This week is another excerpt from “The Brave Little Thrall,” a Heartsbane Saga short stor. I had it on my calendar to get it out this week – but then I got COVID. I’m mostly okay, just tired with an annoying dry cough, but it’s wiped me out for several days.

The story is a retelling of the fairy tale “The Brave Little Tailor.” It’s a more obscure story than other fairy tales, so here’s the basic plot: a tailor kills seven flies with one strike (“seven in one blow”) and brags about it, but “forgets” to mention he killed flies so everyone assumes he’s a fierce warrior even though he’s a scrawny little tailor. He goes on adventures using trickery and eventually tricks his way into his own kingdom.

This week’s excerpt is skipping ahead just a bit. Our hero Fahim is traveling with some barbarians across the sea back to their country. He sees it as a big adventure, whereas they consider him one of their slaves. A big storm has come up and knocked him overboard. He and one of the barbarians made it to shore. In this scene, they’re discussing their next steps.

* * * * * * *

“Won’t they come ashore for us?” Fahim interrupted.

Gudrodar laughed, a short bark of contemptible amusement. “And why would they do that? Tueronians are no allies to Karjalanders, and on top of that they carry a small fortune. I certainly wouldn’t stop for two men fallen into the sea.”

“But….” Fahim frowned in confusion. “Aren’t you their leader?”

Gudrodar spun around with a glare so fierce that Fahim shrank back. “Don’t dare speak that aloud!”

Fahim sputtered a meaningless response that seemed to pacify the Karjalander, who continued walking at an even more grueling pace.

* * * * * * *

And the rest of this scene:

Fahim followed in silence. Karjalanders were an odd people, he decided. Aghlabidis were proud of their lineage; nearly everyone who could claimed to be a relative of their caliphs, and anyone who could prove that the Messenger was his ancestor was revered. And while his countrymen had their share of infighting, he’d never heard of men purposefully allowing their leader to die. No wonder these northern men were regarded as barbarians by so many around the world.

* * * * * * *

About “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.

* * * * * * *

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

This week is another excerpt from “The Brave Little Thrall,” a Heartsbane Saga short story that I’m still not done editing because life. It’s a retelling of the fairy tale “The Brave Little Tailor.” It’s a more obscure story than other fairy tales, so here’s the basic plot: a tailor kills seven flies with one strike (“seven in one blow”) and brags about it, but “forgets” to mention he killed flies so everyone assumes he’s a fierce warrior even though he’s a scrawny little tailor. He goes on adventures using trickery and eventually tricks his way into his own kingdom.

This week’s excerpt is skipping ahead just a bit. Our hero Fahim is traveling with some barbarians across the sea back to their country. He sees it as a big adventure, whereas they consider him one of their slaves. A big storm has come up and knocked him overboard.

* * * * * * *

The water pulled Fahim down. He thrashed around, kicking his feet and flailing his arms. Open or closed, his eyes saw only darkness. His chest burned as his lungs screamed for air;
surprisingly, however, his mind was calm. He’d always expected to live a long life, dying peacefully surrounded by his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Not dragged down in this sea, leagues from his homeland. But at least he would have left a legacy, albeit a small one, as an accomplished scholar. Inshallah, he thought to himself. The Messenger had taught that man could not fathom the will of God, and although he’d never considered himself devout, he found himself accepting this now, accepting his fate.

Until he was jerked upwards.

* * * * * * *

And here’s the rest of that scene:

His head broke the surface of the waves and he sucked in air, blessed air. He continued to flail his arms and legs, desperate to stay afloat now that death wasn’t immediately inevitable.

“Stop that or you’ll drown us both,” a voice behind him said in Karjalander.

Fahim turned his head towards his rescuer. A young barbarian from the ship had one arm around a barrel lid and his other gripping the back of Fahim’s tunic. The pelting rain made it difficult for him to discern which barbarian it was.

“I assume you’re unable to swim,” the barbarian stated. At Fahim’s nod, he asked, “Can you take hold of this barrel and kick your legs? We should be able to get to shore.”

Fahim nodded again. Panic gripped him as the man loosened his hold and he felt himself slipping under a particularly large wave, before his hands grasped the wooden lid.

Shoulders together, they kicked their way towards land. Large swells threatened to pull Fahim from the barrel, but each time the barbarian seemed to anticipate it and grabbed his tunic. By the time his feet connected with sand, Fahim’s shoulders and legs ached so badly he didn’t think he would’ve made it much farther. He half-walked, half-crawled above the water line and collapsed in exhaustion.

The other man, however, did not. Instead, he walked towards the tree line. He’d almost made it before he glanced behind him. His shoulders heaved in an exaggerated sigh as he turned back to Fahim.

“You’ll die if you just lie there.”

“Mmfmf.”

* * * * * * *

About “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.

* * * * * * *

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

This week is another excerpt from “The Brave Little Thrall,” a Heartsbane Saga short story that I’m still not done editing because life. It’s a retelling of the fairy tale “The Brave Little Tailor.” It’s a more obscure story than other fairy tales, so here’s the basic plot: a tailor kills seven flies with one strike (“seven in one blow”) and brags about it, but “forgets” to mention he killed flies so everyone assumes he’s a fierce warrior even though he’s a scrawny little tailor. He goes on adventures using trickery and eventually tricks his way into his own kingdom.

I’m continuing from last week’s excerpt. Our hero Fahim has just managed to interpret some old runes that no one else could. In this scene, he’s telling some of his colleagues about his discovery again. Khasir is his main rival at the university.

* * * * * * *

“Most scholars take years to uncover such knowledge,” another man said, “and you were able to decode seven runes at once?”

“Yes,” Fahim said, “once I realized their resemblance to the Fustites—”

“Such accomplishments must be celebrated,” Khasir interrupted, stroking his mustache as a smile Fahim didn’t like the looks of played at the edges of his mouth. “You’ve accomplished quite a feat.”

“Yes, well, anyone could of—”

“Yes, but it wasn’t anyone,” Khasir interrupted again, “it was you.”

“Yes, I suppose—”

“And you could do it again, if the opportunity presented itself?”

“Probably, but—”

“Then here is your chance!”

* * * * * * *

And here’s the rest of that scene:

Khasir pushed Fahim through a doorway, into a dark room. As he waited for his eyes to adjust to the low light, the first thing he noticed was the smell: stale, sour sweat of many unwashed bodies. The next thing was the sounds: low moans, frightened chatter in a language he thought might be that spoken by one of the tribes beyond the mountains. Finally, he could discern bodies: lots and lots of bodies, pressed close to each other, their ankles connected by dull chains. Slaves.

He quickly spun around to confront Khasir. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Khasir didn’t answer. Instead he walked farther into the room, over to a low table where several pale-skinned men with yellow beards and half-shaved heads reclined on a dirty rug.

“We’re sending you on an adventure, Fahim Al Rasheed,” he said.

* * * * * * *

About “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.

* * * * * * *

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

This week is another excerpt from “The Brave Little Thrall,” a Heartsbane Saga short story that will be out hopefully any day (assuming my day job isn’t super hectic like it was all last week). It’s a retelling of the fairy tale “The Brave Little Tailor.”

I’m continuing from last week’s excerpt. Our hero Fahim has been trying to interpret some old runes, despite his fellow scholars thinking it’s a waste of time.

* * * * * * *

A month later, Fahim still hadn’t deciphered the runes. He stared at them, willing them to take on meaning. He yawned and propped his head on his elbow. Weeks of little sleep had left him exhausted. A quick nap couldn’t hurt. His eyelids grew heavier, until with a bang his head dropped onto the desk and his eyes shot open.

He cocked his head just a bit. From this angle, the runes looked similar to an old script used by the Fustites. He narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. Where had he seen this before?

* * * * * * *

And here’s the rest of that scene:

Fahim leapt up and raced through the library to the section on Fustite history, searching until he found a tome on city planning. He thumbed through the book until an illustration caught his eye. Grinning from ear to ear, his tiredness forgotten, he hurried back to his table and set the book down next to his runes.

“Yes,” he whispered to himself. “If that…then that…and so that…and that one….” His jaw dropped. “Seven! I figured out seven in one go!”

He stood up and looked around him. The library was mostly empty. “Seven in one go!” he said, softly at first and then louder. “I got seven in one go!”

* * * * * * *

About “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.

* * * * * * *

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

This week I’m moving on to the next release in my Heartsbane Saga series, “The Brave Little Thrall.” I’d planned to release it yesterday, but life got in the way and edits aren’t quite done yet. It should be out in the next couple days, inshallah (God-willing, as my MC would say).

When I was a kid, Nickelodeon had an anime series of fairy tales that I assumed I watched all of, although only one episode sticks with me thirty years later: “The Brave Little Tailor.” It’s such a fun, silly tale that I knew I had to include it in my new series of retold fairy tales. It doesn’t really fit into the plot arc for the main series, so I decided to adapt it for one of the accompanying stand-alone short stories.

This week brings the start of the story. It starts out in Aghlabid, a distant desert land where book 2 is also set. The main characters in this story – a desert scholar and a barbarian king – are the fathers of two of the characters in the main story line, and this tale is about how they met. Fun fact: the real Viking Bjorn Ironside led a raid on the Mediterranean in 859-861 and basically got his butt handed to him, so this story is pretty dang historically plausible.

* * * * * * *

Fahim Al Rasheed sat at a table covered with books and papers in a tucked-away corner of the main library at the University of Bidat Alshroq. His concentration right now was on seven runes in front of him. Scholars had been trying to years to decode their meaning, with no luck so far.

Fahim didn’t need luck. His name meant Fahim the Wise, and he knew that if he focused enough, he could solve this mystery.

“Give up, boy,” a figure said as it strode through the stacks. “That barbarian language has been dead for centuries. Even if you could figure it out, what use is it? Learn a real language.”

* * * * * * *

And here’s the rest of that scene:

Fahim rolled his eyes. Khasir Al Mutakabir was the preeminent geography scholar at the university, and as such considered himself an expert in many other disciplines as well. Including linguistics. But no one was better in that field than Fahim Al Rasheed. He would figure out what the runes meant and then Khasir would be the one listening to him.

* * * * * * *

Book 1 in the Heartsbane Saga, Captive and the Cursed, is available now at Amazon, or you can read more of the characters’ exploits in the prequel short story, “The Maiden in the Tower,” for just $.99. Then post a link to your eight-ten sentence blog entry or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

* * * * * * *

About “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.

It’s been a crazy week! We started off getting one of those things that can only happen in 2020, like murder hornets and Tiger King – a hurricane in the Midwest. My power was knocked out for about 50 hours due to the 90mph derecho winds that swept through, and while my house was okay, there’s a ton of damage in the area that’s still getting cleaned up. The widespread power outage (about 125,000 people, or roughly half in my city) affected businesses and services too, leaving me to conclude that there just is no new normal anymore and never will be again.

On a happier note, the first book in my Viking fairy tales series launches in just a couple weeks! This week will be the last excerpt from the standalone prequel short story, “The Maiden in the Tower,” my retelling of Rapunzel set in the Viking-infused world of The Heartsbane Saga, before I switch to book 1.

Last week left off with Storm falling in love with Carys and vowing to rescue her from her servitude in a tower. They’ve been talking to each other for a couple days, and now we’re skipping just a little ahead this week to the part you’re all probably waiting for – how does he get up to see her??

* * * * * * *

“There’s no way for you to come down to the street?” he asked her as dusk fell on the second day.

“No,” Carys said, her tone frustrated, “my mistress locks the door and only she has the key.”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to find a way up.” He paused, considering possible options. “Do you have thread in your chamber, and a basket?”

She laughed. “Aye, but nothing strong enough or big enough to haul you up.”

He returned the next night at dusk; Carys was waiting for him at the window.

“Lower down your basket,” he instructed her.

“Did you find a magic potion to make yourself smaller?”

* * * * * * *

And here’s the rest of that scene:

“No, but I did find a rope.”

When the basket reached him, he tied the rope to the handle. “Now pull the basket back up.”

She did as he said, and when it reached the top she untied the rope and disappeared into her room for a moment before reappearing at the window. “I tied my end to the bed post.”

“Perfect.” Storm tugged on his end. “Here’s hoping the knot is secure!”

Night had fully descended but still Storm climbed the wall as quickly as he could. The street outside the window was barely more than an alley, but he didn’t want to take any chances of being found out.

Once at the top, he pulled himself into the chamber. The room was larger than he’d expected, filled with luxurious furnishings, but he only had eyes for Carys.

She watched him closely, seeming unsure of herself. He reminded himself that she’d been locked up here for years, with only a bitter old woman for company. And then suddenly he was unsure of himself too. What was he even doing up here? He barely knew this girl.

But then she smiled at him, giving herself a dazzling confidence. Storm smiled back, and Carys laughed.

“What are you laughing about?” he asked.

“I dinnae even know,” she answered, still laughing. “Maybe the absurdity of you scaling the wall to be here with me in my mistress’s chamber.”

“It’ll be a funny story to tell our children some day.”

Carys raised an eyebrow, and Storm’s face grew uncharacteristically warm.

“I mean, my children and your children. Not necessarily the same children.”

His stammering response only made her laugh more.

* * * * * * *

Read the rest of “The Maiden in the Tower,” just $.99 at Amazon, then post a link to your eight-ten sentence blog entry or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website. Also, book 1, Captive and the Cursed (which is Beauty and the Beast – with Vikings!) releases September 1st and is available for pre-order now.

* * * * * * *

About “The Maiden in the Tower:”

Rapunzel – with Vikings!

Carys barely remembers her life before her father sold her to pay his debts. Locked away in her mistress’s chamber, she doesn’t dare to dream of anything better for herself, until a chance encounter with a traveling merchant changes her life forever.

Storm has traveled the lengths of the known world, yet when he sees a servant girl locked in a tower, he knows he’ll do anything to rescue her.

Can Storm and Carys overcome the obstacles in their path and reach the happily ever after they both want?

The Maiden in the Tower is a standalone short story that accompanies a series of fairy tales retold in a world of Vikings. If you like sassy heroines, adventures spanning the medieval world, and a touch of romance, you’ll love The Heartsbane Saga, E.D. Martin’s new historical fantasy series.

Happy Sunday and happy Weekend Writing Warrior blog hop!

This week’s excerpt is from “The Maiden in the Tower,” my retelling of Rapunzel set in the Viking-infused world of The Heartsbane Saga. I’m continuing on from last week, when our heroine Carys dropped her cleaning supplies out her tower window and onto a dude’s head. Her mistress then showed up and Carys ducked back inside.

* * * * * * *

Storm Llanfaell stood beneath the window, waiting for it to reopen. He’d traveled half the known world, and yet the woman he’d just met had just captured his heart.

The rain continued and still he stood there in the street, waiting. Finally, as night fell and his stomach rumbled in protest, he made a note of where he was and went searching for dinner.

He entered the first tavern his path crossed. As he waited for his drink and meal, he asked the barkeep, “Tell me, sir, who lives in that large stone house three streets over from here?”

“There are a lot of large stone houses in this part of the city.”

“The one with the shuttered windows on the fourth floor of a tower.”

“That be Llyswa,” the man beside him at the bar said. “A witch of a woman if ever there was one.”

* * * * * * *

And here’s the rest of that scene:

“Oh?”

“Aye,” the barkeep said. “She’ll help ya out of a pinch, but only in exchange for your soul.”

“Or your children’s souls,” added the customer. “She trades the wee ones all over the country, although the prettier girls tend to end up working the whorehouses here in town.”

“She’s a slaver,” Storm said flatly. Slavery was outlawed in Llogeria, but that didn’t stop the trade.

“She’s a cousin of the king, is what she is,” the customer said with a laugh. “That makes her a debt collector.”

Storm thought about what he’d learned as he lay awake in bed that night. A merchant by trade, he well knew that there were different rules for the rich and the nobility. Still, it hardly seemed fair that this woman could sell children with the king’s blessing.

The woman he’d talked to today wasn’t a child, though. Even four stories above him he could tell she was beautiful: long golden hair he wanted to run his fingers through, full red lips he longed to kiss….

He would find a way to rescue her. Even if she didn’t return his feelings, he wouldn’t rest until she was free.

* * * * * * *

Read the rest of “The Maiden in the Tower,” just $.99 at Amazon, then post a link to your eight-ten sentence blog entry or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website. Also, book 1, Captive and the Cursed (which is Beauty and the Beast – with Vikings!) releases September 1st and is available for pre-order now.

* * * * * * *

About “The Maiden in the Tower:”

Rapunzel – with Vikings!

Carys barely remembers her life before her father sold her to pay his debts. Locked away in her mistress’s chamber, she doesn’t dare to dream of anything better for herself, until a chance encounter with a traveling merchant changes her life forever.

Storm has traveled the lengths of the known world, yet when he sees a servant girl locked in a tower, he knows he’ll do anything to rescue her.

Can Storm and Carys overcome the obstacles in their path and reach the happily ever after they both want?

The Maiden in the Tower is a standalone short story that accompanies a series of fairy tales retold in a world of Vikings. If you like sassy heroines, adventures spanning the medieval world, and a touch of romance, you’ll love The Heartsbane Saga, E.D. Martin’s new historical fantasy series.