Snow crunched beneath Duro’s paws, cold clutched at him, but his bloodlust kept him moving. The human was near.
Duro was the only one left of the search party, the others died of the poison. He would hunt down the humans who dared kill shapeshifters and kidnap the children.
The prey was sleeping; with a leap he was upon the human, pinning him down.
“This human might not be one of them…” He sniffed the shivering body, but smelled only fear. He could not determine his innocence. ”Perhaps I’m not the one to decide over matters of life and death.”
This story very subtley portrays humility, right at the end.
ReplyDeleteI like how the last few of your stories have had some similar characters.
I've loved reading the flash fiction you wrote for this challenge, and I'm going to keep on reading your blog - I love your writing style.
I agree with @katherine - you have a lovely writing style, there's a warmth and restraint to it and your world-building is very real. Love the last line of this, it captures the theme perfectly!
ReplyDeleteAfraid I'm just an echo of the first two comments this time. I like how you used your words to build the character, world and circumstances and then only needed the last sentence to pull the Virtue in strong.
ReplyDeleteI am SO curious about your shapeshifters. How their shifting works, if there are limits to the forms they can take or if they have a 'natural' form. It sounds like there may be a black market for young shifters, and that people in general don't like them... So fascinating!
Thank you all :)
ReplyDeleteI had the idea of Duro (husband to Veetra's daughter) hunting down the shapeshifter hunters and then deciding against killing because he can't recognize them. He has a strong sense of honour.
I love that you're curious about my favourite beings!
In Verannia there are two kinds of magic, innate and external (besides the elements). Shapeshifters can only perform innate magic, if a shapeshifter tried to cast a fire ball they'd probably ignite themself...
They can however take the form of a dragon and breathe fire, if they are strong enough. They can take the form of any living being, but if they take the form of a non-sentient being they may become stuck in the form.
They usually prefer a certain form, which may or may not be human. The aunt of one of my main characters is a freshwater sponge :)
Shapestealing is considered a crime among shapeshifters, but a lot of humans still fear them. There are also some shapeshifters who dislike humans and even hunt and kidnap their children as revenge, though they are few.
Looong post :P