“It’s my fault!” I sobbed as I
watched the last of the concrete walls poured in around him. He turned to the
tiny window and looked up at the moon, reflecting my image through the crystal
ball. He couldn’t hear me, but he knew my anguish.
“No, my love,” he mouthed. “They
would have come for me anyway.” I heard his words in my heart as clearly as if
he whispered them in my ear. “It was my pursuit of the Aurora Trail. If I never
knew you, I would never have found it.”
Tears flooded my eyes and I could
no longer make out his features. I touched my hand to the crystal ball, and
light flared around it. I hoped he could feel my fingers caressing his cheek. I
lay my head on my arm, still touching the globe, and cried until I fell into an
exhausted sleep.
The Aurora Trail. The end of the
rainbow. The treasure, not gold, but power. For good or evil—that depended
entirely on who held it. People spent their lives in search of it. Their
fortunes, their kingdoms. Men like my father, who would have wielded it with
strength and wisdom to make life better for all.
Grant had come to join him in the
search, and we fell in love at first sight, never mind what the cynics say. I
begged him not to follow my father’s path. I watched my mother sicken and die
without him by her side because of the lure of the Trail. It glittered always
just out of his reach, and he was so locked into his quest that he lost sight
of the world around him. I wanted a life with Grant, and I knew if he followed
the Trail, he would never find his way back to me.
And so I went to the sorceress
Candesse and pleaded for her aid. She had been a friend to my family for
generations. How could I know her own quest for the Aurora had overtaken her
heart? She gave me the crystal ball so that Grant and I could at least see each
other, reflected in the moonlight. And she sent her own men in pursuit of him
on the Trail.
During the crescent moon, Grant
and I could not see each other. He believed he was close to the end of the
Trail, and during the New Moon, he found the Treasure. And Candesse’s men found
him. They had already constructed his cell by the time the moon waxed enough
for me to see him again. I didn’t know why Candesse didn’t kill him outright,
but I was grateful. Grant alive meant hope lived.
I took the crystal ball and the
few meager supplies I could pack in minutes and fled on horseback into the
Black Forest. Noone knew of Candesse’s betrayal. How could I trust anyone
again? Now I had to retrace Grant’s steps along the Aurora Trail and find his
buried prison. Once free, he and I would face Candesse and retrieve the Aurora
Treasure. My love for him would not weaken me. It gave me strength and courage for
the search. I knew in my heart that love, not power, was the true treasure.
Dogs in house:
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Houdini
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Time writing:
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~25 minutes
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April word count:
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11,824
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Prompt: Concrete, Crystal ball, If I never knew you, Pursuit, Aurora, Trail (Use at least three)
ReplyDeleteThe crystal ball showed the traveller walking beside his pony along the dark trail, the same aurora Milena could see through the open tent flap flickering across the sky. Milena wiped her hand across the crystal's surface and the image vanished. He pushed hard, though could not know as Milena did that the band of sword-wielding toughs had long since given up their pursuit.
She stood and stretched. Unfortunately, the land he trekked through was as undistinguishable as it had been for the last two weeks, since her evening scryings had become fixated on this unknown man. Despite trying to actively wrench her vision elsewhere, all she saw was the traveller. She left the tent and looked up at the aurora. She dare not hope, yet, that he be the one they awaited.
Nice start! Good world-building sketch, and a mystery hook at the end. I want to know more!
DeleteReally ill yesterday! Still not thinking great, but at least I can sit up and type...
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you've been under the weather! Hope you feel better soon!
Delete