Preview: Sombra Mundus 38
Chapter 38 is up!
The newest chapter to Sombra Mundus is up! Find Chapter 38 here.
Preview:
The shooting match was a tradition for engagements in the gypsy clan, and consisted of four rounds where cloth sacks were tossed into the air as targets to determine the best archer. Gita and her set of friends gathered at one end of the stretch of grass near the river, out of sight of the trade road that afternoon.
While out of sight, they certainly were not a quiet bunch, Mina decided as she left the wagon where Menino was sleeping with the other infants. The other girls' voices and laughter could be heard despite the distance. She straightened her skirts as she descended the wagon steps. No wonder Edvard could hear the gypsies half a mile away by brook distance, she thought. The betting and hollering began half an hour before the contest, and she was sure Menino would be awake, but he and the other infants—eight of them—slumbered on without a care.
She approached the clearing to see Yuila standing with Xapita and a few other like-aged girls, hair in assorted braids, twists, and ponytails. Obviously not the work of the Crone, Mina thought as she tried to find Edvard in the collection of about fifty people.
She flinched as Edvard's hand rested on her shoulder. "I thought you had fallen asleep with the babies."
She smiled. "They did look comfortable, and well-fed."
"Good." He nodded to where seven men were lining up before the tall man who had met them earlier. "That's Anren. He's in charge of about everything here. Let's move closer."
They listened to Anren call off the rules for the contest, and extol the virtues of the reigning champion, and how the young man had just made himself the promise of engagement, at which point he gestured to Gita. Mina looked to where the young woman stood with her friends, and saw the blonde girl from the women's camp staring back at her. As Anren continued, Mina realized the blonde girl was not staring at her, but at Edvard. As she watched, the other girl pulled her lavender fringed scarf closer around her shoulders, then turned to one of her friends and whispered something. The girl giggled and whispered back to the blonde girl.
A small feeling ebbed in Mina. "Taken," she murmured, shifting closer to Edvard, and looking back to Anren's announcements.
Edvard looked down at her. "What's that?"
Mina shook her head, unable to suppress a smile. "Uh, for luck."
He made her turn so he could see her face better. "What did you say?" When she blushed, he grinned and tilted her chin with his finger. "Mina . . ."
"I think . . . you can easily take first place."
"You said all that in one word?" He looked across the crowd to where Noen stood watching them.
"Not exactly . . . that."
"Not exactly luck, or not exactly for me to hear?"
Mina couldn't stop the blush this time and she looked quickly to Anren as he made his final statement. "Oh, it was for you, Edvard."
He gave her a quizzical look, studying her for a moment. He hoisted the quiver further onto his shoulder. "Then I accept your luck."
The challenge began with all eight contestants. They took their places in a line before the stretch of grass and the throwers stood twenty paces away with a crate of cloth balls.
Find Chapter 38 here.
PG13, saga; teen, fantasy, fantasy world travel, teen romance, clean romance, realm, magical realism, shadow world, school/new school, high school, fiction, serial. ♫♪