Tag: liaison

Take a Breath

Glad you could join us for the next restful 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: Geoff Gallice

Beneath the churning web, agony’s wail rode the final unbreaking wave as it crossed the field to leave behind the silent, still shallows of death. The enemy Flyers who dared to attack its surface learned too late that the struggle to destroy it only drew the attacker further under. Those who witnessed it from above soon retreated toward The Arids.

Vernon and Ambassador Arturo waited at the web’s edge where an escaping whisper of breath hinted at the Wildlands ants’ approach. Commandant Marabunta was the first to emerge.

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They’re Coming!

Glad you could join us for the next anxious 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: Kimballstock.com

At the Hive, Captain Avery’s screeching alarm yanked Vernon from his troubled dreams of nameless shadows creeping in from all sides, and threw him into a harsh reality of impending doom and death. How Lilian had remained asleep he couldn’t fathom, but leaving her to enjoy a few more moments of peace, he flew outside to find out what the hell was happening.

The Captain of the Dark of Night Aero Squadron flapped through the dwindling spatter, stark against the lumpy sky, lit in a final blast of lightning. Spying the Queen’s Liaison, he landed on a branch above the Hive.

“Sir,” his breath burst hot on Vernon’s face, “a patrol of grounded Flyers has discovered five slain Guards right here in Central Fen.”

“The General’s henchmen?”

“It looks that way, Sir. They’re too far apart and too recently dead to believe there was only one killer.”

Vernon closed his eyes. “And Cyrus? The Guard outside the Bower?”

“I’m not certain. If he’s one of the victims, he’s been dragged away and hidden. But we found another body — an enemy’s — close to the Bower.”

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No Escape

Glad you could join us for the next inescapable 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: Shutterstock.com

Arturo strained to talk as he flew. “A Hive Elite team found us… when they saw Lieutenant Terrance’s body… I had them carry the Prince and Princess… back to the Bower, and deliver… the body to the Queen.”

“What about the Assassin’s?” Vernon asked. “It was your triumph. How do you wish to dispose of it?”

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Unexpected Visitor

Glad you could join us for the next incognito 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: somepets.com

Princess Cassandra began every morning in Cassandra’s Clearing, its sweetly optimistic raspberry scent wafting through the crannies in her mind, inspiring pleasant thoughts and images wherever anxious imaginings tried to take hold.

Sitting with closed eyes and a calm heart, she could think of Elliot as she’d last seen him instead of worrying about what might happen to him because of this war. She could anticipate his return and becoming parents together, without impatience. She could spend hours daydreaming about what their child would be like when it finally arrived.

She attributed her serenity to the joyful aroma of raspberries, and believed others would find the same restorative powers here that she had. So even though Queen Lilian had designated Cassandra’s Clearing as a private space for the Princess, Cassandra welcomed anyone who needed a peaceful place to rejuvenate a worldweary spirit.

That’s why she felt no alarm when an unfamiliar voice glopped into her meditation. 

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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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Running Wild

Glad you could join us for the next imaginative 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: Ryun

At the news a prisoner had escaped, the Knights who had come to Fen with the King fell in behind him like a wall of spears.

“How did this happen? Was anyone hurt?” King Arnie questioned Barry.

“Someone claimin’ ta be a visitor knocked out da guard and stole his keys, yer Greatness. When he woke up, his head hurt, but he was okay enough ta take a trackin’ team after ’em.”

“And?”

“Dey caught up wit’ da guy dat busted her out, but dey lost da old woman’s trail.”

“Who is he?”

Barry shrugged. “Nobody knows an’ he wou’n’t talk.”

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The Party’s Over

Glad you could join us for the next glittering 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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Image credit: S.T. Ranscht

Singing and dancing, stories and laughter, the woods filled with music and cheer. Contests and games, honors and congratulations, the community reveled in camaraderie and fellowship.

It was a night to hold in memory and revisit over the years in times of sorrow to lift a grieving heart, in lonely times to recall the bonds of friendship, or to polish up and present as a model for future times of grand celebration.

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Fergus Eugene O’Shay

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Photo credit: Suhaib Ayaz

Vernon took a step back. “I’m sorry, but why I should trust you? For all I know, you’ve been confined because you’re a raving lunatic or a bloodthirsty murderer or—”

“—an honest fool who celebrated his best mate’s weddin’ with a wee bit too much nectar. I tell ya, me boyo, it’s humiliatin’ enough ta hafta admit to a total stranger that I got meself stuck in this embarrassin’ predicament — can ya even begin imaginin’ the grief me wife’s gonna bless me with when I git home? I’m dead sober now. When I git home, I’m just gonna be dead.”

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A Slippery Slope

Glad you could join us for the next precarious 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: Nathan Ng

“Well if it isn’t Vernon the Valet-ison,” Spike sneered, reclining on a curved leaf, attended by an impossibly handsome young wasp. “I hafta admit, I didn’t expect her to send you. Arturo, bring our guest something to eat; he’s looking a little peak-ed. Or is it ‘piqued’?”

He looked Vernon up and down as the blushing Arturo, eyes downcast, sped off in the direction of the battered butterfly. “Sit,” Spike instructed, “let’s catch up.”

“I don’t have time to indulge you, Spike. Show me the Princess so I can report back to the Queen before she wonders what happened to me.”

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Spike’s Messenger

Glad you could join us for the next eye-popping 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: Rundstedt B. Rovillos

With that image fresh in his mind, Elliot easily resisted the Bols de Mort. He pushed headlong through the malodorous meadow to arrive at the Hive at the tail end of twilight.

Vernon, Liaison to Queen Lilian the Undisputed Monarch of Fen, notified the Queen the instant Elliot returned. She met him in the bower moments later.

“Your Magnificence, one of Spike’s rebels has taken Cassandra. He knows she’s King Arnie’s daughter. I’m afraid I’ve put her in grave danger.” Continue reading “Spike’s Messenger”