The second book in the series will be coming out soon! My working title is Circle of Friends. Below is the book’s Prologue!
R. R. H.
As Alice and Amber hiked along the road, looking for the path up the mountain, the three men waved and bid the dwarves and the girls hello and good roads, which was sort of traditional between travelers. The last man watched both women carefully and tipped his hat as he passed. He turned to look back at both of them, not once, but twice.
Amber looked over her shoulder and quietly said to Alice, “That last one… eyed both of us up like…”
“Like he hasn’t eaten in three weeks, and we are pieces of meat?” asked Alice, a tone of sarcasm in her voice.
“Yes, exactly. It will be nightfall shortly, and they will likely stop soon. Let’s plan to be watchful, OK?”
“You think something bad will happen?”
“Don’t know… but I didn’t like the look.”
Amber had a way about sensing things like this and her suspicions where usually well-founded.
“I thought this area was OK,” said Alice.
“It is, but it is also well traveled. If we were off in the woods on the mountain itself, it is very safe, the Faerie Folk tend to protect it, but here on the road, who knows, all kinds of folk travel this road, most good, some not so savory. Let’s do some traveling sister.”
“You got it!” said Alice.
They found the path up the mountain and traveled a good distance up the path before deciding to stop for the night. They built a small camp fire and there was a stream some distance further on that Amber knew would have good water in it.
Alice and Amber ate a quick dinner and Amber suggested that they get ready for sleep. She volunteered to take the first watch. “Once we are really on the mountain it will be fine not to, but I’ll watch first tonight,” she said. “I really don’t know how far you have to go to be among the Faerie Folk.” She went to fill the water skins at the stream, continuing down the path away from the camp.
Alice started to get ready to sleep, while it was still early, she knew Amber would wake her up halfway through the night and go to sleep herself. Counting a late morning start the next day, they could each have about 7 hours that way. Alice took off her belt, sword, chain-mail and her field pants, intending to jump right into her sleeping bag. Her white tunic still covered everything as a rather short dress would, the heavy cotton fabric clingy after a long day in it.
A voice called out from the woods, from the direction back toward the road.
“Well, my lady, ready for bedtime?”
Alice spun around to see the same man she and Amber had seen turn back to look at them a few hours before.
“What are you doing here?! This is our camp!”
“Ah yes, but I’m a weary traveler too, and I see you are ready for bed, love. May I join you? I see your friend is gone for a little while… perhaps we could have a little fun under the stars while she is gone?”
“Stay away from me!” Alice ran over and picked up her sword, never actually having to use it on anyone, she drew it and tried to defend herself, trying to remember the lessons she had been taught.
“Oh, my lady, now now …” he drew his own sword, and ran the few paces remaining between them, stopped about two arm lengths away, and swung, hitting her sword very hard, but Alice parried the blow well, and swung back in defense, forcing him to dodge awkwardly. He jabbed toward her and she again parried well. They traded five more blows before Alice’s sword was knocked out of her hands. “Very well done my lady, I wouldn’t want to think what might happen if you had some experience, you might actually have tried to hurt me, I think you are a bit inexperienced with that thing? Now, come now, my lovely, I don’t want to harm you, or I would have done so by now, wouldn’t I have? Would you like to …” He never finished the sentence. Amber’s quarterstaff striking him in the back so hard that he cried out in pain, dropping his own sword at his feet. Amber followed the first blow with one into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He staggered back to his feet, but was no match for the skill of Amber, who had no concerns about causing damage. She promptly knocked him down again.
“How dare you come here and threaten my friend!” she roared at him.
The other two men who had been with this one earlier suddenly appeared, as if they had been waiting down the path.
“Now, now, miss… no need to beat Ban to a pulp… please put that down…” Each man was carrying a crossbow, loaded and ready. Amber jumped behind a tree, and then another. She then jumped out like lightning and smashed the first crossbow with the quarterstaff, a bit of raw bad luck then happened, because the force broke the crossbow, but the end of the quarterstaff got caught in the strings and got stuck. She abandoned the staff and sent a fierce blow into the groin of this second man, dropping him to his knees immediately. Amber had to freeze and stop as the third one turned the crossbow on her. During this time, Alice had retrieved her own sword, and she got ready to help Amber, but froze too when the ruffian called out, “I’d hate to put this crossbow bolt in your head… this fight is over! You! Do you want to see a bolt go through your friend’s head?” He motioned for Amber to stand next to Alice.
The burning look in Amber’s eyes told the whole story. She was mad as hell, yet couldn’t do a thing.
The first man slowly got up.
Alice suddenly felt a strange force, like a door opening and the wind blowing in, as if it was blowing out of the tree next to them. “I feel something really strange,” she whispered to Amber, afraid something even worse was about to happen.
Amber glanced at her, but didn’t have time to respond. “Get ready to run… you have your sword and I don’t need one!” she whispered back.
“By the Dark One I thought this would be easier… two young women here alone, the first nearly skewers me with the sword and the second takes me down with the quarterstaff and proceeds to disarm one of you too. Let’s have a better look at these young women, the blond one first…”