FEBRUARY 2020 75-Word Story -- VICTORY TO TERESA EDGERTON!

[The Judge]

RULES:

Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title

ONE entry per person

NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own

WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A FAMILY-FRIENDLY FORUM

All stories Copyright 2020 by their respective authors who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here


The complete rules can be found at RULES FOR THE WRITING CHALLENGES
Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 23 February, 2020
Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 28 February, 2020

You do not have to submit a story in order to vote -- in fact, we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing a winner


The Magnificent Prize:

The Dignified Congratulations/Grovelling Admiration of Your Peers and the challenge of choosing next month's theme and genre


Theme:

MEMENTO


Genre:

ROMANTIC FANTASY



This thread to be used for entries only. Please keep all comments to the DISCUSSION THREAD

We invite (and indeed hope for) lively discussion and speculation about the stories as they are posted, as long as it doesn't involve the author explaining the plot

** Please do not use the "Like" button in this thread! **​

 

[Danny McG]

If I was..

The witch queen leaned forward.
“What’s that?”

Pulling his collar, she blinked at the locket thus revealed.

“But that means you’re the long lost –“
His kisses smothered her.

He ripped open her bodice, she moaned as her pert bosoms sprang up.
She gasped, “Alar! Alar!”

“Alar! ”, he squinted in the daylight, his Father’s voice getting louder in their hovel.
“Alar, you sluggard, get up and see to the Wizard’s hogs!”

 

[Elckerlyc]

“Long Live the King!”


“My sweet, the king wishes to betroth me. I loathe the man, but my father is loath to deny him. He means to coerce you to enter the dragons-den, whence no knight has returned in 6 generations!”

“Well than, my flower, before I go, allow me to give you a token of my undying love.”

“Oh, you should not… What is that?”

“It’s the kings head, fresh from his shoulders. I am king now.”

 

[AMB]

Sweet Lovely Nancy

The candle lit, she stepped back from the window and gazed into the night. She fancied he could see it’s light out on the ocean, guiding him home from the wars.
The ring on her finger pulsed, as if responding to her desire. Forged the night of their parting, it entwined two hearts in eternal bond. This token, she would keep.

“Though your body be where it might, your heart it be with me still.”

 

[scarpelius]

How Jack got betrothed on a distant planet

The assignment was simple: take samples of the local life and move to the next one. And he did exactly that, except... his toilet got clogged and he dumped its content.
Regulations forbid it? Yes, but who's going to check him?
Gigantic tentacles grew around the ship and started to squeeze it rhythmically.
You see, on that planet, dumping organic wastes on someone is a gesture of romance and tenderness.
Quite a moment Jack!

 

[Calliopenjo]

The Living Rock


I had it still. It pulsed in my hand like a heartbeat. That was the first day I learned anything was possible.

“Hold onto this,” Drago said. “For as long as it beats, I will return.”

I’ve had it ever since and that was at least ten summers back. It may look like an ordinary rock, but I learned that anything can link two people together as long as love existed.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

One Pair of Glass Slippers, Only Worn Twice​

She’d worn them the night they met, again the day he found her.

But they never danced after that first time, only married three months when he fell from his horse.

Ever after she refused every partner, preferring to sit holding his hand, watching the others.

As the years passed. As youth faded.

“Our fiftieth anniversary tomorrow,” he said.

Ella smiled tenderly, remembering all the love, laughter, joy. She’d never really missed the dancing.

 

[olive]

All that glitters is just shiny

She’d never seen a ring like this. She wouldn’t touch something like it if that weird-looking stranger didn’t appear out of nowhere during her first ceremony last night. He offered it for her silence and she took it pretending she didn’t need his.

“Love marriage? Strange. And when they stop loving their husbands? Val…?”

Smiling, Val put the ring in her pouch and pulled Jena into her arms.

“At least they’re attracted to a husband.”

 

[telpereon]

The Heart Flowers...

She looked around for anything she might have missed.

Her eyes fall on the flower in the plain, clay pot. Her fingers brush Pen's only gift to her, unchanged and beautiful these five summers now.

Pen, wounded and handsome had spoken to her as no man had. Not harsh in tone or manner. He had talked to her.

...and that kiss.

A soft warmth bloomed in her chest.

"My heart," Pen's breath caress her neck.

 

[Karn's Return]

In The Sun’s Zephyr​

Tyren clenched the black feather tightly, staring out into the distance. The image of her flashed into his mind, the fallen angel of the sun, Cylari. Her wings and hair black as night, her halo glowing dark red, she nevertheless was everything…until…

A soft wind stirred up, rustling the beautiful, radiant flowers surrounding the former Templar. Closing his eyes, he opened his hand, letting the feather float away in the breeze.

 

[Guttersnipe]

"I Will Always Be With You"

Forty years had passed since I'd examined Yadia's necklace, tucked in my pocket. She'd given it to me on my deathbed, cryptically telling me that, with it, I'd always be with her.

I'd remarried twice, and twice my heart had been broken, like with Yadia.

I removed it. I smelled it, found it had preserved her fragrance. I looked in the mirror as I put it on, and...Why did I look just like Yadia?

 

[nixie]

How Far Would You Go?
​

Princess Tiana had been in love with Harold since their first meeting. She didn’t care that he was lame, couldn’t use a sword.

Then her father announced whoever slew the dragon and brought him its heart would marry the princess.

**************************************

“Step forward, brave knight, come claim your prize."

The smallest approached, visor still closed.

“Show your face, my good man."

“Father, my hand wasn’t yours to give. I claim it back."

 

[Cat's Cradle]

As True as Stone

How long till it decays wholly away? she wondered.
The lapis button’s edges were flaking after years of handling.

A journeying mage had stayed overnight in her father’s barn.
He’d there professed a nascent love for her. He'd gifted her the button, promising to return, to cherish her till time ground the lapis to dust.
She’d been disowned when her stomach swelled.

Her thumbnail scraped away a large flake – the button was enamel over pewter.

 

[Azoraa]

A purple scale

"Don't forget me," the last dragon whispered to her as he died.

"How could I?" she asked. "I've got your DNA."

She held the purple scale in her hand, held it against the light. It sparkled. His last present to her.

He sighed. "Tell our story."

His huge clawed paw rested on her hand. Slowly, his eyes were closing.
This was it. She had all the data she needed.
Tears started flowing down her face.

 

[Daysman]

Evidence

The Prince implored, "Our enemies question my dead mother's lineage! You must defend her!"

The King, his face a crumpled web of scars, bade him, "Find your sister… you both must see the truth."

Left alone, the King sought the secret room behind his throne, and among heirlooms gathered there a leather pouch, it's precious payload a magical strand that if unwound might carpet the throne room.

Returning, he whispered, "Love, let down thine hair…"

 

[Jesse Harris]

Tears of the Phoenix​

Tears ran down her cheek as she stood next to the peaceful yet lifeless body of her true love. Her fingers were clenched around her single feather necklace, his parting gift before the battle. Suddenly it began to emit a red glow. It pulled away from her neck, floating in front of her. In a sudden burst of light, it disappeared.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Her tears continued to flow as she embraced him.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

The Red Knight

The Red Knight approached the royal stand. "I crave a lover's keepsake for the tourney."

A silken scarf fluttered down. Deftly catching it, the knight joined the melee.

Hooves thundered.
Lances broke.
Riders fell.
The Red Knight vanquished all.

The mighty conqueror trotted back to the royal stand, "I return victorious. Wilt thou ride away with me, my love?"

"Gladly!" cried Prince Charming, leaping from the stand as the Red Knight removed her helm.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Till Death

"We shall never be parted," my husband told me as he placed the ring on my finger, "not even by the grave." I knew that what he said was quite literal, and not merely a lover's empty promise.

At the funeral, I tested his words. I yearned for him with the mad desperation of grief. I felt the power of the ring draw us together. Would he still love me, now that I was dead?

 

[Hugh]

“Oh-dah-oh-dah-lay-ee-hee”​

His yodel sounded much like a thumbnail scraping a blackboard, yet it touched her heart more than a million roses.

Hers was similar to brakes squealing on tarmac, yet it pierced his soul more than any vision of Aphrodite.

Landed with a worldwide ban from all yodeling competition, they toured the icy wastes performing to seal and polar bear.

When she died, he bedecked her snowplough with ribbons and kept it polished through all eternity.

 

[mosaix]

...Before You Find Your Prince.

“You surely don't intend to kiss it?”

“Most certainly I do.”

“But look, is it not horrible? Green, warty, slimy. And those bulbous, staring eyes!”

“Needs must. He was my betrothed. My one true love.”

“But this? But how can you be so sure?”

“Before he left on his ill-fated quest some portent, some premonition must have given him dire warning. The last thing he said was 'forget me not' and 'ribbit'.”