Continuing a scene from my current WIP, The Ashes of Home, Shayla has tracked a mysterious madman, Randall, to a makeshift bar in a forestry work camp. The patrons have been plying him with drink, and he rewards them with an insane rant about fire falling from the sky. Skipping ahead a few paragraphs from last week’s snippet, the ‘audience’ has been goading Randall on with questions about his visions. Shayla pitches in with a question of her own...
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“What color is the fire?” Shayla called.
She ignored the puzzled stares nearby.
Sightless eyes turned towards her, then lifted to the ceiling. Randall raised his arms, hands outstretched like a priest before the altar of Unity. His voice was hushed. “It is the purest, cleanest, palest lilac. Too bright. Too bright. No mortal eyes should look upon that light.”
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Hmmm...what will Shayla make of his answer? See her reaction next week.
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24 comments:
Cool. She clearly knew exactly what question to ask, and I'm sure his one-word answer will provide useful information.
Hi Ian - Randall knew the answer for the hottest part of fire ... interesting - cheers Hilary
Interesting! She obviously knows what to ask to get the answers she wants. I hope she is able to get them all from this man.
These excerpts are building my interest.
That's a very specific answer. I have a feeling Shayla asked that question for a good reason.
Ooh, smart question. I like the way she thinks - great snippet.
Something makes me think mortal eyes will look at that fire regardless. ;)
You'll see her reaction next week, it makes perfect sense to her.
And what does that tell us? :)
She's following a hunch, but didn't expect to hear it confirmed.
Steven, you might want to check out Ghosts of Innocence, which sets the stage for this story.
She did indeed, and she'd already noticed how specific he was being in his descriptions.
She's a smart cookie :)
But it's rare to live to tell the tale afterwards :)
That is an interesting fire color. I wonder if it has significance for her...
I love the way he talks. You can't help but be pulled in by the dialogue. Wonderful job! :)
Oh yes indeed! Very painful significance.
Thanks Evelyn. He is fun to write :)
"...altar of Unity" Nice bit of world-building there. Ian. :-)
I will be back next week to see if Shayla knows the significance of the lilac color. She does, of course..she was fishing with that question, right? ;-)
You might remember Ghosts had these little religious themes running through it too. And, yes, she was fishing though not quite believing what she suspected...
So, Ian, I suspect our local madman was quite sane before he saw the light ;-)
I would be quite nervous about now if I were her.
I guess that's one way of putting it, Kim :)
When she realizes what he means it's not so much nervous as shocked...
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