Continuing the opening chapter from The Ashes of Home, Shayla escaped two assailants in her room, disguised as servants, by leaping out of her window into the grip of an artificial gravity field. They are held by the field, upside down on the overhanging eaves 70’ above the ground. One assassin remains, holding a thermal grenade with a dead switch.
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Shayla glanced up once more and caught the eye of Bard Jovin, who gave a brief nod.
Returning her attention to ‘Gingallia’, Shayla said, “It seems you have the advantage.”
Her voice was calm, conversational, but as she spoke she leaped for the balcony, rolling to compensate for the sudden reversal of gravity. From the corner of her eye she saw the assassin’s feet leave the eaves.
Bard, quick on the uptake, had killed the grav field the moment Shayla jumped. As she landed, Shayla grabbed the nearest guards and shoved them towards the open doors leading into her quarters.
“Inside!” the captain roared, dragging more guards towards safety.
Behind Shayla the night blazed. Stone slabs under her feet bucked and sagged. She scrambled for a grip on subsiding masonry.
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We’re leaving this chapter at this point and I’m taking a break from WWW for a while. I’ll be back later in the year with more action from Shayla!
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16 comments:
A compelling action scene.
Yikes! Talk about great timing. I enjoyed the snippet and look forward to more when you return to WeWriWa. All the best!
Thanks Stephen.
Jessica, timing is kinda key here :)
Great action, Ian -- exciting and easy to follow.
No more??? What a cliffhanger.
Hi Ian - you've certainly given Shayla a great deal to cope with and now crumbling masonry - not good if one's feet aren't steady ... I can see why you say timing is the key ...
Cheers Hilary
Hi, Ian.
Excellent flow of movement in this scene. I can see it clearly. Good job.
Don't stay away too long.
Interesting twist! Come back soon. :-)
Dramatic time and place to leave us but your heroine is so smooth and smart, I'm sure everything will be fine. Right? All the best wishes!
Ed, glad you think so.
Cara, a literal cliffhanger in this case :)
Hilary, I always give poor Shayla a lot to cope with!
Kim, Christina, I'll be back, just need to spend time on other things for a while.
Veronica, I stopped here, but she's pretty much out of the woods ... for now.
Great action and suspense. Hope to see you back here in the near future. Best wishes.
Pretty fast on her feet! But was she fast enough? Lots of action, gripping snippet!
See you when we see you. :)
Hi Ian. You know what they say--make your characters suffer. You're doing great~
Yay for back up! Hope she can settle this.
But she always has the best action scenes. =) Very much enjoyed this.
Diane, I'll be back :)
Caitlin, This is chapter 1, scene 1. She's got to be fast enough to get on with the story ;)
Denise, I do my best to make Shayla's life at least moderately awkward!
Kimberly, you can rest easy, it's settled ... for now.
Crystal, thanks. She does seem to court trouble, doesn't she?
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