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dragon-swords-prophecies · 10 months ago

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Writing Excerpt: Enna's Prequel

In honor of the 2/3s winner of the poll I made last night, here's something I wrote last week.

(The winner was ''Anne gets rescued by a group of assorted sapphic women'')

Word Count: 1,227 Tw/cw: Blood/human sacrifice, murder, referenced death, the protaganist being afraid that someone close to them might die, fighting, weapons, blood. I think that's it, let me know if I missed anything else. Context: Anne got kidnapped by a necromancer (Eleanor) who wants to use her (and enna) as the sacrifice(s) to kickstart a summoning ritual. She wants to use them because of who their dad is (loosely an angel (if you know d&d they're assimar)) and the magic that gives them. This is the scene of Effie, Enna, Thea, and Lauralei all going to rescue her, because none of them want her dead or an eldritch being trying to kill them all. Effie is Anne's girlfriend/partner/future wife, Lauralei & Thea are her friends, & Enna is her twin sister.

At the bottom of four layers of catacombs was a secret trapdoor, guarded by a man named Barnabus. Now, he was dead. Enna pushed the door open and descended down the flight of stairs beyond it. She wasn’t expecting what was at their bottom.

In the center of the room was a carved stone circle. It was detailed with hundreds, if not thousands, of symbols and phrases that Enna could never hope to understand. At one side of it, placing half melted candles into worn grooves, was an auburn haired woman. She was taller than Enna by at least a foot and everything about her screamed two things. She was a necromancer, and she was rich.

Her dress was ebony black and made of fine, heavy cloth. It was the kind of fabric that it would cost a hundred gold just to get wax out of, but here she stood, wax dripping past her skirt. Her hair was braided into a crown, and at the top there was a hair comb. It had a blood red ruby in its center, and the rest of it was gold. Her make up was flawless, and her skin the color of clouds.

Chained against the wall was a woman who could have been Enna herself. She was small; slightly built to begin with and months of near starvation having taken their toll. Her hair was limp, her cheeks hollow and her eyes half closed. Her ankles and both her wrists were shackled, and one arm was bent in a way that no one’s should be. The only thing that told her Anne was alive was the twin pulse beating alongside her own and the slow rise and fall of her chest.

“Oh, excellent, you’ve made it just in time for the main spectacle,” she said, her voice filled with a malice that contained far too much glee for Enna to be comfortable with. Her voice was smooth—like velvet. “I would so hate for you to miss it,” Eleanor continued.

“What are you doing to her,” demanded Enna, feeling a short figure push against her back and knowing that Effie was behind her on the stairs.

“Oh,” laughed Eleanor, “Nothing I wouldn’t do to you. I was hoping I would get to kill all three of you, but,” —and here her voice took on a darker turn— “Zenderian killed the boy before I got the chance. Pity, that, but no matter. The two of you combined will be plenty strong enough for what is needed. Who knows, there might even be leftovers!” She giggled.

Enna let the arrow fly.

The giggling cut off abruptly. Suspended in the air in front of Eleanor’s throat was the arrow. It floated in space, bobbing gently in a nonexistent breeze. She reached up and plucked it out of the air like she was plucking a raspberry off a bush. “A steel tipped arrow. How… quaint.” Her lip curled, and she flung it to one side. It clattered against the flagstones.

Effie moved to Enna’s side, where she had a clear view of the room. She drew a vial from her belt, and hefted it in her hand as if to chuck it at Eleanor. Then she looked at Anne, and how close the two women were, and she lowered it.

“That’s right, little gnome. Just surrender now, and everything will be perfectly fine.”

“No! It won’t be! It isn't! You’re trying to kill my partner, who I love very much and would like to not be sacrificed for the birth of an eldritch demon.”

Eleanor stood to her full height as Effie withdrew a small crossbow from her back and two more figures moved past Enna to flank her and Effie. She drew a long and wickedly curved knife from her belt. It’s handle was worn, and the iron blade was sharp enough to gleam in the half-light.

“Oh, darling,” she purred. “Birth? No, this is just waking them up. They’ve existed for a long, long time.” She raised the knife behind her.

Effie hissed. “Fuck. You.” She pulled the trigger on the crossbow, watching as a pair of bolts fired straight for her.

Sure, she couldn’t use her potions. But that didn’t mean Effie was defenseless. She was a damn sight with a crossbow, and this one she had modified herself. The bolts weren’t steel, not completely. Copper did not, as a rule, mix particularly well with magic. It was practically impervious to it, which made it a very good weapon against spellcasters. In this case, necromancers.

Effie’s bolts shot, one and then another, cutting Eleanor off mid monologue. The first missed. It landed in the mortar of the wall behind Eleanor. The other didn’t. It flew straight into her upper arm and buried itself there. Eleanor screeched, and raised the knife with her uninjured arm. With the point she drew a careful line down Anne’s chest. The cut was shallow; about six inches long. It began at her throat. Blood began to bead along the edges, and slowly drip into the carvings below. It began to spread out in the carved circle. Eleanor began to smile. It was cold, and cruel, and the most terrifying thing Enna had ever seen in her life.

She didn’t know what scarred her more: Eleanor’s smile, or the fact that Anne didn’t react to the cut at all. The only sound she made was the slow ‘huff’ of her breathing, barely audible over the noise. At the same time, footsteps all at once began in the corridor to the left and immediately got louder. Temerity and Geir emerged from the archway. They were both armed to the teeth.

“Fuck,” said Lauralei, eloquently.

“You three deal with them,” said Thea. “I’ll get Anne.”

They nodded. Enna looked at Lauralei. “Make her feel it, will you?”

“Oh, she will,” said Lauralei grimly.

Just like that, the battle began. Enna dropped her bow and drew two of her daggers. She locked eyes with Temerity. The assassin drew her own blades.

“Fair fight?” she offered.

“Fair fight. No magic.”

“No bows,” countered Temerity. The two women circled each other.

“Fine. Three knives?”

“Don’t press your luck, Enna.”

“Alright. No bow, no magic. Agreed?”

“No magic, no bow,” said Temerity, and made the first move.

We must here pause in our narrative to clarify three things. One (1): Temerity was first and foremost an assassin. Her targets never saw her coming. Having one who could was throwing her off. That didn’t mean she was a shoddy fighter in the open—quite the opposite, in fact—but it did mean that just for the next few seconds, Enna had the upper hand.

Two (2): Temerity fought dirty.

Three (3): So did Enna.

#w: ennas prequel #wip: ennas prequel #c: effie fisarnos #c: effie the alchemist #c: enna helder kromlin #c: anne helder kromlin #c: lauralei #c: thea #my writing #writing #writeblr #writers of tumblr #wip excerpt

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dragon-swords-prophecies · 1 year ago

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WIP Re-Intro: Enna's Prequel

Title: Enna's Prequel (temporary title, subject to change)

Genre: high fantasy

Status: draft 1

Pov: third person dual POV

Setting: Halmond, a small-ish country in the world of Aqurah. The majority of the action takes place in its capital, the city of Halmire.

Universal TW/CW: Murder, complicated family relationships, necromancy, people murdering their own relatives, kidnapping, crime, swearing

Plot/Synopsis: When she was 20, Enna Helder-Kromlin ran away from Halmire, accused of murdering her own brother. Fourteen years later they've returned, at the request of their twin sister, Anne. But when he gets to the city Anne is missing, and has been for nearly a year. Enna must work together with Effie and Bezeo, two new friends Anne had made in their absence, to get to the bottom of just what the hell is going on--not only now, but also what was happening 14 years ago, and who actually killed her brother.

Notes: this is the prequel to Frost & Fire & is set 10-20 years before that story

Tags: #wip: ennas prequel, #c: [first name] + [last name if applicable]

Main Characters:

Enna Helder-Kromlin, any/all pronouns, ~34, half elf. The first of our two narrators, Enna is a thief, mostly, and sometimes a baker. A few weeks ago, Enna got a letter from her twin, Anne, dated almost a year ago, asking him to please come to Halmire because she needs to talk to them.

Anne Helder-Kromlin, she/her, ~34, half elf. Our other narrator, Anne is a thief, and the de facto leader of the second of two factions in Halmond's thevies guild--Oleski. A year ago, she left the city for her own safety, and was supposed to confirm her location within two months, but hasn't made any contact.

Effie Fisarnos, she/they, 64 (~33 in human years), mostly a gnome. Effie is an alchemist, who owns the potion shop The Broken Cauldron, which sometimes acts as a safehouse for the thieves guild. She is also Anne's partner/fiancee, but that isn't public knowledge, and not even Enna knows it. Anne promised to send her a letter no more than two months after she left, but Effie never got one.

Bezeo [last name], he/him, 68 (~36-38 in human years), dwarf. Bezeo is the owner of a traveling food cart that roams around the city. He also invented pizza, and works for the thieves guild Anne is in.

Zephyr Helder-Kromlin, he/they, deceased (died at age 24), half elf. Zephyr was the older brother of Anne and Enna, and fourteen years ago he was murdered. At the time, he was the leader of Oleski, the thevies guild. Enna (though innocent) was blamed for the murder, but she managed to get away. The actual culprit was never found.

taglist maintained below the cut! Ask to be added or removed!

@ihaveneverhadaclue @thelaughingstag @athenswrites

#wip intro #wip re intro #wip introduction #wip: ennas prequel #writeblr #writblr #creative writing #fantasy wip

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