A Harmless Old Man - snippet for #WeWRiWa

 

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors.

Enjoy a little distraction from pandemic worries. Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories. Find a new author and sample their work.

I’m continuing with snippets from the first chapter of a new fantasy story about a witch and an elf. The main character, Bridget Bramble, lives in a small cottage on the outskirts of a village. Her plans to go on a foraging expedition in the woods were interrupted when a troop of armed men marched into the village.

You can read last week’s snippet here: https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-small-army-enters-village-wewriwa.html

Please note, the text is unedited and subject to change.

Elder Grantham stomped onto the road to confront the troop of strangers. Old Grantham called himself the village chief and fancied he ran the place. He raised his hand and asked a question, his words inaudible at this distance.

The men’s leader barked an order.

A man in the front rank punched his fist into Grantham’s face.

The grey-haired old man crumpled, his body thumping onto the road.

Aghast, Bridget gulped. Grantham might be a pompous ass, but what cruel kind of person would mistreat the harmless old man?

A woman screeched inside the adjacent cottage. 

 

And a few more lines:

 

The intruders, clearly enemies, split into two groups. The first group rushed into the nearest cottages and dragged the occupants onto the road. A second set of men entered the houses and carried out boxes of valuables.

Villagers yelled in anger, or screamed and begged for mercy. The raiders beat off the scant opposition and herded the others into a field. 

 

Draft Blurb

In a land troubled by invasions from the east, Bridget Bramble lives in a small village where she barters herbs and carved buttons. When marauders target her village and murder her family, she flees into the woods. Armed with her Granny’s advice, and a bag of magic buttons, she sets out on the perilous journey to Oakenwald, the fabled land where elves and men live in harmony. As she travels farther from home, she encounters malicious creatures from the worst kind of folktales.

Lost in the foothills of the mountains, Bridget meets an elf, Windswift the Wanderer. He offers to guide her across the mountain range. But what is he doing in human territory? Can an ordinary, or almost ordinary, human girl trust a cold hearted elf? 

 

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

 

My discounted book:

Dame Audrey 

Young widow seeks true love amid the turmoil of Chaucer’s England. 

In fourteenth century Britain, Dame Audrey cherishes her independence as the widow of a wealthy cloth merchant. Her worst nightmare is suffering under a cruel husband like the hateful jeweler, Henry Goldsmith, who has threatened to curb her lively spirits. When Audrey aids a wounded traveler, she wins the stranger’s blessing and a gold brooch with a green dragon. But, 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?

99c at: Amazon  iBooks  Kobo  B&N  GooglePlay  Other

As always, I’ll be happy to reply to your comments. 

Please return to http://wewriwa.blogspot.com/ to sample the works of the other writers.

 

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