6A/N: More promissory notes, I'm afraid — too many stories on the go, and I can't seem to get any one of them finished! But I thought at least I could post a sneak preview of three or four that are nearest to being done.
If there's one you're particularly keen to read, let me know. I'll try and focus on finishing whichever seems most popular — though I can't absolutely promise. The imagination is sadly willful (indeed counter-suggestible...). No titles as yet, but the dateline will serve to identify them.
As usual, everything in these extracts belongs to the incomparable Cassandra Clare, whose world, characters, story, language and imagery my stories entirely depend on.
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For starters, a teaser from my newest Jace and Valentine fic. I'll be posting extracts from more stories as soon as I can figure out suitable snippets...
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Sneak Preview #1
of a story by Midwinter Monday
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Wayland Manor, 1999
Caparisons were a pain. That was the opinion he, Jonathan Wayland, was rapidly coming to as he gripped his knees tighter around the thick cloth bunched below his saddle and galloped after his father down the wide, empty valley that lay beyond Mickle End.
Not that it wasn't kind of intriguing, riding the way people did back in the days of Jonathan Shadowhunter. But it was definitely much harder, and he couldn't exactly see the point nowadays of tacking up your horse in protective gear. The days of chivalry were long gone, sadly — and it wasn't like you were going to fight demons on horseback. At least, he didn't anyone did.
Not that he was complaining, he amended silently — not if it got him this unplanned morning-off from his books. His father had always been strict about his studies, and ever since Jace had turned nine it seemed like he had become more grimly purposive than ever, as though some invisible deadline were hovering on the horizon and there was no time to waste.
But even Waylands took a half-holiday, occasionally. Or so his father had agreed, as he looked up at last from his breakfast plate this morning, a lurking smile visible, to Jace's relief, in his shrewd black gaze. It had been touch and go, Jace reflected, and there had been a moment when he thought he'd pushed his luck too far, and that the upshot of his urgent petition for an educational excursion — as he hastily emphasized — to try out the ancient gear he'd unearthed while exploring the dustier reaches of the stable loft was going to be a dry reprimand and an extra hundred lines of The Divine Comedy to translate.
But he knew his father pretty well. It was a heartbreakingly fine day to be cooped-up indoors, and he'd been fairly sure his father wouldn't be any sorrier than he was for an excuse for spending the morning exercising in the fresh air.
Jace gazed at his father cantering a pony's length ahead of him with the straight-backed, athletic grace of the natural horseman, and felt a stab of wistful admiration and envy. You would never guess, watching him, how slippery the layers of quilted cloth draped over the horse's flank were or how uncomfortably they wadded up under your legs. Not to mention how impossible the stiff canvas covering the reins made it to feel your pony's mouth properly.
With a sigh, Jace shifted his weight down and back in the saddle the way he'd been shown, trying to copy his father's effortless seat and ignoring the ferocious ache that had begun burning in his calf muscles. He was glad his father's critical eye wasn't on him.
But it was definitely getting easier with practice. By lunchtime, thought Jace with a burst of optimism, he'd probably have got the hang of it. Digging his heels into his pony's flank, he flung himself exuberantly after his father until he had pulled abreast of the great black stallion and they were galloping side by side through the tall, sun-gilded grass, horses' manes streaming like pennants in the sparkling air.
The arrows, when they came, seemed to arrive out of the bright, empty sky...
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** UPDATE: the first chapter of this fic is now up under the title of Lessons **
More of this fic soon, I hope! In the meantime, if you haven't already, you might enjoy reading my other Jace and Valentine stories: Fall 1997, Discipline, An Orchard So Young in the Bark and Chiaroscuro.
And watch this space for previews of other fics I've got on the drawing board. —MM
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