Tag: Miranda

Guarding the Future

Glad you could join us for the next protective 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: rockrose

“Knights!” Cyrus called as he flew into the Bower, raining a trail of herbs. “Creepers and Flyers are attacking the Hive!”

The Knights sprang into action. Trevor ripped off his sling, and retrieved his weapons while Barry drew the sleeping infants from their carrier to lay them beside their mother.

Wide-eyed, Cyrus asked, “Twins? You had two?”

The Princess nodded. “A girl and a boy,” she said, love and hope shining through her exhaustion.

Surveying the chamber, Cyrus hovered over Arturo as he scummed a dusty pool of the beast’s blood from the floor.

“What happened here?” the young Guard inquired as the midwife left her plastering to retrieve the Assassin’s stinger from a high shelf and hand it to Barry. “What’s wrong with the Prince?”

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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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It’s a New Dawn

Glad you could join us for the next daybreak 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: Sorin Petcluescu

While dawn raked its way through depleted clouds, Trevor returned to the Bower to find the Princess on the floor beside the Prince, his head cradled in her lap, her tears falling onto his face. The Knight’s heart dropped to his stomach.

He jumped when a hushed voice at his elbow said, “Sir?”

It was Miranda, pale and shivery, but on her feet and ready to work.

“Miss Miranda,” Trevor breathed. “Am I glad to see you. Are you really well enough to be up?”

“Yes, Sir,” she nodded, “I’m a mother. Now, if I might have those herbs? I’d like to start on the medicine and tea.”

Clark called out from across the room where he was playing with his sisters and brothers, “Knight Trevor! Did you see? My mama’s awake!”

“Yes, I did. That’s great news for all of us, Clark.”

Barry, carrying both babies in a sling he’d contrived for himself, took his brother Knight by the elbow and led him away from the Prince. Lowering his voice, Trevor asked, “Am I too late?”

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Rising to the Occasion

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Image credit: Elliot 269, Melvyn Yeo / Shutterstock / S.T. Ranscht

Barry wrung his hands. “What’s wrong, Princess? What should I do?”

“I think the baby’s stuck,” she gasped. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to pull it out.”

“Yer Elegance!”

“Look,” she panted, “I’m not feeling particularly elegant right now. I’m just an orphan from the Deep Woods, and I need a Knight’s help. I need you to do this.” Continue reading “Rising to the Occasion”

Doubt and Determination

Glad you could join us for the next doubtful 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: Bill Beck

After removing the beast’s corpse from the Bower, Barry and Arturo returned from the honest dark of night covered with persistent rain. Arturo took Trevor’s place tending the Prince’s wound.

The Knight shook his head, whispering, “He’s hanging on by the tips of his tentacles. I’m not sure he’ll ever wake up.”

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Close Quarters

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Image credit: FreakingNews.com / Luis Morgado / Zong Ye Quek / S.T. Ranscht

A crash of lightning followed the shape into the bower. Miranda lay senseless beneath the invading mass of muscle and rage.

Colored spots before Elliot’s eyes throbbed in rhythm with his pounding head. He gritted his teeth against the agony in his side. Thinking only of shielding his daughter, he sank into cold, black emptiness. Cassandra’s voice called to him from far, far away.

“Elliot!” Her cry surged and expanded to a scream of desperate cramping lost in the thunder’s drumming.

The beast’s voice rumbled its own thunder. “Where is General’s Assassin?”

Arturo winced as he moved to stand between the Prince and the invader. Clark followed him.

“Mama!”

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New Arrival

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Image credit: Jose Amorin / O. Gargominy / Anthony Quek / S.T. Ranscht

“Ohh… help me!” Cassandra writhed on the mat, panting, sweat seeping from her forehead to drip with her tears onto the floor.

Arturo moved the cup from Elliot’s lips. “Do you need me over there?”

Miranda looked from the baby in her arms to the Princess, and turned back to place the infant next to the Prince. “No, Ambassador. The Prince needs you here. Clark? Are you all right?”

Clark peeked over Elliot’s shell. “Yes, Mama. Uncle Elliot needs me here, too.”

Elliot’s tentacles shook as he reached to pull his daughter close. His face ashen from blood loss, his voice was dry and shriveled. “Please…” he asked the midwife, “help her…”

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Delivery

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Image credit: rafflethazzle / S.T. Ranscht

Trevor lay face-up in the mud, peering through the deluge splattering in his eyes at the scaly, barbed creature holding him down.

Bending his knees, muck squelching at his heels, the Knight jabbed the stinger into the belly hanging over his face while he thrust his hips up, flipping the attacker over his head. As he sprang to his feet, another electrifying bolt gleamed off each scale of the spiky creature scrambling to right himself. If they’d had fur, it would have been standing on end. Blood dripped from the fang’s gash.

For a heartbeat, their eyes locked. “What happens to me matters not,” the Knight’s foe declared. “We are many and we are here.” He lunged at Trevor and grabbed his arm, twisting till it popped, as he spun to slice across it with the barb at his elbow, tearing at muscle.

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Pushing It

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Image credit: Schnäggli / DP BotaNESIA / depositphotos / S.T. Ranscht

Lying in wait for the next contraction, Cassandra stretched her eyestalks to see around Miranda. “What’s wrong with my husband?” Miranda and Arturo exchanged looks, but neither answered. “Tell me.” The Princess bit back tears. “Why hasn’t he moved?”

Arturo touched her shoulder. “He’s still alive, Cassandra, but he’s very badly injured. The Assassin’s stinger went through his shell, into his body. He’s still bleeding.”

The Princess turned to Miranda. “You have to help him. Please,” she begged.

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Short on Time

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Photo credit: Elvis Kennedy

“But, Mother,” Andre implored, “what was I supposed to do? Samantha’s team wouldn’t leave her alone with us, and when she took us to the front, I watched her kill two wasps with a single move — like it was nothing.” He stared hard at her as if that would communicate the full horror of what he’d witnessed. “There’s no way I could have forced her to do anything.”

Covering her face, Queen Madalena tried not to begrudge her son the senseless deaths and injury his friends had suffered. She tried not to blame him for the head-strong willfulness of his sister, even as anger, disappointment, and remorse tried to tear her heart apart. Her silence lasted longer than she knew.

“Mother?” Andre pressed.

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