Weekend Writing Warriors: Snippet 44- Kendryk
It’s time for Weekend Writing Warriors! Every Sunday, a bunch of writers post 8-10-sentence snippets from their WIPs on their blogs. There’s a lot of reading, commenting and great writing. Click on the link to see the full list.
OMG you guys! Rise of the Storm is available for preorder and comes out on June 30. (link below). It all happened rather suddenly, but it’s nice to have the ebook version done and dusted. Now I just need to get it ready for print.
With that in mind, I thought we’d celebrate today by launching a daring rescue of everyone’s favorite heretic, ex-Father Landrus. Teodora and Braeden left in a big hurry, hoping to reach the capital before it’s besieged. As a result, prisoner security is a bit more lax than it should be, with Braeden and his fellow imperial guards miles ahead of the baggage with the empress. Kendryk sneaks through the woods with a bunch of armed, mounted men and swoops down on the baggage train while they’re making camp:.
Kendryk gave the signal. They charged into the camp, running over a fire or two and upsetting a tent. People fled into the woods screaming, and a few soldiers ran for weapons.
Kendryk let the men behind him worry about the soldiers; he focused on the guards. By now a few more had run back toward the wagon. He drew a pistol and fired at the guard who stepped out to block his path.
His shot missed, and the guard jumped out of the way before Kendryk ran him down. Another stood right in front of Kendryk, holding a musket. He raised it, but it misfired. Now Kendryk was too close for any more shooting and drew his sword.
Previous snippets are here
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I like action scenes. Looks like Kendryk literally has his hands full here. Writing great action takes talent, for sure. I could see the scene happening in my mind.
Thanks! I’m always a little nervous about writing action- so many moving parts!
The important thing is that the horses don’t get hurt. 🙂
That’s my biggest concern, too. It’s unavoidable, unfortunately (though all horses survive this scene), so I make sure they at least don’t suffer.
Close combat! So much more intense than a gun fight!
That’s part of the fun of early modern fighting. They have guns, but they’re inaccurate and unreliable which keeps things interesting.
Woohoo! And we have action!
Congrats on the ebook, Christina! That is fantastic. Maybe you’d consider posting a link to the preorder after your snippet?
Thank you! Link is at the bottom.
Awesome action Christina! Congrats on the e.book do post a link please, I would love to get a copy.
Thanks, Kim! There’s a link at the bottom of the post. 🙂
Congratulations on your new release!
Fighting at close quarters!
Thank you!
I hope Kendryk can defeat these men. Love the action in this snippet!
Thank you!
Super Kendryk to the rescue. Terrific realistic action scene.
He finally realizes what he can do. Thank you!
Congratulations on your release! So happy for you! And this is a great snippet, leaving on a note of dire action that makes me want more! 😀
Thank you!
They were definitely caught unawares! Now’s the time for a daring rescue if there ever was one.
Yup, this is their last chance.
It’s great to see Kendryk in action instead of pondering. Really well-done action scene. I love that everyone misses. Now, off to pre-order! Maybe you should post a link. (Just kidding ;))
Yes, I do enjoy it when he stops dithering from time to time. Thanks so much!
Wow, what an action-packed scene! Great writing! And congrats on your release excitement!! 🙂
Congratulations on getting the pre-order up. That’s fabulous news:).
Great action scene. Fingers crossed Kendryk makes it through and the good father falls in line. You never know with him;). Great 8!
Thank you! I think at this point, Kendryk will drag the good father off kicking and screaming if he had to. It helps he’s already cuffed.
Hooray for pre-orders!!
Misfires are awesome . . . when they happen to the other side! Let’s hope the good Father agrees with the idea of being liberated! 😀
Misfires happen to the just and the unjust alike. Isn’t that in the Bible?
I hate when the hero shoots and makes every shot. Your scene seems much more realistic and keeps the reader more engaged.
Thanks! I agree. Besides, my protagonist is more lover/scholar/politician than fighter, so he’s a little out of his element here.
Nice to see you didn’t try to make the muskets more effective than they were in history, Christina. Too many people think gun = instant kill. But really, the original muskets were more like “here, let me walk afew hundred feet that way and see if I can get in the way of the lead ball”.
The unreliability is part of what makes writing the combat scenes fun. Some early modern battles had surprisingly low casualties because no one could hit anyone else. A lot of cavalry went back to saber as primary weapon. Some of that changed with Swedish advances in tactics and they figured out if you could get a lot of guys to fire at once, and have them disciplined enough to do it quickly, rank after rank, you could do some serious damage. But that comes much later in the series.
So intense! Go Kendryk. You do a great job of describing that fight seen, I can totally visualize him pulling the sword. Great writing! 🙂
Thank you!