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Hi folks!
So I wrote another Stuck Story. Keep in mind that I don't explain a whole lot about the world while I'm writing as these stories are meant to be read after the book-- a book that has not been written yet. So, if you want to know what's happening before you start reading, I suggest you check out this article I wrote on Naughties and this one about orblettes. That should cover pretty much anything in this story. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Another thing to keep in mind: This story is set several centuries before my main storyline. It was written to explore ideas and flush out backgrounds in my world, the Stuck. In other words, there wasn't a war ravaging the continent.
I hope you enjoy it!
Should I do it?
I fingered the ring that proved my power here. I couldn't do it, my people would kill me for disgracing the throne, but-
She coughed again. I stopped my endless pondering and just held her hand. My beautiful daughter’s hand. She laid in bed, bloodied and bruised from her crash yesterday. Apparently she’d lost control of the current and had fallen through the air where she hit her head on the rocks far below our civilization in the Dove’s Den. When we found her, she was unconscious and bleeding far too much. It was horrible seeing her there, twisted and broken, her graceful wings torn and bloodied and her eyes closed for what I feared would be the last time.
Now she was home, but she wasn’t healing. Not fast enough at least. We’d done the best we could to bandage her wounds but there was only so much we could do. I don’t think she’s ever going to fly again. She’ll be heartbroken when she hears. If she hears. I have to go through with this. I closed my fist around the ring and stood up, just as Perciville flew in and perched on the edge of the platform.
“Good day, your majesty, how is the little one doing?”
I stared at my advisor, hoping he would read the exhaustion in my eyes and the fear and worry and just leave me alone. He didn’t.
“Your majesty, your highness, sir I would like to remind you that you have a meeting to attend in less than ten minutes. The elders of the village would like to discuss-”
“Percival, please tell the elders that I have other matters to attend to at the moment.”
“Your highness, just because your daughter is injured, you cannot abandon your duties.”
“I can and I will, now leave me be I have to-”
“You have to what? I hope you aren’t planning on tampering with the ring again your majesty.” The term had lost all feigned respect and sounded like a viper bite. “You know what the consequences are for that.”
Drat, I’d forgotten about the link. I must not have been blocking well enough. The link is both a blessing and a curse at times. Who knows how many Naughties listened in on my rant just now.
“Fine. I’ll give it a few more days. Now Percival, if you don’t mind, I have a meeting to attend.” I jumped off the platform and soared in the direction of the elders. I made sure that Percival wasn’t looking before I dived down, down, down into my quarters, a section at the very bottom of Dove’s Den. It was a small area, but I was one of the few Naughties who didn’t mind tight spaces. Perhaps that’s because I’m a Between. I brought the ring over to my twisted table that was bound to fall over any day now and started sifting through my spellbooks. I had inherited them from the last Between, a man everyone said was wonderful and kind and the best at his job anyone had ever seen. They were big shoes to fill.
“Here we are…” I opened up to a page titled Imbuing: protection and healing. I scanned through and gathered that I’d need to go to a place where the concentration of magic was especially high to look for a full-grown orblette. I hated what I read next, but I knew what I had to do. I knew exactly where to go.
The clearing was deserted. No one was gathered around the pool of water that seemed to glow slightly with a happy light. I would have to wait. As hours passed and the sun started to set, I began to lose hope. I’d thought orblettes preferred to go out during the day, but perhaps I was wrong.
Just as I was about to head home, something moved in the trees to my left. A tall orblette emerged a few moments later, blinking at the brilliant sunset that glinted off the pond’s blue water. He stooped to drink and I saw my chance. I crept out, knife in hand, knowing what I was about to do was an evil, treacherous thing. I raised the knife. I stepped forward. I was breathing heavily, and I knew I couldn’t do it. I backed away and the orblette turned and blinked slowly at me. I knew he saw the knife and understood what I had been planning. I think he understood why I was here too, in that weird way an orblette has of knowing you better than you know yourself.
He held out his long-fingered hand to me and I took it. His head glowed a bit and pictures flashed through. I knew he was viewing me, deciding if I was a good person based on everything I’ve ever done in my entire life. When he let go of my hand, he nodded and gestured toward the bottle I’d been holding to catch his blood in. I handed it over and he sliced his own skin with one of his sharp, unforgiving claws that could easily tear me to pieces. Just a little cut. The fluorescent blue blood flowed slowly down into the bottle until it was full. Then, corking it, he passed a finger over the wound and it sealed before he dashed away. I stood there for a moment, realizing that this orblette had not only saved my daughter’s life, but had also saved me from doing something that I would forever regret. They are truly amazing creatures.
Smuggling the glowing bottle past Percival and the rest of my subjects had been a trial, but now I was safe in my quarters where no one would bother me. The ring was submerged in the liquid. According to the spellbook, I had to wait three hours for the ring to completely absorb the magic. I was two and a half hours in now and I hadn’t moved from the room since the process started. If anything happened to it, anything at all, my daughter could die and I would be shunned by my people for losing the ring. I might be shunned anyways, we’d have to see. Percival had tried several times to get me out of my quarters, but he was more claustrophobic than anyone I knew, he wasn’t going to come down here.
There. I took out the ring and marveled at it. I didn’t try it on because I wanted as much of the magic as possible to go to my daughter, but even touching it I could feel new life filling me. It felt like crisp autumn air mixed with the warm sun and the air whooshing through my feathers on a summer’s day. I took the ring and the bottle of blood, which was now clear instead of blue, and flew out of the den. I poured out the bottle, having no further use for the liquid, and took the ring to my daughter. She looked paler than ever, her eyes sunken and her wings shaking ever so slightly. I slipped the ring over her little finger and clasped my fist over her tiny hand, praying that it would work. It had to work.
At first, nothing happened. She remained bloodied and bruised and her lovely mind remained curtained by pain and sleep. Then, slowly, the curtain drew back. The tiny scratches on her arms and legs began to seal up, slowly but surely, and some color returned to her cheeks. After a few minutes, her eyes opened and she blinked at her surroundings.
“Dad?”
I hugged her and my eyes watered. “I’m here now, it’s going to be okay.”
She yawned and though she was clearly still in a lot of pain, at least she was awake. “Did I fall?”
“Yes, but it’s okay now, you’re okay now. You’re going to be okay.” She was going to be okay. It felt so good to say I wanted to shout it to the world and tell everyone that my daughter was alright, she was going to be fine! I didn’t for my daughter’s sake, but I wanted to so badly. “Sleep, for now, you’ll feel better in the morning.” I kissed her head and she smiled before closing her eyes and hiding her thoughts.
The platform shook as Percival landed, a smug expression on his face as several of the elders followed. I’d been so focused on healing my daughter, I hadn’t noticed them arrive.
“Remember what I said about consequences?” Percival sneered.
The crowd of Naughties was silent before me, apart from the shifting of restless wings.
Percival cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, “Good day Naughties of the Naughtie Kingdom. We are gathered here today to decide the sentence for his Majesty Between Amos. He has betrayed the kingdom today by tampering with the ring that shows his power.” This was followed by a flurry of whispers and gasps. Percival waited until everyone was finished before continuing,
“The traditional punishment for tampering with the Between's Ring is fifteen years of banishment to the Deeps.” Again, whispers seized the crowd and shook the air with the mutual fear of the Deeps. No one wanted to suffer such a fate.
Someone in the crowd cried out, “But why did he tamper with the ring?”
Percival started to answer, but I stepped forward and said, “I imbued the ring with the blood of an orblette, freely given, in order to heal my daughter. What fault do you see in this?”
The crowd seemed divided now, some saying that I had a good reason and should not be punished, or that the punishment should be reduced, while others shouted that I should be given the full sentence or more for even using the blood of an orblette.
Percival cleared his throat loudly and attention returned to him. “We now must decide if this man’s crimes shall go unpunished or not.” He grinned a wicked smile noticed only by me. “What say you?”
The crowd, more divided than ever, roared indistinguishable words at each other, the moral implications clearly too much for them to sort out.
I stood up and tried to calm the crowd. When they didn’t listen, I went straight to the link and shouted, “Quiet!” in all of our minds.
That got them to settle down. “Allow me to speak for a moment.” I looked over the crowd to make sure I had everyone’s complete attention. “What would you all do if your closest friend or family member were to fall ill and be on the verge of death? Would you find the cure for them or would you allow them to die? What if to make the cure, you had to sacrifice something that you held very dear? Would you save the object or the person?”
Those who had wanted to sentence me to the Deeps grumbled and began to give in.
“I knew the cost to myself and my status when I sought aid for my daughter. I knew what I had to do to save my loved one. All I ask now is that you judge me fairly, remembering what you yourselves would do if you were in my situation.”
The crowd was silent now, no doubt wondering what they would have done. A man stepped forward, one of the ones who had been shouting to condemn me, and said, “I say we let him go free. I would have done exactly what he did.” He was soon joined by the rest of the crowd, everyone joining a chant that grew slowly, starting in our minds and blossoming out into the blessed sky.
“Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!”
Percival sputtered in disbelief before catching himself and plastering a fake smile across his face. “I knew they would let you go free your majesty, they clearly chose correctly, now, let’s get you inside and-” I stopped him.
“I’m not going to fire you, Percival. I believe in second chances. And third chances. And in your case, fourth chances. However, I am going to ignore you for a few days so I can make sure my daughter is alright. Goodbye.” And with that, I flew back to my daughter, smiling because everything was going to be okay.
So I wrote another Stuck Story. Keep in mind that I don't explain a whole lot about the world while I'm writing as these stories are meant to be read after the book-- a book that has not been written yet. So, if you want to know what's happening before you start reading, I suggest you check out this article I wrote on Naughties and this one about orblettes. That should cover pretty much anything in this story. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Another thing to keep in mind: This story is set several centuries before my main storyline. It was written to explore ideas and flush out backgrounds in my world, the Stuck. In other words, there wasn't a war ravaging the continent.
I hope you enjoy it!
Should I do it?
I fingered the ring that proved my power here. I couldn't do it, my people would kill me for disgracing the throne, but-
She coughed again. I stopped my endless pondering and just held her hand. My beautiful daughter’s hand. She laid in bed, bloodied and bruised from her crash yesterday. Apparently she’d lost control of the current and had fallen through the air where she hit her head on the rocks far below our civilization in the Dove’s Den. When we found her, she was unconscious and bleeding far too much. It was horrible seeing her there, twisted and broken, her graceful wings torn and bloodied and her eyes closed for what I feared would be the last time.
Now she was home, but she wasn’t healing. Not fast enough at least. We’d done the best we could to bandage her wounds but there was only so much we could do. I don’t think she’s ever going to fly again. She’ll be heartbroken when she hears. If she hears. I have to go through with this. I closed my fist around the ring and stood up, just as Perciville flew in and perched on the edge of the platform.
“Good day, your majesty, how is the little one doing?”
I stared at my advisor, hoping he would read the exhaustion in my eyes and the fear and worry and just leave me alone. He didn’t.
“Your majesty, your highness, sir I would like to remind you that you have a meeting to attend in less than ten minutes. The elders of the village would like to discuss-”
“Percival, please tell the elders that I have other matters to attend to at the moment.”
“Your highness, just because your daughter is injured, you cannot abandon your duties.”
“I can and I will, now leave me be I have to-”
“You have to what? I hope you aren’t planning on tampering with the ring again your majesty.” The term had lost all feigned respect and sounded like a viper bite. “You know what the consequences are for that.”
Drat, I’d forgotten about the link. I must not have been blocking well enough. The link is both a blessing and a curse at times. Who knows how many Naughties listened in on my rant just now.
“Fine. I’ll give it a few more days. Now Percival, if you don’t mind, I have a meeting to attend.” I jumped off the platform and soared in the direction of the elders. I made sure that Percival wasn’t looking before I dived down, down, down into my quarters, a section at the very bottom of Dove’s Den. It was a small area, but I was one of the few Naughties who didn’t mind tight spaces. Perhaps that’s because I’m a Between. I brought the ring over to my twisted table that was bound to fall over any day now and started sifting through my spellbooks. I had inherited them from the last Between, a man everyone said was wonderful and kind and the best at his job anyone had ever seen. They were big shoes to fill.
“Here we are…” I opened up to a page titled Imbuing: protection and healing. I scanned through and gathered that I’d need to go to a place where the concentration of magic was especially high to look for a full-grown orblette. I hated what I read next, but I knew what I had to do. I knew exactly where to go.
The clearing was deserted. No one was gathered around the pool of water that seemed to glow slightly with a happy light. I would have to wait. As hours passed and the sun started to set, I began to lose hope. I’d thought orblettes preferred to go out during the day, but perhaps I was wrong.
Just as I was about to head home, something moved in the trees to my left. A tall orblette emerged a few moments later, blinking at the brilliant sunset that glinted off the pond’s blue water. He stooped to drink and I saw my chance. I crept out, knife in hand, knowing what I was about to do was an evil, treacherous thing. I raised the knife. I stepped forward. I was breathing heavily, and I knew I couldn’t do it. I backed away and the orblette turned and blinked slowly at me. I knew he saw the knife and understood what I had been planning. I think he understood why I was here too, in that weird way an orblette has of knowing you better than you know yourself.
He held out his long-fingered hand to me and I took it. His head glowed a bit and pictures flashed through. I knew he was viewing me, deciding if I was a good person based on everything I’ve ever done in my entire life. When he let go of my hand, he nodded and gestured toward the bottle I’d been holding to catch his blood in. I handed it over and he sliced his own skin with one of his sharp, unforgiving claws that could easily tear me to pieces. Just a little cut. The fluorescent blue blood flowed slowly down into the bottle until it was full. Then, corking it, he passed a finger over the wound and it sealed before he dashed away. I stood there for a moment, realizing that this orblette had not only saved my daughter’s life, but had also saved me from doing something that I would forever regret. They are truly amazing creatures.
Smuggling the glowing bottle past Percival and the rest of my subjects had been a trial, but now I was safe in my quarters where no one would bother me. The ring was submerged in the liquid. According to the spellbook, I had to wait three hours for the ring to completely absorb the magic. I was two and a half hours in now and I hadn’t moved from the room since the process started. If anything happened to it, anything at all, my daughter could die and I would be shunned by my people for losing the ring. I might be shunned anyways, we’d have to see. Percival had tried several times to get me out of my quarters, but he was more claustrophobic than anyone I knew, he wasn’t going to come down here.
There. I took out the ring and marveled at it. I didn’t try it on because I wanted as much of the magic as possible to go to my daughter, but even touching it I could feel new life filling me. It felt like crisp autumn air mixed with the warm sun and the air whooshing through my feathers on a summer’s day. I took the ring and the bottle of blood, which was now clear instead of blue, and flew out of the den. I poured out the bottle, having no further use for the liquid, and took the ring to my daughter. She looked paler than ever, her eyes sunken and her wings shaking ever so slightly. I slipped the ring over her little finger and clasped my fist over her tiny hand, praying that it would work. It had to work.
At first, nothing happened. She remained bloodied and bruised and her lovely mind remained curtained by pain and sleep. Then, slowly, the curtain drew back. The tiny scratches on her arms and legs began to seal up, slowly but surely, and some color returned to her cheeks. After a few minutes, her eyes opened and she blinked at her surroundings.
“Dad?”
I hugged her and my eyes watered. “I’m here now, it’s going to be okay.”
She yawned and though she was clearly still in a lot of pain, at least she was awake. “Did I fall?”
“Yes, but it’s okay now, you’re okay now. You’re going to be okay.” She was going to be okay. It felt so good to say I wanted to shout it to the world and tell everyone that my daughter was alright, she was going to be fine! I didn’t for my daughter’s sake, but I wanted to so badly. “Sleep, for now, you’ll feel better in the morning.” I kissed her head and she smiled before closing her eyes and hiding her thoughts.
The platform shook as Percival landed, a smug expression on his face as several of the elders followed. I’d been so focused on healing my daughter, I hadn’t noticed them arrive.
“Remember what I said about consequences?” Percival sneered.
The crowd of Naughties was silent before me, apart from the shifting of restless wings.
Percival cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, “Good day Naughties of the Naughtie Kingdom. We are gathered here today to decide the sentence for his Majesty Between Amos. He has betrayed the kingdom today by tampering with the ring that shows his power.” This was followed by a flurry of whispers and gasps. Percival waited until everyone was finished before continuing,
“The traditional punishment for tampering with the Between's Ring is fifteen years of banishment to the Deeps.” Again, whispers seized the crowd and shook the air with the mutual fear of the Deeps. No one wanted to suffer such a fate.
Someone in the crowd cried out, “But why did he tamper with the ring?”
Percival started to answer, but I stepped forward and said, “I imbued the ring with the blood of an orblette, freely given, in order to heal my daughter. What fault do you see in this?”
The crowd seemed divided now, some saying that I had a good reason and should not be punished, or that the punishment should be reduced, while others shouted that I should be given the full sentence or more for even using the blood of an orblette.
Percival cleared his throat loudly and attention returned to him. “We now must decide if this man’s crimes shall go unpunished or not.” He grinned a wicked smile noticed only by me. “What say you?”
The crowd, more divided than ever, roared indistinguishable words at each other, the moral implications clearly too much for them to sort out.
I stood up and tried to calm the crowd. When they didn’t listen, I went straight to the link and shouted, “Quiet!” in all of our minds.
That got them to settle down. “Allow me to speak for a moment.” I looked over the crowd to make sure I had everyone’s complete attention. “What would you all do if your closest friend or family member were to fall ill and be on the verge of death? Would you find the cure for them or would you allow them to die? What if to make the cure, you had to sacrifice something that you held very dear? Would you save the object or the person?”
Those who had wanted to sentence me to the Deeps grumbled and began to give in.
“I knew the cost to myself and my status when I sought aid for my daughter. I knew what I had to do to save my loved one. All I ask now is that you judge me fairly, remembering what you yourselves would do if you were in my situation.”
The crowd was silent now, no doubt wondering what they would have done. A man stepped forward, one of the ones who had been shouting to condemn me, and said, “I say we let him go free. I would have done exactly what he did.” He was soon joined by the rest of the crowd, everyone joining a chant that grew slowly, starting in our minds and blossoming out into the blessed sky.
“Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!”
Percival sputtered in disbelief before catching himself and plastering a fake smile across his face. “I knew they would let you go free your majesty, they clearly chose correctly, now, let’s get you inside and-” I stopped him.
“I’m not going to fire you, Percival. I believe in second chances. And third chances. And in your case, fourth chances. However, I am going to ignore you for a few days so I can make sure my daughter is alright. Goodbye.” And with that, I flew back to my daughter, smiling because everything was going to be okay.
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