Post by mistrali on Jan 22, 2013 22:20:57 GMT 10
Title: Call of the Wild
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: #2 (Hauntings)
Summary: Even after Rosethorn's recovery, the garden haunts her dreams.
Warnings: SPOILERS for HitV/Briar's Book, character death, horror.
Notes: Written and crossposted to FFN as part of my five-sentence Lark/Crane/Rosethorn series, Roll Away Your Stone, for the prompt 'call of the wild'.
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Call of the Wild
Rosethorn knew she must be dreaming, but here she was, listening again to the death-garden's whisper, somehow louder than the clamour of nettle, prickly pear and onion-grass run amok.
A leaf drifted across her path; she followed it and saw Briar and Crane grappling over a shakkan birch, its twigs soaked with their dwindling power. "Stop, it's leaching your magic!" she called, and reached to warn them... they dissolved, and here was Lark, singing as she spun a nightshade-and-ivy cocoon around herself. Rosethorn groped for a healing ointment, terrified, as Lark's skin broke out in angry blotches and she began to cough violently. The girls were nearby, giggling as they melted, half-flesh, into magic that might have been water, or thread, or flame...
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: #2 (Hauntings)
Summary: Even after Rosethorn's recovery, the garden haunts her dreams.
Warnings: SPOILERS for HitV/Briar's Book, character death, horror.
Notes: Written and crossposted to FFN as part of my five-sentence Lark/Crane/Rosethorn series, Roll Away Your Stone, for the prompt 'call of the wild'.
-----
Call of the Wild
Rosethorn knew she must be dreaming, but here she was, listening again to the death-garden's whisper, somehow louder than the clamour of nettle, prickly pear and onion-grass run amok.
A leaf drifted across her path; she followed it and saw Briar and Crane grappling over a shakkan birch, its twigs soaked with their dwindling power. "Stop, it's leaching your magic!" she called, and reached to warn them... they dissolved, and here was Lark, singing as she spun a nightshade-and-ivy cocoon around herself. Rosethorn groped for a healing ointment, terrified, as Lark's skin broke out in angry blotches and she began to cough violently. The girls were nearby, giggling as they melted, half-flesh, into magic that might have been water, or thread, or flame...
I'm glad the horror of it came through. I may write a nice fluffy sequel to this, where she wakes up and Lark comforts her, because after that sort of nightmare she deserves it!.
