A Science Fiction-sort of The Tower. Whole flash tale

This one is sort of SF and takes place in Africa.


Now this story is for a picture on the Charlie Hoover Google+ profile. A couple of us sometimes place mini stories on the comments sections of his Geek pictures of the day. But this one is longer. I place it here with a link to the pic.

I wrote this in a couple of hours, in one huge sitting and one very minor sitting.

You all get to enjoy it though.

The Tower

The boy and girl, tall and lanky, even though in their early teens, walked toward the end of the hills. For now they were called Esiankiki and Loiyan, but that would change as they grew.
Both felt not right for the mountains they were leaving were strange to them. Not at all like the Savanna. They feet ached from the hard rough surfaces they had walked on. It was not the land of the People. However they stood the beginning of one side of their part of the Savanna. The trees they knew still grew here and some of the animals they killed or competed with came here too. The air felt warm as it should here. The scents of grass, the droppings of lions, and desert air grew as they walked closer to the natural border. Loiyan thought he heard the cough of a lion far in the distance, but little of any other sounds.
Both had wanted to see the Tower. It looked manmade but very few stories passed down to the next generation told of it. No one knew when it had been built or why. To worship the Red god or the Black one maybe. Loiyan thought it was something the evil Red god would like. Esiankiki wasn’t sure. It had different levels, each one with what looked like walls that swooped up to a sharp point. The oi-boni had never restricted the Masa, as others call the People, from going there but he had given warnings, as far as they knew no one had.
Both had some honey to eat so they did not worry about food. Water might be a problem later. It took them two hours or more to get to the tower. Up close it looked both man made and natural. Neither knew how that could be but each agreed on that.
Loiyan placed the palm of his hand on it: rough like the huge rocks they had just climbed over but warm. Esiankiki placed her ear to it. She thought she heard something but so faint, she didn’t like the roughness against her ear’s skin. She pulled Loiyan back when he wanted to taste it with his tongue. Too rough for that she said.
Around the other side they saw a way in, or up. What could be very old steps, worn smooth by feet and weather. With very careful steps they went up. The first level had a place to walk but they couldn’t see over the edge of the wall as tall as they were. The same with the second level. As far as they could find there was no way in, and no places to sacrifice offerings mixed with grass. Maybe that was on the top. But once they reached as far as they could go still nothing. The inside of the walls looked and felt smooth. The bottom had smelled of age and something neither one liked. But up here only air. They saw lions and tall grass further on, for the walls had grown smaller on the way up.
No blacken areas with very old ash so not sacrifices up here either. So what was this used for? To watch the lions, to see if any enemies were coming? The People did sometimes fight. They found lines in the inner wall like a doorway, The People used curtains but they knew others had wood and metal doors, some with metal and what was called glass. They both had been to cities, ridden in cars and a train. They had seen a helicopter land. That had been noisy worse than a very large pride of lions Loiyan had been trapped in when very small. All of the beasts roaring at once had deafen him. And the noise had been louder than a big rain storm with lightning and thunder. But if this was a door he nor Esiankiki had seen any way to open them. He tried to slide his fingernails into the cracks but something stopped them. Esiankiki noticed the indentations near waist level on one level, but they didn’t seem to do anything. Loiyan who had the hearing of a warrior thought he heard clicks from inside but nothing happened. Both felt tiny vibrations in the door but they did nothing. Esiankiki thought she tasted in the air something like what flavors the air when lightning strikes. The space in-between the lines grew warmer but only a little. That made no sense.
After a while they gave up and walked down. Back at the bottom they saw more lines in the tower but they were shaped wrong for a doorway for any person. And they all went into the ground. So they knew the Tower went deeper like a huge rock. These doors looked like something that slid out maybe. Esiankiki wasn’t sure why she thought of that. Loiyan thought it would be something larger than a hut if so. With a final shrug-that the People had picked up from the shorter white visitors-they left and finally headed home. The People who someone else had lived in the Tower, they were now sure of but who? And how did they get the doors to open? They would never know.

end

Link to picture

Half story-Fantasy: What??

I first wrote this story maybe three years ago. I revised it once or twice over those years and again today. The whole thing was about 4,500 words which I thought was too long when I posted it online so I split it almost in half. I added descriptive words and some sentences that make it read clearer. I also deleted some but it still has more words than when I started.
I did this story and placed it on what on Google Plus is called #saturdayscenes (June 24).

It is one of my favorites among my stories and I am thinking of doing more stories about Donna. While I was revising I could see why it was rejected by editors. Now it will read better and hopefully be more enjoyable. I wouldn’t mind if someone said they enjoyed it-hint hint. :) Or why they didn’t.
The second half next week. This section is 2,295 words long.



Donna Elkshorn watched as the irate dragon landed with a minimum movement of its wings. Still each beat could be heard many yards away. Her feet, hands and face almost frozen but they would expect her not to care about that, or be able to warm herself. The flat rock they used for dragon landings seemed much smaller once its claws touched the hard surface. The claws scrapped the rock to express anger. She stood her ground though and glared back as it would expect.
It said, “You want me to do what?”
Even over the sounds of grinding rocks and the stink of hot metal and brunt meat, she had smelled a lava river when it landed now it stunk like a blacksmith’s forge, she heard the anger.
The dragon’s gray green tail fell to the ground before curling around its hindquarters, like a trained snake. The dragon’s long neck moved with a sinuous grace. The head with its mouth full of teeth as long as her arms moved closer. The beast settled on its hunches, stared down at her. Again she wondered if she would survive, this was her most scariest assignment by far-for more than one reason. This dragon wasn’t even the worst.
She knew she appeared to be a lone female human who wore a black robe and a unique corset and nothing else as required by the wizard school she had infiltrated. It knew what the robe meant.
Still she controlled her dismay and glare with what she hoped was a haughty expression, even as its breath blow her robe open and tried to knock the cowl off her head. However she had used magic to keep it up so her red hair-the one physical feature that would show she wasn’t a native-would not show. If it did she would have to fight her way through the students and teachers. She would flunk that test.
The school with its four old, two story buildings and one brand new three story, all made of nearby rock sat a third of a mile down from the landing area. Only one fireplace each building though, in the common room, for the wizards-to-be needed to learn how to make warmth and coolness. Do it or freeze was only one of the hard lessons. Again she knew gladness that she hadn’t been taught here. One dirt path led up here, but it had been used so many times that its surface lay a half foot below the rest of the ground level.
Her attention got back to the gray and dirt colored great beast which resembled a living mountain, even its long jaws looked like rocks bunch together. The dragon’s eyes, as large as bucklers, opened all the way.
It repeated itself-probably thought she had taken too long to respond, “You want me to do what!”
A stronger blast of air blew her full length black cape open again. Her body, unclothed except for the corset like garment, was exposed to anyone who might be watching. She hated wearing just the honor belt and the cape, but she had to keep up appearances. The dragon didn’t care what she wore, or revealed to the world, but there were men in the nearby fortress-school that would. She was glad that she had used a small Power word to make sure her hood kept her short cropped red hair from showing.
Donna hoped no one from the school was spying on her, as she fought the impulse to quickly reclose the cape around her. That action would reveal, to any one looking her way, that something wasn’t right. She would be able to sense if anyone was using Power to spy on her, but not if they were using ordinary means like a telescope.
She almost shook her head, when for half a second, she thought about what her fiancé would say about her outfit, and that she was wearing it around other men. Normally she wouldn’t wear something like that even around him. Once she was done here she could head back to her room and get dressed in her usual attire. That would include her Power charm bracelet, rings and the necklace of opals and amethyst he had given her. She felt naked, well even more naked than she was, without her bracelet and the specialized charms on it. They offered her protection, as well the ability to attack, if anything happened with the students at the school. The dragon would be able to bite its way through even her strongest shield, but it would slow him down enough for her to run... she hoped.
On the other hand, she thought, it might be good if I had to depend on my own abilities without enhancements. I don’t want to get too dependent on my charms, even if I did make most of them.
While she was thinking she had been raising her head to look the dragon in the eye. Not something she wanted to do, but the type of person she was impersonating would do it without hesitating. Their ego would not permit them to think a dragon, even one this size, would disobey them.
Crossing her arms, Donna tried to sound haughty and upset for she was repeating her request. She had already stated it when she had called the dragon, while he was flying overhead.
“I want you to go the Crag volcano to retrieve some dragon bones.”
Donna pointed to a very tiny smudge in the distance. The air was very clear up at this height. The Crag volcano, however, could only be seen as a very tiny line and only by those with the best eyes. Actually as small as it looked, the distance was deceptive. It would take the dragon three days to fly to the volcano, and he would have to cross another dragon’s territory to get to it.
She finished by adding, “You can survive a lava bath, can’t you?”
The dragon’s great head jerked backwards.
“Of course I can survive a dip in lava. I am a dragon! I just came from a lava mud bath. It was most refreshing, while this conversation is not.”
She wanted to back off from the hot, metallic breath and anger. At the same time she stopped her hand from moving, on its own, to where her bracelet usually encircled her wrist. Neither action would help her deal with the dragon. She hoped that the little tweak on his ego might push him to do what she wanted.
“Good, so you won’t mind finding a cave that may be under the lava,” she said.
“If its there, I will find it.”
She nodded than said, “We were told that there are dragon bones in the cave.”
That was a mistake to say we, she thought, but at the same time the dragon probably wouldn’t care if it was just her, or a group.
“I want you to bring them to me, I have need of them.”
The dragon looked at her for a moment, eyes narrowing and making a noise that to her sounded like a short growl. Dragons didn’t usually like to give up the bones of another dragon, they ate them instead. This one was probably wondering what she needed the bones for. You could get magic from dragon bones if you knew how. You could take so much that it would destroy the bones. That was an insult to dragons.
“How should I bring them?” as it glanced at his claws.
“I don’t care, it is not my responsibility to figure out how you should do what you are told.”
He made that sound again and said, “If they are there I will bring them.”
“If they have survived the immersion in the lava, since the volcano erupted, they will be there.”
“They will have survived... if they are the bones of a dragon.”
“They are, however it’s greatly possible that the lava has
gone down, in that case the cave will be revealed. I could have gone to them, if that is the case, but it would take too long for me to get there and to get back with the bones.”
She added, they are near the southern slope of the volcano and I want you to bring them to me in a clearing sixty-eight miles, that way,” She pointed into a northern direction, “I will be there with a wagon.”
After a pause she added, “There may be humans...”
She said humans her with a sneer, as if humans were contemptible, even though she obviously she was human. “moving through a pass very close to the volcano. They will be a large group with wagons and such. If they were to attack you, I wouldn’t care what you might do in response.”
The beast shifted its weight and showed a dragon smile-its mouth open wide enough to show all of its teeth. He probably considered that statement as a reward, that he would get to eat and destroy a bunch of humans. He would do it, Donna thought, even though she had added the stipulation that they needed to attack him first. More than likely he would make sure they attacked first. In this case though she didn’t care who fired the first shot.
After another glance at her, his head and neck arrowed upward. Once his head was at it’s furthest, he leapt into the sky. Raising to the pinnacle of his leap, his wings unfolded in one smooth motion. He started flapping them, gaining altitude, soon he was gone.
Pulling her cape around her after it was almost blown off again, Donna thought, he did that on purpose. At least there’s not much dust to be blown in my face.
After she made double sure it wouldn’t fall open Donna turned and slowly, with her head held hight, walked back to the Fortress that was a school for the other side. A strong breeze hit her but for a few seconds it was welcomed because of the heat of the dragon.
The building she headed for was a large L shape with sleeping rooms on the second, along with rooms for eating and meetings on each floor. The first level had class rooms, offices and a large dining area for entertaining important visitors. This building had green streaks and a few small spots of brown along with its gray color which made it blend in with the local rock.
The wind made noises up here but some of it could be dragons miles away. On the way back to school she mused on how the dragon first reacted to her request. She had presented it in a way that would get his attention, as he was flying over head. His reaction and his question had been word for word what hers had been when her mentor came to her with the idea of masquerading as a student of dark Power at their not so well known school which was out of the way near dragon territory. He explained that she would be a higher ranked student, one that was on their own and able to come and go as they wanted to from the school. All she would have to do was show up, give the right passwords with a display of her Powers, and she would be given a room for as long as she wanted it. Of course he hadn’t had to mention that she would have to wear just a robe and a wide belt of rank while she was at the school. She knew that already from her studies. He hadn’t had to tell her the rest either, but obviously he had felt the need to remind her. Nor had he needed to say that someone may decide to request her aid in practice of another type. She hoped that wouldn’t happen, but she knew some tricks to make them think she was more powerful than she was.
She ended the downward slope and hit the more or less level path to the buildings. Lunch was cooking and she knew a refuse pit on the other side of the School would have to be covered and a new one dug soon. A lesson for first year students maybe? Even as she watched her step for the rocks on the path and places dipped, she thought and decided that she didn’t know why both male and female students dressed like this. She supposed it was a symbol of their attention to their studies, that nothing would be able to distract them and a symbol that nothing but magic would control them. Then again it might be to allow the male teachers and soldiers to ogle the girls and the female teachers and few female soldiers to ogle the boys. She shrugged her shoulders thinking that the first guess was probably closest.
Free to think of other things, her mind again returned to when she was given this assignment. When she saw her mentor in the door of her house, she knew he wasn’t there for a social visit. He had come sometimes for a social call but by his expression not this time. And she knew it was something she wasn’t going to like. She thought something had happened to her fiancé or her parents or she had failed somehow. Donna hadn’t expected him to suggest that she come here. That had sent her emotions on a wild dragon ride.
He had said, “I need you to do something. You’re not going to like it, but you’re the only one that can pull it off to save our land.”

end section

A Birthday sale on all of my E-books

I am having a Birthday sale this week and next on all three of my E-books. There are paper versions available but sadly to say they are not on sale. Great for summer reading and beyond. Good tales with action packed writing My Tommmy Tuckernocker book is included in this one since all of my books are on sale for my birthday coming up.

Two books about a young woman with a unique ability These are Urban Fantasy along the lines of Laura Anne Gilman, Jim Butcher, Benedict Jacka and C. E. Murphy.
NA wants to help people even as she deals with her own emotional issues and baggage. All of this while she is trying to pay her bills and play her drums. In these two adventures she ends up over her head while she tries to find answers to why bad things are happening and people are in danger. There are mythical beasts: griffins, unicorn, trolls, fairies, human attackers, and other dangers all in modern day Boulder. E-book $2.99

One action packed book about a young man in charge of a special military unit set in a steampunk world:
Tommy Tuckernocker is a young man in charge of a special unit charged with protecting his country from those who would take it over in war. Even as he learns how to lead men and women, and while he deals with his growing doubts.
E-book $1.99

There are available on all major E-books sites such as iTunes and Kobo but here are the links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/L.+E.+Doggett/_/N-8q8…
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Learning+CurveX2+

https://www.amazon.com/L.-E.-Doggett/e/B01C58R1II/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1497496769&sr=8-1

Father's Day sale on a great fun read

A new announcement

My Steampunk special Ops combo is on sale for Father's Day. Tommy Tuckernocker: Shadow Warrior:
An exciting tale of a young officer in charge of a special unit dedicated to keeping his country free. If your dad, or anyone else, likes action packed war books and E-books this is for them. $1.99 for the E-book and if they like a solid book- $11.99 for the paper version, but order it now. The E-book sale price will be that low until Father's Day, in case you need something last minute.

Review by follow writer Christian Freed:
"While I don't profess to any knowledge of the steam punk genre I immediately felt comfortable after only a few pages of jumping into Louis Doggett's Tommy Tuckerknocker. Being a former soldier myself, I easily followed the flow and pacing of the story as Tommy took his team through a series of life and death situations that were not only action packed, but realistic in terms of how they play out. This book was not only enjoyable, but easily read. I found myself at the end much faster than I was prepared for. Kudos to Mr. Doggett for writing an enjoyable tale."

It can be found at iTunes and Kobo as well as At
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Tommy+Tuckernocker%3A+Shad…
and
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/147-7359232-0073348…