Hi Readers!

It’s Ran, the lovable son of Sarn, writing you again from the future!)

Where we last left off, I was in Amazon Land chasing that wily commander of the Rangers, Jerlo.

Every second I knelt there, the towers of ebooks grew taller. New books flashed into existence and older ones jockeyed for space in an endless dance of words. I stared entranced by the sight until a spiked heel landed on my thigh.

“Hey!” I shoved the boot off me toppling a lean shadow onto the ground beside me.

“What did you do that for?” asked the boy to my left.

It took a moment for the mismatch between the voice and my expectations to settle out. A moment my interlocutor interrupted by standing up and shaking his skirt out.

“We’re all trying to climb the same tower to the top. There’s no need to push or shove,” he said before launching himself at a hand hold I couldn’t see.

As he ascended, something in his pocket started to glow. Its light picked out a skinny youth not much older than I. Either he was cosplaying two characters at once, or I was seeing things because his ensemble featured half of a divided skirt, one purple leg and a whole lot of lizard skin. Oh, and there was a rubbery tail bracketed by spinnerets. He gained a hundred places before falling in rank and darkening his book.

Where was Jerlo? I searched, but the distant glow of the best sellers left the digital wasteland in deep shadow, and my lumir stick still refused to glow. I rounded the fantasy stack again. Jerlo had to come here, and when he did, I’d be waiting. In the meantime, I deformed passing 1s and 0s entangling them into a reflective surface.

My scribe’s face materialized. She was a petite brunette wearing those newfangled things called ‘glasses.’ The metal frames drew attention to her dark eyes and the suspicion lurking in their depths. So she’d been expecting my call.

“Why is Jerlo here?”

“Because I sent him.”

“Look, we had a deal. You write the stories I ask for. I didn’t ask for a story about the commander of the Rangers. What did Jerlo ever do that was at all interesting?” I jabbed my thumb into my chest to make my point, but something niggled at the back of mind.

There was something, but these are my stories—tales of the child I was and the single father who’d given everything to protect and raise me. They were my chance to see what he’d gone through and to finally discover what lay under his frequent silences. I love my dad, but he’s a master of understatement. All he ever said about the events in Enchanted was that a demon had ridden his friend and he’d gotten rid of it. Nothing else.

I had to hire a scribe to peer into the past to find out what exactly went on because I remember the events in Enchanted as being far more exciting than his statement implied.  

“Oh trust me, you’ll want to read this,” said my scribe leaning forward in excitement. “Curse Breaker: Darkens features some fascinating events. And just so we’re clear, you haven’t actually paid a cent for my work. So don’t you dare think you own me or my work. I’m doing you a favor.”

Her eyes turned glassy and her gaze focused inward. The past called to her. There was a story waiting to be told. As she lifted her quill, the connection severed. The 1s and 0s floated back into the ether of this strange place landlocked between reality and fantasy just as a shadow separated from a nearby stack.

Got you at last. I lunged at the short man searching for a place to put his book.

Find out next week if Jerlo eluded me again or if I succeeded in tackling him. Either way, I’m getting answers. I hope you’ll be here.

This week, we (I mean the royal ‘we’ as in all of us characters) would like to thank Gwynn White & Erin St Pierre for spreading the word about our shenanigans and offer you a magical read:

Queen of Extinction: A Dark Sleeping Beauty Retelling

by Gwynn White & Erin St Pierre

A magical princess. A kingdom in danger. A fight to the death for the throne.
Princess Aurora never thought she’d have to rule Ryferia. That was her brother’s job, until his brutal murder at the hands of their uncle. Will Aurora find true love and save Ryferia or will her search destroy them all? Find out in Queen of Extinction: A Dark Sleeping Beauty Retelling.

 

Until next time. Thank you for reading!

Ran, son of Sarn,
‘Delinquent Payer of the Scribe’
(melinda@melinda-kucsera.com)

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