Excerpt From Otherworld: Volume One
Excerpt from Otherworld: Volume One
Cluck. Jo looked down, one foot raised. Underneath sat an orange and white chicken. It tilted its head at Jo’s foot, blinked beady black eyes, and clucked again.
“Is that-”
“Roast!” A deep voice called. Surprisingly, the chicken answered. It flapped its wings as it went running down the path. The chicken named Roast squeezed between two fence posts to dutifully return to its owner.
“Sorry, we’re just passing through,” Jo called to him.
He put his hands to his pointed phyrra ears and yelled, “What?”
Jo walked closer. “We’re just passing!”
“Oh, well welcome. I’m Kho, this is Roast.” Taller than most phyrra, Kho was only a couple inches shorter than herself. He had sandy chin length hair, honey colored skin, and dark freckles dotting his face. A wispy beard decorated his chin and jaw. His clothes were dirty and patched over, and his hands were closed around a pitchfork that he set to the side to scoop up Roast. Kho lifted the chicken’s wing gently, waving it up and down.
“Hm,” Maven grunted over Jo’s shoulder. “Never seen that before.”
“Her brother Toast should be around here somewhere.” Kho looked around the yard, shading his eyes against the sun.
“Toast,” Lola echoed over Jo’s shoulder.
Cluck.
A brown and black chicken looked up at Lola from behind her. Toast drew back his head and pecked at Lola’s ankles with all his might. When she shrieked, Jo had to cover her mouth to avoid laughing. Not everyone else on the team had the same courtesy. Kho looked between them. “Where are you all… from?”
“We’re… well…” Jo trailed off, unsure how much to share with this random farmer.
“We’re headed from Lekonis,” said Lola carefully, “towards Ipbo. We hear they’re debuting airboats for the holiday.”
Kho looked between Glade sweeping their tail behind them to ward off attacks from Toast, and Iila, who was trying on her most winning, and most terrifying, grin. “Alright then.”
The sun beat hot on the farm. Animals were sheltering under woven awnings and lapping at water gratefully. Jo thought about her own empty canister. “Would you by chance have water for some friendly passersby?”
Kho looked apprehensively at the weapons at their belts and slung across their backs. He shrugged and waved them forward. “Thought you wouldn’t ask.” He didn’t sound happy; in fact, Kho’s voice was trembling.
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More Posts from Quillrosetellsstories and Others
River Flows in You
Bare feet slip through mossy banks
On the other side of a bubbling creek, filled with watercress,
Is a deep path
Leading to a breathtaking waterfall.
“This way,” a teacher says,
Shoving a fistful of fresh-plucked watercress into his mouth.
Students and staff follow, in order of their eagerness
The sharp snap of the plant dances on every tongue.
Hidden and rocky though the path may be,
Treasures await the fresh-faced explorers
A waterfall spills into the creek, misting the group,
As they all file into a hidden cavern behind the rushing waters.
Teachers don’t lecture the students as they fill their cupped palms and stick their little feet in,
Most never having felt such overwhelming, refreshing freedom in their short lives
Staff watches as happiness spreads across usually bleak faces,
Knowing they’re creating core memories for themselves and their students.
When I mutter, “I wish I was a waterfall, strong and powerful and cool,”
It is Mr. A who turns to me to teach the most valuable of all lessons this day
He never lies, and with the intelligence of a middle-aged man from the middle-east, replies:
“But you are, that energy flows through you, too.”
Forever Writing,
quill rose
The amazing digital art of Anato Finnstark
Watching old AJR concert is my secret to writing
my page has become a seagull fanpage
“you gotta love yourself, baby. if you don’t, who will?”
— sharon g. flake, the skin i’m in
A Journey, New Home
In front of me are two steps.
Once taken, two more appear.
Will there ever be
more than two
visible at one time?
Behind me is one step.
On a road I already walked.
Will that step
be any different
if I took it now?
I know what I already walked.
I can strain to see what I have yet to traverse.
Is it better to retreat to the known
when I see one step further
in the unexplored?
Forever Writng
