A Walk In The Woods (Lyr #46)

This is Part 46 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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‘Come. Walk with me Lyr. We should use this time wisely.’

I had fallen asleep by the water, the gentle sound of the river lapping the bank lulling me to sleep. I woke feeling restored.

We turned away from the channel, towards a forest of mighty trees that reached high into the air. There was no path to speak of, the ground being completely covered by fallen leaves in colours of rust and the darkest gold.

‘Why am I still here? Why did I not wake back in my world?’

‘You’ll return only when you’re ready,’ she answered cryptically. ‘Until then, you’ll remain here. For now, there is something I wish to show you. Something that might help you.’

We climbed a hill. When we reached the top, I was out of breath and not only because of the climb…The Hag had brought me to see the Enchanter’s Stone.

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #46 | Word count: 149 – I’m so enjoying the direction this story has taken.  Many thanks to Crispina over at Crimson Prose for the wonderful photo prompts 🙂  One more part and I will have caught up.  Part 47 coming tomorrow…

Unforeseen Consequences (Lyr #45)

This is Part 45 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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The magic warring above me rained down and mingled with the remnants of the larulia…with unforeseen consequences.

First I was forced to wake. My eyes shot open, but all I saw was painted in two colours: blue and yellow. I could make nothing and no-one out. The colours were indistinct shapes, moving about in haphazard fashion.

Then it felt as if I was pulled out of the waking world through my solar plexus. I was still awake, yet each sound, sight and sensation was as if in a dream.

The Hag was waiting for me on the other side of wherever this was. She smiled. ‘Even those closest to you are determined to make this quest of yours impossible, Lyr. Thankfully I was close by or they might have killed you.’

I looked around. This place was beautiful. Everything was so calm here.

‘Rest now, and wait,’ The Hag encouraged. ‘Rest now, and wait.’

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #45 | Word count: 154 – Again slightly over, but there was a lot to get in this instalment.  Must try harder next time…

A Magical Dispute – The Between Time continued (Lyr #44)

This is Part 44 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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It wasn’t Fandario I needed to fear meddling. It was Adrastia.

‘What are you doing?’ Fadario’s voice sounded uncertain, strained. If he didn’t think something was a good idea, it must be terrible.

‘Trying to help-’

‘Are you? Surely the best course of action is do nothing and no harm will be done.’

‘Get out of my way, Fandario. I don’t have time for your antics.’

‘I’ll not just stand by as you make things worse. At least explain what you plan on doing? How do you plan to counter the effects of the larulia?’

I sorely wanted to hear the answer to that also, but Adrastia must have believed she owed no one an explanation for no response was forthcoming.

The next thing I heard was a thunderclap, sounding directly above me, as colours of blue and yellow rushed by.

Adrastia was using her magic, and Fandario was using his to stop her.

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #44 | Word count: 154 – Again a few words over – oops!  I had to get a little creative with this prompt as I saw no way of getting a train into the story at this point.  So instead I used two elements taken from the train – its colours and speed – in the story.

As it transpired, the next update was not to be posted on Monday…some times life just gets in the way…sigh… The next update will be tomorrow, of this I’m certain…at the moment, at any rate 🙂

The Between Time (Lyr #43)

This is Part 43 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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I felt the dream slipping away…everything was spinning and distorting…moving too quickly and at strange angles.  It wasn’t a nice experience.

‘Do something!’ I heard Adrastia shout. Was it at me?

‘I don’t know what you expect me to do!’

‘You’re a magician!’ Ah, she was shouting at Fandario.

‘And you’re…a scold! You have magic – you do something!’

I opened my eyes but something wasn’t right. All I could see above me: clothes hovering in the air. There were no bodies to go with them, yet I could still hear Adrastia and Fandario arguing.

‘But I don’t know what to do!’

‘And you think I do? I haven’t had many dealings with enchanters, and certainly none with their dream-weaver’s flower. Whatever I do might make things worse.’

For once, Fandario and I seemed to be of one mind. I didn’t want the mad magician meddling either…

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #43 | Word count: 147 – Yay! This part makes five in five days!  And we’ve almost (sort of) caught up – only 3 more prompts to go, plus next week’s prompt.  Next part coming Monday 🙂

The Hag’s Message – The Dream continued (Lyr #42)

This is Part 42 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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I stepped inside. Twilight was falling outside and the cottage offered warmth, light and cosiness. However, I was still uneasy. The reason? The Hag. She also went by the names of Crone and Wise Woman. She was the divine lady who watched over Enchanters, who guided their magic and the dreams they wove.

I’d never thought to be in her presence. I’d never thought her to be more than a figment of the imagination of the more gullible who practised the craft of enchanting. But here she was, and here I was, in her home, her cottage.

‘We haven’t much time,’ she said without preamble. ‘There is a path laid out before you, one you haven’t chosen. It will be difficult, but you must see it through to the end. I will help where I can, though most of this you will do alone. For that I’m sorry.’

Then she started to explain…

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #42 | Word count: 153 – I’m a little over the word count this time around.  Having trimmed back as much as I could – originally this part was much, much longer! – I decided three words wasn’t really that bad… 🙂

The Hag – The Dream continued (Lyr #41)

This is Part 41 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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I climbed the steps and felt my spirits lighten. I was content to be here in the forest.

At the top of the hill was a path. I followed that too. It didn’t seem to matter that I knew not where it led.

The trees crept closer. Sunlight filtered through the canopy above to speckle the floor in soft gold.

Time moved on. The day was slowly slipping away…

Suddenly the forest fell behind me and there ahead was a charming forester’s cottage. Around it grew a well-tended kitchen garden. A gaggle of geese, sensing my approach, cackled in warning, which brought an old woman with bent back to the door.

She smiled a toothless grin at me as she beckoned me in. I went cold, realising instantly who she was.

‘Welcome, Lyr. I’ve been expecting you.’

How could I refuse The Hag’s invitation?

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #41 | Word count: 144

From Here to There – The Dream continued (Lyr #40)

This is Part 40 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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Chains. There must have been hundreds of them on the ground. Some were coiled like snakes. Some stretched out so that you could see each and every link in them clearly.

A vague idea popped into my head, but it vanished before I could grab hold of it. However, before my anger at letting it slip through my fingers could manifest, the world about me altered…

I was no longer with the brightly bursting clouds and metal serpents. I was in a glade in a forest. Trees arched above, while a verdant carpet of grass stretched beneath me, all the way to the glade’s opposite boundary.

It was lovely here. Peaceful. All I could hear was the gentle rustling of the leaves.

Then I spotted a set of steps, cut into the side of hill. I had no idea where they led, but I felt compelled to find out…

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #40 | Word count: 149

The Dream of a Dream-Weaver (Lyr #39)

This is Part 39 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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Magic. It was everywhere. Only it wasn’t. It was nowhere. One minute it was here, the next…poof! Gone!

The air about me was filled with brightly coloured clouds bursting before they disappeared. Pinks, purples, blues, greens, yellows…so many colours…so many pretty colours.

I walked up to one of the bubbles, fascinated by the way it sparkled, by the way it moved. It was the magic inside, dancing, swaying under the influence of its own energy. Then, as if by magic, for I saw no hand, no-one responsible, the bubble ruptured, dispersing the vibrant residue as the magic vanished. I went over to the next one, and the process started again.

The more I saw, the more upset I became, though I couldn’t work out why. Something was eluding me.

‘Where are you going?’ I called out to the magic but received no answer. ‘Stay! I command you!’

Only then did I see the chains…

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #39 | Word count: 154 – a few words over…I think I’m a little rusty, after all it’s been over a month since I updated this story…I must try harder next time.

Larulia (Lyr #38)

This is Part 38 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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I walked and walked, my head empty when I should have been thinking, processing all I had learnt. My mind, however, wouldn’t cooperate. It was overwhelmed.

I paid no attention to where I was or where I was going. I didn’t care. I simply went wherever the breeze decided to take me.

The next thing I knew, I was here. And then I was laughing. I was standing in the middle of a field of larulia, the dream-weaver’s flower. I should have been worried. Larulia was potent in tiny doses and here I was standing in an acre of it. As I inhaled its heady scent, I could feel the magic taking effect.

And so I decided to lie down and rest amongst the pretty flowers. My eyes were quick to close; I felt a smile spread across my face and then I began to drift away, to dream and dream some more…

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #38 | Word count: 153 –  a few words over this time round, must try harder…

A-sighing and A-snapping (Lyr #37)

This is Part 37 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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Where he’d got them from, I don’t know, but as I rounded the carriage, my head all a-muddle, I stopped dead. A picnic blanket, a sunshade and a windbreak had been erected there in the field. Flandario must have convinced himself we were about to picnic on the beach.

It was in that moment I decided I’d had enough. Of everything. Something in me had snapped, and I started to walk away.

‘Where are you going?’ the magician called after me, but I ignored him.

‘Lyr? Lyr?’ Adrastia shouted, but I wasn’t interested in speaking with her either.

The only response I offered them was a heavy sigh.

Truths were slowly coming to light, only to reveal that my estranged wife seemed to be involved in all the upheaval I had suffered these last ten years.

And now I needed to think. On my own. Without anyone else.

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #37 | Word count: 148