I admit that doing teasers from The Merchant of Nevra Coil is tough because I don’t want to reveal one of the big things just yet.  I might do it in next week’s Tuesday thing since I’ll be getting opinions next weekend on the blurbs.  That’s when I post them and lock down all the sharing until I delete the post the next morning.  Anyway, this is a fun scene that was born from a filler chapter or two getting cut.  Enjoy.

Sari by Kayla Matt

Covered in dirt and exhausted from their lengthy journey to Gods’ Voice, the champions quietly sit around the circular table. The open windows let in a gentle breeze that eases their aching muscles and cools some of their flaring tempers. A wide balcony sits outside and allows the guests to see most of Serab’s capital city, but none of the adventurers show interest in enjoying the view. Several sparrows flutter around the windows, their nests having been made under the pitted eave. None of the champions pay the noisy birds any attention as they silently ponder the argument that has been repeated over the last few days. Goblets of fresh water remain untouched as nearly everyone shoots angry glances and muttered curses at Luke who is the cleanest out of the group. Sari is busy picking twigs out of her hair and flicks each one at the forest tracker. Fizzle is the only one with a smile on his face as he lounges in a bowl of green and yellow apples.

“Cross the southern mountains, pass through the forests, and cross over the L’dandrin River to get here,” Nyx finally says, her violet eyes flickering with flames. She ignores the pleading expression on Dariana’s face and continues to revive the debate. “Why did we listen to you, little brother? It might have taken longer to get here by boat, but it would have been easier. I know you hate water travel because of your seasickness, but Gods’ Voice has a lot of river traffic. We could have caught a ship from Freedom and not arrived looking like we spent the last week wrestling ogres in a mud pit. All that trouble to arrival quickly.”

“Actually, I think taking a boat would have been quicker,” Delvin points out with a jaw-straining yawn. The warrior examines his armor sleeve as he tries to buff the fresh dents out of the silver plates. “We were on the road for at least two weeks. You’re thinking of the time Luke said it would take, which I believe was a week.”

“My favorite part was the bramble patch we fell into,” Sari mentions, taking a deep drink of water. The dirt vanishes from her body when she mutters a spell, the sensation of clean skin helping her relax. “Then again, the trolls were a welcomed bout of excitement since Nyx was bathing out of earshot at the time. Not that she could have helped since those river nymphs decided to toy with her. Don’t even get me started on the avalanche caused by those screech hawks. My calves are still crying from running so hard and that was five days ago.”

“On the plus side, we got to work more as a team,” Dariana states, feebly trying to defend Luke. She curls against her chair when Nyx and Sari turn their angry thoughts on her. “Then again, I’m still shrugging off the dark dreams from that necrocaster. He was a very strange and disturbing man. I think he wanted to breed with all of us. I don’t mean just the women, but the men and Fizzle too. Is that even possible?”

Timoran clears his throat, coughing up a glob of phlegm that he swallows to avoid disgusting his friends. “We could spend all day going over the utter disaster of our journey. One could easily laugh about the great champions of Windemere stumbling through the wilderness like amateur adventurers. Perhaps it is best that we leave these events in the past and agree not to talk about them. After all, we are all to blame to some extent.”

“Fizzle said to use portal from Helgard,” the drite interjects, apple juice dripping from his lips. He rolls onto his back and stretches his purple-scaled body, enticing Nyx to scratch his smooth belly. “Could go from Helgard to Garden then stay in forests. Mountains too bad. Why we no take portal?”

“Because somebody was scared,” Luke bitterly says, causing everyone to look at Timoran.

“I said you could blindfold me if you all wished to take that path,” the barbarian argues, crossing his arms over his chest. “I have become calmer about being around magic, but transportation portals are . . . unnerving. That still did not mean we had to traverse the southern wilds.”

“So . . . both of you are idiots,” Nyx bluntly states.