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Chapter 1: The Bridge
Part 1
The transport moved slow across the bridge, piled high with logs and floating on a skirt of wispy red tendrils. To Frix of Bit, who watched from the cover of tall grass, it looked like a silent, upside down fire. Every now and then, a bright lance of light crept out from underneath and traced itself up along the surface of the logs before racing back down again.
A half dozen shrouded figures sat atop the cargo. Whenever one of those bright shoots flew past one, Frix imagined he saw a face within their heavy cloaks. They didn’t move much, nor did they speak. It was the closest he’d ever come to a real live witch.
His stomach rolled and twinged, and his belts itched. He fought the urge to scratch. Stillness was paramount. Plus, he wasn’t about to look foolish in front of his shoot-lead, Mossalea of Ran. He did risk a slow glance over at her, if only to break his gaze from the creatures. She crouched a few feet over, ready to spring, half-concealed in reeds. Equal parts strength and grace. Frix’s smile blossomed, and she must have sensed it. Her dark eyes came around and the corner of her lip curled up. It was the same little sidelong grin that had won him over many a season ago.
The air filled with a steady, growing hum. He looked back to the bridge. The giant, fat slab sped up as it neared the centre of the bridge. Then, a different hum from the north. A second vehicle, this one much smaller, came zipping along the wide, flat path that the witches had sliced through the woods. Four figures rode this one. It too floated on a tangle of wavy, swirling legs.
Escort, thought Frix. They hadn’t anticipated this.
The smaller vehicle fell into pace behind the big one, which now decelerated as it passed the middle. A few minutes later, they’d both crossed, and their alien glow melted away to the south.
He waited until he couldn’t hear the hum anymore, and sang a soft note. The grass rustled, and his three Seedwind members assembled around him.
“Took your sweet time on that all-clear, Bit,” said Dreff of Tel. His big black hat was strapped to his back, the wide brim a dark halo around his hard, humourless face.
“If you’re volunteering to take sentry, I’ll be happy to trade,” said Frix.
Swinn of Tel caught Frix’s eye from over his brother’s shoulder. The boy’s usual explosion of fuzzy brown hair had been fashioned back into a crude ponytail for stealth’s sake. He winked.
“Quit it,” said Mossa, scowling at all of them. “You all saw that second floater.”
“Looked speedy,” said Swinn.
“Too speedy,” said Mossa. “This changes things.”
“How?” said Frix.
“You remember the plan, honeysuckle?” Mossalea murmured, a full grin finding its way onto her face.
Swinn mimed a gag and rolled his eyes. Dreff turned away, and unslung a pouch.
“You flirting with me, shoot-lead?” Frix said.
“Really, guys? Now?” Swinn whispered.
“Routine checkup,” she said, keeping her twinkling eyes on Frix. “You know, for the seedling.”
“Seedling? This is my seventh raid, I’ll have you know.”
“This is no ordinary raid, Frix of Bit. Run it by me.”
She could go from lithe and sexy to a whip cracking commander in a heartbeat, he had learned. He recited, “Let the transport pass, wait ten. Tels take the edges, shoot-lead takes the middle. Bit has the top nest. Take out the bridge, make way to the sparkcamp for the big show tomorrow.”
“Good,” she said. “But now, a new variable.”
“That little one could get back here fast,” said Swinn.
“Which means?” Mossa eyed Frix.
“Which means… we have much less time to operate,” said Frix.
Dreff rejoined their circle, holding a grey pouch. “Let’s fire them all simultaneously,” he said.
“That’s the rockpunch?” Frix said. He stepped closer and Dreff pulled it away.
“Not for seedlings,” Dreff said.
“Oh, roots ensnare me,” Mossa said, and pulled out her own packet. She tossed it at Frix and he caught it, managing to still the insane urge to yelp. He must’ve looked the part though, because Dreff snorted and shook his head.
“I’ve heard it can shear a cliffside straight off,” said Swinn, coming up beside Frix, holding another pouch. Frix squeezed, remembering that it took a healthy amount of fire to set the stuff off. It felt like fine sand.
“It’ll turn the ends of that bridge into so many flaming splinters,” Dreff said, and spat.
“Ah, violence and destruction. The Tel’s true passion comes to light,” Mossalea said, and held out her hand. Frix tossed the pouch back.
“We should’ve still used one for the transport itself, I say,” Dreff said. He did sound more chipper.
“Yes, and the bole-marshal would have your head for it. And I’d receive a demerit.” Mossa turned towards the bridge. “The command was clear. The Rainroot swallows nothing but a bridge tonight. She’ll appreciate the gift, I suspect. Look how the bloodlight teases her.”
They looked. It was hard not to, now that Mossa pointed it out. The bridge birthed a dull red light from underneath. It grew brighter near the centre. No tendrils, to Frix’s relief. But as the last of the sun drained out of the evening and the world surrendered to shadow, the sacred water below took on a ghostly red pallor.
Mossa toed the dirt, hands on her hips, eyes scanning the emerging star show above.
“We’re still a go. Adjustments as follows,” she said. “We take the Rainroot back to the sparkcamp. On my mark, set the rockpunch to one fifth time, jump, swim like an eel.”
“One fifth time,” echoed Dreff.
“Less time for them to organize pursuit before we’re long gone,” Frix said. The shoot-lead nodded, her gaze lost somewhere in the distance.
“Obviously. That’s tight though,” said Dreff. He was right. The original plan was to plant the charges, blow the middle first, then the edges, with plenty of time in between to get back to the woods. It was likely that tampering with the bridge would set off alarms, but they figured they had had enough time before a witch could reach them.
“Be deft then, Dreff of Tel,” said Mossa, “I’d hate for you to become so many splinters. Decent nose-runners are tough to recruit these days.”
Dreff smirked and turned towards the bridge, fingers playing along the handle of his weapon. The other Tel chewed his lip.
“Swinn?” said the shoot-lead.
“Good,” he said.
“Frix?”
“Let’s feed that river,” said Frix.
“Seeds to the wind,” Mossa said.
“May they take root,” they chorused.
“And fulfill their spark,” she finished.
Light as deer, they sprinted to the bridge.
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Welcome to Dreemport Jordy! It's great to see you sharing the start of a new fiction series here this evening. I think the shared glossary is a very nice touch and will go a long way to maintaining clarity for the reader, as the story progresses. I think I am going to enjoy this one !PIZZA !ALIVE
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Cheers! Thank you! I do plan to share many more (if not all) parts with DreemPort. I assume that that is permissible since the submissions gets shuffled to curators? (I don't want to spam folks!)
share anything you like ...but posts can only be shared once! :)
we love to have you sharing!!! it makes it more fun for everyone when we have more content!
Roger that! Happy to cycle DreemPort into my routine—it's a habit I need to keep up with :)
as long as it's working for you ...it's working for us! hehehe
Fabulous! And having the links to the other part of the series on your current post means that other dreemers can always follow them and catch up if they wish... or add them selves to your tagged list to ensure that they don't miss out 🤗 !ALIVE
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I like it too ❤️
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Nice. This must be the new series you told me about starting. It's cool.
Well, before I dive deeper into the story, do you have any connection to a certain Scrollhand?
This is his post 👈 from 2017.
As you can see, the post and the one you shared are very identical.
I do! He's me, haha. I suppose I should remove those teaser bits from Wattpad to ensure that folks don't think I'm ripping it off from somewhere. Edited my Wattpad profile to be more transparent as well. Thanks for sleuthing!
Hahaha... I get it. You don't have to stress about it. You can just add something like;
That's enough to write-off any doubt people may have. Meanwhile, I'm glad you've already started sharing this series on here.
Cheers! I pulled it down anyway, would rather the serialization be in one place. I also took what was on Amazon down earlier too. Hive and Polygon > web2 stuff! 🎉🎉🎉
Hahaha... Nice choice then. Thanks @jfuji
Mean!!! And here I thought I would read ahead when I saw this comment 🤣
Okay, I'm hooked. Rivetting opener and what seems like a massive world to explore. Looking forward to reading this whole novel! Got a sense of some steampunk feel in here, too. I love genre-breaking fantasy. Tag me for each part please?
!PIZZA
Hahah awesome! Glad to have you along 🙂
I updated the readlist, and have sent your 5 SCHOLAR bounty for being the first! (Receipt)
Reconnaissance and attack plans. quite tense, as a story starter. At first I was reminded of Harry Potter. but it seems this story is not about the wizarding world?
Well, there are "witches." So it seems. Perhaps we'll meet one soon... 👀
Ok. Thank you. I translated your story to Indonesian language with google translator. maybe i missunderstood hehehe. I think your story can be make film in the future. I wish.
Wow that's high praise! I'll settle for being able to sell the novel as an NFT hahah.
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Slow and steady! Off to a good start!
I'm glad you started with a new project! I like the setting and the glossary is appreciated (I'm really bad at remembering names). Please add me to the list. !PIZZA !LUV
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Haha I gotcher back! Added 🙂
Nice story you have got, well organized write up ✍️ keep it up
reading via @dreemport
Already loving this interesting world that you're creating with what seems like a combination of magic and technology. The characters are so full of life, I'm looking forward to getting to know each of them more as you release new parts and chapters! I know I've already indicated, but please put me on your reader list so I don't miss a chapter! I can already tell that this is going to provide me with some quality reading for a good chunk of time! !LUV !PIZZA
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Fascinating! What are they? Group of raiders on a mission? Now I'm intrigued and their names are interesting: Frix of Bit, Dreff of Tel, etc
I think there's a romance cooking up between Frix of Bit and Mossalea of Ran. Looking forward to more chapters. Please add me to the reader's list. Thank you! !PIZZA 🙂
Cheers! I'll add you for sure. Happy that the names feel interesting vs. overwhelming. It can be hard to strike a balance of unique vs weird when it comes to fantasy names, ha.
I actually have tons of notes on the culture of these folks, and hope to be able to share some of them as I figure out how I want to roll out a bigger worldbuilding project.
Oh, pls do share. Hehe. I love to write fantasy sometimes and coming up with names is an ordeal! 😬😄
I just had the time to read and digest, I have been occupied lately.thanks to the tag luxury I got the privilege to read at my own convenience.
Judging by the experience I had in your previous novel, I don't wanna miss out on any of your chapters.
More characters more fun.
Nice write up.
I love it! However, a little more description of these creatures would be helpful, as well as a better description of the world they inhabit :) ... Overall, well done, I want to keep reading and learn more about our new friends 🙌
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Woooooo! @jfuji I didn't know you joined Listnerds. Good to see you there. Also, what a way to start!
Hahah yes I've been quietly amassing MAIL for a while now ;)
Wanted to wait until I had something solid to promote before I shot my shot!
Well, you started well. You should be 5 upvote VP away from verified. Good to see someone like you joining Listnerds as it will definitely raise the quality of posts shared!
Haha thanks! Looks like there was some spicy -9.8 downvote action on the mail—two steps forward one step back, haha!
That's just our resident grumpy old man. Well, at least we countered him then lol!
Every community needs at least one! 😁
<oldmanyellsatclouds.gif>Thank you so much for sharing your serialized novel project on Listnerds! What a cool idea (Read 2 Earn), I hope you get tons of new readers. Can't wait to read more😊
!CTP
!PIZZA
You're welcome and thank you! I'm just about to put up the first part of Chapter 2 :)
This is fantastic.I find the storyline intriguing. Keep Up!!!
loved it
"It’ll turn the ends of that bridge into so many flaming splinters"
count me in guys
@crazyphantombr
Count me in please @myanmarkoko
You are off to a great start. I am looking forward to future posts.