Must I believe it?

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And it is May and I didn't post snippets in April. Oh, well. I didn't write too terribly much back in March. However, my fingers decided that they really liked to tap during April, so I have quite a bit to share here.

Take was published, after I added a few new scenes, and I reached nearly 30,000 words on the computer version of The Ankulen. (Fun fact: That was Sew's original length), although I'm now at over 64,000 words. I am now officially halfway finished. I think. I made good progress on The New Division, and I finished the first chapter of The Worth of a King. 

Snippets are hosted by Katie at Whispering of the Pen

I nodded. “Well that’s what it looked like anyway. Know what? I think I’d like to go investigate the rainbow – let’s go!” I started jumping towards the edge of the huge pillow.

“Kendra!” Kathie exclaimed. “Don’t fall off the edge.”

I turned to my sister and rolled my eyes. “I wasn't planning on falling off the edge.”

“Don’t jump either,” she grouched.

“Fine. Then I’ll climb. You coming with me? If not, I’ll just have a merry little adventure without you. It’ll be such fun!”

-  Behind the Rainbow

 “Oh, Briar Rose, dearest, dearest Briar Rose,” (Joan) declared, as she glided over to them. “I have been searching all over for thee!” Her hands were pressed to her chest, and plight was written all over her face.

“Hello Joan,” said Rosamond, smiling. “What is the matter?”

“Oh, Briar Rose!” cried Joan. “Is it true? Must I believe it? Did we really sleep for an hundred years! I cannot believe it! My mind rebels at the thought!”

- Do You Take This Quest?

 Tisha sank down on a nearby rock, and Chris took off the pack he was wearing and began setting up camp. I picked up a rock and threw it into the brook.

“Don’t do that!” Tisha exclaimed with sudden energy.

I froze, then turned to her. “Why?”

Tisha’s eyes flew back to her feet. “You’ll disturb the Water Babies.”

My eyebrows went up and my mouth fell open. Before I could say anything, however, Chris threw a rock into the brook. “Not in Babble Brook,” he said, not hiding the bitterness in his voice. “Not anymore."

- The Ankulen

“Of course I said elves,” said Pharick. “What do you think you are? A human? Those round-eared creatures are the stuff of legend. No, you’re an elfla, just as your brother and I are elves.”

“But, sir,” said Alistaar, deciding that he would take no more of his sister’s belittlement. “Where we were raised, humans are not legend. Humans raised us – elves were the fairy tales.”

“You were raised by humans!” declared Pharick, turning to look at him in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Well, they called themselves humans, and they weren’t anything like us,” said Alistaar. “And since there were so many of them, it would seem unlikely that they all gave themselves rounded ears just so that we wouldn’t suspect their deceit.”

- The New Divsion

“Milady, please, put down the book, I need to do your hair.”

Princess Obsidia of Dialcia sighed and slid an embroidered bookmark between the pages of the book she was reading. “I don’t know why you can’t do my hair while I read, Julie. I don’t move as much.”

“You move more than you think,” said Julie, as she began running a brush through Obsidia’s thick black hair. “And King Ossian wants you downstairs at once.”

-Worth of a King

As soon as I was close enough that jumping would not prove injurious, I let go of the pillow and propelled myself downwards. Grinning up at my much slower little sister, I shouted, “Come on in, the water’s great!”

“Kendra!” V shouted back. “There isn’t any water.”

I glanced around myself and feigned a sigh of disappointment. “You’re right. We landed high and dry. Oh, I hope this isn’t a desert! What if there’s no water at all! We’ll die of thirst!”

V was now on the ground and glaring up at me. “Cut. It. Out.”

- Behind the Rainbow

Even at a run, it took a few minutes before I was out from under the castle.

Castle?

Yes, there it was, plain to see, a castle suspended by chains attached to the four largest trees I had ever seen.

“Wow.” That was the only word I found myself capable of saying.

It looked pretty much like any castle you might find in a book of fairy tales, if you ignored the fact that it was fifteen feet off of the ground. High wall, higher towers, tiny windows. It was quite the impressive sight.

- The Ankulen

He will make a good servant … he’ll do work around the city… no good for studies … cursed Harshan …Pharick’s words floated through Melisza’s head as realization crashed into her. “You’re … you’re a servant, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice trembling.

The girl glanced up for a second, her eyes rebellious, then returned her glare to the floor. “Yes my lady. I am a Harshan. I … deserve no better.”

“Oh … I’m … I’m sorry …” Melisza mumbled, unsure what to say.

“No you’re not,” said the Harshan girl. “You are a Lilna. You aren’t cursed. Which dress would you like to wear?”

- The New Division

He didn't stop until the ground started shaking.

“What's that?” (Derek just told me that if I write that his voice was edged with fear, he'll never forgive me. So I won't. Draw your own conclusions.)

“That's Blue,” I explained, as I tossed a legless frog back into the river.

“That's Blue?” Derek turned to me in disbelief.

“Yup,” said I. “Did I forget to mention that Sir Steve's dog is as big as a house?”

“As big as a …”

“Give or take.”

- The Ankulen

The walk downstairs seemed to take forever. Why did the Choosing have to take place during the heaviest part of the day? The weight of the her future was already crushing, without the effects of noon.

Oh, she knew why – the heaviest part of the day was also the brightest, and such an important affair as the choosing of a future husband must always be done in the light, so that any deceit might be avoided, but still. Walking down halls was torture at noon, even if you were wearing the lightest dress in your closet.

- Worth of a King

Once on the ground, I started skipping again. Derek followed at a quick walk, and the looks he shot me clearly communicated, Girl, you are crazy!

“I'm in a skipping mood,” I explained.

“I can tell.”

- The Ankulen

 “Had we known that we would all fall asleep,” said Madeleine, “most of us would have done many things very differently.”

“True, true,” said Joan. “Now that I think of it, if gloves were to be spotted, it would be a lot easier to conceal stains – dost thou not agree, Maddie?”

Madeleine drew her paint-stained hands from behind her back. “It would be nice – wouldn’t it?”

- Do You Take This Quest?

“What do you want with us? What have you done Melisza and Alis –.” Tabetha’s demands were cut short when a sudden burst of light from a silver object the Dizalay held in her hand connected with her shoulder, causing pain to dance through her body. She fell to her knees, but her eyes stayed fixed on the Dizalay’s face.

“You stain their names by uttering them, cursed Harshan,” the Dizalay said, her voice calm. She walked confidently towards Tabetha, the silver object pointed towards her the whole time. “From now on, you are to only call my grandchildren by their titles – Dizalay and Nalish.”

- The New Division

“Ah, then you are uninterested in the surface means that princes like to impress the ladies with?” questioned Ossian. “I suppose it comes of letting you read far to many impractical books, no?”

“Oh, but you yourself says to never judge a person by his words alone,” said Obsidia, “and three weeks is too short a time to ascertain the character of one person, let alone ten.”

- Worth of a King

“Dizalay,” said Tabetha, taking a step forward, and curtseying to Melisza. “Do – do not press the issue. It will only make things worse.”

“Yes, dear,” said Liya. “For once a Harshan speaks well. Abide by the rules. Never let a Harshan feel equal to yourself. It never ends well.”

“But …” Melisza began, but, seeing the unbending look in Liya’s eye, her gaze fell to her feet. “Yes, Grandmother.”

- The New Division