Monthly Archives: January 2023

Excerpt from The Warlord’s Heart

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For #LineByLineTime : Injury

“Edward! What happened? Who attacked you?” Betsy’s screech made Edward and the Royal Guards flinch.

“Everything’s fine, Betsy…” Edward’s calm response was lost under her frantic cries as she rushed to him, shoving the Guardsmen out of the way.

“What did they do to you? Was it the assassins? Were they killed? How did they get in? I didn’t hear an alarm raised!” She waved her hands, looking for a place to touch him, trying to avoid the blood, not knowing where his cuts were.

He and the other men looked at each other, wondering how to calm her. Edward finally shrugged and caught her face between his hands and kissed her hard. When she stopped struggling and stood still, he raised his head. “Betsy! Listen to me! Nobody attacked me! Hush!” he commanded when she opened her mouth again. “Let me explain! Now, are you listening?” He stared at her, eyebrows raised, until she took a deep breath and relaxed.

The guardsman next to him made a valiant effort to control his snicker and went back to washing the blood off Edward’s arms and chest. “He’s naught but scratched, lass. He’ll not even need stitches. A little washing, some ointment, and a bit of bandaging is all that’s needed. No doubt he’ll be sore in the morning, but I wager he’s had worse. Eh, lad?”

“Much worse,” Edward agreed with a wry smile. “And the healers on the front line are not nearly so gentle as you men.”

“But…”

Edward laid a finger on her lips. “There was no attack. We were practicing, that’s all. They were showing me how the assassins used their swords, and it took me a bit to get used to the new style. I hope to have fewer scratches next time.”

Betsy drew herself up and huffed her outrage. “You were practicing a new sword style with REAL swords?” She glared at the guardsmen around her. Edward was fascinated to see them cringe before the young woman almost half their size.

“I just got scratched, Betsy. It was my idea, so don’t blame them. I’m fine. Like he said, I’ll be sore tomorrow, that’s all. All I have to do is watch for infection, but the healing ointment we soldiers use works very well to prevent it. Now let them finish so I can dress and we can get to bed.” He narrowed his eyes and gave the guardsmen who snickered a hard stare. They quickly straightened their faces and looked away.

Betsy didn’t notice the byplay. Her eyes were anxiously fixed on the guardsman working on Edward’s bare chest. She blinked and took a quick breath. His. Bare. Chest… Her hands started to reach out, then suddenly wrapped themselves together and slammed back against her stomach.

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush

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For #LineByLineTime “The Carrot”

Mrs. Williams turned to the enormous young man still standing behind the blond boy. “Sit down, Luthor. The only person allowed to threaten anybody on this bus is me.  The rest of you, keep your mouths shut. None of you are allowed to make a sound except to whisper to your seatmate for the rest of this ride.”

 “How you going to make us shut up?” Jackson snapped.

Her smile was sweet but her eyes were dead. “Why, I’m going to change places with your pal here and sit beside you, and talk to you the whole rest of the day and not let you get a word in edgewise. Think that will work? Because if it doesn’t…” Her face and her voice hardened. “I’ll cancel this trip, turn this bus around and you can spend the rest of the school year catching hell from the rest of the class about how you ruined their trip.”

She didn’t have to say more. The other students raised their voices in protests and anger at Jackson. His seat partner poked him with an elbow. He hunched over his lap, muttering to himself.

2nd Excerpt, same story:

“Oh, yeah? Well, what if we don’t feel like being your happy little slaves? What happens then?” Nita shoved her knife back in her pocket sheath.

“THEN YOU WILL DIE.”

 “So you dragged us all the way here just to kill us if we didn’t agree to do what you say?”

“Nita! Can’t you shut up for once?”

“I don’t have to kill you,” the Voice responded.  “Your ignorance will lead to your death.  You presently have supplies and a little knowledge, but neither will be enough.  The tribe will obey and move on, but if you stay behind you will lack their knowledge of this area and who and what you need to defend yourself from. Obey me, and I will supply all your needs. Defy me and die alone.”

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush

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For #LineByLineTime : By Moonlight

“Whatever,” Nita shrugged and jerked her head toward the Spaniards’ camp. “Let’s get to work. I want to hear what’s up.”

They slipped with careful footsteps up to the camp perimeter. Harper nudged Nita, pointing with a grin at a sleeping guard. Nita rolled her eyes and eased past some cactus. They found a spot just beyond the firelight behind some trees and stretched out on the ground. Harper lay with his head pointed away from the camp, watching their rear.

Long moments passed as Nita listened to the soldiers talk, drink, and often make rude noises with various belches and other bodily noises. Sometimes they broke out into song. Suddenly she tensed and Harper looked warily behind himself, but nobody had noticed them.

Finally, she rose to a crouch and jerked her head at him, moving slowly away from the camp. The perimeter guard was still sleeping. They moved faster to the trail they had come down and when they reached it, she started running. Harper’s mouth dropped open, but he took off after her. Both still made no noise as they ran. They only slowed to ease through tight spots of brush.

At last, they reached the Apache camp. Harper grabbed Nita’s arm and held up a finger as she jerked to a stop and whirled on him, fury on her face. He shook his head and held up his finger again. Putting his hands to his mouth, he trilled a soft birdsong. “Don’t want to get attacked rushing in there,” he whispered. “Minji has a mean swing with that staff.”

Nita smiled but it looked strained. She hurried on to the opening of the clearing. Everybody came to their feet as they entered.

“What did you hear?” Minji demanded.

“I heard enough to know we need to kill all of them and get to that settlement as fast as possible!” Nita panted.