Tourmaline loved the sound of her own voice, and others did too.

She wrote songs about lost love, about pain, about loneliness, about flying the world without being able to see it well.

The songs resonated with her audience. They too had been hurt. They too had been in pain, or lonely. Some of them wished they hadn’t seen what they had seen in the wide world.

In the early morning hours, right as she was about to sleep, she’d play a lullaby to her friends and audience in the autumn woods.

Now sometimes that was a song that was a little too loud and angry for their mornings, but it did bring them to their feet, and they would shout the chorus back at her, whatever it was.

Sometimes, though, it was a perfect little wistful ballad about the night disappearing, and she made some of them weep.

She was powerful, in her own right–maybe as powerful as Xini, or Fenestra.

She wasn’t sure if there was a true comparison, but when emotions were called for, she could bring them out with a song. She could give you courage. She could make you face the sunlight head on, and not be blinded. She could give you solace–wrap your guilt, or shame, or emotional pain in a warm dark fuzzy blanket of peace.

Tonight, she was working on a Battlesong. Something stirring. Something to get everyone ready just in case they failed to get the orcs out of the woods. It was going to have a power key change, which she was figuring out the chords for. Something that would make them fight for everything, and give them strength, and protect them from being disheartened.

Her music was magic—and it worked on the heart.

She sang a few words to herself, hanging upside down as she did in the waning hours of twilight before the sun burned away the misty fogs.

Something about Home, something about branches blocking the sun, about the darkness winning and peace being restored again. She might have to rephrase that a bit—the sun for them was a positive happy symbol, but she knew the nights were in jeopardy as well as the days. And that Orcs were known to burn villages.

Isn’t that what Dame Brigitt had told them—the smoldering villages in their wake?

In Their Wake. Wake. Oh that had to be a key word…and she strummed that power chord hard, Wake, Wake. The Blaze is Almost On Us.

Sure enough, a few people came to their windows and shouted WAKE! WAKE! Oh Tourmaline was good. She was very good.

And the verses and the bridge and the chorus came like a cool breeze all around her, and she drafted that battlesong for another hour, till all she could do was whisper wake, wake, as she fell asleep.

Go to Chapter 16

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.

Garna the Alchemist was overwhelmed.

She used to be much better at this. Failing eyesight, tremors, and just plain anxiety were not good ingredients for an effective potion maker. She’d retired years ago to settle in the autumn woods. She’d make an occasional love potion for a smitten young otter, or healing salves for burns.

She used to transform things. She’d transformed her pinions into hands to help her in her work. She didn’t need to fly anyway and it was little more than a hop. She’d transformed straw into yarn, apples into pears, river rocks into jewels. She’d been highly sought-after for her amethyst-making. (She could make it out of nearly anything!) But after awhile, she couldn’t quite get it right. Instead of amethyst, she made eggplant. Right color, at least. She retired while she still had some dignity.

But even the simple things had quirks. That young otter fell in love with a shovel; oh that took a bit of undoing. Yes. Those healing salves weren’t as powerful as before but she dared not make them too potent to make them poisonous. She could not distinguish some of her herbs anymore.

Just as her life had simmered down, orcs. Orcs.

Her friends needed her to create explosions and fireball potions. But too much and she might burn the woods down.

A little spell on her glasses perhaps. A little one. Something to help her see better.

The formula is in the potions book.

Salves for eyesight, strength for glasses, oh she needed to see better.

She fumbled around searching for dried winsome weed, and boiled some bitterroots, and read some incantations but her hands were shaking. She was near tears.

She was a little proud to ask for help, but she was close to shouting for it now. Then someone at her entrance spoke her name, “Garna,” and it startled her and she dropped the flask. But that figure, Oof, her glassblower, with the emergency shipment she’d requested, reached out so quickly, so carefully, to catch the glass flask she’d dropped not knowing how hot it was at the bottom, that he burned his fingers and tossed the flask back up into the air. The potion splashed him full on his face and neck and hands!

Nevertheless he grabbed the flask again on its way down –this time by its neck–and placed it on the floor. He pulled his paws in quickly and wiped his eyes! The potion covered his fur. He didn’t seem in pain though.

“I thought the flask was hot when I touched it but the water in it was so cool,” he said.

“It wasn’t water,” she told him.

He turned his face to her, and Oof had always been a noble looking rat, but now his eyes seemed to hold stars in them.

“Oof, are you okay?”

He sat down on the floor, his mouth falling open. “I can see the future.”

Go to Chapter 15

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.

Ramsaur does not want to go just yet.

Yes, they found the orcs were using a wolf guide against his will and that needs to be told, and yes they resurrected their Turtle Druid (“I was not dead! I was in a druidic trance!”), but here were orcs, and Ramsaur hadn’t been able to do any of his magic yet on them!

“Can’t I just do a little thing before I go? I think I know what might help them along the path.”

Emil held up his hand to wait, not an uncommon sign for Ramsaur.

No one wanted to play with the dead anymore.

There was a time that playing with the dead was in style, a darker time, a grittier time. Ramsaur had mastered necromancy too late in life, and in the wrong Era.

He touched the skull of his brother, Addy, that he kept around his neck, the way he focused his power, and the way his brother could still be a part of his life.

He could not save Addy when they were both young, but now they could be together.

Yes, sometimes Addy spoke to him, but always words of encouragement like, “Splendid animation!” he would say. “Bravo on the verisimilitude!” the skull would whisper.

Sometimes Addy was his only supporter in the practice of dark magic, and even dark magic users need cheerleaders.

“Okay, as long as it doesn’t give us away,” Emil said. Ramsaur was thrilled. With a tap on Addy, Ramsaur resurrected all the dead flies in the area, like a cloud of dirt.

“Spare the wolf,” Emil said, reaching out to Ramsaur’s arm.

The wolf was spared. The flies attacked the orcs and pushed them down the path. The orcs swatted and fell and growled and howled and ran. “Ramsaur, you make such a lovely plague.”

Ramsaur was deeply touched, “Thank you! That is the nicest thing anyone living has ever said to me.”

Emil looked back at him, wondering perhaps how many of the dead spoke to Ramsaur.

They parted ways in the Autumn Woods.

Emil would approach the abandoned wolf still with a chain around his neck, and would go to the Great Owl. Ramsaur would follow the orcs for a bit, to make sure the flies stayed animate, and then would return to the others, carrying his newly-alive Turtle Druid (“I was in a trance! Trances are a thing for druids!”).

Go to Chapter 14

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.

Emil the Fabulous was the first to note that the orcs had help. A wolf.

A wolf who might be able to know that the illusion deer had no scent, the fire no heat, no ash.

A wolf in captivity.

A chained wolf.

A bit of a brutish handsome wolf.

But a wolf who could track down them all, and who could lead the orcs right to their door.

So many magic users crowded into one enchanted forest had always been a security risk, Emil had long said. But they liked each other and this was home. Many of them had found it difficult to live anywhere else; their skills made them targets.

They couldn’t all be fabulous rogues and slip around stealthily wearing gorgeous cloaks.

This fall collection handsewn Stealth Cloak made him feel not only invisible to the orcs, but threw shade at the trees around him. “You never looked as good in leaves as I do,” he winked at the oaks.

Looking good was important to Emil, despite rogue tendencies to wear black (is this always a funeral??) and to want to blend in. Sometimes blending in meant being obvious or loud. No one suspects the brash, coquettish, witty fox with the unusually small right front paw to be the pickpocket, the eavesdropper, the trickster. Slinking around in the shadows was too obviously villain. Tres gauche.

Today, Emil wore one of Garna the Alchemist’s potions around his neck to mask his scent. He now smelled like fungi and rotting leaves. Oh the tragedy of a bad scent.

He was lucky that his cohort on this mission, Ramsaur, liked the smell. “Dead things are very aromatic,” he’d said.

Ramsaur would never be a social climber though, so his quirks didn’t matter.

They were off to contact the Great Owl at the edge of the woods to get Their wisdom on what they should do about the orcs since fire nor floods nor glowing deer had been effective. They at least could offer some reconnaissance.

“Now we know they have a wolf guide,” Emil whispered. “You need to go back and tell the others. I’ll continue on to consult Old Biddy.” He looked at the massive wolf bound by the chain in the orc’s hand.

He might even free that wolf.

Pick a lock. Make a friend. Who knows?

They might have an ally, and the orcs would lose their nose.

Go to Chapter 13

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.

Madrijolpur, a druid of the ponds and marshes, saw that the orcs were not following the deer or veering from the fire. They could sense the illusion. But they were close enough to him. They thought they stood on dry land.

With magic in his old leathery pads, and by the runic marks on his shell, he used his powers to raise, raise, raise the water table.

The dry land became wet from beneath, and the orcs began to sink. This was no illusion.

The druid enlarged the area of the pond exponentially as he marshed out the surrounding land, causing the orcs to sink, to fall backwards as they scrambled to find a dry path.

The only path he left them was the path out.

Not even the way back would hold their weight.

He looked around him, Isn’t this what he’d always wished for? A little larger pond, a little wider stream? The woods could sustain a larger area for pond life. Yes. But the downside was that the ponds and marshes contained thirty orcs now and getting them to move forward by sinking the trail behind them was not sustainable.

He could not do it on his own.

He tried to maintain stillness in the water. He didn’t want to be seen.

If he used all his power to sink them slowly in the muck, he would have little energy to stop them from breaking a shell if they saw him. Three orcs were already waist deep in the mud. The others crawled forward to the path. He could take three of them down at least. But 27 of them would soon reach the encampment where the others hid if he did not keep widening the pond. Too much, too much. Too much. Too wide. How beautiful it was to see so much water. So glorious! But he felt so dizzy now and he slowly sunk beneath the sustaining ripples.

Go to Chapter 12

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.

As it always seems to happen to Fade, the thing he wants is destroyed. This time, suddenly, with fire. The North Eastern quadrant of the Autumn Woods was engulfed in flame, flames that reached the highest trees in seconds. From nowhere. As he watched everything he loved burn again–as too many wars between kingdoms had cost him his home, his friends, his loved ones–he could hear the roar of the wildfire, the crackling cackles, see how it engulfed the trees and twisted the branches, till they fell withered–but he felt no heat. He relaxed. He could feel how tense Dame Brigitt was on his neck. “That is not a fire,” he said. “That is magic. And orcs do not have magic.” Dame Brigitt tried valiantly to argue against his logic. He persisted to calm her. “There’s no heat. It is illusion.” She gasped, “Xini is using the crown!” And the battlehawk, with nothing to fear, but everything to save, dove into the flames towards home.

Go to Chapter 10

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.

Dame Brigitt Meadowsedge, a Knight of the Order of the Sun, a Paladin of Threnna, returned from her Seventh Quest of Valor, which had taken many months. She rode Fade her trusty red-tailed hawk, her companion in battle, himself a cynic that kept her gleeful optimism realistically grounded. Their path home, though, they’d seen a trail of orc destruction stretching between two kingdoms already, a trail that alarmingly led her straight back to her own home. They’d seen too much wide Orcan devastation for some individual band in such a short time, razing and plundering villages along many paths. Fade said it was calculated for orcs. It suggested a plan. But oh, Threnna’s Beads! (Doom F*ck, said Fade) The last smoldering human village was only a short distance away from the Autumn Woods. She shouted to Fade to fly faster, and his mighty wings hammered the air. She could not let herself believe that she might be too late.

Go to Chapter 9

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“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.

“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.