Above The Pack


Salnaal rode her winged steed, Shayde, with the same confidence and determination she approached everything else; confidence and determination that had increased steadily over her twenty-four years of active service. Her gleaming blonde-white hair flowing in stark contrast to Shayde’s night-black mane, they rode and flew around the grunts, cries, and howls of the carousel arena, keeping both ahead and above the other combatants.

Those players in the middle of the pack had to toss the scented orb between themselves as they meandered around each other’s paths, trying to keep it in the air as long as possible whilst at the same time trying not to break the orb’s fragile casing – the loser in this particular combat being the one drenched by the pungent contents.

Salnaal noticed her would-be mate, Olstiss, on his steed, Wingrider, below her in the centre of the pack… the orb having been hurled toward him by the Knight Captain, Vent, whose face sneered through his venomous cry as he avoided breaking the weakening vessel. She manoeuvred Shayde, so she was alongside Wingrider so as to make them both descend lower when Olstiss suddenly pulled on his reins and ascended quickly.

The orb shattered into a thousand fragments as it collided with Salnaal’s side, covering both her and Shayde with the sickly-sweet smelling liquid… making her, for the first time ever, combat loser… and the arena fell silent.


It’s Six Sentence Stories time again. Deniseโ€™s prompt word this week is carousel. I looked for a different definition for this week’s word and was pleased to discover it was used centuries ago as a meaning for a training game, or ‘little war’. I merely added a few elements to it.

Salnaal
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14 responses to “Above The Pack”

  1. Spira avatar

    Mate!!
    I hope you cross paths with a tech wizard, master of video/animation…
    To say your story is cinematic is an understatement.

    X. L. N. T.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom avatar

      ๐Ÿ˜Š
      So you like this one then, Nickโ€ฝ ๐Ÿ˜ƒ
      Thank you.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. europasicewolf avatar

    That was a ride and a half Tom! Very dramatic and fast-moving ๐ŸŒชGreat artwork too ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ˜

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom avatar

      Glad you think so, Icewolf. ๐Ÿ™‚
      The artwork is (cheating!) created by artificial intelligence (cheating!) at a site called Nightcafรฉ. It’s free, and you get free credits daily, and lose all your free time as it’s addictively fun ‘creating’ images based on random words. I don’t know what I think about AI art right now, and some of it can be a little ‘off’, but then so can some of my own creations! It just adds more variety, I suppose.

      Like

  3. Frank Hubeny avatar

    It seemed that Salnaal protected Olstiss. That “sickly-sweet smelling liquid” may not be all that bad.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom avatar

      That does look like a possibility, thanks, Frank.
      The liquid takes a few days to wash away, that’s all… hence the reason nobody wants to be the loser! ๐Ÿ‘ƒ๐Ÿคข๐Ÿคฃ

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom avatar

      Thank you, Mimi! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Like

  4. clark avatar

    Excellent.

    (hey, while there’s nothing wrong with playing, say 50’s rock ‘n roll; having the range to follow it with, say early fusion or thrash metal, is even better)

    While I find the noir/pulp realities fun, I gotta try me one of these action/epic/touch-of-sorcery story-realities.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom avatar

      Thanks, Clark… I find it fun visiting different worlds. You could, of course, write a noir / sorcery mashup if you so wished! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Like

  5. GirlieOnTheEdge avatar

    Rack up another “excellent”, Tom. Loved that you used the prompt word as defined as “training game”. Very cool.
    I enjoyed this story immensely as well as your play on words with the title.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom avatar

      Thanks, Denise. I enjoyed writing this one. (Well, I enjoy writing anything, but this had a bit of an edge!) ๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿ˜Š

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Chris Hall avatar

    This is great, Tom!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom avatar

      Thanks, Chris. ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Liked by 1 person

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