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When January Calls,
Chatterbox: Inkwell
When January Calls,
When January Calls, take two. The old one was getting on a bit. Title subject to change with little or no notice.
I'll re-post the last two installments here.
*******
Poe is waiting for them as they approach Montaview. He stands calmly, his hands on his cane, outside his door. The moonlight lights the snow at his feet and sends up a steady radiance to light his face.
He bows his head as Jack strides up to him with Jenny in tow. "You were right, Jack," he murmurs. "As always. I suppose you want me to come with you?"
"It would certainly speed things along," says Jack cooly.
"I'm old, Jack. I turn ninety in a week. I can't go traipsing about in the middle of the night with a supernatural being and a changeling girl."
"So you'd rather hide in your study with your books and your fire?" asks Jack sharply, a small crease appearing between his eyebrows.
Poe sighs. "An old man needs his comforts."
"And frost elves do not," replies Jack.
"Especially not their prince?"
"Especially not him."
Poe sags, defeated. "Let me get my coat, and the book."
"Hurry."
OoOoO
Poe hobbles out of his house a few moments later, one gnarled hand clutching an enormous leather-bound book. The book has no title and the cover is thick with dust.
Jack blinks at it slowly.
"Let's go," he says. "There's a sleigh waiting for us just out of sight of town."
"Ah, good," mutters Poe.
The trio sets off across the snow, their backs to the small town in the valley.
submitted by TNÖ, age 15, Deep Space
(March 30, 2009 - 6:02 pm)
(March 30, 2009 - 6:02 pm)
Wow, that's good!
(March 31, 2009 - 4:39 pm)
Thank you. It doesn't really have much of an outline, though. I'm not sure where it's going.
(March 31, 2009 - 4:49 pm)
I definetly luvs!
TNO you is awesome writer!
(April 1, 2009 - 8:43 am)
TNO, you are an awesome writer! Will you hurry up and post some more?
(April 2, 2009 - 6:27 am)
Gah! Sorry I haven't updated for so long - Screnzy and RL got in the way. :)
*******
"Where are we going?" asks Jenny timidly after a while.
Jack does not appear to hear her.
"Jack?" asks Poe.
"What?"
"Where are we going?"
Jack turns glance at Poe incredulously. "To Balena, of course. I would have thought that would be obvious."
"Only to you, Jack. I'm just an old, mortal man."
Jack scowls.
"What are we doing in Balena, then?" asks Poe.
Jack sighs. "We're going to pick up a crew, steal a ship, and head north."
"Ah."
"Why?" asks Jenny.
"You'll see," says Jack with a smirk.
(April 13, 2009 - 6:20 pm)
TNO!! What are you doing here?! Is my writing so terrible you can't stand it?! We're partners, remember?! Dude?! *waves hand wildly in front of face*
(April 14, 2009 - 9:27 am)
Keep posting, TNO! And I WILL get that umlaut someday!
(April 14, 2009 - 11:10 am)
Your writing is not bad. I just have a total block for our story. D: I'll try 'n' think of something on the way home and post. Or... Maybe I'll just go there now...
(April 14, 2009 - 4:59 pm)
((Well, why not? Why ever not? and since it's been so very long, here's a link to part 1: http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/15931))
********
They walk for several days, the monotonous landscape broken only by the occasional patches of bare rock and dried grass. Such patches become more frequent as they proceed south, and eventually the snow gives way entirely to a windswept field of boulders. In summer the field is alive with tall grass and small purple flowers, but now, in the deadest month of winter, the flowers are long gone and the grass is dead and flattened to the ground by ceaseless wind.
"How much longer?" asks Jenny.
"Not long," the frost prince replies. "Balena is but two kilometers from here, as the crow flies. Our route is twice that, if memory serves."
"Welcome news, that," mutters Poe. "My joints could do with a hot bath in a warm room."
"And I could do with a storm," says Jack, rubbing an elbow. "A good blizzard. It's unnatural, going so long without one, at this time of year."
"Let's pick up the pace, then," Poe says. "If Jenny agrees?"
The girl nods, and their footsteps quicken.
********
((Well, it's been a rutting long time. Over a month. Maybe some of you will still be around to read it, eh? If it gets up to the main page, leastways...))
(June 9, 2009 - 7:54 pm)
It's still great...
(June 11, 2009 - 3:34 pm)
They arrive in Balena a few hours later, to find the large port city in a state of frenzied excitement. Jack snatched at a boy's arm as he passed them in the street.
"What's going on?" he asked.
The boy doffed his hat quickly. "A ship's just come in. A great big one, flying the royal colours. Everyone's in a hurry to see what it's here for." He ran off.
Poe shifted on the cobbles. "What do you suppose our chance of getting an inn is, right now?"
"Oh, pretty well," muttered Jack, his fingers twitching. A chilly wind began to blow from the north, and storm clouds gathered around the horizon.
"Is that necessary, Jack?" asked Poe quietly.
"You want an inn, don't you? A storm'll bring everyone in quick, you know."
"But what if someone gets lost? Freezes, like Jenny would have if she wasn't a changeling?" Poe retorted angrily.
"Not my problem," Jack replied simply.
(June 11, 2009 - 1:00 pm)
Jack is great.
(June 12, 2009 - 3:03 pm)
The storm hits with little warning. Stinging ice hurls through the air, and, as Jack had predicted, sends the people of Balena scurrying for their beds. The travelers find an inn and are quickly installed in a snug room facing the street.
The great ship, meanwhile, suffers in the storm. Her sails are ripped to shreds by the vicious particles of frozen water, and the waves beating mercilessly against her keel threaten to tip her onto her side. The crew- a motley group of pirates who had snatched the ship from the royal armada a few weeks previously- loses several men to the frigid waves.
After over an hour of struggling against the wind and the waves, the giant ship crashes against the rocks on the outskirts of Balena. The wooden hull shatters on impact, and men fly in every direction. Many succumb to cold and exhaustion and die lying on the beach. One, a scrawny, sandy-haired boy, manages to crawl to a doorstep and is taken in by a kind fisherman, where he falls into a deep sleep before the fire. Before his eyelids close for the night, he mumbles his name: Felix.
(June 13, 2009 - 11:36 pm)
Good job, TNO. Once again, I applaud you amazing writing skills. We miss you at Books In Progress!
(June 20, 2009 - 8:32 am)
Hi! *waves furiously* thanks... :)
(June 20, 2009 - 6:57 pm)