Wednesday Briefs: Take Flight Part 11

 


Welcome, welcome to another week with the Wednesday Briefers! Lots and lots of authors are taking part lately in our flash group, and we want more! All you have to do is write a 500 to 1,000 word piece based on a prompt provided by our lovely Julie Hayes, and she sends a slew to choose from! This week, I picked 'a miracle'. Read on to find out what form that miracle takes!!

Take Flight Part 11

The feeling was familiar. Sayer simply had to touch Birch when he was bouncing everywhere and the nervous energy flowed right out. Sayer had no idea how Birch figured out that he’d been taking it on purpose, but if he didn’t mind ….

“Are you sure?”

The Darkling shrieked again, his hands waving, and more of the tulips around him grew larger and began snapping nightmarish jaws full of fangs. The guards were coordinating in their attack to hold it, but the creature broke free when two were felled by the flowers.

Croll’s eyes widened. “No more time, it’s coming!” A wave of changing flowers flowed in front of the creature, the faceless flower jaws snapping toward them.

“Do it.” Birch said with quiet determination. His pale white wings flared behind him. Sayer needed to touch him. “End this, before anyone else gets hurt.”

Croll brandished his rapier and cleared a wide swath of tulips. He blew them away with a flick of his magic. Sayer focused and sent his wings dormant inside him. “Wrap your arms around me,” he told Birch.

Sayer shivered as Birch’s hands slid under his tunic, seeking his skin. Birch was a natural. Sayer had no idea how Birch understood so much but he was grateful. He could see the Darkling clearly now, the dark taint marring its skin, the black on black eyes shining like empty voids.

Sinking into Birch’s hold, Sayer gathered his magic and sent a tendril toward Birch along the link between their souls. Inside his beloved was a core of bright, shining energy that Sayer had sensed when Birch accepted him. Compared to the shadowed power of the Darkling, this blazed with a heatless fire. The energy leapt through their connection and blazed into Sayer.

Balls of light in Sayer’s hands coalesced. Wire thin filaments curled outward and extended into the air in front of them like a net. Delicate, and fine, the mesh wove together just in time.

Sayer had to stop the Darkling before it reached them. This one had the power to create elaborate illusions so powerful that they were coming alive. The damage he could wreak upon the land was immense.

“I bind thee.” Sayer sent the wall of power straight at the crazed Darkling. Birch’s voice was joined with his. “I bind thee. I bind thee.”

The Darkling hit the wall of power and it bowed outward. Like a sticky spider web, the white tendrils stuck fast and tangled its around its body. Birch’s wings swept around them and he leaned harder into Sayer’s back. The Darkling fought with its magic, trying to create an illusion to sever the bindings around it, but Sayer refused to acknowledge them and Birch was too immersed in their connection to see anything.

His hands shook but Sayer refused to let the Darkling get free. He focused on the power steadily feeding through him from Birch. The white tendrils flared and the Darkling screamed. Its mindless rage sliced through Sayer’s head, distracting him.

The net wavered around the Darkling’s hands.

“No!”

Birch moved his hands from Sayer’s stomach to his arms. He grabbed Sayer’s wrists and then their combined powers surged.

The net around the Darkling became a solid wall of light. The energy swirled, built, and swirled again.

“Be free,” Birch whispered.

***

Sayer fell to one knee. Birch was a dead weight against his back, the tips of his wings dragging in the dirt. Dark blotches from the light marred Sayer’s vision. He blinked repeatedly to clear them.

“How is it possible?” Croll asked in a wondering tone.

The Darkling stood in front of them, normal sized, with his skin a golden bronze and his bright green eyes clear. The stain of the wild magic was gone. The tulips bobbed in the swirling breeze.

“What … happened?” the fae asked. The guards finally caught up and surrounded him. His eyes widened when two came to help Sayer. They lifted Birch from his back.

“My lord?” The earth fae gasped and fell to his knees, bowing his head.

“You were a Darkling,” the guard captain said. The rest of the guards stared at the fae and then at Sayer, their mouths open and their eyes wide. “My lord, you saved him.”

“Not me,” Sayer said. He tried to stand but his legs were quivering and his arms felt like limp noodles. Croll rushed over to him and helped him up. “My beloved saved him.”

The guards joined the Earth fae on his knees. Whispers rose from their ranks. “White wings … new fae … miracle … save us.”

Exhaustion tangled Sayer’s wits. He was too tired to explain that Birch was a human and not a fae they’d never met before. Together, they had performed a miracle, but though Sayer had used Birch’s energy he’d never even thought about purging the taint from the Darkling, just stopping him.

Birch had though. His words rang in Sayer’s mind. “Be free.”

Could Birch free all the fae from the horror of the darkness?

 

TBC

Now check out all the other great Briefers!

MA Church

JC Wallace

A.R. Von

Victoria Adams

Lily Sawyer 

Shelly Schulz

Nephylim  

Rob Colton

Tali Spencer 

Julie Lynn Hayes

Elyzabeth VaLey   

Andrew Gordon