Flash Fiction Magic: March 31 "Sea Breeze"

This flash fiction prompt came from Emily Barnett, on Instagram @embarnettauthor and takes place in the world of my fantasy WIP - Glitter City.

“The city of Klarestadt was built on the hill that rises from the Bay of Pearls when Maartan, our Benevolent God, showed King Noldil where his Kingdom would surely thrive,” Lily explained in a reverent tone, tracing a crescent shape on her forehead with her thumb. Her other arm was looped through Cecelia’s as the women walked the raised path that separated Orange Beach from the main coastal road.

Klarestadt rose behind them, its stone paved streets leading up to the ancient castle at the top of the hill. “For the past five hundred years, all of Voll Ruhig’s royalty has lived in that castle. Until Queen Anne,” Lily added, jerking her chin toward an angular building up ahead that looked like it was mostly made of glass. “She claims this is a modern way of building. That nearly all buildings in King Coursand’s Baí Rel look like this.”

They do, Cecelia thought. But she still hadn't told Lily that part of her life. She wasn’t ready to share that part of her with the woman who constantly affirmed her goodness. She didn't want to ruin it. In fact she didn’t want anyone in Klarestadt - where she finally felt like she had friends, a home, people she considered like family - to know anything about her original family or the home she'd been thrown out from.

Anyway, she had pretended for so long that it wasn't real at all to avoid feeling the pain over and over again.

“Do I sense that you’re not a fan of this type of architecture?” Cecelia forced a smirk to hide the darkness of her thoughts and gave her companion's arm a light squeeze. She hoped it was enough to throw off Lily's perceptiveness.

The older woman’s face grew dark and Cecelia’s stomach twisted. “I don’t know why anyone would want to model a Kingdom after Scinan’and. King Coursand has made a mess of it for nearly two decades.”

Whatever relief she felt that Lily hadn't guessed her thoughts was replaced immediately by another wave of anxiety. She did not want to think about Baí Rel, or Scinan’and.

She didn't want to think about her father, who'd hated her so much that he drove her out of the city. Forced her to live with the wretched Gutraidhs, abused and tormented until she had lost complete control.

Cecelia could feel her heart pounding in her ears. She compelled herself to focus on the sound of the sea to her left, the way the sea breeze gently blew her dark hair across her vision, the way Lily’s soft woolen robe felt against her fingers. She tried to breathe through the barrage of memories infiltrating her mind's eye, tried to stay present in the warm spring sun, sand crunching under her boots.

Lily's low voice cut through the chaos in Cecelia's head. “I heard, once, that King Coursand is under the control of another God. That he no longer serves Maartan, and that he’s locked his priestess away, so she cannot even pray for help.”

Cecelia’s stomach knotted again. Tighter. King Coursand’s priestess was the woman in her dreams. The one who had recently stopped appearing.

Her throat went dry. “Why would he do that?”

“They say the whole city is under a curse, including King Coursand. Some say it's an illusion, designed to weaken Maartan, praise to him, by destroying his people and the land he watches over." Lily shook her head, fixated on the Queen's angular, Scinand-style beach house ahead, brows and lips pinched together and glaring hard enough Cecelia thought she could make the building burst into flames if she wanted. "Whichever God that foolish man serves is making them all believe things are just as they were. Or perhaps better.”

A tingling chill went through Cecelia’s chest and scattered out through the skin of her arms.

“But why is another god getting involved with a King on Aarde? Which god would do that? I thought they each had their own worlds to deal with.”

“Ja, they do,” Lily said slowly, eyeing Cecelia, finally giving her the careful motherly attention Cecelia had grown used to receiving. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it right now. Besides, Scinan’and is on the other side of the continent. Two thousand miles away with rows of mountains in between.”

Lily patted Cecelia’s arm and squinted out at the bay, at the afternoon sun’s brilliance reflecting off of its million surfaces. She was silent for a moment, the way the got when she was collecting her thoughts, calming her own mind.

“Maybe Maartan lost a bet, and Scinan'and was this other god's prize." She turned to Cecelia with a grin. “Maybe he’s just bored.”

“How is that funny to you?” Cecelia stared wide-eyed at Lily, but couldn’t help the smile that was starting. Lily could always find a way to make the situation lighter, less terrifying.

If she could laugh about another God running one of the largest kingdoms in Aarde, Cecelia could find away to worry less about it.

She wrapped Lily in a hug, relieved to be done with the conversation about her childhood home, when Lily went stiff. She pulled away and saw Lily's playfulness had completely disappeared. She was staring at something behind Cecelia, out in the ocean. Cecelia whipped around, full of dread, and saw dark clouds rolling rapidly towards them. The pleasant sea breeze they’d just enjoyed turned into a cold, biting wind and the bay went from a gorgeous bowl of diamond soup to an angry, foaming cauldron. At the docks, Queen Anne’s trading ships rocked violently back and forth as the sea churned. Waves rolled into each other and crashed on the beach, crawling up to the path where they stood gaping at the sudden storm.

“Cece, come!” Lily shouted over the howling wind and thunderous waves. “We can take shelter in the beach house.”

They took off, and moments later ran head first into a solid wall of... rain?

Cecelia grabbed frantically for Lily, hoping she hadn’t been hurt in the collision, her own vision clouded by pain.

Then she heard a voice behind them whose mirth echoed around them like they were in the great hall at Castle Noldil.

“Cecelia, daughter of Maartan!" The voice boomed and ricocheted around them. "So you are the one Ri proclaims will rule us all. Why do you run from your big brother?”