This story continues a series of short fiction exploring some of the Faerie Shepherds and Shepherdesses within my fantasy world. Read below the story for further explanation and head over to the Tales of the Faerie Shepherds if you’d like to read more!
High atop the peak, rose a resolute aerie. Hidden within, Elsu bowed his head. Unrest filled him as he tuned in to the pain and fear nature revealed. Few men would be allowed inside an eagle’s nest, but Elsu was no mere man. Faerie Shepherd of Nature and Feathered Creatures, he had long listened to the shifting in the earth beneath him, the rustling of feather-tips all around and the whispers rising in the trees and rocks.
Tonight, whispered dirges drifted on the wind where joyful chatterings had played mere hours before. The promised chosen had arrived, delivered at the perfect time. Maelphaeus quelled all celebratory sounds, though, as he took this occasion to unleash his Daemons across the realms. Their chains unbound, or at least loosened, the degenerate creatures spread terror in their wake.
Elsu felt each beat of the earth’s mourning complaint through his bare feet as its trembling ebbed and flowed beneath them. The wind rose, wrapping him in its urgent pleas as it caressed the long black hair that usually hung in braids, clinging securely to his waist. The brown runes across his dark chest began to twirl and dance; his hair waved against the wind, directing it and driving its movements. As the tattooed markings took their leave of Elsu’s chest to dance around the Shepherd, he lifted his head toward the heavens. Two golden beams of light shone forth as he opened his eyes. Arms outstretched, hands uplifted, Elsu called out,
Unisomuntia; unisomuntia, Dhae. Gun ta mi toren ei ventis quattuoris. Voíthetia mi fleigh.
A golden shimmer remained around his sparrow-brown eyes as Elsu scaled the aerie’s wall. Music—a swooshing sound—met him, and he joined in with a chanting duet. In the Feathersong of the Eagles, Elsu called out his charge to intercept Maelphaeus’ demonic hordes.
Arms outstretched, Elsu soared.
“Feathersong in the Aerie” Copyright © 2019 by Joy E. Rancatore. All Rights Reserved.
What do you think about this world of mine that I’m building? Elsu first appeared in “Beneath the Green Corn Moon.” If you enjoyed this story, please head over to my site to read the entire Tales of the Faerie Shepherds series.
This month’s story flowed from the inspiration of a delightful monthly online writing prompt, #BlogBattle. As you will read on their site, “Blog Battle is a monthly writing prompt meant to inspire writers and entertain readers.” To read several outstanding stories inspired by August’s prompt, “Intercept,” head on over to the BlogBattlers site!
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Vivid story! It comes across as the beginning of something ‘really big’ about to happen. I’ll hope one of your future installments will show us what happens next!
I was intrigued by the use of Elsu’s language. Is it something you made up? Is it based on Latin or French? It seemed I could almost translate it, which made it a nice touch to the story!
Thank you so much for reading and for your kind comments!! I call this language Riefaerlish. It is the common language amongst my Faerie Shepherds and Shepherdesses. I’m taking bits and pieces from Latin, Gaelic, various Native American languages, some bits from a D&D site I stumbled upon and my own odd imagination to build it (so, I do actually have a translation!). I’m nowhere near Tolkien’s genius, but I love linguistics. Several of these stories have a line or two of my language, and I have the baby beginnings of a grammar. I’m really having a blast with it. I fully expect it to change and morph as I get deeper into the world once I begin writing the books next year, but I’m pleased with the start I have!
Loving the continuation Joy. I can’t help but think the aerie is almost the last high vestige while the world below falls to Maelphaeus. Unlike Abe above, I’m privy to previous instalments. We’ve both noticed many of us are now serialising via BB. That said mines a bit out of my genre this time and a tangent away from what I was doing! No wyverns at all! Terrible.
I’m also intrigued by Elsu’s language too. Keep this up and you’ll have to have an entire translator built. I also tried translating but couldn’t find anything. If it’s yours then major kudos!
No wyverns?!?!?! I don’t even know you! LOL
Thank you for the kind words, Gary! I have so much fun with these stories and, with each one I write, the world becomes more clear. This world promises to be much larger than just the Elspeth series I plan to start with. Elsu, Marin, Montana and Mac Teàrlach’s stories run parallel to Elspeth’s and do overlap, but I believe their tales will need to be told through a whole other series! Like I shared with Abe, Riefaerlish is a language I’m creating as I go; and I am having a blast doing it!
A pleasure as always Joy! I so get the fact that world builds get bigger the more you get to know them. I’m suffering similar issues with mine!! They do so easily begging to say series too. Readers, I suspect, have no idea about the amount of imagination and work to get books into a publication…caveat…unless they write too!
Nice touch with the language creation too. I can see that might have a whole heap of structure needed to make it work properly too.
So true! Story begets story, right? LOL
Wow! I loved this! Your prose is really beautiful; it has a delicate, gentle quality to it — much like the feather of a bird. I agree with A E Branson, this feels like the start of a jaw-dropping epic. I really like Elsu as a character, too — I’d love to read more this Shepherd of Nature.
Your writing has a magical feel — it somehow reminds me of being a child and playing the Legend of Zelda games!
Such high praise!! Thank you, Joshua! I’ve really fallen for Elsu and look forward to writing much more about him as I flesh out his character. The starting story for this world is with Elspeth, who is the highest of the Faerie Shepherdesses. Part of her story launched publicly in The Crux Anthology (alongside one of Gary’s stories!), and her books will be the first I write beginning in 2020. But, Elsu is a character who keeps whispering to me. He won’t let me ignore him, that’s for sure! I believe he will have his own book at some point. 🙂