This is not only in reference to this blog , my facebook page or twitter(a concept i don't completely get), this is my writing in general. I had planned to have book 2 of the MFLI series written by now, however I am just over 10,000 words into it. I have the Two Thrones short story that I haven't even looked at. The Violet Eclispe part 2 still in the first chapter. The words have been fleeting. I don't call it writer's block, that is to say I don't know where I want to go. I know where I'm going, It's telling the reader how I'm getting there.
The plan now is to rekindle my effort both as a writer and a promoter. To start here is a unedited MFLI flash fiction "The Ship"
MOORE FOR LESS INVESTIGATIONS: THE SHIP
I wasn't always uneasy about heights.
Hell, in the heat of the moment I forget that I have and aversion to
heights not confined by sturdy walls or solid glass. Still heights
and I do not get along for one very simple reason; I'm prone to fall
from them. A few years of military service and a few more as an
officer of the Luimere Police force and I had managed to never step
foot onto an airship. And there I was free falling in open air, the
beautiful city of Luimere below; hurtling toward me faster than an
airship soaring across the sky.
Captain Ovur Brassbeard was an old
friend from the war. He used to talk about flying one day and he had
spent his life savings on “The Sun Bird”. 'The Sun Bird” was a
modest frigate class ship coveted for air travel. She was fit for
carry cargo and people alike. Ovur was as far as anyone knew, the
first dwarf to captain an Airship.
From what I gathered, many of the
other captains did not take like the idea. A length of rope lashed in
front of me. I stretch out and grappled onto the flailing line for
dear life. The pain of the intense burning sensation that followed
flared up my arms. I could feel the skin tear and a good length of
the rope became red with my blood.
I clinched my teeth and grit through
the sensation. I looked up to see “The Sun Bird” and “The
Maiden's Wish” dancing a slow aerial waltz bound together by gang
planks and ropes. I could hear the sounds of battle high in the
clouds. Blades clashed, guns flared and occasionally some unfortunate
soul fell from the sky. I heaved myself up the rope, my accelerated
healing went to work replacing my rope burned flesh. How did I get
here you ask?
A few days ago after her maiden
voyage, “The Sun Bird” found herself displaced. Ovur was rudely
awaken to his ship overrun by pirates. Most of his men were killed
and he was left to fend for himself in the Scarred Lands. A ruined
bit of land torn asunder by the war. Ovur and his remaining men
managed to return to the city.
A dwarf on a mission, Ovur found his
way to my office door. I'm a private detective and finding a stolen
airship in a city of one million people was not as difficult as one
might have thought. It was a matter of asking the right questions to
the right people in the right places. Having a few sovereigns to pass
around did not hurt either. I'm a firm believer if you want to catch
a thief, then logically you should ask a thief.
It did not take log to discover there
was an abandon shipyard in Lower City Luimere, that had recently been
very occupied. I did my due diligence and broken into said shipyard
to discover “The Sun bird as it had been described to me,
undergoing several cosmetic changes. I discovered that the leader of
the pirates was a human named Captain Brikland.
I continued my progression up the
rather long length of rope. Another man fell from one of the ships
above. I swore as I narrowly avoided colliding with the pirate. His
brief scream echoed through my mind like the sound of a passing
train's whistle. I increased my pace tapping into the power of my
beast. This situation had gotten out of hand.
Honestly, I should not have been
there. Hang from a rope some twenty feet below the two floating
vessels. I had returned to Ovur and explained all that I had seen. I
tried to break it to my friend that she was lost. A foolish mistake
on my part. I had forgotten that I was dealing with a dwarf, an
eccentric one, yes, but a stubborn dwarf nonetheless. I could not let
him and a few good flyboys go into battle alone. It was against my
nature and Ovur knew it.
So here we were, having it out in the
open sky above the grandest city the world. A rag tag group of
flyboys and private detective against a gang of sky pirates. I cursed
myself for not agreeing to were the mechanical wings Lucy had
crafted. I heaved myself over the rail to “The Sun Bird's” deck
and narrowly rolled out of the arc of a slashing cutlass. I swept the
legs from the man and with a smooth motion drew Lucy from her holster
and fired.
I have very little reservation for
killing. In fact I have, but one rule “Self- Defense.” I
holstered Lucy and picked up the dead-man's cutlass. The balance was
awful, but I had less chance of hitting an ally with the sword, than
my gun. I parried an incoming strike and cut down another pirate
while surveying the two ships.
Ovur was at the rear or aft, I am not
familiar with nautical terms. I ducked under another swing and
effortlessly toss my assailant off the ship. I made my way toward
Ovur who was crossing blades with Brikland. The old dwarf had not
lost a step with his double edge battle axe. Cannon fire rocked the
ship sending splintered wood and soon to be corpses skyward. I held
on tightly to the banister with no desire to attempt wingless flight
again. I heard a shot fire from behind me. The bullet tore through my
right shoulder blade and out through my chest.
I roared in rage as I fell to one
knee, blood spilled from the wound covering the wood planks. I turn
and with merely a seconds glance hurled the cutlass at the gunman.
The bladed turned end over end before planting itself firmly in the
man's chest pinning him to the center mast. The hole left from the
bullet slowly closed, The shattered bone knitted itself back
together, the flesh healed shut, the bleeding stopped but my rage, my
rage did not subside. Leagues in the air among so many, was not the
place to let my rage get the best of me.
I withdrew Lucy and emptied her wheel
on to the deck. I reached for the spell infused bullets on my belt. I
grabbed the one I knew contained the frost spell. Not my bullet of
choice, but firing a ball of fire on a ship made of wood being held
aloft by a mass tank full of hydrogen was not the most logical course
of action. I grabbed a second containing an acid spell, while
tripping a passing pirate.
I knocked another pirate sternly
across the head with the butt of my pistol and took aim at Captain
Brikland. I gave no warning, no preamble, no question. The two tiny
vials of green liquid bubbled like boiling hot water. The elvish
runes etched into the barrel and on the wheel took on chilled blue
glow. I pulled the trigger, the gun fired to the sound of shattering
ice. A cloud of frost filled mist rocketed forward in a light blue
jet stream.
The cloud struck the unsuspecting
pirate Captain freezing him in place mid swing instantaneously.
Everything went quiet as the crew of three ships paused in
astonishment. Everyone at the fearful captain that had become a
statue of wind blown ice. I walked over to frozen captain coolly and
pointed the pistol at his head. I turned to the onlookers and shouted
over the wind.
“Good Day to you all. I am Marcus
Moore nd as you can see, I have disabled your captain. At the moment
he is not dead, though for how much longer depend on his capacity to
hold his breath. That, however is not his pressing issue. The first
shot from this pistol was a tier two ice spell; currently in the
chamber is a tier one acid spell.” I said waving Lucy, then pointed
her back at Captain Brikland's head.
“So, gents. Do your Captain a favor
and put down you weapons or we will all have the pleasure of
witnessing your captain's face melt off.” They stood there in
disbelief.
With the pummel of my pistol I
shattered the ice around Captain Brikland's mouth. He gasped for air
in big gulps through purple lips.
“What say you Captain?” I asked in
a completely uncaring manner.
He grumbled through chattering teeth.
“Do ask he says, you scurvy dogs.”
A chorus of steel on wood planks rang
through the air. Hands went up to reveal pirates free of weapons.
“Captain Horus?” I shouted.
“Yes, Marcus?” The human Captain of
the “Maiden's Wish” answered.
“Do you have a brig on the Maiden
Wish?” I inquired.
“That I do.”
“Very well, then lets get these boys
rounded up. There is a sizable bounty for this lot. There is sure be
more than enough to cover the damages and expenses.” I said with a
smile.
“Sound good to me, old chum.”
Captain Horus agreed. Horus was another old war-buddy and worked the
same company as Ovur and I.
I felt a pat on my lower back as the
crew of “The Maiden's Wish” marshaled the pirates.
“You done it, lad” Ovur said with a
smile.
“No, we did it. I just helped a bit.”
“Still a modest lout, Marcus. Take
the damn compliment and thank ye for getting me ship back.”
I shrugged my shoulders “It is what
you hired me to do.”
We clasped hands, “Now, Ovur if you
don't mind could you land this ship? I'd really like to get off now.”
The dwarf captain laugh a hearty and
went about taking us home.
Progress Report:
MFLI: The Machine- 10589
Violet Eclipse Part 2- 1512
Two Thrones- 7014
