Welcome to another edition of the Weekend Writing Warriors blog chain. We continue with another snippet from my short story collection, Weirder and Wilder Tales, which is a mix of speculative fiction short stories from high fantasy to science fiction with a dash of horror thrown in for good measure. Most are flash fiction, around a thousand words, but three stories are a bit longer. Today’s snippet is from The Wolf and the Songbird, the last of the longer pieces of the collection. A young maiden, emphasis on maiden, walks through the forest near to her small Welsh village, compelled by tradition and in search of someone or something….
An owl hooted in the distance. The hem of the long red cloak brushed the leaves that littered the forest floor. The cold air bit into every inch of exposed skin.
Did it have to be red?
But it was tradition. Like Mum’s inspection.
“Maybe I should call the vicar to do it, they way it was done before? Or maybe a group of the village’s wise women? My book club meets tomorrow,” Mum said as she gave me a once over.
What was the inspection for, and why is she traveling so deep into the dark wood, well that will be answered in another time. For now, feel free to visit comment, subscribe to any of the blogs along the chain. Until next Sunday, I bid you adieu.
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Neither Here nor There.... 
I’m intrigued. 🙂 I do wonder what she’s searching for. And nice piece of music–good to write by. 🙂
One thing jumped out at me: “Did it had to be red?” Should it be “have” instead of “had”…or maybe this is the way your character talks and thinks. 🙂 If that’s the case, ignore my comment. 🙂
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Fixed it, thanks.
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It’s not every day ‘book club’ and ‘wise women’ end up in the same sentence! Very intriguing, looking forward to finding out what is going on!
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Mum’s friends are very wise indeed.
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I find the red cloak highly suspicious. Who knows what that will attract? 🙂
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Who knows? 😉
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I wonder if the red is superstitious? I do love a good superstition! I was intrigued by the cloak and what the inspection was. I would make a suggestion:
“for a lack of a better word” – I think the sentence would be stronger without this part, and with “inspection” italicized, perhaps, instead.
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I didn’t want to confuse the reader with too many italics. I’ll what I can up with although I did take out the extraneous wording. Thank you.
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Yes, I was at once intrigued by the importance of red and the mother’s inspection. Well done.
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Loved the prosaic mention of a book club! Intriguing snippet and the color red is now imprinted on my mind. Effective.
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Really caught my attention with the juxtaposition of fairy tale lore with modern day references. Want to read more . . .
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