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Dun Lady's Jess
Out of the parking lot and into...what?
"That one, I think," Ernie said, pointing the gun at Jess. "Everyone seems to be so concerned about her. And she's such a pretty thing. Be a shame to see her hobbling around on one leg that doesn't work anymore, don't you think?"
Jess made a sound in her throat that both Jaime and Carey recongnized as the threat it was; Carey stepped in front of her. It was meant to restrain and not protect her, but Ernie's false affability vanished. The gun bucked slightly, and Eric yelped as the glass door of the truck cap shattered, spraying him with shards.
"Even if the police aren't coming, I don't want to wait around here all night," Ernie said in annoyance. "I want the woman to move back into the parking lot, and I want you to get that gold." His voice rose to an abrupt shout that startled them all. "Now!"
Jaime wasn't sure just what happened next, as Dayna took a first hesitant step toward the parking lot. Suddenly they were all moving, and Jess flashed past her, but she jerked up short as someone swung her around, trading places--the gun popped, there was a cry of pain--and then Jaime was caught in a crushing grip, unable even to call out to the freeze frame of her friends around her. She was yanked and twisted and wrung out like dirty laundry, then dumped, gasping, onto ground that in no way resembled the parking lot of the YMCA.
©1994 Doranna Durgin
Download Chapter One of Dun Lady's Jess
 
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Changespell
Under attack. . .
"Ander," Jess said uncertainly, eyeing the
fallow field ahead of them. The ground seemed to be writhing; another moment
revealed the sky was doing the same.
Ander followed her gaze, frowning, not seeing it.
"Magic," Jess said. Something was pulling itself out
of thin air before them, something large.... Something Jess felt was hardly
likely to be friendly. "Maybe we should go back."
"It might not have anything to do with us," Ander said.
Jess gave him a look, and he shook his head. "No, I don't believe it either.
I just don't know if I want to turn my back on it...we're not all that close.
Let's just--whups!"
Jess's ears popped as the spell before them abruptly
solidified, and then it was all she could do to stay on her panicking mare.
As the horse whirled and fought Jess's attempt to calm her, Jess got only
a glimpse of what had happened on--and to--the field; her nose told her a
better story. Sharp acrid smoke hit her lungs; her eyes watered, barely seeing
the bright glare of flames on the quickly ignited dry and fallow field.
"Jess!" Ander's voice, breaking through the chaos of
movement from the mare--whirl and rear, plunge and rear again. "Jess," he
bellowed, "Let her go! It's moving!"
They shot forward with the drive of the mare's bottled
rage and fear, and Jess instantly realized she was only along for the ride.
The horse plunged through a field of stunted crops, galloping at top speed
and leaving Jess nothing to do but ride it out, the horse's mane whipping
back on her hands and creating a tangle of fingers, mane, and rein. A quick
glimpse showed her a magic that was as much creature as it was fire, and
it was flowing after them with sinuous serpentine grace, leaving spatters
of fireballs behind as it picked up unearthly speed.
Speed no horse could ever hope to match...
©1997 Doranna Durgin
Download Chapter One of Changespell
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Caught in a maze of magics. . .
"There he is," Ehren said, his voice low. "There, just underneath that overhang ahead." A man crouched at the edge of the protective rock overhang, squinting up at the steep, rocky mountainside.
"What--" Laine started, his voice at almost full strength. He cut himself short and said, more quietly, "What in the Guides' eyes is he doing?"
"Casting a spell, unless I'm mistaken," Ehren said, frustrated by the distance between them. He had no doubt it was another one of the pre-set hostile spells. Clothing, hairstyle, weaponry, the telling little details that might indicate who the wizard worked for...all nothing more than one man-shaped figure.
A figure who abruptly looked their way, starting in alarm.
"It was bound to happen," Ehren said, and closed his legs around Ricasso. The horse surged forward, his big hooves scrabbling on the uneven footing.
The man didn't hesitate an instant. He whirled back to his spell casting, waved a complicated gesture, and ran back under the overhang. As Ehren closed on the spot, he saw he flick of a tail beyond it. The man was mounted, then--but Ehren was willing to bet he had the better horse, and he urged Ricasso forward.
But Ricasso, who took great heart from such a chase, was suddenly slowing, his steps turning high and prancey. And there was a rumble in the air, something that reverberated deep inside Ehren's lungs and made him want to cough...what the hells?
A stone pinged off his thigh and another off Ricasso's neck, and above the growing noise he heard Laine's shout of warning--"Run, Ehren!"--and something jumbled that, as a larger rock bounced off his shoulder, drawing blood, Ehren suddenly realized was, He spelled an avalanche!
An avalanche, and Ehren was directly in its path.
©1998 Doranna Durgin
Download Chapter One of Barrenlands
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Tuesday August 26 2008
Tuesday August 26 2008
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