April Raines' Storybook Corner

Signore Agapios walked through the door followed by a pair of mortals, one of whom looked a little pale. They were both male, and looked more like than traders, but then, he was Greek. The odd part was that the pale one had red hair; it appeared Signore Agapios liked exotic slaves. The man himself, however, was unremarkable. Short, somewhat plump, with tan skin and dark hair, Signore Agapios looked unremarkable. That worried me.

Last night was Day Two of our Olympic experience. We had tickets for women's hockey Prelim - Switzerland vs. Slovakia.

Instead of taking the transit all the way across town, which is a 2 hour trip normally, who knows how long with extra Olympic folks, we drove to my grandmother's and parked there, then took the bus. This was extra awesome as we got to have a visit, and also Hubby got to work for a half day (which is good because he just started a new job and doesn't have days off yet).

Today was Day One of our Olympic experience, also known as "The Olympics vs. the 4 year old". Today it went well... until the last 30 mins of the bus ride/walk home.

Procurius explained the Signuri Umbrae had been staying at the inn when both he and his fell ill. The illness had barely manifested before Umbrae left for whatever his business was, and when he had returned days later both Procurius and his wife had been near their deathbeds. Their mouths full of sores, they had been unable to eat and barely able to drink. Their bodies had begun to consume themselves for want of other food.

#1

With aftershocks gone,
I sit amid my ruined
life. This is my hell

#2

Not horns nor pitchforks
do I fear, but misery
in things left undone.

#3

Fire and brimstone call
Without rules to bind my mind
Torment is my home

I did not emerge from the shadow state until we were back in my rooms. Valerius would have men in the city, and though they would be able to track a man I doubted they could track a shadow.

Antonius collapsed to the floor gasping and gagging when I released him from the shadow. I simply walked from the room and called for a slave to assist me; it had been a long journey back. Once I had fed, I returned to see Antonius’ progress. The shadow state was meant only for one, there was no air to breathe and no way to move; Antonius had been trapped.

It will get up, honestly it will! I was hoping to have this week's The Shadows of Sicily up tonight, and I may still manage it, but we just got a new computer so now I am having to wait while it installs my writing program before I can make any progress.

Ok, folks, I am taking a break this week. A combination of writer's ennui - where I am bored of writing and bored of everything I write - coupled with trying to arrange birthday parties, yes multiple, for my little monkey & bake the requisite goodies means my energy is low and my time even lower.

I will get a little done on The Shadows of Sicily, enough to change the teaser at least.

Part 1

The next two nights were filled with similar conversations and many sightings of Romans. Antonius had come to blows with one the first day, while I slept; when I had awoken I found half a bag of silver denarii beside my head.

After fighting with The Shadows of Sicily | Chapter 13: Decentius Takes a Meeting - Part 4 all week and having it go round in circles without any plot, I've finally managed to finagle something out of it. Of course, it's not the meeting I meant him to have, and I really don't want to spend a whole 'nother chapter trying to do that meeting. So that should be next week. Provided the muses are kind.