Slave Elf Part 32: Flash Fiction Friday Post

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alnwick_castle_by_americamarten-dbomzh2 via DeviantArt.com. https://www.deviantart.com/art/Alnwick-Castle-706511126

Find Part 1 here.

Part 32

She woke at a noise. It surprised her how quiet it was in this dungeon. No outside sound at all, until now. A scrape out in the hallway. Delia sat up and waited. The sound of a key in the lock made scraping noises then the door opened. A black elf with a torch, she still didn’t understand why when they had magical lights, stepped into the room followed by another and a third remained in the hall.

“Come,” the one without the torch said. It was the same unpleasant tone as they’d used the night before. Was it night? Had she slept away the entire day? She rose and stepped to the door. She wished she’d had time to at least splash her face. It felt sticky from her dried tears. No matter, no one was going to look good after spending the day in a dark hole.

Again she was led to the dining room. Again, Nethene, Ceinno and Iyuno were already seated, each enjoying fine glasses of red wine while they waited. Iyuno waved her to a chair. Just as Delia was seated, Kaya was brought in. Delia grinned with pleasure. Kaya didn’t seem to be any worse for wear and better, they sat her beside Delia again. The two clasped hands and nodded.

Delia was seated next to Ceinno again. The evil radiating off of him was palpable. It made her stomach turn.

“I’m glad to see you both well,” Iyuno began. He nodded at one of the black elves. He stepped forward and poured each of the newcomers a glass of wine.

Delia reached out and picked up her water glass, draining it before putting it back. Iyuno raised an eyebrow but nodded to the elf, who refilled the water.

“Your antics this morning could be heard all over the castle.” Iyuno raised his wine glass to them. “Too bad it didn’t work.”

Delia had a moment where she wanted to retort that it had been working but Kaya grasped her hand in warning. Delia drew a deep breath and gave her friend a brief nod. “Why are we here? Are we hostages?”

Ceinno chuckled which made the hair on Delia’s arm rise.

“No. Not exactly,” Iyuno said. His voice drawled in laziness.

Delia didn’t like the way he drew it out. “Then what? It’s certainly not for our sparkling conversation.”

It was Iyuno’s turn to chuckle. “Your time with the humans has made you sarcastic. Very charming.” He traded glances with Nethene.

Nethene nodded. “We are studying you. The only raven-haired elf! We want to see what you can do. I’ll have to say the day was a bit of a disappointment.”

Delia dug her nails into her palm to resist a retort. Beside her, Kaya drank her water with a nonchalance Delia envied. She picked up her wine and sipped, hoping she looked as uncaring as Kaya. “So sorry to underwhelm.” She looked around the dining room with her magical sight. All of the doors had a fine mesh of magic over them. The black elves had dark brown auras. Iyuno, Nethene, and Ceinno’s were all black. Apparently in his own company, Nethene didn’t bother to project the false aura. The wine and water didn’t have any magical properties. That didn’t mean they weren’t poisoned. Delia made a mental note to see if there was a way to see poison. If she got out of here alive, anyway. “What are you looking for?”

Nethene shrugged. “Something worthy of a prophesy.”

“What do you think of my protection spell?” Iyuno leaned forward, eyes on Delia.

“It’s very strong,” Delia offered. “But I’m new at magic. I don’t really have a frame of reference.”

Iyuno looked to Kaya. “And you? You’re twice Delia’s age. What is your opinion?”

“My skills tend more toward the healing arts.”

Iyuno fell back into his chair. “I saw you both at the gate yesterday. Neither of you fool me. And with the door to your room this morning? I could feel the power. Who was working on the door?”

“We both were,” Kaya spoke quickly. “A combined effort.”

Nethene frowned. Delia could see he was skeptical. “I could feel a shield.”

Delia shrugged. Kaya took a sip of her wine.

Iyuno waved to a guard. The elf left the room and shortly, several elves came in bringing plates of food. Delia’s stomach growled immediately. Ceinno laughed as he placed his napkin in his lap. “The body can be such a traitor.”

Delia couldn’t help but blush. Kaya gave her hand a squeeze. They ate quickly. Delia still wanted to know what Iyuno was up to. When he finished his food and one of the elves took the plate away, Delia asked, “Where is my father?”

Iyuno looked toward her, picking up his wine. “He’s dead.”

Delia stared at him. A feeling of overwhelming grief washed through her with such speed she stopped breathing. She hadn’t known him that long. The strength of the feeling surprised her. Again, Kaya squeezed her hand. Delia nodded. It was possible that if these three were in here having dinner at their leisure, that her father was dead, and his force destroyed. Tears sprang to her eyes. “You lie.”

Iyuno shrugged. “We march on your father’s palace now.”

An instantaneous fear for her mother swept over her, replacing the grief. “Why?”

Nethene snorted again. “Iyuno is the rightful heir. The elves will proclaim it or they will die.”

“Liar,” Kaya called out. “Liar. Anyone can see by looking at the three of you that you are not fit to rule the kingdom.

Ceinno reached out a hand and made a grasping motion. Kaya’s hand flew up to her neck. She began to turn red, choking.

“Stop it!” Delia turned on Ceinno and with a push of her hand, knocked him out of his seat to go sliding across the dining room floor. The black elf guards were on her in an instant, swords out. Nethene leapt from his chair and had both hands out in front of him. Delia could see the magic, all black and ugly, swirling between his hands. Kaya collapsed into her chair, leaning over the table, coughing.

“Stop!” Iyuno held up a hand.

Nethene looked as though he’d been slapped, but he let the black magic die away. One of the guards helped Ceinno up. He dusted himself up and sauntered back to the table. “You see, cousin, uncle, how powerful she is.” He sat down and picked up his wine glass. “She has strength. She’d be a powerful ally.”

Delia’s eys went wide. “The is no way.”

Iyuno laughed. “Of course there is.”

 

Thank You! Come back next week for Part 33.

1114 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

 

NaNo, Vision Boards. Tested: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

So today is day 27 of the National Novel Writing Month. I mentioned last week that I ran into trouble with my book being too short. What I finally decided to do was add a second point of view, Jean’s ex-husband, Dwight. I did that, and the book was still 12K too short. What I have done is start a new section, still with Dwight, but adding two problems for him. One is that he’s broke paying two alimonies and second, after his second divorce, he has been drinking too much and gambling with the local Irish Mob bookie. How I’m going to meld these three separate stories is something to worry about later. The plan for now is to make poor Dwight miserable.

On my new class on Vision Boards, I’ve completed the third module. I learned about the lesson plan and how to manage my own energy as well as the participants. Once the fourth module is done, this week, I’ll be doing my own vision board, gathering supplies and prepping to do a class in January. I’m still very excited about this.

I’m just about done with the formatting of Tested now and will be publishing in December. I know, months later than I had anticipated but it will be out soon. Thank you so much for waiting so patiently. I have a few copies ready for review if you’d like. It’s always good to start a new release with some reviews already on Amazon. Let me know if you’re interested.

Giveaways:

Starting on November 28th, I’m part of the below mentioned 12 Slays of Christmas promotion. It runs through December 4th. A lot of authors are participating in this Facebook event at www.facebook.com/events/122185258461170. I’m up on Saturday December 2nd at 1pm Arizona time. I’ll have games, talk about my books and maybe even have a contest to giveaway a copy of my newest book, Tested. Like all of the other authors participating, I’d love to have you join in the fun and win prizes.

Starting on December 1st, I’m part of the Roses and Dreams Christmas 2017 Facebook event. This is a combo event. FIRST EVENT will be a featured author each day. 23 authors in total (1 each day) who will intorduce themselves and their books. Competitions and giveaways at their discretion. 45 minutes with any winners notified the next day.  I’m scheduled for Sunday December 3rd at 1:30PM Arizona time (8:30pm London time). I’ll be on www.Facebook.com/events/1990733174542034, for 45 minutes with games and book talk.

SECOND EVENT will be our showcase and we are very excited to announce it. You’ve heard of the Eurovision song contest well now (drumroll please) we’d like to present World Bookovision (#WorldBookovision).

How does it work?

Two weeks starting Monday 4th December (Monday to Friday)

Week one a poll will be pinned with that week’s participating authors. Each day three authors will have a thousand words of one of their books posted (We will post it in the morning) and people get to vote on which ones they like. You can vote more than once. At the end of the week, the two people with the highest votes will go through to the final.

Week two follows the same pattern and the two with the highest votes will go through to the final.

On the week commencing 18th December, the four finalists will showcase the next thousand words of the same book and a new poll will be posted. At the end of the week, the poll will close and one author will win. The author will receive two weeks’ worth of social media advertising from Su and Maria. The winner will provide a copy of that book as a prize (print or e-book) and this will be presented to the person who has participated most in voting. If there are more than one, then we will put them into a draw and the winner will be picked randomly.

Throughout the day we will also post lots of Christmas fun. Come and join us as a reader or a participating author.

 

The Christmas Giveaway has begun. There are 70 authors giving away at least two prizes each and there’s $160 in PayPal cash for the grand prize winner. Check out https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link to enter the new contest. Books, ebooks, jewelry and more is being given away. You don’t want to miss out.

 

Shout Out:

Claudette Melanson, https://www.claudettemelanson.com/, writes and edits in Kitchener, Ontario with her four bunny babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters and Beckett. Harboring a deep admiration of vampires since the age of five has left her with the desire to eventually become one, and now fuels the creation of her favorite paranormal characters. Her most recent book is Teggie Wants a Hippo for Christmas, a delightful children’s book, and she has a story in The 12 Slays of Christmas anthology that is donating all of it’s royalties to an animal rescue shelter. You can find The 12 Slays of Christmas at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075FGNTG4 and Claudette’s books at https://www.amazon.com/Claudette-Melanson/e/B00IHS7GBI. Enjoy!

to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many stories playing out inside her head.

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend, Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Avocado Chocolate Mousse: A Chicklets in the Kitchen Post

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So last month I posted about my new Paleo diet lifestyle and mentioned avocado chocolate mousse. This is a wonderful dessert that you can enjoy yourself or make for a nice dinner with friends and/or family. It’s so delicious I cannot even say. It’s rich, decadent and chocolaty, everything you want in your chocolate dessert. And no, you don’t taste the avocado at all. Even better, it’s no cook!

Serves 4.

Hardware

Blender

Knife

1 cup glass measuring cup

Measuring spoons

Rubber spatula

4 half-cup ramekins

 

Ingredients

2 large or 3 small ripe avocados

3 T cocoa

4 oz dark chocolate

1/4 cup almond milk

1 tsp vanilla (Pictured is a bottle of homemade vanilla my friend Dee gave me for Christmas. It’s almost gone. ☹)

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in the microwave (pictured) or in a hot water bath. If using the microwave, use just short heating times, 15 seconds, until the mixture melts by stirring.

Read the rest here!

 

Thanks for stopping by Chicklets in the Kitchen. Do you have a favorite dessert to serve guests? Please tell us about it in the comments box below if you feel so inclined.

My name is Connie Cockrell and I write SciFi, Fantasy, Mysteries, and a lot of other things and you can find links to all of my books at www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com.

Slave Elf Part 31: Flash Fiction Friday

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green_subatomic_by_milaysvk-dbheqbg

Part 1 Here.

Part 31

Delia brushed her hands off over the plate and walked to stand in front of the door. Kaya did the same and stood beside her.

“So yesterday, I was blasting the castle gate but needed a shield to protect against a back lash, so I stopped to build a shield and you did your best to hold the blast. That didn’t work, or we wouldn’t be in this mess. I suggest you build a shield and I attack the door.” Delia glanced at her friend.

Kaya nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” She drew a deep breath and held out her hands. “Ready.”

Delia could feel her hands sweat. She brushed them off on her pant legs and took her own deep breath, turning on her magical sight. The yellow lines were there, same as on the gate. Would Iyuno build as strong a protection spell on this interior door as on the castle gate? Nothing to do but find out.

She raised her hands and used the spell Kaepli had taught them. “It’s still not right. Same as yesterday. I need to modify it. I’m not sure how.”

“You’re so strong I forget you’re new to magic.” Kaya nodded. “Inch your spell one direction or another. That’s what Master Kaepli taught us. As a mage, we’d have to do just that, discover how to make or break a spell. This is that time.”

Delia nodded, but she had no confidence in her ability to do what Kaya said. How do I move the spell one way or another? She tried adding a color to her spell, like an aura, but aside from a spark or two, nothing happened.

“You can do it, Delia,” Kaya encouraged her.

Delia could feel her breath tremble with the effort. Master Kaepli had made it look so easy. She tried applying more power, but other than her magical force increasing in brightness, that didn’t work either. She could feel drops of sweat start to trickle down her temples. What else could she do?

She heard voices on the other side of the door. “They’ve heard us, somehow.”

“To be expected. We’re generating a lot of power. One of them was sure to notice.”

Delia continued. What did she mean by inch the spell. Actual movement? Despite the noise from the hall, she decided to try and move one of the spell threads. She picked one at the center and eased it out of the golden lines. Her green spell began to vibrate.

“That might be it, Delia. Keep going.”

Delia took another ragged breath. This was harder to do than anything she’d done before. She moved another thread, then another. She panted with the effort, but she could see the golden lines begin to vibrate as well. She was on the right track! Delia had begun to move another of her threads when she and Kaya were knocked across the room with a magical blast. She and Kaya landed against the wall. Delia felt like soggy bread as three of the black elves burst into the room, Nethene behind them. He stared at them as they helped each other to their feet.

Nethene tucked his hands into the wide sleeves of his robe. “I told Uncle you’d try to break the spell.”

Delia wiped the sweat from her temples. “You didn’t think we’d just docilly wait here, did you?” Her words sounded more defiant than she felt.

Nethene snorted. “Of course not. I expected you to try something. Now we’ll have to separate you. A bother for us,” he sneered, “unpleasant for you.” He waved his hand. Three more elves came into the room. “Take them to the cells.”

“No!” Delia cried out.

Kaya raised her chin. “You will not win, traitor.”

Nethene laughed as the black elves led them away.

Delia ended up in a subterranean cell, no windows, and with only one of the magic lights she found in her father’s palace. At least she wasn’t in total dark. She had no way of knowing where Kaya was put. There was a straw pallet on a rope wooden bedstead with one blanket. A bucket in the corner served as the toilet and a rickety wooden stand held a pitcher with a horn mug and a round of bread. Delia lay down on the bed. She was so tired, she didn’t know how she’d managed to walk all the way down here.

Tears came to her eyes and leaked down her face onto the rough mattress. She already missed Kaya. What was Iyuno’s plan? Was she to be traded somehow? What about Kaya? She dashed the tears away, a sudden anger filling her. Was this what she was now? A pawn? It was worse than when she was a slave. At least there she’d had some freedom of movement, of thought. The tears came again, and she cried herself to sleep.

 

Thank You! Come back next week for Part 32.

816 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

 

NaNo, Vision Boards. Tested: Monday Blog Post

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Turkey from Upstate NY

 

Newest News:

Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States and I want to wish everyone a wonderful day with friends and family.

So today is day 20 of the National Novel Writing Month. I mentioned last week that I ran into trouble with my book being too short. What I finally decided to do was add a second point of view, Jean’s ex-husband, Dwight. I’ve never tried this before so I’m not sure how duplicative it will be. Maybe too much, but I thought I’d give it a try. So, as of Sunday, I’m at 36K words. I’m still going to come in short, I can already tell. I’ll worry about that later this week.

On my new class on Vision Boards, I’ve completed the second module. This week I learned about contacting people to join the workshop, what kind of emails to send and how to keep everyone interested before the class happens. I’m still very excited about this. Have you ever done a vision board? Tell me about it in the comments!

The cover for Tested has finally come back to me. I’m working in the formatting now and will be publishing in December. I know, months later than I had anticipated but it will be out soon. Thank you so much for waiting so patiently. I’m have a few copies ready for review if you’d like. It’s always good to start a new release with some reviews already on Amazon. Let me know if you’re interested.

Giveaways:

The Christmas Giveaway has begun. There are 70 authors giving away at least two prizes each and there’s $160 in PayPal cash for the grand prize winner. Check out https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link to enter the new contest. Books, ebooks, jewelry and more is being given away. You don’t want to miss out.

Shout Out:

Author Marge Cutter

Today I’d like to give a shout out to author Margaret Cutter, author of a fantasy you can find on her website, margecutter.wordpress.com. Marge is currently an aspiring author who has completed one children’s picture book under her pen name, Pearl Meadows, and the first two books of a YA Fantasy series under her pen name Marge Cutter, all currently unpublished. But check out her website. You’ll be glad you did.

 

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend, Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

NaNo, New Giveaway: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

So today is day 13 of the National Novel Writing Month. Yesterday I reached over 26k words on my fourth book of my Jean Hays series, Mystery at the Reunion. I’ve been pantsing (writing by the seat of my pants, no outline), since day four. I have one more chapter to write to bring the book to a close. The problem is that I’ll only be at about 28k words, nowhere close to winning NaNo. What’s a girl to do? Why, weave in a new plot line, of course. I’m not sure what, yet, but it may be from the bad guy’s point of view. We’ll have to see when I start writing tomorrow.

On my new class on Vision Boards, I completed the first module on Saturday. I’ve compiled a list of places to hold the workshop and decided on a date, with two backup dates. I’ll be making those phone calls starting Monday. I’m excited about this. I’ve even begun drafting a tab on my website to be a Vision Board contact.

Giveaways:

The Spooktacular Authors Halloween Giveaway is over and the winner’s list was compiled. I’ve contacted all of my winners (three of them!). I hope they like the prizes.  The Christmas Giveaway has begun. There are 70 authors giving away at least two prizes each and there’s $160 in PayPal cash for the grand prize winner. Check out https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link to enter the new contest. Books, ebooks, jewelry and more is being given away. You don’t want to miss out.

Shout Out:

Madeline at the Northhampton Diner. Waffles!

A shout out to my mom, Madeline, today. She checked into the hospital yesterday with pneumonia. Nothing to ignore if you’re an 80-year-old woman. Hugs from across the continent, mom. Hope you feel better soon!

 

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend, Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Slave Elf Part 30: Flash Fiction Friday Post

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Purple by Dinky03 http://www.deviantart.com/art/PURPLE-14567744

See Part 1 here.

Part 30

Delia traded a glance with Kaya and approached the table.

“Welcome, niece.” The man at the head of the table rose and gave a small bow. “How nice to finally meet you.” He motioned to the table where two places were set. “Join us.”

Delia didn’t want to sit with these elves. There was no need to switch to her magical sight to see their auras, she could feel the evil permeating the room. Despite that, her stomach growled, betraying her to her great-uncle. She sat in the indicated chair as he smiled at her. Kaya sat beside her.

“Isn’t this nice.” Iyuno sat back down. More black elves appeared, carrying plates of food and placed them in front of each elf then left the room.

Delia’s stomach growled again at the aroma of the food in front of her. Some sort of roast meat alongside of root vegetables, and gravy over all. She looked up from her plate to her uncle. “Why are we here?”

Another smile spread across his face. “Why, niece! To meet you, of course. I never understood why your father sent you away. And to humans?” He shook his head. “A trial for you, I’m sure.”

Nethene and Ceinno both grinned at her. She could feel her skin crawl. “I survived.”

At that the three elves laughed. “Indeed, niece. Indeed. I hear you’ve learned to use your magic quite well since you’ve returned.”

She could feel her hand forming a ball of fire. Delia quickly shook it away. “Well enough.”

Iyuno picked up his fork and knife and cut into his roast. “Please, eat.”

She traded a glance with Kaya, who shrugged. Delia nodded and picked up her fork. The others had already begun. Would her uncle poison her? She didn’t know but she was famished and decided to eat. She stabbed a piece of potato and put it in her mouth, hardly chewing before she swallowed it. If it was poisoned, would she taste it? Would it kill immediately? Before she could think about it anymore, she cut a piece of the roast and ate that. Kaya followed suit.

Delia ate quickly as the three elves made small talk. They never once mentioned the battle that had raged outside of the castle. “What happened to my father?”

Iyuno put down his cutlery. “Happened?”

“The battle. What happened?”

Her uncle chuckled. “Nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

Infuriated, Delia looked at Kaya. She shook her head. Delia turned back to her uncle. “There was a battle. What happened?”

“Oh, that.” Iyuno picked up his goblet of wine and sipped as Nethene and Ceinno chuckled. “We won.”

Delia froze. Her father was dead? How else would this evil monster be sitting here? She reached out and picked up her goblet. It was water. She drank it all then placed the goblet carefully on the table. Was he playing a game with her? Kaya reached out and put her hand on Delia’s shoulder. Delia blinked back tears. She wasn’t going to believe Iyuno. “Then you have no reason to hold us. Let us go.”

“I think not.” Iyuno’s voice was cold. “No. You’ll stay with me. He raised his hand. Three black elves appeared at the door she’d come through. “Take them to their room.”

Delia and Kaya rose and went with the elves. They traveled a different direction from before dinner and were led to a furnished room this time. They were locked in and with her magical sight, Delia could see a protection barrier put up on it. The windows, too were protected. There were two beds with night clothes for them laid out on each. Delia went to one of the glassed windows and looked out. There was a crescent moon, low in the sky but she couldn’t see much else in the dark. She wrapped her arms around herself. What had happened?

Kaya stepped beside her. “He’s lying, you know.”

Delia nodded. “Yes. But about what? He’s sitting in his castle with his two favorite followers having a quiet dinner. None of them were injured. At best the fight was a draw and father retreated to our camp to regroup. At worst, he’s dead and the army scattered. Iyuno could be the new king for all we know.”

“Or your father defeated the black elves and has retreated into this castle. A prisoner. Your father doesn’t know we’ve been captured.”

Delia pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Then he’s worried sick about where we are.”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps Iyuno sent him a message saying he has you.”

“That’s not better, Kaya.” Delia pounded fists on her thighs. “Not better at all.”

“No, it’s not.” Kaya put an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “Let’s clean up. They left us a pitcher of water and wash cloths. We’ll get some sleep and make a plan in the morning.”

Delia nodded. In bed and the familiar magical light off, she wondered at her uncle’s use of torches. The magical lights were so much cleaner. Then her mind drifted to what her father was doing. If he wasn’t dead already. Those thoughts churned for a long time. She didn’t know when she drifted off but woke to sunshine streaming through the windows and a black elf leaving a breakfast tray. Kaya was already up and dressed, watching the elf as he left.

After the door locked she turned to Delia. “You’re awake. Good. Breakfast is served.”

“Sorry I slept so late. I had a hard time getting to sleep.” Delia tossed her blankets aside and got up.

“I know. I could hear you thrashing around.”

“I’m sorry I kept you awake.” Delia splashed her face in the remaining wash water and got dressed.

“No matter.” Kaya examined the tray. “A pitcher of water, bread, cheese and apples. Not bad.” She plated the food and sat down at the table. “A little butter for the bread would have been nice.” Kaya ripped a roll in half and pulled a bite off, pairing it with a bit of cheese before eating it.

Delia joined her at the table. “I suppose if he didn’t poison us last night he wouldn’t poison us this morning.”

Kaya laughed. “Probably not.”

They ate companionably, in silence until the food was gone. Kaya leaned back in the chair, mug of water in hand. “So, what’s our plan?”

Delia shook her head. “We can try and break the spell on the door and sneak out.”

“Sounds good. Let’s give it a try.”

 

Thank You! Come back next week for Part 31.

1087 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

 

 

NaNo, Contests, Vision Boards: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

So today is day 6 of the National Novel Writing Month. So far I have over 11,000 words written on the fourth book of my Jean Hays series, Mystery at the Reunion. I’ve totally gone off plan for this, still incorporating some of the ideas and actions but in a totally different time line and way. It’s crazy! I hope I can make this work!

The cover designer has finally contacted me and is completing the back matter on the covers for the entire series. Yep, it is going to delay the release of Tested, but that cannot be helped at this point.

The 4 day Facebook hop that I participated in was a lot of fun but without a lot of readers. That’s too bad as most of the over 70 authors had contests and were giving away great prizes. No one entered my contest so no one will receive the signed copy of Mystery at the Fair I was giving away. That’s alright. There will be other opportunities!

I continue to write my serial, Slave Elf. I have episodes scheduled up to the middle of December. I’m trying to decide if I should have a Yuletide episode. Maybe not as I don’t seem to be close enough to the ending to make it festive. But, I never know. Perhaps. You can find the first episode here.

 

Have you ever worked with vision boards before? What is a vision board? It is designed to open your mind to your desires. It’s designed to awaken you to the awareness that there really are possibilities for your life – and that you can actually create your world exactly the way you want to be. I’ve just signed up for a class to learn how to teach people to use vision boards to move their dreams forward. I can hardly wait to share this with everyone. I think I’ll be ready to share in January. This is going to be so much fun!

Giveaways:

The Spooktacular Authors Halloween Giveaway is now over. The winner’s list is being compiled and will be out about Friday of this week. The Christmas Giveaway hasn’t quite started but, check out https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link in a day or two to enter the new contest. Books, ebooks, jewelry and more is being given away. You don’t want to miss out.

2018 Planner

My October contest is now over. The winner is Kitty Garley and I’ll be contacting her today. The book she’s reading? The Gordeon by Kathryn Le Veque. The other books read: Miss Dimple Picks a Peck of Trouble by Mignon F. Ballard, A Catered Costume Party by Isis Crawford, Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton, Because They Hate by Brigitte Gabriel, A Different Beautiful by Courtney Westlake, and Hostage of Islam by Philip Strang. Those all sound like great books. Put them on your Christmas list!

Shout Out:

Author Patricia L. Brooks

I found out today that Patricia L. Brooks and her husband Earl Llewellyn Goldman will be at the Mesa Book Festival with myself and Marsha Ward. Patricia and her husband are both authors and all around great people. The festival is Saturday Dec 9th from 2 to 8PM at McDonald Dr between Main St and 1st Ave downtown Mesa. Come on by and say hello to all of us! Can’t wait? You can find more of Patricia and her books at www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com.

 

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend, Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Slave Elf Part 29: Flash Fiction Friday Post

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alnwick_castle_by_americamarten-dbomzh2 via DeviantArt.com. https://www.deviantart.com/art/Alnwick-Castle-706511126

See Part 1 here.

Part 29

Delia woke in a stone room. Kaya was already awake, beside her. “I’ve already walked the room. The door is solid oak with iron laced through it and locked. The window it too high for me to reach. Both of them have protection wards on them.

Delia touched the back of her head. Her fall, or perhaps the elves when they brought her here, knocked her wound open. It hurt and, she looked at her hand, it was bleeding. “Can you look at my head please? My head is bleeding.” She scooted around so her back was to Kaya. She felt fingers gently probe her head and part her hair.

“Oh, yes. It’s broken open. Let me see if I can help.”

Delia felt that spot on her head get warm, the pain went away. “That feels better.”

“Good.” Kaya sat back against the wall. “I was out long enough for my power to regenerate.”

“I’m glad. Any idea how long we were unconscious?”

Kaya shook her head. “I’m not sure. I was totally drained when we were captured and I’m not sure how long it should or would have taken to get back to full strength. So, it could still be today or we may have lost a day. Or more.”

“More?” Delia sagged against the wall. She thought about the battle that had been raging when they were captured. Was her father all right? What happened at the battle? Was he worried? Was he dead? A soft sigh escaped her lips.

“I know.” Kaya took Delia’s hand. “We don’t know anything and it’s easy to drop into despair. So let’s tally up the good points. First, we’re alive.”

Delia chuckled. “I suppose that is a good point. Yes.”

“Next, we seem to have all of our powers and faculties. Every body part works.”

“That’s so.” Delia began to feel better. “And now that I think of it, my head was bleeding, and I’m not covered in blood so not too much time must have passed.”

Kaya grinned. “That’s true. Clever of you to think of that. I guess I was wallowing in some despair myself.”

Delia patted Kaya’s hand and let out a big breath. “The battle could still be going on.” She stood up and looked up at the window. “You’re smaller than I am. If you stood on my shoulders, do you think you could see outside?”

Kaya got up and stood beside Delia, looking at the window. “Maybe. Let’s try it.”

Delia went to the wall under the window and put her hands on the wall. “I’ll make a knee so you can climb up.”

Kaya took her boots off and placed her left foot on Delia’s left knee. “I hope I don’t hurt you too much.”

“It’ll be worth it if we can learn something.” As Kaya shifted her weight to her right foot on Delia’s right shoulder, Delia straightened up. “Are you close?”

“I’m still below the window. I’m going to try and pull myself up.”

Delia felt the weight leave her shoulders so she stepped back from the wall to see. Kaya had both hands on the window’s edge, elbows bent as she made the effort to lift herself up. “Let me try to help.” She dashed over to Kaya and put a hand under each of her feet. “I’m going to push up, Kaya.” As she pushed, she focused and added a little power.

“It’s working! Keep going!”

Delia lifted until her arms were straight up. “That’s it. Can you see out?”

“A little. Tree tops mostly. Wait, listen.” Kaya was silent for a moment. “I can hear fighting!”

“My arms are getting tired.”

“Oh. Yes. You can let me down.”

Slowly, Delia lowered her arms until Kaya’s feet touched her shoulders. She braced against the wall again as the elf clambered down.

Kaya let out a big breath. “That was awkward.”

Delia brushed off her hands. “What did you see?”

“The moat below us. Cleared ground on the other side of the moat to the treeline. That’s it.”

“How high up are we?”

“High. Four stories or more.”

Delia paced around the room. Six paces to the door. Seven from one side of the room to the other. The room was clean, at least there was that. But no water or food and no place to relieve herself, not even an empty bucket.

“The window is open?”

“Yes. Except for the protection spell. I could feel my fingers tingling on the window’s edge.”

“So we are stuck here until someone comes to let us out.” Delia didn’t like that at all. It felt like it did when she was a slave.

“Pretty much.”

Kaya sat down, her back against the wall facing the door. “I’m going to take a nap.”

Delia nodded. Kaya must still be feeling the effects of her all out magical efforts from the morning. But Delia wasn’t tired. She paced back and forth in front of the door, stopping now and then to examine the door or parts of the wall. The sun set and the room grew dark and chilly. She finally went over to sit with Kaya. Delia found Kaya’s body warmth comforting, even if it was just arm to arm. At least she wasn’t alone.

When Kaya woke, the two traded stories about growing up. Delia found herself a little envious of Kaya’s tales of family outings, trips to other elf kingdoms, and her siblings’ antics, but the tales helped to pass the time and she was glad of that.

They were startled by the sound of a key in the lock of the door. It swung open on creaky hinges and they sheltered their eyes at the glare of a torch. It was one of the black elves. “Come.”

Delia scrambled to her feet. Kaya shoved her feet into her boots and rose also. “Where?”

The elf backed out of the room. “Come.”

Delia sighed. There was nothing else to do. She followed the elf into the hall where she saw three others waiting. Kaya followed her.

“Come,” the elf with the torch said. He led them down the hall to the left. Delia and Kaya walked side by side, the three other black elves following. They reached the end of the hall in a tower and went down flights of stairs to a landing that led to another hall. They followed that to a great room, a fireplace at one end, windows along the right wall, and a table in the middle set for supper.

At the head of the table was an elf, dressed all in black. On his right was Nethene and on his left, Cienno. Delia felt the hairs on her arms stand up. This could not be good.

 

Thank You! Come back next week for Part 30.

1131 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

NaNo, Facebook Hop, Giveaway ending: Monday Blog Post

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Have a Happy Halloween!

Newest News:

I’m still prepping my NaNo story, Mystery at the Reunion. I’m getting excited because NaNo starts in 2 days!

The cover designer has not sent me my Brown Rain covers and I’m both disappointed and upset. It’s going to delay my release.

Starting today, I’ve joined over 70 authors to conduct a 4 day Facebook hop. What is that? Each of us has an hour on our Facebook author page to run a contest, play games, and promo our books. I have from 4 – 6pm Eastern today on  https://www.facebook.com/ConniesRandomThoughts/. Sign in and join me for the fun.

Malaysia Mosque with Muslim pray in Malaysia – Depositphotos_108130076_original

I continue to write my serial, Slave Elf. I wrote another Slave Elf episode yesterday. I’m really enjoying this story. You can find the first episode here.

Giveaways:

Would you like to win free ebooks, other prizes, or $150 in Paypal cash? Drop by https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link for the Spooktacular Authors Halloween Giveaway. There are 2 days left so get it now!

2018 Planner

I have started a contest over on my newsletter. What? You don’t get my newsletter? That’s a shame. But see below on how you can join in on the fun. I already have several people writing in to enter it. It runs to the end of October, just 2 days away, when I’ll use a random number generator to select the winner. Let me know you’ve joined the newsletter and I’ll send you the information to enter.

P.S. By the way, you can get the pictured mug at: https://www.gearbubble.com/gbstore/conniesrandomthoughts

Shout Out:

Rita and her mom!

I’d like to give a shout out this week to Payson Book Festival author Rita Reger.  Rita is the author and illustrator of the children’s series, The Adventures of PEPE QUACKAMOLE™. I caught up with her and a few other Payson Book Festival authors at the Cottonwood Book Fair being held during the Cottonwood Fall Festival. If you’re looking for children’s books to give this holiday season or for birthdays, you can’t go wrong with her series. You can find her at https://www.facebook.com/rita.m.reger/.

 

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend, Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.