a fireside tale: travelling further down the road

…this one took a little while, but here it is. my latest “story snippet”, continuing the story of a “fireside tale”….

here’s the chosen words: amulet, bind, burnish, bury, cast, challenge, connect, fairy tale, haunt, hidden, midnight, path, porcelain, trick, wilderness….

and here’s the “story snippet” that I wrote using these words…can you find each word embedded in the tale?

“a fireside tale: travelling further down the road”

vaguely aware
………i wandered toward wakefulness

………………stepping forward

drifting back

……struggling against the pull

……………….holding ground

…………………feeling the force

…………….of the mesmerizing seduction of sleep

………………challenging it

…………………fighting it

………………………stepping forward once again

……………………………….this time

……………………………………all the way across

…………………………………………………..the t h r e s h o l d

………………l e a v i n g   behind the  ethereal  realm  of    d r e a m s

groggy
confused

as my hazy sleep logic

touched
………the edge
………………..of waking reality

i paused.
 

trying to
remember

there was something
important

something
vital

in my dreams

i struggled to recall
but the images were just out of  r e a c h

i could feel them

hidden
in a subliminal space

……………a half-step away

haunting me
taunting me

as i tried so very hard
to remember the images
to understand the message

but the dream was
……………………………………………….g o n e

i felt cold
perhaps the fire went out
i felt wet too
i opened my eyes

i wasn’t in my bed

i was lying on thick dewy moss on a forest floor

i bolted awake

shocked.
stunned.

then
i remembered

the odd night in my cottage
the enchanted embers
lifting up and out of my fireplace
one by one
my midnight flight
following the trail of their light
into the cursed wilderness
becoming entangled in a swirling vortex of spells
cast backwards

i felt a faint filmy residue
of the sticky gossamer web of magic
of binds that had been broken
and flung aside

but now
aside from fading remnants
from the night before

the air around me
felt oddly
clear
fresh
and completely free of magic

in addition to the absence of magic
i felt something else
as if an enormous shift
had taken place

i looked around the dense forest
faintly lit by the approach of dawn
but i couldn’t find any trace
of the enchanted embers from the night before

i couldn’t shake the feeling
something was wrong

i decided to head back to my cottage
i wanted to make sure everything was okay
i could see bits of the meadow through the trees
so i headed out to the meadow
trying to retrace my steps
from the night before

a light morning mist hovered a foot above the ground
covering the large expansive meadow
i looked for the ancient oak tree
to gain a sense of direction

but the meadow was clear
it should have been there
but it wasn’t

i crossed the large meadow
stepping carefully in the fog
but i soon became concerned and careless
and started to run

i made it half way across the field
when my foot caught on something
i stumbled

it was a small sapling
an oak tree

i had an eerie feeling

i had never seen a sapling in the middle of the meadow before
only a single massive oak tree

i stood up
i wasn’t injured
just shaken
i felt my heart pounding and pounding

i raced across the rest of the meadow
heading for the area
where i thought i could find the path
back to my cottage

the mist dissipated at the edge of the meadow
i found a faint earthen path
it wasn’t the broad footpath that i knew

i had a deeply disturbing feeling
i knew that this was
the path

i followed the trail
through the trees
ducking under branches
stepping over tree trunks
as my heart pounded and pounded

it felt like i had been walking for hours
when i finally reached the place
the clearing where i knew
my cottage
should be

but there was nothing

this time i knew for sure
the forest was denser than it had ever been
the familiar mountain with tall spires was in view
it reminded me of the church in my grandmother’s fairy tale
a tale she told us long past bedtime
when i was supposed to be
fast asleep

it was the same majestic mountain
that i had gazed at from my cottage door on so many early mornings
as its long spindly shadows
receded with the rising
of the sun

i rushed to the place
where my cottage should have been
searching for the outline of its foundation
searching for burnt ashes from the fireplace
searching for shattered fragments of porcelain
searching for any artifact
that could prove
the existence of my home
the existence of my life just a night ago
in order to find proof of the very existence and identity
of who i truly
was

as my heart pounded and pounded and p o u n d e d

i found

………………..nothing

as the sun rose further
i saw a flash
then another quick glint
half buried underneath a clump of earth
on the side of the clearing
i discovered a small amulet
it was shiny and burnished
newly handcrafted
i picked it up
and held it in my palm
i felt deeply and strangely
connected to its energy

i felt the presence of someone approaching
i slipped the amulet into my pocket and looked up
an old man in rough homespun clothes rushed toward me

he whispered loudly
motioning to me to follow him

they’re coming
they’re coming
hide
now

he urged me

i rushed after the old man
heading into the thick undergrowth
at the side of the clearing

i looked at him
as we settled into our hiding place
wanting to speak
he motioned me to be silent

in a few moments
they came

five horsemen

their approach was so chillingly silent
like a growing shadow
i felt a strange
tingling

they halted their horses
in the clearing where my cottage used to be

one horseman dismounted
as the others waited
the horseman
knelt in the place
where i had found the amulet
in the clearing

the horseman touched the ground
in that very place
and closed his eyes
i felt the strange tingling again

he opened his eyes
and then slowly scanned the forest surrounding the clearing
i knew this was not a trick
this was trouble

i felt a strange instinctive reaction
take over my mind body and spirit

time s l o w e d

i thought i felt
a slight vibration
from the amulet in my pocket

my mind body and spirit filled up with the expansion and growth of the forest
vines twisting and wrapping
branches swelling and extending
leaves unfurling and spreading
the furious action
stopped

as the horseman
turned to stare
at our hiding place

i felt an unnatural
stillness
i knew
that the horseman
was scanning the stillness of the clearing with his mind

i felt it

he was sensing his surroundings for signs of life
he gave a subtle sniff of the air
oddly enough i could hear him listening for sounds

i felt a sense of relief
when a small sparrow hopped out of the bushes
capturing and diverting his attention
and finally convincing him
to move on

the horseman stood up
mounted his horse
and after scanning the area
one last time
he rode off
with the
others

after the horsemen
disappeared down the trail
we waited
in stillness
until i felt the forest awaken again
as the flora and fauna
rustled
murmured
and swished
and the air
fresh
cold
and clear
once again

when i felt it was safe
i turned to the old man

the words popped out of my mouth without politeness or polish

“who are you?“
i asked him

“who are you?”
he replied
“and what was that?”

i didn’t know.
i was stunned to realize.

after the strange sequence of events and the loss of time and place i wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

written by Susan Eileen Jizba
weaver & wordsmith… the weaver of words
…………………………weaving fibers & fables
https://www.etsy.com/shop/theweaverofwords