Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)
I’ve switched to an excerpt from a brand new novella set in my version of ancient Egypt, working title Healer of the Nile, which is for a boxed set later this year.
Tadenhut, elder son of a noble house and heir to the Hunting Cat estate, has been gravely injured in a battle against Pharaoh’s enemies and brought home to die. Mehyta, a woman from the estate’s village who has skills as a healer, has been ordered to assist the physicians in his care.
Having used her healer’s magic to assess his injuries, she found herself dreaming of Tadenhut, who remains in a coma in the real world. Her dream took place on a battlefield, after the combat has ended. Now she’s back in the real world, pondering what to do. I’ve edited out some details here just to simplify.
As the first rays of sunlight lanced into the room and across the bed, she took her pouch of fortune-telling beads and sat outside, next to the fish pond. Closing her eyes, she repeated to herself the old proverb, “There is no one who can ignore Shai.” Yes, the god of Fate was the only one who could decide whether Tadenhut was to live or die. But at least Mehyta could ask for an indication of which it was to be and decide what to do accordingly.
She performed an act almost never done in fortune telling, except in an extreme situation—she spilled the entire contents of her pouch across the flat paving stones of the garden. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes to read the pattern. The black of death and the white of life lay together, surrounded by other omens speaking of struggle, danger, and hardship. Mehyta reached to touch the green malachite bead, symbolizing hope in this array. It sat by itself in a small indentation of the paving stone directly north of the black and white omens.
As she gathered the stones to replace them in the pouch, she pondered the message from Shai.
I’m not going to do any more excerpts from this story, or at least not until the anthology in which it’s included gets released. Thank you so much for all the comments – I’m really happy people have been enjoying the adventure.
In the meantime, if you can’t wait, you can always read one of my other novels set in ancient Egypt LOL! Maybe Ghost of the Nile for Halloween.
As always, thanks for visiting!
This message is garbled and unclear. Shai needs to take a writing course, or at least hire a good editor.
Love your comment, Ed! She’ll be getting more direction from Shai….but in my books, the gods do enjoy being mysterious 🙂
Interesting snippet. Congrats on the upcoming release. 🙂
Interesting … and well done on the descriptions.
Mysterious and ambiguous. I wondwr how she will interpret her findings… Nice piece on divination Veronica. I look forward to reading much more.
Nice visual, Veronica. And great job showing how semi-inconclusive the results were. 🙂 I think she really saw what she needed to see, though. She won’t give up now, because there’s still a chance, right? 🙂
Great description. Has me in the scene and interpreting the stones myself. LOL
I think that message is very unclear. It’s like Shai can’t seem to decide.
Hmm, I wonder what this will mean for Tadenhut. Great snippet!
She’s pulling out all the stops now by using all the beads. This is a great visual of her needing to understand what lies ahead, I think. Great snippet, Veronica.
OoooO! NICE! Really builds the suspense. What does she see?
I really like the use of the fortune-telling beads. Guess we’ll have to wait to find out what it means!
These excerpts sure are intriguing! All kinds of uncertainty and tension that really draw readers in. Can’t wait to see what you have for us next week, Veronica 🙂
Always a mystery and a wonder in your books and then the revelation. Outstanding snippet.
Oh I love the esoteric messages left by the Fates in the fall of beads or bones. Great snippet, Veronica. 😀
I promise she won’t give up! And she’s going to be chatting with Shai, who explains some things…maybe I’ll excerpt that scene here when the anthology gets released. As always, I really appreciate the comments and I’m so pleased people are enjoying my story!
Oh what a small bead of hope to live on with life and death in balance.
A less ambiguous message would be nice, but it seldom seems to work that way. Great snippet!
Sounds like the way will be difficult, but perhaps possible. She has to try, right?
You have such a great imagination. I may have said that before.
So very intriguing and mysterious. I love the chant, very imaginative.
That’s an actual ancient Egyptian proverb…
Maybe Shai hasn’t reached a decision yet, and that accounts for the confusion in the message.
I’ve loved this adventure in ancient Egypt! This is also a great snippet, very visual with the black and white and malachite beads against the flat stones.
I love the idea of fortune telling beads! Adored this snippet so much.
WHAT???? No more until it’s released???? That’s just plain cruel!!! (I’m obviously enjoying it!)
I’m curious what this will mean for Tadenhut. Intriguing snippet.
The lay of the fortune tiles reminds me of Tarot cards and major arcana, the solution is not necessarily in the hands of the person involved, there are many other factors at play first. Thank you for teasing us with the snippets of this very intriguing story.
This is a beautifully written scene. Your prose really shines here…
Captivating. I wonder just what that fortune might be telling her of Tadenhut’s fate. I like the aspect of reading the beads, much like Tarot. But there are many ways to interpret such signs. Nicely done.