Works in Progress: Forged in Fire and Table of Stone

It’s been both a busy week and not nearly a busy enough week, if that makes any sense. I did a lot of things, and not nearly enough of them were writing. Although I did have the interesting experience of writing while in a salt room — no electronics allowed, so my notebook and pen were both covered with a fine coating of salt by the end of the forty-five minutes.

Table of Stone
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 4

Forged in Fire
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 2

In Table of Stone, I’ve hit THE BIG REVEAL that I’ve been building toward through other three books, and I really hope it’s as big a reveal as I think it is. I don’t think I’ve telegraphed it too much, but there are some scenes in book one that I’m hoping will have readers of book four going “Is THAT what that meant???”

Playing the long game, that’s me.

And in Heir to the Firstborn news, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Written in Water released this past Tuesday, to some reasonably good sales and very nice reviews. (And if you didn’t notice, that means that I failed my social media game miserably!) Forged in Fire is coming along nicely — I’ve just queued up chapter nine, and we’re learning that there’s more to Owyn than even he expected. But if you want those details, you have to join me on Patreon, or wait until July or August. But honestly, now that you’ve started reading book one, do you really want to wait that long? Instant gratification can be yours…

Here, have a hint of what’s coming:

Owyn crouched over Freckle’s neck, feeling the horse’s mane whipping at his face. He could hear Cloud, see Aven just behind him and to the right. And behind them, the guards were following, close enough that Owyn could see them clearly, even though the moon was still behind the mountains, but not close enough to catch their quarry. Which didn’t make sense — didn’t the guards want to catch them?

Unless…

“Aven, they’re herding us!” he shouted over his shoulder. “We’re heading into a trap!”

He heard Aven swear, and fought the urge to giggle — had Aven even known those words before, or was Owyn a bad influence?

“The trap is south,” Aven shouted back. “Possibly east, too. We can’t go west. How many are behind us?”
Owyn glanced back, counting fast. “Six,” he called. “I think six. They’re spread out.”

Aven responded by slowing Cloud to a walk. Owyn reined in Freckles, stopping as Aven did, watching as Aven turned to count, then looked at the sky. Suddenly, Owyn knew what Aven was going to propose. What they were going to do.

“You’re going to get us both killed,” he warned.

“This isn’t your place to die,” Aven reminded him without looking at him. “They’ve stopped. Probably wondering what we’re up to.”

“Oh, you mean like I’m wondering what we’re up to? Aven, this is insane!” Owyn protested. “And… and I don’t have any other ideas.”

This time, Aven grinned. “Here’s to insanity,” he said. “There’s nothing like an insane idea. No one ever expects them.” Without another word, he turned Cloud toward the north and charged at their pursuers.