Writing Practice

writing practice 1: Elves are really cool

Day one

Green. For as far around as the eye could see there was only green. Leafy branches, extending out into a massive canopy. Gleaming grass and thick bushes, fed by seemingly impossible dapples of sunlight filtering down from above. The plants shifted slightly in the wind, rustling. The colour of leaves changed as drops of water trailed down them from the recent rain rolled down them. The shapes and texture of different plants and the interplay of light and shadow as the sun, the wind and the tiny movements of forest creatures shifted the woods minutely. There were many shades and flavours in the forest, a palette which the crude tongue of humans could not well describe.

Minori did not blame the humans for their lack of words however. They after all did not know the forest as its inhabitants did, and so would never have had time to fully describe it. They would never have time in their mayfly lives to sit as she did, watching the forest through senses which were far sharper than theirs even without the enchanted blindfold that covered her eyes.

Besides, there were plenty of other things that you could blame them for.

The forest echoed to the tramp of feet and Minori looked down from her high perch, her shifting cloak fitting her seamlessly into the canopy's background. Feet clad only in a thin layer of enchanted silk shifted slightly on the rough wood of the branch as she gazed down at the column passing beneath her.

There were several score humans, each dressed in a faded red surcoat over rusty and ill repaired chainmail armour. Most were on foot, a few on horseback. It was not the humans that held her attention though, but rather the vastly taller figure stomping along in the centre of the formation. The golem looked to have been built from a cage of wood around a giant's skeleton. Some effort had gone into fitting large iron plates to the frame. A massive and rather ungainly looking helmet, far too big to be properly sculpted sat atop its head.

The golem looked back and forth, eyes glowing with the flame of the lanterns behind them. Minori frowned. That was certainly new. These were fighters of a local bandit lord by the looks of it, but the golem was a new edition. Shifting slowly, the young elf let out a cry, too high for human ears, her magic carrying it through the forest in every direction. A sound of warning.

The last human passed out of view and Minori rose, ran and jumped, the enchantments on her stockings lifting her in a superhuman bound. She dropped, falling below her last position, and flung out an arm, enchanted rope coiling from her hand. The rope snaked around a tree, changing Minori's course and letting her land easily then spring off again as the hook untangled. Her pattern zigzagged, keeping always behind the column of humans.

A few minutes later she caught sight of another cloaked form moving through the trees, again all but invisible, but highlighted by the enchanted blindfold she wore. The other stopped about a hundred meters away, easy range for Minori's eyes - especially with the blindfold, and raised both hands to talk.

<<Minori>> The other elf's hand moved in a complicated pattern. <<Should we attack yet?>>

<<Lirna.>> Minori's hands rose in reply. The first sign was greeting, the rest instruction <<When they reach the Blue Tor, then we'll take them>> she looked down at the humans below <<We'll attack the golem. Hopefully when it falls the rest will flee.>> She grinned under her hood. <<Let's give them a scare they won't forget!>>

Day Two

<<You're so merciful Minori.>> Lirna signed <<Hey wait!>> Minori was already well ahead of her, jumping from tree to tree, her bow pulled from its leg holster and in her hands. The elf warrior shook the weapon once, snapping it out to full length, the string coiling around the end, ready for use.

Minori didn't need to look back to know her partner was following. She could hear the slight noises the other elf was making as she bounded after her. Drawing an arrow from the holster by her bow she quickly notched it, leaving the bow's silken string slack. The human column was slovenly as it moved, without even any observers looking backwards, not even an lookout platform on the back of the golem. That was good though, because any observer would be killed by the effect of the arrow.

Ahead a tall slab of unusual volcanic rock reared from the ground: the Blue Tor. It marked the boarder of the area where humans were permitted and as Minori approached, the back of the column just passing it. Beyond the tor there was a large area in which the lower canopy was absent. Most humans would not notice the difference, but to an elf it was obvious. Then again, the trees were crafted that way for a reason: to give people like Minori a clean shot. She leapt, cloak billowing around her and hanging for a perfect moment then drew and fired twice. Without even waiting to see if her arrows struck, the young elf spun in the air, a line snaking around the upper branch of a distant oak, yanking her into a new flight path to avoid any retribution the humans might launch. She heard the arrows though, two satisfying thunks as they struck the golem's wooden frame. The humans didn't know it yet but the battle was already over.

On the ground below, Gemmes the Baker Son, sworn man of the Duke of Foltenmer and just over eighteen summers old, scratched at his beard. He had heard rumours about the forest, they all had. Some told of the place as cursed. Others that there were great riches inside. Gemmes knew which ones the Duke believed, that after all was why he'd sent them. There was something about the woods he found off-putting though, a feeling that he was being watched.

He looked up and for a brief moment saw something flash by overhead, so fast he thought he'd imagined it. Then the golem began to howl, putting it's great hands to it's head. Its wooden frame distorting, as metal nails exploded free, iron plates hurtling off into the trees. The wood rippled, then green shoots exploded out and rammed into the ground. Men were running as the golem flailed, giant's bones crushed to powder as its limbs reached out, more green bursting forth from them.

Day Three

Gemmes ran too, not knowing which way he was going and not caring, so long as it was away from there. A nail flashed past him, imbedding into a tree with a thump. Gemmes didn't dare look back but he didn't need too. Around him the shadows changed, the tall silhouette of the golem growing larger, branching out into the form of a vast tree. The young soldier couldn't even conceive of the power needed to do something like that, he could only run.

Bushes tore at him as he crashed through them. The shouts and crashes from behind fading into the distance. He kept going, then stumbled and tripped over a log, slamming into the ground hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs. Even this didn't bring him to a halt: the soft earth beneath him gave way, and gravity gave his armoured body a rough yank. Gemmes rolled and slid forward, wheezing, finally coming to rest with a painful bump at the bottom of the slope. Whimpering he rolled to his knees and tried to push himself up on a fallen log. Slowly, pushing up on his arms as much as shaking legs, he managed to rise enough to perch on the tree. Wincing slightly and taking deep breaths, he looked around then slowly got to his feet.

The forest around him seemed uninhabited. He could hear birds, the rustling of leaves, his own breathing. Nothing from others who might have escaped the ambush... had it even been an ambush? Maybe it was just some enchantment of this place? He looked back up at the sheer bank. Foolishly he hadn't checked way he'd was running. He hadn't seen the bank when he'd entered the woods so he must have run deeper inside.

Pulling the water skin from off the side of his knapsack, Gemmes took a long drink. Running at such a frantic pace in full armour and heavily loaded had been foolish, and now his body ached all over. He looked back up at the slope but didn't fancy the climb. Instead he began to work his way along it, looking in both directions. To one side there was a clearing, and Gemmes saw something shining inside it. Carefully of his footing, his ankle aching, he walked that way. Perhaps it was a pool where he could refill his skin.

When he saw what actually lay in the clearing though, Gemmes stopped, goggling.

Silver towers rose out of the woods, connected by gleaming paths of white marble. Trees and flowering plants grew in profuse gardens around the great buildings, stretching far overhead. Between the towers graceful figures clad in fine silks went about their business, chatting to one another in lyrical cadence.

Gemmes opened his mouth, then heard a slight sound behind him. He was still turning when blackness took him.

Day Four: Second Practice

Nadia sat, her tall figure stretched out with untidy grace in a form conforming chair, long coat that was almost the symbol of an officer of the Terran Hegemony loose around her. In one hand she held an old style touch screen phone, long dark skinned fingers playing with the screen. There was a click as the door down the hall opened. "Major Miziku." The secretary was brown haired, slim, older than Nadia looked, but not much. "The Minister will see you now."

"Thank you." Nadia pressed the screen and stood, pocketing the phone. There was a bright flash outside. The secretary eyes swiveled drawn to it. Darkness and weight pressing down on her. A low shudder through the floor and the body atop her jerked, then withdrew, returning her sight. The windows had broken, synthetic mostly still hanging in its frame but some parts spread across the floor.

"W-what?" The secretary babbled, squirming out from under Nadia. The Federation officer looked down at her, sheepish, then shook her head. In the distance there was another explosion. Air raid sirens began to sound.

"Looks like the Arcturans have decided to invade." The humour in her voice vanished "God find your boss and get to the a shelter. I've got to go."

"But... but...!"

"Go." Nadia instructed firmly, pushing her back the way she'd come. The youthful looking officer brushed herself off. Her coat had absorbed most of the splinters but she could feel blood running down the side of her head. "Ouch." she murmured, reaching around to gingerly pull out a shard of synthetic. The flesh beneath healed over almost instantly. Nadia was already moving down to the building's entrance at a half run. At the doorway she dropped to a crouch and peered outside.

For an instant after she reached the door, Nadia saw only panicked people. Civilians cringing against the ground, frantically aiding or just yelling in horror at people injured by shrapnel or runaway vehicles. The main traffic system must have gone down. For a second it was almost possible to imagine this as merely some terrible accident, some awful computer error. A horrid, but non-systemic problem.

And then the God Machine thundered overhead, turning to touch down, arms crossed in the large park at the end of the road. Nadia ducked back inside and scrambled over to one of the open windows, kicking out the mostly complete square of synthetic and going out after it. A rocket blasted down the street from a distant tower block, streaking past out of Nadia's sight towards the golden machine. There was a loud explosion then a moment's pause before the top of the skyscraper pinched inward, as if some giant hand had grabbed both sides and squeezed. Debris fountained from the ruin then the whole building began to fall.

Nadia risked peering around the corner of the building. The god machine stood untouched, no evidence that the missiles had even struck it. There was another thunderclap and a swarm of artillery submunitions rained down on the golden figure, wreathing it in explosions but achieving nothing else.

This mission the federation special operative thought has gone to shit.