Shaun Calvert

“Ocean Spray” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #88

The cabin was silent save the faint melancholy groaning of timbers as the ship rolled over the cold swells of the ocean outside. These waves were few are far between, and the crew would joke these were the only one’s brave enough to strike pirate queen Jezebel’s ship. A warm orange glow emitted from the solitary lantern hanging deceptively motionless from a chain as the room seemed to shift around it. Shadows grew and shrank as if dancing around the light source. The captain’s quarters were richly furnished with all manner of exotic fabrics...

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“Wiz-aaaaar-dry” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #67

Captain Samuel Wartsworth the greatest wiz-arh-d alive (a wiz-arh-d of course being a wizard who is also a pirate) and also the only wiz-arh-d alive, breathed a hearty lungful of salt air. He closed his eyes and let the orchestra that was his ship wash over him (also sea spray). The straining of rope, the rustle of the canvas in the wind, and the gentle creak of wood played in harmony with each other and the sounds of nature around them. Samuel like most wizards had spent most of his life in stuffy classrooms or stuffier offices surrounded b...

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“Dragon” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The buildings were quick to follow and the screams that would never truly end for me were indicative that things far more valuable than mere possessions were fuelling those flames as well.  I suppose I was lucky that my parents had already died peaceful deaths, and that my sister had moved away to live with her fancy man two towns over. I had nothing to lose but the bakery. I was lucky further still that I knew it wasn’t worth saving. As I ran through the streets, I saw many more u...

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“The Daily Groan” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #60

“eeeuuugh, muwuuurrrrr”, you moaned to yourself as you shuffled down the street. As if reading your thoughts Mrs Smith from number 5 replied, “bbrrruuuuueeeeegh”, ‘yeah, tell me about it’, you thought to yourself, shuffling past her as she flailed impotently at the geraniums in her garden, she always did have green thumbs, now quite literally. The birds sang, the bugs buzzed and the squirrels frolicked in the trees. The birds didn’t care. The bugs were loving it. And the squirrels were fine so long as they stayed out of reach. The tasty goo ...

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“Secret Business” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #55

A deep brass brazier in a perpetual eruption of flame and smoke casts skittish light through the otherwise abyssal darkness of the chamber. Cloaked figures encircle the flame; their shadows slice the room into segments. The circle is not complete, however, until at last a figure identical to the others sweeps silently into place, then steps forward into the light. Slowly, the figure draws back its hood, revealing a thin smile, cold eyes and an ornate jade and silver mask. “Brothers and sisters,” he begins in deep sinister tone, “Sorry I’m la...

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“Last Hurrah” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #50

Deep breaths. Eyes closed. Picture a meadow. Take a sip of whatever the liquid posing as tea was. Tell yourself you can do this, because you can do this. Anyone could do it; the trick was doing it well. This would be his last performance. So many let the fear and sadness get to them and leave the stage having given a dreadful display. Not Alexander. Lives may be short but reputations can live eternal. Besides, his reputation would reflect on his family. They’d be there tonight. At the back, in a private box, out of sight. His brother, of who...

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“The Bad Book” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #46

Marous the nasty stood back and admired his creation with an air of reverence. He had just written, and bound the unholy volume that would forever be known as the ‘Necronominomicon’, the book of the exceptionally dead. It was twice as evil as Sour Ron’s ‘Encyclopaedia Necromica’, more accurate then Melony Trix the weird’s ‘The Undead and You’ series and contained almost four times as many dark incantations than Boris Pecker’s ‘Budget of Darkness’. Marous had written every word by hand using a special mix of ink and blood. The letters were le...

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“The Finest Trophy” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #43

Someone was supposed to rescue the princess. She was meant to stay put and wait and someone would come. They would save her. That’s what the stories said; that’s what the stories told her.It was just a lie. A lie to keep her waiting patiently.Well, she was done waiting. Waiting had got her into this mess and she knew no one was coming now.When Her Royal Highness, Princess Catherine, was a little girl, there had been an incident. A number of incidents, actually. One in particular led to her big sister, Princess Julie, walking out on the famil...

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“The Avian Adviser” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #41

All hail the king, and hail him well, if you know what is good for you.He was firm, but also fair…ly annoyed and predisposed to executions. He had to rule the kingdom, keep the order and keep an assortment of ancient secret evils from being unleashed into the world at any given moment. Take the orcs, for example. Few people knew orcs existed, but the king did. He had a whole castle dedicated to the purpose of repelling them. The point is, he was very busy and did not really have the time to be dealing with the more mundane tasks of royalty. ...

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“Above it all.” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #38

George took a sip of his tea. Its familiar flavour and warmth filled him with a sense of calm and tranquillity. As calm and tranquil as one can feel during a riot that is. He looked over his balcony at the angry throng of people below.“Evening George, quite the ruckus tonight”, called a voice. On the balcony opposite sat his neighbour Ray.“Quite, they’ve been at it for 15 minutes now!”,“Should we, you know”, Ray gestured vaguely, “do something?” George looked the violence below as one man was perforated by the business end of a pitchfor...

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“Coo-ee” by Shaun Calvert

Coo. Coo.That was the sound of an incoming message of the textual variety. Princess Catherine had been waiting for a reply. She had been waiting so long, in fact, that she had fallen asleep. Now awakened, she began groggily feeling around her bedside table.Coo. Coo.Not there. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her room. Where was it? Not by the one stone window, the drapes waving gently as a cool breeze stole its way inside. She froze and focused on listing for the tell-tale sound.Coo. Coo.Wait, that came from the bedside table. She scann...

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“Let your guard down” by Shaun Calvert

Submitted to Contest #31

There was an excellent view of the city from the top of the central watchtower. Standrew, or Stan to his friends (which only included his mother and a number of innkeepers) had spent the last hour watching the city and barking orders down the stairs. It had started as a normal shift, delightfully boring. Then things had gotten upsettingly exciting. There had been reports of shambling undead in the holy quarter, then the sun had blinked out of existence, plunging the world into darkness, which of course started riots and all manner of crime w...

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