Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World and Other Stories by Caroline M. Yoachim

Author:Caroline M. Yoachim [Yoachim, Caroline M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Publisher: Fairwood Press
Published: 2016-08-16T05:00:00+00:00

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The heir studied the planet he had sketched. The queen had cautioned against painting a planet drawn on inferior paper, but with watercolor pencil fingers, the heir painted differently than the king did. He shaded the trees purple and blue with delicate cross-hatch strokes of his still-dry fingers, and made green fish that glowed bright in the black water of the rivers. He created a dark planet illuminated by a distant blue sun, everything shifted away from the warmth of red and orange.

Only after the first layers of shading were already applied did he dip his fingertips in the bowl of water and begin to blend the colors together. The planet was so large and detailed that he had to re-wet the areas that were finished to keep them from becoming real before the entire project was done. The tower room was large, but it wasn’t capable of holding a planet. The extra water—or perhaps the inferior paper—made the paint bleed beyond the lines of the sketch, tangling the branches of the trees and blurring the edges of the watercolor-pencil citizens that crowded together in the cities.

Worse, the water soaked through and dampened the scribbles of rage that he had slashed across the back side of the paper. The heir did not like to think what those would do, if they were let loose upon the realm.

The paint began to dry, and the planet expanded, bulging up from the surface of the paper. With both hands, the heir pulled everything off the easel, the planet and the paper and squiggles of rage, and he hurled it all out the window into the night sky. His creation receded into the darkness, and soon it was no more than another pale dot, dimmer than the bright stars. Then even the dot vanished, for he had thrown the paper with such force that it had flown off the edge of the page and into the sketchbook beyond.

The king knocked, and then entered. “I caught a glimpse of your creation, as you sent it into the sky. Did you like the painting?”

“I did,” the heir admitted. “Have you come to gloat?”

The king shook his head. “The queen has returned from her scouting expedition. She has asked me to go with her to the edge of the page. I wanted to give you this, something to entertain you while I am gone.” He held out an odd bit of paper, a loop with half a twist.

“What is it?”

“A Möbius strip. The queen set me to playing with paper, to try to come up with a way to defeat the dragons. I don’t see a use for this yet, but it is interesting, is it not?”

The heir took the strange loop. Paper had two sides, but this, because of the way it was twisted, had but a single surface. “What will you do at the edge of the realm? Some other trick of paper?”

“We will bend back the corner of our page and draw on the other side.

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