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 a WIP, NaNoWriMo 2015, Forest Wed. (I’m skipping ahead.) Addan and Kaie (who was engaged), are married as symbols of their gods, and 2 weeks into their marriage, the gods’ blessing and the town are suffering, so they are sent on a hunting trip with two experienced hunters (Rui and Corliss). Kaie and Adann set traps and returned to camp, where Adann stared at Corliss for so long that she and Kaie were sent fishing. Last line, Corliss: “Do not get hurt or killed, understand?”
“Yeah,” Adann smiled at Corliss, but this wasn’t one of her usual warm smiles, or impish grins–this maniacal grimace showed too much tooth, and was distinctly crooked.
Corliss winced, and turned away, muttering under her breath.
“Come on, Kaie, let’s go fishing,” Adann dropped the frightening smile, and it should have left some sort of trace in her eyes, but it didn’t, the unnerving expression wiped away like it had never been there.
He didn’t see a reason to hang around the hunters who seemed determined to ignore or insult them, Adann’s strange behavior or not, so he followed her. She investigated the nearby tree branches, cut off two, and sharpened the points into fishing spears, humming softly as she whittled away with her knife.
Taking the finished spear she offered, Kaie moved to a likely looking spot on the bank, and Adann moved downstream, wading into the water. Kaie kept to dry ground, and the firmer stance it offered.
He speared one small fish, and sometime later, speared a second one, without Adann having even cast her spear once. The water raced by, and he studied the silvery flashes of the fish swimming in the current, searching for one that was close enough, waiting for the right moment.
A loud splash from downstream startled him so badly he almost dropped his spear.
* * *
Beikife is a small town in something like the Amazon rain forest, protected by a pair of married gods. The gods are represented by human avatars, two young people chosen and married by divine power. The strength of the marriage represents the bond between the gods’ blessing, so the new forest wed must find a way to connect to each other, or the crops will fail, the rivers will flood, and the cursed monsters that live in the forest will claim many lives.
I would’ve guessed she fell in, except she is, or should be, too experienced. Unless, of course, there’s some other reason for her strange behavior.
You’ll see. I could almost fit it in the snippet, but not quite. 🙂
Such a serene setting with the water and the silvery fish, it is setting it up for something major to happen… and then we have the splash.
Can’t stay serene for too long, after all!
Awesome hook, Caitlin.
Now, we just HAVE to know what has happened.
Something to do with the river. 😉
Oh, did she find a big one? Is that what she was waiting for? Great snippet! I want to know what happens next! 🙂
You make some good guesses. 😉
Uh-oh, something’s clearly not right with Adann. But I love that Kaie has made note of her various smiles.
She smiles at him a lot, but not in the creepy way she just smiled at Corliss. Adann’s a little passive-aggressive when she’s trying to get on someone’s nerves.
Something not good is going on, but conversely that’s good for the story 🙂 Of course now all kinds of questions are raised and we really want to know what happens next!
Marcia
It’s not necessarily a disaster… yet. 😀
Uh oh! You’re really leaving us hanging here, Caitlin!
Great continuation of this story! Can hardly wait to read it in its entirety!
I really did try to squeeze one more line in there, but you can only do so much with punctuation!
Some interesting, discordant notes there, like the smile. Makes me wonder what’s going on beneath the surface, as it were. Really well done snippet.
There’s more to Adann than meets the eyes–like a lot of experience dealing with bullying. Not in a mature way, mind you, but, hey. It worked!
Uh-oh, either she’s fallen in or speared something huge!
Those are good possibilities. 🙂
Sounds like Adann is taking to hunting with relish. Love that she’s not all sweetness and light.
I’d say nearly everyone in the town can hunt–the enthusiasm Adann shows it a little unusual, though.
What’s downstream? Great snippet.
More river? And monsters. Lots of monsters.
Gak! What made the loud splash?! Nice work. 🙂
You’ll see.
Splash?! Serene, quiet fishing scene and then…Wow, great hook!
Glad you liked it!
Everything is so quiet and serene I keep expecting something to happen.
Well, eventually something will. But some moments do get to be serene.
I love how you brought this scene to life. I’m wondering if the loud splash were from a human, animal, or something else.
Thanks!
Okay, I’m ready for the next part. Write on.
Will do. 🙂
Nice, serene scene… Wonder what interrupted it? 😉
Some unexpected swimming. 🙂
I wonder what’s up with Adann and what was that splash about. It doesn’t seem like the usual fishing party.
Nothing is usual in books, right? There has to be drama.
Is Adann paying too much attention to the wrong partner? Intriguing snippet. I want to know more.
Right this moment, Adann is paying attention to the fish.