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Cajek Veilwinter

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2022

Stories (58)

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Library

31 Followers

11 Following

58 Stories

1114 karma pts

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Curse of the Six-Fingered Hand

Cajek Veilwinter

For part 1, read https://veilwinter.com/f/shadows-in-the-darkroom  After seeing the mysterious six-fingered hand in the bus station depot locker, Amber disappeared for a few days. To get his mind off of things, Danny had been turning in photo after photo of various suspects in the huge cheating ring that Amber - and the administration - had been looking for for two years. Catching the cheating ring had been something of a mission for them ever since their first year in Varunkirk University. Like all investigations it took time: time the...

3 likes

The Wolf-Stag

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #255

The wolf skull in the abandoned mine was sitting atop a rock. The skull itself was covered in spiderwebs and lit by the blue, bioluminescent bacteria that was hanging down in thin strands from the ceiling a few meters above it. Strangely, the wolf skull had very large antlers as well which were also dripping in cobwebs and bioluminescent bacteria. The walls of the cave were a deep, inky black: so black and smooth that it reflected the lights of the bacteria back and gave the place a neon-blue hue that permeated everything in it - including t...

6 likes

Debauched and Delirious

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #254

One was only invited to the Obsidian Masquerade once in their life. The Masquerade itself was an endless affair, with several attendees spending portions of their interminable afterlives in attendance. Even in the city of Vulane, it was considered... less than appropriate... to attend.For the occasion, the young vixen Malina chose to embody the essence of the night sky, reflecting the eternal dance of stars and shadows that played out above Vulane on the streets above. Her dress was a flowing cascade of midnight blue silk, shimmering wi...

8 likes

Sir Sinkrattle’s Reliquary and Verboratorium

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #251

Sylvia was on the fifth floor of “Sir Sinkrattle’s Reliquary and Verboratorium,” a bookstore in the Fog District. The building itself was very old, and the windows looked out onto the wet, cold, misty streets of Vulane below, where creatures with clandestine missions stepped gingerly on the cobblestones. Usually the store was empty, but she noticed a few female rats reading from the popular section, where the new batch of the Shadowclaw Chronicles - a series of mystery novels - had been deposited. From time to time, they surreptitiously...

9 likes

Wall of Darkness

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #250

Cherryrose had tracked the lynx deep into the undercity, her heart racing with fear, excitement, and determination. It was a difficult chase. Vulane - the 'City of Secrets' - was a permanently damp city-state due to the enchanted skies. Each step Cherryrose took on the cobblestones was awkward and forced. The lynx would often check behind herself and take side streets randomly, a tactic common in ambush predators. Cherryrose - a new Tyrian cleric - used her long ears to follow the trail. She had noticed the lynx skittering past the temple on...

6 likes

Shadows in the Darkroom

Cajek Veilwinter

As Danny stared at the photo that was developing, a look of fear and confusion spread across his face. His hand shook as he touched the edges of the picture as it became clearer and clearer.Luckily, Danny’s darkroom was in a secluded part of Varunkirk university, behind the costume department’s closet, because when he sprinted out of it no one saw from whence he came... he thought.I’d better rethink where I keep my equipment, he thought to himself as he ran to the college newspaper office. It was after hours, but chief editor Amber was alway...

4 likes

The Greatsword of Azura

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #242

Farah templed her fingers as she watched the two young creatures sitting across from each other at the little wooden table discuss their plan. The storm that usually dripped over the town of Vulane was raging that night, and thus the tavern was nearly vacant except for Farah, her two ‘protoges’ and the barkeep at the other end of the establishment - too busy cleaning glasses and getting drunk on his own supply to bother them. Farah - the renowned ferret thief - had only had one ale and she could barely follow what the other two were talking ...

8 likes

Flickering Candles

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #238

Sneaking into the forbidden section of the library was a coming-of-age ritual for the dark art - and a few curious light art - students at the College of Elements. Very few - perhaps one student a year - could pass through the enchantments that had begun to grow over that part of the library as the centuries passed. Sniptide - a skilled stoat thief - motioned to her vulpine companion to follow through the hidden bookcase opening after she had checked it for traps.  Her vulpine companion had a reticent personality and jet black fur a...

11 likes

A Small Abandoned Reality

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #236

Samantha had been at the same corner table of the greasy spoon since six in the morning. It was eleven twenty-three, post meridian, Pacific Time Zone. On the big, boxy television on the other side of the room was what Sam understood to be an “advertisement” for something. A lone figure with red, electric eyes and clad in leather emerges from the darkness as a deep-voiced narrator says, “In the twenty-first century, a weapon will be invented... like no other...” Suddenly, Sam was stirred from her reverie.  “Can I get you some mor...

9 likes

Reedrascal's Astrolabe

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #232

The court astronomer of Vulane - Reedrascal the Calculating - was a distracted old ferret with a long white beard and goggles that his young student thought made his eyes look ridiculous.  Vulane itself was not ideal for an astronomer, as the ever-present, rain-filled clouds that filled the sky had themselves been... altered somehow. Reedrascal was going to get to the bottom of that: perhaps with tonight’s astronomical event. “I-I do not precisely understand, Professor,” a little voice said behind the ferret as he went from one huge...

9 likes

The Vicar, the Whale, and the Sword

Cajek Veilwinter

Vulane, the “City of Sin,” was perfect for someone as nosy as Amber. The world was changing, and the clever meerkat had to go where the cogs were turning the fastest. “Journalist” was not a well-known occupation yet, but it soon would be - and because of her.  Amber promised herself that.  She liked the way the Tyrian nuns and priests talked about Vulane. All around her provincial, ancestral town, the Tyrians had taken over - or pretended they had. The ‘God of Justice’ was like a smothering blanket over her life, and all the ...

2 likes

Normalton Nightmare

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #221

It had taken months to find all the ingredients. Some were taken from her mother’s crypt in the basement of her own home, some from her mother’s office, and even one had been ‘borrowed’ from her father’s police station downtown. The fingernail of a dead necromancer was the most complicated to discover, but the location of the grave itself - uncovered from her father’s files at the police station - were the most delicious. When Arachne had uncovered that one, she couldn’t help but let out a little cackle. It was the night before Hallowe...

10 likes

The Scent of Shadows

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #218

Chief Constable Spot Holland stared down the alleyway, then looked up to check the moon. It was there. Not a full one, but it was there. He looked down the absolutely black alleyway again and checked his right paw.  It was shaking. Not only did the old spaniel smell what he had smelled all those decades ago, but he also smelled Jack too. Or, at least, one of the spells he was known for casting. Darkness. Spot tried to catch his breath. He didn’t need to see what was down there. He didn’t need to see it. He didn’t need to see b...

8 likes

Rare and Exquisite

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #211

Edmund was not his real name.The young man was a librarian by trade, although one wouldn’t know it by looking at him. He wore a double-breasted gray suit, his neck swathed in a long black scarf. In his hand he held an elaborate pocket watch, which he was studying closely. He was standing outside a wrought-iron gate in a slum of Paris in the middle of the night.He watched as two drunkards across the street stumbled out of what was casually known as a “night cafe.” He eyed them nervously, gripping his walking stick tightly as they walked away....

6 likes

The Eighth Vile Vermin

Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #209

Elara stood in the ornate chamber of the Tyrian Library, her heart pounding with a mixture of excitement and nervous anticipation. The flickering candlelight cast dancing shadows on the walls, illuminating the rows upon rows of ancient tomes and scrolls that lined the shelves. She took a deep breath, her green eyes fixed on the imposing figure seated at the head of the long wooden table. Before the young hare archivist sat the Lord Head Cleric: a venerable badger named Lord Thorne, flanked by his council of esteemed scholars. His fur was a...

6 likes