Shuddering to a stop,
bile rising in his throat;
disgusted by the scene before him.
Words and symbols teetering in his mind;
blurred, darkening, reddening;
Charter becoming the same shade of his family's pouring blood.
Unable to speak, to even scream.
Actions, failing him;
Charter forgive me,
words screaming in his mind.
Then, power, beyond his skill,
liquid lights, bitter iron taste;
unable to act to defend his family's honour;
left to another, Abohorsen and free magic beast.
Liquid lights, fading, lost to darkness;
sinking beneath the putrid surface,
tainted with blood;
the blood of his mother, his sisters.
A fool, frozen, forever;
a failure in the eyes of all.
Author notes
I have recently, once again, been reading the Abhorsen Trilogy. This was based on the scene where Touchstone's family were killed by Rogir.
Touchstone was unable to act and unable to summon the spells and the magic to save his family or defeat Rogir who was eventually defeated (to an extent) by the Abhorsen and a free magic beast. The name Touchstone means "fool" and it was the name he appointed to himself after realising his failures.
A contest entry
- One Word Prompt #14 by Diminished Capacity.
1075 points, ended November 9, 18 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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You did a wonderful job with this piece, it has a very nice dark appeal to it. I am not familiar with those books, but they definitely interest me now. Thank you so much for entering.
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