Fool's Errand is the first chaper of the novel I never finished. It's also the foundation stone on which my first novel, The Dancing Sword of Ulm, was built. When I started redrafting the book after some very helpful tips from local author Richard Maynard, I threw out almost all of the original work - plot and characters. (You can read about the hows and whys in my blog posts, here - http://kathytstorys.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/on-fantasy-writing-and-role-playing_22.html
The Dancing Sword has yet to be published. I'm working on that.
In the meantime I've been looking over my old drafts while doing a tidy up. There's still the core of a story there, a different tale. So I thought some readers might be interested to see what the original was like. And when I do publish, they may also like to pick out the little details from the first work that survived to make it into the final novel. It's certainly been fascinating for me.
The original story was based on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I'd run, and the surviving chapters, with a little touching up, does round out to a complete story in itself. The story, like the novel, is set in my own Fantasy world, which I call the Sundered Land.
I'll post it in sections with the second chapter, The Tower to come later. Hope you enjoy it.
Noor, a dancer in the Royal Court of the Al-Yauzhan Empire wants nothing more than to pay off her debts and lead a nice, simple life-but a chance encounter with the crown prince and his brother brings her into the dangerous world of court politics. As Noor and the princes investigate their uncle and cousin's possible treason, she grows closer to the crown prince, but in order to save the kingdom and the person she loves, Noor will have to risk everything...
A romantic adventure set in an imagined Arabic kingdom, THE DANCING GIRL is a story of court intrigues, romantic entanglements, and secret meetings as Noor and her best friend Amir try to help the princes they're falling for expose corrupt court officials with plans to seize the throne. Noor and Amir are close to having everything they've ever dreamed of...now all they need to do is survive.