An evil relic - snippet from DAME AUDREY for #WeWriWa #Medieval Fiction

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories. Find a new author and sample their work. Enjoy!

I am continuing snippets from my new medieval romance set in fourteenth century England in and around my hometown of Reading. The book will release next Tuesday, August 27th.

You can read last week’s snippet here – https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-serious-crime-snippet-from-medieval.html

This weekend, I’m switching to the fantasy thread in the story. Dame Audrey was given a gold brooch by a dying minstrel with instructions to return it to its true owner, the Green Lady of Hawthorns, who lives near Audrey’s hometown. Audrey suspects the brooch has magical properties.

Please excuse my abuse of semicolons to fit. I have also removed some sentences to emphasize the main point.

In the hope of finding the home of the brooch’s owner, Audrey visits Redding Abbey to speak to the archivist, Canon Randolf of Mucklehurst. She shows him the brooch/medal.

     I pressed my question, “Do you know of this Lady of Hawthorns?” He might think me a simpleton, but I had no other clue to her identity.

     “No saint of that name is written in our books;” he reached for the medal. It emitted a red flare; he jerked away, crying, “Jesu’s blood, it stings,” and stuck his finger in his mouth like a babe.

     Faking astonishment, I asked, “What’s the matter?” If I understood his reaction correctly, the brooch had a means of repelling its enemies; the brooch had not attacked me, rather its light had healed my burns. I doubted it targeted good Christians; the Canon was renowned for his greed not piety.

     “Nothing; ‘tis an evil relic.” Composing his features into a false smile, he said, “Your best course, as recommended by our superiors, is to donate the heathen object to the abbey; I can absolve you from the oath you made to a pagan.”

     Slipping the brooch into my purse, I said in a sweetly pious tone, “By God’s grace, let me pray for guidance; forswearing an oath is a serious matter.”

Blurb:

Young widow seeks true love in this vivid Medieval romance with a touch of fantasy.

     In fourteenth century Britain, Dame Audrey cherishes her independence as the widow of a wealthy cloth merchant. But several of the wealthier traders covet her profitable business and she fears they will invoke the Abbot’s authority to compel her to marry a man of their choice. Her worst nightmare is suffering under a cruel husband like the hateful jeweler, Henry Goldsmith, who has threatened to curb her lively spirits.

     Audrey joins a pilgrimage to Glastonbury to pray for guidance. The holy relics give her no inspiration nor do her fellow travelers. On the homeward journey, she aids the dying victim of a brutal robbery. She wins the stranger’s blessing and a gold brooch with a green dragon. Back in her hometown, the faerie brooch attracts trouble from thieves of all ranks and the attentions of a handsome yeoman, Selwyn Drake. As her nightmare looms nearer, she grows desperate to preserve her freedom.

     Can the magic brooch help Audrey evade the schemes to force her into wedlock or must she submit to a husband’s will?

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