March 28th excerpt:
A stirring of attention in the living wood around him warned Cerul long before he felt the frantic urgency of the sprite running towards his rooms. He was already facing the door when they burst in. Their breathless surprise ached in Cerul’s own chest, so he was patient as he waited for their explanation.
“Sir,” they greeted before taking a few more heavy breaths. “Leafwing and Winchester just came back from a patrol. They found a giant.”
March 27th excerpt:
“I’m not a flowerkin! Flowerkin are thin, dainty wood sprites,” Bowman protested. He saw Jacob glance over at Sam, and then fleetingly at himself. Both humans had far bulkier frames than Bowman did, even proportionally. It just wasn’t fair, and it certainly wasn’t helping Bowman’s argument.
He pointed up at Jacob’s smirking face. “Don’t think I won’t bop you,” he warned.
Sam had to work to hide his own smirk. “Don’t worry,” he cooed to the sprite, “we won’t judge your girlish figure.”
March 26th excerpt:
Jacob watched Sam move along for a few seconds. He was tempted to offer to help, and very nearly did. But the hilt of Sam’s sword glinted in the light, reminding Jacob of how capable the little guy was on his own. Jacob offering to help could just come across the wrong way, though he had never had to consider that before.
Once Sam and Bowman were a little more out of range, Jacob grabbed his backpack and stood to his full height. The pair of them dwindled away below him, and he stared for a second. Bowman kept looking over his shoulder to peer up at him, flicking his wings almost in annoyance.
How dare I be tall.
March 25th excerpt:
Bowman looked over at Sam and pointed at the flesh-colored material stuck to Jacob’s hand. “What is that thing he’s got? I’ve never seen bandaging like that.”
“It’s a band-aid,” Sam explained patiently. He was used to Bowman’s curious questions. The sprite wanted to know everything he could, and the humans were a tempting store of knowledge. “It seals to his skin, see? That way, the cut won’t get infected. Remember we talked about human medicine? Humans don’t have healers like the sprites do. We gotta make do with what we can.”
After a split second of hesitation, Bowman opened up his wings and flapped them once to get into the air. Jacob froze as the little guy glided right over to his hand, hovering near it for a closer look at the band-aid. He even reached out to brush across the strange, almost alien material.
March 24th excerpt:
“IPod?” Sam repeated in confusion, latching onto the alien word. “Is it like a cassette player? Or some kind of stereo? Can you carry it with you?” He paused for a second, confusion shining in his eyes.
“Ah,” Jacob said simply, trying to catch up with Sam’s frame of reference. Hearing him ask about a cassette player while standing there at all of four inches tall was a little jarring, but it gave Jacob a slightly better idea. “Yeah, it’s a portable music player,” he explained. “I have something kinda like it.”
March 23rd excerpt:
“Jacob, you can’t just keep us under the bucket,” Sam called out, his voice loud enough to escape the bucket. “You’re going to have to let us out eventually.”
Jacob sat back and ran a hand through his hair absently. He stared down at the bucket and contemplated Sam’s words. “Yeah, I … holy shit,” he answered distractedly, unsure of what he could even say to them. He’d just trapped them without even thinking about it.
March 22nd excerpt:
Leaping out from behind the backpack, Sam pulled out his rapier and held it towards the human. There was no doubt in his mind that he would actually use the sword if he needed to.
Sprites were pacifists. Sam was not.
“Let my brother go, you mountain of snakeskin!” Sam called out in a commanding voice. It wavered slightly at the sight of how much bigger the human was compared to them both, even just sitting down. He pressed stubbornly on. “He never did anything to you!”
March 21st excerpt:
“C’mon, won’t you chill? I said I wouldn’t hurt you. Won’t you talk to me? At least tell me your name and what you are!”
“I don’t want to!”
“Why?”
“I don’t owe you a reason!”
March 20th excerpt:
Sam almost held his breath as the human came into view. Footsteps that looked like normal steps sent vibrations through the ground, shaking him all the where from where he was hiding in the shadow of the backpack. The sight of the immense guy stretching sent chills up his back.
The kid was tall.
He was clearly younger than Sam, his features softer. That wouldn’t matter very much, unfortunately. Sam couldn’t be longer than a finger, if that.
March 19th excerpt:
Bowman flew side to side, and banked in a loop around the enormous thing, as quickly distracted as Sam had been. He checked it from all angles, frowning at the strange materials of it and glancing up at Sam to see if he knew what it was. Bowman dove closer to it, curious and wondering if … maybe a giant was nearby!
There were other oddities in the clearing. Right in the middle, a spade bigger than Bowman’s bed sat idly next to a pit dug in the ground, one almost as deep as Bowman and Sam were tall. Pieces of wood, broken and arranged neatly, were piled next to the clearing’s one boulder.
Brothers Apart 