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Weekend Writing Warrior 1/24/21 #8Sunday

Heartsbane logoWelcome to the Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop, where each week contributing writers share 8-10+ sentences from their latest projects.

I’m currently sharing from the next standalone short story in my Heartsbane Saga series of fairy tales retold in a world of Vikings. “Ezichi the Beautiful” is a retelling of the Russian fairy tale Vasilisa the Beautiful, about a girl who gets help from the witch Baba Yaga to complete tasks set by her evil stepmother.

I’m skipping ahead just a little bit this weekend. Since last week, Ezichi has befriended the local street children, who help her with the never-ending chores the first wife, Yaba, has for her.

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When Ezichi, or rather the street children, had finished the list of chores that Yaba had given her, she went into the kitchen to get a drink of water for her parched throat, but the water skin that normally hung on the wall was empty. She went into the courtyard, but the fountain that she often scooped water from was dry. Ezichi frowned; usually it burbled day and night, which meant the mechanism that fed it had broken at some point. She traced the path of the pipe from the fountain to the cistern at the edge of the house, but fortunately saw no sign of leaks. Fortunately, too, water glistened at the bottom of the cistern, although it was too far down for her to reach; unfortunately, the knob that controlled the flow of the water appeared to be missing.

She was muddling over how to fix this when Yaba’s shrill voice rang out from the house.

“Ezichi, get me a drink of water!”

Ezichi scowled. Somehow, she knew Yaba was behind this, but how stupid could the first wife be to cut off their water supply? How could the household survive under the hot desert sun without any water?

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And the rest of that scene:

She stomped through the courtyard and back into the house, where Yaba and the other two wives were lounging in the women’s salon.

“What did you do to the fountain?” Ezichi demanded.

The second and third wives exchanged a look, and the third wife giggled.

Yaba simply raised an eyebrow. “There’s something wrong with the fountain?” she asked innocently.

“You damn well know there is.”

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Post a link to your eight-ten sentence blog entry or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

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Heartsbane Saga – fairy tales retold in a world of Vikings!

Book .5: “The Maiden in the Tower” – Carys has resigned herself to a life of servitude, locked away in a tower, until a chance encounter with a stranger leaves her daring to hope for more.

Book 1: Captive and the Cursed – When Nyah’s sister is kidnapped by barbarians, Nyah offers herself in her place. But she soon learns the barbarians aren’t what she expected, especially their cursed leader.

Book 1.5: “The Brave Little Thrall” – Fahim Al Rasheed has spent his life studying foreign cultures, but he never thought he’d actually have the chance to visit them. When his journey of a lifetime leaves him and a young barbarian king marooned in a hostile country, he’ll have to rely on more than book learning to make it back home alive.

Book 2: Sleeping Shaman – Nyah and her friends travel halfway across the world seeking a cure for a barbarian curse, only to discover that the man they’re seeking has gone missing. Nyah must navigate dangerous rivalries and conflicting cultures before time runs out

12 Comments

  1. Yaba is definitely behind the lack of water. How frustrating!

  2. Cutting off your own water supply as a cruel joke doesn’t seem all that funny . . . or smart. Just mean.

  3. I agree with Nancy. Not the smartest thing to do in a desert. I hope she’s able to fix it, if only for herself. I’d rather Yaba just shrivel up and croak. :D

  4. Sounds like she’s been pushed a little too far. Fun to see her confronting her evil co-wife.

  5. I think Yaba has bitten off more than she’s going to want to chew with provoking Ezichi. She’s going to be sorry!

  6. Yaba really doesn’t seem too smart…but very annoying for sure. Great snippet!

  7. Yaba is one of those who would cut off her nose to spite her face. Not too smart.

  8. Ezichi is getting awfully brave . . . or careless. You’ve got me wondering how this situation will play out.

  9. Im hoping she will come up with something creative to get her out of this predicament.

  10. Not sure why Yaba would do this. She needs hydration as well. Like mentioned before, she’s cutting off her own nose to spite her face. Well… as Ron White (comedian with the Blue Collar group) says, ‘You can’t fix stupid.’

  11. What a terrible situation for Ezichi to be in. I do wonder what the answer will be. :-)

  12. I wonder about that Yaba. . . :-)

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