2026 C : Cold

 

Although the weather has changed and spring has gathered a foothold, freezing temperatures, storms of a generation, and inches of snow on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, provided the inspiration of cold as the "C" in the challenge. From Windmaster, an excerpt of bad weather captured in one of my worlds of fantasy. 

Ellspeth’s world reduced to the shifting gray shadow that was Tairneach. Her eyes hurt from straining to see through the curtain of snow and rain that almost obscured the stallion. She rode with one foot scraping the rocks on the side of the narrow trail while her other hung over a thousand-foot precipice. One misstep and both rider and mount would plummet to the valley floor. The driving rain stung every spot of un protected skin like a thousand cuts. Icy rivulets ran off her wide-brimmed hat. They sneaked beneath the collar of the lake seal cloak and ran down her neck. Waterlogged, her clothes sucked every ounce of heat from her body. Only where her legs lay against Cadno’s coat did she have vague feeling. Hours of riding in the howling maelstrom of cold and wet had dulled her mind to anything beyond the need to stay in the saddle.

Dal’s bellow penetrated Ellspeth’s consciousness. “This storm isn’t going to stop. Taer can’t take much more of this, and neither can we. There’s shelter not far up the trail.”

Chattering teeth made a reply impossible, so she just nodded. Even that slight movement threw her numbed body off balance. Fighting not to fall - into the abyss, Ellspeth dropped the reins onto Cadno’s neck and wrapped nerveless fingers around the saddle horn to let the colt pick his way across a stream of water rushing over the rock-strewn path. The crunch of ice beneath his hooves reminded Ellspeth of the snap of the Sea Falcon’s canvas in a stiff wind. If I can stand on the Falcon’s deck, I can stay in this saddle. She clenched the leather horn tighter with a renewed sense of determination.

~till next time Helen

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2026 B: Books and Bans

I have always been any avid reader and came from a family of book lovers. For many years it was assumed I would be a librarian. And for a period of time I studied in the field.  After children's books I devoured my mother's collection of Cherry Ames and Sue Barton books, then went through the normal childhood books of the time, including Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Next came my father’s genre, westerns. When our small rural county library expanded into a new modern building, additional worlds became available. In my mind I solved crimes with Leslie Charteris in The Saint books and had adventures with the tales of Alistair Maclean. (Sea Witch is still on the, bookshelf in my bedroom.) Eventually my interest shifted to worlds beyond our own with Anne McCaffrey, E.E. Doc smith and Katharine Kurtz. Eventually I created my own worlds of magic and dragons, romance and adventure. 

As for the bans? At my last signing event, the 3-d printer created dragons watching over the stacks of books were the attention grabbers. Then things became a little weird. You should understand that I don't write explicit material. Nothing that even remotely classified as "hot." However, several people acted like they were underage teens in an adult bookstore. They looked around to make sure no one was watching before they picked the book up. Then checked again before turning it over to read the blurb. This happened several times over the course of the day.

It has never happened before and I am not sure why it did that day But it made me feel like my books were about to be banned. Maybe because the stories dealt with magic and mages? There are some places where the Harry Potter books are banned from libraries and bookstores. Or that it dealt with dragons? Whatever the reason, it was unusual enough to make the day notable.

~till next time Helen

Of you want to see my previous postings for the challenge, go here. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the participants.

2025 A: Apprentice

An apprentice is a young person who works for someone in order to learn their skill. In the Dragshi Chronicles, apprentices at the Ceoltier Guild learn from the guilds masters and scholars to be teachers, musicians, and arbiters of justice. An apprentice can be identified by the color of his cloak lining which is a light green the color of new hay as opposed to the darker emerald of a master.

The master - apprentice relationship is not always congenial. In the Windmaster Novels, the wizard Bashim treated his apprentice, Nobyn, as a slave. He also kept his knowledge to himself sharing very little.

The following excerpt from Windmaster Legacy shows a different relationship. To set the stage, Ellspeth, not much more than a fledgling mage herself, is Bashim’s prisoner. Yet she sees Nobyn's yearning and starts to teach him how to use his magic. Nobyn had just brought Ellspeth's meal to her cell. A meal tainted with a sleep potion. And she asks him remove the magic spell. 

Nobyn’s low question interrupted Ellspeth’s reflection. Another sliver of hope joined the others to produce more optimism than Ellspeth had thought possible a few hours before. An evenness she didn’t feel colored her tone. “I’ll give you the incantation and show you how to use it by taking the sleep injunction off the water. Then you try clearing the food.”

Held breath and a sparkle in Nobyn’s eyes told Ellspeth she was on the right track.

“Your powers are strong enough to know if the spell worked,” she added.

On Nobyn’s next visit, she did not even have to ask him to remove Bashim’s spells from the food and drink. Nobyn sat the jug of water and plate with meat and bread on the floor in front of the bench. His eyes scrunched in concentration, he mouthed the words he had learned such a short time ago. Sheer joy filled the youth’s face at his success. “I never knew I could feel this way,” he muttered. “Is this how it feels to be a mage?”

Ellspeth answered the only way she could, with a knowing smile.

~till next time Helen 

If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the participants.

 

Buy the Windmaster Novels at Amazon and These Sites