A Stranger is Watching - snippet from new #Fantasy Romance for #WeWriWa and Snippet Sunday

 

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday. Reading is a safe pastime during the pandemic. Sample the work of a new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres.

I’m posting snippets from my new fantasy about a witch and an elf. The book is due to release next Wednesday (Feb. 3^rd). The main character, Bridget Bramble, flees her home when invaders plunder the village and kill her brother. Her great-grandparents traveled from the fabled land of Oakenwald where men and elves live in harmony and she decides to backtrack along their path with the aid of their travel journal. After traveling alone for 6 days, she has encountered an obstacle in the form of a landslide that blocks the trail. But somebody is watching her.

You can read last week’s snippet at https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2021/01/danger-in-shadows-snippet-from-new.html

The final line was: A hooded figure stood in the shadows under the trees. 

 She stifled a startled gasp. How long had this person been watching her? In this wild region, any stranger might be a threat. Under cover of her cloak, she gripped the handle of her dagger. The blade was sharp, yet it was little defense against a larger and stronger opponent. Subterfuge was her best weapon.

The mysterious individual stepped out of the shadows. The person brushed off the hood to reveal a solemn face as smooth as a boy’s, cold gray eyes and long pale hair. The man was tall and slim. His hands hung at his sides, empty of weapons, although a bow was strapped on his back and a sheathed sword hung on his belt.    

That was the official 10 lines, but I’m sure you’d like to read a little more. It’s slightly shortened. 

He wore a lichen-gray cloak pinned with a bronze brooch fashioned like an oakleaf. Under the loose fold of his cloak, his tunic was the deep blue-green of pine needles, an unusual color for a dyer to achieve, and his nether garments were bark-brown trousers.

He stood on the edge of the trail and stared at her. His cool, handsome visage offered no hint of emotion.

Who was he and what did he want? The longer she gazed at him, the more she sensed his strangeness and a tickle of magic like she felt on touching her locket. Was he a human male or something else? In a flash of insight, she guessed the origin of his weirdness. He must be an elf. How marvelous.

 

Fantasy romance. A young witch escapes the destruction of her home and embarks on a perilous quest for the fabled land where elves and humans live in peace.

In a land threatened by cruel invaders 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 folktale.

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

Epic fantasy adventure and romance with darker overtones. This story weaves elements of folklore and a quest for a safe haven in a land where magic is real.  

Pre-order at: AMAZON   iBooks   B&N   Kobo  GooglePlay   Other

[Releases on Feb 3rd.] 

I’ll be happy to reply to your comments. 

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

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.

Join me on Facebook and Twitter 

 

Danger in the shadows? Snippet from new #Fantasy Romance for #WeWriWa

 

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday. Reading is a safe pastime during the pandemic. Sample the work of a new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres.

I’m posting snippets from my new fantasy about a witch and an elf. The book is up for preorder. The main character, Bridget Bramble, flees her home when a troop of armed men plunder the village and kill her brother. She decides to seek the fabled land of Oakenwald where men and elves live in harmony. Her Granny had traveled from Oakenwald when she was a child. She told Bridget about the elves. “Their long hair gleamed like silver when they danced in the moonlight at festivals.” So, Bridget knows the elves were friendly to their human neighbors or at least they were friendly sixty or seventy years ago.

So far, Bridget has trodden a well-known trail, familiar from trips with her father up to five years earlier when he died. It has changed and malicious creatures now threaten travelers. After walking for six days, she has reached a cliff at the foot of the mountains and is looking for the place her father called ‘the stairway into the mountains.’

You can read last week’s snippet at https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-end-of-familiar-trail-snippet-from.html

We continue, although I’ve skipped some sentences with spoilers.

Before she had counted seventy paces, the trail ended at an enormous pile of boulders. Sometime during the last five years, a massive landslide had obliterated the original path and blasted rocks over a large swath of the mountainside. She imagined the thunderous roar as the top of the cliff cracked into an avalanche. Huge boulders had crashed downhill, flattening the pines on the lower slopes.

Panic stabbed her. How could she reach Oakenwald if she couldn’t even ascend into the mountains? Her spirits plummeted into despondency. Was she trapped in the wilderness? She felt like screaming in frustration or pounding her fists against the unyielding rock. But, she dared not risk making a noise and attracting predators.

And a little more:

Leaning her hands against the vertical rockface, she stared up at the jagged peaks that towered beyond the first cliff. She bit her lip uncertainly. How could she cross over the mountain range? Where was the stairway?

Alerted by a prickling at the back of her scalp, she swung around to confront the danger.

A hooded figure stood in the shadows under the trees. 

I’m sure you can guess who is watching her. If all goes well, you’ll meet him next week. 

Fantasy romance. A young witch escapes the destruction of her home and embarks on a perilous quest for the fabled land where elves and humans live in peace.

In a land threatened by cruel invaders 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 folktale.

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

Epic fantasy adventure and romance with darker overtones. This story weaves elements of folklore and a quest for a safe haven in a land where magic is real.  

Pre-order at: AMAZON   iBooks   B&N   Kobo  GooglePlay   Other

[Releases on February 3rd.]

 

I’ll be happy to reply to your comments. 

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

 

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.

Join me on Facebook and Twitter 

 

The end of the familiar trail - snippet from new #Fantasy for #WeWriWa

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday. Reading is a safe pastime during the pandemic. Sample the work of a new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres.

I’m posting snippets from my new fantasy about a witch and an elf. The book is up for preorder. The main character, Bridget Bramble, is forced to flee her home when a troop of armed men plunder the village and kill her brother.

In last week’s snippet, Bridget decided on a destination with the aid of her magic locket and bracelet of charms.

You can read the snippet here- https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2021/01/bridget-decides-on-destination-snippet.html

The final line is: She would make the journey over the mountains to Oakenwald and find her Granny’s kinsfolk.

This week, I’m skipping several days of her journey through the woods where she survives various perils. Until her parents died five years earlier, she had often traveled this route on hunting expeditions with her father and brother. Now, she is reaching the end of the (mostly) familiar trail.

Note, the journal is the diary her great-grandparents kept during their journey from Oakenwald to the village where Bridget had lived.

After another undisturbed night, Bridget took out the journal and flipped through the aged pages. The entries for the journey in the mountains were near the end of the book. Her great-grandparents had crossed the mountains in the company of traders who knew the route. Even with these guides, her great-grandfather had made notations in the journal and drawn maps for poorly defined intersections along the trail. A tiny sketch showed the path where they had descended down a steep rockface into Barringsland. If Papa was correct, she sat under the same cliff. Once she had mounted the cliff, she hoped to work backward from that entry to retrace their route and locate Oakenwald. Yet, her ancestors had traveled from the elven lands more than sixty years ago. In that length of time, she worried the trails might have become overgrown and untraceable.

And a few extra lines …

She followed the trail until it split into two. Taking the upper fork, she walked along on a narrow track veering toward the steep side of a mountain. The trail and mountain converged at a sheer rockface. The near-vertical cliff rose above the treetops to a height of some two hundred feet in her best estimate.

The cliff was too steep to climb, however, Papa had shown her the way to the top. He had led her along the path running between the pine trees and the base of the rockface. About a hundred paces along the path, the channel created by a cascading stream provided a tricky ascent up a staircase of rocks. He called it the stairway into the mountains.

 

 

Fantasy romance. A young witch escapes the destruction of her home and embarks on a perilous quest for the fabled land where elves and humans live in peace.

In a land threatened by cruel invaders 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 folktale.

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

Epic fantasy adventure and romance with darker overtones. This story weaves elements of folklore and a quest for a safe haven in a land where magic is real.  

Pre-order at: AMAZON   iBooks   B&N   Kobo  GooglePlay   Other

 [It will release on February 3rd.] 

I’ll be happy to reply to your comments. 

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

 

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.

Join me on Facebook and Twitter 

 

Escape to Other Worlds in January’s Book Bargains and Freebies

 

Dec 27-Jan 31: Sci-fi and Fantasy Bargains – https://books.bookfunnel.com/sopera42020/pl4875uow3

 

Dec 31- Jan 31: January from the Void – https://books.bookfunnel.com/janfromthevoid/4qxm5fy1w1

 

Jan 1-31: New Year for Space Opera Shenanigans - https://books.bookfunnel.com/newyearofspaceoperashenanigans/x6hwc26k6n

 

Jan 1-31: Alien Winters 2 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Giveaway – https://storyoriginapp.com/to/ZFuKizn

 

Jan 1-31: Speculative fiction - https://books.bookfunnel.com/speculativefictionpromo/zqey72pybt

Bridget decides on a destination - snippet of new #Fantasy for #WeWriWa

 

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday. Reading is a safe pastime during the pandemic. Sample the work of a new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres.

I’m posting snippets from my new fantasy about a witch and an elf. The book is up for preorder. The main character, Bridget Bramble, lives in a small village. Her plans to go foraging in the woods go awry when a troop of armed men march into the village and beat up the residents.

You can find the complete, and extended, first chapter at https://www.auroraspringer.org/2020/12/coming-soon-epic-fantasy-with-adventure.html

In last week’s snippet, Bridget watched the raiders kill her brother. You can read it at https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2021/01/bridget-loses-her-family-snippet-from.html

It ends on a sad note: She had lost the last members of her family.

For this week’s snippet, I’ve skipped most of the next chapter where Bridget runs to the neighboring village and finds more of the damage wrought by the ruthless invaders. Instead, I’ve moved to the next part when she is deciding where to go.

Seeking inspiration for a destination, Bridget stroked the smooth surfaces of the buttons on her bracelet. She had woven the buttons of copper, stag horn, hawthorn wood, and a smooth quartz pebble into the braided leather band. A charm was etched into each polished button and stone. Granny Bramble had taught her how to carve charms and told her about the potent spell to repel evil on the pendant she had inherited from Mama. She touched the heart-shaped pendant tucked under her jerkin. Made of hammered tin, the locket had little obvious value, yet it held a secret, a small crystal with a fiery sparkle.

Had Granny learned the charms from the elves? Her family had migrated from Oakenwald, the legendary land where elves and men lived together in peace. As a small girl, Granny had seen the marvelous elves. She spoke in admiration of their fair faces, lithe figures and musical voices.

And a few more lines:

Other neighbors held a contrary opinion about the elder folk. They claimed elves were cold-hearted, overproud, and despised ordinary humans. Elves used magic to ward unwanted visitors from their woodland homes. Yet none of these naysayers had seen an elf, whilst Granny had often met elves when she was a child in Oakenwald. Whatever the truth, Granny’s stories had inspired Bridget with a fervent desire to meet some of the elves.

A promising destination blossomed in her mind. She sent a prayer of thanks to her namesake, Bridget the mythical healer, Bridget of the holy fires. She would make the journey over the mountains to Oakenwald and find her Granny’s kinsfolk.

 

Bridget Bramble and the Wandering Elf

Fantasy romance. A young witch escapes the destruction of her home and embarks on a perilous quest for the fabled land where elves and humans live in peace.

In a land threatened by cruel invaders 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 folktale.

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

Epic fantasy adventure and romance with darker overtones. This story weaves elements of folklore and a quest for a safe haven in a land where magic is real.  

Pre-order at: AMAZON   iBooks   B&N   Kobo  GooglePlay   Other

  

I’ll be happy to reply to your comments. 

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

 

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.

Join me on Facebook and Twitter 

 

 

Bridget loses her family - snippet from new #Fantasy for #WeWriWa

 

NASA's recolored Jovian Storms looks Decorative

Happy New Year and welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors and SnippetSunday.

Reading is a safe pastime during the pandemic. Sample the work of a new author. Read snippets of stories in different genres.

On a personal note, my broken arm is healing and I’m doing physical therapy exercises every day. At least I can now type with both hands, which makes punctuation much easier.

I’m posting snippets from my new fantasy about a witch and an elf. Thanks for your positive comments about the beginning of the story. The book has just gone up for preorder at Amazon. The main character, Bridget Bramble, lives in a small village. Her plans to go foraging in the woods go awry when a troop of armed men march into the village and beat up the residents.

Before Christmas, I gave you a snippet at the end of the first chapter. I wanted to leave you at a happier place for the holidays. Bridget has run into the woods. You can read the snippet here - https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2020/12/bridget-flees-into-woods-snippet-for.html

You can find the complete, and extended, first chapter at https://www.auroraspringer.org/2020/12/coming-soon-epic-fantasy-with-adventure.html

The final line is “She crouched below the tops of the bushes and scurried up the path into the shelter of the trees.”

I’ve skipped a few lines. Bridget has stopped on the crest of a hill. She is peering from behind the rocks at the village. Note, Randall is her brother.

The kilted foreigners had set fire to the thatched roofs and separated the villagers into two groups. One group comprised a handful of the village men including her brother. Armed soldiers guarded the second group of cowed women and their frightened children. Other raiders were shunting plundered goods from the cottages onto their wagons.

A woman stumbled out of a doorway. The woman, heavily pregnant, cradled her bulging belly. She stared around, wide eyed in terror. Bridget recognized her sister-in-law. One of the raiders shoved her forward. Eveline fell.

A few extra lines.

Her head cracked on a stone and she lay still. The vile man kicked her, but she did not move.

Bridget froze in horror

Staring from the group of men, Randall yelled in outrage. He pushed the guards aside, rushed at the man standing over his wife, and pummeled him with his fists. The soldier thrust at him, withdrawing a red-stained blade. Randall slumped to the ground, lying face down. Blood pooled from under his body.

Bridget cupped a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream.

Two deaths.

She had lost the last members of her family.

 

Bridget Bramble and the Wandering Elf

In a land threatened by cruel invaders 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 folktale.

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

An epic fantasy adventure and romance with darker overtones. This story weaves elements of folklore and a quest for a safe haven in a land where magic is real.  

Preorder at: AMAZON for release on February 3rd. 

I’ll be happy to reply to your comments. 

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

 

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.

Join me on Facebook and Twitter