Creature Feature: Peryton

By Tsaag Valren (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

• A Peryton is basically a stag with wings and feathers, some say it has the hindquarters of a bird.
• Its mortal enemy is the human.
• It is said to cast the shadow of a man, until it kills one, and then its shadow changes to the Peryton form.
• Perytons can only kill one man in its lifetime.
• They lived in Atlantis until an earthquake destroyed it, but the Perytons flew away to safety.
• Jorge Luis Borges is attributed to have created the Peryton in his story Book of Imaginary Beings. He stated he used a long-lost medieval manuscript as a source.
• Perytons are featured in many current stories, including (but not limited to) a Donald Duck comic, the bestiary of Dungeons and Dragons, and in the novel The Unicorn Sonata by Peter S. Beagle.

Isn't that a unique creature?

Have you ever heard of a Peryton before? 

Nightgale Blog Challenge #3 - Ahriman

It is time for the Thursday post of the Nightgale Blog Challenge, but before I make the big reveal, I need to make a correction.  Kristen Lamb's book I referenced in the post What's With the Blog Face Lift? is called Are You There Blog? It's Me, Writer. I had initially written the title wrong, and corrected it within the first day the post was published.  While it shows the correct title on the Edit Posts page, just now I made a comment and noticed the wrong title still in the post.  So, if you are interested in reading the book, please note the correct title. 

Also, I would like to thank Kelley from Between the Bookends and Hope from My Protector: The Calling for sharing the Versatile Blogger and the Kreativ Blogger Awards with me. I have to admit I get all warm and fuzzy inside when someone thinks of me for a blog award.  I'm going to share the love in a special edition post this weekend, so be on the lookout!

On to Ahriman...  The third prompt was To Die and Become One with Nature.

Ahriman

Samael scowled, and stood back, as far away from the scene playing out in front of him as he could get.

A wingless angel huddled, disheveled, on the ground before Ahriman. Her hands were bound behind her back, and a purplish bruise decorated the skin on her cheekbone. She avoided looking at Samael.

She knew why he was here.

Ahriman stalked around her, like a cat does a captured mouse. He turned to the Angel of Death.

“Why, Samael? Enlighten me. Why would an angel demean herself to become flesh and blood?”

Samael shrugged. If he didn’t answer, maybe Ahriman would get the hint, and get this over with.

The dark angel unsheathed a short sword from the scabbard at his waist.

“No? You don’t know.” He brought the sword down, stopping short of the angel’s head. She flinched, and Ahriman made a noise that might have been a laugh. “Don’t you ask when you take them to the Heavens? Oh, that’s right. They don’t go there, do they?”

“Are you about done?” Samael said, clenching his jaw.

Ahriman ignored him, and tilted the angel’s head with the flat edge of the sword so he could look into her eyes. “Why, precious angel, did you put yourself into such a position?”

She trembled, fear taking control of her body. Moving only her eyes, she tried to look away.

Swooping onto one knee next to her, Ahriman grabbed a handful of her hair, and yanked her head back. He put his face inches away from the angel’s.

“I asked you a question,” he snarled, his face twisted by fury.

A muffled sob escaped from her, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. The trembling of her body intensified to shaking. She closed her eyes.

Samael stepped forward, and then stopped, every muscle in his body poised for a fight he couldn't engage in.

“Just get it over with,” Samael said. He hated Ahriman more in that moment than ever before.

Ahriman let go of the angel’s hair, and made to walk away. Her face relaxed, and, in that moment, Ahriman turned and swung the short sword. It cut cleanly through the skin and bones of her neck. Before the head tumbled from her body, the angel’s spirit exited the prison of flesh. It had no form, and moved toward Samael like an earthbound cloud.

The cloud hovered in front of him. He could feel its anguish and fear from being disembodied and separated from I AM. It wasn’t right for an angel to end like this.

“You can go now,” he told the pulsating cloud. He ignored the dull ache behind his eyes as he watched the cloud disperse into the air currents.

Once the cloud had disappeared, returning to nature, he glanced over at Ahriman.

“Until next time,” he said, giving Samael a salute.

Samael watched as Ahriman crossed the room to leave, and remained silent. There was nothing to say. He would be there.
  
  

Exciting News and Samael - Nightgale Blog Challenge #2

I received an exciting e-mail today from the WOW - Women on Writing website, informing me that I survived the first round of judging in the Fall 2011 Flash Fiction Contest.  That means out of roughly 285 entries, my story is in the eighty-five that will be sent to the guest judge for the second round of judging.  I feel so lucky to even be in the eighty-five!

Here is the second installation of the Nightgale Blog Challenge.  The prompt was "Immortality comes to you, you do not go to immortality."  This story is a little longer, but has more action, so I hope it still reads quickly for you all.

Don't forget that on Friday I will welcome Jess Witkins for a guest blog.  I have read the blog, and it's a good one!  Please come and tell Jess "hi"!

Samael

Bright flashes of light sped past Samael as he hurtled through the Heavens.  He slowed when he reached the borders of space and time, and grimaced at the sudden sensation of gravity.  The pull on the essence of his being was disturbing, if not downright uncomfortable.

When he reached Earth, the city streets were cheery in the midday summer sun.  They gave no hint of the tragedy about to befall one man, and a chocolate Labrador Retriever named Brownie.

Samael checked his watch.  Two minutes to go.  He spotted Brownie down the street, leashed, and ambling toward him at the heels of his human.

The middle-aged woman wore yoga pants and a loose t-shirt that covered the bulges around her middle.  She had bags under her eyes, and limp hair that looked as tired as the woman did.

An angel named Dunrahl hovered near the duo, and, noticing Samael came over to him.

“Are you here for Sylvia? I wasn’t made aware of a change of assignment.”

“I’m not here for Sylvia.” He knew how rude he sounded, but didn’t care.  None of the other angels wanted anything to do with him.  The only reason Dunrahl came over was out of concern for the human. “The dog is coming with me, though.”

“Not good, Sam, not good,” the angel shook his head, “That dog is her life. She doesn’t have any family, and the dog is her only companion.” 

“It’s not my problem he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I’m taking him, and that’s how it is.”  Samael looked at his watch again.  The man should be arriving soon.

Samael leaned against the storefront window and watched the people milling around him while he waited.  A group of teenage girls window shopped through him, laughing and giggling about some important nonsense.  He wondered what they would do if they knew they had a brush with Death.

At that moment, a red Volkswagen bug careened around the corner.

Right on time.

The man inside slumped over the steering wheel.  The car bounced over the curb, and continued in a path headed straight for the woman and Brownie.

The woman’s eyes grew huge.  She screamed as the car bore down upon her and her doomed dog.

Samael shook his head. They always screamed. Why didn’t they run or fight? That made better sense than screaming.

Brownie had better sense. He strained at his leash, and pulled the woman out of the way of the car.

The man’s spirit popped free of his body as the car hit the building.  He landed in the street to the side of the Volkswagen. He looked around, an expression of pure confusion plastered across his face.

One down, one to go.

The car bounced off the building, and skidded sideways.

Brownie didn’t have a chance.  The front wheels slid over the top of him, crushing him. His spirit shook itself out of its body, like he’d just had a bath and needed to dry off.

The car slid to a stop inches from the woman.

Absolute silence followed the crash, and then chaos rang through the street.  Samael already heard the sirens of the rescue vehicles that had been called into action.

The teenage girls ran toward the wreckage, half-fearful of what they’d find and half-excited to have seen the whole thing.

Over it all, the wails of the woman pierced the air.  She knelt between the front and back wheels, next to Brownie’s lifeless body. She rocked back and forth, sobbing, and petted the dog’s head.

Dunrahl caught Samael’s eyes, with an expression that said “I told you so.”

Samael turned to the man, still in the middle of the street, and tried block out the woman’s anguished cries.

“Hey,” he said, “Over here.”

The man stared at him. “I… Am I dead?”

Samael raised his right eyebrow. “What do you think?”

Dunrahl gave him an aggravated glance.  He approached the man, and said, “You have to go to the Heavens now.  I AM has called you to return.” He jerked his head toward Samael.  “He will show you the way.”

The man looked at the Angel of Death with suspicion. “I’m supposed to go with him?”

Samael didn’t answer.  He had only heard half of the exchange, distracted by the scene next to the car. 

He watched the woman, his lips pressed into a straight line.  “Humans put too much emotion into their pets,” he muttered. 

Still, something about the woman’s grief pulled at him. He couldn’t look away from the dog, which had taken up his position at her heels, and sat patiently as she attended to his body.

He crossed over to the dog.  Its amber colored eyes were soft when he turned to face Samael.  Starting on his chin, the angel scratched the soft fur, worked his way up over the dog’s jaws, and finished at the hollow behind Brownie’s ears.

“All right,” Samael said, so only Brownie could hear.  He patted the dog on the head.  “Go back.”  He snapped his fingers, and pointed at the dog’s body.

Brownie bumped Samael’s hand with his nose, working his head under the angel’s hand.  The tension around the angel’s eyes lessened, and Samael felt his heart expand a bit. 

Aware of Dunrahl watching him, Samael scowled and said, “Now move it, before I change my mind.”

He strode back over to Dunrahl and the man.  He didn’t look back when cheers erupted from the group huddled near the car.

“Let’s go,” he motioned for the man to follow him, and headed for the Gate to the Heavens.

Zarya - Nightgale Blog Challenge #1

Here is my first flash-fiction for the Nightgale Blog Challenge.  The prompt for the day was "Through Hemlock."  It referenced the Keats poem Ode to a Nightingale, "That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim."

Zarya

Zarya took a deep breath, steadying herself for the conversation she was about to have with Paulo’s son.  Deep down, in places she didn’t want to acknowledge, she questioned the War.  Its consequences always weighed heavy on her, but even more so when she dealt with the children of fallen and wounded comrades.

Taking the last few steps to enter into the Battlement of the Stars, Zarya said, “I thought I’d find you here.”

Jordan watched the night sky from the Battlement of the Stars, his face pulled tight with worry. The cool breeze blowing across the plain ruffled the feathers of his wings.

He turned to face her.  He had to tilt his head to look her in the face.  She was tall, even for an angel.

 “Is he…?”

Zarya shook her head. “There wasn’t enough hemlock to wipe out his entire physical system, but they are still evaluating his condition.”

Jordan hunched further into his jacket.  “How come he got hurt?  He said he would be safe.”

“Have you heard the saying ‘Where angels fear to tread’?  There’s a reason for angels to be cautious when they are on Earth.  When your father took on a body, he became vulnerable to death.”

Zarya’s wings twitched. “We aren’t immortal when we’re in bodies.” 

Recognizing his silence for worry, she said, “Hey, he’ll be okay, I promise.” She put an arm around his shoulders, and squeezed lightly. “It’ll all be okay.”

She spoke with conviction she didn’t feel. Somehow Ahriman, or his followers, identified Paulo as an angel, and poisoned him.  They had brought the War to Earth, where angels could die.

Jordan looked out across the plain, his face twisted in a scowl. “So why would anyone volunteer to go down to Earth?”

“Because your father believed it a worthy risk,” Zarya said, wincing at how sharp she sounded. She leaned against a rampart, and crossed her arms.

“Your father has seen, on Earth, places every bit as beautiful as the garden of I AM.  Trees and plants grow large and green, water flows, and the air is sweet to breathe.” 

She followed the boys gaze, taking in the open expanse.  Trees no longer grew in the barren ground.  Scrub grass poked through the sandy, red soil.  The Citadel of the Stars was the last stronghold in this principality against Ahriman’s army.

“If we don’t stop him, Ahriman will turn the humans against us, and then the Battle will be lost forever.  Earth will be destroyed, the Angels will all be imprisoned, or murdered, and I AM will be alone.” She looked at Jordan.  “Our fate is tied to Earth’s… to the humans. We have to help them.

 “Jordan?” An angel from the infirmary called from the head of the stairs.  “Your father is asking for you.”

The boy’s face lit up.  He took several steps toward the stairs, and then turned back.  “Thanks, for staying with me.”

“Sure.” She watched until he disappeared down the stairs. Straightening up from the rampart, she smiled to herself, and said, “Thanks for making me remember why the risk is worthy.”