SHORTS FROM THE SHELF features short serialized fiction by author Shannon Muir, administrator of SHANNON MUIR’S THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF, that may be later released as part of e-book or print collections. The story line featured currently is “Darque Designs,” the sixth installment of the Myanna Moore serial, which will run over the next several weekends. This is Part Seven.
Myanna reflected on that.
“Wait, you mean Edana had it wrong that whole time? She always thought they needed four people to wield a great power. So, they tried to bring together four people of about the same age – Firinne, Marva, Wren, and Verna. They then tried to get each of them to have children they could raise and control.”
“You have to remember, Edana relied a lot on her son Lysander Lannard’s visions of what he thought the future would hold. While one can have a sense of these things, the future can’t always be divined by the knowledge we have available to us at the time. What Lysander could really see was the most likely course for a future based on reading a person’s mannerisms, speech, and other things, with a great attention to detail. As he often was correct, no one could find a reason to believe otherwise.”
“You mean that because my father never contradicted Edana’s belief, she kept on believing it?”
“Perhaps, or it could be that she believed it so deeply he couldn’t read any other future for her due to her own convictions. If Edana’s convictions are so strong, you need to use them against her to get her out of your way to get to my son, who is the one totally in control. If you can distract Edana, I can handle Darque.”
“But you said you couldn’t turn on him.”
“I did, but I also said I couldn’t turn on him alone. I need you. I need you to take away what distracts him, so I have the best chance of reaching him. Aware of my son’s tendencies as a teenager, I tried to reach him by reprimanding him, and instead he ran away and Edana became the mother to him that he wanted. I need to show him the full truth, but I can’t show him with her in my way.”
Myanna sighed.
“All right, I’m in. I started this search to take on Darque myself, but perhaps this is the only way. “Now, you made me a promise, Duana. Time to keep your end of the bargain. What is my daughter’s name?”
