Part 1 of Hookers and Hangers . . .the written kind.
Chapter 1 (help! many revisions): Lightning flashed against dark clouds, and Clara woke with a start, disorientated by the sunlight warming the curtain over her small window.
Chapter 2: In a room without windows, set deep within the Sword Hall of Skycliff, Stelia watched Dantor ease into the council room.
Chapter 3: Braced against the crumbling brown ramparts of Skycliff’s seawall, Clara leaned into the misty blue horizon.
Chapter 4: Behind closed the door of his topmost tower room above his private quarters, King Alexandros stood staring into an archaic mirror rimmed with a rusty frame.
Chapter 5: Stelia fought her way across Trinity Hall, cutting her way to Dantor.
Chapter 6: “A liability? And here I thought you had affection for our young Prince,” said Dantor.
Chapter 10: Clara stumbled over the doorway, and into darkness, falling into complete emptiness.
Chapter 15: Clara stayed still next to Master Dantor, pressing the cloth against his side, hoping to stop, or at least slow the bleeding.
Chapter 16: When Stelia saw Dantor’s wound she felt as if a knife had been plunged into her own chest, and she gasped.
Chapter 17: With her gear stored in a narrow bunk, and her sword still strapped to her back, Clara followed her mom into the medical officer’s cabin.
Chapter 20: Five days of routine passed, with no sea serpents or foul weather.
Chapter 21: Two more griffins flying towards the ship interrupted all conversation, and all eyes turned upward to watch them soaring, and circling, slowing with each round until they landed one after another aboard the ship.
Chapter 22: Down on his knees, with his neck uncomfortably exposed, King Alexandros wanted only one thing . . . a swift death.
