Saying Hi

 Just a note to say hi. I have had some fans, not sure if they are still around though. I have slowed my writing way down even though I still have ideas I want to write.

Yay, new fantasy novel

 

Just wanted to say that I have a new book out. A fantasy set in alt world. An American Native mage is looking for a very ancient and powerful talisman. Even though he does not know what it looks like, or where it is, he knows he has to find it to hide it again. What he also does not know is that other mages are looking for it also. They want to use it to control the world. 

At Amazon and Barnes and noble online. 

https://www.amazon.com/Run-Talisman-powerful-talisman-before-ebook/dp/B09YL4YY7H/ref=sr_1_13?crid=FRHTNABQR1S8&keywords=L.+E.+Doggett&qid=1683994334&sprefix=l.+e.+doggett%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-13 

Hello again

 

Not sure if anyone who had followed this blog is still following it after so long, but hello I think I will be back to do it.

Did a free online workshop and wrote a story for it

 

Newest book still for sell

A grand adventure as Lance tries to find out who is messing with his rep. See if he discovered who it is before the person can kill Lance.

At Barnes and Noble plus Amazon and Kobo and other E-book sites.  Under L. E. Doggett

Book sale to relax a bit

L. E. Doggett

A sale on two of my paper books. I happen to have eight copies each these two books, and decided to place them on sale. Usually $11.99 each these are $8 each which includes shipping for these two new books, as long as the eight books each last. 

And I have eight used books on sell. From one dollar to four dollars plus shipping for the used books. The "Tigershark #1 Cold Blue Death" is the one dollar one. The "Guns Above" noble is five dollars plus shipping. Pictures below.

My "The Courier" is an exciting steampunk adventure and is pictured with "Adventures of Lance Starhammer" is an action packed Science Fiction. Both fun tales. Have some coffee, or a cold chocolate drink, and enjoy a good tale. 

I have PayPal and I will mail the purchased books within a day-not counting Sunday. Send me a note here if you would like to take advantage of this sale

Sale for two days longer June 28 and 29

As my last post stated everything novel is on sale 

Birthday Sale on all of my novels

Hello, Time for my yearly birthday sale. Monday June 22 is a special birthday for I have reached a milestone. 

Everyone of my E-books is a $1.11 off (No I am not a 111 years old. It isn't that milestone yet :) ) 

And all of my paper novels are two dollars off-except for one which they only allowed me to reduce 1.44 . They will be on sale until June 27.

Whatever the price they are fun reads with adventure, mysteries, suspense and action. Western short stories, Urban Fantasy, steampunk, Science Fiction adventure. 

Here is my Amazon author's page https://www.amazon.com/L-E-Doggett/e/B01C58R1II…

and https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22L.%20E.%20Doggett%22…

Sell on Lance Starhammer May one and two E-book and paper book

Sell price  to Celebrate the new book.   For two days only 99 cents for the Eversion and 9.99 for the paper version.


Great science fiction adventure


At  Amazon

And other e-book sites 

Yo, a new book published: Adventures of Lance Starhammer. Science Fiction

It is starting to look like someone has cursed Lance to live in interesting times. As a Jack Of All Trades danger is not stranger to Lance, but events that could lead to his death have been increasing like never before  

            A giant swamp creature escaped its cage on the ship Lance was captaining. It killed two of Lance’s men while it stomped down the passageway Lance had gone to check out a problem. Next a Lance’s  starship loses coolant and he has to set down on a farm owned by cannibals. When he gets home he is told that a law enforcement agency has placed a bounty on him for a crime he didn’t commit. After that a crime boss chases him down for another theft Lance didn’t do. His ship’s computers are compromised, warbots attack him as well as other dangers.

        Lance Starhammer—not his birth name—is well known in some circles, even though many of his jobs he keeps secret. He has run cons, hauled passengers and freight, done special jobs, ran blockades, a bit of smuggling, computer crimes and other jobs that he feels need doing.

       Now someone wants him dead, though. After a search he finds himself in a battle with stealth ships crewed by a law enforcement agency who have been tricked to believe he is responsible for the deaths of their fellow agents. Even with his ship, tricks and quick thinking ability his chances for survival have slipped to near zero.  

The Courier: Volume one

You can find this book on Amazon: E-book 
And here for the paper version


Here for the E-book on Barnes and Noble

Other sites to follow but should be on kobo, iTunes and other e-book sites.

Paper upcoming to Barnes and Noble too 

A redone version of a great adventure tale The Courier. E-books on sale

The Courier-one of the better e- books by me, is on sale for the rest of April.
This one is now even better for I just revised it, cleaned up some punctuations that somehow didn't get changed and redid many sentences, added 1100+ words in making it even more readable. Grand adventure and action.

Kara Stronggear is the youngest member of an elite cadre of Couriers, but she doesn't just want in, she wants to be the best. And why not? She's trained for this her whole life. She knows how to fight and when to run. She knows how to repair a steam engine and fix a card game. She's ready for anything.

Or so she thinks.

When a milk run turns deadly, she finds herself racing to stay one step ahead of an unknown adversary who is willing to kill for something she does not know she carries. Through dog fights, hurricanes, and the torn up streets of a strange city, she's determined to complete her mission.
Along the way she has to grow up and realize that she needs a good rep isn’t everything, if she survives the next few days

E-book at Amazon kindle

Paper version on Amazon

Plus the e-book version is also on sell at Various sites listed here.

Paper version can also be found at Barnes and Noble online

My current Stories

  Amazingly enough all of a sudden I have three stories on deadlines. One for a well known contest, one for a special deal, and one for a smaller contest. The one for the first contest is done. I am hoping one of the others with that contest with critique it for me. Not so far though. But if no takers in the next couple of weeks I will just send it to an editor to check out punctuation, spelling and such. I will be done with it early for the deadline is at the end of March.

The special one is due to a kickstarter project I helped pay for a while back. They had a special writers reward. My choice of lectures on writing, quite  a few short stories by various pro writers, my choice of a number of books on writing and this special chance.

One of my biggest frustrations is getting rejections. In the last few years, I seem to not be able to get past a certain level of writing. I take online courses, read books, read hints by pro editors etc. I get no further. Some readers have nice things to say about my stories. I have had a couple of ongoing fans when I would place a couple of very short stories on Google+ but not editors. Except for one. I have taken courses by him and he did buy one story a few years back. You can still buy the anthology if you like good short stories. I say mine is the fourth best in the book out of, I think, 19.  Anyway, I have stated that no editor really likes my stories except for one and he isn't buying. Well he is, at least for a few who paid for that writer's reward. Well, for others too, pro writes and those who have taken a certain workshop, but I haven't been able to get to where he would maybe buy my stories. Now though he will look one of mine over at least.

I am, not nervous so much, but waiting for impending doom. To see if I have been correct that even he will like my writing enough to include in one of four anthologies. He gave us a choice of four categories or premises.  If I understand correctly he will read it and depending on if he thinks it will fit in one of three of those categories he will send it to another editor. It sounds like he will choose if it fits in the fourth category. No word if he might say why he rejected it, if he does. Also I have not seen how many writers donated for that Writer's reward. I am sure I am not the only one. But there might not be as many as usual for a market on that level. I don't know if the smaller number helps me in this case.

The last story is for a smaller contest as I said in the beginning. It is almost done. I need to finish it tomorrow for it is due the first part of March. Possibly the sixth. I will need to let it sit a week or so, revise it and send it to the same editor. That might give me one to two weeks to fix what she finds. I have sent stories to them before. Got one Honorable Mention which might still be up on their web site. This one, shakes head, I don't know. I like to think I am getting better at telling the best story I can but so far that is questionable.

Then back to two novels. One is at the editor's being checked over and I will be Indie publishing it whenever I get done with the corrections. I have a cover for it so I will just have to format it and publish it. It is a good Science Fiction adventure, action packed and suspenseful. We shall see how it does. I will spend a bit more money than usual advertising it. Which usually isn't much at all. The last two paid places I tried were failures. So we shall see as I said. I hope to have it online by the end of March.

A bit of venting on next published event

This is not asking advice just venting a little.

Hmmm, I have one book at an editors-she is probably a bit over a quarter of the way through. So when she does finish it, maybe in three to five weeks I will still have to go back over it. Most probably will take me hours, if I don't have to rewrite anything major. I have done this before so I know that I mean hours and hours of work. I have a cover for it already. It has been sitting around for over a year while I looked for a cover artist and an editor that didn't charge tons of money. So now even though it is finally in the process I still have to wait. and wait some more.

Then I have a second novel that is in almost the same situation. Except no editor yet, and the cover is being worked on even though almost done. But it has sat the same length of time and it is longer so it will take longer and cost more to edit and then to go over. Add hours to the hours and hours. Oh yes, I still need to decide on how I want to the chapters. Just leave the 40 some shorter ones or combine them. I wrote the book as a serial on another site which is why the chapters are like they are. It does need a little revising since I changed my mind some something and even though I think I went over the whole thing a couple times I need double check that. So it might have to wait half a year more before I can publish it. It might be my best novel yet. Or so I had thought when I revised it. And I have to wait and wait and wait some more.

About my writing currently

Interesting what one can find when looking for something else in my WIP folder. Stories and more that I had forgotten about. A while back I set out to Indie publish some story sets. I was reminded of one set I decided to publish and found today.

This one is 12 stories each inspired by the same picture. A while back one guy would post a picture of the day. A speculative drawing-painting-composite-that he found. A couple of his followers had started writing mini stories to go with the pic. I decide to join them, but in a few weeks my stories got longer. Still very short but longer than mini. Anyway one day he posted this pic of a dark old looking castle set on a short hill in what could be a desert. A large full moon shone behind and right above it. I posted a comment that said that could be inspirational for a number of genre. Something clicked and I decided to do those genre. I did 10. First SF, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Weird Western, Altiernite universe, Historical Fiction, Romance, steampunk, thriller, what might be Christian Fantasy. I stopped thinking that was enough but a couple of months later I decided the SF tale wasn't really the one I wanted so I did it over while keeping the original and finally an action tale kinda of based on the old radio Serial tales. Oh just remembered another one I had placed in another folder. A YA-or younger- general fiction story. So 13 all together.

From 670 words to 6540 words. Some around 1200, some around 4400. A total of somewhere around 40,000 to 42500 words.

I thought that might make an interesting story set for those who like short stories. Some have been revised once or twice others not at all. I will go over all of them though. Starting today.

And while looking for that one YA tale I found another story set idea. I call it Foibles and it will have five stories.

While I am working on two other stories, and will be revising two more for contests soon.

Yay, new set of Western stories by me on sale

Been a while since I have been here but want to tell all who are still reading these posts that

I have now published a set of five exciting short stories about a new Western Hero. Gray Dobson; Deputy US Marshal. In this case only on Amazon. A fun and action filled set of stories for any lover of Westerns or good reading. 

Paperback 5.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/165620228X/ref=sr_1_1…

And E-version on sale for 2.99 for one week than up to $3.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JJF4G1/ref=sr_1_2…

Only Amazon for this book. We shall see how it comes out. 

To Celebrate my retirement E-book sale

It has been a while since I have posted anything. That last set of stories had more looks than I thought it night-thanks all. Now though:

Yo: to all readers. As some of you will know I am retiring from work, after 40 years on the same job. To help celebrate it I have placed everyone of my E-books on sale. Half price off. That includes the story sets. You can now get my books from .99, 2.99 and 3.99 for the longer novels. Each one is a very good adventure read and an enjoyable plot.
Sale from today to Nov 12 

My Amazon page minus one novel.
https://www.amazon.com/L-E-Doggett/e/B01C58R1II…

That missing book-
https://www.amazon.com/Courier-Kara-wants-s…/…/ref=sr_1_154…

My Barnes and Nobel page.
https://www.amazon.com/Courier-Kara-wants-s…/…/ref=sr_1_154…

They are also on Kobo and many other e-book sites. 

As I said, great gift that gives to two people. Good reviews even though the novels could use more of them.

#books #urbanfantasy #femaleleads #steampunk #adventure#booksforsale #indienovels

New set of free tiny tales #saturdayscene Aug 2

         #saturdayscene  Aug 3

     Got busy and forgot last week, almost forgot again even though I planned to do this one so this is late but still Saturday my time.  

Another repeat which maybe one or two people here have probably read before. I have a cluster of seven stories here but all are shorter flash and mini tales. From 25 words to 607 words for a total of 1887 words. The mini stories were attempts to place or win in one of the onthepremises mini story contests. “Blue of Home” has been the only one to receive even an honorable mention so far. The longer ones were all based on pictures. All have been revised at least once.  That includes the mini stories that have been lengthened in a couple of cases. About three years ago I decided I like doing these mini stories and even the longer flash. I will be putting out an anthology with 20 to 24 stories. Most will be these very short tales but there will be another anthology with longer 650 to 3750 word stories. I just need two covers and to revise some of the longer ones. 

   These are a variety of genres: fantasy, general fiction, science fiction, historical with a touch of fantasy and one that could be a couple of different genres including steampunk, fantasy and general fiction. 

The first one is “Blue of Home” written on the premise of “Write a story no longer than 50 words that describes color in an innovative way. (No “black as night” clichés; etc.)” The last one will be “Good Work with Thread” the story that could be one of a couple different genre. The others are mixed up.

 Blue of Home 

                                                     

      The viewscreen showed a microscopic blue-Ben stared. The right blue, produced by life. The trip out  had taken too long. He’d seen red suns, green nebalue, black holes--from a distance. None looked this perfect, a blue made from air and water. Ben smiled, the blue of home grew.   

Ohh, no. Not Another One!

Ohhh no, not again-another one of those quests, the wizard thought, and it’s going to be long-again. Even as his friend the warrior, who would be king, cheered and challenged the four man team to see who would be first on those giant, wide steps. After  they became solid enough and moved in a touch closer, of course. The warrior’s cape still bellowed out even though the bottom was in tatters. His sword, though, was still sharp, undinged and whole. 

   

    The new steps had just appeared from nowhere while the team stood at the end of wide path that had led to two man height pillars on the edge of this path. They each had rounded tops and a hole one could reach through at their tops. A person could almost fit their whole head through the holes. The wizard had reached it first and waited for the others. 

      At least here we could breath okay even though the air had a different flavor to it; thorny and mulchy and old, he thought. 

      

      The rest of the path just appeared with no flash or sound. The wizard  could hear everyone’s steps and each one’s breathing, plus the warrior’s boosts, so there was sound here, but nothing when it came to be. It had taken him seconds to realize it was there. He assumed it had been the same for the others since they hadn’t said anything. 

      It looked like another ten minutes of walking would lead us to the doorway. Tall and it looked more like a cave entrance with a bright light inside. And what might be another two pillars. 

    

     They only had a basic idea of where it would take them. But it would be tough, scary, and they would have to use their strengths to the uttermost and to think hard, to get back to their lands. The wizard sighed. 

    

      The whole trip up he had wondered what beings needed a path this wide and steep. Fantastic torches set in the soil lined and lit one side all the way up. They seemed to be ever burning. What looked like giant thorns grew around the edges of the trail and along on the steps. It made it look like both sections belonged together. At the end of the short flight of steps   

  

    Everything had huge thorns here more than that TV show a while back. But the Wizard looked at the dwarf who was ready to go with the challenge even though he usually lost. The other guy just sort of stood there waiting, he went along with whatever happened without much compliant. His thick staff, or long club, came it handy. He could swing it fast and hard, plus his speed was enough to move out of the way of incoming swings.  

  But at just the right moment, when the three leaned forward and bunched their muscles for a jump, the Wizard stepped over the space and stood on the new steps while the others jumped. They each stared at him, incredulous showing. 

      He said, "If we are going, lets get going and get this one over with.”

end

Traveled

Joseph sat on the wood bench near where the train would stop. It looked like rain, which meant less people. He liked that idea, for that meant less people to see him.

       The sudden steam whistle made known his need to stand. He sighed, but put out the effort. After he boarded he could sit on the train all of the way home. He would practice with his new artificial legs at his parents’ house.

Brightest Night

The two surviving Three Domes were full of people. Every room had lights on that showed that. No one knew why the first one had been tipped over in that huge storm during the earthquake, 88 years ago, while the others stood. But the one piece structure had shattered when it hit the side of the rock rise it had been built on. Scavengers had taken a lot of the material; some had been used to enlarge Dome Three.

       Plus no one knew why the three large and two small domes had been built, centuries ago, on consecutive rises. For this purpose? To see and celebrate the brightest night of the year-and this one would the brightest in the years. To be used as way stations when people had to travel by horseback and on foot? The land here was cold and very rough. It had the end of a forest and the beginning of a very rough and cold mountain chain together after all. So a rest stop would have been good.

      It didn’t really matter though, for we were here to party. These were now used to show us the brightest night without light pollution, or cars driving by interfering. Very soon the lights here would become superfluous when the bright sky turned even brighter. We would shout, bang our feet and enjoy the beauty and rarity of the sight. 

end  

Tenth

Jimmy readied himself for bed, thought of a higher power, smiled. 

             Today is the tenth, so ten complete days without it.

             He had thought he would fail, but now he let pride fill him. 

             Even though he still wanted it, hope blossomed.

            Now, I know I can do this.

Last Viking 

The Viking looked over the side of his ship. The mountains rose out of the ocean, higher than he would want to climb anymore. The day looked cloudy and cold even though he was viking and therefore used to cold. While not as deep as in some places the water here was still deep enough to hide monsters, or even an angry whale. 

   Askell glanced along his longship. The wood looked aged, it had nicks, claw marks, and blacken areas. That last fire they barely got out in time. He supposed he could get one of the new style of ships with multiple masts but he, and his crew, were too old to change that much. 

   He stroked his grey beard, looked down. 

   "To port now!” He shouted

   Something scraped the hull as the longship turned too slowly. 

   So this ocean was not deep, those rocks were hard to see. Movement under the water, Oh oh, something huge lived down there. 

   It neared the surface and before he could cry out for them to raise oars, three of them hit it. It thrashed, caused water to splash into the longboat. Cold water that soaked their footwear. The oars didn’t break, thank Odin.

    He snarled, spat bile out. Nothing would sink them in this cruise.

     Once the water settled again he ordered them to head for the distant bit of land. It had what looked like a strip of land they could beach the longship. Further in lay the base of a tall cliff They might be able to build housing right next to the cliff and have fish, birds and seals and maybe even smaller whales to eating and to use for tools and clothes. 

   He looked around. No one would be chasing them this far, but if they did they would pay for that with their blood, for his crew still kept their weapons sharp.

   Askell double checked the depth and for any other movements. He would have to be on his toes to make sure nothing else hindered them.      

end

Good Work With Thread

        He sighed. He leaned back in his slightly stuffed chair-dirty gray after all these years. It was warm in here again. Too cold in the summer, too hot in the winter, even though just right in fall and spring. That meant winter existed outside. When he finished this grand design he would have to take a break and check it out. He liked the rain and fog. 

       A moment later when he took a second to watch the hundred and eleven threads come his way he realized something else. The cotton threads smelled of mildew. Only a wee bit, but enough for his nose to notice. The buyers wouldn’t. But it confirmed his idea of the season of the year. Tiny amounts of mildew only formed when it got hot after the threads got wet. It rained outside so they would get wet while they were brought in here, but then they would dry in the heat inside. And soon it may get in his mouth because very tiny amounts of mildew stayed on his hands. It built up after a while and would get on his tongue when he brushed his lips. 

      His hands played back and forth along his loom. He decided on which colors and which types of fabric joined the others to form the pattern he wanted. He liked the pure gold and silver threads he used at times. The bright colors were a nice break in the same colors most customers wanted. They felt more metallic too-a good change now and then. 

         The rattle the loom made was a subconscious song to him. Most of the time it went on without his mind paying attention. However if it sounded an off note he would know instantly. It had three weeks ago and he had gotten behind while it had been fixed. Now he was almost caught up with all of the orders. There would be always more for his work was excellent.   

      It hadn’t always been of course but over the long years he had gotten used to the old grey, stone walls behind him, the changes in the temperature and smooth wood on the loom. Even the strange way the many almost microscopic fibers in the air he breathed in changed the taste of his lunches. It didn’t matter what he brought with him, it always had a different flavor than at home. Except the once he had to use an oxygen tank for a few weeks because of a lung infection. He had been so glad to stop carrying that tank around, but he missed it at times during lunch. 

     He had been afraid he would die, perhaps falling over onto an unfinished project. Part of him wouldn’t have cared, this job had gotten boring. But they had cured him and now he again enjoyed the way the threads played over his hands and into the loom, forming the design he wanted. Afterwards he had taken chances with intricate motifs. Those he enjoyed the most and seeing, or reading, a customer express joy was worth the extra trouble. 

    The weather had become more enjoyable too. He didn’t use to like fog but now he did. 

     He paused to use a handkerchief to wipe perspiration from his forehead-to make sure he didn’t get any sweat on his project or in his eyes. Too much heat in the winter was still a pain though.  

      After many minutes, he smiled at the design that formed: a beautiful star field with golds, slivers, bright reads and some yellows. Yeah, this one would be great and worth the heat. 

end

Hope you enjoyed them and make a comment or two.

#fantasy #sciencefiction #history #steampunk #generalfiction #contests #freestories #freebies #shortstories #amwriting #blue #indie #saturdayscenes 

SaturdayScenes July 20 Four tales elsewhere

           #saturdayscene  July 20 ’19 

I am cheating a bit on this SaturdayScene and doing a repeat from last Aug. Which is why I added the year to the date. Most everyone who does read these most probably has not seen these already. If so please excuse the repeat. This set of four flash tales take place in other places. The first is Africa, second is somewhere around Norway and the North Pole, third is Africa too-a different part and time than the first story, and last Japan. You probably have seen a longer version of the viking story but still there other I don’t recall posting here before. As I implied before if I am wrong excuse me.   But do not forget my novels for sell, four great adventures, fun to read.  

So without further adeu here is story one:

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. 

     They stood the beginning of one side of the part of the Savanna where they came from. 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. The scents of grass, the droppings of lions, and desert air all 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. 

      It would be good to get back to the foods they knew, bread made from the grains they had grown with.

     Before going home though both had wanted to see the Tower. It looked manmade shape under many and many years of grime, 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 Masai from going there but he had given warnings, as far as they knew no one had climbed to the top-fear maybe or that it was just different?

      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 couldn’t be sure: she said that 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 even 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 shorter on the way up.

     No blacken areas with very old ash so no 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 examed the walls carefully for long minutes. Loiyan found lines in the inner wall like a doorway, The People used curtains over doorways, 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. The helicopter’s 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 it. 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 when he pressed then indentations, 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 stated that she 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 or someone else had lived in the Tower many many ages ago, they were now sure of but who? And how did they get the doors to open? They would never know. Maybe The People had climbed those steps and but they came away with more questions that could not be answered so they either forgot them or decided not to bother others with unanswerable questions.  Maybe when Loiyan became a warrior he would ask and come back with others who knew more than he did. For now though they would just go home, it had been too long since they had seen family. 

end

The Last Viking

The Viking looked over the side of his ship. The mountains rose out of the ocean, higher than he would want to climb anymore. The day looked cloudy and cold even though he was viking and therefore used to cold. While not as deep as in some places the water here was still deep enough to hide monsters, or even an angry whale. 

   Askell glanced along his longship. The wood looked aged, it had nicks, claw marks, and blacken areas. That last fire they barely got out in time. He supposed he could get one of the new style of ships with multiple masts but he, and his crew, were too old to change that much. 

   He stroked his grey beard, looked down. 

   "To port now!” He shouted

   Something scraped the hull as the longship turned too slowly. 

   So this ocean was not deep, those rocks were hard to see. Movement under the water, Oh oh, something huge lived down there. 

   It neared the surface and before he could cry out for them to raise oars, three of them hit it. It thrashed, caused water to splash into the longboat. Cold water that soaked their footwear. The oars didn’t break, thank Odin.

    He snarled, spat bile out. Nothing would sink them in this cruise.

     Once the water settled again he ordered them to head for the distant bit of land. It had what looked like a strip of land they could beach the longship. Further in lay the base of a tall cliff They might be able to build housing right next to the cliff and have fish, birds and seals and maybe even smaller whales to eating and to use for tools and clothes. 

   He looked around. No one would be chasing them this far, but if they did they would pay for that with their blood, for his crew still kept their weapons sharp.

   Askell double checked the depth and for any other movements. He would have to be on his toes to make sure nothing else hindered them.      

end

Congratulations 

      Jacob snarled, he wouldn’t let them smash him into the mud. He shoved against one man the same age as himself. That worthy went “ufff” as another two bodies jumped on top of the others. Some of them let out exclamations too. His lighter brown skin could easily be identified among their black skin. They all were from around here while he came from somewhere different.

     He twisted his body one way then another, kept his legs moving so they couldn’t be grabbed. He sneezed: someone wore an awful cologne. Probably Kensu. 

    Someone used both hands to shove him harder, forced his face toward the mud patch on the parade ground. The whole area was plain dirt, not even grass. Mud holes were not rare even though most of it was dry dirt. Light metal bleachers filled one side. But they would be of no advantage to Jacob, nor would the various light and speaker poles around the area.

    Jacob surged his back upward to flip off whoever was on his back. It didn’t work. He thought it was time to start punching and jabbing. A second thought, no one used fists, hands or feet as weapons. They all depended on brute strength, and their weight, to get his face into the mud. 

    Their grunts and heavy breathing filled his ears, but no name calling or obcentaites, which surprised him. He managed to get his feet and hands on the ground: one hand and knee splashed the mud around. He shoved upward and managed to stand as his attackers fell off. However his victory lasted one-second for someone tackled him and rolled with him toward the mud. Kerrich, he thought for. Sweat matted his hair, the clothes of those that touched him were clammy with it. He spat out the mud in his mouth-at least they used fresh water and mostly clean dirt.

    Again he tried to get his hands under him so he could shove off the ground, but two more joined in the, what was still called, a dog pile. His face inched closer to the mud. No! These guys weighed a lot even though he had proven himself the better, stronger fighter. 

    With a snarl he surged upward, but only moved an inch, more poundage landed on him. He could smell the mud, at least it seemed to be just water and dirt. Before he could take a breath his face smashed down into the mud. It filled his mouth when he breathed in, splashed up his cheeks, got in his ears and hair. A roar of victory followed that and with a suddenness that surprised him all of the weight vanished. 

    He jumped up, turned to face them. Eight young men stood in badly formed semi-circle. Their formation instructor would not be happy with that a part of his mind said.

    Half of them looked unsure, would he attack them?  

    The leader stepped forward but only so close. 

    He said, “Congratulations, you will be the first cadet to become Captain.”

    Jacob blinked, they knew that? 

   “We honor you with our traditions.”

   He nodded, for he knew of this one where they congratulated another cadet to raise in rank, but never expected to have it done to him. They had never really excepted him. 

   He spat though, to get the taste of the mud out of his mouth.

   Jon-Wel said, “The commissary has a new batch of Mars Malt beer. You can wash out your mouth with a bottle. I will buy the first one.”

   Jacob didn’t know if that was part of the tradition or because Jacob didn’t usually have much money unlike them. But…

   He smiled, “I would be happy to wash the mud out that way,”

  Some of the men looked relieved. 

  The leader nodded and motioned toward the store. 

  Jacob thought, He may never be one of them, but he had their respect and well wishes, that was good.    

end

            

The Way Stop Castle

Jounn turned in his saddle to face his friend Brock. He felt glad they had stopped. The horses hoofs had been stirring the sand dust. It made his mouth dry when he breathed it in, not to mention making him cough.

          “There is the castle I told you about.”

          After he spoke he looked back down from the small dune they both had stopped on. Night covered the desert which is what they wanted. It cooled quickly here after the sun went down. But the dark made it better not to be seen.

           The castle, a ruled by a neutral Duke far from England, sat on a hill. The neutrality though will probably have to change to one or the other roses, he thought. The structure looked gray tall and narrow with a full moon behind it. A village in front of it. Guards walked the wall. The gate looked still open even this late.

           Brock said, “That wall, most be a good ten feet hight and what? Three feet thick. It would hold an army for a while. If one came here at all.” 

           “I am not fearful of armies, but of sudden changes of neutral Dukes. Or of an assassin.”

          “You think they would really send one after us?”

          Jounn shrugged, “They have done it before. During the last bit of fighting, which I can barely recall, my cousin was challenged to a duel by someone who turned out to be en expert swordsman. After the duel the man disappeared but left a rose. I have heard of that all my life with warnings to be watchful.” 

          “But if you don’t trust the Duke, why stay here?”

          “We are not staying here. We present ourselves and the Duke gives us a suite of rooms. He knows me so will not think it strange that I would come here. We say we need to mediate over the conflict so we need to stay in the rooms without being disturbed. Once settled we change to less conspicuous clothes, bathe and be rid of traveling odors then head down to the stables. In my last two visits I learned that there is a back gate through the wall. It is small but a horse can get through. We get our horses and leave that way. Even if a guard sees us and if he should report it the Duke would be still able to say that he gave us rooms and then we left without even a proper thank you or good bye. That he knows not when, or where we went. Or even if we left the castle. We could be hiding among the vassals and others that live here.”

          “Do you think that will work?”

          “I believe it will, but we still need to be on our toes and watch. We will be able to get supplies for a long trek through the desert, but we hide our trail and head South, which might further confuse anyone that is sent after us.”

         “Well, that plan is better than no plan, or just running.”

        “As I said we will watch and keep our hands close to our swords and daggers. If he portrays us we will sell our lives dearly. If he is still neutral than we go as I said and leave him with an excuse.”

         His friend nodded and said, “Than we should make sure we have no roses on us then he can say he did not realize we had chosen sides.”

         Jounn nodded, picked off a brooch off of his chest, while his friend ripped off a fastener on his cloak, and started his horse down the dune. 

end 

    

Way of the Samurai 

      “You are late.”

    “I know, Father, I have no excuse,” even though I did-saying good bye and finding my round hat had not been easy. I had tied my waist long hair into one braid. My long dress would be help against the cold. I wore a lighter outfit under it, if it warmed. I suspect that my Father had on something under his armor. His helmet with the grimace face hid his face as it should. He wore his two favorite swords and I am sure a third. He stood between the posts of the gate as the sun sank. He looked magnificent.  

     He grunted and nodded once. 

     Our road led between two tall strands of bamboo over a rough surface. No one had come this way in years so they had not kept it up. The wind blew leaves around.

    Father was a hard man, but a tough, experienced, brave and honorable warrior. He showed his love in training me well so I would be able to defend myself and in teaching me honor. I have only the one sword though. I am not a Samurai so can not wear the armor but I am not sure I would want to.

     The air smelled strongly of bamboo and growing things. Maybe we should take some of the shoots to eat later, but Father is ready to leave now. 

     I sighted, I have already defended myself. That group of three thieves had shown surprise when their heads rolled to the ground. The last one had been a fair fighter-he lasted five swings. And months later, the first man I had killed for trying to dishonor me-he had been someone important. Later when questioned Father acted like he didn’t know who had killed him. 

     Now we go-to somewhere else. He has not told me where but I trust him. Maybe it was to protect me, or because he was tired of this place and just wanted to go to some place new, or he knew of something bad coming to this area soon. He would train me more in the way of the Samurai as we go. Maybe I would be able to make my own armor by the times we get there-if I decided to wear some.

    I am glad I had brought two skins of water and two bags of nuts and cooked rice, they would last if we found nothing else to eat later and didn’t collect the shoots here.  He would have something on under his armor too. 

    I kept my eyes on him and did not turn for one last look. 

end