Torcmar snippet: Ethan in the city
I wrote over 1000 words today. It was a slow work day. I am feeling very good about that, although I'm not sure how many of the words are worth keeping.
In any case, here's a snippet from the bit. ETA: I didn't need the context, I cut it way short.
Ethan had chosen a dreary day for this visit. The mist of early morning gradually gave way to intermittent rain showers as heavy gray clouds pushed all evidence of daylight to the east. Most of the residents of Bay West district had retreated inside their comfortable townhouses, closing shutters and lighting hearths to ward off the unseasonable chill. Even Danah's house was shuttered, although there was light spilling from the edges of the windows. Ethan pulled his cloak close around him as he took the steps two at a time and rapped on the door.
The heavy wood shifted, then swung inward just enough for the maid on the other side to admit Ethan to the foyer. He waited, dripping on the carpet, as she closed the door behind him and secured the locks. A small boy, brown-skinned and bright-eyed, ran out of a side room, and stopped so suddenly upon seeing Ethan in the hall that he fell backwards and stared. Then he let out a shriek so loud Ethan winced, and scrambled upright so that he could run toward the back of the house, still screaming.
Ethan turned to look at the maid, who shrugged, a smile curling the corners of her mouth. "Give me your cloak and go on back. She's in the kitchen."
"I'll just follow the screaming, shall I?"
She actually laughed at him.
The kitchen was one large room across the back of the house, on the ground floor. Ethan found the screaming had faded to vague whimpering by the time he arrived, and he knocked on the open door before entering. The small boy clung to the leg of a petite but obviously pregnant woman standing at a long wooden counter beside a window. Tiny gobbets of fat and entrails clung to the blade of the butcher knife she held in her right hand, but the angle of her body blocked Ethan's view of whatever animal she was preparing. He was startled to note that she had cut her hair short, so that the brown curls barely touched her neck. "Danah."
"You see what happens when you don't visit often enough? You frighten the children."
In any case, here's a snippet from the bit. ETA: I didn't need the context, I cut it way short.
Ethan had chosen a dreary day for this visit. The mist of early morning gradually gave way to intermittent rain showers as heavy gray clouds pushed all evidence of daylight to the east. Most of the residents of Bay West district had retreated inside their comfortable townhouses, closing shutters and lighting hearths to ward off the unseasonable chill. Even Danah's house was shuttered, although there was light spilling from the edges of the windows. Ethan pulled his cloak close around him as he took the steps two at a time and rapped on the door.
The heavy wood shifted, then swung inward just enough for the maid on the other side to admit Ethan to the foyer. He waited, dripping on the carpet, as she closed the door behind him and secured the locks. A small boy, brown-skinned and bright-eyed, ran out of a side room, and stopped so suddenly upon seeing Ethan in the hall that he fell backwards and stared. Then he let out a shriek so loud Ethan winced, and scrambled upright so that he could run toward the back of the house, still screaming.
Ethan turned to look at the maid, who shrugged, a smile curling the corners of her mouth. "Give me your cloak and go on back. She's in the kitchen."
"I'll just follow the screaming, shall I?"
She actually laughed at him.
The kitchen was one large room across the back of the house, on the ground floor. Ethan found the screaming had faded to vague whimpering by the time he arrived, and he knocked on the open door before entering. The small boy clung to the leg of a petite but obviously pregnant woman standing at a long wooden counter beside a window. Tiny gobbets of fat and entrails clung to the blade of the butcher knife she held in her right hand, but the angle of her body blocked Ethan's view of whatever animal she was preparing. He was startled to note that she had cut her hair short, so that the brown curls barely touched her neck. "Danah."
"You see what happens when you don't visit often enough? You frighten the children."