I did it, I have finished Chapter Fifteen of my third book, When Gods Do Meddle. I start the chapter a few months ago, and I have used my recent round of writing focus to finish up the chapter!
I am officially HALF WAY done with the book! So far, I am at Fifteen Chapters (truly, eighteen, since I have a prologue and two ‘interludes’) and 94,031 words. This is shaping up to be a larger and more wide spanning book than my first two, but I feel that I have achieved a lot of the depth I feel like I achieved with my second book, and the grand scope of my first.
I hope you enjoy the excerpt below and check out my books! I have also been posting daily writing updates, partly to share what I am working on, and partly to keep me accountable to my writing.
I would love to hear your thoughts and comments! Please leave a like, share, and subscribe to my website, it would help me out so much, and check out my socials as well!
Chapter Fifteen Excerpt
They did not have time to fully appreciate this sight, because again the sound of horses riding through the forest behind them caught their attention. This time all of their attention. Looking back, they could see the rustle of branch and twig, and Maelith reported that they could just make out a number of black clad riders approaching the summit of the hill. As they looked backward, the figure that seemed to be the leader of the riders, with its eyeless silver engraved black mask, rode almost leisurely onto the top of the hill that was just to their south. Both the company, and the rider, stared at each other from a distance for a long moment.
Tanara, Throm, and Maelith all shouted to run at the same time and they fled to towards the rocky hill just to their northwest. Even though the rain had eased up a lot in the last couple hours, there had been too much mud, too recently, to safely make their way down the steeper north and northeastern sides of the hill. Several of them fell or slipped, but they were immediately helped up by their friends, and they kept going as fast as they could. Now, all six of them heard the hoofbeats behind them, waiting for, any second, some horse or rider to come. None of them knew exactly how they would be able to get down the hills without hurting themselves but they kept looking ahead when they had a second to see if they could find the path down into the river valley they did.
Their vigilance was rewarded. As the hilltop they were on dipped down into a small saddle before rising again to the rocky peak before them, they saw a slim path down into the valley that perhaps they could make it down. Turning to see if they would be followed, several of the black clad riders had already reached the summit directly behind them. There was no way to make it down the hill without being seen.
Tanara’s face showed grim determination as she stepped closer to Belkor, took one of the bags from his shoulder, giving him her pack, and said, hopefully loudly enough for the riders to hear her, but not be obvious about it, “Go, save yourselves, there is only one thing they want!”
Without waiting for her shocked companions to react or respond, Tanara turned and sprinted up the stony slope. She was halfway up when she chanced a glance behind and saw her friends running down the small path just as they were out of view. The small smile she allowed herself faded as her ears told her that at least a few of the riders were pursuing them down path. She did not have the breath to swear, even to herself, and there was nothing she could do now. A second glance back had told her that the rider that appeared to be the leader, wearing the silver etched mask, was gaining on her. She could only hope that her friends would be able to handle their pursuers, especially as they were the ones carrying the Hand of Death, and that she would be able to help them soon.
Tanara reached the rocky summit, which nearly came to a point, and swung around behind it. She quickly discarded her cloak and made sure her short sword and knives were all at the ready. She crouched, just out of the site of the slope she had come up, muscles ready, like a tenses spring ready to release. She could hear the crunch of hoof on the loose rocks and gravel as the rider reached the summit. No thoughts were in her head, just her years of finally honed instinct, training, and experience. She listened, not able to risk giving herself away by moving to look, she waited, and then she struck.
In one, fluid motion she was up and practically threw herself up the rocks between her and the rider. The masked figure had just enough time to turn and put their hand up when Tanara slammed into him. Momentum carried them off the saddle, onto the rocks below, and sent them tumbling down the hill. Whoever this person was, even inches as well, no details could be clearly seen and the mask did not seem to have eye-holes, they were well trained. She had felt and heard several of their ribs crack as they impacted the ground. Most experienced fighter would have been stunned at that point, but a powerful hand gripped one of her arms and a gauntleted blow repaid her in kind for the broken ribs. How long they grappled and tumbled down the slope felt like an eternity. Blows were rained on each other, blades flashed and sliced, and both fought for the decisive grip as the world spun around them. At some point, Tanara felt her opponent twist away from her as she landed hard on her back, and the effort to hold one, which caused their tumble to continue, she felt her right shoulder pull from its socket. A moment later, a jutting rock and their combined weight and moment broke her left forearm. She was pretty sure that her opponent had broken an ankle and collarbone before they reached the ground. Instinct had ruled the fight, and she barely felt the pain from the adrenaline of it, so it took her a moment to comprehend that she had landed, hard, atop her opponent with one of her knives to their throat. Gurgling caused her to look down to see that, at some point, she had managed to free her short sword, and it was burrowed between her opponent’s ribs, practically up to the hilt. Aside from her broken bones and many bruises, her arms and torso were covered in slashes. After taking a moment to determine that none of them appeared life-threatening, she also realized that there was a knife plunged deep into her left shoulder and another just above her right hip. She knew enough to leave them, at least for the moment, lest she bleed more and was fairly certainly both had missed anything major. After quickly checking her injuries, she looked down at the also heavily cut up body of her opponent, just as the last, rattling breath left their body. The silver etching on the mask seemed to dim and the whole mask seemed to slide suddenly askew. It was hard to move for the pain that she was now beginning to feel, but she managed to reach out with her right hand, and brushed the mask away.
I hope you all have a wonderful day, get the chance to do, or experience, something creative, and I’ll catch you on the next one!
– Jon
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