I’m not a musician but I woke up this morning with the chorus for this song in my head. The verses just kind of came after. I don’t know if it counts as a very short story but I thought I’d put it down, with a rough attempt at chords. I think the tune it came to me with was Burl Ives’ A Little Bitty Tear. I’ve added some suggested chords on the chorus and verse.
CHORUS [C]There’s an uninvited guest at our [G7] wedding She’s prettier than I could ever [C]be She’s standing right up there, at the [F] altar [C]Where I always [G7]pictured you and[C] me.
VERSE [C]I wonder why nobody[G7]noticed How come no one asked her to [C] go When she started walking down the [F] aisle [C]Towards the only [G7] love I’ll ever [C] know.
[chorus]
You swore that we were meant for one another You said that we’d get married at the beach And mumbled something else about the timing Somehow it was always out of reach
[chorus]
I put on Momma’s dress Sunday morning But as soon as I walked in, I could see of all the fancy people in the chapel The only uninvited one was me.
There’s an uninvited guest at your wedding A girl you thought you’d left in the past Who finally found her way back to you So we can be together, at last
I told the priest to stop talking I tried to call out your name But an angel tapped me on the shoulder and dragged me back to heaven once again.
There’s an uninvited guest at your wedding The girl who still loves you so Who sometimes forgets that she died And still hasn’t learned to let you go.
The Patience of Darkfall focuses on two main stories which take place in my sprawling medieval world. I’ll describe the basic setup for each of them in two separate posts, and then talk about how they intersect, and what I think I have to do to split them up.
Brother Adam:
An aged priest (~70 years old). I picture him looking like Tchéky Karyo from STARZ’s “The Missing”. Just lose the glasses, leave the baggage.
Tcheky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, from “The Missing” (Source: New Pictures – Company Pictures & all3media International)
As a teenager, Adam persuades his best friend, Jak, to steal his family’s boat, the Rose for one last adventure beyond the western shores before joining the crown navy. They drag Jak’s sister, Neila, along, so she won’t tattle on them, and cuz Adam has a big crush on her. They get to the western shore, have a few exciting run-ins with the local fauna, and eventually discover the ruins of a spooky old manor. In that manor, there’s a door with a an even spookier painting on it, which they’re too chicken to open, so they turn around.
Gripping, right?
When they get back, Jak’s father beats him to death. BOOM! You didn’t see that coming, did you? OK maybe you did.
Years pass. Adam comes back from the navy and finally marries Neila. She dies of tumors a year later (shit luck, right?). In his grief, he tries to burn himself alive in that same boat — the one he convinced Jak to steal for that adventure that got him killed.
Following so far? Here’s a picture of a boat:
A boat
He survives the fire, gets arrested for nearly burning down half the city’s docks, spends 4 years in a cell, and gets sprung by a priest of Talfar (a monotheistic faith that’s basically standing in for Catholicism here). He, himself, takes up the priesthood because, well, crippling guilt and grief, and all that.
Anyway. That’s all in the past. For most of the book, Adam is old. He’s lived a peaceful village life, tended to his flock. He’s ready to retire and die and go to heaven to be with his dead wife, his dead friend, and of course, Talfar.
But
He’s still consumed with hatred for Jak’s father, and he’s not OK with spending the rest of his days carrying that hatred around. He doesn’t want to bring his grudge with him to the afterlife.
I know what you’re thinking. Batman’s parents, the Red Wedding, John Wick’s Dog, and now… Some old guy’s nagging grudge?
Whatever. I like understated things.
Anyway, one day, Adam learns that Jak’s father, and all those settlers who wandered off to the west, survived, which now means that there’s a very slight chance that the man he’s hated all these years is still alive (even though he’d be in his nineties by now). It’s enough for Adam. He packs up his gear and sets off to find the man and make peace.
That’s right — forgiveness is the new vengeance.
So that’s the setup. There’s a lot more to it. There’s a brewing holy war, an assassin sent to kill him, a cache of lost texts, a guy’s tongue falls out, oh… and it turns out Jak might not have died the way Adam remembers. Also his wife Neila might have been a changeling.
I know that’s a lot of spoilers, but you should still read the book if it’s ever published, because it’s cool and written a lot better than this blog, I promise. And there’s a dog, because every story needs more dogs. I suck at synopsessesses.
Next, we’ll delve into story 2 in this monster, talk about the ways they overlap, and talk about why Scrivener is gonna make this surgery so much easier.
P.K. Merlott 