, and Keda recognized his voice as the one that had spoken to her through mind contact during her madness. "I have to band you. We must take every precaution. I'm really sorry." He took a tentative step forward.
Keda silently turned her back to Jarek, holding her hands behind her so he could bind them. He wrapped the rope securely around her arms, tieing them to her sides. He then hobbled her legs, tieing the rope around her ankles, leaving enough slack so she could walk. Keda's face was again wet with a few tears that had not been cried earlier in the week.
They set off, Jarek holding the excess rope and leading, his face set with an apologetic look, Keda in the middle, her face emoitonless, and Sphynx last, her face twisted with sympathy.
They were led up the lift and through the castle, to the doors of the Great Hall. The dorrs were opened and they entered.
The Hall was emptied of everything except the high table and seven chairs. Two of the chairs were placed facing the high table, while four of the five behind the table were occupied. Laná-Sanók, Lady Laykota, Archmage Dekall, and Kawoshi all wore long black gowns, and each had a small crystal globe. All wore grim expressions.
Jarek led Keda and Sphynx to the two chairs facing the high table, and then took his place in the last seat. His brilliantly white robe was a stark contrast to the black of the others.
Sphynx sat down, glad to be on a chair instead of the floor as she had been for the past three days. She was very nervous, but the only outward sign she gave was a constant drumming of her fingers on the hilt of a dagger at her right hip.
Keda faced the Advisors.
"I'll stand." She said in a dead sounding voice.
Kawoshi stood and held her globe in front of her face. It began to glow and she let go, letting it hang in the air.
"Very well." She said. "Let the judgement begin. We will begin by introducing ourselves. Name, status, and current residence, if it please the council?"
They all nodded, and Laná-Sanók slowly stood and raised his glowing globe, and Kawoshi pulled hers down as she sat. Keda figured the globes were some means of gaining the floor to speak.
"Laná-Sanók, Elven High-Priest of Sùn, the Goddess of Nature. I reside in the Hidden Forest of Tholldan." He sat down and dimmed his crystal, and the entire process was repeated with the other council members.
"Laykota Soldor, High Elven Master Healer, the Hidden Forest of Tholldan."
"Dekall Gemira, High Elven Archmage and Water Master. Of my home I shall say nothing." He sat down and ignored the raised eyebrows of the council.
Kawoshi stood and ignited her globe, following the procedure. "Kawoshi. High Elven Nature Master and Outcast of the Order of Mages. I live here, the Shakkar Mage Outpost." She sat down slowly.
Keda stared. Outcast? she thought. Kawoshi's an outcast Mage? She thought of the way kawoshi had stopped that man from attacking her in the Wolf's Den Inn, two weeks before. Has it really been two weeks? She yanked her thoughs back to the matter at hand.
Jarek was already on his feet, but he had no globe. Instead, he just spoke.
"Jarek, High Elven Psychic Consultant to the Elven King. I reside here in the Shakkar Mage Outpost." He sat down.
The council looked at Sphynx, so she stood up and spoke.
"Sphynx DaVey, travelling warrior and mercenary. I... I have no home." She sat back down, feeling the fool.
It was Keda's turn. As she was already standing, she looked each of the council in the eyes, and spoke with a voice like cold steel.
"I am Keda. I have no status and no home. I lie at the mercy of this council." She bowed awkwardly to the high table and straightened up, waiting.
There was a moment of silence, and then Laná-Sanók stood and lit his globe.
"As the eldest here, and with the highest ranking status, I suppose I should start, eh?" He looked around at all assembled. "This is, indeed, the strangest council, for an even stranger decision. I think we should hear accounts of all that has happened from those concerned. We will start with Miss DaVey." He nodded in Sphynx's direction, and she visibly paled.
Sphynx stood up again, catching her foot on the leg of the chair and sending it crashing to the floor. Keda grinned as Sphynx cursed and righted the chair, and then glared at Keda, who tried to look innocent and failed.
Sphynx then turned turned to the council. "Well... uh... What - what do you want to... to know?" She said haltingly.
Kawoshi rolled her eyes, Jarek put his face in his hand and groaned softly, and Laykota smiled. Laná-Sanók did not manage to keep a straight face as he answered.
"Young Sphynx, you are obviously not used to this kind of meeting, are you, my dear?" He spoke as an old man would to a child. Sphynx bristled slightly, but kept herself in check.
"Well... no. I mean, it's not every day you stumble into this sorta situation, is it?" She said nervously.
"What the council is asking for is your account of what has happened since you met Keda and Kawoshi." He stated, the smile gone from his face as he sat down.
"Oh." Sphynx gathered her thoughts and was about to speak when Jarek's voice entered her mind. Do not tell them about Keda being able to broadcast, Sphynx! They will want to execute her if they know how strong her mind-voice is. Sphynx kept the warning in mind as she laid out what she would say.
Sphynx, Kawoshi, and Keda each laid out their parts of the story, each with a warning from Jarek. It took about an two hours, with Laná-Sanók, Laykota, and Dekall listening intently to each person, interrupting from time to time to clarify something or other.
As Keda finished her narrative, Kawoshi stood and lit her globe.
"I think, before any decisions are made by the council, that we should have lunch, to stabalize our thoughts and tempers. Does the council agree?"
Sphynx and Keda looked hopeful at the mention of fresh food that did not go through too much teleportation - it took some of the taste out of it.
Keda had started to get a familiar feeling though, and her attempts to smother it had no effect. She knew she could not stay in the presence of the others for much longer. She sighed inwardly as she realized her only option - to return to that infernal five-foot-by-five-foot cell.
The rest of the council agreed that some lunch was in order. Laná-Sanók stood up and Kawoshi quickly yanked her globe from the air.
"This council, then," He said grandly, "is adjourned. We shall reconvene to decide on the morrow."
Everyone except Sphynx and Keda stood and walked to the double doors of the Great Hall. Keda stood with her head bowed, deep in thought, while Sphynx stared sadly at her. As the Advisors filed out of the Hall, Sphynx asked Keda the question troubling them both.
"What do you think they'll say?"
Keda shook her head slowly. "I don't know, Sphynx. I just... don't know. I think Laná-Sanók might stand up for me... and maybe Lady Laykota... and I know Kawoshi and Jarek will try to save me...."
"I don't like the look of that Dekall either." Sphynx said flatly. "He's a shifty one, I'd swear an oath on it!"
Kawoshi turned at the entrance of the Hall and saw that Keda and Sphynx hadn't moved.
"Aren't you hungry?" she asked.
Keda stiffened and bowed her head again, but Sphynx turned and glared at Kawoshi.
"Give her a minute, will you! She's just the tiniest bit upset! You of all people - "
"Sphynx! That's enough! It's not her fault!"
Keda had yelled loud enough for the Advisors, in their quarters, to hear. Sphynx was stunned at the authority and power in the voice that had sounded so dead for two hours. Keda's shoulders shook for a bit, then steadied as she turned to Kawoshi.
"I would love to dine with you all," she said in a strangely tight voice. "But I'm afraid I must ask to be escorted back to the cell... I do not know how much longer I can hold off the madness and I... " She swallowed hard and spoke again in a shaky voice, "I don't want to hurt anyone."
Sphynx grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the doors. Kawoshi numbly stapped aside as they passed, and she noted how pale Keda's face was... and the light in her eyes that seemed to get brighter by the second. As they disappeared into the lift, kawoshi wondered if she had done the right thing in rescuing Keda from the man at the inn.
~~
Sphynx and Keda approached the door to the Containtment Room. When they had asked the door to open, Keda turned to Sphynx.
"Don't follow me, Sphynx."
"Huh? But - "
"Do not follow me. You will not survive!" The light in Keda's eyes almost drowned out the blood color of them, and for the first time in her life, Sphynx wanted to run from a possible fight. She backed off, trying not to appear frightened, but her legs took over and sped her toward the lift. She was suddenly glad she had not been in the cell when Keda had first been put there.
~~
Keda watched the fear on Sphynx's face grow to horror, and watched her flee to the lift. She felt her control slipping as she walked through the door she had hated for weeks, but now gladly re-entered. The door clanged shut behind her, and she stopped resisting the madness that she had held back for so long.
CHAPTER 6 - JUDGEMENT
Kawoshi walked into the Great Hall, still set up for the trial of Keda. She sighed and walked through a side door into the smaller dining hall. She was confused, something she was definitely not used to. For the first time in the four-hundred-thirty-two years of her life, she wanted answers that she knew she could not get. She was so deep in thought she walked right into Jarek as she entered the room. She looked up, startled.
"My, my. You are preoccupied, aren't you?" He asked with a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You need some rest."
"I'm fine, really, I - "
Anyway, here's the snippet. Not much, and kinda odd if you don't know the story a bit already.
The Dark Prophecy Chronicles, Volume 1
End of chapter 5 and beginning of chapter 6
End of chapter 5 and beginning of chapter 6
Keda was meditating. She and Sphynx had been contacted by Jarek, and they were preparing to emerge in front of the Advisors. Sphynx was impatiently waiting for Jarek to collect them. She was not in the best of moods.
"If you would please stop moving around, I might be able to make some headway." Keda said irately, without opening her eyes or moving.
"Why do you need to meditate? I mean, what can you do?" Sphynx asked sharply.
Keda opened her eyes. They had gained intelligence, and glittered with a new light, so to speak. She looked at Sphynx, raising an eyebrow. "You should know that already, friend." She closed her eyes again. "Now, quiet! And stop squirming." She barked.
Sphynx did know why keda had to meditate. Ever since they had gotten word of the coming of the Advisors - whoever they were - Keda had been afraid that her madness would take over during the - Sphynx searched for a word to fit it - prosecution. She looked at Keda, sitting still as a statue in the corner of the cell, cross-legged with her hands palms-down on her knwws. She was the epitome of peaceful sadness, repressed grief. Sphynx was surprised at the bond of friendship they had forged in so short a time.
Sphynx mused on everything that had happaned in the last two weeks as the hours slowly passed....
~~
Keda's eyes snapped open as she heard soft footsteps. Sphynx lay on her side, asleep. Keda stood and stretched as she wondered how long she had been meditating.
Gods! she thought. I must have sat there for hours! I'm stiff as a rock. Keda groaned as her muscles loosened painfully. She turned to the door, listening for the footsteps, and was shocked that they had not seemed to get any nearer. She frowned. How many more abilities do I have that I don't know about?
Keda shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts and turned to wake Sphynx, only to find a blade-point at her throat. She froze.
Sphynx laughed and pulled her sword away.
"Never turn your back on anything with a weapon, Keda. I had ample time to drive this through the back of your skull, if I had wanted to." She grinned as Keda flushed with indignity and embarrassment, rubbing her throat.
"Someone's coming." was all Keda said.
As if on cue, the door opened. Jarek stood a little way off, with rope coils dangling from one arm. He looked as though he were in pain. Keda stepped slowly, warily, out of the cell, eyeing the rope.
"I am truly sorry, keda." Jarek said, and Keda recognized his voice as the one that had spoken to her through mind contact during her madness. "I have to band you. We must take every precaution. I'm really sorry." He took a tentative step forward.
Keda silently turned her back to Jarek, holding her hands behind her so he could bind them. He wrapped the rope securely around her arms, tieing them to her sides. He then hobbled her legs, tieing the rope around her ankles, leaving enough slack so she could walk. Keda's face was again wet with a few tears that had not been cried earlier in the week.
They set off, Jarek holding the excess rope and leading, his face set with an apologetic look, Keda in the middle, her face emoitonless, and Sphynx last, her face twisted with sympathy.
They were led up the lift and through the castle, to the doors of the Great Hall. The dorrs were opened and they entered.
The Hall was emptied of everything except the high table and seven chairs. Two of the chairs were placed facing the high table, while four of the five behind the table were occupied. Laná-Sanók, Lady Laykota, Archmage Dekall, and Kawoshi all wore long black gowns, and each had a small crystal globe. All wore grim expressions.
Jarek led Keda and Sphynx to the two chairs facing the high table, and then took his place in the last seat. His brilliantly white robe was a stark contrast to the black of the others.
Sphynx sat down, glad to be on a chair instead of the floor as she had been for the past three days. She was very nervous, but the only outward sign she gave was a constant drumming of her fingers on the hilt of a dagger at her right hip.
Keda faced the Advisors.
"I'll stand." She said in a dead sounding voice.
Kawoshi stood and held her globe in front of her face. It began to glow and she let go, letting it hang in the air.
"Very well." She said. "Let the judgement begin. We will begin by introducing ourselves. Name, status, and current residence, if it please the council?"
They all nodded, and Laná-Sanók slowly stood and raised his glowing globe, and Kawoshi pulled hers down as she sat. Keda figured the globes were some means of gaining the floor to speak.
"Laná-Sanók, Elven High-Priest of Sùn, the Goddess of Nature. I reside in the Hidden Forest of Tholldan." He sat down and dimmed his crystal, and the entire process was repeated with the other council members.
"Laykota Soldor, High Elven Master Healer, the Hidden Forest of Tholldan."
"Dekall Gemira, High Elven Archmage and Water Master. Of my home I shall say nothing." He sat down and ignored the raised eyebrows of the council.
Kawoshi stood and ignited her globe, following the procedure. "Kawoshi. High Elven Nature Master and Outcast of the Order of Mages. I live here, the Shakkar Mage Outpost." She sat down slowly.
Keda stared. Outcast? she thought. Kawoshi's an outcast Mage? She thought of the way kawoshi had stopped that man from attacking her in the Wolf's Den Inn, two weeks before. Has it really been two weeks? She yanked her thoughs back to the matter at hand.
Jarek was already on his feet, but he had no globe. Instead, he just spoke.
"Jarek, High Elven Psychic Consultant to the Elven King. I reside here in the Shakkar Mage Outpost." He sat down.
The council looked at Sphynx, so she stood up and spoke.
"Sphynx DaVey, travelling warrior and mercenary. I... I have no home." She sat back down, feeling the fool.
It was Keda's turn. As she was already standing, she looked each of the council in the eyes, and spoke with a voice like cold steel.
"I am Keda. I have no status and no home. I lie at the mercy of this council." She bowed awkwardly to the high table and straightened up, waiting.
There was a moment of silence, and then Laná-Sanók stood and lit his globe.
"As the eldest here, and with the highest ranking status, I suppose I should start, eh?" He looked around at all assembled. "This is, indeed, the strangest council, for an even stranger decision. I think we should hear accounts of all that has happened from those concerned. We will start with Miss DaVey." He nodded in Sphynx's direction, and she visibly paled.
Sphynx stood up again, catching her foot on the leg of the chair and sending it crashing to the floor. Keda grinned as Sphynx cursed and righted the chair, and then glared at Keda, who tried to look innocent and failed.
Sphynx then turned turned to the council. "Well... uh... What - what do you want to... to know?" She said haltingly.
Kawoshi rolled her eyes, Jarek put his face in his hand and groaned softly, and Laykota smiled. Laná-Sanók did not manage to keep a straight face as he answered.
"Young Sphynx, you are obviously not used to this kind of meeting, are you, my dear?" He spoke as an old man would to a child. Sphynx bristled slightly, but kept herself in check.
"Well... no. I mean, it's not every day you stumble into this sorta situation, is it?" She said nervously.
"What the council is asking for is your account of what has happened since you met Keda and Kawoshi." He stated, the smile gone from his face as he sat down.
"Oh." Sphynx gathered her thoughts and was about to speak when Jarek's voice entered her mind. Do not tell them about Keda being able to broadcast, Sphynx! They will want to execute her if they know how strong her mind-voice is. Sphynx kept the warning in mind as she laid out what she would say.
Sphynx, Kawoshi, and Keda each laid out their parts of the story, each with a warning from Jarek. It took about an two hours, with Laná-Sanók, Laykota, and Dekall listening intently to each person, interrupting from time to time to clarify something or other.
As Keda finished her narrative, Kawoshi stood and lit her globe.
"I think, before any decisions are made by the council, that we should have lunch, to stabalize our thoughts and tempers. Does the council agree?"
Sphynx and Keda looked hopeful at the mention of fresh food that did not go through too much teleportation - it took some of the taste out of it.
Keda had started to get a familiar feeling though, and her attempts to smother it had no effect. She knew she could not stay in the presence of the others for much longer. She sighed inwardly as she realized her only option - to return to that infernal five-foot-by-five-foot cell.
The rest of the council agreed that some lunch was in order. Laná-Sanók stood up and Kawoshi quickly yanked her globe from the air.
"This council, then," He said grandly, "is adjourned. We shall reconvene to decide on the morrow."
Everyone except Sphynx and Keda stood and walked to the double doors of the Great Hall. Keda stood with her head bowed, deep in thought, while Sphynx stared sadly at her. As the Advisors filed out of the Hall, Sphynx asked Keda the question troubling them both.
"What do you think they'll say?"
Keda shook her head slowly. "I don't know, Sphynx. I just... don't know. I think Laná-Sanók might stand up for me... and maybe Lady Laykota... and I know Kawoshi and Jarek will try to save me...."
"I don't like the look of that Dekall either." Sphynx said flatly. "He's a shifty one, I'd swear an oath on it!"
Kawoshi turned at the entrance of the Hall and saw that Keda and Sphynx hadn't moved.
"Aren't you hungry?" she asked.
Keda stiffened and bowed her head again, but Sphynx turned and glared at Kawoshi.
"Give her a minute, will you! She's just the tiniest bit upset! You of all people - "
"Sphynx! That's enough! It's not her fault!"
Keda had yelled loud enough for the Advisors, in their quarters, to hear. Sphynx was stunned at the authority and power in the voice that had sounded so dead for two hours. Keda's shoulders shook for a bit, then steadied as she turned to Kawoshi.
"I would love to dine with you all," she said in a strangely tight voice. "But I'm afraid I must ask to be escorted back to the cell... I do not know how much longer I can hold off the madness and I... " She swallowed hard and spoke again in a shaky voice, "I don't want to hurt anyone."
Sphynx grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the doors. Kawoshi numbly stapped aside as they passed, and she noted how pale Keda's face was... and the light in her eyes that seemed to get brighter by the second. As they disappeared into the lift, kawoshi wondered if she had done the right thing in rescuing Keda from the man at the inn.
~~
Sphynx and Keda approached the door to the Containtment Room. When they had asked the door to open, Keda turned to Sphynx.
"Don't follow me, Sphynx."
"Huh? But - "
"Do not follow me. You will not survive!" The light in Keda's eyes almost drowned out the blood color of them, and for the first time in her life, Sphynx wanted to run from a possible fight. She backed off, trying not to appear frightened, but her legs took over and sped her toward the lift. She was suddenly glad she had not been in the cell when Keda had first been put there.
~~
Keda watched the fear on Sphynx's face grow to horror, and watched her flee to the lift. She felt her control slipping as she walked through the door she had hated for weeks, but now gladly re-entered. The door clanged shut behind her, and she stopped resisting the madness that she had held back for so long.
CHAPTER 6 - JUDGEMENT
Kawoshi walked into the Great Hall, still set up for the trial of Keda. She sighed and walked through a side door into the smaller dining hall. She was confused, something she was definitely not used to. For the first time in the four-hundred-thirty-two years of her life, she wanted answers that she knew she could not get. She was so deep in thought she walked right into Jarek as she entered the room. She looked up, startled.
"My, my. You are preoccupied, aren't you?" He asked with a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You need some rest."
"I'm fine, really, I - "