Gasping for breath, he was forced to walk. He raged a battle with his thighs for each step he forced himself to take. His muscles shook in their cold, wet fatigue. Morning approached. It slowly became easier to see as the sun’s light leaked through the dark clouds above. His hands felt numb and tingly. He shook them out, willing the sensation away. His knee ached. When he saw the blood from his knee being washed by the rain into his khaki pants, he was surprised to have forgotten his fall earlier.
Nikki barked and ran forward, tail wagging. In the golden hue of the dawn, a man headed toward him with a large pack strapped to his back. His clothes were brown and plain, like a farmer’s. Was it a farmer heading toward New Haven for the market?
“Help,” Darius croaked and fell to his knees. He was so tired. Unbidden, the tears came, racking his body with sobs.
“Son, are you all right?” The farmer’s voice seemed kind as he knelt and pulled the pack from his back.
Even though this was no time to be afraid, Darius wondered if he should run. His trust of strangers dwindled since his father wanted him dead. But Nikki continued wagging her tail, acting as though she had known this man forever. Darius pushed himself back and sat in the mud. “Please, I need help finding the doctor.”
The corners of the farmer’s gold-green eyes crinkled with his smile. His white teeth peeked as his lips parted. The man’s gentle hands held Darius’s leg while he examined it. “I’m the doctor. Do you need help with this knee?”
Darius shook his head, and droplets of water were slung from his rain-soaked hair. His voice came out in half-sob, half gasp. “No. Not me. Raven. Raven Steele.”
Darius followed the doctor as they darted down the paths the boy had run once already. The trail looked different in the light of day. Without the doctor, Darius would not be able to find his way back to Raven again. The path had become ankle deep mud, and his boots had already felt as though they’d be sucked off. The muscles in his legs grew so weary, he ached. He was so tired. Since he found the doctor, his muscles had relaxed in their victory. It was hard to motivate them to work again.
Nikki bounded ahead of them both, leading the way with a nose to the ground and her brown tail waving in the air like a flagless pole.
Darius eyed the young doctor. Dr. Gregory seemed no older than Raven. Though the kind face had grown wrinkled with worry since Darius said her name, the doctor seemed so different than he’d expected.
The plain burlap clothes the doctor wore might just be travel clothes, but the doctors Darius had seen in the past usually wore three piece suits. This doctor’s sand-colored hair and green eyes made a soft contrast to Raven’s shiny black waves and violet eyes. She always seemed so serious.
How could the trip back to a location feel shorter than the trip away? The Red River Forest welcomed them just as the rain softened to a lingering mist. As they came over the hill, both Nikki and the doctor seemed to know instantly which path to take back down. Darius followed not far behind.
“How badly is she hurt?” Dr. Gregory’s short breath came in worried gasps as he jogged down the hill.
“I don’t know.” Darius shook his head. “But there was a lot of blood.”
The doctor’s pace quickened as he loped into the woods. As Darius reached the bottom of the hill, he could hardly keep up. Through the pain, he ran forward, desperate to catch the doctor. He entered the shadow of the woods and found the doctor had slowed to wait for him.
“How did you say she was injured again?”
Darius swallowed hard and was glad to walk with the doctor rather than running after him. “I know she was shot in the arm, but I don’t know anything more.” He didn’t want to tell the doctor about his episodes. “I…think I fainted. But when I came to again, I saw cuts on her forehead and a lot of blood on her leg.”
The doctor nodded and rushed forward, but Nikki didn’t go with him this time. Exhaustion seemed to have caught up with the Great Dane as well.
“Maybe we should have stayed at the farmhouse like the doctor suggested.” He patted the dog as she looked up at him with her understanding brown eyes. “But I was worried about Raven, too.”
Birds had begun to sing again as the mist lifted and the sun peeked through the sparse canopy above. The fallen wet leaves rustled underfoot. Darius shivered as the wind picked up. The air felt heavy and made it difficult to breathe. Ahead on the path, the shadow of the doctor bent over the black-clad body of the Reaper. The backpack had been dropped a few feet away. The doctor’s hands moved in a purposed flurry over her body as he checked her over. Darius came to stand over them, unsure of what he should do.
When Dr. Gregory finally looked up at him, his eyes had lost their worried look and gained an indomitable, resolute appearance. “Darius, could you reach into the right pocket of my pack and get the bottles of willow bark and crushed tulip root?”
The boy nodded and reached into the pack as the doctor pulled his shirt off and began to tear it into strips of cloth. When Darius returned with the two bottles, he peeked into Raven’s pale face. The blood had been washed away with the rain, and her face had gained a pale, angelic manifestation. She looked younger, innocent, and lost her hard seriousness. “Is she dead?”
Dr. Gregory smiled in a way that made his eyes crinkle in half moons, a genuine smile that grew across his features. “No, she’s not.”
Relief washed over Darius as the doctor took the vials and made a mixture that he rubbed along the gum line under one of Raven’s pale lips.
“What’s that for?”
“It will alleviate her pain and help keep her asleep. The only way she’ll heal right now is while she sleeps.” The doctor stood and started looking around. “Help me gather some of the biggest branches you can find. We’ll make a sledge to get her to the farmhouse. I’ve got medicines there that will help her recover the blood she’s lost. She’s going to need to get there as fast as we can take her.”
Dizziness overcame Darius now that he finally knew Raven would be all right. The feeling overwhelmed him with happiness and relief. Maybe he should have stayed behind at the farmhouse. “Sorry,” he whispered. He heard Nikki bark once as the blackness closed in, and the mud caught him like a pillow.
BONUS FEATURE #2
5 Tips for Aspiring Authors
1. Write with the door closed.
One of the best tips I took away from Stephen King’s On Writing was when he said: “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” What that means: STOP LOOKING FOR APPROVAL. Don’t let everyone read the first chapter of your book so they can tell you whether or not you have enough talent to finish the story. Don’t worry about it. Write it anyway. Finish the book before you let anyone look at it.
2. Don’t worry about whether you’re talented enough.
Success is about 15% talent and 85% determination. If you’re determined enough, you can and will beat the pants off anyone who has boatloads of talent.
3. Be teachable.
Without the willingness to learn, you will never overcome the talent you lack. Being a writer takes a wide range of skill ~ You need to be a good story teller with perfect grammar and spelling. You need to create characters who are easy to relate to and who the reader cares about. You need to fashion a plot that will keep the readers turning pages and dying to read your next book in the end. If you plan to go indie, you need to know about cover art, formatting, publishing, and marketing. You may be talented at some of the skills necessary to become an author, but you will not be talented at them all. LEARN from those who are!
4. Connect with people who are more talented than you in areas you are weak.
They are the only people who can teach you to become better. Build relationships with other aspiring authors and authors who have been where you are and are blazing the trail ahead of you. These people will both be willing to teach and help you because they have been where you are. If you aren’t feeling inspired and encouraged by these people, and find yourself getting do
wn on your work, than you haven’t found the right people yet. Don’t give up! Keep looking!
5. Don’t worry about whether you’re doing it right.
Not an obsessive plotter? Don’t understand how people can write by the seat of their pants? You hear people hate first person/present tense? Don’t worry about it. Write your story the way that you write. There is no such thing as a wrong way of doing things. …well, there are some wrong ways, but that’s what editing and rewriting are for.
The point is that getting your whole story out of your head and onto paper is the first step. And once that’s finished, the rest of it will fall into place!
BONUS FEATURE #3
What is steampunk?
The short answer: Steampunk is retrofuturistic technofantasy, parallel to our planet's many histories.
That clears up a lot doesn’t it? No, not really.
The long answer: Steampunk is science fiction which takes place in the past. An alternate history where inventions, gadgets, and personal conveniences do not belong, and yet, are there. Often these inventions are powered by steam, hydraulics, clockwork, gyroscopic action, or pretty much anything but gasoline.
The punk appears in the creative attitudes of the characters. Often they are forward minded for the time period. A touch of feminism, a smattering of individuality, and a pinch of political dissention. Similar to a dystopian setting, the world is bleak, but the characters within rise up and change that world.
Where steampunk has hit mainstream is in the fashion world, where it’s become popular to mix the past with the present in creative and clever ways.
Personally, I’ve loved steampunk before I ever knew what it was. Some of the modern examples of steampunk in movies would be: Wild Wild West with Will Smith, Stardust with Claire Danes, or the animated film, Howl’s Moving Castle. Or pretty much anything by the Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki. And I am a huge Miyazaki fan.
So, just like any other subgenre of science fiction/fantasy, there are those who concentrate on the science, those who concentrate on the rebellion, or those like me, who used the retrofuturistic world as a backdrop for our character focused fantasy stories. Which, I believe has just the right amount of steampunk to introduce a new set of readers to the genre.
3 Reasons Why Steampunk Should Appeal to Women
Fashion ~ The Victorian era in which steampunk makes its home is all about corsets, elbow length gloves, bustles, petticoats and skirts. Riding jackets with slim waists and exaggerated hips. And then there are the hats… (reference video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1EtgVtUSKs )
Femininity ~ A lady was treated as a lady. A certain level of respect was given to them and gentleman did more than just open doors. In the era steampunk resides, a woman could be both coquettish and coy.
Feminism ~ Industry and invention are not partial to either sex. In steampunk, a woman is just as likely as a man to create the next great thing, and their abilities keep them from being ignored.
(reference image: http://instagram.com/p/qLGq-DTFzH/ )
Other works by Pauline Creeden
The End Times Saga
Sanctuary
Survivors (Coming in 2015)
Silence (Coming in 2015)
The Catalyst Series
Abiding Flame
Accelerant (Coming in 2015)
The Shadow Maven Paranormal Mysteries
First Impression
Second Chances (Coming in 2015)
The Chronicles of Steele
Raven
Darius (Coming in 2015)
With Melissa Turner Lee:
Armored Hearts
Winter Fae
Armored Hearts
Chronicles of Steele: Raven: The Complete Story Page 26