First Pages: The Duel

-
The Duel is the third short story found in An Anthology of Dragons, and is available as a stand-alone title.

A young lord is challenged to a duel while drinking at the local tavern. The consequences of losing are as dire as for any other duel.

The Duel is available in An Anthology of Dragons, and is also available as a stand-alone title from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.

First Pages: The Duel



Ollie lifted a handful of foaming tankards as the inn door opened. His brown eyes picked out the expensive cut of the newcomer’s clothing as he raised the tankards in brief greeting, then set them on the bar.
“Welcome, stranger,” he called, raising his voice above the friendly row that filled his tavern.
He caught sight of a gloved hand raised in answering salute as the newcomer made his way to a vacant table along the wall. The tavern was busy tonight; two caravans, a squad of royal scouts and one of the baron’s patrols newly returned from their scouting, and that was before he counted the local farmers, back in from their fields.
With a smile, Ollie swept the payment for the latest batch of tankards into his apron pocket, then bustled over to where the stranger was sitting. The door opened again as he reached the stranger’s table but this time, when he glanced towards it, Ollie frowned. The local baron’s youngest son was entering the inn. The newly arrived lordling was one of his least favorite customers. Ollie sighed.
The stranger followed his gaze, blue eyes observing the newly arrived lordling from beneath a mat of yellow hair, and taking in the barkeep’s displeasure. Ollie wondered at the sudden spark of interest that crossed the man’s face.
“Shut the door after you, Master Rockwell!” the innkeeper bellowed and watched to make sure the lord’s son obeyed.
The door slammed shut with a bang of annoyance, and a nattily-dressed young man strode through the evening crowd to seat himself across from the stranger. Ollie opened his mouth to object to the impertinent lordling’s presumption but the young man was already in full flight. 
“You’re new around here?” he asked the stranger, though he knew full-well the answer.

EXTRACT END

The Duel is available in An Anthology of Dragons, and is also available as a stand-alone title from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.
Location: Canberra ACT, Australia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Australian Insects: An Unknown Caterpillar eating Grevillea flower buds

-
Image
So, this little guy nearly bought it when I caught it eating the still-forming buds on my Robyn grevillea, but then I thought I might like to see which particular butterfly was responsible, so I took some pictures and decided to keep an eye on it, so I knew when it pupated. The first shot - caterpillar happily nibbling on flower buds:  Yup - definitely nibbling: And here's another view. Note the little yellow lumps near its back end. Same day, but it was one of those cloudy days with variegated light. And it kept nibbling for quite some time: Stretching out to get the more tasty tidbits, and using its hind feet to keep a firm grip on the branch. Eventually it looped back on itself... ...and headed into denser foliage. It didn't always move in a straight line... How come caterpillars have more feet than butterflies? Eventually, it got into some much thicker growth (well, for a young grevillea, anyway), meaning it was somewhat prot
Read more

PokemonGo Tips - Earning the Berry Master Medal

-
Image
Another relatively easy one to earn, but it takes time. Main tip? Feed Them All. Well, okay, it's a bit more like this: Only the berries you feed to a pokemon in a gym count. You can only feed berries to pokemon in a gym that belongs to your team. You can feed up to a maximum of 10 berries to each pokemon. You can feed any pokemon that belongs to a team member, as well as your own. You can feed your team's pokemon from home, as long as you have a pokemon in the same gym - as last week's post showed. It's interesting, but really annoying if you accidentally feed a golden razzberry to a pokemon in a gym... just sayin'. Sometimes, not having a berry on hand to help catch a pokemon is also annoying - especially when you've just fed all yours to your team's pokemon - so think about that before you go all out stuffing their faces; the medal is pretty, but catching stuff is cool, too. Also, pokemon are little piggies when it comes to berries. And that&
Read more

NEW RELEASE: AUTUMNAL THREAT

-
Image
An alien autumn. An unseen predator. Deadly burrowers and an oncoming winter. And bugs big enough to ride. Joaquin only wants to warn his daughter of a new danger. To keep her safe. To make her understand her mother isn’t coming back, while keeping her alive. But what if he’s wrong? What if Mariam really did survive? What if, when everything looks like it’s going wrong, it’s really going right? Autumnal Threat is Joaquin's story. It is a father's story...and the story of a husband who misses his wife, and wants to keep his daughter safe from a new threat on their frontier world. It's a story of hope, and not giving up, and of family, as well as an exploration of what an alien eco-system might look like. It was a lot of fun to write. You can find links to this newly released, stand-alone, science-fiction short story on this Books2Read page: https://books2read.com/u/mgyopK or read an earlier version in A Collection of Lost Ships and Colonies .  
Read more