Photo credit: juliacasado1 (public domain)
Taen Ajin watched the enemy roll the trebuchet toward the castle walls. Arrows pierced their tall shields, pin-cushioned the monstrous device. As one soldier fell, another took their place. Too soon, it was within range.
The siege was engaged in earnest. At least his family was safe.
The trebuchet swung its fearsome arc, hurling something over the walls. Ajin ran across the tower to see it hit. It disintegrated in midair, spilling colorful fabric across the courtyard.
“Don’t let anyone touch whatever that is.”
An aesor ran up the steps, arms filled with ripped silks.
Ajin recognized them, swallowed hard. “She has my wife.”
Demands followed, then debates. The people were loyal to the taenar. They argued for compromise.
The taen motioned for silence. “Is there anyone more willing to suffer for our cause than the taenar?”
The ranking aesor winced. “Perhaps you, your highness?”
“Yes, ‘perhaps’ indeed.” Ajin shook his head. “No concessions.”
“But–”
“If I weakened our position because of her, she would never forgive me. I may not see her until the afterlife, but she’ll not despise me then.”
He raised his fist.
“We fight. For the taenar!”
The echoing shouts drowned out Ajin’s fervent prayer.
Word count: 200. Inspired by this week’s Sunday Photo Fiction challenge. Big thanks to Alistair Forbes for hosting and for providing such wonderful photos every week! Click here to read the other stories.
Photo © Al Forbes
Tales from Eneana 
Lovely construction and immersion. Charming and well told.
LikeLike
Thanks Graham! I had a hard time with this one, so that means a lot to hear.
LikeLike
What a difficult decision. The good of one his wife, or the good of many, his castle and his people, his position in the world. Yes the wife understands but in a way, I’m sure she doesn’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for commenting Mandi! Yes, a very difficult decision, I can only imagine. But I think Ajin was making the choice his wife would want him to make, and not necessarily the one he wanted to make. Maybe he can find a way to rescue her without giving into his enemy’s demands; while there’s life, there’s hope.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This story was so rich in description that it came to life as I read it!
What a tough decision for someone to make. I don’t envy them their position. Great story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Sammi! I was deliberately trying to get more description in this time, so I’m glad it worked.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey Joy! I haven’t seen an update from you in a couple weeks. Was beginning to wonder how Eneana was doing 🙂 This was a thrilling glimpse into Eneana and I can’t imagine making that kind of decision. Great job, Joy!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Jade, it’s nice to be missed! I’ve been so busy, mostly at work, and completely lost track of how long it had been since I’d posted a flash fiction piece on my blog. I mean, it’s on my To Do list, but whew, my To Do list is too crazy to even look at. Glad you liked the story, thanks for commenting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand completely! I think it’s in the essence of To-Do Lists to be endless and daunting lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, then apparently I’m doing it right. My Todoist app just told me: “You have 7 tasks due today and 71 tasks overdue.” I don’t even want to look to see what’s due for the rest of the week, whew!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Lol! I kinda stopped looking at my To-Do List because it was so overwhelming and reminded me of my lack of productivity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, that’s exactly how I ended up with 71 things overdue. Luckily I actually did do several of them and can mark them off, and a lot of others were low priority, so I’m reassigning them to future weekends. When, of course, I’m expecting that Future Me will be much more productive and energetic, not to mention better organized!
LikeLike
As soon as I saw Eneana in my link list, I knew it was going to be good and you didn’t disappoint. Poor guy. Losing his wife and then having to choose. I think he chose right though. “Better to die a hero than live a coward” ~ Folami Morris
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, thanks Al, that’s so kind of you to say! I might have come up with a completely different story if I was in the habit of reading others’ stories before writing my own. I never do that, so that I’m not influenced, but this time I would have realized that it’s not a trebuchet but actually a dunking stool. Oops! Ah well, I’m not sure they ever had dunking stools in Eneana anyway. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, you were right. It is a trebuchet 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is it really? Because now I’m convinced that I was wrong. But I’ll take your word for it, thanks Al!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. Here’s one in action
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh WOW, that is so cool! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that big — definitely not seeing in work in action, at least! Now you know the way to my heart, Al: medieval siege weaponry. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done. Loved your take on the picture.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! It was a bit of an accident; I didn’t look very carefully I suppose, because I really did think it was a trebuchet and not a dunking bucket. But then, I don’t need that much of an excuse to think about trebuchets, I suppose.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, all in creative freedom. I put a canon in that place in mine:)
LikeLiked by 2 people
I figured the cannon in your story was just out of the range of the photo. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey – Joy – Yes, yes, the canon is right outside the picture!. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!! Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a horrible decision to have to make! I hope he’s right and his wife understands. Another gripping story, Joy. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Lou! And yes, if he didn’t know his wife so well, he’d be tempted to just go rescue her. I’d like to think that she is busy planning her own escape anyway, and will take down a few of the enemy’s defenses on her way out.
LikeLike
You’ve woven an exciting story from the prompt picture, and chosen to have the machine as a trebuchet. And why not – it worked really well (although I’m sure you could have written a great story about a dunking stool, too). I see the decision as the crux of the story, and one to pull at our heartstrings and make us decide for ourselves whether he made the right one. Certainly not an easy decision for anyone to make.
We went to a joust at Warwick Castle last year, but the trebuchet wasn’t in action that day. It’s an awesome-looking machine. They had a mangonel as well. I’ll write up my post about our visit at some stage!
LikeLike
Thanks Millie! As I said to Al, it doesn’t take much incentive for me to write about a trebuchet — I have a real soft spot for medieval siege weapons, for some reason! (Defenses, also; I don’t take sides.) To me, it was obviously a trebuchet, so my first instinct was to think of something they would do with the trebuchet that was unexpected — no stones, no fire, no diseased bodies, no heads of their messengers. This was the best other thing I could think of. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a great story, and I can imagine trebuchets could fit well into your style of novel. Hope you get lots of writing and/or editing done over the next few weeks if you’re participating in the JulNoWriMo (if that’s what it’s called). 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Millie, I do hope to get a fair amount written, but I’m not doing Camp NaNo again this month. I had a great time doing it in April, but after that we extended our “cabin” into a private blog, so I’m already getting a lot of the same support there. Plus we started the Project 10K challenge, so I’ve been trying to do that every month.
LikeLike
You obviously find these group writing activities spur you on, Joy – which is what they’re intended to do, of course. Having constant support can be so helpful, I know. You do so well anyway, considering how hard you work in your ‘day job’! Do you ever manage to sleep, I wonder? Have a great week, whatever you get up to.
LikeLiked by 1 person