Chapter 17

Here we are. Escaped from the darker recesses of my mind is Chapter 17. Your by now traditional teaser:

Lewis’ sword moved with agonizing slowness as he struggled to parry Siegfried’s attack. The baron was so damn fast, Lewis thought. Lewis managed to get his sword up to block the cut he expected but the baron’s sword wasn’t there. Siegfried’s sword somehow whipped up and beat Lewis’ blade away, out of line and to the right. Mentally and physically off-balance, Lewis winced. Here it comes.

For those of you keeping score at home, this chapter marks the end of what I like to call Part II. Captain Lewis’ story falls into roughly three parts, four if you’re being generous. Part I is chapters one through eight – up to the meeting with the crusaders. Part II is the bridge to the big battle and Part III, then, is the big battle. The very last bit is the conclusion, and I guess we could call that Part IV. I’ve written over 22,poo words for the rest of the story, and I know right now that I’ll be adding more as I go back through this stuff getting it ready to post. So far, including today’s extra long 3000-word chapter, I’ve posted 41,000 words.

As always, feel free – nay, feel obligated – to note in the comments any mistakes, grammatical errors, typos or infelicities of language. Comments on the story are of course welcome as well. I accept full responsibility for all that is published here. (But not the blame.)