Tuesday, April 21, 2009
post #53
Yes, I know, my post titles aren't that creative. But I have made a decision. And it is a big decision. Because it involves many people being able to read what I do not normally show to the general public. Yes, I have decided: I am going to post the beginning of one of my stories. I haven't got a title for it yet, but it's a beginning, so it doesn't need a title. Yet. So, here it goes.
Prolouge
Ungora grinned, his eyes glinting with the evil light that was always there. The bodies of the two royals-King Theran and Queen Ranga-lay dead at his feet. The power transferred directly to him-he was Theran's brother Vengeance was his. All those years of always being second-best at everything just because he was younger, always the second-best swords, horses, even clothes, were always passed to him once Theran had worn them out or grown too big to fit Theran had been a good man-always honest, kind, and helpful, and he had been helped, for the first few years of his reign, by Ungora. But Ungora never got any credit. He had dug the plots for the poor houses and helped build them while Theran only worked when he felt like it. And Ungora never got any acknowledgement of any kind.
Yes, second-best, that was what Ungora was to people. The only thing that mattered to people was Theran, and Ungora was just a side-show, the intermission act that nobody really paid any attention to.
Now all that was over. Theran was dead, and Ranga too, just to prove the point that goodness and love were blind to everything.
As it turns out, Theran hadn't been all that horrible. True, he got more attention, but that wasn't his fault. He didn't really like any of it, but he was forced into it by his parents. He had thought Ungora had it easy-HE didn't have to study politics and economics and five million other things to do with running a country. Ungora was the lucky one, even though he got the worse end of the deal with tutors who expected a lot and stuff he didn't want but got anyway, when he had a talent for riddles and could have been able to go work with the OID (Official Investigation Department, the people who did the under-cover-spy type thing) if he hadn't been royal and their parents hadn't thought it would have been disgraceful.
Yes, Theran had been a good, honest, kind, hard-working man, but Ungora had never seen any of that, because he was so resentful and because he had never been allowed access to the planning meetings for anything he had done forced labor on. Since Ungora had been so depraved and deprived, he was only able to see the negatives-Theran had been proud, Theran had only been what the people wanted, Theran was only the toy. That's what Ungora thought, anyway. That's what got him here.
Now things were going to change, now he was in power.
Public works projects? Veto them all.
Reinforcement on the Western border? Sure, send the entire army for all he cared.
Educational funding in the towns that needed it? Who cared, really?
Training for the battle students needed improvement, more combat and strength. The Outbacks that reported to the OID were okay. The cooking students and masters could stay, too. Ungora was hopeless at cooking. But anything and everything else had to go. Except for the secret police, the OID, and anyone working in foreign affairs. If Ungora didn't name your job just now, you could go ahead and clear out your room. No more laborers. No more singers. No more fiber and textile pope, no more artists, no more glassblowers, unless they were making something that was worthwhile, like cups or bowls. The miners he needed. But no more art. At all. Zip. Nada. Zero. Bye bye.
Th elves, pixies, fairies, nymphs, centaurs, sprites, sorcerers, witches, wizards, anything that couldn't be classified as 100% human and 100% non-magical would be banned from the cities and forced to live in hiding. Specific types of human, like hunters and scholars, could stay, but witches and wizards and sorcerers and sorceresses had to leave, unless they were working at the castle. Ungora had never liked hybrids and non-humans anyway. Mages had to leave the towns, but not the castle. All of them made him uncomfortable. They were weird. Really weird.
"Ungora, sir?" It was Cancala, his bodyguard He looked nervous, and his dark eyes were wary.
"What is it, Cancala?"
"It is the child, sir."
"What child?"
"We have found the child-the princess. Apparently she was born mere hours before we arrived. And sir-they're running he tests, seeing what kind she is. You can never tell, you know." Well, you couldn't. In Bayast, a human and elf could mate to get a mermaid, or a scholar, or any breed elf, a cross-species hybrid, an elf hybrid, a human hybrid, or anything, really. Humans could come out wit ogres, and trolls could have elves.
"Yes, well, as soon as she's identified, put her somewhere where she'll be vulnerable. I want no witnesses except the new regime."
"Yes, sir."
Just then, a medic bounded in. He was hassled-looking, scared almost. THAT couldn't be good. Ungora was sure that this particular medic was most definitely loyal to him, so if he looked nervous, no news was good news.
"Well?" Ungora demanded.
"We ran the tests," the medic started.
"And?" Ungora insisted, panicking slightly.
"And she's...well, she's...got a twin, for one thing. They're fraternal, so they don't look alike. They're both girls," the medic stuttered.
"What are they?"
"One's a Warrior Elf and Hunter. But the other-"
"WHAT?" Ungora demanded, growing impatient.
"She's...everything on two legs."
"What?" This time, there was surprise and confusion dominant in Ungora's voice, not alarm, though alarm was certainly there.
"The race tests are specific; we run tests for every kind of breed and see what the child reacts to. And this child...she's reacted to all of the humanoid ones. So she's an elf, and a scholar, and a witch, and a nymph, and a sorceress, and a sprite, and..."
"Okay, I think I get it."
"And she's immensely strong, which indicates that maybe she's part ogre and troll, too, sir."
"Don't you have tests for that?"
"Well, normally you don't need tests. Normally they don't look exactly like the average human baby, so it's pretty obvious that they don't need the tests."
"Well, this is...unprecedented." Unprecedented didn't cover it, in Ungora's opinion, but it was the best the could do without freaking the other two out. But this was bad. Very bad.
Well, that's all I have time for. Will post again with more of the story.
Prolouge
Ungora grinned, his eyes glinting with the evil light that was always there. The bodies of the two royals-King Theran and Queen Ranga-lay dead at his feet. The power transferred directly to him-he was Theran's brother Vengeance was his. All those years of always being second-best at everything just because he was younger, always the second-best swords, horses, even clothes, were always passed to him once Theran had worn them out or grown too big to fit Theran had been a good man-always honest, kind, and helpful, and he had been helped, for the first few years of his reign, by Ungora. But Ungora never got any credit. He had dug the plots for the poor houses and helped build them while Theran only worked when he felt like it. And Ungora never got any acknowledgement of any kind.
Yes, second-best, that was what Ungora was to people. The only thing that mattered to people was Theran, and Ungora was just a side-show, the intermission act that nobody really paid any attention to.
Now all that was over. Theran was dead, and Ranga too, just to prove the point that goodness and love were blind to everything.
As it turns out, Theran hadn't been all that horrible. True, he got more attention, but that wasn't his fault. He didn't really like any of it, but he was forced into it by his parents. He had thought Ungora had it easy-HE didn't have to study politics and economics and five million other things to do with running a country. Ungora was the lucky one, even though he got the worse end of the deal with tutors who expected a lot and stuff he didn't want but got anyway, when he had a talent for riddles and could have been able to go work with the OID (Official Investigation Department, the people who did the under-cover-spy type thing) if he hadn't been royal and their parents hadn't thought it would have been disgraceful.
Yes, Theran had been a good, honest, kind, hard-working man, but Ungora had never seen any of that, because he was so resentful and because he had never been allowed access to the planning meetings for anything he had done forced labor on. Since Ungora had been so depraved and deprived, he was only able to see the negatives-Theran had been proud, Theran had only been what the people wanted, Theran was only the toy. That's what Ungora thought, anyway. That's what got him here.
Now things were going to change, now he was in power.
Public works projects? Veto them all.
Reinforcement on the Western border? Sure, send the entire army for all he cared.
Educational funding in the towns that needed it? Who cared, really?
Training for the battle students needed improvement, more combat and strength. The Outbacks that reported to the OID were okay. The cooking students and masters could stay, too. Ungora was hopeless at cooking. But anything and everything else had to go. Except for the secret police, the OID, and anyone working in foreign affairs. If Ungora didn't name your job just now, you could go ahead and clear out your room. No more laborers. No more singers. No more fiber and textile pope, no more artists, no more glassblowers, unless they were making something that was worthwhile, like cups or bowls. The miners he needed. But no more art. At all. Zip. Nada. Zero. Bye bye.
Th elves, pixies, fairies, nymphs, centaurs, sprites, sorcerers, witches, wizards, anything that couldn't be classified as 100% human and 100% non-magical would be banned from the cities and forced to live in hiding. Specific types of human, like hunters and scholars, could stay, but witches and wizards and sorcerers and sorceresses had to leave, unless they were working at the castle. Ungora had never liked hybrids and non-humans anyway. Mages had to leave the towns, but not the castle. All of them made him uncomfortable. They were weird. Really weird.
"Ungora, sir?" It was Cancala, his bodyguard He looked nervous, and his dark eyes were wary.
"What is it, Cancala?"
"It is the child, sir."
"What child?"
"We have found the child-the princess. Apparently she was born mere hours before we arrived. And sir-they're running he tests, seeing what kind she is. You can never tell, you know." Well, you couldn't. In Bayast, a human and elf could mate to get a mermaid, or a scholar, or any breed elf, a cross-species hybrid, an elf hybrid, a human hybrid, or anything, really. Humans could come out wit ogres, and trolls could have elves.
"Yes, well, as soon as she's identified, put her somewhere where she'll be vulnerable. I want no witnesses except the new regime."
"Yes, sir."
Just then, a medic bounded in. He was hassled-looking, scared almost. THAT couldn't be good. Ungora was sure that this particular medic was most definitely loyal to him, so if he looked nervous, no news was good news.
"Well?" Ungora demanded.
"We ran the tests," the medic started.
"And?" Ungora insisted, panicking slightly.
"And she's...well, she's...got a twin, for one thing. They're fraternal, so they don't look alike. They're both girls," the medic stuttered.
"What are they?"
"One's a Warrior Elf and Hunter. But the other-"
"WHAT?" Ungora demanded, growing impatient.
"She's...everything on two legs."
"What?" This time, there was surprise and confusion dominant in Ungora's voice, not alarm, though alarm was certainly there.
"The race tests are specific; we run tests for every kind of breed and see what the child reacts to. And this child...she's reacted to all of the humanoid ones. So she's an elf, and a scholar, and a witch, and a nymph, and a sorceress, and a sprite, and..."
"Okay, I think I get it."
"And she's immensely strong, which indicates that maybe she's part ogre and troll, too, sir."
"Don't you have tests for that?"
"Well, normally you don't need tests. Normally they don't look exactly like the average human baby, so it's pretty obvious that they don't need the tests."
"Well, this is...unprecedented." Unprecedented didn't cover it, in Ungora's opinion, but it was the best the could do without freaking the other two out. But this was bad. Very bad.
Well, that's all I have time for. Will post again with more of the story.
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