Friday, January 05, 2007

Entry #11

Spellbound
by Nothingman


The Shaman stared at the wall intently. Words dripped like venom from his mouth to keep the spells flowing.

Inside the building the warrior hit the wall harder to break free from the words that echoed inside his brain and drove him madder by the second.

"Father, he is strong." His daughter standing by his side said to him.

"I know, but I can hold him inside. He will not live to see the light of this day" he said.

In the darkness, the warrior could do nothing to ease the pain but hit the wall harder and harder. His shoulders took the strain and he didn't know what would break first, him or the wall.

"Father we can still leave, let him be. We can come back tomorrow"

"No!" The Shaman shouted, "I must kill this demon today, for tomorrow I might not be able to catch him."

Cracks slowly snaked their way in the wall. Bits and pieces of mortar started their slow journey to the ground below.

The Shaman chanted faster but to no effect, the wall was breaking.

Finally the warrior broke through and soon the Shaman's dead body slumped to the ground.

The warrior looked at the Shaman's daughter, enveloped her in his arms, and said,
"Thanks for the counter spells, my love."

14 comments:

s.w. vaughn said...

Wow -- fascinating that your mind led you to this, from the picture!

Scott said...

Ungrateful wench!

Anonymous said...

There's a much bigger story here, lots of character backstory to be explored. :)

Anonymous said...

I've always like the concept of urban magic and shamanism. Charles De Lint is a great writer in this genre. You should read him if you haven't already.

Michele said...

OH! I like this. The warrior and the Shaman's Daughter.
I'm a romance junkie and this just breathes possibilities.
**sigh**

Anonymous said...

oh hey everyone thanks for the nice comments....I didn't expect epople to be commenting here
@ S. W. Vaughn, I have tried the picture stories earlier too , you might be interested in checking out http://fubar69.blogspot.com/2006/12/dreamlessness.html this story, also based on a great picture.

@Scott some girls are like that :)

@ jim, hey man thanks for the suggestion at my blog, its done! yeah it would be interesting to explore the backstories in this one. and after all I think one short story is just a pearl around which a whole necklace of stories can be built. :)

@wavemancali, I haven't yet read charles de lint but i'll make sure i search for it and read it:)

@ michele *sigh* sigh* the possibilities!!...don't get me started love....:) glad you liked it.
thanks all!

Joni said...

I love where you took this. One of my faves so far.

Jeff said...

Very nice!

Anonymous said...

In true storyteller flavour! :-)

Anonymous said...

The ideas in this go beyond the picture, I like this.

Anonymous said...

Very clear writing. It reads cleanly and is a unique entry.

Anonymous said...

How vile, how trivial, how ruthless, how inspicably Human....how so very 'Nothingman.'



Love it....you in your prime......a story a day matures

Anonymous said...

Nice twist. Sounds like she was conflicted, trying to save both.

High marks for pacing and storytelling.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jason, if "Wake" had not won I'd have flamed you ;) he he he.
A really bull's eye decision for the number one.
I learned a lot from reading all the stories. Looking forward to the next contest.
Regards and best wishes.
N