NaNoWrimo 2013: Anatomy of a Ghost

My characters are whispering at my ears. My fingers are starting to itch to pick up a pen and start writing. ( I am going to try writing long hand first and then typing over this year. We'll see how long that lasts.)  So close now. November and its mad addictive rush of words. I can count the hours now, the minutes.

A faux cover for this year's probable nano novel....

Storming the Castle Wall

It has been awhile since I've come around here... Thought today was a good day to work in a little writing prompt work.  A little entry that came from a The Write Practice prompt on storming castle walls.


Daisy and Doodle sat deep in contemplation like a pair of matching twins- knees to their chins, heads cocked to the right, fingers drumming on said knees, wings draped gracefully at precisely 100 degrees.  That is, as much as a diminutive dragon and her fairy rider could look like matching twins.

In front of them, stretched a long wild flower strewn grass field in various stages of mid-October decay-- that is shades of gold, russet, burnt umber, all shimmied over with a gray cast and a coating of dripping rain. On the other side of that lay a muddy, murky moat, a thick boxwood hedge, and the real object of their contemplation, the outer sandstone wall of the castle.  As walls go, it wasn't particularly fearsome in and of itself.  Four stories of interlocking stone rising out of the plain and topped by a few guards.

The "how" of getting through, around, across, over... that wall and into the castle proper had been the key thought occupying their minds for the better part of two weeks. Ever since they had foolishly accepted the assignment  from Headmaster Jayne to "Drop the Winter Ice Crystal into the Wishing Well at the center of The Castle's front courtyard."  It had seemed like such a simple task to complete.

That was before they had discovered the hazards of the wall from Hades. So far, among other things, they had encountered poison mist (Doodle sitll had burns on her front legs from that stuff), fiery arrows that came in heavier and heavier waves until they had been forced to retreat or light on fire, and a magic bounce back force field that appeared to stretch around the entire castle from about two feet above the archers heads until someplace higher than either Daisy or Doodle could fly.  They were currently recovering.from having buckets of anti-fly bespelled water thrown over their heads when they tried to sneak into the castle through the gate to the kitchen gardens.  Hopefully it would wear off soon.

"We have another two months of this, don't we?" Daisy's gloom depressed even the bell notes of her voice tinkle.

"Harumph," replied Doodle, equally depressed.

In tandem, two sets of shoulders slumped, dropping their wings to an undignified and improper 130 degrees.