At last I am motivated enough to start again on a novel. I’m sitting in the kitchen, watching the snow and listening to the fitters laying new carpet on the stairs. 

But finally, I am done procrastinating  I’ve had the idea for this story for 6 months and even wrote the intro last autumn, but today it has all come together and chapter one is well on it’s way.

I’ve joined a critique group and I will be posting the story as it develops, but I think I’ll add it to my blog as well. So, if there is anyone out there who fancies reading a novel in serial form and giving me some feedback, please do.

Trust me, I can use all the help I can get.

And now it;s time for a cup of tea while I think about what comes next.

Favourite quote today.. And a bit of an inspiration…

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

• Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear.
• Frank Herbert “Dune”

Prologue.

The rain dripped steadily from the leaves of the trees that concealed the small troop from the road.
They had been waiting for half a day, four hours watching the road and the rain had not stopped once.
Rhian turned her head to look at Mal. He had hunched his shoulders, trying to stop the water running down his neck. It didn’t work.
On the other side of her Kesh maintained a steady low grumble about the sergeant who had left them here to keep watch, while the rest of the troop waited in a nice, dry barn, just two flecks down the road.
Rhian smiled at some of the comments Kesh made about the sergeant’s parentage.
She shifted slightly in her saddle and catching Mal’s eye, she lifted one eyebrow to convey her amusement at what she was hearing. Nobody else in the brigade could swear as imaginatively or as continually as Kesh.
Kesh peered out from under her helmet, a water droplet slid down her nose and she hastily pinched her nose to stifle the sneeze that threatened. It wouldn’t be a good idea to be discovered here, so far inside Tancred’s territory.
“How much longer do we need to stay here before old Fungus Face realises that Tancred is not coming this way?”
“That’s Sergeant Fungus Face to you.” Rhian smiled to take the sting out of the rebuke.
“Sorry, Corporal.” Kesh smirked.
“We stay here until we’re called back. It’s early yet, there’s still time for Tancred to march past, flags flying, full of the joys of Spring. He has to come this way if he intends to attack Weirtown. The high passes are still closed and this is the obvious choice.”
“Not much spring joy this, so far,” Kesh was still complaining. “I don’t think it’s stopped raining for an eightday.
Rhian pulled her thick woollen cloak more securely around her neck and stared again through the trees to the road. Her movement startled a small brown bird that had been perched on a branch nearby; it flew away with a startled chirp.
As she blinked the raindrops from her eyes she thought about how she and Mal and Kesh had ended up in this spot at this precise time.

Chapter One
“Rhian! Rhian! where is that damned girl now?” Rhian’s mother left the dairy shed and stomped across the muddy farmyard, calling loudly. As she entered the stable she found Rhian laughingly hiding in on of the stalls.
“ Just look at you, in the name of the spirits! come and get changed quickly, they’ll be here soon, and what sort of impression you’ll make, dressed like a boy with all that straw in your hair…”
Rhian obediently looked down at her clothing. True, she wasn’t dressed to impress anyone, and if her brother found out that she had borrowed his best shirt again there would be a reckoning. In truth she was hoping that the clothing would be her saviour, she didn’t want to impress anyone, much less the Factor from the hall. He was only coming to the farm to see if she was suitable for employment at the lord’s house as a favour to her mother. And just why was that, Rhian wondered. Had there been something between them before her mother had finally chosen her father and the life of a farmer’s wife?
She walked slowly towards her mother, who tutted loudly as she reached up to slap her gently on the arm.
Rhian patted her mother on her head, sometimes, being taller than any of the rest of the family was an advantage sometimes.
“He won’t take me. I’m much too clumsy for any job that he could offer me.”
Her mother looked at her sharply, “you mean you hope he won’t take you. But when your brother marries and brings his new wife home there won’t be room for you here, so either you take work at the hall or you find a man of your own. Her voice softened, “I know that it isn’t what you want Rhian, but you must see that there cannot be two mistresses in one house…”
Rhian made a face as she thought about Anya, there was no love lost between her and her brother’s fiancee, and when they married later that month life would be unbearable in the house.
It wasn’t that Anya was openly cruel or nasty, she just had a way of making Rhian feel huge and awkward. She was small and feminine and had a way of being pleasant to everyone, all the time.. It drove Rhian insane, there was no common ground between the two of them.
Rhian smiled at her mother. “I’ll go and change now.” She whistled softly as she climbed the stairs to her small room. Once inside she pulled the shirt off over her head and picking up a discarded blouse from under the bed, she inspected it for obvious stains before putting it on. Catching sight of her long dark hair in the reflection in the window she brushed it quickly before tying it back with a scrap of leather. A dark red skirt completed the change of clothes. She hesitated for a moment, but seeing that her long skirts hid her boots she decided against changing them for indoor shoes. The boots were far more comfortable than the shoes her mother had bought for her, despite her strenuous objections, the last time they went to the town market to sell eggs and vegetables.
She clattered back down the wooden stairs and headed into the kitchen where her mother was just pouring a cup of broo for the Factor. They had been laughing together , Rhian hoped that it was not about her. She knew that she was a bit of a laughing stock among the lads in the village. It didn’t help that she was taller than all them and could out shoot and outwrestle most of them.
She sat at the table and wrapped her hands around the mug that her mother pushed across to her.
The Factor took a sip from his cup and then, rather fussily, Rhian thought, wiped his mouth with a small cloth, once he had tucked it back into his sleeve he looked hard at Rhian, then turned to her mother.
“What are her skills?
“She can bake, clean, milk a cow, and do simple mending of clothes, but no fancy sewing or baking.”
Rhian stared at her mother, she knew that her skills in both baking and sewing were practically non existent. She could clean, that was true, but the only things she was really good at were taking care of the animals and fighting.
And neither of these talents were likely to be very useful to the factor.
In fact, he was already shaking his head, ready to turn her down when her mother spoke again.
“Now Rothwood, you know that you promised me a favour if I…”
“Yes, yes, of course.” The factor hurriedly cut her off mid sentence. “I daresay that we can find a use for her somewhere.” He stood and turned to face Rhian and speaking to her directly for the first time. “Come to the hall in a twoday and bring your things with you, report to the housekeeper and she will detail your duties.”
He half bowed to Rhian’s mother then left by the back door.
A faint exclamation of disgust drifted back into the kitchen as he, unsuccessfully, navigated through the mud.
Rhian and her mother giggled.
“Why did he owe you a favour?” Rhian was curious.
“Nothing really, I merely promised him that I would never tell your father that when I was engaged to him, Rothwood urged me to break it off and run away with him.”
Rhian raised her eyebrow at her mother.
“There’s no need to look so surprised miss, I was quite a catch when I was younger, I’ll have you know, not like…”She stopped talking suddenly.
“Not like me, you were going to say.”
“No I wasn’t, you are a beautiful girl and some day some young man will be lucky to find you.” She picked up the cups and took them over to the sink.
Rhian stayed where she was and gazed out of the window. What if I don’t want that? She thought. There must be more than the same life her mother had. There was a huge world beyond their town and Rhian wanted to see it.