Luna and Razim on the run

Luna looked down at the dagger in her hand. It was covered in blood, in his blood, and it was the only color she could see. She looked over at the sweaty fat man as a pool of that same blood form underneath him. Suddenly Razim was in front of her and he was shouting something at her, but she could not hear what he was saying. Razim reached his hand up and shook Luna a bit. Luna jumped in shock at the touch and dropped the dagger with a loud clang. She heard the metal hit the floor as tears started to well up in her eyes. They blurred the image of her younger brother as he reached down and grabbed her hand. He turned and pulled her with him, flying through the door that lead into the backroom. Razim lead her to the middle of the room where he let go of her hand and threw open a chest. He rummaged around inside and produced a pair of short swords.

Quickly strapping one to his belt and ran to Luna and said, “Here put this on, we might have need of them, the gods know he wont need them anymore.”

Luna looked down at the sword as if it were a coiled snake.

“Luna,” Razim said, “you will be okay but we need to get out of here. If they find out what happened…”

His voice trailed off as Luna slowly reached out to grab the sword. As soon as she had it on her belt they heard a loud pounding knock at the front door. Razim cursed under his breath and motioned for Luna to follow him. He led her into the kitchen and went to the back door. A shadow could be seen behind the curtain over the sink also heading for the back door. It’s not locked Luna realized as the knob started to twist. Razim froze as the door cracked open. He felt Luna push him and before he knew what was going on they were in a dark pantry. The two held there breath as they heard heavy foot steps stride across the kitchen calling out to anyone in the house. It took only a moment for the foot steps to cross the kitchen and enter the living room, but to Luna and Razim that moment was the moment they realized they could never go back to how things were before. Luna reached down and pulled up a trap door that went into the basement. She hurried Razim inside and quickly followed closing the door behind her. She reached up and secured the latch, double checking that it was in place before joining up with Razim. The basement was full of dust and forgotten things, a small amount of light lazily filled the room from a small window on one side. It went to the front yard and Luna pondered the idea of squeezing through it and making a break for it.

“Luna over here,” Razim whispered, startling Luna out of her thought, “the old bastard may have something we could use in this stuff.”

Razim quickly produced a couple of packs and some heavy blankets. Luna gathered some cheese and dried fruit and meat and some bread and added those to the pack as well.

“What good is that stuff going to do us if we are stuck down here Luna. We don’t have any way of getting out, except that window maybe, but I think we are too big to fit through it.” Razim said has he walked around the basement.

He stopped suddenly looking at a chest with a questioning look. I was not an ordinary chest, instead it was carved with dragons battling knights. Luna noticed Razim and walked over to stand next to him. They both looked at the chest with wonder, it was clearly not made in Coranith.

“What do you think is inside Luna?” Razim said not taking his eyes off the chest.

“I don’t know, why don’t you open and see if it’s something useful?” Luna said in hushed tones looking between her brother and the chest.

Razim walked forward and pulled up on the lid, only to find that it was stuck in place. He pulled on it harder and placed a foot on the bottom of the chest to try and pry it open but with no luck.

“Quiet you idiot, do you want them to find us. Here let me take a look at it.” Luna knelt beside the chest as Razim scowled at her and walked to a group of chairs stacked against the wall.

Luna’s hands felt around the chest but she could not find a lock. She spent a moment trying to find a clue in the design on the chest when she heard a loud crash behind her. She turned around quickly to see a pile of broken chairs on top of Razim. Luna started to laugh at the sight as a shadow fell across the room, someone was looking in the window! They were shouting something and Luna could hear more voices coming. She turned and kicked the chest moving a knights sword into the belly of a dragon and the chest sprang open. She looked inside and found a small bag that seemed filled with coins. She reached in opened it and saw a number of gold and silver coins inside. Maybe she could bribe her way out of this she thought, the guards and officials were commonly known to be corrupt. She quickly shook the thought out of her head a few strands of her dark black hair falling across her face.

Razim scrambled out from under the chairs and dusted himself off. He looked over at Luna who had attached the bag of coins to her belt and was glaring at him. He shrugged apologetically as his dark blue eyes said sorry. Luna looked over at the pile of chairs and behind where they were stacked was a small door. She motioned to the door as they heard a loud thump on the trap door. Razim and Luna both pulled on the door to open it and quickly slipped inside. The passage was long and dark and Razim took the lead, feeling along the wall as he went. The passage ended at a ladder the went up into the darkness. Luna stood close to Razim, her head was swimming, she had always been afraid of the dark and it was all she could to not to scream.

“Luna,” Luna was silent, “Luna! Snap out of it, there is a ladder here and it probably goes to the street somewhere.” Luna stood paralyzed finally realizing how dark it really was. Razim made a frustrated face as he grabbed Luna’s hand. He put it on the ladder and moved her closer to it.

“Luna,” he muttered, “light is at the top of the ladder, the quicker you climb the sooner we’ll be out of the dark.” He words trailed off at ‘out’ as Luna started to disappear into the darkness above him before he could finish talking. He smiled to himself and hurried to catch up to her.

To be a writer and the 'where's mine' syndrom

What does writing mean for me? Well in high school writing was a way for me to express myself to the world but in secret. I had to write every day for a creative writing class and I wrote about a girl I liked in high school in the hope that the teacher would read it and it would get back to the girl. It seems funny to think about it now, but that is what inspired me to write. Now I wish that I was a writer but I do little more then that. I make excuses in my head, I am too tired, I worked hard today, I spent a lot of time cleaning the house, but these are little more then excuses. I have time to write but I spend it doing other things. Just like when people are short on money they think ‘well, if I cut 8 dollars here and save .50 by using this coupon then keep doing that I will save a lot of money.’ It does not work that way, yes trimming extra expenses are good when times are lean but you got to look at the habit first. The same goes for writing, if I want to be a writer then I need to be one. I have told a few people that I am a writer but I feel embarrassed about it or awkward when I say so, then I follow it up with but I have not published or been paid to be a writer. I need to just own the fact that I am a writer and I will work hard at becoming one. Is it hard to become a writer? No and yes. First off no, anyone can write something and be called a writer. Secondly it is hard because not everyone can write something that someone else wants to read. I seem to be able to write fairly freely when I sit and focus on it but I often get distracted. It is no ones fault but my own. I could have as easily started writing and posting things in a blog a long time ago. Instead I decided to watch an old episode of Family Guy (which is a great show by the way). So, as I have told myself in the past, I need to start writing. But I tend to get into a habit of writing what ever it is I am thinking about. I don’t take the time to write a story or a novel like I should but as long as I write then I am working at becoming a writer.

A truly skilled mechanic did not start out that way, instead they started out on a old car in there parents or grandparents garage and when from there. They put a lot of time and effort into becoming a mechanic and so they have a skill that they can use to make a living. I suffer from the same attitude that is pervasive throughout my generation. It is an attitude in which they look at someone who has what they want and instead of working months or years to get that, they want it now. They want to start at the top and they want someone to hand it to them. I call this the ‘where’s mine’ syndrome. No, it is not a real syndrome, instead it is a mind set either instilled in us by our parents or by our schools. I suffer from this when I look at being a writer. I want the perks before I do the work. I want to wake up when I want, drink a cup of coffee, pet and snuggle my dogs, kiss my wife and then start the day at my computer writing. This dream can become a reality IF I work at it. Maybe it wont happen in a week or a month or a year but if I keep working at that goal I will achieve it. How do I know I will achieve it? I know because people have done it before and in this great country anything can be done. I mean if someone can glue googly eye to a rock and sell it to people then is it really the far fetched that I become a stay at home writer. I think not.

PS. Keep an eye out for my new product the pet spoon! Coming to a retailer near you.