Moxie decides to build a fort to help control the wild Picts. To her surprise, she discovers that the fort has been built on land claimed by the forest fairies. Oberon, the King of the fairies, destroys the fort using magic. Moxie threatens Oberon with military might. Oberon threatens Moxie with magic. To counter Oberon, Moxie asks Camelot to send Merlin to help her out and Arthur agrees. Once Merlin arrives, Moxie demands that he confront Oberon and use magic spells to defeat the Fairy King. Merlin isn’t thrilled by the request. Moxie wants him to cast field magic spells, a type of spell casting that Merlin has never been able to master. The Picts hear about the fort and decide Moxie has become hostile. They determine to attack rather than wait for Moxie to attack them. Meanwhile, Moxie’s only child, the ten-year-old daughter, Aethelwine, decides she won’t be the next queen, leaving Moxie without an heir. Tristan, a Knight of the Round Table, has been exiled by Arthur for insulting all the nobles with his songs and is staying in Moxie’s castle. He is working on a play to be staged in Stonehenge. Tristan hopes the play will end his exile since it praises King Arthur and Camelot Faced with threats from the fairies and the Picts, Moxie decides to take on the fairies. Merlin tells Moxie and Oberon they are both idiots for fighting each other when the real threat comes from the Picts who will be able to conquer both after they fight a battle and are weakened by casualties. Moxie and Oberon agree to a treaty and combine forces to confront the Picts who have been reinforced by boatloads of warriors. Can Moxie and Oberon convince the Picts to back down? And what about Aethelwine? Is Tristan’s play any good?
EXCERPT: Moxie entered the garden behind the castle. One of her first orders as Queen had been to clear the area formerly used as storage for junk and unused or broken equipment. The path leading into the garden was flanked by two small oak trees, which one day would grow into splendid shade trees. Inside the garden, many more trees surrounded two benches and beds of colorful flowers. Moxie walked to a bench and sat down. Early spring flowers were in full bloom and a breeze rustled the budding leaves. Moxie wondered if the boat sighting was a premonition of disaster. An invasion of barbarian warriors could spell the end of her small army and its general, Harry. It could also end her reign as Queen. If the boat people came with hordes of warriors, her country could easily be overrun. One solution was to attack them now before they built up their strength, but she was reluctant to order such an assault as long as there was a chance the they came in peace. Moxie thought she had done a good job of ruling the small country, certainly a better job than her father had done. Whenever she faced a tough decision, Moxie thought of what her father would do in the situation and then she did the opposite. This practice had been successful and she’d used it many times. Moxie used the same technique in trying to raise Aethelwine. She did whatever her father hadn’t done. Moxie’s mother had died when she was three and her father immediately moved Moxie out of the royal apartment. Moxie ended up in a Spartan room far from the King’s apartment and supervised by a stream of nannies. An only child, Moxie had been lonely growing up and she suspected Aethelwine was also. Part of Moxie’s loneliness had been due to her status of princess. None of the other children in the castle were her equal and they all shied away from playing or even chatting with her. As a consequence, Moxie’s only childhood companions were nannies and servants. She knew Aethelwine faced the same situation, but Moxie saw no way to change it. Except for riding a horse occasionally, Moxie had never been out of her father's castle until she was sixteen. At that time, her father betrothed her to a minor nobleman some distance away and hired three Knights of the Round Table to escort her. Moxie took one look at her betrothed and decided he wasn’t noble-born and was just a jumped-up, creepy peasant. She broke off the betrothal and badgered the knights into taking her home. On her travels, she noticed the knights, named Percival, Bors and Gareth, ignored her commands as if her noble status was of no importance. That was her first inkling that life outside the castle was different from life inside. She further noticed the knights did whatever had to be done, no matter what it was. They didn’t have servants with them, so they did all the work themselves. They set up camps, fetched firewood, hunted for food, cooked it and fought bandits. They also treated her like an ordinary woman, not a princess. They made her sleep on the ground, woke her up before dawn and made her ride or walk all day long. The experience with the knights made Moxie realize she hadn’t been trained to do anything. All her father expected of her was to give birth to a son who would be his heir. Moxie had decided to make something of her life. After much thinking, she settled on becoming Queen after her father’s death, but she had no training in governing. To learn how to become self-reliant, Moxie fled the castle and joined the Heroes Guild outside Camelot. The chief instructor was Harry and he was furious that the Guild administrators had allowed a woman to join. Harry made life miserable for her and she fought him as best she could. Over time, a mutual respect grew that later blossomed into love. When her father had died, Moxie was on an adventure for the Guild. The knights — her friends as she thought of them -- found out about her father’s death and followed her trail to tell her the news. With Moxie being away from Usca, her slimy uncle seized the throne. Moxie, with the help of the three knights and Harry, overthrew her uncle and she became Queen. Moxie broke off the remembrances and returned to the present. She sensed danger ahead, but couldn’t make any definite plans until Tristan returned from his reconnaissance patrol. Moxie hoped Tristan didn’t get into trouble along the way. She needed him to come back with information. 
Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories. He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles.
He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject. He is currently working on a third Moxie novel that takes place in the Camelot era. He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas. The Follow Author click here: AMAZON
Now for the giveaway.
The giveaway will consist of 5 eBook copies of QUEEN MOXIE, 3 eBook copies ofPRINCESS MOXIE, and a 2-book boxed set of the previous MOXIE novels in eBook format. Click on the Rafflecopter widget below to enter or click here. 
1 Comment
2/5/2018 05:11:52 am
Thanks for being a part of Hank's tour and sharing an excerpt of this delightful story. Leave a Reply. |
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