Continuing the opening chapter from The Ashes of Home, the air in Shayla’s room has been drugged but she held her breath at the first taste. Two attackers disguised as servants are in the room with her. She let herself collapse towards the bed, feigning the effects of the drug, then launched herself forwards...
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As she rolled, she glimpsed upside down a face in the shadows of a hood. It looked like Barras, but Shayla noted nose plugs, a tiny breathing unit clamped between thin stretched lips, and eyes filled with hate.
A razor line of blue fire bisected the space she’d just vacated. Holy Space, a rapier shimmerblade!
Groping fingers found the hidden button as she completed the roll. The bed collapsed behind Shayla, halved effortlessly by the shimmerblade. Tall windows ahead of her flew open and she continued her motion, hurdling the waist-high sill out into a seventy foot drop.
Gravity took Shayla as she forced the dregs of tainted air from her mouth and drew in a deep, clean draught from the night rushing past her face.
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16 comments:
Oh gosh! She escaped the room, but what's she going to do about the fall? Looking forward to next week! :)
I found myself holding my breath through this whole bit. Good job!
This whole sequence has been highly dramatic and exciting! And we're not done yet as she falls....
Jessica, find out next time - the button does more than open windows...
Christina, at least she can breathe again :)
Veronica, no, we're far from done!
Excellent cliff hanger, Ian. This would make an excellent movie 😃 I can 'see' the action in this scene.
Way to leave us hanging . . . or rather falling, Ian! Great visual scene.
You write action scenes really well. You've got me hooked.
It sounds like she's well prepared for an attack. I'm guessing she isn't going to fall those 70'. I'll bet she has a plan. Excellent action sequence.
Kim, I usually picture scenes like this as if in a movie :)
Nancy, the 8 to 10 sentence rule just happened to leave you hanging at this point :)
Cara, thanks!
Diane, you bet she has a plan!
Well, that was clever of her. You have me on the edge of my seat, wondering what comes next!
I like this much of the story, which is my first taste since I just found WWW today. I am also an IT worker during the day, finding time to write as I can. Good luck as you continue to build out this work.
Caitlin, yes, she's not out of trouble yet.
Dobson, welcome to WWW!
Hi Ian - well she got away and that's good to know .. yet as you say above .. she's not out of the woods just yet. Cheers Hilary
Hilary, at the moment, "got away" feels a bit like from the frying pan to the fire.
Ah, got away, but to what end? Falling won't kill you, but sudden stops will! LOL! Can't wait to see what happens!
Elizabeth, I'm skipping WWW this week, but check in next weekend for more...
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