Categories > Original > Fantasy
Lily and Briar EXCERPT ONLY
0 reviewsAn excerpt from a story that I hope to write in the future. Kind of context dependant. Sorry. Lily wakes up one morning and finds a Non-World where her way of life once was. Can she turn her world ...
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Lily closed the cabin door behind her as tightly as she could whilst trying to be quiet, and, as an afterthought, stuffed her damp cloak into thespace between the door and the floor. She then lit one of Bull's candles (this time the flame burned orange, as fire was supposed to)
and sat on the floor and waited. Waited for Briar. Wished upon the candle flame that the
Non-World would turn itself on its head and dissolve and that she'd be allowed to go home.
Lily was afraid of the Casts, but no more afraid of them than she was angry with the Mantle Witches for sending them after her, and for hurting Briar. Lily did not believe that Bull's candles could frighten the Casts away at all, and thought that Bull had swindled her, but to dwell on this thought did not help her Mood, which was already rather cantankerous, and was shaking its fist at her for dwelling (an act which most Moods frowned upon- dwelling only made them grow bigger and grumpier and made sure that their owners looked very silly) so she recited songs in her head until all that rested on her mind was what the Great Bell of Bow had told the bells of Stepney, and why she was waiting for Briar.
It did not take her long to run out of songs to sing- because she couldn't risk sounding them out, she kept forgetting the words, and became impatient. After she'd given up trying to remember the last line of a song about the wonders of nuts, she picked up a chalky stone, and began to draw pictures as unnoticeably as she could upon the dusty floor. She drew a dog, then a cat, and then, pulling what she believed to be a menacing face, a series of large stars in what she hoped was defiance of the Mantle Witches. The pictures were not some of her best, and this irked Lily, but she was willing to excuse her sloppiness as the stuff of fear and boredom. Just the once.
When her guardian candle had burned down halfway and the shadows began to thicken around her, Lily's bold resolve snuffed itself, and she scrubbed at the stars with her sleeve to remove them, afterwards cursing herself for being simply unable to follow anything through to its end, and wondering if she'd give up and run away and let all of the people in the Non-World who depended upon her role in Briar's plan down. She thought that this was a very likely scenario indeed. She had promised everyone, even herself, that she would not turn her back on the Torches, but she understood as she scrambled to erase her stars that important promises were easy for silly little girls to make, but not as easy to keep once silly little girls were faced with the consequences.
Lily's realisation made her feel cowardly and ill, and determined though she was to remain brave, she knew that she was not, and she could no longer deny herself her tears. She was, after all, just a little girl. Crying was all that little girls were good for. As the candle continued to shed its light, Lily shed her dishonesty and her tears.
and sat on the floor and waited. Waited for Briar. Wished upon the candle flame that the
Non-World would turn itself on its head and dissolve and that she'd be allowed to go home.
Lily was afraid of the Casts, but no more afraid of them than she was angry with the Mantle Witches for sending them after her, and for hurting Briar. Lily did not believe that Bull's candles could frighten the Casts away at all, and thought that Bull had swindled her, but to dwell on this thought did not help her Mood, which was already rather cantankerous, and was shaking its fist at her for dwelling (an act which most Moods frowned upon- dwelling only made them grow bigger and grumpier and made sure that their owners looked very silly) so she recited songs in her head until all that rested on her mind was what the Great Bell of Bow had told the bells of Stepney, and why she was waiting for Briar.
It did not take her long to run out of songs to sing- because she couldn't risk sounding them out, she kept forgetting the words, and became impatient. After she'd given up trying to remember the last line of a song about the wonders of nuts, she picked up a chalky stone, and began to draw pictures as unnoticeably as she could upon the dusty floor. She drew a dog, then a cat, and then, pulling what she believed to be a menacing face, a series of large stars in what she hoped was defiance of the Mantle Witches. The pictures were not some of her best, and this irked Lily, but she was willing to excuse her sloppiness as the stuff of fear and boredom. Just the once.
When her guardian candle had burned down halfway and the shadows began to thicken around her, Lily's bold resolve snuffed itself, and she scrubbed at the stars with her sleeve to remove them, afterwards cursing herself for being simply unable to follow anything through to its end, and wondering if she'd give up and run away and let all of the people in the Non-World who depended upon her role in Briar's plan down. She thought that this was a very likely scenario indeed. She had promised everyone, even herself, that she would not turn her back on the Torches, but she understood as she scrambled to erase her stars that important promises were easy for silly little girls to make, but not as easy to keep once silly little girls were faced with the consequences.
Lily's realisation made her feel cowardly and ill, and determined though she was to remain brave, she knew that she was not, and she could no longer deny herself her tears. She was, after all, just a little girl. Crying was all that little girls were good for. As the candle continued to shed its light, Lily shed her dishonesty and her tears.
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