Tag: Aero Squadron

Rattled

Glad you could join us for the next shaky episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

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Photo credit: Tim Lyons

Having dug a shallow burrow in the Bower’s floor, Miranda tucked her little ones inside. “I’m just going to watch them sleep for a few minutes,” she told the Princess. “It’s the only time they’re all quiet. Then we can sit outside and have a bit of nectar.” But moments later, exhausted from bearing the weight of parenthood alone, she, too, succumbed to seductive slumber.

Princess Cassandra smiled. Soon that will be me. She stepped into the pale starlight alone.

“Good evening, Cyrus,” she greeted the young bee standing guard outside her door.

“Good evening, your Elegance.” The flap of feathered wings brought him to attention. “Who goes there?” 

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Last Flight Out

Glad you could join us for the next risky episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

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Photo credit: Thomas Marent

Randall’s first flight made such an impression, he decided his flight home would be his last flight ever. He’d survived all the jostling only by tying his ankles to the cargo net and hanging on for dear life. Teddy might be enchanted because Trevor can ‘fly’, he thought, but that’s just leaping with style. When I tell him about this, he’s going to know what flying is really like.

Maybe his relief to be on the ground enhanced his senses to make Fen seem soul-sustainingly green and rich with everything that made life worth living. Or maybe it really was. He understood why the General wanted it, but the world would be a less hopeful place if the winds of war contaminated Fen’s light zephyrs with the stench of death.

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Special Delivery

Glad you could join us for the next over-nighted episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

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Photo credit: Frans Lanting

Teddy had given up trying to fly as soon as Janesse vanished beyond the trees. “Daddy, is Prince Elliot going to the war?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Why?”

“King Arnie needs him there.”

“Is he scared?”

“Probably. At least a little.”

Darwin stopped jumping and scrunched his face in puzzlement. “He can’t be scared. My mom says everybody in the war is brave.”

“She’s right,” Randall confirmed. “But she knows wars are scary and everyone who goes is scared but they go anyway. That’s how she knows they’re brave.”

“Why would they go if they’re scared?” his son asked. “They might get hurt.”

“They might get dead, too,” Darwin said gleefully, “but everybody would know they were cowards if they didn’t go.”

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Flying Janesse

Glad you could join us for the next entrancing episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

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Photo credit: Congok

Spending his last few minutes in Bog reviewing the responsibilities his deputy would shoulder, Elliot was confident nothing would suffer under Randall’s watchful eye.

“Do you have someone in mind to send with the shipment, sir?” the frog asked.

“No, I’ll leave that to you.”

Their faces a matched set of solemnity, Darwin and Teddy marched in step up the path.

“Halt!” Teddy cried. “Knight Trevor reporting with news, sir.”

“Hey,” Darwin objected, “you were Trevor last time. It’s my turn!”

“All right, but he’s my daddy, so I still get to say the news.”

“Okay,” Darwin agreed leaping with all eight legs splayed, over a knee-high rock in his best imitation of an airborne frog.

“What’s your news, Master Knight?” Randall asked.

Brow furrowed in concentration, Teddy saluted. “The Prince’s Flyer is here, sir!”

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Maneuvers

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Image credit: TutKnow.ru / amwo / S.T. Ranscht

Winded by her emergency run to Bog, Chloe had a powerful thirst.

Approaching a young frog playing stick-battle with an aggressive young spider among stacks of folded webbing, she caught her breath to ask, “Sweetie, can you tell me where Prince Elliot is?”

The spider used the distraction to smack his stick against his opponent’s belly. “Ha!” he crowed. “That means I killed you! I’m the greatest Knight in the Kingdom!”

“Hey, calm down, Darwin, we’re not supposed to hurt each other.” Rubbing his stomach, Teddy turned to the Runner. “I don’t know, but my daddy does. Do you want me to go get him?” Continue reading “Maneuvers”

Fen’s Send Off

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Photo credit: lajollalight.com

In the starlit Field surrounded by most of Fen’s civilian residents, Captain Harper presented Fen’s troops to Queen Lilian the Magnificent.

“— and each Captain has their unit’s assignment. Daylight Land and Light of Day Aero forces deploy at sunrise. Nocturnal Land, Dark of Night Aero, and Hive Elite forces will deploy immediately following the Queen’s address. Your Magnificence, your troops stand ready.”

Scanning the assembled army, the Queen hovered before them.

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So It Begins

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Photo credit: Tim Fitzharris

It began with a single word served like a fine meal at the end of a soul-cleansing fast.

“Now.”

~~~

“Psst!” Sam’s hiss cut through Clifton’s dream, replacing a glowing image of endless flower fields floating in a lake of nectar, with sharp-edged silhouettes against an infinite spangled night that shone too brightly.

“What?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes to wake his sleep-addled brain.

“It’s time to go,” she said.

He was instantly alert.

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Back In Line

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Photo credit: Brad Wilson

“…and I believe if we just position all our troops at the border, we will stop any hostile who dares to attempt to enter Fen on the ground or at the river as easily as we’ll stop them in the air, without mounting a full scale offensive,” Captain Avery concluded.

Smoothing the rough surface of her irritation with a smile, Queen Lilian waited to respond until the captain, blinking uncertainly, began shifting from foot to foot.

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Dawn Meetings

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Photo credit: Getty Images

The Golden Hour of morning was Lilian’s favorite time of day. “Vernon, my love, do you want to go with me to the Field for breakfast?”

Rolling out of bed, Vernon took her hand. “Nothing would please me more, my beautiful Lili, but the Alliance army trainers are coming home tomorrow and the Captain of the Hive Elite requested a dawn meeting this morning to coordinate our land and air forces’ next move. Then there’s a Runner’s report. How about brunch immediately afterward?”

“How is it the Queen’s Liaison is busier than the Queen?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

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Taking Control

Glad you could join us for the next exhausting episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

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Photo credit: Steven Falk

The days that followed were full. Clifton and Sam spent their mornings training stinging Fliers, and their afternoons being trained by Bog’s Knights and Fen’s Aero Squadrons in other forms of combat, weaponry, and tactics. After dinner, they met with other recruits who had created new moves, and worked into the night perfecting those skills so they could teach them the next morning.

The Sergeant joined them for breakfast each day.

“You’ve done good work,” he said between bites at the end of the week. “These green volunteers have become a real army. I’ll be proud to serve with all of you when the call comes, but for now, the trainers from Bog and Fen are going home. You’ll be working with the Freelands Forces, keeping them sharp, ready for what’s ahead.”

“Thanks, Sarge. We couldn’t have done it without you,” Clifton said. “It was genius to tap Sam’s gifts.”

“A sign of leadership is recognizing leadership in others. I suspect Killer’s even better at that than I am,” the Sergeant allowed.

“What makes you think so, Sarge?” Sam asked.

“You saw it in Clif, didn’t you?” he laughed.

Clifton felt the compliment and took the ribbing with a grin.

Kýrios the Most Revered, Queen Madalena’s eldest councillor, landed on the grass beside them.

Still smiling, Sam greeted him. “Kýrios! What brings you to the Meadow?”

Glaring at the three of them in turn to stop on Sam’s face, he said, “The Queen is gone.”

To be continued. . .

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