Greetings and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less.  Today my sentences are rather long. We can thank Gabriel for that. He’s fallen into a contemplative mood now that his brother and the rest of the hunting party has gone ahead, leaving him alone with the Gavin Falkner, his thoughts, and possibly a lurking magical creature or two.  You can read last week’s snippet here.  This snippet is from Snow, my current work in progress.

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Falkner walked away along the narrow animal trail they’d been traversing, back to his own horse, and Gabriel followed, although not in a direct line, leading a skittish Tempest in a wider circle around the nest. He felt better now that the hunt had ridden off without him, and was intensely curious about this gremlin business.

His mother’s people, an ancient family, had once claimed descent from magical beings of the forest, but when the war broke out and magic was labeled a dishonorable weapon of the enemy, their lineage became something to sweep under the rug, not boast about.

That did not mean his mother ever gave up her beliefs, and Gabriel had been weaned on tales of the forest. Frightened and fascinated, he’d honored her wishes, and never stepped a toe into that cursed wood. Even his brother only engaged in brief forays across the border, a bit of bravado to prove his mettle.

At Craigmoor, their uncle’s stronghold to the north, the Black Forest was both farther and closer. In simple physical distance, it ran along the entire border, merely a long arrow shot across the river, but the river ran through a deep gorge, with steep cliffs on both sides. The twisted trees of the Black Forest clung to the far side like a wall fashioned by demented builders, impenetrable, and certainly uninviting. No roads existed and the only bridge over the gorge had been destroyed long ago.

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© Anastasiiaradchenko | Dreamstime.com

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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 and along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. 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 power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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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.