Blockage
Argh! I can’t write!
For some reason I’ve been having serious writer’s block these past few weeks and simply cannot get my ideas onto the page… it’s very frustrating as I know exactly what I want to write but I can’t make it get out of my head and become Written Word.
Harumph.
Chapter Two
…And the next one…
Chapter Two – A Journey Begins
As it transpired I’d signed a pair of contracts. The first pledged me to join Rudi’s adventuring group for a year and a day while the second was a financing agreement which meant I’d give over all my allowance to the funding of the group. I asked Rudi why he’d done this and he laughed.
Interlude
Here’s the next instalment…
Interlude – A Timely Exit
When morning came I hauled myself off the penny hanger and vowed never to sleep like that again, even a mould-ridden straw pallet would have been a luxury at that point. The rest of the party was already awake, Rudi was sharpening his sword while attempting to negotiate a free breakfast, Harald was poring over some book or other and Ælfgif was carefully rolling bandages. Magpie was nowhere to be seen but that merely served to indicate that he’d already found some poor soul to fleece at dice. Once the proprietor had left grumbling about coercion and eating him out of house and home Rudi unrolled the map and used a charcoal stick to mark where we were and drew a curved line to our destination.
Chapter One
Here’s the next bit of the tale… I’ll post some more tomorrow.
Chapter One – A Wayward Child
As I dangled from the penny hanger I began, for the first time since leaving home, to muse upon my former life and how it had amounted to dangling by my armpits on a rope in the back room of a stinking inn in some filthy backwater town. It was also at this time that I began to consider writing my memoirs, if nothing else as a warning against those who believe adventuring to be full of romance and glory. And so, dear reader, this is my life.
Prologue
And here it is, the first bit of fiction to be posted to my shiny new Blog… It’s the prologue to an as yet untitled dark/low fantasy tale. Chapter 1 will follow shortly.
It was the smell of the place that really drove home how far I’d fallen, I’d been on the road with the vagabond-adventurers known rather pompously as the Golden Brotherhood for six months now… but this was low even for us. The inn was unnamed, served ale watered down with piss and, while comely enough in a filthy kind of way, the wenches were almost undoubtedly pox-ridden. To this day I don’t know how Rudi found the place and, to be frank I don’t want to know, but at least it offered some respite from the incessant rain which plagues that part of the world for much of the year. Of course when it came to arranging board things got even worse.
“Right then lads,” Rudi said with forced joviality, “let’s count up the clink and see what we can afford.”
We all searched through pouches, stockings and boots to dredge up the last of our ready cash and came up with a total of five-and-one-half pennies.
“C’mon, that can’t be all we’ve got,” growled Rudi before looking sharply at the man we only knew as Magpie, “what about you Mags? You’ve normally got something stashed away.”
Magpie shook out his sleeves and raised his hands, “got nuffink, no’ even a copper farthing.”
“That’s that then, it’s the penny hanger for us tonight.”
I didn’t bother to ask what a penny hanger was, I’d find out soon enough.
