Okay, so I don’t know how I’m going to go with this one as I literally haven’t written a story since Year 10 (about 6 years ago). I did always enjoy writing and my problem in school was finding a place to stop, I just wanted to keep going! Anyway, this challenge you have to take characters from different books and put them in a short story together. You must choose at least 5 characters to include & those characters have to be from at least 4 different books.
This challenge was created by Saidthestory
Please don’t judge my writing too badly. I’m used to writing blog posts, not stories. I already know I don’t know the correct placement of speech and I will probably fuck up the tense and POV at some point.
Update: I’m 1,100 words in and this story is just going places by itself. See this is what I mean by not knowing how to stop! Argh what do I do? Do I just try and end it swiftly or what???
Update 2: This story is becoming more than I anticipated. So I am going to end it there for this challenge so it isn’t too long. Even though that isn’t actually an ending, it is just when all 5 characters meet, so that covers the challenge. However, I am still writing! If you want to know how it continues then let me know in the comments and I may post more of it later. However, I will be changing the names as this is not fanfic and I started out with the intention of trying to stick to the characters personalities but that went out the window when this story took a life of its own. I also just don’t feel right using those names when they are the names of characters I love for a whole other reason!
Ginny was excited, not only was she visiting the city of Beldin for the first time but also meeting 2 new people. Ruby was finally introducing her to the 2 best mates from her hometown that she had been hearing about for the 2 years since Ruby moved to Sanbok. Compared to Beldin, Sanbok was the size of a pea compared to a horse. She had never been anywhere so big and she was keen but nervous.
Brek, her black stallion jerked his head and brought Ginny out of her thoughts. She looked ahead wondering what Brek could hear, but she couldn’t see anything around the corner in the track up ahead. The trees were too thick on either side to even see where the path led. Ruby brought her mare, Vera, closer and gave her a grin. She glanced down to Brek, seeing his ears still pricked. Ginny knew straight away that they must be almost in Beldin.
She kept her eyes ahead as the path began to turn and then a set of massive gates came into view. The gates were wide open and through them, Ginny could see a street with children playing a game of tag. Vera & Brek both moved uneasily as we got closer to the gate. Ginny already knew why, there was a Tavern on a corner within the gates and out the front, there were 6 horses tied waiting for their riders. We hadn’t seen other horses for 5 days on the back roads to Beldin, a couple donkeys and an older lady with a dog but that was it. Brek & Vera were reacting to the sight. She leaned down and laid her hand on Brek’s neck and he snorted and calmed. Brek had been with her since he was a foal and she felt like they knew each other better than she could ever know another human.
The gate guards nodded at Ginny & Ruby as they rode through. They slowed to a walk and Ruby turned to Ginny.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, looking nervous.
Ginny understood, this was Ruby’s town and she was worried about what Ginny thought.
Ginny smiled at Ruby, “I love it already.”
There were kids playing in the street, the houses looked warm and welcoming and nearly every one had a small garden with colourful flowers out the front. She wanted to explore. They rode past the Tavern they had seen from outside the gate. Ginny could see it clearer now and there was a man asleep on the bench at the front of the Tavern. The bench was right next to the horses tied there and the horse on the end had a brown thing hanging out of its mouth, chewing. Ginny looked harder and realised it was a hat, she laughed, assuming it had come off the sleeping man. Ruby followed Ginny’s gaze and started laughing as well.
“Yep, this feels like home,” Ruby said smiling, still looking in the direction of the Tavern.
“How far to Enne’s house?” Ginny questioned.
“A while yet, it’s on the other side of the city.”
They rode through the streets of Beldin for 20 minutes before getting to a busier part of town. Ruby pulled Vera to a stop and dismounted, Ginny followed her lead and did the same.
“It’ll be easier to get through the crowd on foot,” Ruby commented. Ginny could only just hear her over the chatter around them, so she just nodded and followed Ruby into the crowd. Ginny guessed this was the main shopping area in Beldin. There were people carrying produce & supplies everywhere and sellers out on the street attempting to yell over the crowd offering samples and advertising products. It was amazing and new. Sanbok was nothing like this!
Sanbok had a total of 3 stores in town. A saddlery where you could purchase anything made of steel and leather that a farmer or rider would require. A bakery, that also included a stall out the front where the local fisherman and farmers could set up and sell their fresh meat and produce for the week. Then lastly a store run by an older lady who could make anything from a wedding dress to a fishing net. It was the go-to for all supplies/clothing needed in Sanbok. There was also a few businesses in town such as the smithy & Tavern but if you needed anything else you had to travel to the next town to the west, Karna.
Ginny followed Ruby through the crowd only stopping to let a couple of kids run past in front of Brek. Ginny could tell that Brek was alert and wary, he had never seen this many people and animals in one place. Ginny followed Ruby until they made it out of the crowd. Ginny lead Brek up beside Ruby & Vera as they crossed onto a bridge.
“This is the East side of the city, the bridge isn’t really in the middle but we use it as a marker anyway. Enne only lives a couple of blocks from here.”
“Awesome, it will be good to sit down on something that doesn’t move.” She patted Brek on the neck, “no offence buddy.”
They turned a corner passing a lavish looking dress shop. Ginny turned back to Ruby. “How do women function in those dresses? They are wider than Brek!”
“You’ll have to ask Enne that one. I was never one for big skirts but Enne lives in them. She does still manage to work and ride in them too. I’ve never understood how.” Ruby looked thoughtful and then pulled herself up short. “Turn here, second on the left.”
“Will Jax be here?” Ginny asked.
“I’m not actually sure, hopefully.”
They pulled up in front of a small quaint looking house. Even though the house was small, Ginny could see the block of land behind it was big enough for a small paddock that had 3 horses & 2 sheep in it. Ginny & Ruby tied their horse to the front fence of the house and Ruby walked over to the door and knocked. Ginny stood back, not wanting to interrupt the reunion but when the door opened a dark-skinned middle-aged lady stood at the door glaring. She looked at Ginny, who tried to smile in a friendly way but the woman kept glaring. Then she looked back at Ruby, obviously focusing on her properly for the first time and the glare fell away.
“Ruby, my girl, is that you?”
“It is Aunty Cam”
The woman stepped forward & hugged Ruby, who stiffened. Ginny looked curiously at Ruby wondering why she wasn’t returning the affection to this lady, Cam, she obviously knew well and then she noticed that Cam was shaking violently. Ruby grabbed Cam by the wrists and pulled her back to look her in the eyes. Ginny could see tears streaming down the woman’s face.
“Aunty Cam, whats the matter? Where is Enne?”
Cam couldn’t bring herself to speak she just shook her head.
Ruby lead Cam inside and sat her down at a table. Ginny followed, closing the door and standing awkwardly near it not knowing what to do. Ruby put her arms on the arms of Cams chair looking down at her.
“Cam, what is happening?”
“They found out about Enne, they took her,” Cam whispered.
“Found out what? Who took her?”
Cam breathed deeply, “you girls best sit down, I’ll explain everything.”
Ginny moved towards the table sitting next to Ruby and across from Cam.
“I’m Ginny, by the way,” Ginny said into the silence.
Cam looked up at Ginny and gave her a half-hearted smile.
“I’m Camelia, Enne’s mum, but Enne’s friends have always called me Aunty Cam.”
There were tears rolling down her cheeks & Ruby leaned forward and took her hand.
“Please, what’s happened to Enne?”
Cam took another breathe and clasped both her hands around Ruby’s.
“Okay,” she took a deep breathe, “Enne is a Fryza”
Ginny’s tensed and Ruby went still. Of course, they had heard of Fryza before but never anything more than stories.
Cam continued, “She has shown signs for about 4 years now, but of course we kept it from everyone. It’s not that Enne would ever use her abilities to harm, but there are others that might try and force her to. Then a couple of weeks ago she was out near the river with Jax. They were coming home from hunting, she was walking along the bank and she fell, on instinct, she used one of her abilities. Of course, Jax knows by now she slipped up in front of him before and had to tell him the truth. Jax was understanding though and didn’t treat her any different because of it. Anyway Someone must have seen Enne slip and realised what she was. They followed them back into town and when Jax went into the bakery to pick up some bread they got her. When Jax returned to the alley beside the bakery she wasn’t there, he looked further down the alley and caught sight of Enne being dragged around a corner. He made chase but lost them.”
Cam was no longer crying, she had a hard look on her face now, she looked dangerous.
“I’ve been trying to find information around town but either no one knows or no one will talk. Jax has been doing the same but we haven’t been able to find even a clue as to where she could be or who might have her.”
Cam stood from her chair and moved towards the kitchen, starting to put together something to eat Ginny guessed. Neither Ginny nor Ruby spoke for a long time, both lost in their own thoughts.
Then Ruby spoke, “you can go home if you wish. I had no idea what would be waiting for here for us and I don’t want to drag you into this when you don’t even know Enne. I will understand if you want to leave.”
Ruby sat in silence for a minute, thinking, then just as she was about the answer there was a knock on the door. Cam moved towards the door and pulled it open. Her tough stance dropped instantly and she stepped back. Two boys came quickly into the house and closed the door. A tall blonde-haired boy looked straight at Cam and shook his head, seeming not to have noticed Ruby & Ginny sitting at the table. The other boy who was a bit shorter and not as heavily muscled as the first looked straight at the table where Ginny & Ruby sat. Without taking his eyes off the girls he poked the other boy in the side, causing him to swing around to glare at him. However, as his eyes flicked over the room he finally noticed Ruby sitting at the table. His eyes darted to Ginny once but then returned to Ruby.
“Jax,” she said softly and jumped out of her seat and embraced him. He hugged her back tightly. The other boy stepped around them and walked towards Ginny. He held out his hand to her and she took it and shook.
“Bear,” the boy said.
“Ginny,” she replied in turn and nodded her head at him.
“That is Jax, obviously you are a friend of Ruby’s. I knew her when she lived here but I was never close to her. I only became friends with Enne & Jax after Ruby left for the country.”
Not knowing what to say Ginny just smiled, luckily at that moment Ruby pulled Jax over by the arm and introduced him to Ginny.
“Nice to finally meet you, you better live up to the expectations I have based on all the letters I got from Ruby here.” and he nudged her in the side. Ruby punched him in the shoulder in return.
“I’m as badass as Ruby made me out to be, I promise,” Ginny replied and got a grin from Jax in return and a snort from Bear.
*This does not feature any of the worlds from the books listed below & the characters don’t have the same abilities that they do in their own books.*
Character Bibliography:
Ginny – Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Bear – The Medoran Chronicles by Lynette Noni
Ruby – The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Enne – Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (Even though you didn’t actually meet her, just heard of her)
Jax – Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston
Aunty Cam – Made up character
Purchase any of the books mentioned from Book Depository! World Wide Free Shipping.
Dusk Angel Reads 
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