Happy Camp NaNo! I’m joining in the fun this April with a new novella, the sixth episode of The Voyage of the Miscreation. I’m teasing you today with an excerpt from this new installment in the epic fantasy serial, tentatively called “The Captain’s Wife”.
“The Captain’s Wife” will be released sometime next month, followed by a collection of all six episodes of Miscreation. Also coming soon is a new novella starring Korinna that takes place after A Flight of Marewings, called “A Pride of Gryphons”. Stay tuned for more updates about when they will be released.
To set up this excerpt, Yuri has gone down into the hold to fetch something, when he stumbles across something strange on board the ship:
Something moved in the darkness at the far end of the hold.
He squinted in the dim light, not sure if he’d actually seen something or if his unadjusted eyes were playing tricks on him. It would be just his luck if one of the damn flying snakes had gotten loose somehow, and was kicking about in the hold. He wouldn’t try to catch the thing, he’d call the mage’s apprentice to come fetch her pet. For all that they were supposed to be trained he didn’t trust it not to bite him if he got too close.
He hobbled cautiously down the length of the hold while using the bunks on either side for balance, ears straining for any sound, his eyes growing stronger in the gloom. There was no other movement. Perhaps he’d just imagined it after all. Just to be sure, when he reached the stack of crates at the far end, he thumped it with his hand to scare out any lurking creatures.
A woman’s voice yelped. A short figure stumbled out from behind the crates—a woman, dressed in sailor’s slops. She darted for the door, but he blocked her path. She stopped short and looked up at him, and her face came into the light. He didn’t recognize her at all.
Yuri looked the strange woman up and down. A stowaway on Miscreation? Such a thing had never happened before—who would be foolish enough to sneak on board a ship already full of monsters and sailing toward more? He put one hand on the hilt of the knife at his belt and tried to look intimidating. “Who are you?” he demanded.
The woman leaned back against the crates in a casual pose and cocked her head to one side with a smirk. “Who, me? I’m Captain Mynta’s wife.”
