Tales from Aulora

By Helen Quinn

Tales from Aulora is a fantasy book about human and Aulorian yearnings. It is about wishes coming true and some wishes failing due to dark entities that seek to feed on human misery. It is about the forces of good and the forces of evil, it is a novel and a collection of stories full of love, humour, loss, death and destruction. It depicts the human world and the Aulorian world and the communities within both.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helen Quinn
• Release date: Jul 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301670192

Helen Quinn

I am a herbalist by trade and experienced menopause with all its trials and tribulations. It does not seem fair that women have the emotional trials that go with periods, menopause and childbirth - must be because we are strong amazon creatures! This Menopause book was my first attempt at writing so please forgive the many literary errors!I did most of my writing from 2006 - 2014 when I travelled to Peru every year where i stayed in a small house in the Amazon Basin just 50mtrs from the river. I went to Peru to study the plant medicine and it was wonderful until my new friends systematically robbed me. When I had nothing left to steal, my personal safety was threatened which culminated in a shocking personal assault. I wrote about these years with total honesty and with my wicked sense of humour sharing my good times, my fearful times and my gut wrenching sad times. The memoir is called - 'Peru; The Beautiful, The Mystical and The Ugly'. I use a pseudonym for this book (Halle McQueen)It is available in e-book and soft cover versions from most book distributors such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.. I am a herbalist by trade ( I have a Ba Complimentay Medicine and an Adv. Dip. in Western herbal Medicine) so I use a lot of plant medicine in my writing.

Book preview

Tales from Aulora

By Helen A. Quinn

Copyright 2013 Helen A. Quinn

Smashwords Edition

This book is available in paperback at http://www.helenquinn.ie

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Prologue

A Tale of a Simpleton

A Tale of a Dying Girl

A Tale of a Lazy Lord

A Tale of a Malevolent Master

A Tale of a Tortured Rock Star

A Tale of a Teen Transformed

A Tale of an Embarrassing Mother

Request Making is Interrupted

A Tale of Joyful Girl

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Do you believe in wishes? If so, what becomes of an uttered wish? Does it disappear into a nebulous void or could it be that somewhere, somehow a benevolent but daft Being, who, upon your words uses all of its quasi powers and its many Aulorians to make your one puny wish come true.

A Tale of a Simpleton

Between the Earth and the moon and unseen to the human eye is Aulora. The creator of this world was so enamoured of humans that he devoted himself to the art of wish-making or Request Making as he called it. In the beginning Quirinus gladly granted the small dribble of wishes that arrived in the Request Making hut but as the centuries wore on and the number of wishes increased he grew tired and grumpy. He had no time to play with the Muses or lounge around pondering as he scoffed numerous lemon tartlets. Every morning he had to leave the comfort of Quirinal palace and slave away until sun set. It was time to delegate but who should he select to take over this onerous task.

Quirinus snapped his fingers and seconds later his trusty phlymo appeared. It had all the appearance and texture of a cloud except for the deep pink tint and it was dense enough to carry his considerable frame. Quirinus rested on it side-saddle fashion and pointed towards the door of the Request Making hut. Once outside, it rose upwards allowing him to view all of Aulora.

‘Who is making all that noise?’ Quirinus said when he heard screeching in the distance.

The phlymo took a sharp left until it arrived at the honey-making section. Quirinus spotted a small Lowly Worker with spindly legs, large knobbly knees and a red sweaty face yelling at a group of bees to get into their hive box. Seconds later and still in a great rage, he trampled on a rake causing it to swing upwards and smack him on the nose. The Lowly Worker clutched his face as he howled in agony.

‘Having a spot of bother there Bob?’ Quirinus chuckled.

‘Oh…Great Masterful one, you speak to me?’ Bob said dropping his hands.

Quirinus looked around.

‘There’s no one else here is there?’

‘If I may be so bold please release me from the honey-making section. This job is not suited to my talents oh Great One.’

Bob kneeled down on the soft grass.

‘Now, now, get up. I’ll see what I can do. Keep up the good work,’ Quirinus said as he floated away.

As he considered Bob’s plea, his attention was diverted by a figure sleeping under an apple tree. The phlymo took him to the orchard where he hovered for several minutes watching the Lowly Worker gently snore. Despite clearing his throat several times the Lowly Worker remained asleep.

‘WAKE UP,’ Quirinus bellowed.

‘Ey!’ he woke with a jump.

‘Why are you not tending to your duties?’

The Lowly Worker scratched his head, looked around him and smacked his lips.

‘Sorry ‘bout that boss, I’ll get to it now,’ he said, slowly rising.

Quirinus smiled inwardly as he took in the Lowly Worker’s soft brown hair, ruddy cheeks and friendly grey eyes.

‘Bill isn’t it?’

‘Aye.’

‘How do you fancy a change of job?’

‘I don’t mind boss, I’m content either way,’ he smiled pleasantly.

‘Glad to hear it. Now get back to work and no more of that sleeping under the tree business. I’ll be keeping my eye on you,’ Quirinus said as he floated away.

He spent the rest of the day interviewing several other Lowly Workers. As the sun dropped behind the slopping hills Quirinus looked at his list of potential recruits and placed a tick beside two names. All he needed was the right request.

Ω

In the year of 1381 when knights jousted, peasants revolted and sheep were valuable; there lived a man by the name of Sidney, or Simple Sid as he was commonly known. He was the eighth and last generation of village idiots that lived in the sleepy village of Elderdown, deep in the heart of Bedfordshire.

Sid was far too stupid to work the horse or plough so the villagers provided him with food, drink and shelter. In return, he stood sentry at the village well providing them with entertainment throughout the year. He even managed to raise an occasional smile during the dour Lenten period. Sid derived great joy from his role as village idiot and the villagers enjoyed being entertained by him. This perfect blend of community spirit was marred by one thing; Sid loved to sing. Any time the villagers heard him squawking an out-of-tune hymn or a self composed ditty, they tried to silence him with buckets of kitchen leftovers, rotten cabbages or mouldy bread. Sid remained ever hopeful that one day they would love his singing. The villagers remained ever hopeful that he would end his squawking.

Fifty miles away, beyond the forest that surrounded Elderdown, was the thriving market town of Huxtable. In that town lived a small wiry man with sly eyes and crooked teeth, who was later named Wily Willie. He moved there two years previously having gained employment at the local ale-house where he worked long hours serving pints of beer and the famous Huxtable meat pies.

When he gained the trust of the owners, Willie used every opportunity to steal from the many travellers that frequented the inn. Word soon spread that the people of Huxtable were untrustworthy which resulted in travellers either passing through without stopping or by-passing it all together. The townspeople were perplexed that no one stopped to gossip or buy goods which soon gave way to worry as profits plummeted and streets were devoid of trade.

The mystery was solved when the local Sheriff spoke with a colleague in a neighbouring town so when he returned to Huxtable an emergency meeting was set up in the Guild Hall. The Mayor, merchants and market traders gathered to hear the Sheriff speak where they heard his suspicions that Willie was the culprit.

‘But there’s no proof that this Willie is the thief,’ the Mayor blustered.

‘We’ll soon have proof. As we speak I have someone over at the ale-house ready to catch him red handed,’ the Sheriff replied.

Discussions went back and forth until the Sheriff’s colleague entered the Guild hall where the many conversations halted instantly. The man nodded at the crowd as he cleared his throat.

‘I don’t know how he did it but I’m missing two coins. Me eyes were on him all the time. He’s good I’ll give him that,’ he said, shaking his head.

‘Are you sure it was him?’ the Mayor asked.

‘No one else was there.’

‘I say hang him anyway,’ the Sheriff appealed to the crowd. ‘It’s plain to me he’s the thief.’

‘You may be right but unless we have concrete evidence we cannot hang him but there is nothing to stop us from banishing him. Justice must be observed,’ the Mayor reasoned.

‘Hang him anyway,’ a few voices shouted.

The Sheriff shrugged his shoulders and left to fetch Willie.

‘Maybe the wolves’ll get ‘im,’ one trader consoled the crowd.

There was a murmur of approval when the Sheriff returned dragging Willie by the arm and the Mayor informed him he was banished from Huxtable.

‘But I’ve done nufink wrong.’

The Mayor nodded at the Sheriff and the crowd jeered at him.

‘You! You’ve always ‘ad it in for me,’ Willie spat at the Sheriff. ‘I ‘ope you die a slow and ‘orrible death. Curse you.’

The jeering stopped.

‘Never darken our town again or I’ll have my way and watch you swing,’ the Sheriff hissed back.

Bruised and bitter, Willie slunk into the falling darkness, muttering under his breath. For days he travelled through the forest with only his thoughts of revenge to keep him company. That is until he stumbled upon Elderdown.

The first building he saw was a large farm house and a barn full of hay beside it. The area was empty and the kitchen door was ajar so Willie crept into the house and pinched a loaf of bread. Returning back to the edges of the forest he decided to wait around. Later he saw the owner and Sid walk into the house to share a meal together. As the sun descended, he watched Sid go to the barn and settle for the night.

Willie followed Sid the next day ensuring he kept a respectable difference between them. As the day wore on he realised Sid would not have noticed but what really amazed him was how Sid was given free food and drink along with full access to everyone’s house, farm or outbuilding. Willie tapped his chin as he wondered how he could get rid of the idiot and be his replacement. As he sat scheming, a lamb skipped passed him. In a flash Willie grabbed it and whacked it over the head killing it instantly. He waited until nightfall and carried it over to the shed where Sid lay snoring. He placed the lamb in the crook of his left arm.

When dawn arrived and the first cock began to crow Willie ran through the village calling out for help. Several doors opened in alarm and when a large number of villagers gathered round him, he gabbled as he led them to Sid. There were several intakes of breath when they saw the dead lamb.

‘I tried to save it but ‘e was too strong for me,’ Willie said as he pulled up his shirt sleeve to reveal an arm covered in purple bruises.

‘He may be an idiot,’ one villager said, ‘but violent…not our Sid.’

Willie assured the man that he was viciously attacked. Everyone started shouting over one another causing Sid to wake up.

‘Hullo all, ‘ave you all comes to visit me?’ he said with a cheery smile.

The villagers dragged him to his feet demanding to know why he killed the lamb and attacked the stranger. When Sid saw the dead lamb he shook his head several times but he was unable to speak.

The villagers grabbed him and took him to the Squire’s house. When they arrived, they pounded on the door. The Squire was enjoying a hearty breakfast of soft boiled eggs, several slices of rasher and half a loaf of bread smothered in honey. He did not like anything or anyone to come between him and his food and he grumbled loudly when a servant said a number of villagers demanded to see him. When they retold Willie’s story in fits and bursts the Squire could only think of his breakfast so he told them to banish Sid immediately.

‘But what ‘as I done wrong? I’s want to stay. Please kind sir let me stay,’ Sid cried.

The Squire was resolute in his decision. The image of his breakfast was firmly embedded in his brain.

The villagers pushed Sid out into the forest and ordered him to go but he refused to leave. It took most of the day and half the pebbles of Elderdown to force Sid to go. As they were busy shooing Sid away, Willie ensured his timing was just right when he went to the Squire’s house to offer his services as village idiot. The Squire nodded as he munched through an enormous plate of meat pies.

‘You won’t regret it me Lord,’ Willie said as he bowed out.

Eventually Sid’s arms and legs were too sore so he turned his back on his beloved village and stumbled through the forest. He was confused and upset as images of the dead lamb, the villagers and the stranger flickered through his mind. As he walked deeper into the forest, the trees seemed to multiply and he jumped at every noise. But fear gave way to tiredness and when he flopped down within a circle of trees he started crying. It was soft at first, but growing ever more loudly into a wail that lasted for hours until sleep took over.

The following morning, Sid woke to a growling stomach but he had no idea how to find food. He looked around him, sucking on a piece of grass to quench his thirst. As he gazed around the mass of tree trunks and listened to gurgle of his stomach he started crying again.

‘I's wish I's back in my village,’ Sid cried rocking back and forth.

Ω

Sid’s words echoed upwards, beyond the trees, beyond the sky, forcing their way through the five layers of the Earth’s atmosphere and were lured towards Aulora, tumbling and swirling at a rate of knots through the cosmos. They passed through the invisibility shield via the suction of an ear-shaped chimney, down the long stone chute growing grower denser and denser until the wish materialised into paper. The request was born as it fell into the in-tray.

Quirinus picked it up and nodded approvingly. Picking up the planetary intercom, he ordered Bill and Bob to come to the Request Making hut immediately. Bob burst through the door with a big grin and placed his hand on his chest to steady his breathing. Quirinus shuffled pieces of paper as they waited for Bill to arrive. The clock ticked as Bob tapped his foot whilst staring around the room. Eventually Quirinus glanced at the timepiece inside his toga, sighed and picked up the intercom. At that precise moment Bill slowly opened the door.

‘What took you so long,’ Bob hissed.

Quirinus raised a quizzical eye at Bob. He blushed and dropped his eyes.

‘Well chaps how would you like to learn the art of Request Making?’

Bob nodded furiously whilst Bill shrugged his shoulders.

‘Good. Here’s your first assignment.’

Quirinus passed them Sid’s request.

‘If you succeed, the job of Esteemed Worker will be yours forever. Just think no more manual work, the privilege to watch humans as you fulfil their every wish and as a final gesture of good will I’ll even give you unlimited access to Honey Mede.’

When Bill heard this he started nodding like Bob. He had been sneaking sips of it from time to time but preferred to have easy access to his favourite drink.

Bob conjured up visions of everyone bowing to his superior status. Esteemed Worker, he liked the sound of that job title. As he repeated the words in his head Quirinus interrupted his day-dreaming.

‘So how about a glass of that fine Honey Mede I was talking about.’

Quirinus poured out three glasses of the golden liquid and a sweet aroma filled the room. Bill sucked in the heady scent as he raised the glass slowly to his lips.

‘So you are both willing to complete this simple assignment for me?’ Quirinus said as he watched them take their first sip.

‘I would be honoured to do this most venerated of jobs oh Masterful one,’ Bob said.

Bill started reading the request and scratched his head. The taste of the Honey Mede lingered on his lips. He continued to scratch his head as Bob began pacing up and down the room.

‘You say unlimited Honey Mede boss,’ Bill said.

Bob let out an audible sigh.

‘Yes unlimited access.’

‘Count me in so boss.’

‘Good. Now before I let you loose on this little job, there is one thing you need to be aware of, if I promote you both to Esteemed Worker there is no turning back. The job is ad finitum.’

‘Eh!’ Bill said.

‘He means forever idiot,’ Bob snapped.

‘Are we in agreement?’ Quirinus cleared his throat.

‘Absolutely,’ Bob said.

‘It’ll ‘ave to do,’ Bill added.

‘Excellent. I shall commence your training at first light tomorrow,’ Quirinus said.

The following morning as the cocks crowed around Aulora, Bob dashed to the Request Making hut. As he entered the stone building, he experienced a surge of excitement in his spine when he saw a request materialise as it floated in the tray. He picked it up, stroked the edges of the paper and smiled at the words ‘I wish’.

‘All in good time,’ he said as he visualised his new future.

Bob looked over at the table and saw the request that Quirinus had chosen for them. He walked over, dusted the chair and sat down. When he finished reading the request excitement turned into confusion. How could a human not find their way back to their village? He was even more agitated when Bill sauntered in half an hour later whistling a cheery tune. He was about to object when Quirinus floated in after him.

Quirinus had replaced his white toga for a bright orange and yellow one and he was wearing a crown of myrtle leaves. His bright blue eyes sparkled as he popped a chocolate bonbon into his mouth and introduced his second-in-command.

Bob had never seen her close up before but had spent many years day-dreaming about her. He sighed as he took in her long auburn curly hair and green intelligent eyes. His normally sharp brown eyes softened at the smattering of freckles sprinkled across her nose.

‘You either want a ride on the phlymo, my bonbons, or time alone with the lovely Claudia?’ Quirinus teased.

‘The…um, phly...mo looks most pleasant, far superior to walking,’ Bob lied as he gazed at Claudia.

‘My, my, such aspirations. You are an ambitious one, aren’t you? Well since I am in such a good mood you can touch the phlymo.’

Bob raised his hand to touch it and his hand sank into the soft velvety texture. Bill joined him and as he stroked the phlymo, he managed to secrete two bonbons into the pouch of his tunic.

‘Welcome to your place of work and rest.’ Quirinus said.

Bill and Bob looked at the dusty shelves, tables and chairs and wondered where they were supposed to ‘rest’.

‘It’s a bit grim boss,’ Bill said.

‘And where are our beds?’ Bob asked.

‘Behind those shelves,’ Quirinus pointed. ‘I know it’s a bit dreary at the moment but there’s no point in doing up the place yet. It’s another incentive for you to succeed. Now shall we proceed to the Observation Globe?’

Bill and Bob frowned for a moment until they realised it was the forbidden building. They tapped each other in excitement realising they were the first Lowly Workers to see what it looked like inside. Once outside they could see the glass pyramid building glittering in the distance as the sun rose higher in the sky. When they reached it Quirinus placed his hand on the door and ordered them both to do the same.

‘You now have permission to enter the Observation Globe but if either of you bring anyone else in here I shall personally blast you off Aulora. Understood?’

They nodded earnestly whilst the door clicked opened. Quirinus and Claudia led the way. Bill and Bob linked arms as they walked inside, their heads swivelling as they tried to take everything in. Quirinus went to the railings which encircled the glass floor. It reflected a sea-green light and in the centre was a tall, shiny, metal object.

‘This is the erbascope. Beautiful - is it not?’ he said stroking its gleaming surface. Bill and Bob were unable to speak, they had never seen anything like it and it appeared so…alien. Sunlight bounced of the burnished surfaces and the erbascope. The glass floor gave Quirinus a mottled blue and green appearance. Still with arms linked, they cautiously moved towards the erbascope.

‘How does it work?’ Bob asked.

Quirinus pressed a button and a long lens appeared from the main body. As it stretched towards the floor, Bill and Bob jumped back.

‘Now, now, there is nothing to fear. You are perfectly safe. Once the lens is extended, you pull this strap and move it anywhere across the floor like this. Come, take a look,’ Quirinus said. ‘This marvellous machine allows me, and now you, to observe Earth and more importantly