flash fiction

It is Time (266 words)

BruceLeave a comment

According to The Clock on the sacred tree in the heart of the Sombre Forest it was ten minutes past Blue Tit.

Time to move. Time to fight.

Matt re-checked his supply of arrows, and the tension in his bow, trying not to look at Allenia. She was busy organising the ForestFolk, moving quickly but reassuringly amongst the small group of newly made warriors. Her easy way and positivity motivated the others, until a few weeks ago more suited to foraging for fruit and nuts, rather than battle. She gave them confidence and strength.

She gave them hope.

The Forest had endured weeks of attacks. The OtherKind had demonstrated no mercy in their slaughter of the ForestFolk, and the destruction of the trees. They had been forced back into the heart of the forest, and this little band, pathetic as it was, was all that was left of a once large, happy and peaceful species.

Allenia her axe held in her hand, her long knife hanging at her side. She carried no arrows: her fighting style was better suited to up close work.
It was Matt’s task to clear the way for her to get close enough to the King of the OtherKind. He would not fail her.

Not this time.

He felt her hand on his shoulder and felt his heart swell with love. With pride.
He looked up at Allenia, her mossy hair was pulled back allowing him to look deep into her eyes.

The fear had left him now.

“It’s time,” she said. “Are you ready, Father?”

Matt found that he was.

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This story was inspired by this photo: http://matthias-hauser.artistwebsites.com/featured/strange-find-in-the-forest-orange-clock-hanging-on-tree-matthias-hauser.html

The gift from the sea

BruceLeave a comment

“I used to come here, everyday, when I was.a kid, this beach was my playroom. I spent hours clambering over the rocks searching the rock pools for crabs. One day (I was ten, or eleven, I think) I saw something sparkle in the water. Just over there… You see the gull ? Well just to the right of him there’s a a big rock. It was right there. I clambered over the pepples slippery with seaweed, I fell over twice in my haste to get there, grazed my left knee although Ididn’t notice until much later. At first I couldn’t see what had caught my eye. I almost gave up. And then the sun came out from behind a cloud, and I saw it, twinkling in the rockpool. It was jammed in between two stones, andit took me 10 mimutes to dig it free. It was a ring. I ran back up to the house, desperate to show my mother. When she saw what I held in my hand, she simply burst into tears. I didn’t know what I had done. When she eventually spoke, she told me she had lost her engagement ring, here on this beach, a couple of months after I was born. She told me her and Dad searched for it for hours, but it had gone. A gift for the sea, she said. That the sea had chosen to return it – to give it to me – was a very special sign, she said. She said I should keep it. She said I should give it to the person that means the most to me. That’s why I have brought you here. This ring was meant for you. Will you marry me?”