A Goddess Awakens, Chapter 14

July 13, 2014 by jowensauthor 7 Comments

Well, I spent a few hours this afternoon writing, and about 1200 words later, I finally finished the chapter I’ve been working on.  I’ll share a sample here for you all. If you’d like to read it all, it’s available on my AuthorsDen page here, as it’s available for leaving feedback on. Previous chapters can also be found there.

 

excerpt of Chapter 14:

 

 

Anju lay curled up beside the door of the small cabin, his gaze roving around the room as he tried to fall asleep. The room was sparse of furniture, with only a small table at the far end of the room, and a couple of cots, one on either side of the room. There was no window, and the only source of light was an old, shielded lantern hanging down from the middle of the ceiling on a rusting chain. On the table lay Althea’s and Loren’s weapons, and the book Wren had risked her life to bring them. Anju remembered that after they had boarded the ship that morning and had gotten settled in their rooms, Loren had tried a few times to see if he could read any part of the book, but with no luck. He’d tossed the book roughly onto the table while muttering that he just could not recognize enough words to make any sense of it.

Anju also recalled how they had spent the first part of the day wandering around the ship, learning their way around, watching the sailors at work, and enjoying the scenery. But as the day wore on, they had found that there was really nothing for them to do, so they had retired to their rooms after supping with the captain at his invitation. Anju’s tail wagged slightly as he remembered how delicious the scraps of meat Loren had slipped him at the dinner table had been.

When Althea and Loren had returned to their cabin after dinner, Althea had lain down on her cot and drifted off to sleep while Loren had taken another try at reading the book for a little while before giving up and going to sleep himself. Anju had then curled up by the door to keep guard and watch over them.

Slowly, the wolf’s eyes closed.

A small sound from Althea’s direction made Anju’s ears twitch, and he opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to look. He saw Althea moaning softly and tossing lightly in her sleep.

Anju heaved a small sigh and was about to close his eyes again when Althea suddenly sat up. His ears pricked and he watched intently as she got up from her cot and walked over to the little table. To the wolf, her movements seemed just a little stiff, as if they were not quite natural, and though her eyes were open she did not appear to be fully awake, like she was not aware of what she was doing. Anju’s pale blue eyes narrowed and he watched her movements closely.

Althea looked over the items on the table, frowned at the book, then picked up one of Loren’s narrow-bladed knives and unsheathed it. Then she went over to Loren’s cot and stood beside it. She stared at Loren’s prone body for a moment, then slowly lifted the knife over his chest.

Anju leapt to his feet and growled.

Loren’s eyes snapped open at the sound, and he grabbed Althea’s wrist and twisted before he fully realized what was happening. The knife fell from Althea’s hand and to the side of the cot.

Althea gasped from the pain of the elf’s rough grip on her wrist. Then she blinked and looked down at her friend.“Loren?” she asked, confusion coloring her voice. “What’s going on? What am I doing over here?” Her gaze drifted to the knife on the cot, not far from her hand, and her eyes widened and the color left her face as she understood.