Where none can hear

My feet wander back

over dried winter grass

to turn my back on

the world, its shadows.

Your shadow beside me.

Tales and banter of past times

fall in still whispers on

my thoughts as I stare to a time

when you sat beside

me.

It was a dark winter then

–        that lifetime ago  –

and shadows, like today,

streaked the dry grass.

Only the memory of your voice bring

calm and peace.

Today I’ll smile,

today I’ll whisper,

but only where none can hear.

I love you.

The Great Sundering Part 3 – The Night of Fire

For your reading pleasure this week, is part three of “The Great Sundering”. Click here to read part 1 and part 2. Next week I’ll try to have something a bit more uplifting for the fiction Monday!

The Night of Fire

At the time of The Sundering, dragons still lived on the coast of the Eastern Lands. The Saerimavolk were their guardians and knew the Dragon Tongue and their kingdom was very great. At The Sundering, many of the Lewjan's servants, the forebears of the Flotaferan from the scattered trading islands, attacked first the islands not under their power, and then the coast of the Eastern Lands; as they thought that they would be spared death if they could claim the land for their own and their master. There was with the Flotaferan also a Lewjan Lord who wanted to claim and bind the Eastern Dragons to himself to gain more power.

But the dragons saw the ships approaching on the churning ocean and had time to warn their Guardians and the Saerímavolk of the impending attack. Some of the Guardians, who were not fit to fight, fled with some of the dragon eggs and younglings to the Blue Mountains; following the messengers who were to call the peoples there to arms.

The Flotaferan attacked at night, but the dragons were ready for them. They burnt most of the ships and slaughtered many of the Flotaferan, as did the warriors of the Saerímavolk. But the Flotaferan had used for the first time the deadly poison made from the Dragon’s Bane plant, with which they smeared their arrows and killed every last dragon and Guardian they could lay their hands on. The Lewjan Lord did not have the chance to bind one grown dragon to him and could find no younglings on the cliffs. The last dragon alive found the Lewjan Lord and slew him and threw his body from the cliff before he was slain by an arrow from the Flotaferan.

 This night was known as The Night of Fire, because of the many fires that lit the battlefield.

Reinforcements from the Blue Mountains also came to fight the Flotaferan. Together, they and the Saerímavolk overcame the Flotaferan and the remaining attackers fled in the boats that were still somewhat seaworthy. The slain of the Flotaferan were buried in one pit, while a mound was raised over those of the Saerímavolk who fell on that night. The blood ashes were thrown in the ocean and the Dragon Tears were used to cremate the fallen before the graves were covered and the mound constructed. As happens to the dragons when they died, the dragons’ bodies were turned to stone below the waves, or where they fell on the land, and their passing was greatly mourned.

And so, on one fateful night, the time of the dragons and the Dragon Guardians of the Eastern Lands came to an end.

(The Night of Fire is commemorated every year at the first new moon after The Day of Sundering, at the end of summer. The night is commemorated by the lighting of bonfires on the beaches and has come to include mock battles and feasting, where the first nights were held in austerity, recounting the tales of the Sundering around fires on the beaches over a simple meal.) 

Ageless Words Friday: A Medieval Allegory of the Scribe’s Tools

A few years ago I came across this short piece when I was researching Icelandic manuscripts for an essay. I am not quite sure what the exact search was, but it was probably something like “parchment + illumination”; as I wanted to know (more for myself than as information necessary for the essay I was working on) what inks were used, how the parchments were readied, etc. Anyway, I ended up putting this piece up in my writing closet[1].

 

A Medieval Allegory of the Scribe’s Tools

The parchment on which we write is pure conscience; the knife that scrapes it is the fear of God; the pumice that smoothes the skin is the discipline of heavenly desire; the chalk that whitens it signifies an unbroken meditation of holy thoughts; the ruler is the will of God; the straightedge is devotion to the holy task; the quill, its end split in two for writing, is the love of God and of our neighbor; the ink is humility itself; the illuminator’s colors represent the multiform grace of heavenly wisdom; the writing desk is tranquility of heart; the exemplar from which a copy is made is the life of Christ; the writing place is contempt of worldly things lifting us to a desire for heaven.

The piece can also be found on Rosemarie Berger’s page under the title “How to pray when you have a desk job”.

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[1] My writing desk is inside a closet and has become known in the family as “The Writing Closet”; and is a mystical place where you will get lost in another dimension for at least a couple of hours if you’re not careful. We DO NOT, however, refer to it as the “WC”… And at least the Afrikaans is “Die Skryfkas”.

Reads and sites: Worldbuilding with Words, Paint & Pencil

I’ve found some great resources for worldbuilding this week and visited John Howe’s website again. I also took a peak at writer’s notebooks…

Worldbuilding Resources

You can now download the Magical Worldbuilder Guide by  Stephanie Cottrell Bryant in PDF, ePub or MOBI formats:

“… give yourself 7 and a half hours this month-- 15 minutes a day-- to build a world. It's not going to be Perfect or Set. Why would it be? You haven't actually written the story yet, you haven't tested its limits. But it'll give you something to start with, something to feel comfortable about when you start.”

I also came across an interesting interview about worldbuilding on www.writerswrite.com – I always love to hear how different writers go about writing.

John Howe

John Howe is truly one of my favourite artists – and he is a talented wordsmith as well. Enough to make you dark green with envy!

I love notebooks!

What can be better than a brand new notebook? One filled with scribbles, stories and pictures… I came across this link in a tweet by @thecreativepenn – “For the love of Moleskine journals”. My notebooks are usually a mix of ideas, glimpses of stories, the names of books or sites I want to read, doodles and scribbled maps and even the odd feather, leaf and pressed flower… How does yours look?

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Good vs. Evil Part 2 - The Airus

This week I’m taking a look at the Airus and will leave the Aíhla and the Ahma for next week to keep the posts from getting too long.  

The Airus

The opposite of the Lewjan, the Airus are messengers and servants of the Light and are also sometimes sent to help the people of Airthai against the Lewjan and their followers. The Airus are those who did not betray the Creator and are the mortal enemies of the Lewjan Lords.

“And the Creator made the race of the Airus that may pass between his world and ours; the only race able to do so while still alive. And the Creator made the peoples that inhabit the lands of the world. And the race of the Airus received much Talent from their Creator, the most of the Talent that the Creator gave to all the races created.” (Taken from “The Creation of Airthai”.)

Though the Airus are seldom seen, it is said that they were at the great battle fought between the Lewjan and the Erewhar, where they kept the Erewhar safe from harm:

“On the last day of the hundredth year since the coming of the Lewjan to the Erewhar the soldiers of the Erewhar stood against the Lewjan. A fierce fight was fought on that day. The Lewjan attacked the Erewhar with fire, but not one hair on the heads of the Erewhar was singed. Some of the witnesses later said that they saw the Airus that fought on the field alongside the Erewhar and kept the fire from them. The Erewhar stood strong because they knew that this battle was not just for their freedom, but for their very souls.
Some of the Erewhar, however, were so drunk and blind with the power the Lewjan gave and promised them, that they still chose to go with the Lewjan even after the Erewhar had won and were taken away in a plume of smoke when the new day dawned. They were not seen again in their own human form, but were rumoured to dwell in the Death Plain seeking souls to twist as their own were twisted. They could take on any form that they wished, like the strongest of the Lewjan, and it is said that they often took the form of seductive women to seduce men with their looks and voices.
The Erewhar who stayed behind found the ground turned to ash where they stood and not one tree still stood on the burnt plain. Around them the earth was churned to  ash and mud. This land would become the Death Plain, greatly feared by all people of the Southern Lands. And so they trekked south to seek help from the neighbouring countries. Aleidys led the group that would later become the Whargahn clan.” (Taken from “The Fall of the Erewhar”.)

The Fiery Battlefield...."Veldfire" by JEA Volxchenk

The Ealda were also, after the Sundering, led to the Valley of the Ealda by seven of these Airus, who left after the mists and mountains hid the Ealda from their enemies. 

Some, especially the Aíhla and the Ahma, believed that Airus were the ones who spoke to them in dreams and, in this way, conveyed important information or messages to them.

The two Aíhla, Migael and Gabriel, said that they and Leshem were spoken to in a dream to go to the old well at the cross roads. It was when they got there that they found Aran close to death. This was told of in “A Drink of Water” and “Mercy Unlooked For”. 

And so it was that a war - sometimes unseen, sometimes painting the fields of Airthai red - started that would last through all the ages of the world. A war that would only end on the day the sun burned its last and all the life on Airthai pass to the other world where only the immortal soul can go. 

The Great Office Trek

In the year of Our Lord 2011, in the blustery and cold month of June, I attempted, along with various other colleagues, to brave the winter cold and move to another office[1]… We packed the meager belongings stashed away in desk drawers, loaded the bags on our backs and hiked a few hundred meters to our new home.

I, being the slightly strange, nerdy one in the office also carried about 10 pounds of large and very important (maybe even magical) volumes slung over my shoulder. The trek was so tiring, that I even had to stop for a cup of tea and a cup of coffee once I was settled in. Here are a few things that I have learned during this great adventure:

• 1.        Those little bookshelves fixed to the desk can take quite a few dictionaries and other language books.
• 2.      You can never have too many dictionaries with you – either to hide behind or to make you look smart.
• 3.      I have enough memo pads to at least last me the rest of the year – I adore stationery, especially if they are printed with cute designs. Somehow I can always make myself believe that I need another notepad when I see one I like. (Shame on you CNA and CUMbooks for taking advantage of my love of stationery!)
• 4.      I only have one pen from the office supply cupboard – I much prefer those with more than one colour and those which are decorated. It also makes it more difficult for them to ‘get lost’.
• 5.       A new cubicle means new decoration challenges. (Where do I put my family pictures? And my piece of petrified wood? Can I still sneak in the odd action figure? Decision, decisions…

I came across this a while ago – if you also like stationery, you’ll love this!

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[1] OK, cubicle.

The Great Sundering Part 2 – The Flight of the Seafolk

Welcome to the first full week of June – can you believe how this year has flown? As promised, here is part 2 of The Great Sundering. Here the picture of the Seafolk, Dragon Guardians and their Eastern kin becomes more complete… Part 1 of the Sundering can be found here.

The Great Sundering Part 2 – The Flight of the Seafolk

After the Great Continent was split in two, the waters of the ocean churned and boiled for many days and none dared set sail upon it. Great mountains now rose above the water and great sea monsters were seen in the water. The waters around the Sundered Lands were especially rife with these beasts.

But some of the Seafolk, who now found themselves on the northern coast of the Sundered Lands, launched their ships and sailed for the Continent as they tried to flee from the Lewjan and the Wíkla. These folk included Dragon Guardians and Dragon Elders who knew that their dragons would also be blood-bound to the Lewjan if they should find them. They took all the eggs they could carry and young dragons on board the ships and some of the adult dragons flew along and with their fiery breaths scared away the sea monsters who churned the waters.

When the Seafolk fled with the dragons and dragon eggs to the Continent, some fled to the Southern Coast and Reiaghy, while others, who then became known as the Saerímavolk, fled to the Coast of the Eastern Lands, where they knew some of their kin already lived. This was before the House of the Eastern Keepers was built. Some of the Dragon Elders escaped last as the lands that would become the Northern Kingdoms in the Sundered Lands fell to the onslaught of the Werlea, Wíkla and High Wíkla. Some of the Dragons stayed to try and stem the carnage and the save the people that were fleeing across the new sea in what ships they could reach. But these Dragons all fell before the black fire of the Fallen Dragons. 

Next week, I will be posting part 3 of The Great Sundering, in which the Night of Fire will be told of.

I’m still working on a map to illustrate the “before” and “after” of the Sundering, but with all the studying I need to complete this month, I’ll probably only get it done in July… But watch this space; maybe I’ll get some time this month to at least finish one of the complete maps (properly drawn and not scribbled, that is!).