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Shield of Namarr is a sword-and-sorcerer type fantasy WIP, set in a kingdom that suffers from magically-created, vicious creatures. Three friends bought a finding-things-lost potion, and set out to track down a stolen magical stone–they have found a river they must ride across, one at a time, with a rope around their waist in case of daggerfish attack, and Auber is the last to cross.
UPDATE: Miscounted and published on the wrong day, fixed now, sorry!
Auber urged the big gelding into the river, Nemesis snorting and tossing his head before charging into the water with enthusiasm, making the river churn and froth as he plunged across it.
“It’s not a race!” Shan yelled, watching the fighter’s rapid and noisy progress with concern.
“What?” Auber yelled, leaning forward as the gelding surged into the deepest part of the river.
“Not a race!” Shan repeated, louder.
“Don’t be jealous of my—” Auber wobbled as something smacked into Nemesis, sending the big animal stumbling.
* * *
NOTE: I’m having a hard time deciding on horse names, but the “the horse”s were driving me crazy, so they’re currently going to be called Nemesis, Blaze, and Sandy.
Originally, Shield of Namarr was intended to be a very short snippet, but some things I wrote at the end raised some questions–which led to more story. I’m currently working on some world-building and character development so I can figure out where the story goes next.
Shan, Auber, and Reagan visit a Stonespeller, a mage who works mostly in animated stone, to buy a potion that will help them recover a lost stone, the Shield of Namarr, which powers a shield that keeps magically-created, dangerous creatures from entering the city they live in. Failure to return the Shield quickly will have deadly consequences for their friend, Jamie, whose life-force is currently powering the shield-spell.
caitlinsternwrites 
Karma is a beautiful thing to behold, especially when she tosses a banana peel at someone else’s ego. 🙂
I know it’s a dangerous moment, too, but still funny!
Some things, you just don’t say. Tempting fate is never wise. 😉
Wow, loved the immediacy you have here. The tension is great.
Auber’s practical, but never backs down from a fight–even if it’s with a fish.
Whatever hit Nemesis at the end was quite sudden – I didn’t expect it, which is good. I like the names you’ve picked for the horses. I say keep ’em.
Some people were expecting something to happen, judging from previous comments!
I did put some thought into the names–I’m happy with them for now, especially Nemesis. But the stable horse’s names might change.
Well I guess if you have to change the names then that’s what you need to do.
Nemesis is a neat horse name. I hope they’re able to get away from whatever or whomever hit him.
Nemesis has been trained to handle himself, so he has good odds. 🙂
He got his. I love the details, especially from the first paragraph. Well done!
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com
Yes, when will Auber learn? Cross river, then taunt your friend, don’t taunt your friend while still crossing the river!
I just knew something was going to happen to the rider and his horse, I wonder if the horse’s churning of the water attracted some underwater creature and if so how bad this is going to get.
I love the horses’ names.
This is actually what Auber figured, and why the argument didn’t go on longer. The noise from all the horses, one after the other, meant the longer a predator had to be attracted.
Ha, gotta love that stumble!
Yep, poor Nemesis! His rider jinxed them!
Oh-oh! I hope Nemesis will be fine;).
Great tension that left me desperate to find out what happens next. Well done.
Is the deep spot swimming depth?
Yep. I took out a sentence that says the gelding is swimming–a few steps after the shorter mares started to do so–to make the count. I probably should have squeezed a phrase in there, though…
I love the name Nemesis! And uh-oh…spaghetti-o. Someone is in trouble…loved the snippet again this week : )
I figured a fighter’s horse needed a tough name. Yep, things are not going so well right now.
Gah! Please don’t let it be a giant daggerfish! I’m terrified of those things based on the name alone. Speaking of names, I think the horse names you have are fantastic! 🙂
Oh, daggerfish aren’t that bad. They’re just magically created chimera, let loose to spawn in the rivers. 😉
Everyone seems to like them so far, so they’ll probably stay. I found a racehorse named Vindication, and thought ‘that’s a great name. I need something like that for my warhorse!’
Great snippet! Vivid details, tight action and a cliff-hanger, all rolled into eight. Nice work. PS I really like the name Nemesis. I almost named my cat that.
That’s a great cat name–unless it encourages bad behavior, which the fuzzy, adorable menaces do not need!