Paksworld

This is a try at pasting something from the ms.  by way of Wordpad, which is supposed to strip off all the Word formatting.    I’m going to put the whole snippet behind the “read more” break, so if it erupts into formatting you won’t have it all over your feed (if you’re one of the feed-followers.)

Snippet #1

Another clear morning–Arcolin looked around the inner court, imagining it as his–if the Crown permitted–and strode out the gate to the main court, where Stammel had the cohort ready, in marching order.  Arbad held the roan ambler.  Arcolin mounted and looked back at his cohort–the young faces still unblooded, the veterans with their weathered skin, their scars, their eyes full of experience.  Stammel gave him a crisp nod.
Was he really doing this, really taking a mercenary cohort to Aarenis by himself?  As commander?  He put his hand in his tunic, feeling Kieri’s signet ring.  No more time to doubt.  If he could not do it, after all those years of serving with the best commander he’d ever known, north or south, he was a fool–and Kieri would not have trusted him with the Company.  He lifted the reins and nudged his horse into motion.

Snippet #2

Mikeli, Crown Prince of Tsaia, listened to his best friend, Juris Marrakai, joking with Mikeli’s cousin  Amrothlin Mahieran about the behavior of their younger brothers.  Dinner this evening felt almost normal again, with his friends around him and the worst of the peril–his advisors had said–over.  Fourteen days had passed since Kieri Phelan left for Lyonya, and nine since the paladin’s ordeal ended. For a full hand of days, the city had been in turmoil as city militia, nobles of the realm, and Marshals of Gird sought to find and destroy Liart’s followers.

He and his friends had wanted to take part,  prove their courage, in those raids on the city’s underground lairs.  Their elders had refused to risk them despite their protests.  Instead, his friends had been kept at home to guard their families, while he and his younger brother had been confined to the palace, closely guarded.  They’d all been told to stay close, be careful, be alert, report anything suspicious.

But finally, the city quieted, and the High Marshals had declared it safe enough to relax some restrictions.  Once more his friends were free to visit the palace, share a meal, as they had  so often before.