Two of Wands
an excerpt

I felt the need to write out a scene from near the end of the novel, even though I'm not even close to it yet.:

"Don't you get it Sarah? I have to destroy Ashton."
"You HAVE to destory the kingdom? The place of our birth? Where we grew up? Where I still happen to live and earn a fairly easy living? For the sake of the gods, why"
"Because, sister dear, the war that made your little farm boy king killed our parents. I must have my revenge. You should be helping me, not trying to protect him"
"First of all, sister dearest, I'm not trying to protect him, I'm trying to protect my job. You know, where I get paid to not actually do anything? Not to mention, hello, the war had nothing to do with our parents dying. Dad died because he couldn't keep it in his pants, or keep his mistress a secret, so mom poisoned him. Hear that? MOM KILLED DAD! Mom died because Dad's mistress had a taste for revenge and mad skills with a crossbow. Now, once more, in case you missed it: Dad had a mistress, Mom killed Dad, Dad's mistress killed Mom. Got all that?" While Sarah worked herself into a fine snit, Hannah narrowed her eyes menesingly. Of course, Liam noticed, and had to ad lib a bit of "Bwahahahaha" to the annoyance of both twins. Hannah silenced him with a look.
“Maniacal laughter is inappropriate and unbecoming.” Turning back to Sarah, Hannah
continued with her, erm, convincing arguement. "Okay, fine, maybe the king isn't directly responcible for their deaths. But how about the fact that he did nothing about it either?"
"Okay, see, he wasn't actually in power yet, so the Royal Jackass wasn't in a postition to punish a crime. However, the townsfolk did hang the bitch, so I'd say justice was served there."
"And then they sent us to that horrible orphanage. What if we hadn't turned out to have magic? What would have become of us then?"
"Right. The horrible, dreary orphanage where we had warm beds, nice clothes, three meals a day, toys, and birthday parties. How dare they send us to that awful place. Come on Hannah, why don't you just admit that you don't have a real reason?"
"Because I believe in the power of excuses. And because I already built up my legion of minions, and evil minions don't come cheap."
"So, keep your evil legions, and move your whole evil conquest thing to some other kingdom, where my job isn't going to be affected. Really, sis, I'm gonna get fired, or worse, if you keep this up."
"Why don't you just join me, so I don't have to destroy you? I love you, Sarah, please don't make me kill you."
"Blah, blah, blah. We both know how this is going to turn out. You won't kill me, and I'm not going to kill you, and you know it. So, why don't we have a nice cup of tea and discuss this like adults. I'm sure we can find a way for you to conquer someone who doesn't have me on a salary."
"Gods, Sarah, you are such a bore. 'Let's all have a nice cup of tea and talk about it.' Damn it all, I don't want to talk about it. I want to kill your little friends, and have my sister actually on my side for once. You know, after I passed all those tests for you at acadamy, I think you owe me a little loyalty."
"I'm not gonna let you kill my friends. And I'm not signing on with the evil camp."
"Fine. Tell you what, you can keep the weird girl and the hot guy as pets. You don't even like the other two, so what do you care if they get tossed off a cliff or something?"
"Or, you can go invade someone else, I can go home, and everyone can live and be happy."