It’s May 1st, 2016. First four months down!
My goals for Second Quarter of 2016 (April-June) are as follows:
A fight is a-brewing today on the continuation of The Wings Take Shape, Part Twelve!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Previously on Wings, Jonathan tried to skinchange back into his human form, but Stalker, the cougar, refused to let him change once she found out that his Aunt Sadie was the abomination that had betrayed her and the other Totems so long ago, vowing to end the abomination’s life once and for all.
Meanwhile, Renee and Marie argued with Sadie, Jon’s ant, about what she could possibly do to help the war effort. They came to no solid conclusions except that Sadie was hesitant to even try for the sake of her Smokeshifting children. When at last Marie felt she was getting through to the woman, Sadie sensed Stalker’s presence drawing close, and felt that a conflict was coming.
Read on for more…
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Part Twelve – Totem Wrath
by Rick Cook Jr.
Stalker approached and she wasn’t alone. She had gathered to her every cougar in the Red Forest she could find, and followed the trail of Jon’s mate until she found the abomination’s next.
Except it wasn’t the creature. Not… entirely.
Something was different. He smelled different. And there were children.
Jon had tried explaining it inside their shared mind, but she refused to listen until now.
What has happened to the abomination, Jonathan? Continue reading
It’s April 24th, 2016. Sixteen weeks and one left in April, let’s do that update thing again!
My goals for Second Quarter of 2016 (April-June) are as follows:
So a quick rundown of what I accomplished towards these goals: Continue reading
It’s Tuesday and you know by now that means it’s time for another entry in the serial novella The Wings Take Shape!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Previously on Wings, Captain Renee Mollen and her Winged Riders sought the village of Panagin’s Toll, Sadie the Skinchanger’s home. They found Sadie in a redwood den outside of town, much like the cadshee before her.
Jon, struggling against the Skinchanger form of Stalker and her ability to wrest control of her mind and body, tried to Change back to a human once he tracked down Renee and her Wings. Stalker had been cordial leading up to the moment he attempted to become human again, and she discovered that Sadie was a creature of smoke and oil. She roared and took control of him once more, fleeing into the forest intent on ending the creature of shadow and smoke once and for all. She called it the deceiver, a thief.
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Part Eleven – Abomination
by Rick Cook Jr
The entire village huddled beneath the redwood’s roots. Sadie’s den was much homier than the cadshee’s from several years back, but it was still under the earth and the people were scared.
Marie didn’t like it. She hated it, in fact. Renee conferred with Sadie somewhere out of sight while Marie and Regina took care of the soldiers and civilians. They rested peacefully for the first time in days. Wounds were cleaned and bandages changed. Stories told. The Winged Riders, having been at the capital when it was falling, had much to tell the citizenry of Panagin’s Toll. Continue reading
It’s April 17th, 2016. Fifteen weeks have come and gone for 2016, so let’s talk about our progress!
My goals for Second Quarter of 2016 (April-June) are as follows:
So a quick rundown of what I accomplished towards these goals: Continue reading
It’s Tuesday and the ongoing adventures of the Winged Riders continues with Part Ten!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Last time on The Wings Take Shape, the Skinchanger Jon struggled with the form known as Stalker, a cougar. When taking the form to protect his squad from a night raid, he lost control and Stalker killed their Scout, Thomas Irons. He managed to control Stalker long enough to flee, leaving the Winged Riders to be captured.
Captain Renee Mollen and her Winged Riders escaped and fled to Sadie Sawyer Paige, looking for any advantage they could find, and her Smokeshifting ability was a big one. She found Sadie and learned that Jon may be lost to Stalker.
Meanwhile, Jon fought the will of Stalker, sometimes losing control of his body and his mind, sometimes gaining it back and forcing her will to his. He fought her when she suggested he kill innocent children just to feed, and fled back into the forest, intent on finding Renee and the others so he could shed his form and ask forgiveness.
On to Part Ten!
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Part Ten – Conflicting Thoughts
by Rick Cook Jr.
Stalker, Jon thought. He was in the Red Forest, creeping along, following the trail of Renee and the Winged Riders. His companion was silent.
Stalker, he prodded again. I know you can hear me talking.
Stalker bristled. You choose interesting words for what we do.
He snarled at a pack of wolves and they backed away from their hunt.
We can’t keep fighting for control like this.
It’s April 10th, 2016. It’s time to throw an update full of words at you!
My goals for Second Quarter of 2016 (April-June) are as follows:
If you’ve been impatiently waiting to find out what happened to Jon, well, this is your Tuesday! It’s time for the next part of my serial novella The Wings Take Shape!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Previously, the last known Winged Riders and free soldiers of an empire under siege were taken captive. Jon turned into a cougar using his Skinchanging ability, killed with reckless abandon, and fled into the night.
The other Winged Riders, under Captain Renee Mollen, managed to escape and head for Jon’s aunt, Sadie, also a Skinchanger and something a little more than that these days. On the way there, wild cougars attacked and Jon came to their rescue, but he couldn’t Skinchange back to a human and fled into the night once more.
Renee tracked down Sadie in the hollow root-system of an old redwood, much like the cadshee had lived in before during their earlier trials against the monster.
Now we head back a ways and find out just what happened with Jon while he was Changed into Stalker, the Cougar.
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Part Nine – Stalker
by Rick Cook Jr.
Jon was losing the fight. The struggle with Stalker had begun the moment he panicked and turned into her. Bodies fell, and he wasn’t in control. He’d always sensed something different about her. Something wild and untamed. Where the others were merely forms to take, Stalker always felt like a different voice in his head.
And she was angry at being so contained.
He fought back against her when she tore open Scout Irons’s throat, forced her to flee into the Bloody Wood.
The taste of Thomas’s blood down his throat was victory. It was pleasing. It haunted his steps. He couldn’t go back to them. Not now they knew what he was. After what he’d done. Continue reading
It’s April 3rd, 2016. I said it last week and I’ll say it again, Let’s do that update thing I do!
My goals for the thirteenth week of the year were as follows:
Didn’t manage to submit or write a short story this week. Too much going on and I’m trying to focus in on that editing thing a bit more. Continue reading
Tuesday comes along, and with the dawning of this day, new words form up into a story for you to drink up like water in a desert.
Another chapter of The Wings Take Shape is coming at you!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Last week, Captain Renee Mollen and her Winged Riders hid in the bloody wood, the Red Forest, seeking shelter for a little rest in the dangerous forest. Renee was worried about Jon, who had turned into a cougar in front of everyone, revealing his Skinchanger nature and violently murdering Renee’s Scout Irons in his rage and escape. She took to calling for him in the woods, but he didn’t appear.
Sergeant Marie Mollen, Renee’s twin sister, came to Renee and discussed their future and the wisdom in seeking Sadie out knowing that her nephew Jon’s fate was uncertain. The twinner bond they shared was weakening just as they needed it most, but once it starts to go, it is said nothing can be done.
Farsight Poul saw something in the woods creeping upon them, and a pack of cougars set upon them, snarling and ready to attack, but a larger cougar, what must have been Jon, scared them away.
He attempted to Change back to his normal human form, but it failed midway and he fled back into the bloody wood, still a cougar, still wild. They pressed on to find Sadie and hopefully some help.
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Part Eight – Sadie Skinchanger
by Rick Cook Jr.
Another town burned to the ground. Renee was sick of the sight. She brought her Wings to the edge of the bloody wood and they stared at the smoldering wreckage of Sadie’s village.
Marie’s fingers clenched around Renee’s arm. “Is she dead?” she whispered.
“As hard as she fought to keep herself alive against the cadshee? I doubt it.” Renee pulled her arm free and tugged on the reins, making her horse follow into the village square. The rest of Renee’s Wings and recruits came soon after.
It smelled only of charred wood and linen. No scents of burning flesh. No bodies to speak of. That was good. Where had Sadie gone? Had she taken the townsfolk to safety? Her children? Continue reading
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