Excerpt:
“Do they know how close to financial ruin we really are? How low on first-aid supplies the physicians are? How the food will have to be rationed?”
The Sorceress walked forward until she stood very close to him. “And you think all of this is your responsibility and that we haven’t face hard times before?”
“As the Craftsman, it is my responsibility to make sure we have marketable goods.” He turned away. “Because of my ego, I let my art become the main source of income. Now...”
“Now we shall all make do with less,” she interrupted. “We’ve done it before. And you don’t hear sounds of anger or sorrow out there.” She motioned toward the window with one hand. “Those are the sounds of joy.”
“Wait a few months, Sorceress. When the doctors don’t have the medical equipment they need, or the children go hungry, there won’t be any sounds of joy. And there are those absent from the gaiety. The families of the dead aren’t there,” he bitterly pointed out.
She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Why are you blaming yourself when no one else does?”
He struck a towering bedpost with the fist of his left hand. “I should have checked the equipment better. It was my job to make sure everything was safe. And those people wouldn’t have been in the building at all if I hadn’t asked them to stay late.”
“Gawain, no one could have known the kilns would explode.”
“Wrong, Sorceress. I should have known. Any fuel source of the kind we use can explode. If I’d checked the connections better, instead of worrying over my precious artwork and my next gallery showing, those people would still be alive. The entire building wouldn’t have gone up in flames, and eighteen months of work wouldn’t have been destroyed.”
“Blaming yourself will change nothing. Monday morning, all the artisans will meet in the great clearing and sort this out. With their doubled efforts and your new artwork ...”
“What new artwork?” he interjected and held up his right forearm. “I can’t create art with one hand, Sorceress. I’m right-handed. Or was.”
Visit me at www.candacesams.com for paranormal titles
Visit me at www.cschatterly.com for erotica titles
Like all of the Tales of the Order, they are first released in ebook format; then go to print a few months later. The Craftsman is an ebook now, but will be in print soon.
Here is a link to all the Tales of the Order:
http://www.cerridwenpress.com/AuthorsBooks.asp?AuthorCode=CSam
The Tales of the Order (in order):
Gryphon's Quest
The Gazing Globe
Stone Heart
Goblin Moon
The Craftsman
Satyr
Keeper of The Loch
