Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower – With a Kiss

I’d like to Congratulate my dear friend Anna and her future husband Micheal on their coming nuptials   I wish you the best and all the happiness in the world!

Title:  With a Kiss
Author:  Steven Paul Watson
Ebook: Yes

“I do not believe she is coming my lord.”
Prince Elijah had counted to thirteen when the sound of the stone bouncing off of other hard surfaces followed by the faint sound of water reached him.  He glanced out to the distant horizon, the ocean drowned in the orange and reds of the setting sun.  He knew it would not be long, “She will be here.”
“And if she does not show?”
“All that awaits us is fire and death if I am wrong.  With it my father’s best laid plans.” Elijah missed his mail and boiled leathers, the silk and cotton attire he now wore felt unnatural.  Most of all he missed his sword.
“The coming winter will cause pause, if the wedding does not occur then the storms may allow additional negotiations,” the guardsman stated. 
“We hold numbers over them,” a second guardsman stated.
“Numbers are not an advantage in this campaign.  There is no mistake at wars end whose blood will boil and lands will be fertilized with the deceased,” he turned.  The other men were dressed in their plate and mail armor with horses at their sides.
“If your father heard you speak in such a manner…” the second guardsman spoke swiftly.
“I have many times over, and he always neglected my advice until now,” Elijah smiled.
“Why are you so confident my prince, why do you believe she will come and honor the arrangement?” the first guardsman questioned.
“I was still a boy in every way but age when I first met Princess Elisha.  The moment I saw her, my life was changed forever.  My heart beat in a way it had never before and has not since.  Only a few years younger than me, bluest of eyes and brightest of smile more beautiful than anything I had seen.  I believe she will come because I asked.”
“And if she does not?” the second guardsman tone remained cynical.
He picked another stone from the ground giving a last fleeting look at the sun now closing on the black waters.  It was a chance for him to gather his thoughts before he answered, “Then I will know I tried.  That is all I can ask of myself, for once I did what for so long I let fear stop.”  He twirled the rock around his fingers, “If she does not show I will be no more important than this stone lost in the pit of rocks and water below.  Without her there is no meaning to life.  I have known this much since that warm spring day with a kiss on my cheek.  I did not volunteer my life to wed merely to stop a war.”
He released the rock and again counted but lost his concentration for the loud commotion behind him.  He turned in time to see five dragons of variant colors land.
Elijah could not hide his smile as he watched her dismount her dragon with its green vibrant scales.  She pushed the short strawberry blond hair from her eyes as she approached.  She still wore the armor of war, stained with the blood of his brethren from battles of the past weeks.  Her sword hung to her hip, but none drew his gaze from her eyes as she approached.  Her lips, a light shade of blue, curved in a mischievous grin.    
“The sun is nearly set, Princess Elisha.” 
“I am never late, my husband to be.  This you will learn in time.”
He stepped closer running a hand down the side of her face until it rested under her chin and they shared a smile.  He leaned in for a kiss but she pulled away not allowing their lips to meet.  He knew then, just as before she had all the control.  She closed the distance and kissed him.  The crowd cheered, dragons roared but he heard none of it over his own beating heart.  With a kiss a kingdoms fate was sealed, most of all the emptiness in his heart was gone.

((PS:  After multiple attempts of trying to get the inlinkz tool to work I gave, be sure to go check out all the fabulous writers who are contributing to the Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower!)

VisDare 14: Normalcy

HA!  I actually did not think I would do this weeks VisDare…I had made a promise to myself for at least a few weeks I would continue to write my entries connecting them one entry to the next…  Until I saw this weeks picture and the first thought I had was how the heck am I going to do this….

(As always click on the picture to go to Anyonymous Legacy and check out all the other entries to this weeks VisDare!!!)
Previous entries (you really do need to go read them first I think…)  Whorl (part one), Waiting (part two), Atmospheric (part three)!

“Why?”
He knew it was a simple question without a simple answer, her lips parted to speak with a pause.
“My grandmother raised me, small town far from here.  Very conservative and anyone different was labeled so.  Every Saturday we would go to the farmer’s market she would always wear this old dress, complete with pearls, bracelets, and hat.  What always caught the most attention was Baxter, her pet duck, always at her side on a leash.  I loved those Saturday afternoon walks it wasn’t until years later I could recall the looks and whispers.  The idea my grandmother wasn’t quite all there.”   He watched her lean against the rail, “you were so out of place last night in the bar, and when you left you reminded me of her an odd duck not knowing he needed someone, a friend to look out for him.”
(145 Words)

VisDare: Atmospheric

My hat goes off to all those people who do VisDare week in and week out with the same story…  It’s not as easy as it looks and it took me multiple attempts to come up with one this week to continue the story from the last two weeks.  Whorl (part 1) –  Waiting (part 2)

So, yeah, if you haven’t read my last two visdare’s you will probably want to read them before this one.  🙂

(Click the picture to go to Angela’s page and check out all the other entries to this weeks VisDAre!!  I Dare you!  go for it, some great reading there!)
He knew the water was there hidden by the fog, he could imagine hands reaching up through the bleak shadows wanting to pull him down.
“Thought I would find you here.”
He turned.  He had left the bar at last call and was surprised, they had talked most of the night but he never thought he would see her again.  “How?”  She pulled the bonnet down covering her multicolored hair, “you said this was your spot, where you came to clear your head when the thoughts became too overwhelming.”
“I haven’t been home.”
“I would think not,” she leaned against the rail beside him, “It’s beautiful, the smell…okay the smell isn’t that much better than the bar but still beautiful.”
He never saw it the night before but now in the morning light, through his own sleepless haze he noticed her smile for the first time.  “I’m Alan.”
“Kimberly.” 
(149 Words)

VisDare 12: Waiting

This weeks VisDare is a continuation from last weeks, Whorl!  So I think you should read it before this one…

(Click the image to check out all the other entries to this weeks VisDare!)
She knew his smile was fake, “do you love her?”
“Does it matter?”    
“Love is all that matters.”
“Only when they love you back.”
“And she doesn’t, is that the answer you’re looking for?”
“Once maybe, how do you forget someone you wanted to share every good, bad, and weird thought with?  Even found myself in a church looking for answers and only empty voices talked down on me.”
She refilled the barely touched beer and one of her own.  “You never do.  They are a part of you, in the grand scheme of our story.  There are people who even if they don’t know it, we still wake in the middle of the night with their voice whispering in our ear and the taste of their breath on our lips.  And we wait, years sometimes, even when we know nothings coming.”  She raised her glass in a toast.  

(149 Words)

VisDare 11: Whorl

(Click the picture to check out all the other entries to this weeks Visual Dare!)

           “Been sitting there almost two hours and you’ve barely touched your drink.”

Everything was distorted.  His head on the bar he looked through the glass of beer only inches away.  “I’m lost in my thoughts, stuck really.”  He lifted his head pulling the drink around in front of him and everything was still out of focus.  The bar tender was his type, at least a half dozen noticeable tattoos and her short multi-colored hair pulled back into a pony tail showing the half dozen piercings in her two ears and her lip.  But he had barely noticed her.
“Get lost there a lot do you?”
“It’s a cloudy, confusing place,” he took a drink of his beer; he hated the taste but hoped it would give him an ounce of courage.  “I have all the answers but not the right one.”
“It’s a girl?”
He smiled, “it’s always a girl.”
(150 words)

Mid-Week Blues Buster Week 4

So missing last weeks Blues Buster I knew I had to try to get this weeks in…

(don’t own the picture, found on web)
(click the picture to check out all the other entries in this weeks Mid Week Blues Buster)

Revenge
                His spurs echoed as he stepped through the swinging door, he tossed his jacket to the first table inside and rested his hands on his hips.  His pistols only a quick motion away, he looked around the bar but was surprised to find it empty.  Most nights it would have been packed with men looking for liquor or sex and more often than not both.  But now, it stood empty despite the pouring rain outside.
                “He’s not here.”
                “Who?”
                She smiled stepping from the shadows bottle in hand, her Irish accent thick with each word.  “The sheriff but you knew who I was talking of.”  Of course it was her, curly blond hair pulled up but still managed to look as wild as he knew she was.  She pulled two glasses and set them to the counter and smiled her best friendly smile but he knew a lot about her.  Most of all she was anything but friendly and innocent.  “You came here to kill tonight; guns ready to blaze and paint this town red.  Can’t say I much blame you, your brothers left to hang in the center of town for the world to see stripped as the day they were born.”
                “We’ve not had the pleasure, you’re her.”  He already knew the answer but wanted it still.
                “Ah, sweetie, there is always a girl, I just happen to be the one in this tale.”  He never took his right hand from the pistol, ready to move at each sound of the creaking floorboards as he approached the bar.
                “The sheriff?”
                “For the right price I could be yours too,” she ignored his question.  He felt his heart skip but it wasn’t the notion of a night of passion with the curvy woman who was about to spill from her corset but her smile ate away at him.  Even knowing how deadly she was he found himself attracted to her smile alone.
“Stories from the beginning of time about the destruction left in a beautiful woman’s path.”  He looked into her bright green eyes trying to ignore her alluring smile.
He pulled his pistol and set it on the counter between them but she never flinched or moved away, only smiled as she leaned against the counter.  “I liked your little brother cowboy, he was sweet.”
“You got him killed,” he stated, his brown eyes glared into hers.  “You got them both killed.”
“Did no such thing,” she replied, “what went down between your brothers and the sheriff had little to do with me.  Idle hands and too much liquor got those sweet boys lives taken too soon.”  She lifted her glass up as if to toast and quickly tossed back her drink with a mischievous smile on her red lips.  “It had nothing to do with me.”
“Every week, he would spend every free dime he got on you…”
“No fault of mine.”
A crash of thunder captured his attention, turning back to the door for only a moment.  He shifted back, she had circled the counter and now he could smell the sweet perfume, sweat, and liquor.  Her finger drifted from his lips to the tip of his chin and then to his chest.  She continued to smile.  “You came lookin’ for blood I don’t think you much care whose, the sheriffs or mine.  There is an old saying ‘He who seeks vengeance should first dig two graves’.”  He felt her hand on his, she leaned in with her other hand grabbing at his shirt pulling him close.  He lost himself in the kiss, her lips tasted of strawberries and for a second he lost himself.   
A swift and sudden sharp pain in his side and he quickly pulled away.  Stumbling to the floor with another clap of thunder, he never saw the knife or knew when she removed her right hand from his.  She knelt down in front of him and he could see his blood on the knife.  “Sorry love, a girl can’t be too careful.”  He raised his own hand to see the dark red crimson just as the darkness took him.

VisDare 10: Whimsy

Click the picture to check out all the other Vis Dares on Angela’s page!

              Danny couldn’t stop; it had progressed beyond the smile and into laughter as he sat with his wooden sword across his lap.  The dozen snails crawled towards his outreached finger and the thoughts running through his 11 year old mind were nothing good. 
                All he had wanted was to see the elephants, but his older sister had refused.  Even though their parents had gave her permission to take him to the circus after his chores were completed.  Complete them he did, quest after quest he defeated the orcs and ghouls until all were gone.  All that remained was the great and powerful dragon.  To be victorious there he would need a steed worthy of the adventure.  An elephant with its great war tusks.
                Now the dragon would wait, there was a greater evil in the land, his wicked sister with a fear of snails.

VisDare 9: Alone?

Click the picture and check out all the other wonderful VisDare entries!

—–

 “What are we doing?” she hated the rain and protested the entire way to the center of the square. 
“I don’t know what the future holds,” he turned.  “When you came along, I was happy being alone even preferred it.  You could break my heart tomorrow for all I know.  You showed me a side of myself I didn’t know I had and I’m a better person.  I know what love is now.  I know what it means to smile for no reason other than to know someone.  All because of you.  If you were to leave me, I don’t know what’ll become of me but you need to know.  You’re the best, truest and most trusted friend I’ve ever had.  Because of you life makes sense.  And until my last breath, I will always love you.”  The umbrella fell to the pavement as he leaned in for a kiss.
—–
Kinda funny….this weeks VisDare can almost me seen as the before, and my Mid Weeks Blues Buster the after….

Mid Week Blues Buster 02

This weeks Mid Week Blues Buster video!   Be sure to swing by and check out all the entries!  Mid Week Blues Buster!

One Look

“¿Te gustaría salir a cenar alguna vez?”
Derek fought the smile on his face, he had said the words out loud and even he thought for a moment they felt natural.  Or he didn’t sound like a fool which he would have considered a win.  He had been coming to the café for weeks, like clockwork after work, trying to get up the nerve.  He had realized early when hearing her speak with one of the other waitresses she spoke fluent Spanish and he found himself regretting not learning the language in high school when he had the chance.  Today was his day.
“Hello.”
He paused fear engulfed him as he looked at the laptop screen a long moment before he brought his eyes up to see her.  Three cities away, and there she stood.  It was like yesterday instead of the two and half years that had passed since they last saw each other.  Derek slouched back in his chair, he tried to speak but nothing came out.
“Don’t just sit there.”  She smiled.  Derek smiled his half smile as he stood circling the table to greet her.  They stood for a moment he still couldn’t speak but now he did not know what to do either.  The last time he had been this close to her they kissed, but that was a lifetime ago.  He hoped more than anything his face did not reflect how he was feeling inside.
He stood for a moment and watched, not until she moved in closer did he reach around her for a hug.  “How have you been, Lori?”
“Happy,” she smiled, a smile that always melted his heart and often left him speechless with its beauty. 
“I’m glad,” Derek replied.  It had taken him over a year, before he had found his heart mended.  She was the only woman he had ever loved and since he had often questioned the whys.  He found solace in knowledge.  Most had avoided the topic but a couple friends had often let him know how she was.  She was happy and it always made him smile through his hurt.  It was all he ever wanted, was for her to be happy even if that meant without him.  He could not help but glance to her hands, her left and the bare ring finger.  He tried not to make it obvious but he had heard she was engaged the year before.  He had thought then he was finally over her but the news was enough to send him down again.  There was no loneliness more devastating than missing the one person he had always thought would be there.
“How are you?”
“I’m good,” Derek looked around, he had for the moment forgotten why he had come today.  The confidence was gone leaving only the new hollow feeling in his stomach.  “Are you living here now?”

“Yeah,” she replied looking away any time their eyes met one would look away but for that instance.  For just that moment he remembered looking down into her eyes before a kiss, a memory always burned into the back of his mind.
“Me too.”
“It was good seeing you, maybe we’ll see each other around,” she smiled a sly smile before she turned and walked away.
Derek watched her as she walked away unable to speak.  Hoping she’d look back give him a reason to run after her.  He wanted to, the feelings were still there but he knew they always would be.  She would always be the one to him, the one no matter the distance or time a piece of him would always love her. He felt the life rush from him the moment she was out of sight. 
 “That looked awkward,” Emilia stated. 
Her dark eyes met his and he smiled an unconvincing smile, “An old friend.”
“We should play poker some time.” she smiled a knowing grin.
“Is that your way of asking me out?” he replied quickly looking away.
“You’ve been here every day for a few weeks watching, flirting, the eye contact but you’ve never asked.  I figure I would have too.”
“So you’d like to go to dinner with me?” 
(696 Words)

——————–

So, I said after last week I would attempt to write a happy flash fiction entry…  Or romantic.  Or anything.  Anything that isn’t my normal depressing, down on ones luck, forlorn, sad pieces.  I let my day to day life sometimes bleed into my flash fiction…  And I have for months now.  But with this song….I just couldn’t do it.  lol  I hope you all enjoy.

Flower Blossom: Relocating

Who could play Ayiana?  Summer Glau 🙂

Previous Installments:
Prequel 
Planting Seeds

                Ayiana had left Collins office with a purpose in mind, to seek out Byrne.  It was more than needing his advice from the man she had come to view as a father.  He was also the closest thing to friend she had.  She did not expect the two guards standing in wait to usher away some place she did not know.                      
                Dark green hood pulled over her head she looked out the stained window, there was little to see.  It was once Atlanta, but now it was nothing more than wasteland for scavengers and the infected.  Pollution spread from the north, the Appalachian coal companies run amok no longer responsible for cleaning up after themselves had left most of the lands north of Atlanta for three states with the air, land and waters polluted beyond repair.  The effects were devastating but the majority of the population still suffered and lived in the stained land.  There were only three clean cities on the east coast, Charleston, Buffalo, and Jackson.  And only the wealthiest called the places home with little care for anyone who they did not gain profit from.
                Ayiana hated the mask; she kept fidgeting with it over and over trying to deal with the discomfort.  At least it took her mind off of her destination and companions.  If Collins was sending her to be executed, at least a couple of her companions would have been the ones he would have sent along to do the job.  But then why so far, they had already traveled two hours northwest away from Atlanta and no one said a word to her let alone a move in her direction.
                Logan was a shooter, or at least it was what she knew most about him.  Others had described him as the best shot in the underground at a distance.  He appeared asleep a couple seats in front of Ayiana, and looked that way almost from the moment he sat down. She had not even noticed a twitch of his eye, a wrinkle on his forward or any discomfort from the mask.  She envied how comfortable he looked.
                Sarah was another story, like clockwork she would walk down the aisle and back, her arms crossed her chest.  She like Logan was a hitter, but of another variety, she was a beautiful young woman.  Ayiana had heard Sarah was not afraid to get her hands dirty and her beauty and wide eyed youthful smile got her into places others could not go.  And most times her assignments were of lustful men or women who only saw her one way.  Ayiana imagined if one of these two were to kill her, it was Sarah who would do it.
                The train jerked, as its speed reduced cause Ayiana to jerk forward with her hand on her mask she almost pulled it free in the movement.  She glanced up to Sarah who was near her seat holding steady on the back of one of the seats.  Logan’s eyes were opened now but he still did not move from his position.  “What’s going on?”
                Ayiana watched Sarah; the position was perfect for an attack.  The high ground, she could almost see her working through the movements of pulling her dagger and thrusting it forward.  None of it happened as the slender woman moved away towards the cabin with no answer to the question either. 
                “Okay kiddies.”  A large man rushed into the cabin, almost pushing Sarah down as he moved passed her.  “Time for the three of you to make your exit.”
                “What’s going on?  Where are we?” Sarah questioned only a step behind him as he passed by Ayiana’s seat.  She could see the woman had her blade out and ready as she walked.  Ayiana looked to Logan, who showed no rush in his movements. 
                “I only know this is your exit, up ahead about twenty miles this train will be boarded, all on board will be taken captive, unless they resist then they’ll be executed.”  The man opened the door quickly tossing bags out into the dirt, “You can lose the masks, we are clear of the polluted lands.”  Ayiana had no hesitation in loosing hers and breathing in, she looked out seeing something she had never seen before clean forest.   “They are hunting one of you…or maybe each of you are listed with very impressive bounties on your heads.  Collins wants you as far from Atlanta as he can get you until things cool down but the government knows you were on this train, or at least suspected.  And they see your heads on a pike would go a long way to quelling the rebellion.”
                “Where are we to go?” Sarah questioned.
                “North, Montana, he wants you to lay low until he sends for you.”
                “How…”
                The large man spoke before Logan could finish, “Trust me kiddies, he’ll find you.”  Ayiana was the last out the door before the large man slammed it closed.  They were still standing there when the train moved away.