Jillian Chantal

This week’s word prompt for the writers of Tuesday Tales is strong. I am still in my regency era story.

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When she arrived at the stable area, she asked for the head groom.

As soon as he came around the corner, she asked, “Has anyone returned a runaway horse?”

“I think we’ve had a half dozen mounts brought in by someone other than their owner. Which are you seeking?”

“My friend, Robert Cecil’s horse, Dante.”

“Ah, yes.” The groom rubbed his beard. “He’s back there. Eating everything in sight.”

“Thank goodness. Robert was worried and sent me to check. You know how attached we get to our steeds.” She was glad to hear Dante was eating. Just like his master, he liked his meals.

“Glad to hear your friend made it. With the amount of blood on the animal, we were afraid the rider was dead.”

“Thank God he isn’t. Sadly, the horse in front of him was shot and spooked Dante. I guess all the blood was from that other poor creature.”

“Dante is calm now. I hope the incident didn’t ruin him for future battles.”

“Same here. May I see him so I can report to his owner that I’ve laid eyes on him?”

“Of course. Follow me.” The groom led her past several other mounts and stopped at Dante. “Those other beasts are waiting to be claimed. It’s always a task when the battle is over to find out who won’t be claiming their horse. Such a sadness. These animals and their soldiers all have a strong bond.”

“I know. When you have such an intimate fighting partner, you become as one. I feel sorry for the ones who’ve lost their masters. It must be confusing and tragic for them.”

“I like you, Soldier. You understand horses.” He grinned and asked, “Would it be too forward of me to introduce myself?”

The man was at least twice her age and even though Maud was sure he was thinking she was his better, she had no such thoughts. “I’d be honored to make your acquaintance as we do seem to agree about these magnificent creatures. I’m Somerset.” She hesitated as she always hated to use her brother’s name. “Thomas.”

The groom smiled. “And I’m Peter Blake.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Blake and I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again.” She grinned. “May I visit Khan for a moment?”

“Khan is your mount?” Blake’s smile widened. “That’s one special beast.”

“He sure is.” She leaned toward him and whispered, “Don’t tell him you think so. He already thinks he’s the best there is. It’ll just make him hard to live with.”

“I’ll keep it a secret.”

This week’s word for Tuesday Tales is pale. I am still working on the Regency story where my heroine is disguised as a man and fighting in the Peninsular War in 1814. This scene is after a battle.

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As the sun came closer to setting, as if by some unspoken agreement, the armies began to disburse away from the battlefield.

Maud followed the young corporal who’d led her to the cavalry unit that morning. He turned and called out, “Retreat.”

Grateful the day’s fighting was all but over, Maud did as ordered and guided Khan back to the area where they’d mustered earlier.

The colonel, still on his own steed, addressed his men. “Well done, soldiers. Get some rest this evening as I’m sure we’ll be engaging the enemy again at dawn.” He saluted them. “Dismissed.”

As soon as the colonel uttered the word dismissed, Maud was eager to return to her quarters and wash the dirt of the day off herself.

She left Khan in the care of the stable men and rushed toward her tent to check on her friends.

She neared and was surprised to see William, pale and shaken, hurrying toward her.

“Come with me to the medical tents. We have to see if Robert is there.”

Her stomach plummeted to her knees. “What happened? Was he wounded?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to recant them. Of course he was injured if William thought he was in the medical tents.

“It was awful. Awful.” William grabbed her upper arm and practically dragged her along. Not that she was slow but he was desperate.

“Tell me about it as we go.”

“We were in the middle of the fray and the horse directly in front of him was shot. When the animal went down, it threw its own rider. Robert’s mount reared up and let out a horrific scream”—William’s grip tightened—“like nothing I’ve ever heard before.”

“What about Robert?”

“He couldn’t hold on, his horse went wild. The next thing I knew, Rob was on the ground and his steed was running as fast as it could away from the battle. There was nothing I could do for Robert. He was soon surrounded by some of the French infantry. I’m hoping he survived.”

Maud’s stomach turned again and it was all she could do not to vomit. “Oh no. I know he’s good with close combat. Let’s pray we find him not too badly injured.”

“I’ve been praying all afternoon that he’s not dead.”

This week, here on Tuesday Tales, we’re all writing to a picture prompt. I chose the one I did as it fit into the story I’m on deadline on. I’ve taken a break from my thriller involving human trafficking as I have to get this Regency story done and cleaned up in a few weeks. The heroine in it has dressed as a man to take her father’s place in the army and this is part of the scene where she left home. (This is for a series of books based on legends and reimagined in the the Regency era. Mine is based on Mulan).

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The fear of being found out and dragged back home in shame took half the day to abate.

Once she was sure her plan hadn’t been found out, she relaxed a little. She even stopped for a while to allow Khan to graze and have some water from a stream. Once she was sure she could keep down some food, she ate one of the scones Thomas had gotten for her from Cook.

The sun seemed to move faster in the sky this day. Almost before she knew it, it was close to setting. Now she had to think seriously about where to make camp.

Although she’d brought her saved pin money with her, she didn’t want to take a chance on staying at an inn. A man as small as she was would be memorable. If her father sent someone to find her, they would most assuredly check inns along the way to the coast.

Grateful she’d been able to find her father’s old campaign tent, she set about finding a spot to erect it.

“What do you think, Khan? Can we find a place with grass for you and water for us both?”

The horse neighed as if he understood her. She was sure he did. They’d always had a bond. From the moment her father bought him at Tattersall’s. Even though he wasn’t a racehorse, he was of good breeding and strong. His only fault to the men at the auction house was he was too slow for Ascot. Her father had gotten him for a good price and from the instant the animal arrived at the Somerset stables, she loved him.

The sun moved deeper into the horizon. She spurred Khan on. “It’ll soon be full dark. We must find a place I can defend if need be.”

This week’s word prompt for Tuesday Tales is cabinet. I am still working on the thriller with the human trafficking element.

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I was right about how much worse the stench would be inside. I’d smelled many a dead body in my time and I was sure there were few in this place. It broke my heart. These were children. Children who never even had a chance at a life. Even those who were still alive probably had seen so many things and been mistreated in so many ways they would never have a normal psyche. It made me furious. I wanted to hurt someone.
Settling for punching a wall, I didn’t even feel the pain nor notice the blood flowing from my fist until I saw droplets land on my khakis.
“Come in here and check this out,” Ben said.
I wanted nothing more than to sit beside some of these children and try to comfort them, but I needed to get hold of my temper first, so I walked past some pitiful little boys who were huddled on mattresses and watching us as if we were going to be the next to victimize them.
In a room at the far end of the house, there was a bed, a series of computers and video equipment. I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat. “Dear God, they’re making internet kiddie porn?” The words tasted bitter on my tongue.
“Looks like it.” Ben pulled out his radio and thumbed it on. “Dawn, call the local authorities and our contact at the FBI. We got kiddie porn. We also need social services for these children.”
I pulled some latex gloves on and moved to the closest cabinet. Looking for evidence that would take these demons down, I opened the door.
“Hang on, Kev. We need to leave that to the crime scene folks,” Ben said.
“I know, I know. I’m not going to taint anything. I’m merely seeing if there’s film in here that will nail these jerks to the wall.”
“Be careful. We don’t want to mess up any chances of conviction.”
Now he was just making me mad. Did he think I was some kind of rookie? I whirled around, determined to confront him but realized in time I was aching for a fight. And he was the wrong guy. He wasn’t who I was livid at. It was the monsters who would steal a child’s innocence for a few bucks.
The red of rage almost blinded me in the moment before I got hold of myself.
Chagrined, I smiled at Ben. “Sorry. I’m a little testy but this makes me crazy.”

This week’s word for the group of authors from Tuesday Tales is cozy. It’s kind of hard to use such a word in this human trafficking novel I’m writing but I did it. It amused me to try to figure a way to work it in. Hope you like what I did.

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Ben looked at me. “How do you want to play this?”
“It seems deserted, but we can’t be sure. Since we can’t take Bozo back there with us as he’d be a distraction, I propose you stay here with him and keep an eye out. I’ll sneak around back and see if I can scope it out. If it’s safe, I’ll radio you.”
“I’ll send Dawn our GPS coordinates and have her come along with some of our people for backup. Don’t go in until they arrive. Even if it looks clear. Someone could be hiding out ready to blow your head off.”
I wasn’t making any promises, but I knew I’d be careful. I was kind of attached to my head. It was cozy and snug right where it was. On my neck, between my shoulders. And there it would stay if I had anything to say about it.
“Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing, Kev.”
“What?” Even to me, my voice sounded falsely sincere.
“You didn’t respond to my order not to go in.” He stared into my eyes with a hard look. “It is an order, by the way, but I see where your heart is. Just try to stay alive, man.”
With that tacit approval, I opened the door of the SUV and stepped out on the cracked and pot-holed parking lot. The thing was a danger in and of itself. I bet it hadn’t been maintained in forty years. Loose pieces of broken tarmac were scattered around.
Hoping I wouldn’t trip in one of the crater-sized holes and break my ankle, I moved as swiftly as I could to the side of the building closest to the edge of the woods. It seemed a safer place to start as there would be no traffic coming from that direction. Not that we’d seen any coming from the other way either. It was strangely still and silent. Almost as if the whole place held its breath.