Voyages

#WriteFridays Challenge on http://infamous-scribbler.com/blog/ Story Cubes Challenge

King Nikolai peered out the tall window, paced around the room, and returned to the window, looking out it again, searching the horizon. Clearly anxious, he turned and seated himself at the head of a long, heavy dark table and dined alone. His heavy crown was on the table beside him.

The only light in the cavernous dining hall came through the tall window on the outer wall. The sun passed behind a bank of clouds, the room darkened .

The king picked at his meal of boiled crab,distracted and agitated. The disruption caused by the increasing darkness only served to make him more disturbed.

He got up from the table and walked over to the sole window, on the ledge was his telescope, he picked it up and peered down the road leading to the castle. Where was Sir Argent? The knight had ridden off two days ago with a small entourage to collect the taxes due from the surrounding villages.

He spotted three horses with riders as they exited the edge of the forest. Sir Argent's banner was held by one, but it almost trailed on the ground. Another rider was slumped on the neck of his mount. Only one rode upright, Sir Argent, the king recognized his distinctive helmet with its golden horns. Ten riders had left; only three returned.

As the king hurried down the stairs, and through the passages to the drawbridge he wondered what could have happened. There were rumors in the kingdom the shopkeepers and the farmers were angry with the increased taxes that were collected to fund the war against king Ethelred in the kingdom across the Great Valley.

"Open the gates!" the king commanded. "Sir Argent is approaching." He watched as the guards applied their strength to the long handles on the gears that connected to the chains that lowered the drawbridge down over the moat surrounding the castle. The gears creaked, the chains rattled, and the huge gate thudded heavily as it hit the ground on the other side.

The three riders crossed the bridge, the king could see they were injured. Sir Anthony turned to the castle guard and commanded "Close the gates, they are right behind us!" He dismounted and faced the king. "Your Grace," as he handed over a small leopard fur pouch "this is all we could collect. We were attacked by a large angry mob in Middleford. Farmers, yeomen, the shopkeepers, there were too many of them. Sir Giles, my bannerman and I were the only to survive."

King Nikolai looked at the paltry few coins, he knew he needed pots, chests full of gold to continue the battle. This war against King Ethelred had taken a heavy toll.

Story cubes image below

Author's Note

Words in italics are the images on the cubes.

Reviews

[Bright Ocean Star]

Ha-ha! I love this idea. You used the story cubes to inspire a real, written story. Wonderful! Is this some kind of writer's game of chance? Or a challenge, perhaps? You brought the King's chamber and his anxiety alive. Very nice writing, Noel. I really enjoyed this one. I was sad it was so short..:)

[NoelHC]

Thank Bright. Indeed it is a challenge. A good friend of mine sent me a link to her friend's blog at http://infamous-scribbler.com/blog/ The owner of that blog has a project with a new challenge every Friday. She would be happy to have others take it up. My write the week before for this is on here Anxiety Dreams. It was short as I was traveling last weekend, and just cranked it out. I have another I am tidying up, and will post tomorrow.
Thanks for checking in and for the kind words.
PS my friend that challenged me got 3500 words out of the same cubes. Check http://liteffusions.blogspot.ca/

[wordman]

well noel this is a great idea,you should sponcor a contest here

[NoelHC]

The concept is that of another author, she is a friend of a friend and posts her challenge weekly on her blog. I have enough reading and reviewing to do on here without taking on a contest as well.

[wordman]

i understand that

[Jennie Baron]

Well done! You met the challenge admirably--with cleverness and imagination.

[NoelHC]

Thanks Jennie. I find I really look forward to these challenges every week.

[Mr_M]

Fantastic idea. This was a very clever and refreshing piece. Top drawer.

[NoelHC]

Thank you for the visit and the kind words.

[Lyn Anderson]

Very interesting challenge, and over all well done. I stumbled a little over Sir Argent - (Sargeant? -- was that intentional?) Lastly, I think you meant war in the last line.

[NoelHC]

Actually I was thinking in French as the knight had to go collect coin from the villages, I was thinking silver... argent. Indeed war is the word I intended, thanks, I will fix it post haste. Thank you for reading and commenting.

[ron]

This is a great story.
Never heard of story cubes but I like the idea.
Once again Noel you have written something great.
I only wish I could write like you.

[NoelHC]

Thank you Ron, I appreciate your kind words. I am just going to upload another story, check it out. Soul Mates - The Meeting is the title.

[NoelHC]

I am not surprised the king and knights would appeal to you BTW. : )

[ron]

Your very welcome Noel.
Lol why what ever gave you that idea.

[Claudia Stark]

That was fun, love what you did with the story cubes great job!

[NoelHC]

Confession, that cube lower right at the 5 o'clock position, I have no idea what the picture is. It became a leopard skin pouch! : )
Thank you for your kind words Beth. I saw you have been busy and will have to get back to your writing.

[Pryde Foltz]

Challenge met, I say. When one is set on war … they are their own greatest enemy.

[NoelHC]

Thanks Pryde, I had never heard of these cubes, when a mutual friend (her entry is at http://liteffusions.blogspot.ca/) introduced this to me last week. It was interesting to look at these 9 images and come up a story about them. My friend was very inspired, she write over 3500 words. English is her second language, so her effort was doubly impressive.

[Pryde Foltz]

3500 words a day … that is impressive.

[NoelHC]

She did that in a few hours in the evening. actually. It was her second effort at creative writing, after about 10 years of business and sport communications.