Beginning of a Rivalry

Today I'm going to share with you one of my favorite scenes from episode 1 of Quests which won the 2008 National Writers Association scholarship contest. In this scene the elvin princess, Beritta is asked by her teachers, the elders, to practice her fighting skills with a lower ranking elf named Oakley. Beritta is none to pleased thinking she will easily beat him. This is scene is the resulting skirmish.

Don't forget the Name That Creature Contest! is still going on. Also please check out Fedrick & Felnar's Interview so that we can do a question and answer session with them in the following weeks.

Now the story:

Beritta made a disgusted face as Oakley moved to stand beside her. As one of the highest of High Elves, she was expected to be an expert warrior, since she would some day lead other elves in battle. Turning her back on Oakley, Beritta followed one of the elders until they were out of Oakley’s earshot.

“Excuse me,” she said tugging on the elder’s robe. When he turned to face her she continued, “I think there’s been a mistake. You see the elf you partnered me with is a Wood Elf.”

“It’s not a mistake,” the elder replied. “I’d like you to work with Oakley.”

“But you know I’m one of the best fighters in the city,” Beritta argued. “I’ll beat him in no time and it won’t even be a challenge! You should find me a different partner, one who will put up a good fight.”

“I will not cater to your pride, princess,” said the elder. “If he is below your level you can help him improve.”

So Beritta grudgingly returned to Oakley, secretly vowing to go easy on him. She sized up his skinny body with an inward sigh. This would be far too easy.

“We’ll start with swords,” Beritta announced with a toss of her long hair.

Oakley nodded and picked a thin curved sword from the pile of weapons the elders provided. Beritta rummaged through this pile for a minute until she found her favorite practice sword. It was curved, like Oakley’s but with a small blade a few inches longer than her forearm. She swung it through the air experimentally, enjoying the whistling sound this made. Oakley stretched and sliced the air in front of him before moving into a ready position with his blade pointed straight in front of him. Beritta also took a ready stance.

Once all the pairs stood ready, an elder signaled them to begin. Beritta swung her sword forward but Oakley moved at the same moment, blocking her attack. The blades met with a metallic ring, sending up a shower of silver sparks like pixie dust. They pulled back and circled each other until Oakley jumped forward, forcing Beritta to block his blow. Beritta retaliated with a series of stabbing motions which Oakley parried, swinging his sword from side to side in a quick motion and starting the fight in earnest.

They wove in to deal blows and out to avoid the other’s weapon. Their movements were quick and graceful like a dance. Beritta loved the feel of the smooth motions and the fire in her blood which made her powerful. Usually she was faster and stronger than any elf she skirmished, but that day she found her opponent’s skill greater than she expected. Oakley was just as good as she was, moving his sword smoothly through the air in time with her.

As Oakley forced her to yield ground through a fierce attack, Beritta took back on her promise to go easy on him. With a two handed sweep of her sword, Beritta chopped at Oakley’s legs. He jumped back, giving her the space she needed to push herself into an offensive leap. Yelling, Beritta extended her sword, intending to smash the flat down on Oakley’s head, ending the fight. Positioning himself in a crouch, Oakley sliced upward using the force of Beritta’s leap to send her flying backward. Beritta felt the wind knocked out of her as she hit the ground and slid, raising a cloud of dust and pine needles.

By this time most of the other pairs stopped sparing and gathered to watch Beritta and Oakley. Beritta got to her feet and rubbed her sore scratched back. She glared at Oakley who held his sword in front of him with a calm air. With a shout Beritta charged. As she neared him, Oakley swung out his sword, slapping Beritta’s hand with the flat of the blade then swinging it beneath her weapon, disarming her. It was a complicated move only the best swordsmen knew. Beritta stared at Oakley, red faced and humiliated. She, Beritta, princess of elves had been beaten by a Wood Elf.

An elder standing nearby raised an eyebrow then clapped. Beritta and Oakley both turned in surprise. A mighty cheer went up from the watching elf children.

Exasperated, Beritta faced Oakley again and yelled, “All right, I admit it, you’re better than I am! I QUIT!”

She stormed off leaving Oakley confused and partnerless.

Name That Creature Contest!

I'm pleased to present the blog's first contest! This contest is called 'name that creature'. The object is to see how many of the mythical creatures listed below you can name correctly. There's just one little detail you should note before you play. These are unusual mythical creatures, not the ones you always hear about like dragons, unicorns and fairies.

Here are the rules: read my descriptions then copy and paste the ones you know to an e-mail and fill in the answers. Once you have as many answers as you know, send the e-mail to pixiewriter.rebekah@gmail.com. The person who fills in the most answers correctly wins. I will also give second and third place prizes to people who have the second and third amount of correct answers. Winners will recieve an e-mail asking for a mailing address so I can send them the prizes.

Prizes: That's what really gets your attention right? 1st place winner will get to sample the first 4 episodes of my Middle Grade fantasy novel, Quests, (I will attact the episodes to an e-mail) in addition to receiving a 'trading card' of Princess Beritta, (see the Meet Beritta and Beritta Answers Your Questions posts for more information about this character) a Quests 'logo' t-shirt and a $15 gift card to Barnes and Noble . 2nd place winner will receive a Quests logo t-shirt, a trading card, and a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card. 3rd place will receive a Quests logo tee-shirt and a trading card. Anyone who can answer the bonus questions will win a free t-shirt. The contest will run through August. Winners will be announced here on the blog. Prizes will come by mail after this period. Be sure to invite your friends to join the fun. The more competition the better! ;) Also you might want to study up on mythical creatures. Some of these are pretty hard.
Name That Creature!

1. I live in mines. When danger is near I'll tap on the wall to warn you. What am I?

2. I'm a small elvin creature that likes to tinker with technology. I was first discovered by the British Royal Air Force in the 1920s. What am I? 3. I’m a shape-shifter who loves to cause terror and trouble. I change into things you fear. What am I?

4. I appear in the shape of a horse, but my hooves are backwards from those of an ordinary horse. If you get on my back I will carry you to the nearest sorce of water and attempt to drown you. What am I?

5. I live in marshes. You can only see me as a mysterious floating light. If you follow me I will lead you far into the marsh and leave you stranded there. What am I?

6. I can breathe fire I have the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent. I brought death and destruction for years before battling a Greek hero. What am I? 7. I'm a man-like creature made out of mud or clay. I can only be brought to life by spells. I work as a servant, always doing as I am told and never moving unless I am given instructions. I usually work for sorcerers. What am I?

Bonus questions:

1. I live in the Alps. Icicles hang from my hair and beard. I prefer cold weather and hibernate in the summer. My favorite form of entertainment is surfing on avalanches, though I will whistle to warn you of their danger. What am I?

2. I have wild green hair and blue skin. I hibernate in the winter and am at my most mischievous in the spring. I let out whistles to confuse humans. To escape me you must put your clothes on backwards. What am I?

CONTEST!

Coming Soon! The 'Name That Creature' contest. Test your knowledge of mythical creatures and enter for a chance to win awesome prizes. Rules and prizes will be announced with a later post, so be sure to check back in the next few weeks.

Fedrick & Felnar's Interview

Rebekah: Today we get a special treat. Two Dark creatures from an underground city beneath Emerald Mountains have agreed to do a double interview. Let me introduce Fedrick the goblin and Felnar the troll.

Fedrick & Felnar: Hi!

Rebekah: Fedrick and Felnar are best friends who appear in the series, Quests. They play a very important role in the story; introducing us to the main plot line. So tell us, what's it like living in an underground city?

Fedrick: It's nice underground. You know, cool and dark. You don't have the ugly sun blazing in your eyes and making you blind.

Felnar: Yeah, I hate the sun. It turns trolls to stone. I'm glad you're window's really small, though, so the sun can't touch me in this room. Hey, could you turn off that light? Fedrick's right, it hurts my eyes!

Rebekah: Oh yeah. Sorry about that. I forgot how much light bugs you.

Fedrick: That's better. I don't know how you can stand that!

Rebekah: So tell us a bit more about living in the underground city.

Felnar: It's really fun to explore. There are all this twisting tunnels that go deeper and deeper into the mountain. I met Fedrick one time when I was exploring.

Fedrick: She almost ran into me because she wasn't watching where she was going!

Felnar: Well I don't need to watch everything closely when I'm not hunting.

Rebekah: Okay, moving on. What are some hardships you face living underground?

Fedrick: Uninvited guests wandering into our tunnels. We had a humaviper (half snake monster) get lost in our city a little while ago. That was a disaster! Plus the dwarves keep trying to mine in the mountains. Every time they start digging they knock down a goblin city. I wish every dwarf in the world would just drop dead! The last time we attacked the dwarves the fairies got involved and ruined everything by...

Rebekah: Don't say too much about that. We want these people to read the book someday!

Fedrick: Just let me give them a little warning. Listen up everyone! Don't let the fairies fool you with their sweet looks, their pretty little wings and their pixie-dust. They're really nothing but meddling troublemakers! They just want to sneak into your life and mess everything up. That goes for other creature of Light as well.

Felnar: Yeah, like that stupid, quick little gnome. I really want to squash that gnome with my claws! Oh, but Fedrick, please don't kill all the fairies. You know I still want a pet one!

Fedrick: Will you stop whining about getting a pet fairy? I'm telling you, the thing will be more trouble than it's worth!

Rebekah: On that note I think we'll wrap up. Felnar, please don't scratch Fedrick! If you have to fight, wait until you get home. I really don't want you two to trash my room. Have a safe trip down the tunnel. Fans, if you have questions for Fedrick or Felnar please leave them in the comments box. We'll get them back in about a month to answer your questions, Lord help us!

Beritta Answers Your Questions

We had a couple people leave questions for Beritta a few weeks ago. Today Beritta has returned to answer these questions.

J-dawg asked:
How is playing pranks on people putting your talent to good use?

Beritta's Answer:
I just play pranks to pass the time. Most the time the elders have my friends and I running errands so we don't really use many of our abilities. I create pranks which help me practice old tricks and keep my senses sharp by thinking of new things to do with my talents.

Wren asked:
Beritta, have you ever thought of secretly disobeying the elders and doing good things with your talents? Starting some sort of young elf secret organization that's rebelling against the elders?

Beritta's Answer:
Well of course I've thought of it! I can see you've never trained under the elders or you wouldn't bother asking that! In their classes the elders push you so hard to learn all the basics and find your abilities. Then you get to what they call 'a higher level of training' and they have you doing nothing but errands for months. After a while every elf begins to wonder what the point is and why we ever listened to them in the first place. Some of us just do more about it than others.

Thanks for the questions readers! Feel free to continue this discussion in the comments box.
If you have other questions for Beritta please continue leaving them in the comments boxes of this post or the "Meet Beritta" post.

The Song of Nomenie

There is a legend on Irowasa which tells how the stars came to be in the sky. According to this legend a young fire spirit named Nomenie wondered the world, taking pity on those who lost their way in the darkness of the night. Nomenie is said to have taken to the sky where she became a guiding light for all travelers. Many fire spirits followed her example, filling the sky with the lights we now call stars. Nomenie herself became Irowasa's northern star. Children all over Irowasa know this story in much the same way children in our world know fairy tales. There is even an old folksong for the star, Nomenie. So, without further ado I give you the song of Nomenie!

The Song of Nomenie

There is Nomenie, the northern star.

She knows the secrets of the night

and can lead you on a safe path, even on a moonless night,

to the harbor of dawn's rays, out of darkness into light!

So I'll follow where she leads.

A fixed star shines true and can never go astray!

Just a side note, if you have any more questions for Beritta please scroll down and leave them in the comments of the 'Meet Beritta' post. Beritta will be coming back on the blog in a few weeks to answer questions from fans.

Warning: Beware of Crossroads

Someday I would like you all to walk with me on Irowasa but before that day comes I have to warn you about crossroads. The crossroads can be dangerous places where souls become trapped if people take too long deciding which branch of road they should travel.

Just the other day I came to a crossroads in one of my many journeys across Irowasa. Four roads branched out in front of me. From the road on the far left a beautiful haunting melody floated to my ears. I saw that the road in that direction slipped smoothly into a patch of woods. I headed down that fork. Hearing the music again I thought it must be made by elves and wondered if I would meet them. A little further on the road became rough.

Still, the music called me, so I stepped around the potholes filled with multicolored stinking slime and continued on my way. Then I came to a place where the road was overgrown with small thorny trees. Here I paused, but only for a moment. The music was stronger than ever and seemed to be coming from the other side of the tangled branches. I pushed my way through the tangled mass and would have continued if a group of fairies hadn't flown up and cried, "Turn back! You are following the call of a winged siren. Turn back before she leads you to your death!"

Just then I noticed a pile of bones and beyond them a feathery mass. I turned and crashed into the thorny mass even as the siren reached for me with her hooked black talons. I tore my way through the brambles which snatched at my clothes and scratched my skin. Once I broke free of the thorns I covered my ears so that the siren's song would no longer enchant me. I ran until I reached the crossroads once more. The time has come to choose a new road to travel. I will be more careful in my choosing from now on but I must not linger too long at a crossroads lest my soul become trapped by my indecision. Such is the dangerous nature of the crossroads.