HOME | DD

Description
Sky of Shade
Book One of the Night Wing series
by Deirdre Smith

Light dappled the sun-kissed leaves which lay in uneven piles like an unfinished fabric that littered the soaking forest ground. Dew sparkled off the small blades of grass that peeked out from underneath their warm blanket. Birds flew fearlessly overhead, casting small shadows on the leaves dangling on the branches of the dying trees, threatening to fall off at any moment. The wind blew relentlessly, and dark clouds loomed above the forest treetops.
A small house lay beneath the cover of the dull green leaves, a thin trail of smoke rising from its chimney. It was perched inside of a thick tangle of branches, hovering above the ground. The tree hosting it was bent over slightly from the weight of the home, stuck in its current position, possibly forever. The home was a light caramel brown, like the syrup that oozed from the bark of the trees in the change of the seasons, and several of the windows were lit up like tiny candles in the wavering sunlight.
A young girl slowly peeked her head out of the ancient door, looking around before glancing up at the advancing clouds. Her short midnight hair, which was dotted with small flecks of white near the end, was put up in a hasty and small ponytail, strands of hair that had escaped dangled in her face. She blew them away with a small puff of her breath, but they slowly floated back, sticking to her cheeks.
“Looks like there’ll be a storm,” she whispered her voice soft,”Better prepare.” She whisked back inside, huffing, pushing her hair out of her face again. She quickly rushed over to close and lock the door before she forgot and walked away again, watching the sky through the tiny window.
She carefully tiptoed down the hallway past the room to her right, making sure not to awaken anybody, and waltzed into her room. It was surprisingly neat, especially for her, but even so her clothes were carelessly thrown behind her door, and papers lay sprawled all over her floor. In her eyes it was “organized chaos”. She could understand it but no one else could.
Her eyes strayed to the clock that hung above her tiny bed, which looked like a bunch of gears pasted together to make art. Still it worked like clockwork, as she said. After reading the time, 7:40 am, she ran up to her bedside and tossed her pillows underneath the covers, making it look like she was there.
She quickly undid her messy hair from its prison of ribbon, tossing the band to her floor. Her hair flew down, a dark tower of black waning into a crystal realm of white. Her unusual hair had no explanation, but it was a beauty to behold.
Smiling, she grabbed a small jacket and threw it over her thin shirt, lifting the blue hood over her head, and walked out of her room. Today was her birthday, and she wasn’t going to settle for something simple. She had been waiting too long for a moment like this and she wasn’t going to give it up now.
She crept out of her room and into the living room, praying that no one would hear her as she glided over the smooth wooden floors, and snagged her old bag that lay on a small coffee table, and threw it around her shoulder. Running into the kitchen, the bag clinging to her side, she began stuffing various foods into the satchel, and a water container, just in case. Smiling again, she slowly and quietly opened the door, and stepped outside.
Wind whipped her in the face howling viciously, blowing her hood back, her hair trailing behind her gracefully like a stream of the night sky fading into stars as she tread onwards. She gazed longingly at the forest surrounding the small home, watching the crumbling leaves fall slowly to the ground. She took one last somber look at the house behind her, and plunged into the decaying depths of the forest.
Light shone through small gaps in the layer of remaining leaves on the passing branches of the tall trees. Rays of warmth pierced the cool bitter air, giving autumn one last gasp of breath before falling back into the vicious cycle of the seasons. She walked past all of this, delving deeper into the mists of time.
As she walked the dark clouds shrouded the rising sun, trapping the morning on the other side of her world. The forest grew dark and cold, turning even the faintest of shadows into nightmares. She took no notice, however, and continued to roam on. Light rain began to fall from the heavens, leaving small silver droplets of water on the dull amber leaves. They fell on her face, seeming to add another group of freckles upon her already dotted face. She wrinkled her nose up slightly, and the water slowly dripped down her cheeks, giving the illusion that she was crying.
She trekked for a long ways watching the rain steadily grow heavier as she walked relentlessly. She never seemed to tire, but in fact seemed to become stronger with each step, as if every move she made brought her closer to something she had awaited for years to come. Which, in fact, it was.
Suddenly, something shot right past her head, barely skimming her neck. She gasped in surprise, leaping backwards. She could hear loud footsteps thudding against the ground behind her. She turned to face the direction from which it had come, but there was nothing but shadows.
“Hurry! Run!” She had no time to react before something else shot past her head, smacking into the thick trunk of a tree with a loud thud. In the corner of her eye she could she a small gaping hole in the very center of the trunk. A small portion of her dark black hair had been chopped off by whatever had been shot at her. She dropped her bag, slowly backing up.
As she twisted around, her bright deep blue eyes widened in surprise. She was face to face with a small floating orb that shone a bright flaming orange. It looked as though it was encased in flames, like a fireball that had learned to fly. On it was a tiny black set of beady eyes and a thin line that looked like a mouth.
“Run,” it whispered.
She ran, without thinking as fast as she could away from the things shooting at her and the strange orb. She felt as though she was in a dream, that this wasn’t really happening, but how could that be, she had just woken up this morning, she was sure. Still, she felt.....strangely alive.
She had no time to think about what could possibly be chasing her, or what the mysterious orb was, or, well, anything really. All she felt was the fear of whatever it was that ran behind her, forcing her to keep moving.
Feet pounded the frigid ground as they pursued her, and she could hear what sounded like vicious barking in the distance. She couldn’t hear much over the sound of her blood pumping and her heart racing. She ran headlong into the rain, squinting to see against the downfall.
Her breathing was labored, and her face and arms turned bright red as the freezing rain pelted her without end. She gasped for air, focusing on the only thing she could; running. She could no longer hear the footsteps, but the word ‘run’ echoed deep within her. And still she ran.
Finally, when she could run no more, she collapsed on the ground and everything went pitch black.

“Psst,”
Her head ached, a deep pain that penetrated her previous sense of excitement. She lay sprawled out on the wet terrain, her eyes remained tightly closed.
“Hey, wake up,”
Her eyes flickered open slightly, but she quickly closed them as an intense light blinded her, burning her eyes. Great thing to wake up to.
“I said-”
“I am awake,”
“Oh. Well get up then!”
She hesitated before slowly and reluctantly sitting up, but her eyes stayed shut.
“Ugh, when did it get so bright?” she asked.
“Oh, maybe it’s just me, sorry,” She raised her eyebrows in confusion.
“Whaddya mean?”
“Open your eyes and you’ll see,” She crossed her arms at this but gradually opened them anyways.
In front of her was the same orb that she had seen before, dangling in the air right in front of her face. It was fierycolored, and it illuminated the darkness of the forest with light equal to a tiny flickering campfire. Warmth spread across her quickly like she had been doused with a thick blanket, penetrating the frosty air. It blinked several times while watching her, its gaze never leaving hers.
“W-what? What are you?” she asked it. It glanced away, as if in shame, or perhaps it was just being timid, breaking the stare.
“That’s not important right now,” She watched it in fascination.
“Well, then what is?” She asked defiantly. Its gaze returned to hers, in wonder.
“How about a name? That’s important, right?” it paused for a second, “I am Triment, noble son of Sintel. And you?”
“Winade Locad,”
“Winade?”
“That’s what I said,”
“Okay then, Winade. Let’s go!” he began to float away, the light and warmth he gave off followed him.
“Wait!” she jumped up off the hard and frozen ground,”Where are you going?” He paused and turned around to face her.
“You mean where are we going. We are going to Skaield,” he began to float off again. She stopped with a confused look on her face, cocking her head to one side.
“Sky-eel-d?” Winade saw he was still floating away, so she dashed forwards to catch up to him, her pace slowing as she reached him, “What is Sky-eel-d?” He gave her an amused look, or what looked like one anyways.
“It’s spelled S-k-a-i-e-l-d. It’s pronounced.... well, think of it as ‘Sky’ put together with ‘elder tree’ but without the ‘er’ at the end. And less tree. See?”
“No,” she said with a flat tone, “I asked what it is, not how to spell it,” He was silent for a minute, still floating on, bobbing up and down slightly, the shadows threatening to close in on his vivid pulse of light.
“You’ll see when we get there,” he answered simply. They walked, or in one case, floated on, silence the only thing between them.
“What makes you so sure that I’m going to go with you?”
Triment hardly glanced at her, “Well you’ve followed me this far. Why not keep going?”
“W-well because I just met you! I don’t even know what you are! Or what those things attacking me were! Maybe I should just turn back.” Winade looked away from him muttering now, “I’d probably be safer there than with some silly ball of light,”
“But you won’t do that will you?”
Winade stopped for a moment, then she huffed and began following him again, “Well maybe I just don’t want to get chased by those things again. Hmph!”
Winade was silent for a long time, and as she walked, she thought about everything that had happened, from the moment she left the house. Who could have guessed that anything like this would have happened to her, of all people. She didn’t really care though. She really was intrigued; how could she not be? She had lived her entire life waiting for a moment like this.
“Sooooo, how long will it take us to get to said Skaield?”
“I don’t know,”
Winade gave him a look, her arms folded, “So you know where we’re going, but not how long it’s going to take us to get there? You’re sure you know where we’re going?”
“Well, when you put it that way....” he didn’t turn to look at her, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She stared at him as they walked through the depths of the forest, the trees seeming as though they were hanging over them, creating an eerie effect. She turned her gaze upwards, watching the shadows of the clouds which had begun to wither away cascaded upon the once bright treetops.
The forest smelled of rain, soon another army of rain would come crashing down upon them at any moment, an ambush from above. The ground was soft, like that of a peaceful land after a tidal wave which had swept away all and any traces of happiness. Like the cheerful effect had been stripped from the world like the leaves that had, at one moment, clung desperately to the trees, only to have fallen from their perch like snowflakes from a winter storm, soon approaching.
Silence fell like the cloak of darkness Death held covering his skeleton body which closely resembled the trees. A tiny shred of light clawed its way through the dark, striving to reach them. Above, the birds were hushed; they sung no more. Tiny flecks of rain began to strike the ground; another war had begun.
“Triment?”
“Hmm?”
Winade clutched her jacket tighter, raising the hood up around her head again, shaking.
“Doesn’t the rain bother you? I mean, because you’re, well...”
“Well, sometimes. It depends,” he answered thoughtfully.
“On what?”
He stopped, and turned to look at her, his black eyes seemed empty, yet strangely full of warmth. He floated closer to her, and she stopped shivering. He was roughly the size of her face, smaller than a soccer ball, but bigger than a lacrosse ball or baseball.
“Well, sometimes I can, I guess you would say, change forms. I’m not always like this you know,” he looked up slightly in thought. Winade stared at him in confusion, her eyes asking for an answer.
“Watch,” Triment closed his beady black eyes and began floating upwards, until he was about level with Winade’s head. The light he was giving off began to pulse, slowly turning from a bright fiery red to a dull shade of gray. The fire he was made out of dimmed down, until he was just a gray ball suspended in the air. The warmth around them faded, the bitter wind coming back to bite them. Winade shivered but never took her eyes off of Triment, who went completely dark.
“T-triment?” Everything was pitch black and Winade couldn’t see anything past her freckled nose. She stared off into the silent darkness of the forest, trying to stay as warm as possible. Then there was a flash of light, and she blinked several times to clear the bright spots that swam before her eyes.
Triment was a deep shade of blue, giving off a little less light then before but that wasn’t what Winade was paying attention to. She was paying attention to the miniature ocean that was floating before her. Triment looked as though someone had tried to take a portion of the sea and put in a crystal ball. The water tumbled in waves but in never left it’s crystal ball prison that didn’t actually exist.
He was the water and his eyes opened again. You could hear a strange noise, sounding like an interesting cross between a boy’s laughter and the waves crashing against the shore.
Winade couldn’t say anything; she was too startled to speak. Her eyes were focused only on Triment, but if she had been paying attention, if either of them had, they would have noticed the dark form that was watching them from behind the trees.

Description
Sky of Shade
Book One of the Night Wing series
by Deirdre Smith

Light dappled the sun-kissed leaves which lay in uneven piles like an unfinished fabric that littered the soaking forest ground. Dew sparkled off the small blades of grass that peeked out from underneath their warm blanket. Birds flew fearlessly overhead, casting small shadows on the leaves dangling on the branches of the dying trees, threatening to fall off at any moment. The wind blew relentlessly, and dark clouds loomed above the forest treetops.
A small house lay beneath the cover of the dull green leaves, a thin trail of smoke rising from its chimney. It was perched inside of a thick tangle of branches, hovering above the ground. The tree hosting it was bent over slightly from the weight of the home, stuck in its current position, possibly forever. The home was a light caramel brown, like the syrup that oozed from the bark of the trees in the change of the seasons, and several of the windows were lit up like tiny candles in the wavering sunlight.
A young girl slowly peeked her head out of the ancient door, looking around before glancing up at the advancing clouds. Her short midnight hair, which was dotted with small flecks of white near the end, was put up in a hasty and small ponytail, strands of hair that had escaped dangled in her face. She blew them away with a small puff of her breath, but they slowly floated back, sticking to her cheeks.
“Looks like there’ll be a storm,” she whispered her voice soft,”Better prepare.” She whisked back inside, huffing, pushing her hair out of her face again. She quickly rushed over to close and lock the door before she forgot and walked away again, watching the sky through the tiny window.
She carefully tiptoed down the hallway past the room to her right, making sure not to awaken anybody, and waltzed into her room. It was surprisingly neat, especially for her, but even so her clothes were carelessly thrown behind her door, and papers lay sprawled all over her floor. In her eyes it was “organized chaos”. She could understand it but no one else could.
Her eyes strayed to the clock that hung above her tiny bed, which looked like a bunch of gears pasted together to make art. Still it worked like clockwork, as she said. After reading the time, 7:40 am, she ran up to her bedside and tossed her pillows underneath the covers, making it look like she was there.
She quickly undid her messy hair from its prison of ribbon, tossing the band to her floor. Her hair flew down, a dark tower of black waning into a crystal realm of white. Her unusual hair had no explanation, but it was a beauty to behold.
Smiling, she grabbed a small jacket and threw it over her thin shirt, lifting the blue hood over her head, and walked out of her room. Today was her birthday, and she wasn’t going to settle for something simple. She had been waiting too long for a moment like this and she wasn’t going to give it up now.
She crept out of her room and into the living room, praying that no one would hear her as she glided over the smooth wooden floors, and snagged her old bag that lay on a small coffee table, and threw it around her shoulder. Running into the kitchen, the bag clinging to her side, she began stuffing various foods into the satchel, and a water container, just in case. Smiling again, she slowly and quietly opened the door, and stepped outside.
Wind whipped her in the face howling viciously, blowing her hood back, her hair trailing behind her gracefully like a stream of the night sky fading into stars as she tread onwards. She gazed longingly at the forest surrounding the small home, watching the crumbling leaves fall slowly to the ground. She took one last somber look at the house behind her, and plunged into the decaying depths of the forest.
Light shone through small gaps in the layer of remaining leaves on the passing branches of the tall trees. Rays of warmth pierced the cool bitter air, giving autumn one last gasp of breath before falling back into the vicious cycle of the seasons. She walked past all of this, delving deeper into the mists of time.
As she walked the dark clouds shrouded the rising sun, trapping the morning on the other side of her world. The forest grew dark and cold, turning even the faintest of shadows into nightmares. She took no notice, however, and continued to roam on. Light rain began to fall from the heavens, leaving small silver droplets of water on the dull amber leaves. They fell on her face, seeming to add another group of freckles upon her already dotted face. She wrinkled her nose up slightly, and the water slowly dripped down her cheeks, giving the illusion that she was crying.
She trekked for a long ways watching the rain steadily grow heavier as she walked relentlessly. She never seemed to tire, but in fact seemed to become stronger with each step, as if every move she made brought her closer to something she had awaited for years to come. Which, in fact, it was.
Suddenly, something shot right past her head, barely skimming her neck. She gasped in surprise, leaping backwards. She could hear loud footsteps thudding against the ground behind her. She turned to face the direction from which it had come, but there was nothing but shadows.
“Hurry! Run!” She had no time to react before something else shot past her head, smacking into the thick trunk of a tree with a loud thud. In the corner of her eye she could she a small gaping hole in the very center of the trunk. A small portion of her dark black hair had been chopped off by whatever had been shot at her. She dropped her bag, slowly backing up.
As she twisted around, her bright deep blue eyes widened in surprise. She was face to face with a small floating orb that shone a bright flaming orange. It looked as though it was encased in flames, like a fireball that had learned to fly. On it was a tiny black set of beady eyes and a thin line that looked like a mouth.
“Run,” it whispered.
She ran, without thinking as fast as she could away from the things shooting at her and the strange orb. She felt as though she was in a dream, that this wasn’t really happening, but how could that be, she had just woken up this morning, she was sure. Still, she felt.....strangely alive.
She had no time to think about what could possibly be chasing her, or what the mysterious orb was, or, well, anything really. All she felt was the fear of whatever it was that ran behind her, forcing her to keep moving.
Feet pounded the frigid ground as they pursued her, and she could hear what sounded like vicious barking in the distance. She couldn’t hear much over the sound of her blood pumping and her heart racing. She ran headlong into the rain, squinting to see against the downfall.
Her breathing was labored, and her face and arms turned bright red as the freezing rain pelted her without end. She gasped for air, focusing on the only thing she could; running. She could no longer hear the footsteps, but the word ‘run’ echoed deep within her. And still she ran.
Finally, when she could run no more, she collapsed on the ground and everything went pitch black.

“Psst,”
Her head ached, a deep pain that penetrated her previous sense of excitement. She lay sprawled out on the wet terrain, her eyes remained tightly closed.
“Hey, wake up,”
Her eyes flickered open slightly, but she quickly closed them as an intense light blinded her, burning her eyes. Great thing to wake up to.
“I said-”
“I am awake,”
“Oh. Well get up then!”
She hesitated before slowly and reluctantly sitting up, but her eyes stayed shut.
“Ugh, when did it get so bright?” she asked.
“Oh, maybe it’s just me, sorry,” She raised her eyebrows in confusion.
“Whaddya mean?”
“Open your eyes and you’ll see,” She crossed her arms at this but gradually opened them anyways.
In front of her was the same orb that she had seen before, dangling in the air right in front of her face. It was fierycolored, and it illuminated the darkness of the forest with light equal to a tiny flickering campfire. Warmth spread across her quickly like she had been doused with a thick blanket, penetrating the frosty air. It blinked several times while watching her, its gaze never leaving hers.
“W-what? What are you?” she asked it. It glanced away, as if in shame, or perhaps it was just being timid, breaking the stare.
“That’s not important right now,” She watched it in fascination.
“Well, then what is?” She asked defiantly. Its gaze returned to hers, in wonder.
“How about a name? That’s important, right?” it paused for a second, “I am Triment, noble son of Sintel. And you?”
“Winade Locad,”
“Winade?”
“That’s what I said,”
“Okay then, Winade. Let’s go!” he began to float away, the light and warmth he gave off followed him.
“Wait!” she jumped up off the hard and frozen ground,”Where are you going?” He paused and turned around to face her.
“You mean where are we going. We are going to Skaield,” he began to float off again. She stopped with a confused look on her face, cocking her head to one side.
“Sky-eel-d?” Winade saw he was still floating away, so she dashed forwards to catch up to him, her pace slowing as she reached him, “What is Sky-eel-d?” He gave her an amused look, or what looked like one anyways.
“It’s spelled S-k-a-i-e-l-d. It’s pronounced.... well, think of it as ‘Sky’ put together with ‘elder tree’ but without the ‘er’ at the end. And less tree. See?”
“No,” she said with a flat tone, “I asked what it is, not how to spell it,” He was silent for a minute, still floating on, bobbing up and down slightly, the shadows threatening to close in on his vivid pulse of light.
“You’ll see when we get there,” he answered simply. They walked, or in one case, floated on, silence the only thing between them.
“What makes you so sure that I’m going to go with you?”
Triment hardly glanced at her, “Well you’ve followed me this far. Why not keep going?”
“W-well because I just met you! I don’t even know what you are! Or what those things attacking me were! Maybe I should just turn back.” Winade looked away from him muttering now, “I’d probably be safer there than with some silly ball of light,”
“But you won’t do that will you?”
Winade stopped for a moment, then she huffed and began following him again, “Well maybe I just don’t want to get chased by those things again. Hmph!”
Winade was silent for a long time, and as she walked, she thought about everything that had happened, from the moment she left the house. Who could have guessed that anything like this would have happened to her, of all people. She didn’t really care though. She really was intrigued; how could she not be? She had lived her entire life waiting for a moment like this.
“Sooooo, how long will it take us to get to said Skaield?”
“I don’t know,”
Winade gave him a look, her arms folded, “So you know where we’re going, but not how long it’s going to take us to get there? You’re sure you know where we’re going?”
“Well, when you put it that way....” he didn’t turn to look at her, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She stared at him as they walked through the depths of the forest, the trees seeming as though they were hanging over them, creating an eerie effect. She turned her gaze upwards, watching the shadows of the clouds which had begun to wither away cascaded upon the once bright treetops.
The forest smelled of rain, soon another army of rain would come crashing down upon them at any moment, an ambush from above. The ground was soft, like that of a peaceful land after a tidal wave which had swept away all and any traces of happiness. Like the cheerful effect had been stripped from the world like the leaves that had, at one moment, clung desperately to the trees, only to have fallen from their perch like snowflakes from a winter storm, soon approaching.
Silence fell like the cloak of darkness Death held covering his skeleton body which closely resembled the trees. A tiny shred of light clawed its way through the dark, striving to reach them. Above, the birds were hushed; they sung no more. Tiny flecks of rain began to strike the ground; another war had begun.
“Triment?”
“Hmm?”
Winade clutched her jacket tighter, raising the hood up around her head again, shaking.
“Doesn’t the rain bother you? I mean, because you’re, well...”
“Well, sometimes. It depends,” he answered thoughtfully.
“On what?”
He stopped, and turned to look at her, his black eyes seemed empty, yet strangely full of warmth. He floated closer to her, and she stopped shivering. He was roughly the size of her face, smaller than a soccer ball, but bigger than a lacrosse ball or baseball.
“Well, sometimes I can, I guess you would say, change forms. I’m not always like this you know,” he looked up slightly in thought. Winade stared at him in confusion, her eyes asking for an answer.
“Watch,” Triment closed his beady black eyes and began floating upwards, until he was about level with Winade’s head. The light he was giving off began to pulse, slowly turning from a bright fiery red to a dull shade of gray. The fire he was made out of dimmed down, until he was just a gray ball suspended in the air. The warmth around them faded, the bitter wind coming back to bite them. Winade shivered but never took her eyes off of Triment, who went completely dark.
“T-triment?” Everything was pitch black and Winade couldn’t see anything past her freckled nose. She stared off into the silent darkness of the forest, trying to stay as warm as possible. Then there was a flash of light, and she blinked several times to clear the bright spots that swam before her eyes.
Triment was a deep shade of blue, giving off a little less light then before but that wasn’t what Winade was paying attention to. She was paying attention to the miniature ocean that was floating before her. Triment looked as though someone had tried to take a portion of the sea and put in a crystal ball. The water tumbled in waves but in never left it’s crystal ball prison that didn’t actually exist.
He was the water and his eyes opened again. You could hear a strange noise, sounding like an interesting cross between a boy’s laughter and the waves crashing against the shore.
Winade couldn’t say anything; she was too startled to speak. Her eyes were focused only on Triment, but if she had been paying attention, if either of them had, they would have noticed the dark form that was watching them from behind the trees.