Happy Spring! Since Monday was the spring equinox, I thought I'd celebrate by posting an excerpt from a short story featuring Gwen, the Goddess of Spring's Avatar. I wrote this story for an anthology about games, but it was rejected. I'm debating whether or not to add it to my upcoming short story collection The Season Between. (This collection is meant to include one short story featuring each of the Season Avatars, and Gwen is already represented by another story.) Perhaps if I ever write for Substack or do more with my newsletter, I can save this story as a reward for certain subscribers. Anyway, here's the first scene:
Dame H’even, the One Oak’s head housekeeper, was never late for her morning meeting in Gwen’s study. Gwen had already refilled her fountain pens, reviewed the notes from yesterday’s healing session, and checked the wind-up clock on the mantel more times than she wanted to admit, all while keeping her queasy stomach from rebelling. To make matters worse, no one had brought up a breakfast tray for her. She couldn’t heal anyone without food to fuel her magic, especially in her condition. Gwen tugged the bellpull. The clock ticked off several minutes, but no one responded.
“By All Four Gods and Goddesses, something’s wrong,” she muttered. The servants at the One Oak took great pride in serving the Four’s Avatars. If none of them were available, some dire emergency must be threatening everyone. Gwen glanced around her study, wishing she had a fighting staff from the Temple to defend herself. She could use her magic to stun or injure an enemy, but she had to get close enough to touch them first.
Empty-handed, she ventured into the hallway. No one was visible in either direction, but her keen ears picked up voices from the servants’ quarters on the floor above. Although she seldom ventured to the third floor, she knew where the stairs were. They were plain and narrow, unlike the stairs in the rest of the house, and her steps echoed on the scuffed wood. As she reached the top, the voices became clearer. Several women, including the housekeeper and Daisy, Gwen’s personal maid.
“Freeze it, Dame H’even, why’d you take that card?”
“Language, Dama!”
“I have a quartet!”
Gwen raised her eyebrow. That didn’t sound like people in distress.
She knocked a couple times on the housekeeper’s door before swinging it open. Four women in the One Oak’s livery were crowded around a tiny table, each holding a fan of cards. They didn’t look up as Gwen entered the room but continued picking cards from each other’s hands.
“Dame H’even? We have things to discuss before I head into Midpoint this afternoon.”
The housekeeper laid a quartet of cards on the crowded table. Daisy stared at it. “Are you sure you’re not hiding the Chaos card, Dame H’even?”
Gwen’s stomach threatened to rebel. She forced the nausea down but felt so weak she had to lean against the doorway. “Daisy, why didn’t you come when I summoned you? And whatever happened to breakfast?”
The four women continued drawing cards. Even the maid facing the doorway seemed oblivious to Gwen’s presence. They couldn’t have gone deaf, as they were speaking to each other, but they acted as if nothing outside of the game mattered.
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