SFFS

I'm Back!!!! And here is a snippet from my as-of-yet unedited ARC of book 2 from the Legacy series. Enjoy ^^

“You may not like it Abi, but we do have a protocol,” I said. My voice was dulled by the hiss of rainfall. Not that it would have mattered; my apprentice stormed in front of me, defiant on proving that she was right by stomping her feet and staunchly ignoring me.

My name is Erik Ashendale and today’s pain in the ass is my apprentice slash secretary Abigale.

Arguing in the rain is not fun. Arguing with a person who is plainly ignoring you is annoying. Arguing with a witch-succubus hybrid while carrying a gym bag full of equipment and getting soaked to the bone, makes you want to blast said hybrid with a firebolt.

Girl Power

Part 18 of the Star Wars short story. Enjoy

Girl Power

Wraith closed his eyes, awaiting the spear to end his life.

“Spider sister.” The yell echoed throughout the valley, halting every living this there. Wraith craned his neck towards the source of the sound.

She was a tall warrior dressed in red and yellow. Orange sashes were around her thin waist. Pendants hung from it. She wore a corset of red leather. Her weapon was a long halberd with a wickedly curved axe. She wore a red bandana and her dark hair hung around her shoulder and down her back and breasts. Her yellow pants billowed and were tucked inside her brown boots. A light violet serpentine symbol was painter across her face but it did not obscure her beautiful angular features. Wraith locked eyes with her large purple eyes and felt a lump on his throat despite the spell pinning him down.

“This is our prey,” croaked the Witch with the spear at his throat. “Get your own, Mountain Clan wench.”

The new witch raised her weapon. From all around them, emerging form the cliffs and canyon peaks, witches wearing red and yellow emerged. Some rode rancors whilst others were on foot. But they all stood tall and proud aiming bows at the black clad witches. Arrows of pink energy quivered as the witches drew them with disciplined and practiced ease.

“You know our methods by now,” said the first witch. “This is the only warning. Leave with your lives whilst you still have them.”

The black witch chuckled. “You do not want to start an open war between the Spiderclan and the Singing Mountain clan. Go back little –”

Before she could finish her sentence, the beautiful witch hefted her weapon and threw it at the Spiderclan witch. The halberd shot into the witch, impaling her and throwing her backwards. The rest of the Spiderclan tensed up and gazed in horror as their leader got slain in front of their eyes.

“Anyone else have a complaint?” called out the beautiful witch. The Spiderclan witches remained silent. “Good. You have two choices: fight and die, or run back to which ever crevice you crawled out from.”

Most of them ran from it but a few remained. Leading the escapees were the first witches who assaulted Wraith. He should have known: bullies always run in the face of adversity. Five of the remained.

“We cannot return without our quarry,” said one of them. “Our matriarch will kill us in punishment.” They raised their weapons.

The beautiful witch raised her arm. “Have it your way.” Arrows flew. Four of the witches were like porcupines; their bodies a pin cushion for the arrows. The spokeswoman managed to shield herself.

“You hide behind archers. Face me you coward,” she screamed at the beautiful witch. The Spiderclan witch swung a curved sword horizontally at the other witch.

Calmly, the Singing Mountain witch stepped into the strike, grabbed the Spiderclan witch’s wrists and twisted. The Spider witch spun and landed painfully on her back. The Mountain Witch held the sword close to her body with her left hand and extended her right. She channelled the Force and squeezed the Spider witches’ neck. The beautiful witch Force Choked her opponent and lifted her off the ground. Her victim struggled in vain. The beautiful witch flicked her wrist and the Spiderclan witch’s neck snapped. The beautiful witch threw her carelessly along with the sword. She walked towards Wraith who, albeit free from the Spiderclan’s spell, remained stunned on the ground. He was mesmerized by the Singing Mountain witch’s beauty and power.

She retrieved her weapon, extracting it from the first witch’s corpse. Then she pulled Wraith’s weapon with the Force and examined it.

“Our matriarch would like an audience with you, outsider,” she said as she pocketed his weapon in her sash. Her tone of voice had changed completely. She spoke with a gentle voice but there was no doubt of her power. Her eyes locked into his and they stood like that for a while. Her purple eyes made his heart beat and his face warm. This sensation was new to him and he wasn’t sure he liked it. It confounded him. ‘This merits more observation,’ he thought as he stood up.

Her halberd twirled and the blade quivered centimetres from his neck.

“Please follow us without any trickery.”

Wraith’s expression hardened. This was the second time a woman threatened to behead him. He was starting to think that every conversation with a female involved mortal danger.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” she said. Wraith smirked slyly.

“Anything in particular you’d like me to do with them?” he said. She blushed and pressed her blade.

“As if you could handle me,” she muttered as they began walking and other witches joined them. Wraith smirked. He liked her, he decided. 

Wrangled Wraith

Part 17 of my Star Wars story. A short piece, but somewhat intense.

enjoy.

Wrangled Wraith

Warrior females popped out of every crevice like a colony of insects. Other, namely those carrying bows and missiles, aimed their weapons at Wraith. Leaping into the fray, he overwhelmed the first warriors before the rest got wise to his tactics. Arrows made of pure energy rained down on him. Wraith put up a barrier with the Force, and tried to take cover. Two warriors breeched his barrier, infiltrating it with their own powers. Wraith was stuck fighting them, at the same time holding his Force Barrier strong against the projectiles.

Ducking low, he dropped the barrier. The arrows pierced the warriors and slew them. Wraith rendered his body intangible. As the projectiles passed through his body, Wraith felt pain shooting through his body. There were no markings or damage to his body: the arrows were made from the Force and designed to damage Force adepts. Wraith felt someone sneak behind him. A witch emerged behind him, like a feral ghoul. Her halberd sliced at Wraith. Despite being intangible, Wraith’s senses warned him to dodge. Something about that weapon made him weary of it. He rolled to the side and felt a sharp biting pain at his side. His body solidified again as he sprawled on the ground. Blood oozed from his side, where the blade of the witch’s polearm sliced at his hip. Wraith crouched and felt a throbbing pain in his head. The world begun spinning.

Poison.

The weapon must have been poisoned. The witch moved in for the kill. Wraith found the strength to block and Force Pushed. The witch was thrown backwards. Pain shook Wraith’s body as he cradled his wound. With an effort, he readied himself to teleport away, at least for enough to recuperate. He warped space and felt his body shift. But before he fully escaped, he felt the Force binding him to the ground. Witches surrounded him. Each witch took a Force grip on Wraith, binding his limbs and movement. Their spell numbed his body and mind. Wraith felt his connection to the Force waver. He had no defences against spells and magic.

They forced him down, eagle spread. The area around him shimmered and gasses erupted. ‘Energies of the spells,’ thought Wraith. He was completely helpless.

A witch, more intricately dresses in leathers and amulets than her sisters, mounted off her giant spider and leapt off of it. She twirled a wicked looking spear and pointed it at Wraith’s throat. The sun glinted off the tip. For the first time in a long while, Wraith felt fear. Fear of certain death. The witch smiled and the spear descended. 

Welcome in Webs

Part 16 of my Star Wars short story.
Enjoy

Welcome in Webs

He entered the atmosphere of Dathomir after much effort. The entire planet was hidden in the Force, repelling utterly everything. The power swirling around the planet – no, the power that emerged from the planet – required Wraith to force his way through. Coating his ship in the Force, he had finally made it through and cruised gently within the stratosphere. The gravitational pull took effort and the autopilot indicated the trajectory for landing. Wraith took the controls, doing his best to follow the trajectory.

The storm came out of nowhere. Dark grey clouds formed around the ship, obscuring Wraith’s vision. The entire ship shuddered. Thunder rumbled, causing every inch of the aircraft to vibrate. The controls slipped out of Wraith’s control and the ship’s instruments went crazy. The ship spiralled out of control. Wraith felt himself spin and he no longer could figure out which side was up, down, left or right. He saw a flash of light and remembered the day his shuttle was destroyed by Mortris’s lightning. That had led to his imprisonment. This was a planet run by warring witch clan. Wraith cursed his luck and hoped that this was part of the universe’s plan for him. Either way, he was not a fan of this plan.

Wraith was unconscious long before his ship crashed in the valley. He came to when the remnants of the vessel was in complete stillness. He heard something creaking close to him. ‘You’re in a wreckage. At least it’s creaking, not an explosion,’ he thought. Slowly he got feeling back in his body and moved his extremities. No waves of pain: nothing broken save his only means back home.

He heard the creaking again and felt something solid begin pressing on his chest. His eyes focused and an ugly head filled his vision; four sets of eyes and a pair of pincer-like fangs filled its head. The spider was as wide as Wraith and weighed as much as he did.

It was the shock and sheer horror more than instinct, which took over him. Lightning arced all over his body, electrocuting the giant arachnid. A horrid smell of burnt fluids wafted throughout the air. Wraith’s stomach nearly turned and thanked the stars that he wasn’t fully functional. With a look of revolt he Force pushed the beast away and managed to stand up. He heard a hiss and saw the spider service itself, its fangs clicking menacingly. It launched itself at Wraith. His fingers wrapped around his lightsaber and, with a swift motion, bifurcated the spider.

‘It managed to resist the Force,’ thought Wraith. His lightsaber would serve him well against these creatures. Still clutching his weapon wearily, he made it out of the wreckage. His ears picked up slight clicking and his body reacted. His lightsaber sliced into a spider, this one larger than its cousin. He heard multiple clicks and saw a large black spider emerge in view. His stomach sank – he was surrounded by giant arachnids, each more menacing than its neighbour.

He twisted his weapon, separating it into twin weapons. The spiders sensed the challenge and commenced their assault. Wraith felt his body shift from one stance to another, felling one spider after the next.

He noticed a figure hiding between the boulders and large spider legs. It wore dark clothing and dark hair whipped around it. Wraith sliced his way closer towards the figure. He heard it hiss and croak. A large spider, probably half as large as his entire ship, leapt towards him. Undeterred, Wraith slipped under it, slicing its legs. The creature buckled down and its head cracked on the ground. Wraith levitated a large boulder and released it on its head. The strange humanoid creature leapt forward. A glint of silver caught Wraith’s eye. His red plasma blade met an undulating knife. Wraith observed the creature. She was a female Witch garbed in sashes and leathers. She wore skirting pants, billowing around her legs. Amulets of spiders covered her body and every inch of her arms, chest, neck and head was marked with tattoos of spider webs. She snarled, revealing blackened gnarled teeth and yellow eyes, indicating the Dark Side. She crouched and a second undulating knife appeared in her hand. She attached ferally, using quick attack-and-retreat tactics. ‘Just like a spider,’ thought Wraith. His swordsmanship skills were greater and, after parrying her second lunge, he snapped a blade and beheaded her.

He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. Quiet rang once more.

“Sister.” The voice echoed from all over the valley.

“You shall pay for harming our sister.” They appeared from everywhere:  riding behemoth spiders, popping from holes in the ground and emerging from nowhere. Wraith raised his weapons. He decided he didn’t like Dathomirian Witches, especially the ones who wanted to kill him for no apparent reason.

Stairway to Heaven

Part 15 (long overdue) of the Star Wars fanifc

enjoy

Stairway to Heaven

Lessons with Yoda consisted of philosophical discussions about the various Force powers and methodologies. Both warriors would sit in a study, perhaps sharing a beverage, and they would talk for hours. Once, the Grandmaster had taken him to a garden on Courscant where Wraith spent an afternoon feeding birds and petting animal life-forms: those docile enough to be considered friendly. It had been an illuminating experience for the former Sith. For the first time in his life he experienced beauty: the simplistic beauty of non-sentient life-forms. Companions which were capable of mindless loyalty and never experienced hatred. He learnt that it wasn’t the universe that was violent. This was merely the result of a few individuals which spread their hate and anger like a disease. Without knowing, Wraith’s philosophy shifted: from a lost Sith to a Jedi.

But his stay at the Temple was not just for philosophical lessons. Wraith would occasionally be given space to meditate on his next course of action. It took some coaxing but finally the Force illuminated him.

“I see a planet coated in the Force,” he told the Jedi Council once it had convened again. “Some Light, some Dark, but the entire world is a nexus of power.”

“What is it you seek?” asked Mace Windu.

“A female. A powerful one.” Wraith paused. “The entire gender is powerful, more so than their male counterparts. I believe the natives are matriarchal.”

Windu nodded towards a Jedi close to him, who stood up, opened a storage cabinet and handed Wraith a smooth orb.

“This is an updated galactic catalogue. Place it on the pedestal and identify the planet,” instructed Windu. Wraith followed his directions and soon the chambers darkened as the projection filled the room with and interactive map of the galaxy. Wraith paced around and finally pointed at a cluster.

“Here,” he said. He heard Obi-Wan Kenobi groan. The holographic image vanished as the assistant Jedi retrieved the orb.

“What?” Wraith directed to Kenobi.

“The planet you identified is Dathomir,” he replied. “The planet is run by the females, who are divided into clans. All of them are powerful Force adepts.”

“I still do not see the problem,” replied Wraith. “Dathomirian witches never leave their planet and those who do are heavily involved with the Sith,” explained Kenobi. “Darth Maul and Savage Oppress were both Dathomirian males. But the most dangerous is Asajj Ventress, a witch and Dooku’s former apprentice.”       

“Former?”

“He betrayed her, as is his nature. But she survived. Our sources tell us that she is a bounty hunter now.”

“Perhaps she is the one I seek,” said Wraith.

“For your sake I hope not,” muttered Kenobi.

“Whatever the case I need to follow the path shown to me by the Force,” said Wraith. “I will go to Dathomir. I have to see where the clues will lead me.”

“Agree I do,” said Yoda. “Focus on an individual, wise it is not. If Ventress you seek, find her you shall. But your answers the planet holds, not the individual. To Dathomir you must go. Assemble your team you must. Reach a climax the Clone Wars will soon.”