1. The clouds seal off the sky, a grim undulating wall of gray that thwarts her attempts to chart their course. By the fifth day she can only answer ‘at sea’ when the prince asks where they are.

2. Superstition holds that cats walk closest to the spirit world, but even here, where the barriers are thinnest, superstition is all that they can claim. Mice, on the other hand…

3. It’s easier not to try– and the days turn to weeks turn to months and it isn’t until some well-meaning coworker murmurs condolences that he realizes a year has passed.

4. They’d tried creating magical companion animals once, as a way of expanding their mana pools. Melding human and animal into a coherent whole… Their students’ students still whisper tales of the disastrous results centuries later.

5. The downside to waking from cryogenic slumber into a futuristic world is that no one knows how anything works. Kate glared unhappily at her current handler who was honestly confused as to why her charge kept asking such strange questions. If a hovercar worked, why did it matter how?

1. It took Helen three times as long to move, since half her time was spent putting up -or taking down- magical protections. Which said something about the state of the world, or just something about Helen, but Mari was just ready for it to be over.

2. Blue plus red is purple, but blue minus red is a color he can’t quite wrap his mind around.

3. ‘Three impossible things before breakfast’ wasn’t so much a motto as a sad indication that Sam’s life had taken a turn for the downright weird.

4. At least the mob was civil about it, she thought as she packed up her Evil Lab, although this had to be the first time in her life she’d been run out of town by lawyers…

5. It isn’t that she doesn’t want to go, she does with every fiber of her being, but there is something in her that hesitates against the finality of it all.

These story prompts are released into the wild per Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License, so sayth their author Martha McMahon Bechtel.

Technotari Tags: Writing Prompts

“If you stop to think about it, we’re never going to get this done.”

Lorcan gave Neda a measured look, “And that’s a bad thing?” But he kept coiling the rope, counting out the knots in his head. “There might be another way.”

“We don’t have time,” Neda had gotten to fifty before him and was already lashing the rope to her pack. “If Bethany and the others think of something, they’ll take care of it. But for now,” she tugged on the straps to test the hold, “we’re the only chance they have of escaping the stormfront.”

“But we’ll be dead.”

Neda stopped, turning to give him her full attention. Lorcan didn’t look up from his counting, but he tensed in anticipation of the blow, eyes carefully averted. He hadn’t meant to say it, but the closer they got to the eye of the storm the looser his hold became.

There was a long silence and Lorcan cursed his lack of control. Neda wasn’t as bad as her father or her father’s father, but the Vocina temper bred true; thirty generations of dilution had done little to calm that fury. When she finally spoke, he braced himself against the expected pain.

“I rescind your oath.” Formal words, spoken in a language he’s assumed long dead, and he stumbled backwards in shock, feeling the collar crack. “I unbind your service.” The magic rose around them, cutting storm winds into a whirling vortex. “I release you, do as you will.”

And with that, six hundred years of servitude ended.

These snippits are copyright Martha McMahon Bechtel and may not be reproduced or distributed without express permission. All rights reserved.

Technotari Tags: Fiction, Fantasy

Paws was a magical kitten. She knew this of course, as cats are wont to know such things. Of course anyone who looked at her knew instantly that she was a magical cat. After all normal cats, without an ounce of magic to their nature, do not tend to come in blue tabby stripe. Paws groomed one her namesake pristine white paws, then settled into the pillow the mage had provided. The golden sheen was a pleasant offset to her azure fur and she purred in contentment. Who knew what wondrous things lay ahead? Wealth, power, maybe even a bit of sunfish if the tides were right…

These snippits are copyright Martha McMahon Bechtel and may not be reproduced or distributed without express permission. All rights reserved.