The Heart of the Falcon: The Guardian Maidens Book 3
Page 30
It was the same for the weapons. Our blow pipes were as good as I could imagine them. And the bows that we had now, aside from those that we had bought, I had made myself by working each evening as we rested. We might find something better made from a better wood than we had available to us locally, but what we had was very good. Each evening, all of us sat and refined our bokken and other weapons until they were as high a quality as we could manage. My grandfathers could have done better, but not so much that it would have given us much of an advantage over what we had.
I felt like we really didn’t lack anything for what we were planning to do. Sheena was constantly amazed at how different this was than what she had experienced and how confident she felt about all of us. She made it clear that she felt confident now. Before, she had just felt arrogant.
The one thing that we couldn’t be sure of was Nova. Her skills looked good. She practiced and studied hard. She insisted on learning the rudiments of bandaging and medicines from Val (and so did the rest of us). The thing about Nova was that she was untested. All of us had faced real danger, and each of us had killed a deadly assailant. Nova had fought shadows and wooden logs. She had a good heart and seemed ready, but you could never know until you faced the reality of the fight and saw what you would do when the time came. We had determined that in addition to the empty hand techniques and the bokken, that Nova would use a bow and arrows and stay close to Dawn.
My primary weapon was the sword. So was Sheena’s. Harmony and Val had their knives. Their knives were really more like short swords. Dawn and Nova were primarily archers. We all trained a bit in each weapon, and we all had bows and could use them, but we all had specialties as well. Harmony was most adept at throwing. She was as deadly with a stone as with a knife. Dawn could fire three arrows in the time it took me to fire one. Nova didn’t have an exceptional specialty yet, but I was sure that in time she would develop one…if she decided to continue when she found out what it was really like and didn’t decide that she wanted to stay home after her first taste of battle. If she did want to turn back, I would encourage her to do so and make sure that she had no sense of failure or shame over it.
Then the day finally came. After 13 days of practice and preparation, I felt that we were ready. At breakfast that morning, I announced that we would leave the next day. We would stay in contact every few hours. Nova would be responsible for communicating with Stacy. Stacy would communicate with Alice and Brenda and also her sister Jean, at Gerald’s farm. We rested and made final preparations and went to bed excited about what we would face the next day.
Afterword
We will end the third book here. If you read on, it’s up to you.
The story continues in the next volume. We know that Ronin and the “Adventure-Wives” are headed for Under Hill to explore and face whatever dangers are there as they go deeper into the caverns and tunnels abandoned by the Kobolds. I don’t really know what will happen next. Nova will have to be tested. They all will. Our hero is forming his kingdom; now he needs to take the territory and make it safe.
If you are still reading my story, again, that was your choice. It was a lot of reading when all that really needed to be said is summed up like this:
1. We give people choices, not commands.
2. We need a beginner’s mind. Shoshin. Nakedness.
3. We prepare to face danger, not hide from it.
4. We are not separate or alone.
If you choose to read on, I hope you enjoy it. I’m going to keep writing the story, whether you read it or not.
END OF BOOK THREE
About The Author
Marilyn Foxworthy lives a peaceful life studying classical mindfulness, practical philosophy, and martial arts. A prolific writer of fantasy and adventure in the style of the twentieth century pulp writers of the ‘Golden Age’ of fiction, she enjoys what she calls ‘Tom Swift for Adults’. Often blatantly and graphically erotic, her epic stories appeal to the adolescent parts of us that still enjoy a good vicarious adventure liberally sprinkled with interludes of boisterous romping in the hay.
Ms. Foxworthy describes her writing process this way: “I never know what is going to happen. The characters tell me their stories and I write them down the way I hear them. A character comes to me and sits down for coffee and starts talking. I’m as surprised as anyone by what they tell me. If I like the story, I publish it. If you like the story, you read it.”
Other Series by The Author
Series by Marilyn Foxworthy (without giving away too many spoilers):
• The Shrine Maidens of Barsoom. The “Red Planet” of John Carter’s stories is real, but not quite the way we were told. The Great White Apes are real, and the princesses really are naked, but a lot of the details a hundred years later are different.
• The Guardian Maidens of Sturgil's Mark. Ronin is a novice Adventurer Monk out to kill some monsters and make a name for himself. The elven girls who join him don’t like wearing armor very much, but overall, they’re a great team. Monsters beware. We’re coming to kick down doors and take the loot.
• The Girls on the Hill. They aren't really fairies. They're just the girls who work at the particular resort that Robby Jensen enjoys vacationing at. And this time he finds out that most of the female the staff have a crush on him. And the robots are terrible scamps. It starts with a drowning girl in the river; and Robby just happens to be there in a canoe to rescue her.
• The Nogud Legacy. What if you wake up on a road with no idea who you are? The place seems medieval, but is it the future, or the past? The population is low and good men are at a premium. A smart guy like Joshua knows how to make a new life, even if he can’t figure out how he got here or what the rules are at first. And what's with these girls in the hoods and tunics?
• The Sea Nymphs. Robby is established now and wants to share his good fortune with his older brother Tom. Tom adjusts to Robby’s lifestyle quickly. He has his own way of doing things, but he’s Robby’s brother for sure.
If you don’t see all of these series in the store yet, they’re coming soon.
If you would like to keep in touch, hear about new releases, or anything else, you can find the contact information on the Amazon author page for Marilyn Foxworthy.
And if you enjoyed the book, please do leave a review on Amazon or GoodReads.com.