Postcards from Tamriel, Stories and such that fall somewhere between a snippet and a thread Options

[Grits]

Hi folks!

My characters are getting unruly, so I thought I’d make a place where I can hide from them while they fight it out. I mean, while I figure out what to do. The first time this happened, I posted Home for the Holidays, a very short story about Abiene’s Saturalia visit to Leyawiin in the year 3E432. I should have made this thread then, but at the time I still thought that every word I wrote would be the last. Someday I hope to make an offering at The Temple of Lore, but for now I’m still too guilty of undisciplined sprawling. I’ll start a story in the next post.

As always, comments and discussion are very welcome!

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 23 2019, 03:31 AM

[Grits]

Tides, Part One

Anvil, Summer of 3E414

Jerric and Rhano knelt in the alley beside the Abecean Sunrise Bakery. “All right,” Rhano said to Jerric. “Show me the look.”

Jerric dropped his chin and gazed up at his friend. He made his eyebrows sad.

“Stick out your lip a little,” Rhano told him. “Your other lip, dummy!”

Rhano’s dignity would not allow him to debase himself for baked goods, but Jerric had no such compunction. That didn’t keep Rhano from thinking he knew better, thought Jerric. “I know how to do it!” he insisted. “It just doesn’t always work.”

“This time it has to, or no sweetroll.” Rhano glanced down the street. “I don’t see anyone we know. Go!”

Jerric slipped around the corner and into the bakery. This time of day most households had already bought their daily bread, and it was too early for the midday meal. The only other soul inside was the Breton behind the counter. She glanced up from her newspaper. “Yes?”

Jerric kept his chin tucked to his chest. He let his eyes wander over the confections, sniffing deeply in appreciation. “I don’t have any coins,” he said truthfully.

The woman made no reply.

Jerric took in another breath of fragrant air, letting it go with a little quaver. It wasn’t hard to look sad at the thought of leaving empty-handed. He pushed his lip out and slowly lifted his eyes to the shopkeeper.

Folded arms, a prodigious bosom, and beetled brows met his gaze. Steady, Jerric told himself. Nothing fancy, just keep your nerve.

After a moment the Breton let out a short bark of laughter. “Shameless, you are.” She reached for a sweetroll and handed it over the counter. “I know your Redguard friend is out there. Some day you’ll learn not to do everything he tells you.”

“He’s always right, mistress.” Jerric grinned his way back toward the door. “Thank you,” he called, brandishing the sweetroll.

“Imp!” She went back to her reading.

Jerric handed the sweetroll to Rhano and followed him down the alley toward the rear of the shop, laughing. “See, I told you!” Jerric crowed.

Rhano turned to face him, and his eyes went quickly over Jerric’s shoulder. The happiness drained from his face.

“Well if it isn’t the half-Nord sand scum and his little wolf pup,” sneered a voice behind Jerric. He turned to face it.

Three Imperial teens filled the alley. Jerric recognized them immediately. His cousin had given the biggest one a savage beating for some cruelty he had discovered. He never told the Guard what the Imperial had done, but Jerric guessed it must have been bad. The Imperial still bore the marks on his face.

“A sweetroll,” said the Imperial with mock delight. “Look, Tutius, they got us a sweetroll.”

“Hand it over,” growled Tutius. The smallest of the three, he still loomed over Jerric and Rhano.

The boys looked at each other. Rhano’s teeth gleamed in a feral grin. He held the sweetroll out to Jerric.

“Here you go, rump sniffer,” said Jerric. He bit off a piece of sweetroll and spit it up at the big one’s face. Rhano dropped the rest and crushed it under his toes.

Rhano put his shoulder into the big one’s groin. Jerric landed a few punches before the Imperials got him on the ground. He fought like a wildcat until someone lifted him to his feet. He saw Rhano in the grip of an Anvil guard, spitting blood and still swinging. “Easy, lads,” said a voice behind Jerric. “The fight’s over.”

Jerric looked back to find another guard behind him. One of the Imperials lay on the ground, holding his stomach and moaning. The big one, Jerric saw with satisfaction. He caught Rhano’s eyes and gave him a grin. Jerric saw sky as the guard pulled his head back. He jumped when gauntleted fingers probed his aching nose. “Just bloody,” the man told him. “Not broken.” Jerric stepped back when the guard let him go. “Your Ma won’t be pleased about your shirt,” the guard observed.

Jerric pulled it over his head and swabbed his face with it. “Anyway, we’re going swimming,” he declared. Hurts were beginning to announce themselves all over his frame. He tossed the shirt at Rhano and grinned at the guard, his tongue quickly checking for new gaps in his teeth.

“I’ll have your Fa file a complaint if you like,” the guard said to Rhano. His face told Jerric that he knew they would decline.

“No, thank you sir,” said Rhano, gingerly blowing his nose. He shoved the shirt back into Jerric’s hands and led the way out of the alley.

The boys broke into a jog as they made their way through the Chapelgate district and then Harborside. Rhano halted them when they reached the docks. “Which way?” he asked. “Marsh or beach?”

“Let’s go down to the sea cliffs,” said Jerric. “I heard your Fa talking about the midsummer tides. I bet there are some caves we can get to.” He glanced over the marsh, then up at the sun. “We can get there by low tide, I’ll wager.”

Two barefoot lads can squirm through a crowd twice as fast as any grown-up, thought Jerric. They broke free on the far side of the harbor and raced each other over the dunes to the beach.

Jerric put his shirt back on when the sun began to burn his shoulders. The surf is low today, he noticed. We probably won’t get dashed against the rocks. Their eyes searched the tide line as they walked. Jerric liked to pick up pebbles, and Rhano was always on the hunt for a perfect shell. Soon the weight in his pockets dragged Jerric’s cut-off trousers down his skinny hips. Admitting defeat, he piled up his rocks on the sand for later. He repeated the process at intervals down the beach.

Rhano carried one shell in his hand. If he found a better one he would pick it up, giving the first shell back to the waves. He waited patiently each time Jerric stopped to empty his pockets.

The hills rose behind the dunes as they walked until they reached a point where a rocky shoulder jutted out into the water. “Crescent Moons Cove,” Rhano breathed reverently. “Where privateers come at night to bury their treasure.”

Jerric sliced the air with an imaginary blade. “Someday I’ll swim out with my sword and bring justice to the pirates!”

Rhano picked up a dried reed and assumed a guard position. “Imperial scum!” he said to Jerric.

Those were fighting words. Jerric found another reed and attacked the pirate ferociously.

Their swords did not outlast the battle. A brief wrestling match ensued, serving to remind them that they had earlier been in a fight. A truce called, the boys stripped to their drawers and ran shouting into the crystal blue sea.

The cool water stung in Jerric’s scrapes as he swam. He resolutely ignored it. “Watch out,” called Rhano. “The rocks are really shallow!”

Jerric paused for a moment, looking down. Darker shapes were visible right under his feet. Sea weeds tickled his toes when he reached his foot down toward them. “Whoa!” he hooted. “Something swam between my knees!”

“I hope it wasn’t something hungry!” called Rhano. He rolled onto his back and spit a fountain of water into the air.

The sea cliffs rose straight out of the water, curving inland and back out to form a half-circle. A sandy beach lined the middle, cut off from the land by cliffs and water. Today the beach was a wide crescent of brilliant white. “The tide is so low!” marveled Jerric. “Look how high the caves are, we’ll have to climb up to them.”

Rhano was treading water now, looking intently down at the cliff’s base under the water. “Look there! I think it’s a cave down low. I wonder if it opens up inside above the water.”

“One way to find out,” said Jerric. He took a few quick breaths like a pearl diver, then he filled his lungs and dove under the water.

This post has been edited by Grits: Aug 3 2011, 03:25 PM