His Heir
“She was my daughter!”
The silence which then fell seemed to ring following the previous cacophony and we stared at each other from opposite ends of the room, various emotions flickering in our eyes.
Our people were no strangers to hardship and loss. I was so young when I saw my first procession up into the mountains, countless torches illuminating a stranger’s final journey into their tomb, that those nightly rituals had become as much a part of me as the language which I speak. No, we were no strangers to hardship and loss, such were commonplace in our lives, but still we feel their sting.
Perhaps I’d let my grief get the better of me, perhaps my people had been removing me from their own ranks for so long that I’d started to remove myself, or perhaps I’d seen my grandfather as only an advisory for so long that I’d let myself forget the thing which connected us. I’d let myself forget that she had been kin to us both and that our shouts hadn’t been our usual back and forth for we were not our usual selves, not without her.
I don’t know how long we just stared, the fight simply fleeing from us with his final shout, and we were left struggling to adjust to the sudden change. I let out a long breath and reached out a hand to grasp the nearby doorframe as I sagged.
“What would you have me do, my lord?,” I asked in defeat as I awaited my orders.
It didn’t matter what my grandfather and our people thought of me, they were still mine and I would always serve them well, it’s what my mother would have wanted.
“The people must come first. Take stalk of our reserves and see what we can spare. If we must go without we go without. We’ve weathered worse and survived, we will survive this as well.”
I nodded and made to leave.
“Vardin,” he called after me, stopping me in my tracks, and I braced for either more orders or another one of our mutual jabs.
“She loved you very much.”
It certainly wasn’t what I’d been expecting and my entire body further tensed as tears came unbidden to my eyes though I refused to shed a single one. The time for crying over the dead had passed, we needed to instead tend to those still living.
“I know,” I replied before slipping silently away, intending to serve my people in whatever way I could for I was their crowned prince and their king’s newly named heir.
(I’ve been misreading the character limit this entire time so expect longer stories, if only slightly, from me going forward. I also want to apologize if anyone feels as if I’m posting too many stories here as other people seem to have let this fall to the wayside. This is one of the only places I have to share my writing so I’m going to keep going even if no one else really cares anymore.)
Snowfall
The wind was biting as it kicked up heavy drifts. It was that time of year in which eager children press their faces to frosted windows and fires are lit early in their grates. She was an older woman, her hair greying, dressed in many layers even as she sat before an alluring fire. She sat back in her rocking chair, swaying to and fro, her latest knitting in her lap. Every once and awhile she’d glance towards a window which sat in the far wall, its frost earlier banished by a steady hand, and she’d watch as the snowflakes fell in their thousands. She’d imagine that she could see each in perfect detail, entirely unique. They were like glass, cold and sharp but beautiful with a bewitching quality all their own. She knew them and their magic as they traveled the winds, blanketing the earth and weaving their spell. Come morning she knew that flocks of children would descend upon them, their laughter like bells as they frolic. Within and watching their families would be ...
When Spirits do Wander
Have you ever been awake when spirits do wander, when graves loosen their tethers, and bleached skeletons dance about? Don your masks and capes and sheets with some eye-holes cut out. Go forth and traverse the streets with goblins, ghosts, and ghouls and pass yourself off as one of their numbers, wholly awful. Don’t attempt to unmask your neighbors least you find not paper nor plastic but a face of flesh, leering at your side. Don’t look too closely least those beings, otherworldly, look closely in return and find not a boon companion but an enemy with privileges they themselves are denied. Dance with them in moonlight and be merry in secret parade. Be jubilant in your quest for treats and threat of tricks as you go at the side of those who think you are the same. Show your kindred spirit with those monsters of the night and know that you are hidden, safe in your disguise. When black cats dart out and witches cackle ahead, when bats are heard chittering and ...
A Conversation Between Immortals
“It use to be so beautiful.”
“Nothing lasts forever.”
“But so soon? Was it not only yesterday when life first emerged? Now it has fled. Surely you remember how it was. I miss those times.”
“Those times are over, finished, as it was always meant to be.”
“It makes it no less sorrowful. Life never will return, will it?”
“No. It is gone and what is gone can not return.”
“Then what purpose do we serve here? Why do we remain even after the end?”
“As Passage and Reality we will always remain even after all else is gone. You will continue to age this world and I will make it so just as we always have.”
“But it matters not anymore. No eyes exist to behold you, no senses remain to cherish me. Why continue after all else has ceased?”
“Because it is our lot.”
“So it is you and I for eternity, old friend, nothing more?”
“That is how it was always going to be. It is a fact which will not change.”
“Change. Long have I ...
As you know, Warner Brothers announced that it will be making a film called The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis and produced by Peter Jackson.
But…why does that title sound familiar? I was talking with a few friends about it when the story broke and someone mentioned that there was a fan film of the same name on YouTube.
So this week has been a wild one for fans of sci-fi and fantasy. Three trailers. Three shows. And three vastly different responses. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, the trailer for Rings of Power S2, House of the Dragon S2, and a new spin-off series Dune: Prophecy, all dropped this week. Which offers a unique (and probably intentional) opportunity to compare the three pieces, and their subsequent shows.
So…this is not just a headline. A few days ago, Warner Brothers announced a new slate of Lord of the Rings Movies, the first of which will be The Hunt for Gollum (an animated series which predates the LOTR timeline by 200 years will also be made called The War for the Rohirrim)
Yes. I’m as confused as the rest of you. Does this mean more garbage like Rings of Power? Maybe…though not from the same source. It would be too long and, frankly, unnecessary to describe the strange division of copyright between Amazon and Warner Bros. Suffice it to say, Warner Bros. owns the rights to the main timelines about the actual characters. Amazon owns the rights to a prologue.
Now, I’m as annoyed as the rest of you. They are making more Harry Potter, more Lord of the Rings, a freaking Mufasa movie?! What happened to original Hollywood stories?
