Phew, trouble seems to follow Eirika around, or maybe just Fred. Or maybe both. But I suppose they’re all going to have problems one way or another, smuggling villains they are, hee. I may have set something on fire, but I’m secretly a Fire Bender, so we’re going to have to accept that this is in my nature.
This excerpt is in Eirika’s POV. Previous excerpts can be found here and here.
“Man, what’s happening?”
“Watch out, miss,” he said, voice low and deep, “Scorpion comes.”
“Scorpion?”
“No ship’s safe!”
Before she could have him clarify, the worker shook himself from her grasp, hurriedly tipped his own hat at her, and pushed off, not bothering to look back. Eirika growled in frustration and tried to find Fred in the chaos.
It was easier than she thought. The man towered over many people, but it wasn’t his figure that she’d caught first. What she saw was his ship, for The Marchioness was something she’d recognized as if it were her own.
And it was burning.
Story Notes: Amber and Tourmalines (working title, definitely not the final one) is a story of a black market dealer and her investigation into the untimely deaths of important colleagues. It is also a story of a man down on his luck and resorting to thievery to make ends meet. Only the man’s pretty bad at petty theft, but a rather decent clockmaker. The black market dealer has no problem pointing this out–and involuntarily recruiting him to a life of crime.
Story and Somnomancy 
A burning ship can never be good!
You have painted a vivid scene of quayside chaos. I can almost smell the seaweed!
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Thanks! I love the chaos at the docks. Adding even more chaos makes it even better, hahaha.
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What a hook! What a way to end a snippet. Excellent excerpt.
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Thanks Teresa!
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Uh oh, very dramatic point to leave us – watching the ship burn! Enjoyed the excerpt, can’t wait for more.
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Poor Eirika always gets stuck with such drama. But she can handle herself. Mostly XD. Thanks for stopping by!
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You did a great job in building on one source of tension to an even greater source of tension.
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Haha, I think I had tension in the brain, especially when I was telling my writing voldies about how to convey it in their stories. Thanks for stopping by!
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Getting your characters into trouble (and setting something on fire) is always fun to do in a story, isn’t it? This is a great snippet that left on a wonderfully tense note. Great work!
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It’s usually my go-to catastrophe when I feel I need to change the pace up a bit. Well, not necessarily shooting balls of fire onto airships…but fire is a good start. Thanks for stopping by!
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Ahhh! Burning ships! Not good not good!
Looking forward to next week! 🙂
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Haha, I’d like to say no ship was harmed in this excursion, but there may have been a wee bit of harming. Not much, though, promise!
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