How about a really short, short fiction this week. This is my first post using Dragon Naturally Speaking, although the edits were done manually.
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DIVINE OFFAL
By Mark Wildyr
The lone warrior stood in a small glen, dark eyes cast heavenward. Great medicine was at work in the late afternoon sky. In his twenty-five summers, Snapping Turtle had seen many stars flash across the night. But this was not a time for stars, and the object he now watched was quite different. It moved slowly, yet it moved. Bright as a small sun, the Sky Beast shook burning embers from a long tail. Truly, this was powerful magic.
Snapping Turtle dropped
to his knees and quailed before this wondrous thing. Would this little sun fall and crush the life from his body? Then he came
to understand it would pass far above his head. Not so the great shower of
sparks that fell like offal from its brilliant tail. Turtle remained as he was
long after the strange light had disappeared from the sky. Not out of fear; that had passed. No,
his blood sang with a sense of waiting. Of anticipation.
The sun had dropped low
on the horizon before he stirred. As he rose to his feet, raindrops that were
not raindrops crashed through the canopy of trees around him, shredding leaves
and stripping bark and raising small tufts in the meadow. He reeled backward as
something heavy whistled past and plunged into the ground beside him. He blinked
and stared at a smoldering hole that had not been there a moment before. As
curiosity overcame fear, he stepped forward and peered into the shallow pit.
He made out the shape of a rock. What could hurl a piece of stone so hard it
would sink so deeply into the soil?
He recalled the falling
raindrops of moments before. They had made a noise, as well, before tearing through the tree branches. And then he understood. This was an offering from the Great
Spirit. He had thrown his divine waste at Turtle's feet. As a gift.
He reached into the hole only to snatch his hand back and put burned fingers to his lips. After a pause, he took the
sheep’s bladder of water from its strap across his shoulder and poured cool
liquid into the pit. The thing in the ground sizzled and popped and gave off the
odor of scorched earth. The sun had almost reached the western horizon before
he was able to touch the muddy water without scalding his flesh.
Finally, he tugged the warm stone from the hole and was astonished at the weight of the
thing. Never had he hoisted a rock so heavy, especially one no larger than twice his hand span. It was flat and angular and gave off a dull shine. Immediately, he was struck with a thought. He would make a
tomahawk of great medicine from this thing. It would doubtless give him power
as a warrior.
Shedding the name of Snapping Turtle, he began to live the saga of the mighty warrior known as Black Hatchet.
Mark
New posts are
published at the first of every month at 6:00 a.m.
This could turn into something really interesting. You've got a great imagination. I've enjoyed many of your books. I look forward to more.
ReplyDeleteThanks arl215, glad you enjoyed the short, short. Also appreciate the fact you've read some of my books. Having readers let you know they appreciates something you've done makes it worth the effort.
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