For a little fun, I decided to try the National November Writing Month challenge (again). This time I was not prepared with any sort of story idea or outline. I used some writing prompts and plot generators and created a basis of an idea. This was, by the way, a terrible idea. However, I thought I would share with the world, my most epic fail at writing a story.
In the Elven city of Slvenia, a young alchemist is given the
task of finding the fabled weapons that will end the war between elves and
humans. Adrianna discovers she has a surprising trait that allows her to escape
with her life while undergoing her quest.
Zach knocks on the door of the quaint bungalow, “Adrianna
Snow, I have a missive for you of high importance.”
From behind the door she calls out, “Come in.”
Adrianna can’t help herself when Zach enters the room her
pulse quickens and her cheeks flush. She hopes he doesn’t notice the latter.
“What is it? Who is it from?”
“Emperor Banghaldi, and here, read for yourself.”
Grasping the envelope, Adrianna notes the seal of the Emperor. Turning it over in her hands, she rips the end off and slides out the letter. Adrianna’s hands shake as she reads:
“Emperor Banghaldi, and here, read for yourself.”
Grasping the envelope, Adrianna notes the seal of the Emperor. Turning it over in her hands, she rips the end off and slides out the letter. Adrianna’s hands shake as she reads:
You are
hereby summoned for a quest of great importance. You must pack your things an
army
Detail
will be accompanying you at 0800 tomorrow morning. Your quest is to find the 3
Enchanted
weapons stolen from our capital 600 years ago. As a skilled navigator of the
wild, I
Trust
that you will have no problem traversing the terrain.
Adrianna can scarcely believe her eyes. The fabled enchanted
weapons are prophesied to be found by someone of great power and ability.
Her brows furrowed together, “What do you know of this?”
“Nothing, I swear to you, what does it say?”
“I am to find the enchanted weapons of Slvenia….”
Zach snorts, “Oh, you’re serious!”
“Yes, please say you’ll come with me. Even though it says I
will have an army detail for my mission, I need someone I can trust.”
“No, absolutely not and I don’t think you should go either. That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!”
“Right I will just tell the emperor that I can’t go.”
“No, absolutely not and I don’t think you should go either. That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!”
“Right I will just tell the emperor that I can’t go.”
He brushes and errant hair out of her face and looks at her
sternly. She finds the subtle gesture sweet but she can tell by the creases on
his face that he is determined to stay behind.
“No. No! You’re not going to do this to me. This is
important. What if I never see --“ She cuts off before she can finish her
sentence. She realized that she’d revealed too much of her feelings for him.
Not that it was a secret but it made her feel vulnerable. What was she
thinking? She crossed her arms over her chest determined to put on a brave
front now.
“Then leave. I’ve got packing to do.” She could feel the
tears threatening to spill over so she turned on her heel and went to her room
to find her essentials. She rifled through her closet until she found her
satchel, water bottle, compass and hiking boots. By the time she returned to
the living room there was no sign of Zach. She dropped everything
unceremoniously on the couch and went to the bathroom to stare at her now
bloodshot eyes. She then ran her hands under the faucet and splashed water on
her face, the spot where he had touched her skin seemed to linger like she
could still feel his presence. At that thought she scrubbed her face as if to
wash it away.
The next morning, the sound of heavy footsteps on her porch
woke her before the rapping of the knocker on the door. She looked at her alarm
clock in disgust, why hadn’t it gone off? She quickly got ready and answered
the door with her satchel already thrown over her shoulder.
“Ma’am, I am Colonel Brigant and this is Sargent Levy.” He
said gesturing with his thumb to the stern looking young man next to him.
Behind the two military officers was a woman with straggly brown hair speckled
with flecks of gray. She wore pointy shoes and was carrying a wand. Next to her
stood two pixies.
Noticing her gaze, Colonel Smith cleared his throat, “The
Emperor wanted to make sure you were well protected, along with Miss Sharanel
here there will be two more witches that we need to pick up. As for the pixies,
we have Glimmer and Hope.”
Adrianna nodded her head in acknowledgement of the brief
introduction.
“Well, gentlemen shall we be on our way then?” Adrianna said
as she stepped out of her doorway, locking it closed with the swipe of her hand
on the sensor.
“So, not that I mind, but why did the emperor send a letter,
why not call or email it to me?”
“The Emperor did not want anything to jeopardize this
mission and these days you can’t be too careful with computers. Who would think
to look for a hand-written letter delivered by a simple apprentice? At any rate
the Donda sisters are to the north of Slvenia’s borders.”
Adrianna’s boots crackled on the small pebbles on the ground
as they walked the rest of the way in silence. She was deep in though when they
approached the Donda sisters’ house. The red house stood in stark contrast to
those around the area. The colonel reached up to knock on the door just as he
did the door swung wide. Inside stood two portly women with ruddy cheeks and
frazzled brown hair. They were snickering to one another about some inside
joke. “Come in, come in.” The women gestured with their hands waving, Adrianna
took a step towards them but the colonel held her back. “We don’t have time for
this, are you coming or not?” Their smiles disappeared from their faces and
even Adrianna had to wince at the harshness of his words. “Very well,
Wilhelmina grab the book.” The sister scurried off to grab the book from the
depths of the house beyond Adrianna’s vision. “I’m Gertrude,” the woman smiled
her crooked grin and stuck out a chunky hand towards Adrianna which she
accepted with a firm shake. Adrianna wiped her hand on her on leather pants
afterwards to get rid of the moisture that had been transferred by the woman’s
clammy hand. Gertrude did not appear to take notice. Within minutes Wilhelmina
had returned with a leather bound book. Pages protruded in all different
directions and there were several tabs sticking out of the top evidently
marking the more important spells. The front had a snake that seemed to eat its
own tail on the cover and for a moment Adrianna could’ve sworn that she saw it
move. With a huff, the Colonel asked, “Are we ready now?” The twins stepped out
from the doorway and closed it behind them. The colonel then turned to address
Adrianna, “I assume you know where we’re going?” Adrianna shifted from one foot
to the other feeling unsure of herself, she considered her words, “The thing is
very few people know where the enchanted weapons actually are. It is rumored to
be kept in the dragon stronghold. Since few people are brave enough to even
attempt breaching Ungard and live to tell the tale, even the location of the
stronghold is not well known.” The Colonel opened his mouth to speak but
Adrianna held up her hands, “I happen to know a dwarf by the name of Elderich
who might be willing to part with a map with the location of the Dragon
Stronghold and even possibly details of layout of the stronghold itself. Which
means we must first travel to the West of the Volumard mountains where the
cave-dwelling dwarves reside. This is an area that I am quite familiar with,
but” Adrianna steadied herself for what she had to say next, “we are going to
need something to barter with to get them to part with that map.” The colonel
had a look of disgust on his face, elves were not known for exchanging
pleasantries with dwarves. However, the expression was fleeting as he realized
the necessity of the exchange if their quest had any hopes of succeeding. “What
did you have in mind?” Adrianna like this even less, but she knew there was
only one thing that dwarves held in high regard and that was honor. This is not
a commodity that one can trade obviously but Adrianna did have something in
mind that she figured would have to make do and she knew the colonel would not
approve. “There is a dwarf held in custody by the Emperor for crimes against
our land. He is not due for release for nearly another ten years. However, if
we bring him to Raqqa with us, Elderich would be duty-bound to grant us a
favor.” The Colonel was clenching his jaw and Adrianna could see that his
patience, what little he had to begin with, was wearing very thin. “You want me
to get the Emperor to release Gonrath the thief?” Adrianna nodded her head, “I
have never believed that he was ever guilty myself, but yes I feel that would
be the safest bet if we are to get what we need from Elderich.” The Colonel
made noise that showed his distaste for this business, “I am liking this quest
less and less. Very well, we shall present your idea to the Emperor and see if he
will release the mongrel. Is there anything else you’ll require?” he sneered.
Adrianna chose to ignore his attitude, “Will we be riding horses? Although for
the terrain we’ll be traversing we might do better with mules.” The Colonel
made no attempt to hide his disapproval as he made an exaggerated eye roll at
her. “Yes, yes of course. The stable boy was supposed to meet us at the edge of
Maldar with our mounts. However, I’m sure that we can get him to fetch us some
mules instead.” The Colonel turned to the Sergeant, “You should take care of
that while we are dealing with the Emperor.” The Sergeant didn’t even bother to
reply but immediately began heading off to the other side of town where the
stables were located. The remainder of the crew headed towards the palace.
Adrianna sighed at the sight of the palace, tall spires
seemed to touch the sky and its curvy architecture was reminiscent of builders
of the golden era. The Colonel addressed the sentries placed before the draw
bridge, “Colonel Brigant and company, we need to speak with the Emperor about
an urgent matter of state.” The sentry to the left did not bother to respond
but merely signaled to the guard atop the wall to lower the bridge. Within
seconds the bridge was creaking as it was lowered to the ground. The Colonel
led the way in. Once inside the Colonel directed them to the throne room. Here
the Emperor sat at his station as if he had nothing better to do than to wait
on patrons. Colonel briefly explained the situation to Emperor Banghaldi. The Emperor’s
face was unreadable as he absorbed the information. “Adrianna, do you realize
what you are asking of me?” he didn’t wait for a response as he continued,
“This dwarf” he practically spat the
word out as if it were a foul piece of meat, “made a mockery of our court, and
denied all allegations despite having been caught red-handed! He is to complete
his sentence in the dungeon with all the other vermin who dare to defy our
laws.” Adrianna took that to mean that her only bargaining chip with the dwarves
was gone, but the Emperor surprised everyone, “Very well, I’ll release him but
he is to be banished from Slvenia henceforth never to return, and I shall find
you liable if he does.” Adrianna gulped, not liking the sound of the terms but
knew they were a necessity if the Emperor was to maintain his dignity. The
Emperor waved a hand at one of the guards stationed along the wall who had
until this point been so still Adrianna had thought it perhaps just a suit of
armor. The soldier turned on his heel and headed down the hallway his armor
clanging with each step. Once he was out of sight, the Emperor continued, “Now,
tell me more about this plan of yours. How sure are you that you can get this
map? How do you know it to be in existence?” Adrianna did not expect this line
of questioning and was taken aback. She was unsure how to go about explaining
her relationship with the dwarves being friendlier than any other elf in the
city. She began to explain her tale beginning 3 winters ago. She had been out
looking for herbs for her alchemy when she encountered a band of dwarves
camping at the base of the Mountains. Within moments of her being spotted by
the dwarves she was surrounded. They claimed that the territory she was
harvesting from belonged to the cave-dwelling dwarves and that if she knew what
was good for her she would leave, promptly. Not to be dissuaded from her task
she struck a deal with the dwarves. It had not escaped her attention that a
member of their group was mortally wounded and she happened to have with her
the ingredients of a powerful healing potion. The injured dwarf was none other
than the young Elderich who she planned to strike up the bargain with. She
summed up her tale by stating, “I saved him from losing a limb and since that
day we have been friends.” The Emperor looked as through squinted eyes at her
as if he expected there to be more to this story, giving the animosity held
between the races. However, he did not question her further as the guard had
returned with a manacled Gonrath in tow. The dwarf was haggard looking with his
beard matted and his clothing tattered, he looked as if he had not bathed in
years (and smelled it too.) Brigant clapped his hands together as he felt that
the matter was finally settled. He walked over to the guard holding Gonrath’s
chains and took them off his hands. Adrianna looked rather sheepish as she
blurted out, “Aren’t you going to un-cuff him?” Everyone stilled and gawked at
Adrianna. The silence was deafening until the Emperor began to laugh, “Oh but
of course! Aren’t you afraid that he will turn tail and run and then you will
be left with no bargaining chip for this map?” Adrianna stared down at her feet
trying to think of a way to get them to release the dwarf and ensure that he
would not take off the first chance he got. She realized the unfortunate
necessity of it all, “As usual you’re quite right, it was foolish of me to
think otherwise.” The Emperor was still chuckling at her naiveté, once he
regained his composure he gestured for their party to leave with a wave of his
hand. They travelled in silence the rest of the way out of the palace and over
the drawbridge once again. Once they reached the edge of the forest, they were
greeted by the sergeant and the stable boy. As per her request there were mules
for everyone except the dwarf. Again Adrianna thought to speak up on his behalf
but bit her lip instead. Once they were all mounted, Adrianna took the lead
heading towards the mountain pass. There journey would not be easy as the
terrain got more difficult the farther they went. They road in eerie silence
for the most part with the Colonel barking out orders from time to time. They
stopped at a stream and Adrianna filled up her canteen. The others in the group
followed suit. The journey would not be made in one day, so as the sun crept
lower into the horizon the Colonel called for them to stop and set up camp. He
tethered the dwarf to a post and made everyone promise that come their watch
they would keep an eye on him so that he didn’t try to escape. The downtrodden
look on Gonrath’s face was heart wrenching for Adrianna. She had never heard a
dwarf be so quiet, they are by nature a boisterous race.
Adrianna was exhausted, her legs felt like lead and her body
ached. They had been walking alongside their mules so as to not over burden
them before their trek up the mountainside. While, it was true that Adrianna
had made this walk before it wasn’t something that she did on a regular basis
and she’d never before pushed herself to go so far without a break. Taking off
her hiking boots felt wonderful. She stretched and laid out her sleeping mat.
Even with it though she could feel the cold ground beneath her. After eating
some bread, cheese, and jerky she laid down. She would be on the late night
watch. She closed her eyes and mulled over the events of the day. She was still
irritated by her conversation with Zach from the day before and she found that
Gonrath weighed heavily on her mind as well. Despite her exhaustion it took
quite some time before sleep finally came to her. She woke with a start as the
Colonel tapped her on her shoulder. She felt as if she had just closed her
eyes. Once she got her bearings again she sat up to take her place at the
watch. She walked over to the tree where the Colonel had stood over Gonrath.
The dwarf was not asleep but sitting upright staring into the forest. Once it
was obvious that the Colonel had fallen asleep, his loud snores drifting
through the air, Gonrath began to ask her questions. “So when will I be a free
dwarf, eh?” Adrianna winced, she wanted to tell him that he was free now but
looked at the chains around his wrists and thought better of it. Dirt and grime
still covered the dwarf and she offered him her canteen to clean himself up
some. “Do expect me to do that with these on?” He pulled tight his chains
expanding his hands for effect. With a sigh Adrianna looked around at the group
all seemed deep in sleep. “Listen, if I unchain you, you have to promise you
won’t go anywhere ok?” The dwarf eyed her suspiciously, “Wouldn’t dream of it
darlin’” She looked at the Colonel still snoring away, and the keys hung on his
sword stuck into the ground beside him. Moving as stealthily as possible,
Adrianna tip-toed her way through the campsite. Without realizing it she began
holding her breath so as not to make more noise as she got closer. She
carefully extracted the keys and then hurriedly returned to Gonrath. She
hesitated just a moment and looked at his face again seeing there the
resignation in his eyes. She unlocked his shackles and he flexed his wrists,
rubbing them gingerly. Adrianna noticed how raw they really were as he began
using the canteen to poor water over them.
“So, Darlin’, why are you so eager to help me?”
Adrianna mulled this over for a minute, unsure of what to
say. “It’s just common decency for another living being.”
“I see,” he said his voice trailing off as if he meant to
say more.
“I’m not like most elves I guess, I don’t hold any animosity
towards your race. I don’t understand it frankly.” Adrianna felt like she
needed to apologize for her entire race.
What happened next completely took her by surprise. He
knocked her alongside her head with the canteen, she fell over stunned. He was
immediately on top of her striking her again and again on the head until darkness
overcame her.
“Damn it! Wake up!!” The Colonels angry words seemed far
away.
“Oh dear,” one of the Donda twins.
Adrianna felt someone touching her hair, their fingers
coming back sticky.
“Blood,” sergeant said simply.
Water was dumped on her face. Finally Adrianna found some
strength to open her eyes. Still everything looked bleary. She blinked
repeatedly trying to bring things into focus.
“A spell?” Sharanel asked.
The Colonel huffed. “Just do it already!”
Pulling a wand from her sleeve, Sharanel began to weave it
to and fro while chanting in some foreign language. When She finished she
pointed the tip towards Adrianna’s head a light green wisp floated towards her
and she felt a warmness spread from her head to her toes. Things were finally
coming into focus for Adrianna, she sat up but still had a wicked headache and
wanted desperately to go back to sleep again.
“What happened?” Adrianna began.
The Colonel was exasperated, “You tell us!”
“I… the.. Gonrath…?” she stammered.
“You idiot!” Colonel exclaimed too frustrated for many
words.
“It would appear that Gonrath over-powered you and made an
escape,” Wilhelmina offered.
“And the keys?” Colonel pointed to the keys which lay in the
dirt close to Adrianna’s feet.
“I just thought…” Adrianna began again.
“No, you didn’t think, that’s the problem.” The Colonel’s
fury not losing any momentum. “What are we supposed to do now? He was our
bargaining chip, you had better have another way of getting ahold of that map!”
Adrianna looked down at her hands unwilling to meet his
gaze. “We… I can try just asking them
for it. I mean, maybe they’ll be nice and just give it to us.”
“And what happens when we get there, and they deny us the
map? Have you got another plan?”
Adrianna was silent, she didn’t have any idea what they
would do. She was still trying to wrap her brain around the fact that Gonrath
had betrayed her trust. Absent-mindedly she put her hand to her head where he
had hit her, the pain was gone now but it was still wet and matted with blood.
She looked to Sharanel wanting to express her gratitude for the healing spell
but the Colonel was still ranting.
“…Didn’t understand what the Emperor saw in you in the first
place!”
“I could compel them.” Gertrude said simply.
“How?” the Colonel and Adrianna said in unison.
“Compel. It’s a spell that compels people to do what they’re
told to do. It’s short-acting but powerful.”
Adrianna had to snicker at the simplicity of it. The
Colonel, of course, was skeptical but at least they had a plan now.
“Alright folks, let’s move!” The Colonel barked the command
and everyone became busy cleaning up the campsite, gathering their things.
Adrianna was still bothered by Gonrath’s actions and she wondered if she would
encounter him again at the dwarves’ stronghold. She felt that if they were to
have any success at all they had to beat Gonrath to the punch. They couldn’t
allow him to start spreading tales about the poor treatment that he had
received at the hands of elves. She had started to build a rapport with them
and she didn’t want to see that ruined. Soon they would begin their trek up the
mountain-side and for that they would need to use the mules, the terrain was
too treacherous. Even though Elves are notoriously sure footed. Her musings
took a dark turn when she retrieved her now blood-stained canteen from the
ground. The canteen had been given to her by her father and it was made of a
sturdy composite metal that kept the water as cool as it was in the stream. Now
she worried that instead of being reminded of that fond moment with her father
it would instead be of the treachery at the hands of Gonrath. For the second
time in two days she felt tears threatening to spill. She did a sharp intake of
breath to try and steady herself. Before she packed her mat up she ate some
more of her cheese and bread, breakfast
of champions she thought to herself. As she stuffed her mat into her
satchel she could see that everyone else was pretty much ready to go as well.
Most seemed to be waiting on her, she was after all, the navigator.
“Once we’re clear of the edge of the forest, we’ll start
noticing the change in terrain. The mountain sloping upwards on our right.
We’re not going all the way up the mountain but we still need to travel around
it to get to the dwelling of the dwarves. Their on the Northeastern face of the mountainside. I
would suggest we use the mules for this portion of our journey, it will be
easier.”
At that they all began to prepare the mules for mounting and
get on them. Once that was over they headed towards the mountains. Riding the
mules was almost as grueling as walking. Their thighs burning from the stress
of holding on and swaying back and forth. No one spoke much except the pixies
but they kept to themselves. By the time the sun had crept up towards the
middle of the sky, the Colonel had seemed to finally calm down. No longer
casting angry glances back at Adrianna. Perhaps he had simply given up seeing
that it was doing him no good. Soon
after that Adrianna felt the pull of sleep calling her, she had only rested a
short period of time the night before and most of it had been from when she had
a concussion. Just as the thought had crossed her mind, the others were pulling
to a stop behind her. She circled back around to where the others had begun to
make a temporary camp site. They gathered rocks around some tinder and placed a
spit over top of that. She wondered at what they had planned to put on the
spit, when one of the Donda twins pulled out a dead squirrel from her pack. Adrianna
thought better of that and decided that she would rather have more of her
jerky. Taking her time to chew it thoroughly, once she had finished her belly
full, she felt even more like falling asleep. She propped herself up against
her satchel and took a short nap. Soon after she was woken by the call of a
vulture who mistook the group for dead. Adrianna took a pebble from beside her
and tossed it at the bird which promptly took flight. For some reason it
surprised her that the rest of the group had allowed her to sleep but then she
quickly realized why, they were all deep in slumber as well. Adrianna then
became very worried as she tried to wake her fellow group members up and they
remained unfazed. Alarm prickled her senses now, and she began to dart her eyes
to her surroundings trying to make sense of what was going on. She wondered why
she was the only one unaffected. Then she realized that she was the only one
who had not eaten the squirrel stew that was made. Someone had poisoned them.
She placed her hand in front of their mouths, but they were still breathing.
Someone had wanted them to sleep but didn’t want to kill them? She was
thoroughly confused as to how this came to be, when Gonrath appeared from
behind the edge of nearest corner. Her brows furrowed as she tried to make
sense of it all. Just as she was thinking this a sharp pinch in her neck took
her by surprise and the last thing she saw was Gonrath holding up a pipe tube
his mouth, he had hit her with a poisonous dart of some sort. Then darkness.
Time was meaningless. The sun was now fully in the sky but
Adrianna couldn’t help but wonder what day it was. She now had a massive
headache and was nauseated. Whatever ingredient Gonrath had used to knock her
out had left some ill side effects. Gonrath was standing over her. She couldn’t
have been more surprised. He held a single finger to his mouth shushing her. He
squatted down to meet her gaze and whispered in her ear.
“Don’t say a word.”
Worried of what he had planned she obeyed despite her burning desire to ask questions.
Worried of what he had planned she obeyed despite her burning desire to ask questions.
“I had to be certain that you weren’t going to fight me
back.” He said by way of explanation. As if this were some ordinary
circumstance. “There’s something that I need that I left here without the other
day, and you’re going to give it to me, or else.” Adrianna was having a great deal of trouble
concentrating with whatever drugs still apparently in her system but she nodded
all the same. “My pardon, from the emperor, where is it?” Now things were
becoming clear, in order for Gonrath to return to his people he would need to
show proof of his innocence or that he had served his time, for his honor to be
restored. Otherwise the dwarves might not accept him back within their ranks.
However, Adrianna was certain that they were already aware that his capture had
been under false pretenses. She presumed that Gonrath was unaware of this fact
though or he wouldn’t be asking for the papers. With her head spinning she sat
up and motioned for the dwarf to move to the side. He did as she bade, and she
went to the Colonels mule where his packs hung. She rummaged through until she
found what he was looking for, the Emperors decree that he should be made free.
“You should come with us.” She stated in a matter of fact. He gestured with his
knife that made it clear he wanted no part in that and she decided that it
would be in her best interest to letter the matter drop and hope that Gonrath
would just let them go on their merry way.