The Price Of Love – Part 4   Sounds from inside the cave interrupted my thoughts. A new wave of anxiety washed over me. Chenoth was no longer a spirit and would obviously be the one to carry me back. I didn’t—couldn’t—blame him for taking Barh, but it didn’t hurt any less. He’d ripped my heart from my chest and left me alone and numb. Even with my promise to Barh, I didn’t know how I could ride Chenoth back to where our army waited. When I got the courage to look, I saw a blue dragon walking slowly toward me. Although smaller than Chenoth, the new dragon barely fit inside the tunnel. I should have been seized with fear, …

  The Price Of Love – Part 3   “Why?” My shout reverberated around the hall. I glanced up, but Chenoth didn’t react. “Because what I give life to, you must lead,” Barh said. The profound sadness I saw robbed his beautiful eyes of life. “Me?” “Please forgive me, Jacks. I didn’t know.” His voice trailed off into a whisper and he began to cry again. I was so numb I couldn’t speak. He must have mistaken my silence for a refusal to forgive him. His body stiffened, and he struggled to compose himself. “In times of crisis, a Magi may marry and keep his powers because his spouse is necessary to aid the Elementals.” The deep breath he drew came …

  The Price Of Love – Part 2 As Chenoth said? If Barh spoke to Chenoth a year ago, why didn’t he tell me before? More importantly, why hadn’t Chenoth helped us yet? My lungs burned and I realized I held my breath waiting for something to happen.  Running my eyes around the cavern, I searched for some sign of Chenoth. Barh’s body shook, but he didn’t move his feet. “Welcome, Magi Barhingolis.” I nearly jumped through the rock. The deep voice was strong and commanding, yet comforting. It appeared to come from all around me frustrating my search for the speaker. “Long has been your journey, child. be at ease in my home.” “My thanks, Chenoth, but I shall find …

  The Price Of Love – Part 1 “Stop!” I watched the camp grow smaller the higher we flew. We left everyone with no explanation. He didn’t even ask me first. “Barh!” Nothing. Not even a twitch to acknowledge I’d spoken. “We can’t leave them. They’ll die!” “They’ll die even if we stay.” Barh’s flat affect stung like a slap. He spoke to me like we were strangers. Barh’s magic took us higher than we usually went. In fact, I could only remember one time we’d flown this high. We couldn’t be going there. Not now. Involuntarily I looked down. Stretched below my feet, the combined armies of three kingdoms gathered to meet the Degari, a swarm of evil the …

What: New Free Fiction Group Where: Free Fiction Friday When: Starts Aug 1, 2014 As some of the people reading my blog know, I am not doing  the Wednesday Briefs Group anymore. I wanted to do something a bit different with my free fiction posts and felt a new format would better suit what I want to do.  I made some good friends there and still think they are a great group of authors.  If you’re not following them, you should.  There is a lot of good stories being offered for free.

  Second Shot – The Senior Year: Chapter 35   The night felt strained. Blake wished he’d told Jason he and Ethan didn’t want to be a part of the ‘party.’ Despite his best efforts to keep things chatty and friendly, even Ethan couldn’t cut the tension. Then again, maybe Ethan was the problem. Blake noted how Hanna tensed up every time Ethan did something flamboyant. Wendy brought out the ‘gay’ in him—at least that is what Ethan whispered too him after a particularly funny exchange. He thought he’d have minded the over-the-top, queeny performance, but seeing his boyfriend having fun, being himself, laughing with their friends, Blake realized that was part of the attraction; Ethan was comfortable being Ethan. Everyone—Hanna …

The tackle from behind sent Blake tumbling toward the pitch. Even before he got to his feet, he knew who’d done it. “What the fuck was that, Matt?” Darryl stood inches from Matt. “Are you trying to take out our starting mid? “What?” Matt glared at Blake over Darryl’s shoulder. “He’s hiding behind you now?” “Fuck you, Hopkins.” Blake tried to lunge at his teammate, but a pair of hands pulled him back. “What the fuck’s going on?” Jason screamed inches from Blake’s ear.

“So how are you going to get here?” Blake really didn’t care that much except that he wanted to be sure Ethan had a ride before he hung up. Not that he wanted to go, but they’d been talking for a while now and he needed to meet his teammates for dinner “Keep your shorts on–no wait, take them off so you’ll be naked when I get there.”

Blake pulled the shower curtain back and reached for his towel. For a school with as many rich kids as Graydon, you’d think they could afford more than a piece of cheap plastic for the showers. Then again, the dorms were not the housing of choice. As the ‘most affordable’ option, the majority of students who lived there didn’t qualify as the ‘well heeled.’ But the place fit his family’s budget, wasn’t far from practice and he and his roommate got along well. At least they did so far. Coming out might change that, which could weigh in favor of staying put.