Wednesday Snippets

It's been a while! I've been pretty stop-start on Imperial Demons over the last week or so due to illness and pain, but I'm hoping to get back on track now. As proof of my re-dedication, behold a snippet!

Snip!

 She did try to fight, of course, kicking and wriggling in her captor's grip. But whoever or whatever it was, it ignored her feeble attempts. Long nails cut through her cloak and into her skin, the pain serving to focus her. They'd pinned her arms to her sides, she wasn't getting free, so she quickly figured she should pay attention to her surroundings in case the chance came later.

She hung limply in her captor's grip, wondering if she dared try to turn her head and see what held her. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know, but she looked down at the arm locked round her waist and saw jet-black skin, dusted with vibrant cobalt blue, almost as if someone had thrown glitter over it.

The woman she'd walked into was only recognisable as a woman by her hourglass figure, and Lola supposed even that might not mean anything here. She was heavily veiled and swathed from head to foot in black. Thick, straight horns rose from her head, but they seemed to be part of her headgear, not her. She was leading them out of the mob of the market, down one of the wider cleaner streets leading off the square.

The houses lining the street were not exactly grandiose, but certainly impressive, with turrets and spiked window arches. The blackened bricks were scarred and chipped. Ravens nested in the windows and turrets, cawing harshly as Lola was carried past. The woman raised one gloved hand and a single bird flew down to perch on her shoulder, chirping affectionately. Lola realised with a chill what that had to mean.

This had to be Mara, the baroness of Bitter Waters. Weary despair fell over her. Of course Lola would throw mystery meat all over the ruler of the town.

Her despair turned to a mounting fear when Mara turned down a shadowed passageway and lead them up a short flight of crooked stone steps. The steps lead up into a small courtyard, piled high with snow, with a well in the middle. Ravens crowded together on the sloped roof of the well, their bloody-black feathers glowing in the sun. They watched Lola with bright eyes and she swore she saw amusement in their gazes.