WWW - and across the finish line

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post eight to ten sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image.

Continuing a chapter from Ghosts of Innocence, Shayla has stolen the identity of a new high-ranking Imperial appointee, Brynwyn bin Covin. She’s been met by a soldier (Kurt) from the Imperial Palace Guard, who’s escorting her to the Palace. Outside in the square Kurt spotted a row of coin-operated punishment stalls. Shayla stopped in front of a young woman prisoner with two young children, and had no choice but to live up to expectations of her position by inflicting some pain on the woman.

=====
A few people cheered. One man stepped forward with a coin in his hand, but stopped short when Shayla whirled round. "Shame on you!" she spat. "All of you!"

It took Shayla a fraction of a second to realize her error. Wouldn't Brynwyn have approved of further punishment? Yes, but Shayla couldn't let this continue.

The crowd fell silent once more, faces showing anger and confusion.



=====
Oops! Seems like her character has slipped! It’s not over for Shayla yet.

“Across the finish line” in the post title refers to the fact that I’ve finally finished the first draft of The Long Dark. Just a fraction over seven months’ work but there’s still a long road ahead. I expect to be revising and editing for the rest of this year and I will soon be looking for beta readers to provide feedback on high level story flow, plot and character development etc.