It’s time for another SFF Saturday Snippet! What’s SFF Saturday? It’s a group of authors who post snippets of SFF prose and poetry for comment. You can check out other SFF Saturday posts, too.
For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be giving you snippets from a short story I wrote called Old Wounds. This is the fifth part. You can find the other parts here.
When we left Master Sorne, her mysterious guest had just called her Mistress Sorne.
Her non-sword hand curled into a fist. “Master Sorne.”
Dilan spoke. “Master, he’s got one of those flint things.”
Flintlock. Damn the humans for inventing them and damn her fellow Elasi for perfecting them. It could be a pistol or a long gun—either way, her sword would be useless. She set it down and palmed a throwing knife before unbolting and opening the workshop door.
The firearm, it turned out, was a pistol and a stranger had it pressed up against the back of Dilan’s head. Her apprentice’s eyes were wide and his face ashen and he trembled as the man holding the gun backed him away from the door—away from her.
Ann Laurel Kopchik 
Great snippet…enjoyed the emotion and the imagery.
Thank you!
Pretty intense situation going on here. Great snippet! I like it. Can definitely feel the tension.
Thanks! Yeah, there’s nothing like a firearm to up the tension…
Great snippet. Nothing like having a gun to someone’s head to amp up the tension!
Ha! Exactly!
Oh, no!! Exciting. And love the little bit of insult Master Sorne felt as the wrong title. Hee hee
She really hates that, too.
“Flint things” That’s a really cool way of expressing the relative novelty of fire arms. Great snippet.
Thanks!
Ooh! Very nice. Great imagery. Love the tension. A definite conundrum.
Thanks. 😀
I can see the scene.
Oh, good! Then I’m doing something right…
Very visual. Without you saying it, you can envision her thought process flitting across her face as she makes these quick decisions. Fantastic tension.
Thanks. 🙂 Yeah, she’s quick on her feet.
I chuckled at the “flint things” comment Dilan said. His ignorance says so much without saying much, you know?
And what a snippet!
Well, firearms are still new… Sorne has an interest in all kinds of weapons. 🙂
Nice suspense in this snippet.
thanks!