Original Flash Fiction
The Heartstone
He struggled against the whipping wind, blown snow and ice which stung his face despite the thick woolen scarf covering it. All day the wind had blown, the ice-laden air heavy with destiny. The sky had begun to darken despite it being too early for nightfall. A sign of things to come, should he fail. He wasn’t sure by what sense he was navigating but something drove him in a singular direction.
When the storm doubled its efforts against him, he knew he was close, and he put all his weight forward into his thighs to fight his way to a place of perfect stillness where the wind and ice didn’t touch. Passing through an invisible barrier, he could not stop to appreciate the moment of calm created by the miracle enclosed within. Picking up the bundle that lay there, it took him several tries to button his coat around it, with frozen fingers left free of gloves for the effort.
The way back was a bit easier, less bleak, as if the wind, and he who lay behind it, knew they had lost. Finally, returned, he shook the snow from his cloak, kneeled at the feet of King and Queen, and unbuttoned his coat. There, nestled against his breast sleeping soundly, with rosebud lips and brightly burnished hair the color of eagles wings, lay the future of the kingdom, the future of the world. Softly, he kissed the warm forehead and held her forward, not to see her again for 18 years.
Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had her fiction published in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press and Zero Fiction among others. Her poetry featured in several anthologies including Untimely Frost. Her collection of poetry, Disguised I Breathe, In Love I Hold, can be found here on Amazon.
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You can also find links to all of the articles, essays, fiction and poetry I publish on Medium here. Thanks for reading!
© Natalie Frank, Ph.D. 2019
