Artwork by Frank Schurter

Fross comforts Root (in disguise as a warrior in training).
Artwork Copyright © 2007 by Frank Schurter

From Magic of the Rose: 

Fross awoke feeling the precise movements of her hand, of the brush she held touching the shield before it. She drew a shocked breath.

"Is something wrong, my lady?" asked young Algondier.

"I am working a blessing," Fross said, astounded by her own words. How long had she been in such a trance? She stumbled back, gazing with amazement at the nearly completed shield. She closed her eyes, trying to catch up, to remember.

"Yes, my lady. The blessing is all around us."

Fross felt it too, a lightness in the air, as if after a storm, and the ease that comes with the lifting of rain. Whatever had been done, there was no taking it back.

The images on the shield startled Fross. Here were the cross and the runic symbols that had so insisted themselves upon her.

When had she mixed the paints? When had the first stroke of the first curving line begun? The candles were all but done, their lights guttering, sending thick, angled shadows through the darkening room.

Fross's heart beat wildly.

"This blessing was not for you. How did you do this to me? What trick…"

"No trick, My Lady," said the youth, his voice thick with concern. "I have done nothing."

Fross believed him, but that did nothing to ease the mystery.

"I… I know not what blessing I have given," Fross said.

The last of the candles winked out.

"May God keep you safe," she finished, her voice falling into a darkness she did not understand. "For you, I can do nothing more."

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Frank Schurter is an artist  and teacher living in Pittsburgh, PA.

Frank Schurter's biographical and contact information is soon to be included on this page.
 

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Magic of the Rose
Copyright © 2007 by Scot Noel
Artwork Copyright © 2007 by Frank Schurter.

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