Teaser Tuesday

Good Morning and Happy Spring to you! The flowers are popping everyone and gardens are being started in my neck of the woods! How about yours? My cabbage and lettuce plants have tiny shoots and the wisteria flowers make me smile every time I drive by them! Spring brings a sort of magic with it, don't you think?

My unedited teaser today comes to you from an original start to a story that I'd set aside several years ago. Don't forget to check out the fabulous Krystal Shannan and her teaser as well!

The day before they had crossed a sizeable river and George began to feel at ease. Only when the urge to keep going evaporated did he begin to notice how tired Sarah was. Dark circles had appeared under her eyes and she dropped into a heavy sleep earlier each evening, often before she had even finished her supper. The nights were continuing to grow colder and George was eager to get a temporary shelter set up.

“George, wake up.” Sarah was stiff under his arm. “George,” she shook her husband.

          “The fire still burns, Sarah.” George’s eyes were slow to open. His wife was not the only one who was exhausted. After following a small stream up the side of a small mountain, they had found the spring head. George had felled trees for nearly sixteen hours that day with his small hand axe and his muscles were screaming at him.

“George, there is a man.” Sarah whispered hoarsely, “At the edge of the trees.” George’s green eyes were unfocused as he narrowed them and scanned the dark trees for danger, either real or imagined by his wife. Reaching for the musket at his feet he became aware that in the few moments he had managed to sleep, the forest around them had gone unnaturally silent.

Then he saw the man, seeming to materialize out of the shadows, stepping just to the edge of the light cast by the fire. A flicker of wonder flashed briefly through his mind, Sarah had seen the man in the darkness beyond the fire. “It’s a native.” George whispered gently to his trembling wife as he stood. His worry rapidly escalating as he recalled that the natives of the area were not known to be friendly, especially with the colonies whispering about war with the King. When the native started to walk towards their meager campsite, George jerked to stand in front of his wife and raised his gun.