A Bite Of...Stormy Divide

Sorry for the late post!

Today I'm proud to welcome Eleni Konstantine for our fortnightly "A Bite Of..." with her story, Stormy Divide

Can you, in less than five words describe your story Stormy Divide?
A collision of different worlds.

What inspired you to write it?
Wow, I have to think waaaaay back on this one. I wrote it when I was doing a correspondence course many many many years ago and part of the course was to submit work. At the time one of the spec fiction magazines was asking running a short story competition for 1000 words. I had an idea for a different dimension story for a novel. But of course how much could you fit into such a short story? Then I got an image of a woodcutter traipsing in the woods and coming across a woman in the forest in strange clothing, battered and bruised. I knew then she wouldn’t be from his world.I just didn’t know how she get there. It was a story using the ‘fish out of water’ trope, which I wanted to do at the time. Finally it gets its day. It goes to show you – nothing is ever wasted.

And without further pre-amble, here is the excerpt. Enjoy.

Stormy Divide
A beam of white light shot into the sky from the middle of the forest, an eerie yellow mist surrounding it. A sharp contrast to the darkness of the cold, damp forest. Fierce in its onslaught, the storm had given no warning.

Thom trekked towards the light’s eerie source when a muffled cry vibrated through the air. He stopped as the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. This was no ordinary sound. Like the storm and light, it did not seem natural.
In his five years as the royal woodcutter, he had never encountered anything like this, nor when visiting his grandfather in his time as woodcutter. With caution, he tracked the sound to a clearing where the peculiar white and gold light display headed toward the heavens. As if trying to find the stars even though it was day.
In a heap on the ground, next to the vivid white beam was the source of the moaning. Gods help me! What in skala was it?
A human-shaped figure lay there; its round head shiny and black. No face, no eyes, no ears, no mouth but still a muffled moan came from it. Could it be a demon?
Thom readied his dagger, his heart in his mouth, his body on edge. He approached it as slow as possible so not to attract its attention. The soft and wet ground masked his footfalls.

Dark clouds rolled together like a blanket smothering the forest, preparing for another onslaught of rain. Mesmerized, he fixed his eyes on the light, which seemed to come from Mother Earth herself. Looking into the heart of it, he did not see the ground or the bright light but a rippling reflection of another place. There the rain poured down on what appeared to be a trail made from some grey black substance the likes he had never seen. Lightning flashed on the other side. A rift? Could it be?
He looked up again as the clouds gathered momentum. He needed to hurry to get to his cottage before the next wave hit.

Stormy Divide and Angel Eyes will be available in the anthology, Enchanted Realms, due for release  from Musa Publishing 29th June 2012.http://musapublishing.com
You can find Eleni at her website (http://elenikonstantine.com)

Thank you very much for sharing Eleni x