The Shed 14

a reply to: jacygirl

Hi jacygirl! Sorry for the migraine - I get pretty bad headaches from damage to a disc in my neck, but I don't know if you can classify them as migraines. But I do know about having to leave work and go home into a dark, quiet room because of the headaches I get. So I sympathize.

a reply to: JustMike

*Shep raises his hand*

Yup! I get the emotion thing.

Good to see you JustMike!

JustMike...Hi hunny, thank you for your kind words, *squishy* back!
How nice to see you here today!

Gordi...Hi Gordi. *awkward hug*...*sniff*...Rhubarb & Ginger...really?

Well I could be nekkid in sunglasses whilst surfing the net...I've covered my camera with a Band-Aid, so I'm safe!
But I actually was referring to the sensitive eyes thing (after a migraine) but sheesh, we ain't even on the same page right now!!

*edits self back in* Hi Shep!! *waving* I too understand the emotions when writing...sometimes it just has to come out, I guess.

jacy

a reply to: jacygirl

Oh, jacy....
I knew.... I knew...

originally posted by: jacygirl
...sometimes it just has to come out, I guess.

jacy

Are we still talking about the sunglasses thing??

originally posted by: Gordi The Drummer

originally posted by: jacygirl
...sometimes it just has to come out, I guess.

jacy

Are we still talking about the sunglasses thing??

"We" aren't even having the same conversation, hunny.

originally posted by: jacygirl

originally posted by: Gordi The Drummer

originally posted by: jacygirl
...sometimes it just has to come out, I guess.

jacy

Are we still talking about the sunglasses thing??

"We" aren't even having the same conversation, hunny.

LMAO!

Link to all my story posts in Sheds 11, 12 and 13
(Shed 14) Page 6 - The Cipher
(Shed 14) Page 20 - Kaena Returns
(Shed 14) Page 29 - As Good as a Death Sentence
(Shed 14) Page 32 - A Vow by the Lake
(Shed 14) Page 38 - A Bottle of Ink
(Shed 14) Page 41 - Kaena's Mistake
(Shed 14) Page 54 - A Command Performance
(Shed 14) Page 55 - A Cautious Offer
(Shed 14) Page 59 - The Water Drummer

Today's episode: Regret

A window shattered inward, spraying glass everywhere, then another, and another. A heavy, winged shape crashed into one of the performers lining the room, and he shrieked as the creature ripped him open and began to feed. The room echoed with the screams of the dying, roars of the beasts, and shouts of the soldiers present. Gaalen could hear Kaena calling out, “To arms! Protect the Queen! Rally to the Queen!”

Gaalen was up, sword out and swinging. The creatures were gith-gesaarm, winged, feathered reptilian creatures, each with three long claws on their forelimbs, vicious barbs on the tips and joints of their wings, and rows of serrated teeth they used for tearing meat. Gaalen went for the closest one, the first to crash through the glass, still feeding on the corpse of the drummer. It hissed at him as he approached, and lunged forward. Gaalen dodged and sliced it along its neck and forelimb, causing it to howl in pain. It whirled around to swing it's barbed tail. Gaalen leaped out of the way and the creature’s tail swept instead through the chairs, scattering some and destroying others. The room began to clear, a swarm of Royal Guard, nobles, and Bastion personnel surrounding the Queen and ushering her out an interior door on the far side away from the windows and the attacking gith-gesaarm.

The sounds of fighting echoed through the dim hall. A Royal Guardsman had joined him brandishing a long-bladed spear, and they backed the creature up into a more open area behind the chairs, circling around each other, trying to get the upper hand.

“Watch its tail, Guardsman, they are venomous,” Gaalen warned the man, as they continued their dance.

It hissed and snapped, and then lunged at Gaalen again who pivoted and ducked. The creature swiped hard with its tail and Gaalen dropped to the floor, bringing the sword up just in time to deflect the barb. He rolled and tried to scramble out from under it as it slashed with its other forelimb and eviscerated the Guardsman. Gaalen tried to crawl backward to get on his feet as the creature reared to its full height, but his hand slipped in blood pooled on the floor and he fell back. The creature closed in and he saw his death above him.

Suddenly Seeress Meron knelt next to him, eyes fixed intently on the creature. It reared, hissed and dove down toward them, claws and teeth seeking to rip them both apart.

The creature smashed into something just above them, then staggered back, stunned. Gaalen’s instincts took control and he sprang up, swinging his sword with a ferocious yell and opening the creature’s neck to its spine. Dark blood sprayed over both of them as the beast thrashed and died.

The Hall fell quiet, and Gaalen took stock. Empty spaces dotted the walls where shields had fallen. The floor was littered with smashed chairs, feathers, bodies and blood. Gaalen counted seven heaped forms of the gith-gesaarm, and fifteen bodies of the people attending the performance.

Gaalen looked at Seeress Meron, her white robes now splattered in dark red blood. “Thank you, Seeress. You saved my life tonight,” he said, somewhat gruffly.

Seeress Meron hesitated, a strange expression on her face that almost looked like regret. Finally, she nodded curtly, then moved off. Gaalen’s eyes followed her as she headed toward the nearest body, checking for signs of life. The woman was absolutely incomprehensible. Was she regretting saving his life?

edit on 3-6-2017 by PrairieShepherd because: Splattered, not splatted. This is not paintball for crying out loud!

edit on 6/3/17 by JustMike because: "A heavy winged shape" corrected to "A heavy, winged shape" at member's request.

a reply to: PrairieShepherd

So I read the title "Regret" and was afraid to go further.
Really was worried that you were going to kill off Gaalen for a minute (memories of Game of Thrones characters dying all willy-nilly started haunting me).
Glad you didn't 'go there'.

Okay, as usual it was great! Carry on!
jacy

a reply to: jacygirl

My ice-chip is not quite as big as Mr. Martin's. However, I will say that I don't have a problem terminating a character if that is how the story plays out. All people die; it is how, why, and what they do with their lives that is where the real stories are. There is beauty and joy and love and pain and sadness and messiness and oh so many other and different exquisite things in *life*, and it is those things that make us each unique and lovely, and that makes life worth living.

Oh dear.

Pontificating.

ETA: I try to highlight an important fact, event, idea, or subject for each episode in its title. In this instance, regret plays an important role, in multiple dimensions; I am afraid it is likely to be unclear what they all are until quite some time from now, however. Regardless, I will just say this: Gaalen read the Seeress's emotion correctly. Whether he interpreted the cause correctly is a different element.

originally posted by: PrairieShepherd
a reply to: jacygirl

There is beauty and joy and love and pain and sadness and messiness and oh so many other and different exquisite things in *life*...

Such a conundrum, eh?

Yup, you're right of course.
Though I am currently surrounded by pillows and blankets, a barf bucket, box of tissues, and empty gravol wrappers...so I'm feeling your "pain and sadness and messiness", lol.

Got my fingers crossed for "beauty and joy and love" tomorrow though! (especially because I won a free donut on my last Tim Horton's Roll Up the Rim & Win contest...it's a Canadian thing but I'm rather excited!)
jacy

So I hit "reply" and see you wrote more!
You are pontificating today, aren't you?
hehe...sorry, I'm too weak to be serious...

a reply to: jacygirl

More interview fun.

a reply to: jacygirl

You won a donut?!?!?

Care to share?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Well hullo, Professor!

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: jacygirl

More interview fun.

Who do ya think has been giving you the stars?

originally posted by: jacygirl
Who do ya think has been giving you the stars?

Thanks sock puppet!

a reply to: jacygirl
Just for you, my friend. Because sometimes it's better just to feel Comfortably Numb, and I get the feeling you would like to feel that way right now.


Mike. xxx
(I'm happily married. Those are kisses to a great friend.)

a reply to: PrairieShepherd

All people die; it is how, why, and what they do with their lives that is where the real stories are. There is beauty and joy and love and pain and sadness and messiness and oh so many other and different exquisite things in *life*, and it is those things that make us each unique and lovely, and that makes life worth living.

Oh dear.

I hear you. I do. But it still hurts, when it's a character you love.

When I wrote the scene in Finding the Goddess where one of the key characters dies, I literally couldn't see the keys for crying. And even after reading it so many times since then, it still hurts, I still cry -- and I do not even truly understand why. Not all the details. I just can't analyze it that deeply.

What comes before, what makes that character who they are -- it's all vital. But it doesn't mean I can handle it well. However, there is no reason why we have to.

But yeah, I hear you.

a reply to: JustMike

You are NOT going to believe this, but it's the honest truth!!

I was channel surfing, and came across the movie "The Three Amigos"...which was funny because there is a thread here right now...(synchronicity and all)...
I couldn't find anything to put on in the background, so I just put in the dvd of "Roger Waters The Wall".

I hit 'scene selection' and am RIGHT NOW listening to "Comfortably Numb"....
Whoa...

Thank you for being in sync, lol. (oh-my-gawsh, we all throw "xoxo's" around here, it's The Shed for Pete's sake!) Much appreciated.

I am grinning.
jacy

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

The best laugh I've had all day. No question!

Would love to meet you. You have such a talent for drollery. (With a "d", folks. A "d".)

A.M., if I ever find out you really have a sock I shall be soooo pissed! You're one of the last people on this site who needs one.

a reply to: JustMike

Thank you.

The sock puppet was a joke since during Jacy's hiatus someone accused me of being her. Or vice versa.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: JustMike

Thank you.

The sock puppet was a joke since during Jacy's hiatus someone accused me of being her. Or vice versa.

I am both 'honoured' and 'ashamed' at the same time!!
jacy