by Iyanna Orr
This is the story of one such circle, found outside a small Cornish village, and the Prophecy of Lost Souls.
* * *
“Jory an Gwyn, step forward and explain yourself.”
Joan the Wad, queen of the piskies, sat on her stone throne and glowered at the crowd in front of her. Male and female piskies stood nearby, watching the old crone as she scanned among them. They chattered nervously to each other, not daring to look her in the eye as she searched out her prey.
It didn’t take long for a skinny little man, no taller than three foot, nervously shuffled forward, cleared his throat, and squeezed his hat. The queen then leaned forward and thumped her staff on the floor. As a result, a ball of eerie light glowed at the top. The crowd collectively gasped in surprise.
“SILENCE!”
Everyone in the room froze at her words. Even Jory couldn’t help but let out a small whimper as he cowered in front of his Queen.
“Jory an Gwyn. I gave you the position of potion maker in the court hoping that you would be mature enough to handle it. Your job was to make healing potions and salves for members of this court.”
Jory lifted his head and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off before he could utter a word for his defence.
“However, you decided that healing potions were not enough for you and decided to dabble in other forms of magic. Your experiments have wreaked havoc in our village. Not a day goes by that I don’t have someone coming to me complaining about your…,” she waved her hand around as she searched for a word, “…mishaps.”
“My…my queen,” Jory stuttered, “I can assure you that I meant no harm. I just thought my talents could be put to better use.”
“You may be the son of a master potion maker, but the only talent you have shown so far is to turn half the population purple and make Taryn Fey fall in love with a cow!”
Members of the audience started giggling at her words but automatically pretended to cough once Joan shot them a scathing look.
“I feel that it is my duty, in order to protect this community, to hereby banish you to exile.”
The crowd gasped in shock at her declaration. Jory, meanwhile, stood in silence, stunned by the gravity of his punishment.
“My queen, may I make a proposal?”
Everyone looked around to see who had spoken. A female piskie, in a bright blue dress and her styled up red hair adorned with jewels, stepped forward.
“Kerensa an Gel, why am I not surprised to see you here?” the queen scoffed.
Lifting her head proudly, Kerensa looked at her queen straight in the eye.
“It is well known that Jory and I are friends, and I think someone should stand up for him. He may be a bit unorthodox in his approach to magic and potions, but I believe in his talents. And I don’t think he should be exiled.”
The queen impatiently reclined on her throne with arms crossed.
“So, princess, what do you propose I do with him?”
Kerensa cringed a little at the mention of her title. She never wanted to be treated any different from the rest of the piskie population. She even took steps to avoid being associated with the royal family. But she brushed it aside as she was, in fact, using that connection at that moment to save her friend.
“As you are aware, the Stones have been calling for some time now.”
There were murmurs of agreement at her statement.
“Yes I’m aware of that fact, and I have plans to address it,” the queen replied.
“Well, I think this is the ideal situation for Jory to prove what he can do. Let me go with him and help fulfil the Prophecy of Lost Souls.”
There was stunned silence for a few seconds followed by a low rumbling that eventually became a roar of laughter from the queen.
“You expect me to trust him,” she pointed a gnarled finger at Jory, “to bring together two lost souls before Midsummer’s Eve? You do realise that the two people the Stones picked locked their hearts away, don’t you? Both have sworn to never look for love.”
Jory scowled at her words because he felt like a fool. But his face lightened slightly as Kerensa stepped towards him, took hold of one of his hands, and squeezed gently.
“I believe in him, and I know with my help he can do it.”
The queen sat in silence, her eyes moving between the two piskies in front of her. Blowing out a breath, she slammed her hands on her knees.
“Fine, why not? What’s the worst that can happen?” She paused for a millisecond before adding, “No, don’t answer that.”
Picking up her staff, she stood up stiffly and thumped it against the floor.
“Jory an Gwyn and Kerensa an Gel, it is your duty to fulfil the Prophecy of the Stones and bring together these two lost souls by midnight of Midsummer’s Eve. If you fail, not only will they never find love, but you will both be banished to live above ground forever.”
If you enjoyed this sample then look for Midsummer’s Magic on Amazon!
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Acknowledgements
First, I’d like to thank my mom, who read through the manuscript chapter by chapter, as they were finished, but who has yet to read the final version.
Also, I believe that the most fervent and vocal of my readers was my creative writing class, who were privy to the story as changes were made and as the product came to the beginning of its finalization. Most importantly, my creative writing teacher (for three years of my high school career), who was boldly honest and unendingly supportive.
Finally, I’d like to thank the team at BLVNP Inc., who are helping me come this far with my writing career.
Author’s Note
Hey there!
Thank you so much for reading The Cursed! I can’t express how grateful I am for reading something that was once just a thought inside my head.
I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me at
[email protected] and sign up at
http://iyanna-orr.awesomeauthors.org/ for freebies!
One last thing: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads because I just love reading your comments and getting to know YOU!
Whether that review is good or bad, I’d still love to hear it!
Can’t wait to hear from you!
Iyanna Orr
About the Author
Iyanna Orr is an avid fan of works by Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer and Christopher Paolini. She grew up in small town Donora, Pennsylvania, where little ever happened. But her works are known for pushing her characters outside of their comfort zone and sending them into whole new worlds.
She first began posting her stories on Wattpad, a global community for storytelling. More of her work can be found here.
Iyanna is currently attending the University of Wyoming, where she is studying for a Bachelors in English with a minor in Creative Writing.