Greetings

They happened upon an outrider before they got to the orc village proper. He greeted them with a large dose of caution.

“Hello, travelers, are you lost?” he asked.

Kajivar pushed clumped locks of dirty hair out of her eyes. “Badash? ‘Zat really you? Didn’t think you were out for solo patrols yet.”

For several long seconds, the young male looked astonished, then suspicious, then completely shocked. “Kajivar?” Her name was a breath on his lips, barely heard. “You’re alive? I mean, we never found your body, but you’re alive?”

She turned her face away in shame. Her eyes fell on Grak’s boots, peeking out the edge of his robes. He didn’t know. She swallowed with some difficulty and turned back to Badash. “It’s a long story. I was away, when I returned and saw...” she trailed off with a small shrug. “Well, I fell into a whiskey barrel for a while.”

“Two years, Kajivar.” The young warrior turned his horse away from them. “Well, follow me. The Sundance are still welcome among the Kra’kish.”

~*~

ETA: So, nearly two years after I stopped posting, I've started again. I've scheduled posts out every other day until July 24th.

New Year Charity Raffle

Happy New Year!

It's a lovely new year, beloved internet, and I mean to start it off on a positive note. Therefore I am hosting a charity raffle for the month of January. Every whole dollar you donate to one of the organizations listed below will earn you one virtual raffle ticket. The prize is a gift basket which consists of four hand-knit wash cloths, and three items of your choice from Chagrin ValleySoaps.

Please, donate directly to the organizations and email the receipts to me for your entries. perihawk at gmail dot com.  The receipts will only be kept for the duration of the fund-raiser and destroyed immediately after the winner is confirmed.

As a bonus, if you're into the humiliation of your friends, if we reach a combined total of $250, I will make a video of myself singing "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid.

Photo used with permission of Chagrin Valley Soaps.

Donation emails will be accepted January 1st through 31st. The winner will be drawn on February 2nd.

Thank you for helping me start this new year off right!

MSF - Doctors Without Borders is a French secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

Villalobos Rescue Center is a Pit Bulls Dog rescue, rehabilitation and placement facility for abused and abandoned Pit Bulls.

The mission of Books With No Bounds is to provide Aboriginal children and teens living in remote communities, with books donated by publishers, authors, schools, individuals and organizations. Books With No Bounds organizes, catalogues, packs, and sends appropriate books to the Nishnawbe Aski Nations so that Aboriginal children and teens are given critical building blocks for literacy success.

Heifer International is a global nonprofit with the goal of ending poverty and hunger in a sustainable fashion. Established in 1944, Heifer International gives out gifts of livestock, seeds and trees and extensive training to those in need.

Cat Care was founded by Suzanne Hart and Eileen McIntosh in order to address the over population of cats and to assist individuals in their surrounding communities including Peterborough, Northumberland and Hastings Counties by arranging for cats to be spayed/neutered at low cost spay/neuter facilities in Ontario.

Six Degrees of Awesome

I've been trying to think back to when my introduction to the Evil League of Evil Writers began. They didn't exist as the ELEW at the time, but it's a beautiful way to describe these fantastic people.

I guess it truly starts with the day I bought my Nook. I immediately went diving for low-cost books. I happened upon Wolfkin by Elaine Corvidae. I was so captivated that I immediately went out and bought ALL of her books that were available on Barnes & Noble.

Not many weeks later, a friend on Twitter mentioned her in an @reply. I lost my dignity. Friends, I was a scary fangirl.

Anyhow, Elaine introduced me to Dina James and Skyla Dawn Cameron. These ladies led me to Mundania Press and the serious dent in my wallet. The conversations and chatter over Twitter have made me positively giddy.

I knew Skyla edited for Mundania, but I didn't realize she wrote until an off-hand comment one day had me searching for her on BN. I discovered River, which led me to Bloodlines and beyond. Her last installment, Exhumed, made me weepy more than once.

Okay, Dina is something else. I know her far more for her Eviltry and knitting. But she's also an amazing writer. She wrote a YA book called All Wounds that had me grinning from ear to ear. Especially Billy and his car. ... Okay, his car.

Then Skyla introduced me to Sarah-Jane Lehoux. Her book Thief grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. I may have done a little chair dance when I realized I could go right on to the next book. 

So, here are a few authors that Twitter found for me. I hope you take a look at their work and enjoy it as much as I did.

Sundance - Taking out the Trash

Grak bowed his head in aquiesence. She continued her glare for a full second before she whirled away.

"Stupid, show-off orc," she muttered to herself as she stomped her way to the dazed-looking survivors. "How am I supposed to top that? Inconsiderate, I tell you." She kicked a downed body in the plate armor to get their attention.

She gave a satisfied smirk when every last one of them cowered away. A small part of her brain realized that they thought she was the one who'd thrown lightning at them, but she ignored it. "Well, I can't help but wonder why you fine men were chasing after us with bare steel," she kept her voice just loud enough for all of them to hear.

She waited until the whimpers died down. "Now, seeing as  you're a bit... indisposed, if you should begin hobbling back the direction you came, we won't feel the need to finish what we've started. Deal?"

She stood imposingly while every last man turned tail and limped away. The fact that a twelve-year-old weaver's apprentice would be intimidating to them didn't trouble her in the slightest. She watched them until they disappeared into tiny specks on the horizon.

Then she stomped back to the orc. "Well? Keep walking."

Sundance - Taking Turns

She raised an eyebrow at Grak. She opened her mouth to say something, anything. The words, when they finally came, were choked and disbelieving. “Small magic?”

He shrugged. “I did not get them all,” he said apologetically.

Kajivar pulled her short sword from the saddle sheath, unhooked the small round shield.  “Well, it’s only fair that I get the rest, right?”

Grak started to protest. “But, Warrior, you-”

She glared at him. “Stay here,” she snarled.

Sundance - Small Magics

Grak lowered his head in acknowledgement, and turned away. Kaj started stripping away her furs. She tightened the ties on her body armor, adjusted her pauldrons, and readjusted her war skirt so it was no longer quite so personal. She tied her hair back with a strip of leather.

A chill down her spine was the only warning before lightning struck. Heat flashed across her back a split second before thunder crashed through to her bones. Her hands felt frozen, halfway between her hair and her weapons.

The smell hit her first, the odor of seared meat churned into nausea in her gut. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder.

Sundance - Visitors!

Welcome to another installment of Sundance, my unedited brainchild that won't leave me be. I'm happy to have you all reading. Though I am curious about the readers. Especially the one from Russia. Feel free to introduce yourselves, I love knowing my words are read. Mostly because my ego is terribly needy.

~*~

"Warrior?" Grak's voice sounded far away, and surely she imagined the concern she heard. "Warrior, I would ask after an injury I may have missed, but it appears that some patrons from the inn last night have something to discuss with you."

Sound returned all at once, angry shouts and the clang of armor on running bodies. "Oh, that doesn't look very good," she said dully. "I suppose I should stand then?"

Grak grasped her arm and helped her up. "If I may, warrior, there is enough room here that I may perform some small magics for defense."

Kajivar nodded. "You do that while I straighten out, I think my armor has taken a crawl up my backside."

Sundance - Sense of Direction

"Hey, stupid, stop," she mumbled. The horse froze in his tracks. Kajivar slid to the ground, holding tight to the saddle horns as her knees didn't want to work right away. The orc was a bit blurry on the other side of the saddle. "You got a name?" she asked.

He huffed in what sounded like amusement. "I am Grak."

"I was a bit drunk at the time-" and might still be a little tippled- "but do I remember you using sorcery?" She couldn't keep the incredulity from her voice. Orcs weren't sorcercers. It just didn't happen.

Grak simply nodded. "I have been a student of sorcery for some years."

Kajivar just nodded. "So..." She looked around, but everything was still blurry. "Where are we going?"

"I am heading to pay my respects to the Kra'kish," he said. "You are welcome to join me."

She wasn't sure how it was possible to stumble when one was standing still, but Kajivar found herself on her ass at the gelding's hooves. Her head swam with too many emotions to identify. Except despair, that one was familiar and unmistakable.

Sundance - Hangover Memories

It wasn't the first time she'd woken face-down over a saddle, Kajivar admitted to herself. Though it was a bit of a change not to be tied hand and foot. Booted feet under muddy brown robes walked at the gelding's head. Kaj struggled to remember who it might be.

Oh.

The orc.

The tavern.

Her people.

Pain shot through Kajivar's body at the memory. Though two years passed, the burning loss felt new and raw.

Two years exactly, with this sunrise.

This bright, bright sunrise. Kajivar gripped the pommel of her saddle with one hand while she fumbled in the saddle bag with the other. She was pretty sure there was at least one left.

"Such action is not advisable, warrior," the orc rumbled.

Kaj grabbed hunks of hair to move them out of the way so she could glare. "What would you know of it?"

If he was smiling she would have to kill him, hang-over or no. "At least as much as you know of me," he said quietly.

Sundance - Grak to the Rescue

Grak sighed heavily. If he was honest, he was rather glad she'd passed out before his big confession. He retrieved his tray of herbs and crouched next to the warrior woman to begin his healing.

The innkeeper stomped in as he finished. "I thought I told you to get the hell out," he snapped.

Grak sighed again. "The warrior needed a bit of healing first, good sir," he said placatingly. "We will vacate your establishment momentarily."

The dwarf stared at him like he'd sprouted another head.  "Just get off my property," he rumbled, irritated.

Grak sighed. "Of course, good sir." He lifted the warrior's saddle from the stall and turned to the horse. The gelding flattened his ears at the orc. Grak mimicked the gesture and let out a warning growl. The gelding lowered his head and blew at the ground. Grak saddled him with no difficulty.

No, the difficulty was in getting the horse's master into that saddle. Grak eyed her slumped form critically. He poked the furs around her shoulders. They were a bit dirty, but not infested. He used them to wrap her up like a sausage and tied her belly-down over the saddle.

It would be most displeasing if she died of the cold after he'd healed her wounds.