This is the fourth year we’ve done a fanfic month. We didn’t want it to get boring so we’ve tried to change it up each year. The first year you could write whatever you wanted. The second year we limited the books you could choose from. The third you had to stage a fight between two main protags (or groups of main characters) from different books/series.
This year the main character(s) of one book or series has fallen out of their book and landed in another.
They could be messing up the other book’s story, take the place of the other book’s MCs or just walk around and try to figure out where they are. Kelsier and Vin meeting the Fellowship of the Ring and decide to join the quest? Rincewind finding himself in the Broken Empire, trying (as always) to survive? Eli Monpress teaming up with Hadrian Blackwater (instead of Royce)? The possibilities are endless but none are easy to write.
Rules:
1. This must be prose or poetry.
2. Has to be fan fiction and has to contain characters from one book/series in another book’s/series’ world.
3. Prose must be 500-1500 words long.
4. Poetry must be 100-750 words long.
This month’s winning story was by Lanko (@Lanko88 on Twitter), with “A Song of Rings and Thrones”.
Congrats on your win, Lanko!
You can find all our entries here.
And now on with the story!
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“A Song of Rings and Thrones”
by Lanko
– Daenerys –
The Nazgûl screeched and an entire battalion of Gondor’s finest cowered in fear, dropping their weapons and covering their ears in a futile attempt to block the deafening sound.
But not Dany. She was blood of the dragon and the dragon never felt fear. She and Drogon were pursuing the Witch-King of the Nazgûl, and judging from how desperate he was dodging the firebreaths, Dany could swear he was the one afraid.
Drogon slammed into the Nazgûl, and knight and mount crashed into a tower, destroying its upper level and falling all the way to the central square of Gondor.
The Nazgûl’s flying demon was dead, but the Witch-King was alive and well. He wore a crown of steel, but no face was visible save for the deadly gleam of his eyes. “Impressive, but futile. For I cannot be slain by the hands of men—”
“Dracarys!”
The Witch-King was engulfed in flames and fell. Even his bones remained invisible, only the charred armor sprawled on the ground confirmed he was dead.
Gandalf arrived. “You killed the Lord of the Nazgûl.”
“That was Drogon.”
The black dragon faced Gandalf, who took two steps back.
“If the flame of your dragons can even undo the spell that knits the unseen sinews of the undead kings… perhaps we might even destroy the ring without journeying to Mt. Doom.”
But they didn’t know where the ringbearer was.
“He is traveling to Mordor, correct? So we might as well go there.”
“I guess we have no choice, dragonlady. And I appreciate your enthusiasm, given the circumstances.”
Dany smiled.
A knight reported that the Uruk-Hai army was retreating. Rhaego and Viserion were scorching the fields. People were already celebrating her as their savior. With the king and his heirs presumably dead, some were already calling for her to be queen.
I could rule here. It’s a nice place. At the very least I surely made allies if I return to Westeros. With a wizard included.
Dany and Gandalf reunited with the others to discuss the plans for the campaign against Mordor.
– Aragorn –
They met the White Walkers at Riverrun.
“Tell General Jaime to hold position. If this works we might not have a single casualty,” said Aragorn. Legolas ran to deliver the message.
Aragorn prepared the ritual. The only way to beat such an army of the dead was to have an army of the dead yourself. And if Westeros had something in abundance, it was death.
The magical circle glowed. Now the dead of Westeros would answer his call. They came, from all corners of the Seven Kingdoms, bypassing mountains, rivers and swamps, the green spectres of the dead.
The blue and green armies of undead collided. But the White Walkers had physical bodies, while Aragorn’s Army of the Dead had not, and even the ice blades could not cut them down. For the first time, Westeros defeated the Walkers and regained territory.
“Those fuckers didn’t stand a chance!” said Jaime. “Thank the Seven for you Aragorn, our armies are as useful as nipples on a breastplate against those things.” Jaime laughed and trotted away.
Aragorn cringed at the language.
“I don’t like him,” said Legolas. “I don’t like this place at all. Not because of the enemy, but this is why we elves live secluded and have no contact with humans. Here we have the very worst of what your kind is capable of.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, lord Legolas,” said Varys.
Both men startled. Even Legolas with his keen senses was surprised by the Spider’s stealthy approach.
“Our lord Aragorn can change all that. An erudite, a just man, and the better, not a man prone to vulgarities.” The eunuch wiped a tear from his face. “You are the king I always dreamed of serving.”
Legolas glared. He didn’t like Varys, especially since the Spider said people thought he was a Targaryen, an old line of rulers. They often said Legolas’ slim frame and pointed ears were deformations caused by Targaryen inbreeding.
Obviously Legolas wasn’t pleased and Aragorn was thankful Gimli wasn’t around.
And it wasn’t the first time Aragorn was offered the Iron Throne. People weren’t sure if young Tommen was fit to be king, without the queen regent around. Marriage proposals were offered by the dozens. He also feared for his life. Tommen surely had supporters. Aragorn was useful until the Walkers were defeated, but what then? Would he be murdered? Should he enter this game? He felt he didn’t know how to play it.
For now he would just try to survive until he found a way to return to Middle-earth. If not, he might have to play the game of thrones.
– Sam –
“There he is! It’s the Imp!” yelled a man.
“Yeah, blonde hair and very short, though he seems taller than I expected. He’s also too fat. You sure it’s him?”
“All rich nobles are fat.”
“Fair point. Let’s get him.”
Sam and Frodo ran.
“Why are they after me, mister Frodo?”
“I don’t know. Everywhere is the same.”
They were in Pentos. It was the third city where they were hiding from Sam’s relentless pursuers. Strangely, nobody seemed to care about Frodo. And here the ring didn’t have any power. No invisibility or soul corruption. That and Sam being the center of attention made Frodo feel totally useless.
But if Sam was being honest with himself, he was actually quite enjoying this change of roles. Somehow it felt right.
– Boromir –
Boromir had no idea where he was and neither did the man called Eddard Stark he had just stumbled upon. They somehow became very quick friends.
“I only remember dying,” said Ned.
“Me as well,” replied Boromir.
“Think we’re gonna live this time?”
“We can only hope.”
– Tyrion –
Tyrion Lannister once said he would like to die at the age of eighty in his own bed with a belly full of wine and a girl’s mouth around his cock.
Now he wanted to live forever.
“Another round of beer!” yelled Gimli.
The Hobbits cheered and Tyrion happily joined them.
Ah, the Shire was paradise! Clean air, sunny, green pastures. Not White Port’s scent of human piss and horse shit. No heavy working, plenty of meals and drinks a day, singing and playing most of the time, and the most important thing of all, he could actually look everyone in the eye! Seven hells, he was actually taller than some of them!
He forgot the Iron Throne, dragons, politics, money and more importantly, he forgot all about Cersei. He only missed White Port’s brothels, but he realized now just how desperate and empty he was for having ever needed such things to feel alive. Dozens of female hobbits were genuinely swooning over his intelligence, wit and charisma!
He held back tears. For the first time in his life, Tyrion Lannister felt joy and peace.
– Cersei –
She woke in a land of fire. She was brought before the Great Eye of Sauron, who saw all the darkness in her soul. Even he was taken aback by what he saw.
Sauron offered her the position of Witch-Queen of the Nazgûl and Cersei gladly accepted. She received her own ring of power and a Nazgûl mount to ride. She remembered that Aegon the Conqueror’s sisters rode on top of dragons. This would serve. She chose the stronghold of Isengard to live, previous home of Saruman. She admired the height of the tower.
But she wouldn’t return the One Ring to Sauron. No, she needed all the power in the world to protect her precious children.
If the One Ring controlled all others, then after getting rid of Sauron she would make the whole world wear rings. Babies would receive a ring right upon birth. All would bow to her rule.
And Tyrion… She would find him. And all the horrors she would inflict upon him. For killing Joffrey, father, for every insult thrown at her.
Her laughter echoed throughout Isengard and even her fellow Nazgûl, former fallen kings, cowered in fear.
– George –
George R.R. Martin woke, sweating and breathing rapidly. The phone was ringing.
“Can’t even sleep properly anymore…”
It was 3:00 p.m.
“Hello?”
“George? Progress?”
“I was writing it right now, damn it! I need to go or I’ll forget it.”
“Oh, okay sorry to—”
What a crazy dream he just had. The situations looked promising. But a Sean Bean character who lived to tell the tale? Inconceivable! Nobody died? Infuriating. Tyrion with a happy ending? Absolutely not.
George rubbed his hands together, giggling like a little girl. Oh, the deaths he planned to write!
He set aside his completed thirty pages for Winds of Winter. This was just too important to be ignored by trivial things! He turned on his computer, opened his word processor, and began his Tolkien fanfic.”
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Congratulations again to Lanko! If you’d like to enter our monthly writing contest, check out our forum for more information.
Happy Writing!
Richard Marpole
Jennie Ivins