Oh, here it comes again! The Wednesday Brief brings another flash update to my new story. This week I chose another photo prompt out the many offered by the wonderful Julie Hayes. Please enjoy!
Take Flight
Birch froze. The water bottle fell from his nerveless
fingers. He’d long ago come to the conclusion that his treasures could have
only come from one person, though he had no idea how.
“Sayer?” he whispered.
His advertised as ‘efficient’, which meant ‘tiny’, apartment
couldn’t hide anyone. If Sayer had been there Birch would have smelled him. He’d
always known when his best friend was close; his scent, like sharp ozone filled
the air like a crisp breeze rushing through the room after a storm. It smelled …
cool, somehow. Biting.
The air was thick and smelled like disturbed dust and
cardboard, plus a bit of sweat. There wasn’t the faintest hint of Sayer. Yet
the package was still there, almost glowing against his white sheets. Birch
skirted the bed and rushed into the bathroom.
A shower. He needed a shower. Shucking off his shorts, Birch
started the water then shut the shower door. The burst of heat against his face
made him gasp. He hurriedly turned the hot water down. When he stood up he
banged his elbow against the inside of the shower door. It went numb for an
instant and then ached fiercely.
“Damn it.” The tiny space was almost impossible for him and
he was still on the small, slim side. Birch didn’t envy the next guy to get
this housing assignment. He fantasized about his dream bathroom; the large
soaking tub inside a glass enclosure, the taupe and bronze tiles with
old-fashioned light fixtures. He turned to rinse his hair and grunted when his
already sore elbow grazed the door again.
He’d probably have a permanent bruise on the bone after
living in the miniscule apartment for his senior year. Still it’d been better
than the dorms.
The shower wasn’t nearly long enough to prepare him for
facing that box. Padding into his bedroom naked he tried to avoid looking at it
while getting a pair of shorts to wear. Freshly showered and dressed, sweat
beaded on his forehead as Birch gingerly sat down on the bed and reached for
the box with one shaking hand.
***
Sayer waited motionless though it was hard when Birch said
his name. The shower was an excruciating wait until Birch came out naked. That
took what breath he might have had away.
Finally, Birch untied the ribbon on the box. Inside lay a
gift that would finally begin the end of their courtship. The slim man’s nimble
fingers slowly slid aside the black silk padding. Birch gasped when he pulled
the feather from the box. Tiny, the down was exquisitely soft, a smoky gray,
and the flat oval at the top had colors were more brilliant than any found in
the mortal realm.
Sayer’s back still stung at the base where his wings joined
between his shoulders. That feather was his first; grown during his first year
of life, it proclaimed his status among the Fae as a sylph. Born of an Air
sylph and an Earth gnome—the Earth gnome, leader of all Fae—his wings had been
a source of great pride to his mother just as his solid build and analytical
mind had been to his father.
“Wow,” Birch said on a soft breath. He plucked the feather
out of the box and twirled it in the afternoon light. It threw a rainbow swirl of
color against the wall as if it were made of stained glass. Gingerly Birch
brought it up to his face, lightly stroking it down his cheek. His eyes fell
shut. “Oh.”
Unable to wait any longer, Sayer swayed forward. The
curtains along the window belled outward and he flowed across the room from the
window to where Birch sat on the bed. The massive amounts of modern
architecture prevented him from taking human shape but he stroked his face
along Birch’s slightly raspy cheek.
“I’ll be waiting for you when you come home.”
***
Sayer slumped into the blood red throne carved from a giant
ruby. Magic warded their home dug high into the side of the highest peak in the
area. Transformed with all the Fae races in mind, it layered through the hill
from the airy top to the deep center where a pool of magma welled up from the center
of the earth surrounded by an underwater lake that was so still it reflected the
glittering stalactites so well one could hardly tell it was truly water and not
a solid surface.
“What happened?” Croll asked.
“Nothing.”
“Finally tired of waiting, are you?” He smirked and leaned
against an opal pillar. “You know, any other Prince would have just let his
parents trade out a changeling for their beloved and never let them out of
their sight.”
“The old ways are not the right ways. Our magic is powerful
but the human world is growing wise. Many of them have discovered us. It will
only be so long before we are revealed. That is why I spent so many years
growing alongside my Birch as a mortal.”
“And why you let him go off to college without you?” Croll
raised a sculpted eyebrow.
“I would have gone with him had we not lost my parents. I
had a plan.”
Croll’s grimace was out of place on the smooth, unlined skin
of his face. “I apologize, my liege, for reminding you of their loss.” He bowed
with a flourish.
Sayer rolled his eyes. “Damn it! Don’t call me that and
stand up.”
“It is what you are.” Croll rose smoothly to face him again.
“Besides, it annoys you.”
“Ass.”
His best friend tutted. “Such language! The human realm has
clearly had an uncouth effect on your manners.”
“Oh ancestors preserve us.” Sayer laughed. “You’re going to keep
needling me as long as I sit here, aren’t you?”
“Perhaps.” Croll studied his manicured nails painted purple
to match his iridescent hair. “You know you shouldn’t stew. He’ll be here soon.”
“Okay, fine. Let’s go for a flight.”
Okay, so quite a few answers there ... but still more to come! In the meantime, check out the other great updates by the other Wednesday Briefers.
I'm really enjoying the story. I had to catch up but both last week's stellar opening and now this unfurling of the world have captured my imagination. What a great world you're creating here!
ReplyDeleteI love the way this is unfolding too. You me and men with wings :) So many more details to enrich the tapestry
ReplyDeleteCan't wait until they are reunited!
ReplyDelete