Be Man, be Agent, be God

Looking up Puck saw in the corner, a man dressed with calico robes, looking on at them with deep meaning. He spoke:

"Do as I have done
be Man, be Agent, be God.

"And never look back to the darkness behind you
- but see only forward.

"This light before you is inextinguishable,
it is my soul.

"Know Peace, and of this also:
the divine friendship of all
bonded in a perfect Grace
safe sealed with the oath of God ...
this, the eternal caul."

He vanished just as the healing was complete and the milk from the eyes had dissolved, whereupon the stranger most jubilantly pronounced to Puck,

"Brother, I am in service to you!"

To which Puck respectfully replied: "Go now Brother, and be in service from this day on, to all".

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Green Glass Bulb of Eyebright

Puck splashed his hands clean in a bowl; he was mixing tinctures when they came knocking at his door. Foresight had already beckoned - the Master had called upon his abilities for healing, bringing him into the sleeping city to be of service.

He quickly assessed the impatience and indifference from this man, who clumsily drew out a single coin to offer him, which Puck politely refused. He then questioned him briefly to elaborate his purpose awaiting its revelation.

Next, he asked the fellow's company to go wait outside, and guided the blind man to a wooden seat that creaked as he nervously idled from side to side.

In his left hand Puck held a pale green glass bulb of eyebright, and through his right the vitality effervesced supernaturally with a brilliance exceeding the sunlight in that room. Of course the stranger could not see the Fey man tend to him and the brilliance that he evoked.

Puck traced the cross ever gently over his tempered brow and this action soothed him.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

One Day in Damascus

The red cloths flapped in the hot fragrant winds of Damascus. Doors everywhere would be shut now until a whole day later, with not one soul to walk the roads or come and go, in trade or talk, the city was forced quiet and even the birds hushed with the anxiety that something different can bring.

Windows were covered, some, painted over and flags slung adorning the limestone mantles.

One stray puppy wobbled over the hot road - too young to know where to forage through the rubbish for food; and one old goat sported the hollow streets, sampling the pomegranates and blossoms that draped invitingly without sentinel.

A party of weary men straddled the road leading into the quietened city. One walked clumsily beside a mule, clutching to his side, as if to steady himself. He was not elderly but appeared insecure, stumbling like a novice to his sightlessness.

He was a tall man with large features and a long face. Although his robes were dust infested, one could see he wore a cloth of quality. 

The vacant streets had made it difficult for the visitors to find their way to the sanctuary they sought, and there was no one there to point the way.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Present & Past

Brogan stood watching Marley, who stood watching Charlene, as she slept.

She could not see him or even feel his presence - but he could see her, as if for the first time, in a very long time.

His memories had come back to him shortly after he had found himself on the battlefield of Basingstoke. His subtle bodies were intact now and his inner vision had revealed lives lived long before - bringing to him pictures of the associations he had made and fixed within his heart.

Here was the girl he had left behind on the Jerusalem hills. His cherished wife who had born him two sons - one that was to come into the world shortly after his death. He had not known that she had been pregnant with child on that fateful day of his passing.

There she was now, a mother again. He thought her features were similar to those he had loved so much before. The way she stood, even the way she talked, was as his beloved he had known.

He wanted to thank her, and remind her of those intimate times between them.

For the first time in a very long time, his forlorn ghost broke down and wept for himself and his loneliness.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Darius dies

"Wife" he said, "I cannot draw water, the ground here is too high, the rocks are impenetrable and it has been over a week's trying - I fear I fail."

A scorpion scuttled out from a crack in the ground towards Tyber. The little boy screamed. Darius picked up a stone and quickly crushed it.

"He asks for too much" he continued.

His sweetheart nodded. She genuinely loved her big husband and prayed daily to the Gods for his protection.

Quite suddenly his jaw pained, his chest ached, his left hand dropped the little sack of olives, and the bright light all around turned to dark.

With his wife and child holding him - in only just a handful of moments - his heart had stopped, and his body slumped back into their hold, unto death.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Digging for Wells

Darius poked the sand with a stick, the sun was at its hottest and his crew had retired into the shade to lie down and close their eyes for a time...

The morning had offered no progress, with two more wells dug - both ungiving. Fifteen in all were now failures.

The engineer in him had known from the outset just how fruitless this lot would be, but what was there to be done?

He kicked the ground unwittingly, and closed his eyes listening to the songs of prayer calling out from the town below.

As his mind gave way to the heat and the gentle chanting in the distance, he began to doze with bowed head. Moments later he was woken quickly from the sensation of a hand lightly falling upon his neck.

It was his little son Tyber, who had been running alongside his mother, and had out sped her walking up the hill. They had come to bring him a small cloth bag of olives and a pitcher of water that was revived with a little juice.

He took his snack gratefully and smiled at the two.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Turning Luminous Green

Puck glanced down at his sparkling water where Forsythe had spat and was disturbed to find that it had turned a luminous green - his saliva had reacted oddly with the drink apparently. He was glad that he had not drunk any of it.

Beings of Fey do not let anything go of themselves such as hair or saliva as Forsythe had just done. It can be used against them as the connections live on. Their mystical signature lives within those vital emissions, and even the breath carries ones character upon its vapours.

He tipped his drink onto the potted plant, which although only plastic still curled, drooped and keeled. A fine blue smoke came spiralling up from the pot.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series