Skip to main content

OLD - Week 1 Day 1 Afternoon

Macewood, a small village, that would be more aptly called a trading camp, is a small selection of make-shift houses and tents, it boasts the biggest market for miles and for this reason it finds home to many travellers. Macewood sits nearby a set of sprawling forests, while being contained in the area known as the plains, it is frequented by dust storms which give anything and everything that doesn’t move a red-brown shade.

Seth was selling his wares at the Macewood market and was currently bartering with a portly blue skinned bar man over a large gold flagon.
“Ten gold pieces!”  Seth Declared, beaming, “Picked this beauty up in a tomb of a lost king!” Explained Seth, covering up this blatant lie with a cheery smile.
“Hmmmm…..I’ll give you 7” replied the bar man
“I said ten!” Said Seth “What makes you think I’ll give it to you for 7?”
“Well, it’s a bit battered isn’t it?” said the barman
This was a complete understatement; the flagon was covered in dents and scratches even the lid no longer fit properly on the top of the flagon.
“Yes, well, I had to wrestle a horde of undead warriors to get it of their master’s corpse!” Seth replied waving his fists in front of his face, fully knowing he had done no such thing,
“Ok but that doesn’t make it look any nicer, I can’t have this on my mantelpiece for people to look at,” The barman said.
“Look at!?” Gasped an unbelieving Seth “I meant for you to use it, I’ll  have you know, that I test each and every one of my products for their specific use, and this is definitely a using flagon!! But I’m sure I can find someone who will use it properly since you seem uncivilised enough to not know a using flagon when one is presented for you!”
“Fine! Ten Gold and be off with it!” Flustered the barman as he pulled out the coin.
“Pleasure doing business with you!” Seth Grinned.
The barman tucked the flagon under his arm and walked off grumpily. It’s getting late thought Seth as he started packing up his goods, saying each item out loud as he threw them into his bag, to make sure he didn’t forget anything:
“Jewelled revolver, old bottle, half a crown, tool bag, ‘relic of the gods’, all-seeing eye, mauve coat, stone amulet, Ruby slippers, nuclear tea and enchanted javelin.” He said each one with increasing emphasis as they went into his bag. Seth then heaved his loaded bag onto the cart which was parked behind him. With everything tidied and packed, Seth started the cart and pulled out into the emptying street. 15 years have passed since the ‘incident’ as it was now referred to as, and people still haven’t had the time or money to build anything more permanent, Seth thought as he passed the makeshift houses that were built upon the ruins of the old. As Seth left the small village he turned down a small dirt track.

Ellyn heard the front do slam open and close and braced herself for the inevitable-
“ELLYN!?!?” Baron Valther bellowed, “ELLYN!? WHERE ARE YOU?!!?”
Ellyn slid out of a nearby room and curtly replied “Here - sir!”
“Fetch me my Tankard!”
“Right away sir!” Said Ellyn as she ran away to retrieve it. Ellyn navigated the winding corridors of Valther’s manor as someone who travels them regularly. Ellyn, being Valthers hand maid, must follow him everywhere he goes within the manor and do his every bidding. Therefore, she knew exactly where to find his tankard, where he left it last night and where he will leave it tonight, as he has done every night for the last 5 years. 5 years 4 months and 7 days, but who’s counting right? thought Ellyn as she reached the flagon in his “drawing” room, a room that showed Valther for whom he really was, a blood thirsty murderer thought Ellyn as she looked around the room which was adorned with hundreds of stuffed animals, if you could still call them that nowadays, that he had either shot himself or bought from travelling merchants.


On her way to Valther she dropped into the kitchen to refill the tankard with Valthers favourite drink, a beverage made from the distilled juice of a certain combination of mushrooms, which seem to grow in abundance in the manors gardens. Ellyn thought herself a master of this art as it was one of the first things she was taught when she first arrived here and to say the least she’d had enough practice at it, what with the amount Valther drinks she has to make a new batch every week. As Ellyn returned to the front room, she found Valther handing a bag of Rockjaws to one servant and large Búri to a large butler. She calmly went up to Valther and muttered a polite “Sir,” holding up the tankard so he could reach it easily. He was almost twice the size of her, in width more than height. Valther was a mean man with beady little eyes, a wide mouth and fat nose, thrown onto a large round face.  This man would be nothing without his money Ellyn thought as he messily drank from the tankard, slopping some down his front.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Driftwood Chopsticks - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 I rose with the morning alarm, the blaring siren that goes off at 8:00 am. I hopped out of my bunk and strode into the shower before my roommates could hog it. I let the hot water cascade down me, cleansing me as much mentally as physically. I dressed in a freshly laundered uniform, a dark green boiler suit emblazoned with the bases logo, a trident with wings and the phrase “ Sub fluctibus Salutis ” which is more or less latin for, it is safe under the waves. After checking that I had all my things, I shouldered my bag, and headed for school with Riza, who had already unbuttoned the top two buttons on the uniform. We both agreed that trying to face the morning rush hour wasn’t worth it, so we took the more “express” route. An air vent near to our room had a broken lock so you could just climb in and follow the vents to your destination, it had taken us about a year's worth of free time to find the correct route. I was grateful for the padding on the knees and elbows ...
Post a Comment
Read more

OLD - Week 1 Day 5 Evening

As the sun dipped below the horizon, once more hidden by the hills in the distance, they rode the cart through some woods to a large building standing on its own in a concreted plaza. Seth parked outside and Acorn was left to guard the cart again. Without the sun the wind was quickly chilling them and Ellyn began to shiver. Seth noticed and took off his jumper and draped it over her shoulders, she did not protest. Ellyn saw that Seth was wearing a black long sleeved shirt; it had some sort of crest on it which she did not recognise. They quickly hurried towards the building; it was a large building with a clock on the outside, which was not working. The windows were boarded up but there was light streaming from the gaps, and voices could be heard from within. Seth linked arms with Ellyn to keep her close, he muttered something about appearances and it’s her first time but most of his words were stolen by the wind. They approached the bouncer at the door, a wall of a man that stood wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Driftwood Chopsticks - Part of the Bag of Beginnings

Chapter 1: A speech to the masses “And now a reading from Miss Sakamoto, from class 2B” said Mr Strauss, the whole base clapped me as I walked across the stage to the microphone. I felt so small under so many stares, I looked down at the piece of paper which was supposed to have my speech written on it, instead it had a picture of a cowboy riding a narwhal on the moon, no, I don’t know how that works either but it does so ok? I looked up from the paper, and stared at the back wall of the classroom, through the porthole positioned there and into the deep blue water beyond. I took a deep breath and began: “I am grateful. I am grateful for the food we eat and the water we drink. I am grateful for the walls which keep us safe, and dry” There was a small chuckle from the audience, “I am grateful for the friends and family I have. I am grateful for my education and the teachers who provide it. I am grateful for the life I lived and will live. But most of all, I am grateful for the ove...
Post a Comment
Read more