Chapter One: Cameos

     The palace was made of sandstone and, being over a millennium since it was built, was missing most of its original fine details. The fresco that Jenks was pretending to study portrayed a romanticized version of the first interaction between the vykati, like himself, and humans—when the wolf-like vykati had emerged from what was at the time, the jungles of Rhidayar. Most of the figures lacked heads and all of the images of the vykati were devoid of tails as well. The only indication of which were human and which were wolves was in the shape of the legs. The human legs bent only at the knee while the vykati had a second bend halfway between the knee and their paw like feet. Jenks looked down at his hands briefly, hoping that no one noticed how intently he was listening to the altercation near him. The images in the fresco had probably been detailed enough to show the claws on the vykati fingers, but those details were also lost long ago. Sandstone didn’t make a very durable art medium, or very durable roofs for that matter. It did muffle sound a little better than harder stone, like marble, but not by much.

      So the exchange between Mr. Benayle and Lady General Sajani could easily be heard from just about anywhere in the palace library. Benayle didn’t argue with anyone. His laid-back nature was what allowed him to work well with the other races. He was very passionate about the well-being and traditions of his people and that, more than his lack of concern for the trivial (and for him it was mostly trivial), made him the undisputed, if somewhat reluctant, leader of the vykati. Sajani was also passionate about the well-being and traditions of her people. She’d never, outwardly or privately that Jenks was aware of, objected to anything her leader requested of her. She knew that he only acted in the best interest of others.

      And that was exactly why Jenks was going through all the trouble to make sure he didn’t miss a single word of this argument. He’d be one of the few to ever witness such an exchange and that’d surely boost his position socially. People would want to hear of something like this as close to the source as they could, and it was unlikely that Benayle or the Lady General would ever talk about it. There was a large dinner party at Lady Mishal’s manor in two days. He’d been snubbed by not receiving an invitation. Perhaps that would change now.

      It sounded like Lady General Sajani slammed a fist down on one of the old wood tables. Jenks could hear the legs scrape a short distance across the floor, followed by a hollow thunk sound as the table righted itself. That’d be the table nearest his desk, Jenks thought. He’d been meaning to have that one leg properly adjusted so it no longer shook when he set books on it.

      The Lady General’s smooth alto voice was raised slightly. That’d be important to note as well, Jenks thought studiously. She was actually raising her voice at Benayle. Some wouldn’t believe him when he told them that. He wondered if the fur on her shoulders was also bristling but couldn’t think of a way to check. Her copper red hair had been down and she hadn’t been in uniform when she entered.

      “So, you refuse my resignation?” she said.

      “Don’t be ridiculous, Sajah.” Benayle responded.

      Sajah? Jenks wondered, making another mental note. He’d never heard anyone call the Lady General that before.

      “Ridiculous!” she spat. “You’re the one who just said…”

      “That the timing is terrible.” Benayle finished. The leader hadn’t raised his voice at all. He still spoke in the calm deep bass he always used: the same tone that disquieted enemies and those who didn’t realize he had no other mode of speaking. “There wasn’t even time to respond to Zenache’s request for military aid before the elf forces took their capital.”

      “All the more reason, Ben, to commission good privateers.”

      Ben? Jenks thought.

      “Yes, yes.” Benayle said quickly. “It was a brilliant idea on the part of my former Minister of War.”

      “It’s our best line of defense.”

      “Yes. It is. It’s just very inconvenient.”

      “So you’d stop me?” Sajani raised her voice again.

      “Who said anything about stopping you?” Benayle asked.

      Jenks could picture the half smile that was most likely spread across the leader’s face.

      “But you just said…” Sajani countered. Perhaps the half smile hadn’t been there, or she’d failed to see it.

      “Really, Sajah?”

      “Yes, really! Why wouldn’t I?”

      There was a noticeable pregnant pause.

      Benayle let out a small chuckle. Jenks could almost hear the fur on Sajani’s shoulders rising.

      “Well,” she said with pointed staccato. “Why wouldn’t I?”

      Benayle chuckled again. “You came in here expecting a fight, didn’t you?”

      The Lady General’s response was defiant, “Of course I did. There isn’t a worse time to lose a minister, let alone your Minister of War, but I…”

      Benayle’s laugh cut her off.

      “What?” she nearly screamed.

      “We agree on that.”

      “Of course we agree on that! But since we can’t fight the elves on a national level, I want to do the best I can to protect the vykati. I can’t just sit back and watch as a bunch of two-bit adventuresome wannabes do my job for me!”

      Jenks heard the sound of porcelain touching porcelain. Was Benayle actually having tea through all this? Benayle never had tea… Jenks realized he’d left his tea set ready on his desk when the two had politely dismissed him from his library duties. Not my tea set… he thought. But then he realized…Benayle was having tea… with his tea set… that should be worth a few more social points in some circles.

      If anyone actually believed him.

      “Exactly,” Benayle began, “but…”

      “And you can’t stop me!”

      “Stop you?”

      “I know you said it’s a bad time…”

      “I did.” Benayle said flatly.

      Sajani took in a deep breath and was obviously about to say a lot, but she stopped suddenly as though she’d seen something unexpected. Jenks could hear the ping of silver against porcelain.

      “Never much cared for black tea.” Benayle said. “But this seems to be a pretty good leaf. Jenks does use a bit too much sugar though. Care for a cup? I think the old noble gone librarian keeps a spare cup in his top right desk drawer… no? Hmmm.” There was the sound of several writing implements being poured onto the table and then the sound of someone rubbing the inside of a cheap ceramic container. Not the small vase he used to hold his pencils! “This might do in a pinch… Still no?”

      “I won’t distract that easily.” Sajani said flatly.

      “Distract you?”

      “Yes. I know the timing is terrible…”

      “Look,” Benayle said in the sternest voice Jenks had ever heard him use. “Sajah, can we stop with the bad timing thing?”

      “No!” she shouted. “This is important Ben!”

      There was another long pause. “Yes, it is.” Benayle said finally. “And that is why, my dear, I want you to listen very carefully to every word I’m about to say. Can you do that for me? Will you trust me as a friend rather than fear me as a tyrant?”

      She must have simply nodded because after a short break the vykati leader continued, saying each word slowly and deliberately. “I agree with you, even if the timing is very bad. I’ll make do. I trust you. I’m not trying to stop you. You’re your mother’s daughter and I couldn’t stop you even if I wanted. We both still hear the cannons.”

      Another long pause. The reference to her mother must have brought her back to her senses, back to the moment.

      Benayle continued, “I imagine you already have your replacement lined up?”

      Sajani seemed a little out of sorts. She spoke hesitantly, or at least what would be hesitantly for someone like her. “Yes. General Crore has been briefed to take over my duties temporarily.

      “I imagine you told him that you were going on some sort of diplomatic mission to Zenache rather than telling him the truth?”

      “I was going to tell him that I was taking a vacation…”

      “But you didn’t.”

      “No, I didn’t. I told him I’d been sent to Rhidayar to oversee refugee evacuations from Zenache.”

      “A much more believable lie than the vacation.”

      “Not a lie.” Sajani quickly corrected. “Our first stop will be in Rhidayar. I need more information on what happened in Zenache. These elves: we don’t know where they came from, and the descriptions of their war machines border on the overly fantastic. I’ve no idea for sure what I’m dealing with.”

      “Hmmm.” The vykati leader said thoughtfully.

      “Our intelligence hardly gave detailed information.”

      “It gave enough for you to decide.” Benayle said with conviction. “It gave me all that I needed to know. We can’t fight this. Zenache was much more of a military power than we are. We’re still recovering from…” his voice seemed to be coming from another place altogether as he said the next few words, “…from prior prejudices.”

      “I’ll stop them Ben.” Her voice was bolstered by her self-confidence.

      “No, my dear, I’m afraid you won’t. You’ll delay them. And that’s the best I can hope for right now.”

      A soldier walking behind Jenks broke the awkward silence. It was Sajani’s aide, Lieutenant Bamalis. Jenks could hear the soldier’s salute, an open right palm snapping crisply over the left shoulder. “Sir Simon to see you, Lady General.”

      “Sir Simon?” Benayle asked.

      “I leave him to his delusions.” Sajani answered. “He was the fastest way to arrange non-military transport.”

      There was a long pause where Jenks could hear the scribbling of a pen and then Benayle said lightly, “Well, don’t let me keep you from your duties. We should probably all be going now.”

      As they were leaving the palace library, Benayle broke away briefly and spoke to Jenks, who was still pretending that he hadn’t heard anything that transpired. “Thank you, Baron, for giving us our privacy.” There was no smile on his face, but there was a noticeable sparkle to his eyes.

      When Jenks arrived at his desk, he learned why. There were two notes scribbled quickly there, both written by Benayle.

      The first said, “Baron Jenks. Thank you kindly for the tea. I enjoyed it immensely.” The leader had signed the bottom.

      The second read, “Now people will believe you, but there’re two important things you need to know. 1) You’ll be acting as my representative at Lady Mishal’s upcoming dinner party.”

      Ah! So he’d be there and be able to regale people with this wonderful gossip, made so much more believable by the kind note Benayle left for him. His eyes then fell on the second part of the second note. “2) Thank you for sensibly keeping out of earshot for all this, meaning: I’d hate to think that you not only heard what transpired, but that you’d also be so inconsiderate as to actually talk about it. No word on any of this, if you value your current post in the library.”

            And the truth was, he did like his post very much.

 

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Everyone needs to believe in something. Believe in others. Believe in yourself.

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill

Prologue

      Chass hobbled across the massive University library, his cane making a hollow knocking sound with each step. He hated the noise, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. When he was young… When he was young he prided himself on moving silently. A few library patrons turned with slightly annoyed looks on their faces, but they quickly looked down when they saw the huge vykati moving down the rows of books. To most people outside their own, the wolf-like vykati could be disquieting. A vykati of Chass’s height and stature was the basis of many people’s nightmares. He may be old, but he was still the intimidating figure he’d been long ago.

      He’d never bothered to read the works of Fenther Black. He didn’t care for the man and was reasonably sure he wouldn’t care for the books. The captain said it was better to experience their contents in person, and he believed her. But when a fellow professor claimed that his version of what really happened was wrong and used the books as a basis for his belief, that changed things. His much younger colleague claimed that Chass was getting old and probably didn’t remember things correctly.

      Oh, he remembered correctly.

      If the captain were here, she’d set it all straight. She knew the truth.

      But the accusation rankled at him and he decided it was time to find out what everyone else on the world of Terah believed happened. The books would be here and then he’d know just how much literary license had been taken.

 

Building your story.

      I’ve mentioned a few times that these journals are very stream of consciousness for me. Last post is a good example of that. I merged something without thinking, but it’s easy enough to fix.

      The next archetype from the monomyth I’m going to talk about is the herald. This is the person, place, thing or event (can I call it a noun?) that starts the hero on her journey. It’s very rare this role Is played by a single instance. More often, there are several things that come together. Taking a well-known example from the Lord of Rings, Gandalf is a pretty obvious herald. He recognizes the danger and sets Frodo and eventually the fellowship on the path of their adventure. But there are a lot of other heralds happening in the background. Boromir’s dream for instance. Bilbo’s discovery of the ring also qualifies. The council of Elrond, both the chapter and the participants act in a way to set the hero on his journey.

      A lot of emphasis gets placed on the herald being a character, but more often, it’s a series of events. In The Difference Engine, the role is played by a stack of computer punch cards in an ornate box. (William Gibson does some really weird things with the monomyth).

      In my series, Benayle plays the role of herald, sort of. He’s there when Sajani starts her journey, but it’s the invasion of the elves into Zenache that’s the true herald. Faux Scent has a strange herald as well, since it doesn’t appear until about halfway through the book. Rana escaping from jail is the strongest herald of events in the story, although there are some minor hints along the way.

      So, let’s take a look at what happens if you have no herald—nothing. Nothing happens because you have no purpose for telling your story. Remember what I said last time about a lot of these elements being present, not because of some mystical or scientific reason, but because without them you don’t have a story? Well, herald is one like that. You probably include one without prompting but having a term for it gives you a way to compartmentalize the concept and flesh it out a little more.

      When filled by a character, herald and mentor often go together. I kind of merged them in my last post without thinking. When that happens you often see the character traveling with the hero and giving advice. This can lead to a potential weakness in your story. Realize that if you rely on your mentor/herald too much, it weakens the success of the hero. This might be intentional, but many times when I see it, I’m pretty sure that was unintentional. It’s impossible for me to make my point by referencing something without it being a huge spoiler, so I’ll tell you what to look for and you can find it easily on your own.

      Did your favorite character die? Well, there’s usually only two reason for it and the biggest reason is that the hero’s success will seem so much greater if it’s done without aid. Take a look at Lord of the Rings. At the big scene at the climax, Frodo ends up figuratively alone. There are two other characters in the scene, but when the final decision is being made, Frodo makes it entirely on his own. It’s a fairly common pattern and one to consider in your writing. You don’t have to isolate like that, but you should at least realize that anyone else involved shares that victory, spreading it out. Sajani’s victories are always shared; her losses are always individual and deeply personal. It was a conscious decision early on.

      The next archetype will show off my love for what I like to think of as the old Disney. While the archetype is still used in almost all movies since the early seventies, the role has degenerated and gone kind of shallow. I’m talking about what the monomyth refers to as the trickster and is often viewed as the comic relief. The trickster is the one that acts as a bit of a literary foil and often inhibits the hero in ways that are unintentional and often amusing. Jacques and Gus in Cinderella are good examples. The allow Cinderella to show off her compassion and empathy, but also land themselves into trouble that distracts her from her ultimate goal. The comic relief part is obvious. “Gus Gus.” As is often the case with the trickster, in the end they help her succeed.

      Another great example is Thumper in Bambi. The rabbit causes his own brand of trouble and we get a few laughs along the way. You’ll find that type of character in almost all animated Disney movies. Early on they tended to be fully fleshed characters, but slowly they became more and more shallow and degenerated into more comic than actual relief. The role is played all over the place in my books, with no character having a corner on it, but mostly you find it being played out by Fenther, Simon, and Tess. The tricksters that tend to stand out are like that: they’re characters in their own right and have some important role in the story. You can use the shallow method and, like so many other things I talk about, it’s not wrong to do that and there are times when you’ll want a shallow trickster, so as to not outshine your hero.

      That’s about all for this week. I’ll cover the shapeshifter and the shadow next time. It’s a little weird switching from the furry sites to my own site and losing the following I worked so hard for, but this is a lot easier and helps me feel a bit more established.

      Thank you to anyone that’s followed me here. I’ll miss comments, since I doubt many will bother registering to make them, but you can always email me: chaaya dot chandra at outlook dot com. There’s also an interview of me on http://willbly.com Feel free to support that site.

      May you keep running forward and never look back.