One of the questions authors get asked all the time is 'Where do you get your ideas?' My problem is usually too many ideas!
I've started writing a Christmas story - the aim is publication next year - but here's the start.
“They’re human,” Gabe protested, waving his arm at the young couple travelling along the valley base far below. “Humans are so fragile, so breakable, so vulnerable.”
Rafe did his best to hide his amusement as he looked up at his brother, pacing right at the edge of the rocky outcrop, with an excellent view of the couple’s route. Gabe turned towards him, his red-gold flight wings stretched behind him and fluttering, not with the wind but with impatience.
“This pair are so young,” Gabe continued. “Especially her. And it can’t be good for her to travel all that way when she’s pregnant, can it?”
“She’s strong and she’s healthy,” Rafe said, climbing to his feet and stretching his own wings out. He had intended his own voice to sound calm and reassuring but Gabe narrowed his eyes and looked at him closely. “You’re as worried as I am,” he said.
“But neither of us can question the Plan, can we?” Rafe countered. He smiled slightly as a thought struck him. “Of course, we could just ensure their safety? There’s nothing on this route that would be a match for either of us if we were to watch over their journey.”
Gabe grinned back. “Excellent idea.” Then he frowned slightly. “I feel responsible because I brought the message that started this whole thing rolling. And she was so willingly obedient but it’s got her into so much trouble. But why are you so concerned?”
Rafe was still hunting for the right words when Gabe worked it out. “I know. She’s Anna’s daughter, isn’t she? You had a thing for Anna. You’ve been keeping an eye on her all along, haven’t you?” He glanced down at the couple again."
Rafe shook his head. “It’s been so hard for Anna since her husband died. And now with everything that’s being said about her daughter, that makes it even worse. I’ve tried to help out, when I can but if Anna knew it was me, she’d refuse everything. Bad enough it was you who told her daughter.”
“She didn’t think I was you?”
Rafe shook his head. “She didn’t see you, did she? And anyway Anna can tell me from you.”
Gabe would know what a confession that was. The two of them were all but identical; only those who knew them intimately were able to tell them apart. They stood shoulder to shoulder staring down at the valley base, wings overlapping, the sun turning their red-gold hair and wings to flame, contrasting against their slightly paler skin.
“I’ll watch them for now,” Rafe said. “You can take tomorrow. They’ll be five or six days more on this journey by my reckoning.”
Gabe nodded agreement, stepped forward off the rock edge, stretched his wings and fell into a long glide. He took one beat to catch an updraft and then he disappeared, translating into another dimension. Rafe sighed, shimmered to make himself invisible to the humans below and then dove off the cliff edge himself, settling into a long slow glide above the travelling couple.
What do you think? Should I continue writing this? Do you want to read it?
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