Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors.  I’ve been missing in action for a few weeks; I was actually on vacation! In Hawaii!  I even got a  twee bit of editing done, but nothing like I’d imagined. Sun and sea are so distracting…

When last I posted, King Tristan had got it into his noggin that he wants to hunt with his brother Gabriel, knowing full well that Gabriel detests the idea of killing for sport. But now that Tristan is king, there’s not much his brother can do but obey.  You can read the last excerpt here.

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Tristan didn’t wait for a response, but announced to the milling lords and knights, “The king and his brother shall ride into the Black Forest and bring back a trophy worthy to mount in the feast hall—a stag or perhaps a gryffon.”

Gabriel took a deep breath and released it slowly, aware of his brother and Falkner gauging his reaction while he did everything he could not to react at all. Part of him was glad that his brother wanted him along, but there was so much wrong with what Tristan had said, he hardly knew where to begin.  He started with the safest objection.

“The Black Forest? It’s impossible for a hunting party to penetrate its brambles.”

“It’s true,” Falkner said quickly. “The chance of getting close enough to bring down anything in that mire is remote.”

“It mocks us,” Tristan said, glaring toward the river and beyond, where if one squinted and used their imagination, one could see the treetops of the Black Forest raking the belly of the clouds.

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Not exactly the germanic forest of my imagination, but suitably ominous and impenetrable. (This is the Ko’alau mountain range on Oahu, btw)

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Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

Following the death of his mother the Queen, Prince Gabriel is called home by his brother, now King. Gabriel hopes for a reconciliation with his estranged brother, but all is not well at Castle Rosenthal. King Tristan has fallen under the sway of a scheming alchemist, the magical denizens of the bordering Black Forest are on the move, and Gabriel begins to fear for his life. Is the handsome huntsman in on a plot to assassinate him, or is there an even darker, more evil force afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient powers at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover them.

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Weekend Writing Warriors is a blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less.  Click the link to check out the other writers participating today.  It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book