"The Storyteller’s Creed I believe that
imagination is stronger than knowledge, That myth is more potent than
history, That dreams are more powerful than facts, That hope always
triumphs over experience, That laughter is the only cure for grief, And I
believe that love is stronger than death. —Robert Fulghum"
I've been a story teller for a very very very long time. From the first whooper of a lie I tried to tell my parents ( "No! I didn't eat the brownie! It was the...ants! Yes! That's it! We must have had black ants break in and eat the brownie and carry it off! Why does my breath smell like chocolate? It does not!") to the poems I wrote (about 300+ from 1994-1996) to the songs I've written, to the stories I created online and the characters I've created on stage - above almost any other label I have in life, being a story teller is one of them. In fact, one could argue this blog is part of that. After all, it's part of My Story.
Now that that fact is out there, I thought I'd share this snippet with you. See, I had no idea what to write to My Sailor yesterday, so I sent him a story I've been flushing out. Now, I've been batting this around in my mind for a while now. I'm not sure where it's going. All I know is it felt amazing by the time I was done. I could have written all night! Maybe it was inspired, but I realized how amazing it feels to breathe life into characters on a page. I'm not the "plan out your entire storyline ahead of time" type author. I'm the "create amazing characters and let THEM show you their story".
So here's a little bite of one of the tales of Sihaya that I've been working on. (My Sailor already is well aquainted with the back story of the characters, so I didn't go into unnecessary detail, but I'll probably flesh them out more for readers so you can see them the way I do later.) Maybe, just maybe, if I keep chipping away at this and letting them show me their stories... maybe they'll take me into the world of publishing. What do you think?
(One more disclaimer - I would have made this tale a bit more gruesome, but I was sending it over monitored email and words like "rape" would probably have triggered an alert!)
I've been a story teller for a very very very long time. From the first whooper of a lie I tried to tell my parents ( "No! I didn't eat the brownie! It was the...ants! Yes! That's it! We must have had black ants break in and eat the brownie and carry it off! Why does my breath smell like chocolate? It does not!") to the poems I wrote (about 300+ from 1994-1996) to the songs I've written, to the stories I created online and the characters I've created on stage - above almost any other label I have in life, being a story teller is one of them. In fact, one could argue this blog is part of that. After all, it's part of My Story.
Now that that fact is out there, I thought I'd share this snippet with you. See, I had no idea what to write to My Sailor yesterday, so I sent him a story I've been flushing out. Now, I've been batting this around in my mind for a while now. I'm not sure where it's going. All I know is it felt amazing by the time I was done. I could have written all night! Maybe it was inspired, but I realized how amazing it feels to breathe life into characters on a page. I'm not the "plan out your entire storyline ahead of time" type author. I'm the "create amazing characters and let THEM show you their story".
So here's a little bite of one of the tales of Sihaya that I've been working on. (My Sailor already is well aquainted with the back story of the characters, so I didn't go into unnecessary detail, but I'll probably flesh them out more for readers so you can see them the way I do later.) Maybe, just maybe, if I keep chipping away at this and letting them show me their stories... maybe they'll take me into the world of publishing. What do you think?
(One more disclaimer - I would have made this tale a bit more gruesome, but I was sending it over monitored email and words like "rape" would probably have triggered an alert!)
Sihaya knelt by the stream wringing water out of her long raven hair.
The glacier river water was icy cold on her fingers. It was a far cry
from the steaming swamp they last found themselves in. Her lover lay
sleeping my the remnants of the previous nights' fire. She'd awaken him
soon enough, but for now, she enjoyed the rare sight of his rythmic
breathing and peaceful body. A soft smile touched her lips as she rose
and braided her hair over one shoulder. Her fingers were so practiced
at the movements that she didn't think twice about throwing the heavy
finished braid over her shoulder, not until the chill of the icy water
between her wings cause a sharp gasp of surprise.
That was all it took to wake him up, her Lazarus. Sitting bolt upright,
his hand already gripped the dagger beside him, his emerald eyes alert
and ready to take on any threat. They both knew that he didn't need a
dagger to render his prey immobile. His speed and teeth made him a
formidable force indeed.
Frozen in place momentarily by his surprise, the winged woman blinked
at him curiously through crystal eyes and spoke softly, "We've a long
way to go before we discover The Order." Relaxing a little, she
continued back towards the dying fire to warm her nearly frost bitten
hands. "I don't expect we'll see people for some time." Her hunting
leathers creaked as she crouched to warm her hands on the embers.
"Aye, but if they're growing everyday," his speech was interuppted by a
brief yawn and his hand on his dagger relaxed, "what's to say they
haven't begun hunting?"
Her crystal gaze turned to the fire and the softness of her graceful
features turned a shade of deadly elegance he'd seen more often than
not these days. With the smallest bit of reluctance, she nodded as she
warmed her palms on the embers. "You're right." she answered in quiet
certainty.
"Immortality..." his voice turned quiet as well, "An intoxicating
proposition for man." He turned toward the embers, though his kindred
skin didn't need warming.
It was a lesson both the Balance Keeper and the Kindred knew all too
well. She glanced up, meeting his gaze steady - the unspoken burden
they both shared also allowed them to enjoy their love beyond mortal
life spans. "It's not immortality they truly seek though. It's your
curse. Eternal youth."
His eyes narrowed for a moment. He knew the Keeper had no great love of
the blood drinkers - the Kindred - such as he was. But he couldn't
argue the point. Their love had crossed that boundary. And - for all
purposes she was right. "All of the life line, but none of the mess,"
he joked back, lightening the mood.
She smiled a little, both of them relaxing.
Lazarus continued, "No. They've been after your specific form of
forever for far too long. It's time we put an end to this, Sihaya." He
reached out and tenderly took one of her hands over their small
firepit. His voice and sharp features softened ever so slightly as he
kissed the back of her hands and squeezed them. "No more running." The
words were nearly whispered breath over her hands.
Sihaya nodded once more, her wings rustling softly at her back as they
flicked off the last of the cold water droplets left by her hair. "I
know. They should have tried for an Angel's or Kindred's immortality
though."
One of his blood-thirsty, dangerous smiles flickered across his face.
Lazarus answered, "That, my love, would have been far too easy to
attain."
Sihaya retrieved her hands from his grasp and sat on the ground as
Lazarus rose to stretch. He wasn't full Kindred, and for that, she was
grateful. The Bond of their marriage had kept him from joining their
ranks entirely. Centuries ago, when he thought Sihaya lost, he joined
the ranks of the blood-drinkers seeking more power. Sihaya didn't blame
him. She had made her own poor decisions as well out of that grief,
including marrying a dragon and ruling as his queen over a human
kingdom. But when life saw fit for them to rediscover each other, their
souls knew the true strength of their bond, beyond time, distance, and
poor decisions. In a way, it worked.
Things have a way of happening for a reason. Being around a Kindred
allowed the Balance Keeper to leave more light in her wake than
darkness. After all, one could not exist without the other. Sihaya and
Lazarus both knew they would rather not exist without one another. They
had tasted that life, and it left their hearts broken, stomachs soured,
and inspiration fleeting.
In a way, they had saved each other from their shadows. In Sihaya's
case, that was about to literal.
The Order of the Immortal Hand had been hunting down Untamed Balance
Keepers all of Sihaya's life. At first, it was only a mild effort to
try to understand how the Balance Keepers could hold the magic over the
elements that they do, without corruption. That study turned into a
thirst to own and control that power for themselves. For nearly a
thousand years, Mages ruled the Order with an silken glove - coercing
the most wounded, twisted, and hungry of souls into their ranks with
promises of eternal life and immortality. What had started out as a
science became an obsession. Obsession became religion and religion
gave birth to the cult of The Order. The mass amounts of followers saw
Sihaya for what she was, rather than the winged, elvish woman she hid
beneath. Once discovered, she was hunted relentlessly. Now, Lazarus had
decided it was time the hunters became the hunted.
Now, they were heading to the desert, to destroy the cult of The Order.
Walking right into the lion's den may be the only way to defeat those
that wanted nothing more than to drain the Balance Keeper's life force
and pervert nature with it's magic. When the Mages realized that the
Balance Keepers can not be Tamed, they began taking more drastic means,
capturing them, bleeding them, and finding any other means possible to
control them. In the hands of The Order, Sihaya knew she'd live out her
days in her true form, that of a large white winged unicorn, and
strapped to a barbaric device where her blood could be drained slowly -
just enough to experiment with in their quest for Immortality and to
harness the powers of an Untamed Balance Keeper. The last of the
Untamed Balance Keepers as far as the rest of the world knew. Sihaya
would just as well like it to stay that way.
With Lazarus at her side, she knew they had a small chance at taking on
the vast tunnel systems of The Order and ending their 'experimentation'
for good - or at the very least, slowing them down and giving them
something to consider before they continued in their hunt. They'd
journeyed through forest, swamp, and mountain and soon would be heading
into the lowlands.
"A few more days..." she breathed, her gaze locked on his for
reinforcement and encouragement. He nodded once.
"Once we reach the desert." Lazarus nodded.
To be continued...
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