Weekend Writing Warriors: Snippet 53- Braeden

weekend writing warriorsIt’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.

Barreling forward through Rise of the Storm here. By the time Braeden and Teodora have reached her capital, it’s besieged by a force that’s too big to take on with the numbers they have. Teodora lobbies a fellow ruler for help, but while she waits, she has a job for Braeden.  She wants to send him to the besiegers home territory so he can destroy his supporter’s estates. Not Braeden’s favorite kind of work.

“I’m not asking you to kill peasants and townspeople, although if they get in your way, no one will fault you,” Teodora said.

“Most will die if their homes and crops are destroyed,” Braeden ventured.

“Not my concern.” She shrugged. “The aristocracy is responsible for its actions and the people on their lands should hold them accountable.” She sat up and looked straight at him. “You don’t believe me, but I’m well acquainted with your type, Terris. Once, I was like you, and had definite ideas about how good soldiers behave. I don’t have the luxury of those ideas anymore.”

I think there’s a slight possibility that Teodora is in fact a human being, but don’t hold your breath.

Previous snippets are here.

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This is another group effort, but this time, all of the books are Sci-Fi or Fantasy. Forty-one books, Rise of the Storm included, are 99 cents over the weekend.  There are also four box sets for only 99 cents. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll be buying a few books I don’t have time to read!

Click on the image below to check out the deals!

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22 Comments on “Weekend Writing Warriors: Snippet 53- Braeden

  1. Nice micro-tension in this passage. You’ve done a great job of showing the conflicting belief sets of these two people, and how Teodora tries to use her own scruples, if such they really were, to convince him to abandon his. I hope he sticks to his guns, so to speak, but truly, a soldier can’t afford fine feelings.

    • Thanks, Ed! Teodora really did have scruples at one time, but she also believes she just can’t afford them anymore. Braeden more or less believes the same thing, but tries to hold on to at least some basic decency.

    • Thank you! I have a big ol’ soft spot for Teodora. She honestly believes she’s acting for the greater good, even though she can be short-sighted and power-hungry as well.

  2. Well, sounds like Teodora has had quite a ride in her time as ruler, to no longer afford luxuries like worrying about who gets killed. Will Braeden be able to rub off on her? Or will he have to become more like her to get through this? Nice job showing layers of character here. Great snippet!

  3. What the heck are peasants supposed to do about their lord’s decisions? I think she’s just focused on where she can do the most damage–and doesn’t care about the little people who get stuck between warring nobles.

  4. The very best characters, to my mind, are those who truly believe in what they’re doing, even if it’s wrong, and even if they know it is.

    I love that Teodora has viable reasons for her position, as unsavory and downright dangerous for some innocent folks as it may be…

    And that Braeden stands for the powerless, even while he understands her position and its necessity.

    Nit an easy position for either of them to be in….

    • It seems to me that a lot of people who do bad things either don’t really think they are, or can find all kinds of reasonable-sounding justification for it. And even though Braeden deplores her methods, he does understand that she might need extreme measures to get out of her difficult situation.

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