Glad you could join us for the next diversionary episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Queen Madalena bided her time till the next night that Andre was on guard duty at the entrance. When he saw her, he stiffened to attention.
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…
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. . .
Previously, on Elliot’s Adventures ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Next time . . .
Glad you could join us for the next promotional episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
“I’m pleased you’ll stay with us, Recruit,” the Ambassador said when Sam and Clifton reported back at dusk. Smiling, he added, “Be sure to let Sergeant Stubbs know before you retire or he won’t be able to sleep.”
~~~
The sergeant rousted them out of bed long before dawn, shouting, “Eyes open! Up and out! Survivors get breakfast at sunrise.”
“But how are we supposed to fight if we haven’t eaten first?” asked a cottontail named Jared, one of the plumper trainees.
Glad you could join us for the next ripping episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Sunrise had arrived before night was done sleeping, and, although they were excited now, most of the recruits had shown up for roll call bleary-eyed and yawning. Not Sam. She’d been awake and ready before the last star faded.
Happy to be assigned to the same Stinging Fliers group as Queen Madalena’s daughter, Clifton thought he’d been eager to start training; Sam was rabid to begin. Clifton was pleased to be the victor in nine out of twelve partner exercises with twelve different partners; Sam never lost.
By mid-morning, their training officer, Sergeant Stubbs from Fen’s Hive Elite, asked her to help him demonstrate each new maneuver; by noon she was creating her own techniques.
Taking their lunch break together, Clifton and Sam fell into a discussion about the Ultimate Sacrifice. The Alliance army’s official policy discouraged suicide attacks unless absolutely necessary. Clifton thought this was eminently reasonable.
“But what’s the point of having a stinger if you aren’t going to use it?” Sam’s frustration mounted with each word.
Glad you could join us for the next rousing episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Dawn danced across the Meadow where the Knights of Service had prepared the training ground.
Thousands filled the field. On the ground, mammals and reptiles, amphibians and crawling insects, all in high spirits, called to friends, shouting victory to come. In the surrounding trees, fliers with feathered or gossamer wings twittered and tweeted, flittered and buzzed, vibrating the air with an electric hum.
The Lieutenant leaped to a highpoint. Silence fell.
Glad you could join us for the next true-ish episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
“Where are you going, Sa-man-tha?” Andre wheedled from his Hive Guard post as his half-sister and Clifton approached the only way out.
“Not that it’s any of your business, An-nie,” she responded, “but I’m going to join the Alliance army.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Have you talked with Mother about this?”
Continue reading “Almost But Not Quite Entirely Unlike Lying”
Glad you could join us for the next confrontational episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Inside the hive, Sam slipped into a small chamber out of sight around a corner. The first creature to exit a short while later was a darkly exotic female, the like of whom Clifton had never seen.
“Come with me,” she said as she walked past him.
Feeling his heartbeat in his wingtips, Clifton stammered, “Uh, sorry. I… uh, I’m… waiting for someone.”
“Yeah. Me.”
“You’re Sam?”
“Yeah. What of it?”
“Nothing,” he assured her. “It’s just that… well, I was expecting a… a guy.”
Sam crossed her top arms and stuck her lower fists on her hips. “You males are all alike. Andre didn’t tell you he’s my little brother, did he? Well, half-brother really; Mother used to travel. Come on.”
Sam interrogated Clifton as she hurried him through a maze of empty honeycomb.
“So what’s this war about?”
Clifton felt a need to match his speech to the speed of his legs. “This crazy tyrant wasp in The Arids calls himself General Hai and claims he’s the rightful King of Fen. He wants to take back the Hive and take over Bog and the Freelands, too.”
“Is he?”
“Is he what?”
“The rightful King of Fen?”
“No!” Clifton exclaimed. “The Hive has been in my family for generations. There was a wasp uprising against Queen Lilian’s mother a long time ago, and that became the Great War. Another attack happened recently, but it was personal.”
Sam turned left into an unoccupied reserve storage room and shot Clifton a pointed look. “All wars are personal against somebody, aren’t they? What about the rest of the Kingdom?”
Clifton stood tall. “We support the Queen. We’re free to live the way we want to — within the law — but nobody thinks the laws are unreasonable. We’re happy.”
“Except for the wasps, apparently,” Sam commented.
“No,” he corrected her, “including the wasps who are citizens. Only the Great War’s exiles were unhappy. In fact, my aunt is engaged to a wasp.”
“What?”
“We have good lives in Fen,” Clifton told her. “I can’t imagine not having friends from other tribes.”
“We don’t need friends from other tribes,” Sam countered.
That belief must be so old nobody questions it, Clifton thought. “See, that’s what’s changing. If the General comes to the Freelands, it’s going to be a lot easier for him to take over if he only has to fight one tribe at a time. First he’ll conquer the wasps, then he’ll move on to the bees or the voles or somebody else. His army is greater than any of your tribes alone. If you guys don’t help each other, the Freelands won’t be free for long.”
Sam’s brow furrowed. After a longish pause, she issued an order.
“Take me to this Alliance of yours. I’m signing up.”
To be continued. . .
Previously, on Elliot’s Adventures ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Next time . . .
Glad you could join us for the next volunteer episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Lieutenant Terrance of Bog had his orders: build an Alliance army to defeat General Hai. He’d spent yesterday with Ambassador Arturo, visiting every Freelands tribe except the bees, explaining the importance of the Alliance and signing up recruits.
The first meeting on their list was with the Communal Hierarchy of Wasps. The air at the overflowing Arena thrummed an anxious whine when their ancient leader stood before them, clearing his throat with a rasp of coughs and expectorations.
“We are not accustomed to working with other Freelands’ tribes,” the elderly wasp began, “but when times change, they demand we change our ways with them. The Massacre changed our times. The Rebels who attacked us and killed our unborn have attacked others, not only in the Freelands, but in the nearby kingdoms of Bog and Fen as well.”
A low hum ebbed through the gathering.
Glad you could join us for the next motivating episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
“How did Lady Lucy die?” Clifton demanded.
“She was undercover, gathering information from The Arids, and the General found her out,” the runner answered.
His vindication washed with tears, Clifton was adamant. “I knew Lady Lucy was loyal to the Queen! I need to tell Barry.”
Glad you could join us for the next plot-twisting episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
“What are you thinking?” Arturo asked Clifton.
“It should be easy — I’ll ask to stay with the Hiverarchy while I’m here. I can talk to the workers about the Alliance, and maybe start a… buzz.” They both grinned. “Kýrios may be the Most Revered, but he’s not a dictator, he’s an advisor to their Queen. He’ll listen to the majority even if he doesn’t agree, and he’ll share what he hears with her.”
“What if he still advises against joining?”
Space, Time, and Raspberries 
You must be logged in to post a comment.