Tuesday, April 3, 2012

ExcerpTuesday: Melodie Campbell

ROWENA THROUGH THE WALL
From Chapter 39

Where the heck was I?


An interior stone wall stood directly in front of me. Light filtered in through a long narrow window meant for defense by bow and arrow.

So this was a fortress?

I squeezed my eyes and recalled the last thing I could—wishing for the nearest warm bed. I guess this was it.

Holy hell, the bracelet! I had rubbed the stone and it had thrown me into the very position I had asked for.

A strange sound came from somewhere close by. I shot up to sitting position and looked to my right.

"Yikes!" I said, scrambling to get out of the bed. "Who are you?"

A man lay on the bed beside me, and what a man. He was very tall, with white-blond hair to the shoulders, and his cheekbones were unusually high. His facial hair was confined to a mustache and goatee. There were lines on his face. I put his age around forty.

When he sat up, I saw that his eyes were a pale gray, very light, and his skin was pale. His teeth were good and he seemed quite clean. He was smiling the sort of smile a greedy child has on Christmas morning.

"A gift from Odin," he said, his eyes widening. "Bless the Gods, I will give sacrifice to their honor today." His accent was thick and foreign.

I grabbed for my dress, which was at the end of the bed. How in blazes had that come off in the night?

"Oh no." I groaned. "Not you too." Bloody hell, I couldn't go anywhere in this world without an armed escort.

"How did you come to be here?" he asked.

If he didn't know the answer then we couldn't have…

"You are a gift. Which of the Gods should I thank?"

A gift? Oh Crikey. How could I answer that one?

"Um…I think there might be some mistake here. Wrong bed. You know, that sort of thing." It sounded lame even to me, but the truth was even more unbelievable.

The man snorted. "The Gods don't make mistakes! You are a sweet gift for a lonely warrior. Bless the Gods. Who sent you? Freya or Sjofn?"

I swallowed hard. "What we have here is a classic misunderstanding. The Gods made a mistake. I simply got sent to the wrong bed. Sorry. Wasn't my fault. Honest."

He frowned. "You were meant for another? I don't believe it. They would
take you back if t'were the case. Go then! Leave me now if the Gods command it."

Apparently, they didn't.

-------


“Is that a broadsword on your belt, or are you just glad to see me?”
When Rowena falls through her classroom wall into a medieval world, she doesn’t count on being kidnapped – not once, but twice, dammit. Unwanted husbands keep piling up. Not only that, she has eighteen year old Kendra to watch out for and a war to prevent. Good thing she can back through the wall when she needs to…or can she?

“Hot and Hilarious!” Midwest Book Review

Melodie Campbell got her start as a comedy writer, so it’s no surprise that editors have called her work ‘wacky’ and ‘laugh out loud funny’. She has over 200 publications, and has received six awards for fiction. Melodie is a finalist for the 2012 Derringer award and is the General Manager of Crime Writers of Canada.

Buy link: http://tinyurl.com/6p2vhgr
Follow Melodie’s comic blog at http://funnygirlmelodie.blogspot.com

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