Fantasy Friday: Spited Faces

The last of all the unicorns had died;
The pow'rs that ruled the world they'd shared had banned
Procedures that would save her (they had lied
Unto the People, as they long had planned.
The folk belief was that to save a beast
Of this rare kind, a human's life must end).
Now at the long and awkward, final feast,
The people realized no one could mend
The harm done to the world. The unicorns
Kept death of a most awful kind at bay.
Without them, soon the world would come to mourn
The passing, yes, of light itself -- the sun
Did only turn toward Earth to watch their fun!

Fantasy Friday: Fish Tales, Part V

Nobody came for Kleo. Camp rolled on
And on, into the autumn! Each full moon,
The tropic campers cowered until dawn
As tough and thuggish troutgirls leaped, the doom
Of millions of mosquitoes. Then by day
The cold and greyish water was all theirs
In which to twirl and dance, in which to play,
Forgetting briefly those with whom they shared
That alpine lake. One morning, though, a maid
Tried jumping high, and hit her pretty head
Against the water's surface! She was laid
Out cold. As others tended where she bled
(Lest pike return!), Kleo looked at what she'd hit,
All white and solid. Now, just what was it?

Fantasy Friday: Fish Tales, Part IV

Dear Mom and Dad, can I please come home soon?
This camp is horrible. I'm always cold,
Each morning starts off with a nasty tune
Played on... it's called an antler? And we're told
Just what to do each minute! How's the reef?
How's my seahorse? Don't ride her. Only I
Can ride her, grandpa said. Oh no, our "chief" --
We're all some kind of engines? -- just came by
And said it's time for yet another "trek"
Down to the darker water. I just hate
It here. Oh, and last night I got the "heck"
Beat out of me by trout girls. Now I'm late.
Please send someone to fetch me to the sea.
Signed, love, your Kleo, longing to be free!

Fantasy Friday: We Squirrels

A rodent came to me, and it knew more
About me than my mother does, I'd bet.
Its gaze did penetrate me to the core,
Although the two of us had barely met.
It hypnotized me, I believe, or did
I always have grey fur like this? A tail?
These black and liquid eyes? Where have I hid -- ?
Yes, look at me, and deeply. There's a trail
We're following into the woods. You see?
Look closer, focus, feel it 'neath your feet.
This is the place we're truly meant to be,
With acorns and such other things to eat.
You understand? Hold on, I'm coming there.
What's wrong, my friend? Now all you do is stare.

Fantasy Friday: Fish Tales, Part III

As Kleo floated, patient, with her pole,
Awaiting, from line's end, that special tug
That said she'd caught a squirrel or chipmunk, whole,
She daydreamed, watching as a caddis-bug
Lay waiting for its dinner, too. It struck
Just as a pebble hit her on her head!
The larva'd grabbed a minnow, but her luck
Was not so good. Sneers sounded; she turned red
In anger and embarrassment. "Hey, check
The ocean girlie out! Ain't she a prize?"
Soon Kleo was surrounded. "Lac-maids! Heck,
I thought you were a myth," she said. Their size
Soon killed all humor, though, as all around
Our Kleo was a school of them. "Let's pound!"

Fantasy Friday: Fish Tales, Part II

Next morning, 'neath the waters of the lake,
The mermaid campers woke to shouts and cheers.
"It's time to start activities! Don't make
Us tell you twice! Watch as the surface clears.
Soon we'll have light to craft our squirrel bait,
And then we'll practice casting. You must hit
The soil just so, to catch their notice." "Wait,
We're squirrelling? I mean, I din't think it
Was that backwater, here. Why can't we just
Go shopping at Whale-Mart?" asked Kleo, who
Had just had her scales painted. "Oh, this must
Be your first year. Yeah, you must be  real new.
"We hook our dinners, reel them in and down
Here with us, and watch critters as they drown"

Fantasy Friday: Fish Tales, Part II

Next morning, 'neath the waters of the lake,
The mermaid campers woke to shouts and cheers.
"It's time to start activities! Don't make
Us tell you twice! Watch as the surface clears.
Soon we'll have light to craft our squirrel bait,
And then we'll practice casting. You must hit
The soil just so, to catch their notice." "Wait,
We're squirrelling? I mean, I din't think it
Was that backwater, here. Why can't we just
Go shopping at Whale-Mart?" asked Kleo, who
Had just had her scales painted. "Oh, this must
Be your first year. Yeah, you must be  real new.
"We hook our dinners, reel them in and down
Here with us, and watch critters as they drown"

Fantasy Friday: Fish Tales, Part I

It was young Kleo's very first time out
To mermaid camp, far from the ocean blue.
The griffin flight was scary, there's no doubt,
As miles and miles of land took up the view
And they went higher still. The mountain lake
Where camp was set was cold and strange and deep,
But Kleo kept her courage, no mistake,
Until just ere the campers went to sleep
And told each other tales of trout and pike
And beavers! "One attacked me last year!" claimed
Her bunkmate. "He'd have dragged me way down, like,
Beneath his dam!" "Now Bea, you should be shamed!"
Their couns'lor said. "There are none here, don't lie.
But me tell you all of The Walleye!"

Fantasy Friday: The Little Lac-Maid

Down at the bottom of a glacial lake,
High in the mountains, where the water's cold
Is most profound, a lac-maid's worst mistake
Occurred one day when she found, set in gold
A shining opal. Like her ocean kind
(Called mermaids) she did dearly love a gem!
But this one started playing with her mind
Ere she could even bring it to her den.
The winter comes much sooner, up so high,
And her trout half would let her hibernate
Beneath the ice until spring's thaw was nigh.
This year, though, addled, she thought t'would be great
To pass the season up atop the ice.
Her frozen corpse has been discovered twice.

Fantasy Friday: The Veterinarian: Consultation

"I know that you will do it," bade the will,
Near irresistible, of Dragon Blunt
Good Doctor Famulus, held quiet, still,
And nearly helpless by that gaze did grunt,
Then spoke at last. "You need to set me free,"
He stammered. "I can't help you with a mind
And body pinned like this. Thanks. Now, let's see
That hip." The worm then gingerly did wind
And turn. "You're young to have such wear. Just four
Millennia? How odd. But I'll say yes,
Provided Gend the Smith can do the chore
Of making a replacement joint, I'd guess
I can. Until then, though, stay off it. Fly
But do not walk on that, and I'm your guy."

Fantasy Friday: We're Going to Need a Lot More Goop

The last corpse on the battlefield turned out
To still be living. And per gen'ral rules
All efforts must be made to bring about
A  better outcome yet. "Have you your tools,
Your unguents and ointments, Wisdom Rhee?"
The soldiers did demand. "Of course I do,"
The alchemist replied. "Just bring to me
The weapon that hath made these wounds, and you
Will see them healed. This salve, smeared on it will--"
He stopped. She'd looked a porcupine when found.
Per regs, the arrows in her that were still
Of use were pulled and fired back. "Confound
You fools!" said Rhee. "Go out and bring me all
You find." A pile of missiles soon grew tall.

Fantasy Friday: The Slowest Assassin

As plots go, this one was so devious
No one could hold it in his head entire.
But what took Prince Trew far too soon from us
Began just with some seeds. Released by fire
As lore instructed, they were planted by
His royal hand when he was only four.
The tree grew as he did. At 35
He took the throne. Beneath the tree the score
Of gems were added to his crown. At last,
The final stone set in, a blossom burst
And dusted him with pollen. All too fast
He took his final breath. With that the first
Of his five sisters got the crown instead.
She gloated. 'Twas her gift that left him dead.

Dog Week: Fantasy Friday: The Slayer

The fangs that gleamed in her attacker's maw
Were small and sharp, but not yet blood-stained. She
Watched carefully her foe's quick-twitching jaw
That feinted at her throat again. A wee
But speedy paw deflected, too, thus strike
Just like the multitudes before. No, Death --
Nor yet un-death would claim her now. I'd like
To tell you Sadie Rus-tese never lost her breath
Or took a scratch, but 'gainst a vampire-cat
That can't be so. But with her long, long limbs
She kept the thing at bay, e'en as it spat
And hissed its vilest threats. Throughout the grim
And endless night they battled, until dawn
Destroyed the monster. Sadie simply yawned.

Fantasy Friday: A High Turn-Over Rate Explained

O'Liam spent his days upon high plains
Beneath the purest skies, the brightest sun.
He filled his canteen at streams fed by rains
The gods themselves had sent. When day was done
He played his pipes then slept in starlight, glad
And merry. All was happiness until
Roe Rippon met his end, and met it bad.
This left a vacancy for Li to fill.
The herd was wondrous, beauty on the hoof,
Each mare of shining whiteness that would blind
Mere laymen's eyes. But those who called the Roof
Of Mountains home, were chosen. All was fine.
But then a stallion found the herd. Li failed
To fend him off, and, like Roe, died impaled.

Fantasy Friday: A Poor Choice of Messiah

When Nol was born, no pilgrimage occurred
To see him, and no costly gifts were laid
Beside his bed. No bright and godlike bird
Announced his coming. No one's even made
An icon of this great event, but all
Know ev'ry moment of it, from the worst
Contractions that his mother felt, the bawl
He let loose when the air, so cold at first
Met his bare bottom. Now, as time and age
Have found him, none of us can see or hear
Or leave our beds. We've trembled with his rage
And laughed with him. It only took one smear
Of his blood on our skins. We all are he
And only when he's gone will we be free.

Fantasy Friday: Trash Talk

'Your knight swings you like he just hacked you off
A log. It's like you're made of rotting wood!"
"You're hardly anything to swish and scoff!
That knave is going to shatter you for good --
The smith that forged you rushed too quickly through
Your tempering. Just look at all those cracks!"
"Which one of us has got a rare and blue
Bright diamond in the pommel? Just what hacks --
Ow!" "Haha! I nicked you fair and square!
I may not be all fancy, but this ain't
The first duel I've been drawn in." "Do you dare
Imply I'm just a decorations?" "Blades!
Shut up; we're trying to fight. Don't snipe like maids!"

Fantasy Friday: A Sad Lesson

The schoolroom "pet" that year was not a beast,
But was, in fact, a lemmintree that grew
Upon the window sill, where it faced east
And filled the school with scent from its pale blue
And brown-eyed flowers, 'til they dropped. The fruit
That grew from then on started yellow and
Then deepened. When mature, each, like a flute
Emitted lovely notes. They formed a band
That played enchanting tunes at sunset. One
Sad day, though, they fell ripe and ran away.
The class gave chase, and thought it was great fun,
Until they reached the cliffs above the spray
Of Mora's sea. The lemmins rampaged on
Despite the weeping children. They were gone!

Fantasy Friday: A Change of Employer

The pair checked in just ere the crack of dawn.
They both looked tired, but one seemed quite near death,
So pale and wan. The other gave a yawn
That showed vast teeth, e'en as there puffed no breath.
I realized what I witnessed, but I had
No choice. I'm just a desk clerk, had to rent
A room to them. It's legal, but it's bad
That folk can choose so exploitive and bent
A way to make a living. Vampires are
E'er at advantage, rich and sexy, too,
So I bet they don't pay well. "Park the car,"
This one bid his blood bag. "And as for you,
You're coming too, to feed me, as you're bid."
"Uh, no!" I said, but then of course I did.

Fantasy Friday: The Hybrid Highwaymen

"Man overboard!" A deck hand had declared,
But no one stirred to save the wizard , Dave,
Who'd made them all his slaves, but then got scared
On deck, and didn't hold on as a wave
Knocked him into the water. Ere he drowned,
However, a small pod of dolphins took
Him as a plaything, shoved him all around,
Head butted him, then vi'lently they shook
Him wide awake. A chant, a gesture, and
They swam him to the shore. Once there, his spell
Transformed them. Now a violent, thuggish band
Of grey men with big toothy smiles, like hell
With flipper hands, rampages through the woods
With Dave, relieving trav'lers of their goods!

- For Matt Wallace

Fantasy Friday: Not in Wonderland, Part XVIII

"My name is Alice, but this place sure ain't
No Wonderland. I've had it with this crap.
I wish I had my rifle, though." A faint
But growing sound of laughter sounded. "Strap
Me on, then." "What? Who's there?" "Just look below
The table, idiot." "Don't call me that,"
She said through gritted teeth. "I might just go
All postal on you." "Time we had a chat
In that case." "You stay down." "You silly girl,
You think that I'm attacking? Here it is!"
Gas gave it to her as a wicked curl
Deformed her lips as she examined his
Blind offering, and cocked it. "Ready, aim..."
The rifle said "Shut up, I know the game."