McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Writers round table

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Qualapec:

--- Quote ---"Andrea?" she said looking at him with large doe eyes.
--- End quote ---

Andre stared at her, dumbfounded, for a few moments. Yamila was more haggered looking than before. Her dark hair was plastered to her face with sweat. The silks she had on were plain compared to the extravagant clothing she'd worn earlier. Most of all she didn't even look like she would be able to walk if not for the aid of the healer. He found himself smiling. That was his Yamila, stubborn to a fault.

The last time she'd given birth she hadn't looked like that. He'd been in the middle of a heist when he got the message she was in labor. By the time he was back to their little cottage in an underdeveloped world his mind was racing with all the things that could have gone wrong while he wasn't there. And she'd been standing at the doorway, waiting for him with a beautiful baby girl in her arms. He remembered it so well. The golden reflection of the sun on the field surrounding their home had given her dark skin an ethereal glow.

She was definately more worn out than she had been then, but she still held herself with grace.

Somewhere, deep inside his mind, he felt his defences against the trauma he'd pushed away begin to crack.

She was the first to break the silence, "I'm glad you made it..."

He shrugged and mimiced nonchalantness as best he could, "You know how it is with me and my kind; if it isn't one gallows it'll be another."

A ghost of a smile dashed across her tired features, "I'm sorry. For everything."

"...Yeah. Me too." That was all he said before reaching out with his hand and gently tracing it along her jaw, before guiding her face up to his. They kissed, sweetly, sorrowfully. After all the time away from him, she still tasted like the most exotic spices, her hair still smelled of jasmine. Having her body so near to his, her presence overwhelming his senses was what caused the shields at the back of his mind to shatter; opening the floodgates holding back the pain of losing his hand, the pain of losing Yamila again, and the mental problems that were destined to arise from facing one's own mortality. Quickly, he broke away the kiss.

He turned and walked away in the hope that she couldn't see the tears slipping down the side of his face.

Later, in an abandoned corner of the palace, he made a seat on a piece of rubble. The tears came first. Then the sobs. Then the crushing pain in his chest. After that came the uncontrolable shakes from the leftover adrenaline in his system.

He stayed like that for a long time.

VVVVV

I watched what transpired between the woman in red silks, and Andre. I realized that my assumption about her earlier had been correct. So that was Debbie's long lost concubine mother. Andre's long lost wife. I don't quite know what was said, or what wasn't, but in the end Andre turned and left. This left Debbie to approach the tired out woman. The two of them walked inside with the healer. I assumed they had a lot to discuss.

So, I turned my attention to Reza. "So...what do I need to do now?"

Reza shrugged, "You could search the Five Center worlds...but they are massive, and there's just as much a chance he could have disapeared into a smaller world to recurperate."

"...So what do I do?" I must have sounded like an idiot, but I was still not going to go around searching for an Emperor in multiple universes without even a clue of where he was.

There was a slight roll to her eyes, "You may return to your home and await further instructions."

"Oh," I said, a little snippily, "I'll wait for instructions, will I?"

"Yes," Her tone became just as clipped as mine, "That's exactly what you'll do."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Now you're just being infantile," She snapped.  With an exasperated sigh she ran a hand through her dark hair, "It will take a while for myself and my spies to locate him. You might as well go home and rest up for the next battle." There was a slight glint to her eyes, "However, remember that the Wildflower is connected to the magical plains. It may potentially effect circomstances and bring you into situations where you aid is required. Meaning it could very well take you to the Emperor itself after enough of his strength returns to make a dent on the spiritual plain."

Oh goody. But it seemed that, at that moment, nobody else needed me. I could return to my home, my bed, my computer, my tv, my bed. It seemed like such a foreign concept now.

I got ready to will myself home. But I had a thought.

"Reza, what do you benefit from helping me destroy your Emperor?"

She smiled, "That infant that was born today is now the heir apparent to the throne. If somehow the current, cruel Emperor could be replaced by that child, and the child were bred to be a true leader of men and beasts, then the Empire would be a beautiful place. That is what I seek to accomplish."

I nodded. It was fair enough. Even if I didn't totally agree with her methods. "Oh, and tell Andre and Debbie that I'll see them around."

She nodded an affirmative.

With that, well, I guess the best comparison I can make is that I clicked my ruby slippers and willed myself home.

Anduriel:

--- Quote ---With that, well, I guess the best comparison I can make is that I clicked my ruby slippers and willed myself home.
--- End quote ---

Except, home wasn’t where I ended up. Sure, I was back on earth, my town, my street, but my home wasn’t there. Where my house had been, there was now just a square plot of empty land. The earth was all cracked and dry with a few pieces of rubble scattered about, but that was it. For the gazillionth time since this whole shebang started; I just stood there gawping. What had happened? Now I know I’d just spent time in magical gaga-googoo  land, but here on earth; buildings don’t just disappear.

“Mr Gardner?” A gruff male voice called out from behind me.

Agh!

Would people please stop sneaking up on me!?

“Mr Joey Gardner?”

I turned around to see a guy 5’9, with ebony skin, dressed in a brown pants and a white shirt with no suit jacket. Instead he wore a long brown raincoat. A vibrantly red tie that seemed just a little out of place with the rest, set off the ensemble. The man looked to be in his early 40s with short cropped hair, and he was stalking towards me. Now if I was a certain character from a certain urban-fantasy series I had been reading recently, I’m sure I would have come up with a really clever and witty reply. All I managed was:

“Uh…”   

He seemed to take that as a yes.

“Mr Gardner, I’m Detective Inspector Frances,” he said as he flashed me his badge “And we need to have a little chat.”

Shit.

(AN: It's a little short but for some reason I just couldn't resist.)

meg_evonne:
"Do I need my lawyer?"

"Probably, but you could help things along if you just answered a few questions."

"Like?"

"What happened here?"

"You think I had something to do with it?"

"You disappear in the middle of it.  Your neighbor survived the blast and he saw you at the scene outside shortly before the bomb went off. You can talk with me or you can talk with Homeland Security.  Actually you'll end up talking to both of us, but to be honest, I think I'll have a little more compassion."

"Why?"

"Because years ago it happened to me, just like this.  Crazy beast in the middle of the night, lot of running and fireworks--then poof, I was somewhere else.   Sound familiar?"

I didn't know what to say.  I looked where my apartment had once been, where my neighbors had lived, where most of them had apparently died.  Finally, "Wildflower can't be everywhere can it?" 

"No, I'm afraid not."

Qualapec:

--- Quote ---"No, I'm afraid not."
--- End quote ---

"This is some interrogation room," I managed as I took a deep drink from the bottled water. It actually wasn't an interrogation room, it was Frances' kitchen. A homey little kitchen with more plastic in it than metal or wood, but clean. Except for the coffee maker, which seemed to be the only thoughroughly used part of the kitchen.

Frances sat down at the opposite side of the table from me, "So, how did it come to you?"

There was no need to specify what he was talking about, "A friend. She gave it to me as a gift, turns out she knew what it was the entire time. What about you?"

"I was in a car crash when it came to me. Saved my life. When I crawled out a Knight took me to another world, claiming I stole it," He leaned over the table, "You're in some pretty serious trouble here. Homeland Security isn't going to be happy that a bomb went off in your apartment, and you were sighted in the middle of mysterious activity at the scene."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, "I shouldn't be suprised. That's kind of how my last few days have been..."

He smiled, and suddenly I couldn't help but feel just a little bit connected with him. We were both people who had been sucked into something we didn't want, into a battle against forces greater than our own. "Yes, isn't it funny how the Wildflower is supposed to deffect circomstances to our benefit, and yet it seems we are more unlucky when we have it than when we didn't...However, you do have a chance to avoid trouble with the government."

Oh goody, time for the sell. I figured there had to be some reason he hadn't taken me directly to the station. I'd HOPED it was some internal connection to me or a desire to talk about old times...suppose not. "Okay," I said, "What do you want?"

He put down his coffee, and met my eyes, "Let me explain something to you. This world is the farthest away from the center of the..."

"Multiverse?" I offered.

"Thank you, multiverse. This world is farthest away from the center of the multiverse. Of all the worlds it's the newest, and thus the less connected to the spiritual plain." He rose to his feet and walked over to a cabinet, where he pulled out a collection of manila file folders. Sitting back down at the table he continued, "However, it seems that in the last century the spiritual pressure in this world has increased. I assume this is because we are no longer the last world in the lineup, that a new world is spawning after ours, and thus is pushing us closer to Wildfire."

"And thus we're becoming more affected by the magic..." I finished as I reached for the first of the file folders. It was a mass murder, looked like some kind of office party, but it was hard to tell through all the gore. At the center was a creature somewhere between man and wolf. I could only guess, a werewolf. It was dead, filled with gunshot wounds.

Frances nodded, "Exactly. You see, we've always been drifting closer, it just seems that as the new world is in it's birth stages the process has been accelerated."

I shook my head. All my work to keep the Empire from absorbing my world, because it would cause mass panic, seemed to be in vain. It was all happening anyway. "Damnit..." I cursed, "And there's nothing we can do to stop it?"

"No, this is the natural process of things. Although,normally it's supposed to be slower. Usually people become accustomed to it over a long period of time."

I was looking through another file folder, this one was filled with burnt corpses, "What do you need from me?"

"Protection. We need someone who can stop these supernatural forces, keep them from killing people, which will keep them from being noticed."

"And if I refuse?" I felt like I'd said that simple phrase so many times recently.

He laughed, richly and deep. When he calmed down he managed to say, "You are the Wild-bound. You should know the answer as well as anybody."

I smiled. So, Detective Frances DID know what it was like to be the Wild-bound.

Anduriel:

--- Quote ---I smiled. So, Detective Frances DID know what it was like to be the Wild-bound.
--- End quote ---

I took another swig of water. Now it seemed I was more like Virgin King; Protector of the Universe. Ok, I really gotta think of a cooler name for myself; like Frank. It was odd sitting talking with another Wild-bound, made me wonder if he had known Debbie and Andre. As usual, there were more questioned raised than answered.

“Ok, so I’m like the new sheriff in town, but what happens when I’m… not in town? Or not on this planet for  that matter?”

Sure, I had power, but I couldn’t be everywhere at once.

“That’s where folks like me come in,” Francis replied “Guys in the know who ain’t gonna stand by and let some supernatural asshole tare up our planet.”

“Guys like you?”

“Yeah, seems destiny had other plans for this wild-candidate, got me a wife and kids now. But that only makes our job more pressing. People like us, we‘re the guardians of this plain, the guardians of Earth.”

“So this Wild-bound gig isn’t a lifelong deal…”

Now that was interesting.

“It lasts as long as the Wildflower needs you, then you move on to the next part. Destiny works in strange ways for guys like us.”

“Guys like us?”

“Yeah, y’know; descendants.”

“Descendants?”

“Uhuh,” he said before letting out a little chuckle “There an echo in here or somethin’?

I was doing a pretty good parrot impression by this point, but my blank expression must have told all.

“Uh, they didn’t tell you about that? Oh boy…”

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