Vines

“You’re in number 12. All the way at the end.” The uniformed man on the flight line waved Jim toward a waiting aircraft at the far end of the row. Jim made his way toward number 12, winding through knots of people and individuals, all as lost as he was. Half remembered faces smiled or frowned at him, maybe struggling to remember his name. A line of VTOL aircraft, stinking pavement, barked orders, and vaguely familiar people were not part of his ideal tenth high school reunion. Of course, nothing was normal where Colliersburg was concerned. ...

(story continues from The Pit of Pleasure 2) Part Three Jarell stood at the midpoint between the two women, the human witch still wracked by the jolts of her own magic and the dark elf matriarch. He’d tied her flat against a whipping post, setting a flogger into the most ingenious mechanism the dwarves had devised for him. “It’s a very simple game,” he said, touching the swinging arm lightly. “Every time Lady N’ventual there moves, that changes the pressure in the… well, to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to the technical details. Neither were most of the dwarven women by the end, so there’s a chance that the engineering might not be perfect, but I’m willing to bet that it will work for now.” ...

(story continues from Trouble in Fairyland 4: Snow White Turned) Chapter 5: Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Forest… Big Bad Wolf rose from the lake and snarled at the sky as he felt the warm sunshine on his wet fur. He shook himself from head to toe as he walked out of the warm water and agreed with himself that life felt good. He inhaled deeply, filling his broad chest and roared at the day in a sheer joy of being alive. Glancing about to check he had emerged from the lake at the right point he set off through the forest toward his house and a welcoming breakfast. ...