Weekend Writing Warriors: 11/22

~~~****~~Good luck NaNoWriMos! May your writing be swift and your goal met!~~****~~~

It’s my birthday today, so I may be slow to respond, but I’ll get there. 🙂

This 8-10 sentence blog hop is hosted by The Weekend Writing Warriors. (Click the link for the list of participants, or rules if you want to join!)

This is from a WIP, with the placeholder name of “Bluebeard,” very loosely based on that fairy tale. Every year on the Winter Solstice, a sorcerer takes a sixteen-year-old girl as his bride, divorcing her and exiling her before he takes a new bride the next year.

Summary: The sorcerer Aamir “Mire” has married the narrator, Gwyn, spelled them into his tower, and she’s not adjusting so well to being cooped up, so they sparred with wooden swords, and Gwyn got a lucky shot to his stomach.

“Let me see! I meant to hit you, but not like that, so let me see!” He tried to ward off my concern, one hand blocking my reaching out, but I was determined.

He coughed again, hand wavering, and I tugged up the side of his shirt, where an ugly red splotch already darkened in the center to purple-black.

“I’m so sorry! Do you have any salve, or . . .” I tested the top edge of the spreading redness, wondering if I could have damaged his ribs as well.

“What are you doing now, idiot girl?” He flattened his hand over mine, trapping me against the warmth of his skin.

*    *    *

This story is very loosely based on Bluebeard. The sorcerer is cursed, and the brides are caught up in the curse, though the nearby villagers don’t know how or why. He keeps the kingdom safe with his magic, and his brides tie him to a land he couldn’t otherwise protect. There are other ways to do this tying–but his curse demands a bride.