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Thursday, April 6, 2017

WARRIORS OF THE WAY, EPISODE ONE Starshine Is Lost to Me






WARRIORS OF THE WAY

EPISODE ONE
STARSHINE IS LOST TO ME




      I awoke to find a flower crushed underneath my cheek. I had not noticed it when I lay down the night before but then I had been too tired and too grief stricken to notice anything but the aching in my heart. I had walked for many miles, having lost my horse to the bite of a viper on the hillside far behind me. Starshine. Black as midnight with a white star shaped mark on his neck and star shaped sprays of white on his two front legs. A magnificent horse, my childhood companion, my best friend.

      His death had come as a great shock and one that I wondered in my loneliness if I would ever overcome. How had I been so careless? How had he? We both had ears and eyes like hawks and had never been attacked unawares in all our years together. Perhaps it was in our weariness of long journeying that we had become fatigued and let down our guards. Perhaps we had taken our protection for granted much too long. But he had been my guardian as I had been his. I could not remember a day of my life without him in it. Till now. How could I ever forgive myself? 

     The viper had appeared out of nowhere, long and fat and golden hued, like no snake I had ever seen. I had dismounted Starshine and had climbed to the top of a tree to scan the horizon when it happened. The horse made no sound, gave no cry for help, raised no alarm. When I'd made my way back down the tree, taking my time and humming a melody I had heard in the last village we'd passed through, I jumped down laughing and shouted, "Starshine, my friend! I have spotted a lush green field for thou to graze ......."

      And there I saw him, still as death itself, his sweet eyes closed and no breath coming from his nostrils. Lying on his sleek, black rump, there coiled the viper, it's cold, intelligent eyes looking at my expression, almost, it seemed, in mocking amusement. I felt a tremor go through my body as I stood frozen in disbelief and anguish.
       "H..h..h.how?" I gasped in a tiny whisper of voice, feeling for the first time in years like a helpless child. The viper stretched out to it's full length and struck Starshine behind his unhearing ear as if to answer then turned his yellow eyes back to me and disappeared from sight. Finding my feet and voice, I sank to my knees beside my faithful friend and sobbed until I could sob no more. I wept until his silky mane was soaked with tears and I had caressed his beautiful face and flanks a thousand times. I had never felt so alone. 

      I didn't know how to say goodbye. I refused to say goodbye. The morning with it's azure skies and golden sun so full of promise became my heart's saddest day. I hated the tree I had climbed, the hill on which it stood, the land in which it grew. But most of all and more than anything I had ever experienced; I hated that viper! I swore vengeance on the creature and made no apology for it. Fury flowed through my veins like lava, shut down my mind and took my soul on a journey I had never made before: to the dark side of myself. 
                                   
      During that journey, I would learn to distrust, to fear, to question all that I had been taught. To walk alone, to love and to know a different, more terrifying kind of heartbreak. I would lose my faith and find it again in strangers and places I did not know existed. Worst of all, I would learn that I could not trust my own eyes or ears or heart. For, from that day forward, nothing would ever be as it appeared. Nothing. Not even the person that I had always imagined myself to be. Everything changed after the encounter with the snake. Light became dark, the familiar became strange, the tangible, intangible and the road I traveled on, a seemingly never-ending quest to find understanding of the mysteries. But the world would never be the same. Everything changed for me at the tree.




        TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE TWO............

https://bluevineyard.blogspot.com/2019/08/warriors-of-way-episode-2.html






                                        





               True Strength by John Dreamer




9 comments:

  1. Where did you leave your comments, David?

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  2. This is where you leave comments. Did you Follow my blog yet????
    Maybe that's why. IDK

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    Replies
    1. I hated that she lost her horse. And now she’s on her own, on foot. Where’s a cowboy when you need one.
      That crushed flower underneath her cheek was a symbol of her crushed heart. The moment the flower was crushed it must have released a sweet aroma, a fragrance. Her crushed heart reminded me of that flower, releasing all that grief until she was spent. This is what I see so far!

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    2. Yay, David! You did it!!! I'm not crazy!!!!! Blogger is!!!! lol Great. Prepare yourself! This story will take you
      to the heights and to the depths!!!! Full of romance, mystery and adventure. Totally wrote it on line while commenting
      back and forth with friends....like this. I don't knw how I did that but it worked. Welcome to Warriors of The Way World!!!!!

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    3. How do I get on your blog? Maybe that's my problem with sending.

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  3. Hey you! I found the original post that I sent but got lost somewhere recently. I know you would like to have all of your posts, especially an original as this one. So here it is below:

    I read the first episode and my heart felt her pain as I read this. I am saddened about her horse. He was her inseparable companion and Friend. And to lose him this way was tragic. The first two lines had me hooked though. Why? You are probably asking yourself. Well, because I saw her feeling down and blaming herself for the tragedy. The crushed flower was her heart! She was broken from her loss and spent and helpless. With a flower. If you take a petal from a rose or a flower and squeeze, crushing it between your fingers, it releases a sweet aroma. Her crushed heart had released her emotions as she shed her tears, emptying her of her pain. I could sense that in her. But her fury took over and now I worry about her. But I’ll have to read the next episode and go from there. I’m going to enjoy each of these episodes. Will you be ready for my interpretations?
    By the way. I've noticed she doesn't have a name. So I'm going to think of a name for her. If she has one please let me know, otherwise I'm searching for her a great name. Have I commented on the third one? I finished it and I did not see where I had commented. My mind is so cluttered and numb at the moment that I don't even know what day it is. Seriously!
    I'm really getting into these. I may go to Aachoo for a moment and read them. I need to see what she's getting into next. I don't think Lancey' boy is all there. He bugs me. I don't trust him. You see how I get involved in these short stories?



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  4. You are a character, David!!! haha Yes, she has a name!!! Just wait for it!!!
    And I LOVE your interpretations!!!! They are spot on!!!! Later on you will see the deeper
    meanings of everything!!!! The story builds slowly and lays a foundation. Only Warriors of THE WAy will
    recognize and see this. trust me.

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    Replies
    1. I'm replying to this one. After reading the entire story, I am hooked! She's quite a character. If I was one of the story characters I would have already won her over! Maybe in chapter 40 I might just be that character. Hey, a guy has to have something to hope for! Right?
      BTW (that means by the way) I've left you a few more little goodies to find. They're out there!

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