The Oil of Sage – episode 3

“We spent three days scouring the countryside for him, together with all Lord Thyme’s people, but it was as if he’d been spirited away. Can you help us, Merlin?”

The old man lost his train of thought and stared into those pale blue eyes; cold like moonlit steel. He couldn’t remember Dracomagan ever asking him for help before.

“I’m not asking for myself,” she said hastily. “But Lord Thyme is one of my most loyal subjects and besides, Parsley has rather a crush on Tym.”

Parsley blushed as pink as a summer rose and Sorrel laughed.

“How long will that last?” The tall woman mocked her affectionately.

“Can you?” Dracomagan ignored Sorrel’s banter, still staring at Merlin.

“I might.”

“Good.” Her Majesty turned her attention to the cold soup, mopping it up with a hunk of bread.

“I need more information though.” Merlin said reluctantly. He hated getting involved with Dracomagan’s adventures. In his experience, things always took a turn for the worse…

Find out more about this story and how to get a free copy of it at Current Story

© Freya Pickard 2016

I’ve started making some videos about my writing! Please check them out at YouTube

Dragonscale Leggings – an excerpt

26th June, Mid-Morning

Who am I? Where am I? And what on earth am I doing here in the blazing hot sun outside a cave in the middle of a mountainous wilderness with the decaying carcass of some huge monster? I’m wearing really strange clothes and a green cloak type of thing. This cloak has pockets and in them I’ve found this notebook and pencil and something that makes me want to call it tinder and flint. Notebook is bound in leather with recycled type paper inside. The pencil is thick and stubby. The corpse really stinks. I feel sick.

Lunchtime

On the way to be sick (not sure where I was going, there aren’t any loos round here), I found a white horse. It just stared at me and when I started throwing up behind one of the grey boulders lying around, it trotted off. I lay down for a bit, feeling vulnerable and pathetic. The white horse re-appeared while I was still feeling yuck and looked me up and down as if it knew me. Hauling myself to my feet I staggered over to it and hung onto its neck. It then led me step by step to a little gully where – how wonderful! – there was a stream! Water never tasted so good! Have a splitting headache so am going to sleep in the shade of a rock near the stream.

Teatime?

Headache gone. Stomach churning – perhaps the water was polluted. Feel light-headed. Horse has disappeared again. Sun not so hot. Brains completely scrambled. Am I really myself? I ask this because I am wearing the oddest pair of leggings I’ve ever seen. They look like grey and purple mottled scales. Very odd. I don’t remember buying them. I’m wearing knee-length leather boots, which are making my feet hot. I didn’t buy them either. The T-shirt I’m wearing I bought at a student sale. Aha! So I’m a student! What of and where at?

These are the opening paragraphs to my novel, Dragonscale Leggings, which is now available as an e-book!

© Freya Pickard 2016

I’ve started making some videos about my writing! Please check them out at Dragonscale Leggings, The Rusalka Ritual, The Essence of Thyme and Patreon

ice-blue eyes

lone

woman

warrior

lost, confused rider

tangled hair, ice-blue eyes

longsword, potato peeler

to recover her memories

clarity pyramid © Freya Pickard 2016

As I announced yesterday, my novel, Dragonscale Leggings, has finally been launched as an e-book! Please feel free to share and re-blog this post!

I’ve started making some videos about my writing! Please check them out at Dragonscale Leggings, The Rusalka Ritual, The Essence of Thyme and Patreon

Dragonscale Leggings – available now as an e-book!

More excitement!

After years of waiting, I have finally launched my novel, Dragonscale Leggings, as an e-book!

It’s got a new cover with bold colours and attitude – what do you think?

What would you do if you woke up in a place you did not recognise, with no memory of who you are? Would you fall asleep again and hope to remember when you woke up next? Would you hide yourself away, giving into self-pity? Or would you walk out and explore this strange new world, hoping to recover your memory on the way?

Join the narrator of Dragonscale Leggings as she sets out to discover where she is, why she is there and how or if she can return home. Accompanied by Tygar, a white stallion who appoints himself her guardian and armed with a giant potato peeler, Dracomagan travels through a lush and dreamlike Otherworld.

Who will help her find her true identity? Will it be Sama, the gorgeous harpist who gives her a name? Will it be aggravating Agravaine, a knight who prefers fashion to fighting? Can Gatus, the goat herder help her? Or will the mysterious retired Pirate King show her the path to her real memories?

The e-book versions are available at Amazon. Hear me read an extract in my video at DSL!

Please feel free to share and re-blog this post!

© Freya Pickard 2016

butterfly cinquains flit away…

Thank you for following me through my journey with Butterfly Cinquains. I hope you enjoyed them and were inspired to write your own! A couple more of these cinquains may find their way into my blog posts in the future…

I will be continuing to blog here, but with some ch-ch-changes…

I will also be blogging at Pure Haiku where my guests and I will be exploring the meaning of LEAF. I hope you can join us there on 16th September 2016.

I am taking a very short break from this blog, but will be back here once more on Monday, 19th September 2016… See you all then!

© Freya Pickard 2016

I’ve started making some videos about my writing! Please check them out at The Rusalka Ritual, The Essence of Thyme and Patreon

Butterfly Cinquain 10

earthern

mysteries are

dark but not always as

deathly as they seem; fragrant soil

alive

with potential for life as worms

bring oxygen into

darkness – seeds live

again

butterfly cinquain © Freya Pickard 2016

I’ve started making some videos about my writing! Please check them out at The Rusalka Ritual, The Essence of Thyme and Patreon

Butterfly Cinquain 9

leeks just

on the turn with

manky scallions and

potatoes and celery; what

a good

soup can be made from old food if

you take the time to chop

out the bad bits –

frugal

butterfly cinquain © Freya Pickard 2016

I’ve started making some videos about my writing! Please check them out at The Rusalka Ritual, The Essence of Thyme and Patreon