Happy June!

Dear blogging friends,

This month will mark the one-year anniversary of my blog!  I know that I have been less than faithful, especially during the school year, but I hope that I will be able to post more this summer.

And now that it is June, I feel that I should put some writing goals up here.  I want to finish Alicia this month.  That is a big order, because the ending is still hazy to me.  I know what I want to happen to everyone in the story except for my main character!  Very annoying!

By the way, I shall post some more snippets, this time from part 2, which is coming along nicely.

Sir Ashenisk held his swords crossed before him.  He dashed among the rubble of the collapsed house as the Dragon turned and spewed flames at him.  Sir Ashenisk ducked, and the flames flared uselessly out over the river.  As the Dragon gulped, preparing itself for another attack, Sir Ashenisk made his move.  He darted towards the beast and stabbed at its throat.  The Dragon reared on its hind legs to its full height and grabbed for the knight with its long, sharp foreclaws.  Sir Ashenisk ducked again and swiped his swords over his head, slicing off the Dragon’s horny talons.

            The Dragon plunged itself down, trying to crush Sir Ashenisk, but the knight quickly scrambled out from beneath the falling body and began clambering up the sides of the Dragon.  The monster reared, trying to shake Sir Ashenisk off its back, but Sir Ashenisk clung doggedly on, pulling himself slowly up towards the Dragon’s head.  The Dragon knew full well what the knight was attempting, and its repulses became more desperate.  It tossed its head wildly and roared its annoyance to the skies.  Sir Ashenisk only tightened his clutch on the Dragon.  Finally he was able to reach around the neck of the Dragon and shove his sword into the beast’s neck.

            With a strangled attempt at a bellow, the Dragon reared its head, and the exhausted Sir Ashenisk tumbled down its back.  The Dragon slumped down, cracking a few more logs from the house.  Sir Ashenisk rolled over and lay on the ground gasping for breath.

~ Alicia

“Alicia, I have him!” I heard Calla shout from not far away.  I turned the corner of one of the houses and saw her, illuminated in the flames, standing over a kneeling figure.

            “Alfieri!” I called, running over to them.  Calla caught me before I reached them, and I saw that Alfieri held a motionless body in his arms, burnt beyond recognition.  Somehow I knew that it was Seria.  “We need to get him out of here,” I told Calla.  The building next to us was about to collapse and smother us in flames.

            I ran over to Alfieri and shook his shoulders.  “Come, son of Fer.  Leave her.”

            He looked up at me with a face as sooty as his father’s.  “Let me die,” he rasped.

            “Never,” I snapped.  “Grab one of his arms, Calla, and we can pull him out.”

            Calla obediently took hold of one of Alfieri’s arms and we hauled him to his feet and pulled him towards the river.  The building crashed moments afterward, sending a shower of sparks into the air.

            Alfieri moaned.  I slapped his face.  “Come to yourself, man,” I said.  “We have to get to the river.”

            He stared at me, surprised.  “Princess?” he said.

            “Call me Alicia,” I replied firmly.  “You should be at the river.  Come with us.”

~ Alicia

“The secret,” said Mistress Caffivi, “to making a soup is to add a lot of water.  We always have plenty of water, you know, but sometimes meat is scarce, or, right now, vegetables are scarce.  And what I have here, my dear, is a venison bone.  We are not supposed to hunt in the woods, but what with the higher taxes, we have to cut corners here and there.  We charge the same price for a bowl of soup with more water because it costs us the same to make it with more water as it was to make it before that woman . . . never mind.”  Mistress Caffivi grew very red in the face.  “But, we have very few vegetables, so dried beans go very nicely and make the soup look fuller.  In the autumn, of course, we will have plenty of fresh vegetables and less meat, but the soup will probably be more.  We have a hard time of it, Roglia, yes we do.  However, I am thankful to say that we still keep a decent house.”

~ Alicia

There they are!  I do like snippets.  Please enjoy!

Thanks for reading and God bless,