Aya's Last Spell
976 words long
Aya’laq had grown old in service to her people. Now she felt frost crossing her bones, and it brought her to the edge of despair.
Notes from the author:To inject a little more playfulness into my daily routine, I went looking for writing prompts specifically for kids. What I found was Scholastic's Story Starters. First you choose a theme—I picked fantasy—then you choose an age range—I picked 4th through 6th grade. (You also have to put your name in, for no reason at all I could see. I gave it some key-smash.) Then you spin the wheels, either all together or one at a time, and you see what comes up.
The first time I used it, I got the prompt that led to this fictionette: "Write about a magical event with a lionhearted elder who brews a... potion." Yes, I'm omitting a word, but you can't really blame me. The exact type of potion that gets brewed is a reveal best left to the story itself.
Aya’laq was preparing to cast a spell. “This will be my last spell,” she said. “It will be a very great working. Let none disturb me until I come out once more.” The word ran along from tent to tent, and grief murmured inconsolate in its wake. Ma Aya, casting her last spell! Woe are we, her children and soldiers, to lose Ma Aya!
It was not that she would leave them leaderless. True, Aya’laq had no children to succeed her; she had wed no other mate but war, and that only as an unwilling bride bowing to necessity. But she had trained many a likely warrior, any of whom might reasonably take her place as battle-witch supreme. Her people would certainly survive and thrive without her. But who could bear to think it? Ma Aya, casting her last spell!
It seemed that Aya’laq had always been there. She was their mother, their Goddess, their general, their good luck charm. And now, she said, she was casting her last spell. What would they do without her? What would they be?
This has been an excerpt from the Friday Fictionette for November 18, 2016. Subscribers can download the full-length fictionette (976 words) from Patreon as an ebook or audiobook depending on their pledge tier.
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