My next novel—The Frozen River—will publish on December 5th. A little less than three months from now! So once a month I’m sharing a cut scene—little bits of the story that didn’t make the final cut. (For many reasons that I’ll discuss in my Writing Series at a later date). You can read the first cut scene here. And the second here. I hope you enjoy meeting this anonymous character. He plays a significant role is the story so you’ll be seeing him again. Happy reading!
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A man eases toward the stall. The bridle dangles from his hand, clinking as he walks. He lifts it up to show the horse. It’s a great, big brute of a thing. Known to bite and buck. It has to see him coming, to know what he’s about, or it will rear above the door and try to kick his face.
He has not brought a lantern to light his way. But he’s left the barn door open and the bright light from a pock-marked moon guides him well enough.
“Easy now,” he says. “We need to go out tonight. And we need to be quiet about it.”
Well, perhaps that isn’t the truth. Need and want are different things. What he wants is to come and go as he pleases without being asked any questions. But he has no interest in walking—that will waste precious time—so he’s come for the horse and now must convince it to let him ride.
The horse tosses his head this way and that, swings his long, golden neck like a murderous pendulum. Stamps. Snorts. This man is not his master, has no right to sit upon his back. But he would try anyway, would tug at the bit, and give orders with his heels. They all try. And they all find their faces in the dirt before long. The horse has yet to meet a rider who can’t be thrown. Even his beloved master is not immune to his ire. She too has occasionally forgotten that he is still wild, and found herself on the ground as a result.
The horse snorts again, his breath a frozen plume in the still night air. He challenges the man to come closer.
And he does, of course, because—like the stallion—he cannot sleep.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” the man whispers as he reaches out slowly to touch the horse’s muzzle. He waits for twitching nostrils and flashing teeth. He’ll know soon enough if it’s in a biting mood.
The horse watches him but doesn’t bite. Wary. But not hostile. That’s a good sign, so the man slides the harness over its head, the bit into its mouth, then opens the stall. Leads the stallion outside the barn and to the fence where he’s set the blanket saddle. As he puts it on the horse’s back, as he tightens straps and fixes buckles, he wonders how close his secret is to being discovered.
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If you enjoyed this cut scene and plan to read The Frozen River, would you consider pre-ordering your copy? As you may know, pre-orders go a long way to determining the success of a novel. They help publishers anticipate demand, they help bookstores know how many copies to order, and they help authors continue to publish. The Frozen River will be available everywhere that books are sold. But you can help indie bookstores in general by ordering from Bookshop.org and my indie bookstore in particular by ordering from Parnassus Books in Nashville. (I would be thrilled to sign these for you).
This is a lovely scene. I'm looking forward to reading The Frozen River. You mentioned you'd be covering why you didn't include it in your Writing Series, but I can't wait to ask if it was because it didn't serve the story or it shifts point of view from the man to the horse and back. So curious to know!