Clearing Out The Attic

It is very interesting to go through your computer's attic (or that handy 'to file' folder), especially if you find some forgotten bits and pieces. Here are two of my first flash pieces. I'm still practicing at getting a whole story into 1 000 words (or less), but really hope I'm getting better at it as time passes!


I've mentioned before that www.sffworld.com has a monthly flash fiction contest, which is a very good way of stretching your mind to think up a new story with just one word or phrase as inspiration. More importantly, it is not a phrase that you, yourself, chose!

Both of these pieces were written from the first concept that I came up with when I read the theme, and Laudanum was the first flash piece that I wrote for SFFWorld.

The Tournament

Jeremy stared at the table standing on the beach. It was quite a pleasant day, or would have been if the sky was blue and not grey even though there was not one cloud in the sky. The table was bare, its two chairs having inappropriate frilly cushions on them. He realized it was the same cushions as those his grandmother had had in her kitchen. The cushions were tinted in grey as well, as if the pinks and greens had washed out of them leaving only their shadows. He looked behind him. The palms forming a distinct line between sand and forest looked like it was taken from a black and white holiday catalogue. The salt water was a clear grey. A voice next to him said: “Choose a game.” The figure was dressed in black – the only pure black he could see anywhere. His mind raced.

“Trivial Pursuit – no,” he stopped himself. He would not know the answers. He thought and thought. Chess? Checkers? Poker? Bridge, for goodness’ sake?

“Choose, human, or I will choose for you.” The voice was louder, impatient. He tried not to look at the scythe it held in one grey, bloodless hand. “You wanted to play, so let us play.”

Jeremy swallowed hard. “Dice, we will play at dice.”

Two dice appeared in his clenched hand. When he opened his fist, he saw one was of the purest white, the other pure black. When he looked up the figure was already seated at the table.

“Come,” it said, cracking its fingers. “Time for a game.”

Jeremy took a deep breath, smelling the salt in the air and walked to the table, placing the dice in the centre before lowering himself into the chair.

“You first. Highest out of three wins.”

Jeremy took the dice, shook them in his hand and let them fall. Two sixes. He let out a breath. So far so good. The figure did the same. It landed. Two ones. It was Jeremy’s turn again. He threw. Two and three. The figure threw. Two sixes. Jeremy threw. Four and one. The figure threw. Two sixes.

“Well then,” it said. “Come along.”

“Wait.” Another hand pushed the dice towards the black-robed figure. “Best one out of one.” The figure took the dice, threw. Two sixes. “He’s still mine.” The other figure threw. It landed. Two sevens. “He is mine," the voice boomed as colour returned to the world.


**** The two sevens at the end came as just a surprise to me. I wanted to write a tournament between a mortal and death where the mortal won. When I reached death saying "Come along", I thought that was that for Jeremy. The dice landing on seven, the "voice" saying "He is mine" and the colour returning to the world added so much more to the tale, especially in a Christian perspective. This is now one of my favourite pieces. ****

Laudanum

Laudanum stared at the blank page in front of him. Below him, in the kitchen, he could hear muffled voices that only sometimes rose too high or too loud for a few syllables to act as if it was a normal conversation. Nothing here seemed normal. You just had to look at his name to know that he was not normal. No normal person would name their child Laudanum. It was a wonder his newly born sister was named 'Rose' like any other normal child and not something like ‘Latrine' just because his parents liked the way the word sounds.

He kept his eyes on the page and stared intently at the darkness that lay behind them until he could see nothing but the darkness. Then, after the darkness had come, the other world came. The world that was created in the darkness behind his eyes. He knew not if he had been the creator, he was quite sure he wasn't. A few people here and there, a couple of dragons, a mythical quest or two. Those he did create. But the rest he was not so sure of. He remembered the first time he visited the place. It had no mountains then, but was simply grassland as far as the eye could see. Then he thought ‘mountains’ and the next moment they were there, on the horizon. One even had snow on top. He had never even seen snow. He also changed the weather patterns that day with his gigantic mountains. And crushed a few villages. After that he tried not to think too much while he visited. But, sometimes, a thought or emotion did slip through. And, today, it rained although rain did not seem to be the right word to describe the amounts of water falling from the sky. It was more like a monsoon rain, more like torrential rain that fell and turned all the ground to mud. And it was cold, so cold. Up in the mountains an avalanche started and slid down the great mountain.

Laudanum thought as hard as he could about sunshine, rainbows, and the absence of water. The mud sprouted into flowers as far as his eyes could see. But the sun was too warm. Just enough water, he concentrated, and could feel the water rising to the surface. The sun not too warm, he thought and could feel the sun's rays fading, although sudden flashes of light streamed from the mountains like northern lights gone berserk.

The lights he did not understand and tried not to look at them lest they blind him where he stood between the sprouting flowers, but the lights kept on flickering until he looked at them briefly and then they went away only to start again once he concentrated on the ground and the living things there.

“Not too warm,” he mumbled again, staring at the world behind his eyes.

“He’s been like this for days now doctor,” Laudanum’s mother said. “Is there nothing we can do?”

The doctor took his small torch and shone it into Laudanum's right eye. Then he shook his head.

“Not until we can figure out what is going on in there,” he said. “There is a response, but so slight…” his words trailed off as the boy mumbled again.

“Not too warm.”

The nurse sadly shook her head and removed one of the piles of blankets covering the boy.



***** My first piece's inspiration came while I was drawing an early map for Airthai. After drawing a river's course, I saw that it was completely wrong to what I had already written. Out came the eraser and I drew a new line. The sight of a whole river drying up and vanishing in seconds before appearing in another place suddenly formed in my mind.

When you stop to think about world building, you find that you can think of a few characters and a geography that just 'works'. What if the boy was so part of his secondary world that he almost had to die in the real one to give enough energy to just one part of his created one?

And, yes, I chose the name 'Laudanum' mostly because I like the sound of it. *****

An Airthai Fairy Tale

When the name "River of Gold" presented itself in the Midlands of Airthai (when the world was just coming together), I had to know why it was called that and why, if there are gold for anyone to take, no one would take it. The gold as the dragon's bed was formed early and from there the knight and his lady followed. Aune has become a dear, bittersweet character to me. And yes, that song does sound a bit like "Rose of Allendale"...

Aune & Everard : Or, How The River of Gold Got Its Name


Once upon a time the river that is now known as the River of Gold, in the Kingdom of Ellanda, was known as Brightwater because its water was so clear and pure. It sprung from a fountain in the Cloudstep Mountains and flowed west, through Ellanda and the Ringwood that stood at the roots of the mountains. On the banks of this river, in the small village of Greenhill, lived a fair maiden called Aune. Her hair was as dark as the night sky and her eyes shone like the morning star. She had a heart as pure as virgin snow and a voice like an angel. All the town loved her dearly for she was also a healer and could cure any ailment and fever, so that people came from many miles away to be healed.

The king of Ellanda at that time was Godfrey the Bold. He was a good king and kind to his people and many a young man went to the castle hoping to serve as one of his knights. But he would only choose the very best to defend his kingdom, for he knew of a dark menace that lay south - a dragon had been spotted making a lair in the Dragonberg. He knew that soon the dragon would sense the riches of Ellanda and come to steal it to build his bed. Two years passed before he got word from the southern mountains that a dragon was stirring from its lair in the Dragonberg.

Now Godfrey knew that there was a lot of treasure to be had in Ellanda, and he also knew that in the village called Greenhill, not a day’s ride from the castle, was an old grave of one of his forefathers and that the grave was filled with enough gold and jewels to tempt even the smallest dragon. No doubt it would not be long until the dragon ventured north and smelled the buried gold. And after it had laid waste to the village, the castle with its great treasury would be next.

So Godfrey called together his seven most trusted knights, the finest of who were the young Everard. For though he was barely twenty four, he had more skill with his blade than the sword master and could hit a running mouse in the night with his longbow.

Godfrey sent his knights to the village of Greenhill where they were to keep the people safe and guard them from the dragon if it should come. Everard was charged to slay the dragon with his bow and the king gave to him arrows tipped with white gold and dipped in the poisonous juice from the Blackroot.

Now, when the knights reached the town, they went first to the inn, but Everard walked to the green hill that gave the town its name. There, at the foot of the hill, he heard the voice of an angel singing and looked up. He recognized the song as a lay about the star-crossed lovers Sildu and Ameragh and the part he heard went like this:

The sun was fair, the sky was clear, no breath came from the west,
When Elven knight, and maiden fair wandered o’er the earth.
The mist it decked the mountain side, and laughter filled the land,
By far the dearest love of all, t’was for the maiden of the stars.
Sing maiden of the stars, sing maiden of the stars,
By far the dearest love of all, t’was for the maiden of the stars.

With all haste Everard climbed the hill, hoping to see the angel singing. As he reached the top of the hill he saw that it was a mortal maiden that was singing the beautiful song – it was, of course, Aune, and he fell in love with her the first time he saw her. He went to her and wooed her and she too, loved him in turn and it seemed as if the summer would last forever and that the dragon would never come from the south to harm the kingdom.

But when Autumn fell upon the land the dragon came to the kingdom of Ellanda and burned great swathes of land with its fiery breath as it followed the scent of gold. Everard soon learned that the red-scaled dragon was called Blauthan and that it was one of the oldest dragons in all the lands, one that the old king Marcus had used in his wars. On the sixth day after the Blauthan had reached Ellanda, the dragon reached the town of Greenhill and burned half of the houses to the ground. Then it alighted on the green hill and tore at the ground with its great claws. Chunks of dark earth and grass was thrown amidst the smouldering ashes of the town while the people hid in the Amber Wood outside the village, or farther abroad if they owned a horse or donkey.

Now the knights readied themselves to battle with the dragon and to slay it before the dragon could make more destruction. All seven armed themselves with hauberks of the finest chainmail and swords of the strongest steel. Everard hung his arrow-filled quiver at his side and strung his great longbow. They waited until twilight fell and then they marched on the dragon, for their horses were too skittish at the smell of the dragon to venture near to it.

When they came upon the dragon he had already broken through the hill into the tomb and lay on the gold and jewels that had been entombed with the old king many generations ago. It mocked the knights and with the first swipe of its great claw sent one of the knights to his death. The wyrm spewed fire into the air and scorched the very air, but Everard’s heart did not quail. He knocked an arrow and pulled it to his cheek. He waited for the dragon to rear and loosed the fateful shaft. The arrow flew from the great bow and hit the dragon in its soft underbelly, boring through the scales there. The dragon roared and set the grass about the hill aflame. Then he lunged at the young knight. With one blow of its massive claws sent the knight’s soul to the afterlife as the dragon’s lifeblood ebbed away and the Dragon's Bane poison consumed him and the great beast died upon its bed of stolen gold.

Deeply bereaved, the remaining knights loaded their fallen leader onto a makeshift bier and carried him through the scorched grass of the hill towards the town, leaving the dragon upon the pile of gold and jewels and not one of the knights wanted a single coin of the hoard.

The villagers, meanwhile, watched the fight from a distance and when they saw the dragon die and its fire go out, most rushed to the hill to see what gold or jewels they could claim for themselves. Aune went to look for Everard, with an awful knot in her stomach and tears in her eyes. She came upon the knights and the bier and cried and wailed when she saw the lifeless body of her love Everard. As the villagers rushed past her, she grew angry and when they started press her to gather some of the gold for herself, she gathered golden coins and jewels in the large pocket of her apron. Then, when she could barely walk from the gold’s weight, she kissed Everard on his brow and stumbled to the river. There she stepped into the dark water, but instead the water claimed her in the darkness.

When the rest of the village realized what she had done they went to the river bank, but saw only gold glittering on the river bed. Most of them then realized that they had fallen prey to the bane of the dragon that made them want gold and riches more than anything in the world. They did not even think of all those that lost their lives at his claws and fire. One by one the villagers also threw the gold into the river to be buried there or to wash downstream with the strong current to find new masters. But though gold is still seen on the river bed of the river now called the River of Gold, no one will touch it, or claim it for their own, lest the dragon’s bane come upon them.

As for Aune and Everard, most agree that they are now living the life together that they did not have a chance to live upon the earth, and that where they are now living; there are neither dragons, nor pain, nor death. Only love.

Vikings and gods and elves, o my!

You can never have too many translations of a piece you're studying! It was with glee that I read a small part of Carolyne Larrington's translation of the Poetic Edda while reading up on Voluspa and Gylfaginning. After some searching, I found the book online and bought it, as much for my studies as for myself. I am not disappointed and would really advise anyone that wants to read the Poetic Edda in English to get themselves a copy of this translation. It contains both the mythological and the heroic poems of the Elder Edda and really brings the poems to life in a contemporary voice.

Voluspa starts as follows:

Attention I ask from all the sacred people,

greater and lesser, the offspring of Heimdall;

Father of the Slain, you wished that I should declare

the ancient histories of men and gods. Those which I

remember from the first.

So, I like mythology (or folklore)… where do I start?

Ok, I'm not going to act as if I'm the guru on this topic, but I can give a few pointers with regards to books that I like or have found helpful.

If you just want an overview of world mythology or a certain mythology (e.g. Norse), have a look around for an encyclopedia of mythology. These books help to give you a feel of the different myths and some of the key characters. I quite like The Complete Dictionary of Symbols in Myth, Art and Literature (ed. Jack Tresidder). Then there is always the Bulfinch Mythology books – as a classic being reprinted, it is easy to get and a lot cheaper than many of the books out there and probably available as a free e-book as well.

If your favourite authors make use of mythology in their books, have a look where they get their inspiration. (Like Tolkien? Why not get your hands on a copy of Beowulf?) Or have a look at the actual works of different mythology – for the Norse & Germanic there is the Elder and Younger Edda, if you want to learn more about the Finnish mythology, get a copy of the Kalevala. Classical Mythology more to your taste? Try the Iliad and the Odyssey.

For Norse mythology I find John Lindow’s Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals and Beliefs very helpful to refresh the memory.

Mythology Books Recently Stumbled Upon:

The Mythical Creatures Bible by Brenda Rosen – “The Definitive Guide to Legendary Beings”
- This book not only covers many well and little-known creatures of myth and legend, but also some of the gods of the different religions.
- Includes helpful tables describing different types of dragons, giants, etc.

Myths & Legends: An Illustrated Guide to Their Origins and Meanings by Philip Wilkinson.
- Includes some pieces on Africa, The Americas and Oceania, though focusing a lot more on the mythologies of Europe, West and Central Asia and South and East Asia.


What I am working on:

After being away from www.sffworld.com for almost two months, I am working on a flash piece for their September Flash Fiction competition. I have also started musing about a type of follow-up for "A Dragon's Freedom", also set in Airthai, but with a glance at the Sundered Lands to the south, where the Dragon Guardians came from.

I have decided to rather put a novel-length work on the back burner for now while I finish my postgrad studies. It is a lot easier to focus on a small work and is also helping to flesh out more of the places on the Airthai map that I still know fairly little about.

An Airthai map: Busy re-drawing some of my Airthai maps (yes, I still do it the low-tech way, by hand), mostly to make them a bit neater around the edges and, most importantly, sticking to one language (either English or Afrikaans).

Also updating and re-typing the Airthai timeline. Will put a shortened version up when it's ready. Holding thumbs it will be at the same time as the map and before the end of September.