The Battle (part 4)

A retelling of a classic fairy tale that takes a completely different path over the river and through the Wood...

Are you caught up? 

The Battle (part 1)

The Battle (part 2)

The Battle (part 3)

*** In this excerpt, the names of the villains are replaced with Big Bad 1 and Big Bad 2. It is just a #sneakpeak after all. Happy Reading! 📚📖📚 

~Aspen Hite

An EXCERPT from

Ruby Hood, A Twistedly True Tale

By Aspen Hite

Ruby stood, steadying herself and readying her orbs, one in each hand. The strongest ones she’d ever made, then she felt his presence, next to her. He was back. He was okay. 

Ruby, take a deep breath. And let me help you.

Dylan? When she looked over, there stood Dylan with a flame thrower attached to his back. Her eyes pooled with gratitude and relief.

“Need a little help, Ruby?”

“I do, in fact.” That was exactly what she needed.

“Ella left me a stash of Basilisk Blood and this,” He tapped the flame thrower on his one side and pointed to several jars on his other side, all aglow with tiny red bubbles, “You throw it up in the air and I hit it with fire, and poof, mean old nastiness goes away.”

“Best plan I’ve ever heard,” She reached for two jars, adding her own orb floating element and hurled one forward, then the other. Each one sailed smoothly in the air, toward their impending target, the Big Bad 1.

Hatred filled his eyes, and he pulled the trigger of the weapon, spraying flames at the last gnarly Unnaturalness and lighting her up into an instant inferno.

Ruby picked up two more bottles and sent them sailing through the air, just in case. This unnaturalness had been unpredictable thus far. They couldn’t be too careful. As soon as Dylan fired, Ruby sent a protective bubble around the burning tree, containing the flames until there was nothing left but charcoal stump where Big Bad had stood.

When the Wood stilled, a breath of relief flooded Ruby’s lungs. They’d done it. It was over.  There were burnt trees everywhere, both gnarly unnatural ones and her sweet innocent ones, but they would plant more. They’d defeated the Unnaturalness and saved the heir, whoever she was.

The Battle (part 3)

A retelling of a classic fairy tale that takes a completely different path over the river and through the Wood...

Are you caught up? 
 The Battle (part 1)
The Battle (part 2) 

*** In this excerpt, the names of the villains are replaced with Big Bad 1 and Big Bad 2. It is just a #sneakpeak after all. Happy Reading! 📚📖📚 

~Aspen Hite

An EXCERPT from

Ruby Hood, A Twistedly True Tale

By Aspen Hite

An angry, gray-eyed raven squawked and swooped in, pecking out the eye of the Big Bad 1 Gnarly Tree. The tree lurched around, flapping its branches.  Stomping around blindly.

“Down, Hood girl!” Ella roared.

Ruby ducked and covered, as Ella sent her shocky sparks searing into Unnatural Big Bad 1 creature. A squeal shattered the air around them when Big Bad 1 hissed and withdrew, taking several steps back.

The Lycan pack had Big Bad 2 surrounded. The mayor rushed her, but it only took a snap of her powerful branches to send him reeling backward. Landing on a rock, he yelped. The rest of the pack closed around her. And then Ella was there, waiting and ready. She was everywhere at once.

“You not getting out of this alive, Ella,” Big Bad 2 sneered.

“Not a problem,” The Mage said as the two circled each other. This confrontation had been a long time coming and could only end one way, “Neither are you.”

Ruby held a blue power orb in her hand to help Ella. She pulled her arm back to hurl a protection bubble around Ella just as her legs were knocked out from underneath her.

Before Ruby could catch her breath, she was strung up by her feet.  Her world suddenly upside down, she dangled, helpless. Opened her mouth to scream for help, dirt suddenly flooded her throat. Air escaped her. Panic engulfed her. Wide-eyed and voiceless, she had no choice but to stare up at Big Bad 1, beat-up, broken, and angry.

That gray-eyed raven swooped in and made another pass at Big Bad 1, but a large branch sent the bird sailing, “I’m going to kill you, Hood.”

This was it. Ruby closed her eyes and braced.

To Be Continued... 

The Battle (part 2)

A retelling of a classic fairy tale that takes a completely different path over the river and through the Wood...

Missing The Battle (part 1)?

*** In this excerpt, the names of the villains are replaced with Big Bad 1 and Big Bad 2. It is just a #sneakpeak after all. Happy Reading! 📚📖📚 

~Aspen Hite

An EXCERPT from

Ruby Hood, A Twistedly True Tale

By Aspen Hite

Ruby was ready. This was her home. With blue power orbs gathered in both of her hands, her cloak tightened around her waist. The Lycan army stood rigid, poised to attack. Mage or not, none of them were going down without a very serious fight.

The Wood flashed. Bolts of light and flames erupted everywhere. Then the wind roared, picking up leaves and blowing debris around, just as Ella, hairy and crazy eyed, entered the fray. She whirled around with golden sphere’s in her hands, lashing out as she saw fit. At last, she bound upon Big Bad 1.  “It’s time to pay you, foolish fiend…AAAAAAHHHH!”

Swept up in the kerfuffle, Ruby charged Big Bad 2. “The first time I hurt you is for my Grams. The second time is for the mess you've brought my Wood.”

“Come on then,” A smirk curved on Big Bad 2's lips as her face contorted. Her teeth grew, longer and sharper, and her fingers sprouted into spikey weapons of wood. Her tall thin frame filled out, growing bark armor, and she turned into a lethal vial Gnarly Tree right before Ruby’s eyes. Her wooden teeth jutted forward, and she screeched. Swiping her spiny fingernails, she slashed at Ruby’s flesh.

The Guardian ducked but faltered. Catching herself, she flung blue spheres from her palms. They fizzled mid-air. Ruby's chest tightened. 

“Tell me, that’s not all you’ve got, Ruby Hood. Otherwise, this might be too easy, Big Bad 2 closed in, “You know, I didn’t like you from the first moment I laid eyes on you and now, I’m going to enjoy killing you. How about death by splinter?” Big Bad 2 held up her wooden stake of an arm. “It’s going to feel so good to plunge this into your soft, delicate body.” 

The Battle (part 1)

A retelling of a classic fairy tale that takes a completely different path over the river and through the Wood...

*** In this excerpt, the names of the villains are replaced with Big Bad 1 and Big Bad 2. It is just a #sneakpeak after all. Happy Reading! 📚📖📚 

~Aspen Hite

An EXCERPT from

Ruby Hood, A Twistedly True Tale

By Aspen Hite

A cold chill started in Ruby’s toes and flooded into every fiber of her being. It couldn’t be. How could this get worse? Was it possible? Wasn’t that the voice of…

            “Because Ruby Hood is going to die tonight. I’m going to kill her.” The voice of Big Bad 1 reverberated though the Wood. Another large gnarly tree morphed into a human figure and sent wooden spikes flying through the air.

Ruby lurched backward as a shard of wood grazed her cheek. Lycan, all around her, howled in pain. Frozen in a ball of emotions: surprise, fear, rage, frustration. She snapped. There was no more time for stalling or pretending or cowering. Now was time for action.

Shaking until she couldn’t control it anymore, Ruby held on. Tension rising, the wolves surrounded. Low growls emanating from them. “Attack,” she whispered to her pack, her allies.

 The four-legged Lycan army lunged, teeth bared, toppling Big Bad 1.

Big Bad 2 only had eyes for Ruby. Atop her in a moment, with a look of pure hunger on her face. Grabbing a tuft of Ruby’s hair, Big Bad 2 yanked and then shoved Ruby to the ground.

She twisted and stumbled, scrambling away as best she could. If she could just get enough space between her and the trees, she could wing some protection orbs in their direction. That might buy her a bit of time. Where in the hells was Ella? The Unnaturalness was upon them.

Big Bad 2 held up her hands. Her fingertips morphed into long spears, and she licked her lips, “I can't wait to stab you repeatedly until your dying breath gurgles in my ear, Ruby Hood.”