two stories

[strzyga.livejournal.com]

pimping out a couple stories i've posted in my original writing comm, just to get them out beyond the range of my flist, lol. both are fantasy, ftr.

they've already both been heavily critiqued, edited, and so forth, but further critiquing/feedback is certainly more than welcome. 8)

neither of these is for the faint of heart.

The Lost Astoria, pt. i

Three days pass, and they find Rupert Akelsen dead in the middle of the Mendelsens' potato fields, splayed like a broken doll in an irrigation ditch. The corpse is bloated and white, head twisted entirely around and tongue lolling purple against blue lips. Its eyes are gaping holes where the crows have eaten them, and scavengers have picked it clean to the sun-dried bone in more places than the Mendelsens can count.

Jasper shivers when she hears about the body. She's not sure why, but she finds herself thinking of how Rupert had tormented her three days earlier ("Where's your father?" he had asked, eyes dancing with laughter. "I bet he left you because you're so ugly."), and then of the unicorn: a white, white glow in the forest dark, and black eyes slit with gold.

this contains adult situations
( The first time Jasper sees a unicorn, she is eleven and picking flowers in the Jelnisens' back fields, where they let the weeds grow wild )


Raven Lies

The crack as the sword breaks his sternum is a sound more felt than heard. His legs turn limp -- he cannot feel them -- and he thinks it ironic that the sword which killed him is all that keeps him upright. He tries to call out, to say something, but all that emerges is a gurgle because his lungs, his mouth, are filled with blood. His heart stops.

Ravenli feels himself die, and it is glorious.

this contains graphic violence, gore, and potentially disturbing sexual scenes (although not because of anything non-consensual)
( Ravenli remembers: The first time he dies, he is six, and being dedicated to Calam. )