tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1551593541312891972024-03-05T13:03:21.414-05:00Legacy of MagicThis is where I will share character sketches, situations, and ideas from my novels in the Legacy of Magic series as well as other ideas that have something to do with my love of magic in our modern world. Enjoy these and for more pick up Legacy of Dragons: Emergence at Amazon or CreateSpace today. Links are available on my sidebar. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-29572928036761787792014-03-10T05:58:00.000-04:002014-03-10T06:00:02.386-04:00Welcome to #MagicMondaysI have noticed a trend lately. Hashtags are everywhere. Maybe I'm slow to come around to these things, but I do eventually come around. So, I decided to start posting something magical on Mondays since I enjoy magic and fantasy. Here is an excerpt from my midgrade novella <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20898495-the-queen-s-yeoman">The Queen's Yeoman</a> that will be released at the end of this month. Enjoy this #MagicMonday post.
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<div class="BodyFirstParagraph">
When Saundra reached the bottom of the stairs, she
was still thinking about the mysterious boy and his odd assignment. She was so
lost in her own thoughts about him and the promise of being a Yeoman that she
didn’t see the slippers sitting on the table until she was in her chair. As she
sat down, the slender baton she had stuffed in the belt she was still wearing
around her waist poked her, and she slid it out onto the table. When she placed
it carefully next to her napkin, she saw them out of the corner of her
eye. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
The sparkling green shoes were sitting at the far end of the
table on top of a stack of newspapers, as if someone had collected them in a
stack to be put away. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
With the unbridled excitement of her age she shoved her chair
back from the table, causing it to tip over and slam into the floor. Everyone
in the kitchen looked at the toppled chair to make sure she was okay, but she
was on the other end of the table collecting the slippers in her arms. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“You found them!” she shouted and everyone who had been looking
at the chair was now staring at her. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“Saundra! Put those down—Pick up your chair—Sit down, and eat
your lunch.” Kelly was shaking her head while their mother was angrily towering
over the table. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Interpreting the instructions in her own way, Saundra slipped the
shoes under her arm, walked over to the fallen chair, and tried to lift it off
the floor with her one free hand. She tried twice but could not get the chair
up without dropping the slippers, and she refused to let them go. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Kelly moved in her chair to stand and help her, but Ellen was
next to her before anyone else could move. Their eyes met as she reached down
to help her with the chair, and something in her look scared Saundra. Smiling
at her aunt as if she was thankful for the help, Saundra shifted to pick up her
side. Instead of grabbing the chair, Ellen reached over and pulled the slippers
out from under her arm.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
As they slipped from her grasp, Saundra reached to grab them back
and dropped her side of the chair. The chair pounded on the floor again, and
Ellen shook her head without saying a word. She pulled the slippers completely
out of Saundra’s reach. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
When she couldn’t reach them she looked up at the table and saw
the end of her wand. She could stop this if she could just reach it. Her hand
moved and as if her aunt knew what she was after, Ellen’s hip bumped her as she
walked back to her seat. Saundra sat down hard onto the floor. The shock of
having her goal in her hands and having it ripped from her stunned her nearly
as much as having the culprit be her own aunt. She looked up at her mother and
sister who were now standing over her. Kelly was reaching to help her up. Her
mother was reaching for the chair, but all Saundra could see was everyone
trying to keep her from reaching the slippers. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
The next few moments for Saundra moved by slowly. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Ellen sat down in her seat at the end of the table.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Her mother righted her chair. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Kelley helped her up into it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Ellen placed the slippers back on the stack of papers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Her mother placed a bowl of soup and a plate with a sandwich on
it in front of her. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
When her mother finally sat down and Ellen was patting the
slippers, Saundra could suddenly smell the soup and sandwich. The pungent aroma
of the tomatoes shocked her and made her stomach react. For a moment she
thought she was going to be sick. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“Saundra? Are you alright?” her mother asked with a concerned
look on her face.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“I’m not sure… I don’t feel so good.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“Come now, child. You’re just hungry.” Ellen countered her
mother’s concern. “She’s fine, Jen. There’s nothing to be concerned about.
She’ll feel better once she has some food in her. She’s been up in that dust
and mildew all morning. You should consider keeping her downstairs this
afternoon.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Her mother nodded, looking at her as if she was broken and her
aunt knew how to fix her. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Saundra fought the nausea back and scooped up a spoon full of
soup. When she had swallowed the acidic sweet mixture and ripped off a
crumbling piece of the melted cheese and bread to force it down, she smiled up
at her mother. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“I’m fine, see,” she said to help her mother relax and forget her
aunt’s suggestion. As she scooped more soup into her mouth and struggled to
keep it down, she stared at the shimmering shoes at the end of the table. How
could she get them now? Why was Aunt Ellen protecting them so?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Saundra continued to eat her sandwich quietly while she struggled
with the reality that she didn’t want to believe. Her aunt was the dragon’s
agent. Earlier that same day she had believed her sister had taken the
slippers, but there they were and her aunt was guarding them. What was she
going to do? Maybe she could cast a spell on her aunt to get them back. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
She ate a few more bites while she decided just what she would
need to cast the right spell. She looked down at the table and saw the wand
again. That was a start, but she didn’t have anything else to work with except
the bowl of soup. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
She considered the possible outcome of using tomato soup and
decided it was worth a try. When everyone was looking at their own food, she picked
up her wand from beside her napkin. The movement caught her mother’s eye but it
was too late to stop, the web of the spell was already being spun. She pointed
the wand at her bowl and waved it in a circle just over the surface of the
soup. With the little incantation running through her head she pointed the wand
straight into the air and thought about getting the slippers from her aunt. Satisfied
that she had cast the spell as well as she could, she placed the wand back on
the table, picked up her spoon, and ate a few more bites. Only time would tell.
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Her mother shook her head and turned back to her own food, which
was not a good sign. No one else noticed her. They all continued to eat
quietly. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
When Saundra was convinced the spell was not going to work—it was
based on tomato soup, after all—Kelly spoke up from her own bowl. “Aunt Ellen,
where did you find those slippers? Saundra had been playing with them for days
before the funeral. She couldn’t find them this morning, and it really upset
her.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Saundra looked over her half-eaten sandwich at her aunt, who
placed her spoon delicately in her bowl. She didn’t even react to the last part
of Kelly’s question. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“It’s the most interesting thing,” she said. “I had forgotten all
about those slippers until the other day. I went upstairs to look around, you
know, to see what we needed to move and what we needed to get rid of and there
they were, hanging on that old full length mirror. So I took them down. I
thought I might as well take them home with me.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Saundra's heart skipped at the thought of Ellen taking the slipper where she would never be able to get them back. She would never be a Yeoman if she couldn't finish this simple mission.<br />
<br />
“But why are they important? Why did you even want them? Saundra
really liked them. Maybe you could let her have them.” <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“Kelly.” The scolding tone of their mother surprised Kelly a
little, but she didn’t stop. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“What? She just seems so aggressive about some old green slippers
that she can’t even wear. Saundra liked them so much. What’s the big deal?”
Kelly could get away with her tone because she was tired, but it was risky.
Saundra felt her sandwich bubble around in her stomach a little as her
no-conflict sister fought for her. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“Kelly, they’re her slippers,” their mother informed them. Saundra
swallowed a spoon full of soup to avoid the noise she nearly couldn’t stop.
“They’re not Saundra’s.” <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“Oh,” Kelly said when she realized she couldn’t argue about that.
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
The table was silent for a few more bites. Then, for some reason
Saundra never understood, Kelly took a chance she never thought her sister was
capable of. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“Aunt Ellen, Saundra was really enjoying playing with your slippers.
It really upset her this morning when they were gone. Would you mind at all if
she—I mean—could she…play with them after lunch? It may make the packing go
easier…if she’s not in our way.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Saundra stopped eating the last of her soup and stared at her
sister. For a moment she didn’t know if she was more amazed or insulted. For
just an instant she thought she saw a smile on her mother’s face, but when she
looked back it was gone and there was no proof it was ever there. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
“You know, El. Kelly’s right. We really need to focus this
afternoon or we’ll never get everything down here packed for dad. The stuff
upstairs can wait until this summer.” <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Saundra watched and wondered if they were really helping her or
if she was just imagining it all. She looked down at the wand and shook her
head. She would never underestimate the power of tomato soup again. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Ellen looked unsure of her answer. She chewed on her lip a
little. After she had taken a few moments, she finally answered, “Of course she
can play with them. I certainly enjoyed them for years. Just be careful with
them.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Saundra nodded her acceptance of the rules as she scooped the
last bite of soup out of her bowl. A few more bites and lunch would be over,
but she took her time so the power of the spell and the decision could clear
the air a little. She could not wait to show them to the Yeoman upstairs. This
would fulfill her quest. This would make her a Queen’s Yeoman. It was all she
could do to sit still until everyone had finished their lunch. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
After a few minutes of silence, Kelly pushed her empty bowl aside
and looked up at their mother. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“Mom, I’d like to go read a few minutes before we get back to
packing.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“Why don’t you both go play a little while? I need to talk to
your aunt.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
Kelly stood up and motioned to Saundra to come with her, but
Saundra had something else on her mind. She stood up, plucked up her wand,
stuck it in her belt again, and walked over to her aunt’s chair. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br />
“Thank you, for letting me play with your slippers Aunt Ellen. I
know they must mean a lot to you.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
Saundra was not an impolite girl. Her mother had taught her
manners, and she intended to demonstrate that to her aunt. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="Body">
“You’re welcome, child.” She smiled down at her with a very
unconvincing smile and pushed the slippers toward her. Saundra carefully
collected them and left the kitchen behind her sister. Just outside the
doorway, they both dived to the side where they could not be seen and waited to
hear whatever it was their mother wanted to talk to their aunt about. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-64959882577077699622013-06-17T21:53:00.001-04:002013-06-17T21:53:21.042-04:00More to ComeOkay, I finished ten chapters of the Queen's Yeoman in ten weeks. It was challenging, but it was also very fun. I have reached out to David Cassidy (@DavidCCassidy) to do my cover for this novella. I am in the queue and while I wait, I decided that I would go ahead and write the next story for Saundra and her friends. This tale is from a time later in her life. She is older and at odds with the dragon again. I'm really looking forward to sharing these next chapters with you. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. When the last chapters are complete and the cover is ready, I will release them all in a printed and e-book version.<br />
<br />
Now, let's have some more fun. See you in a week with the beginning of the next installment. Come back to see where Saundra's life takes her and what happens to the new kingdom she and her sister created together with their friends. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-7626751470923534572013-04-01T22:07:00.001-04:002013-04-01T22:38:08.562-04:00New stories coming soonI've decided to try to write a younger voice and a slightly different style as an exercise. I'm going to write a children's story about magic and imagination. Although I'm going to play among the standard character types you can expect some surprises. As I complete the chapter's I'll share them. I'm not sure if I'm going to release them as part of this blog or create a separate blog. When I decide, I'll let you know.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I want to write this story from a third person subjective point of view, but as a narrator who provides needed information in a story telling style. Since the main character will be twelve, the narrator will provide information that the main character would not provide, but I want to keep a story telling feel to it as if the narrator is talking to the reader. I think it will work well with the characters and story I have in mind.<br />
<br />
This idea came from spending time with my "niece" last week. She is not the inspiration for the character, but she is the inspiration for the story. While waiting for an event to start we were talking about story telling and how characters are challenged. She, at her young age, believed that characters should be cared for and taken care of. As I have learned, characters in any story suffer; otherwise, the reader, even a young one, will loose interest in the story. We talked about a few story ideas and from the quick brainstorm she provided I have the foundation for what I hope will be a fun, challenging and entertaining tale. <br />
<br />
I hope to have the first chapter completed this week, but I am going to give her the first read to see what she thinks. Look for the first chapter of my up coming children's book here or nearby soon.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-33827929952911373242013-03-14T15:32:00.000-04:002013-04-01T22:46:24.705-04:00Sneak Preview - Legacy of Dragons:Emergence<h2 style="text-align: center;">
</h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
CHAPTER 1 - SUNSET ON AN ERA</h2>
<h3>
June 20, 2012 – 1940 EDT – Signal Mountain, Tennessee.</h3>
Melissa ran a finger over the disguised lock on the copper clad box that was the only thing holding the beast of change at bay. Ivory claws dug into the copper at the two front corners as if the intricate dragon hammered into the cover was going to rip the ancient box open. Hammered scale work ran up the forelegs of the embossed dragon to its wing roots. Wings opened behind the relief, creating the illusion of darkness plunging into the night’s void behind the dragon. Mountains hammered on the front side of the box rose up from the valley on either side of a village situated at the cove of the valley in front of a small lake. The scene on the ground was peaceful, but Melissa couldn’t decide if the dragon and the contents he protected in the box portended doom.<br />
The intricately hammered neck of the dragon projected forward from the shoulders with sharp neck ridges jutting up from the metal cladding like a saw blade. The head crested the box’s cover at the edge where ivory horns thrust into the air and emerald eyes stared down onto the village. The master metalwork disguised the hinge in the neck behind its horns and the keyhole in the nostril so that the latch and lock were lost in the intricate artwork. Yet again, for an uncounted number of times, her finger passed over the lock. She eyed the key she was holding in her left hand and rubbed the matching metalwork between her fingers. She had been holding the key so long that it was warm to the touch, and she wondered tangentially if she could melt the key from worry.<br />
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Her grandmother, who yet again drew her wandering attention back to the lock, the box, and her duty, seemed to be standing over her shoulder even now. Melissa glanced up to look out across the back lawn into the slowly dropping sun at the small headstone and mound of soil they had carefully placed that day. A full day’s sorrow settled back into her soul. That the service was exactly what Helena had asked for did little to soothe her.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
The mound of dirt was neither the beginning, nor the end of this very long day. The aged metal box that had come with the will, the deed to the estate, and the unimaginable responsibility for her 21 years, demanded her attention. It accused her of avoiding her promise to the overly nervous lawyer that had left it with her. Again, she fingered the key that he had squeezed into her hand as he had finished the reading.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She whined to the empty room. “Why me? Why did she leave all of this to me?”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
The question was rhetorical. She knew there was no stability in her father. He would liquidate it all and pour the money into the same financial pit he had already <i>invested</i> their family fortune. But, that was still no reason to put all of this on her young shoulders. She couldn’t even pick a major, how could she run an estate and whatever else the box demanded?</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She pushed the accusing box away from her on the blotter and looked up at the sun that refused to set. Nothing would make this horrible day end. If everything remained the same, and this day was allowed to continue, it would be nothing less than catastrophic.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
The large grandfather clock in the foyer began to chime the hour. She listened to the deep tones, counting. When it reached eight and stopped, she sighed. The old house was empty without her grandmother, and yet she could still feel her in every corner of the library and emanating from every book surrounding her. It was comforting, and Melissa would have been happy to spend the rest of her life in the room among her grandmother’s legacy. </div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
The door behind her swung open, chasing the peaceful moment away. Charles, her grandmother’s butler, slipped into the room with a silver tray and the Royal Albert tea set. To say that Charles slipped anywhere was to be polite. He tried, but he was too large, at six feet four, to be very stealthy. He was an excellent butler, trained by his father and his entire family to carry on the ancient tradition of caring for nobility, but in Melissa’s mind he did not fit the role. He sat the tea set down and poured the steaming liquid into a single cup. The delicate aroma of peaches surrounded her.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“Charles, what is this, the longest day in history?” she grumbled playfully at him.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“No, Miss, just the year.”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She stared at him. The formality of his response stunned her a little. She could still see the little boy she had grown up with in the back garden and felt a little offended at his formal response. He looked back at her and motioned toward the tea.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“I knew you had some work to complete, and I thought you might like some tea. The guests have all left.”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Melissa leaned back and looked at Charles again, and it was if she was seeing him for the first time in years. Her last real memory of him was when she watched him carry his high school football team to the championship. She could not deny that she had a crush on him back then, but she had left for Spain the next week, and he had left for boot camp the next summer. Their lives had not really intersected again until that moment.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She had been away, engrossed in school, when he unexpectedly came home from the war and took over for his father. She remembered being disappointed, in the passing way that high school girls are, because she always thought he was meant for more. She liked the image of Charles the warrior. As she looked at him in the passing moment between them, she still saw him that way.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
The war, or more likely the drama that had forced him back into the duties he had run from originally, had carved a permanent frown into a face she remembered as gentle. The change did not conflict with his duties; in fact, it made him exactly the kind of butler she wanted at her door. But, she did miss his smile. No matter how hard he tried to live up to his father, though, he could never hide the fact that he just didn’t fit serving tea among the antiques in the old manor. He looked like a puzzle piece forced into place because it should fit. With that last passing thought, she found herself smiling and allowed a quiet laugh to escape.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“Did I make a joke, Miss?”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“No, not intentionally.” She paused. “Do you remember the last time we just talked?”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“Yes, Miss. It was the weekend you left for Spain.”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She nodded. “It’s been a while hasn’t it?”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“A lifetime, Miss.” His words verified how he saw the years he had spent serving her grandmother since coming back from Iraq.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Her grandmother had refused to talk about it, but Melissa knew there was more under the surface of that story. Melissa had not thought about it in years. Apparently, Charles still did. </div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“I’ve missed those conversations. Would you consider joining me for a little tea? I could use the company.” </div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“I’m sorry, Miss, but I thought you had work to complete. It would not be appropriate anyway.” He smiled professionally and stepped back into his place.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
“Yes, of course.”</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She could not ignore the disappointment his answer had caused, but it was part of being the mistress of this house. She sat back down in the chair and pulled the box toward her. This relationship was not going to work for her if her new position was going to keep them from being friends. There were certain barriers one maintained no matter how lonely, confused, and in need of a friend one felt. Dismissed, he turned and left her alone with her duty. She scowled at the box.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Beyond the French doors, the sun refused to drop below the long green lawn that led down to the overlook, the valley that plunged away from the edge, and the new grave that surmounted it. She took the cup of tea Charles had poured for her and sipped the perfectly prepared enchanted peach white tea. The aroma and flavor stirred memories of her grandmother writing her novels at the desk. A few tears dripped from her cheeks as she stared into the setting sun. She sipped her tea.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
The chime of the clock at the bottom of the hour forced her from the warmth of the tea and back to her duties. Melissa set the cup down on the tray and placed both hands on the top of the box. There were conditions to her inheritance. In the box, she would find one of her grandmother’s journals with important instructions for her to follow. Like a test she had not studied for, Melissa braced for the contents of the box, inserting the key into the lock that held back what she had been avoiding. Why had she let the lawyer talk her into this? Why had she signed the man’s forms? She wished she had just told him no. None of this would be her problem if she had just told him she was not interested. Was it even possible to turn down an inheritance?</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She took a deep breath and pushed it back out before turning the key in the lock. A quiet, anticlimactic click filled the room as she lifted the lid.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Inside, among a stack of things that had belonged to her grandmother, was the small crystal encrusted claw on a heavy gold chain her grandmother had always worn around her neck. It was a little macabre, but Melissa could not remember a time it was not with her, and, because of its constant presence, she smiled at the memories the amulet unearthed. The crimson crystals seemed to grow from the black three-talon claw and shimmered in the sunlight reminding Melissa of the day she and Helena had walked together along the overlook just before Melissa had started college. Her grandmother had scolded her for considering not continuing her education. Mixed with the pleasure of that memory was a little anger that she had taken that advice now. The years she had lost with her grandmother seemed too large a price for what she had learned.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
She picked up the amulet, clutching it in her left hand. A warm tingle ran up her arm, and the memory of her grandmother intensified. The stones throbbed in her palm. She blinked and looked at the talisman. Suppressed tears rushed down her cheeks, and it took her a moment to recover from the flood of emotions. When she had recovered a little, she set the amulet aside with trembling hands. If everything in the box had the same effect, she would never get through this. </div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Below the amulet was her grandmother’s favorite pen. At the bottom of the box, she found the cause of her current turmoil. A small, leather-bound journal with no indication of what it contained waited for her. It was new compared to other journals filed on the shelves around her. Her grandmother was never without one, and by the time each journal was filed onto the shelves, it was worn and ragged. This one was so new that the cover was still stiff, and the binding popped as she opened it and turned to the first page.</div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText">
Her grandmother’s neat script filled the page. Melissa started to cry, again, but she forced the tears back and read.</div>
<br />
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<i>Melissa,</i></div>
<br />
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<i>You have always been a blessing to me, and I’ve told you more than once how very special you are. Remember when I told you there was something inside of you that made you that way? I wanted to explain what I meant before I died. I have run out of time to tell you everything. I thought I could handle it a bit longer and it was important that I be with you, to help you with what is about to happen. This sickness came upon me before I could finish my research.</i></div>
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<i>I had to be sure about it. You see, it involves our true legacy, and it is far more serious than I once believed. I think I’ve collected everything here, but I’m afraid it may be too late. Please read this as soon as possible. I’ve lost track of the time.</i></div>
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<i>You have to read this and follow the instructions before sunset on the solstice this year. If you do not, the consequences to this world will be dire. It is imperative that you take my place and complete the ritual.</i></div>
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<i>Do not talk to anyone about this. Do not let them near this journal. Trust Charles. More than anything, do not trust anyone in our family, especially the males.</i></div>
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<i>You asked me about Charles a few years ago, and I owe you an explanation. I can never explain completely, but I brought him back from the war to save him. I know that I cost him his career, but his life is far more important than that.</i></div>
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<i>If you succeed, and I do hope that you do; I expect you will understand this all better. Good luck and do not be distracted by anyone.</i></div>
<br />
<br />
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<i>Helena.</i></div>
<br />
<br />
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The next pages explained her family history. She started to read the very dry descriptions and found herself nodding off. If she were going to read it all that night, she would need more tea, and she was not going to waste a perfect cup of tea on that.</div>
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Melissa closed the journal, placed it back in the box and sat back in her chair. A long deep sigh exited her chest, and she closed her eyes. She was not sure she could take anything else today. She didn't have the energy to face it. In one day, she had gone from a simple college student to a landowner. Now her grandmother was leaving her secret instructions she had to deal with before the solstice. She certainly didn't feel up to this challenge.</div>
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She opened her eyes and glared through new tears at the chest and the journal hidden in it. She closed and locked the box and pushed it away from her. She could not take any more. She opened the top drawer of the desk and started to put the box away but paused to flip through the calendar on the desk when the door behind her flew open.</div>
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Nicklaus, her cousin, stepped through the doorway and into the library as if he owned the estate. A tremor of anger slipped across her face, but she quickly controlled it. Nicklaus had been roaming the estate with her for as long as she could remember. She was not in the mood to deal with him today and he seemed agitated. The aroma of cigars and bourbon hung around him like his attitude, and she knew he had been talking to her father.</div>
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“Mel, what is this that I hear about your father? Why was he excluded from his mother’s will?”</div>
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The big family secret was now out.</div>
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“Nick, I’m not going over this with you right now. I have things to do and I’m tired. Thanks for coming to the funeral, but I have a great deal of things that remain to be done. Not everything was all wrapped up when she died.”</div>
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Melissa caught herself before she gave away the secret her grandmother had just entrusted to her. The look in Nicklaus’ eyes made her wonder if he already knew. The hairs all over her body seemed to stand up with his reaction, and she felt a little creepy.</div>
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The door swung open again, and Charles stepped past Nicklaus to take a position between them. </div>
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“Miss, I’m sorry. The staff is not sure how you want visitors handled tonight. I’ll see Master Nicklaus back out. I’m sure he was not aware that you were busy. Master Nicklaus.” The imposing figure motioned gently with his hand toward the front of the house. Nicklaus did not move but looked at Melissa.</div>
“Show him to the Parlor, Charles.” She visibly shrugged at the responsibility she knew was not leaving. “I need to see to this before I get back to what I was working on.”<br />
“Yes, Miss, but those items need to be dealt with.”<br />
“Know your place, Charles,” Nicklaus snapped. “She is aware of her duties.”<br />
“Of course, sir, I meant no disrespect. This way please.”<br />
Nicklaus turned to head toward the parlor at the front of the house with a pious air.<br />
“Charles.”<br />
“Yes, Miss?”<br />
“Make sure he stays in the parlor. I’m going to change.”<br />
“You know, I can send him away if you’re too busy.” His eyes crossed to the box on the desk.<br />
“No, I should see him, and I just can’t face this right now.” She pushed at the box again. “He was here for the funeral and was nice enough to leave then. He has heard the news and has been with my father since the meeting was over. He’s all excited. If I don’t see him tonight, he’ll be back first thing in the morning, anyway. Give me a few minutes to prepare for my betrothed, won’t you?”<br />
“Miss, I believe the journal is far more important than meeting with Master Nicklaus.”<br />
She felt the anger cross her face and controlled her reaction. There was no reason to be angry; he was just doing his job. “Perhaps, but it can’t be avoided.” His common frown deepened for an instant, but he bowed as his training required and exited the library.<br />
She unhooked the gold chain that held the amulet, slipped the key to the box onto it and put them both around her neck. She needed to get away from the stress she had inherited. She wanted this day to end more now than ever before. She needed a break already.<br />
Over the next fifteen minutes she took her time changing from the little-black-dress she had worn to the funeral just to irritate her mother. It had worked. She would hear about that in the morning, but there was always something. Melissa could not be around her mother without somehow disappointing her; why should today be any different?<br />
Melissa decided a pair of comfortable sweats would make the meeting easier. She wrapped a formal receiving robe around them just to avoid offending Nicklaus and checked her image in the full-length mirror. Her black hair fell along the back of the scarlet robe to her waist. Satisfied with her appearance, she started down the stairs as the clock announced the bottom quarter-hour. Behind her, the more horizontal rays of the sun were streaming in through the second floor windows of the library.<br />
Nicklaus’ raised voice assaulted her as she walked down the front stairs to the parlor.<br />
Charles was standing in front of the one exit from the parlor with his arms crossed across his chest. Nicklaus stood beyond the door, blocked by tradition and honor more than by Charles.<br />
“I have never been refused the right to use this house as if it were my own. The former owner afforded me the respect equal to my position.”<br />
He could consider the act an insult if he wanted, but Melissa didn’t really care. It was her house now. She would decide who could roam its halls, and it was better to keep Nicklaus off balance, but Charles did deserve a break. She walked up behind him.<br />
“What seems to be the problem, Charles?”<br />
“No problem, Miss.”<br />
“Very well, you may go now,” she said, walking past his bulk in the door and entering the parlor. “Okay Nick, What’s on your mind?”<br />
The young man’s attitude changed immediately. He stood a bit straighter and pushed back his shoulders. “Well, you’ve settled in very nicely, Mel.”<br />
“Please don’t call me that.”<br />
“I’m sorry, but I believe my relationship accords me some latitude. I am to be your husband, after all.”<br />
For a moment she gave him the smile he expected.<br />
“By that awful arrangement, yes you are.” She dropped her smile and replaced it with a face she had learned from her grandmother. “But I warn you, take no liberties. I’m doing all I can to void the Schwendemann-Kellmunz arrangement,” she answered very matter-of-factly and walked past him to stand in front of her chair.<br />
“Why fight it, cousin? It’s the way of our ancestors. We must keep the line pure. We’re royalty, and we’ll soon return to the old country and free it from those who took it from us.”<br />
“Please. I’ve heard that from my father since I was a child. After millions of dollars and years, He’s no closer to accomplishing it. What makes you think you will?”<br />
Nicklaus smiled. Something in his smile gave Melissa a chill.<br />
“I can feel it, Mel. It’s time, and if you think about it you do too.”<br />
Melissa rolled her eyes at both the fascination that Nick shared with her father and grandfather and the honorific he had inherited from them.<br />
“Two generations have fought that battle. Don’t you think it’s time to put it down?”<br />
“You dare mock me! I’m the next in line.” His voice rose with true royal indignation. The only thing missing from his reaction was the <i>woman</i> he wanted to add to punctuate it.<br />
“After my father, yes, but he’s still alive which keeps the royal line here for now. That’s the whole reason you and I are betrothed, <i>cousin</i>.”<br />
“True, but that’s no reason to give up on our ancestry.”<br />
“I’ve not given up on it. I remember it daily as my grandmother did.”<br />
Nicklaus recognized the dangerous ground he was on and took a moment before he continued.<br />
“No one questions her contribution, Mel. Her books put our little country back on the map. I’m not sure publishing historical romances about dragons and kings in our dark history was the only way to do that, but her contribution is appreciated. I’m talking about getting the land back; recovering our birthright; taking back what has been stripped from us for centuries. What do you intend to do to help with that?”<br />
Melisa felt a sudden surge of vertigo and stumbled into the wingback chair behind her.<br />
Had his eyes flashed or was that some artifact of the charged encounter?<br />
Recovering control by grabbing the armrest and slipping into the chair as smoothly as she could, Melissa hoped she had disguised her sudden weakness.<br />
What was he talking about? It had been generations since their almost-country had been swallowed into the redrawn maps of Europe. Swabia had fallen apart over centuries of dukes and counts who failed to bring it together to form a single unified nation. None of the powers, including the United Nations, had recognized their claims so far. He, along with every male of the royal line, was losing his mind. Her grandmother had told her about the plan that they passed from father to son, how much it had already cost all of the families and what she thought of it. <br />
“I’m too tired to argue with you Nick. I know you didn’t come here to talk about our history or wedding plans. What do you want?”<br />
She punctuated her query by flopping against the chair back and looking up at him. She hoped the act covered her dizziness, which was not going away. Now, there was a buzzing in her ears.<br />
He paused a moment before continuing, again smiling. He drew his hand over his face. For an instant, she thought she saw fatigue but she could not be sure.<br />
“I wanted to ask you some questions, about your grandmother. Before she died, did she talk to you about any deadlines?”<br />
“No, she was sick before she died. I hadn’t seen her for a while. I was away, at school, so were you. When I did see her last, she talked about parties and people she remembered and went on about a particular ball when she was a child.” The only deadline her grandmother had ever discussed with her had been in writing just before he had arrived, so to deny it was not a lie. Reminded of the deadline, she looked up at the calendar on the wall. It was too far away to make out.<br />
“Odd, was she working on another book? You of all people would know what she was working on.”<br />
“I’m not sure… Why? She was always writing something.”<br />
The dizziness was making it hard to think. Her skin itched with a prickling irritation, and the fine hairs on her arm were standing up. She resisted scratching.<br />
“She was asking a lot of questions about some very old texts my father kept in the library at home,” he pressed. “She borrowed them and I wanted to make sure they made it back to the library. With all that’s happened things can get lost, you know.”<br />
“I’ll make sure you get them back as soon as I can finish a quick inventory. I have no idea what all is here. I expect most of the family will want to pick through it. Anyway, questions about what?”<br />
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”<br />
Nick sat down in the chair in front of hers. A deeper flash of vertigo rushed over her as he sat down. She looked away as her mind filled with an image of an ancient castle. She could see it as if she was hovering over it. Along the battlements, dragons stood with their wings folded back looking down into the valley around the castle. It reminded her of the painting on the ceiling in the library. Fire ran down her arms, legs, and spine. An uncontrollable shiver ran through her body. When she looked up at Nick, he was grinning back at her. The clock in the hall sang the hour with nine clear rings. Somehow, each chime made him look happier.<br />
“Look, Nick, I’m really tired tonight. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”<br />
“She seemed pretty insistent. She said it was important. If I could just look at what she was working on I think I could help.”<br />
Each sentence was an attack to her focus. Melissa resisted shaking her head at his request.<br />
“I’m not even sure what she was working on yet. I need some time to review it. I’ll know more in a few days, but not tonight.”<br />
She stood from the chair and walked toward the door leading out of the parlor, fighting vertigo with every step.<br />
“I think it would be best if you left tonight. I need to get some rest. Today has really worn me down. Would you mind?”<br />
“I can’t leave now, Mel. I need to see the journal,” he snapped.<br />
A stronger wave of vertigo nearly dropped her to her knees. She could see that this wave affected Nicklaus as well. His eyes flashed red. This time his reaction was clear, and he did nothing to hide it. He bared his teeth at her and growled.<br />
Fear slammed into her already shaken mind, and she could not help the look of surprise that crossed her face. How could he know about the journal?<br />
“Charles, get in here! I need you!”<br />
Her skin prickled and fire ran down her limbs again; it was all she could do to remain standing. The amulet around her neck seemed to vibrate, and Nicklaus fell away from her as if an invisible hand pushed him. He braced against the hearth and grinned.<br />
Across the foyer behind her, a door leading to the dining room swung open and Charles rushed across the tiled floor. All hints of the gentle butler were gone as the fast-moving tackle rushed past her into the parlor.<br />
“Holy—what the hell’s going on?” Charles shouted as he crossed the last few steps to grab Nicklaus as he was stepping toward Melissa. He wrapped his arms around the smaller man and pulled him away from the door. “I’ve got this, miss. May I suggest you retire to the library or your room?”<br />
“Yes, of course.”<br />
Even in her addled state, she knew the journal had to be protected.<br />
“Make sure he is shown off the property and tell the gate no one is to be allowed in tonight. No exceptions.”<br />
“I can’t let you do this Melissa. Your grandmother is wrong. What she’s asking you to do will enslave us, again.”<br />
Nicklaus’ eyes pleaded with her. He was not resisting Charles who was holding him in place in front of the fireplace, but something in Nicklaus’ eyes scared her.<br />
“Don’t do what she’s asked you to do. We have to be allowed to reclaim the power we’ve lost.”<br />
His face changed again. She saw it coming and opened her mouth to warn Charles, but never got the words out. He must have expected something because he turned his hip as Nicklaus drove his elbows into Charles’ side. The power in his strike was unnatural and more than Melissa had ever seen in the small man. His eyes suddenly glowed brighter.<br />
Distracted by the attack and Nicklaus’ unexplained strength, Charles lost his grip and stumbled back against the hearth. Nicklaus pushed off and rushed at her. Vertigo enshrouded her and Melissa’s feet twined together as she turned away from him. She stumbled into the doorframe, trying to escape. Against the wall, she gained some control and pushed off and around the doorframe into the foyer. The safety of the library was only a few feet down the hallway, but she could feel him behind her. She swore his hands were hovering above her shoulders. She risked a look back as she turned toward the back of the house.<br />
Nicklaus, tripped up by Charles, slammed into the wall and doorframe, splintering the wood and spraying the hallway with chunks of plaster. The force of the strike spun him around into the front door barely missing her as she ran out of his reach. The impact with the wall should have stopped him, but he was pushing against the front door to come after her.<br />
She couldn’t stop the scream that escaped as he continued to chase after her. Watching over her shoulder, Melissa ran faster through the library door toward the back of the house. There was no way the two way door would hold up against his strength, but she had to secure the journal and figure out what was going on. Just as the door was closing behind her, she caught a glimpse of Charles slamming into Nicklaus in a classic football tackle and driving him across the foyer out of view.<br />
The noise of their scuffle drove her past the desk where she grabbed the box and turned toward the French doors. Charles’ cry of pain alarmed her and drove her to the doors. She hoped Charles could stop him, but knew in her heart that this was not the end of her flight.<br />
The deadbolt stopped her, and she fumbled with it. Her fingers knotted, and she cried out in frustration before the lock yielded. Throwing open the doors, she raced out of the house and into the twilight of the back lawn. At the foot of the stairs, a crash of glass caused her to look back again as Nicklaus tore through the back doors. Distracted, she tripped on a root and sprawled across the rough ground.<br />
As she fell, she released the locked box and brought her hands up to protect herself. Without looking, she sensed Nicklaus on top of her. She rolled over looking into his crazed eyes.<br />
As he fell upon her, his chest felt jagged against her soft flesh. He was stronger than she ever remembered. His hands were reaching for her neck, and panic shot through her as she realized he intended to kill her. She closed her eyes.<br />
Helpless in his grasp, she knew she could not surrender. Instinctively, she reached for the talisman at her neck. His rough hands closed around her throat. She opened her eyes to look into menacing, glowing orbs. Fire ran through her hand, and the stones in the pendant flashed.<br />
Nicklaus stopped. Surprise filled his eyes as an invisible force slammed into his chest and threw him off of her and across the yard.<br />
He crashed into the stone wall of the mansion and then dropped onto the steps with a loud thump, like a rag doll cast aside by an angry child. He stayed where he landed.<br />
Fire raced up her arms, and a spike of pain exploded in her head. Her vision blurred with the pain and she clenched her eyes shut. A vision of a massive black dragon flashed into her mind as the pain blossomed in her skull. When her mind cleared, she could suddenly hear the katydids in the woods around her and the crunch of glass under Charles’ feet. <br />
Melissa opened her eyes, sat up, and stared at Nicklaus where he lay as Charles limped onto the porch. His left arm hung at his side, and blood streamed down his face from a bad gash on his head.<br />
“Get to the overlook,” he ordered, “I’m right behind you. Don’t wait for me. Run. Stay on the path, it’s safer.”<br />
Calm control emanated from him. He looked at the limp form on the steps and shook his head.<br />
“This is about that box?” He pointed at it and looked at her.<br />
She stood up and looked toward the overlook nodding her head.<br />
“Go on, then. I’ll be right behind you.” <br />
Melissa hesitated.<br />
He looked up at her as he grabbed Nicklaus under the arm and hoisted him onto his shoulder. He pointed at the overlook and turned his back on her.<br />
She collected the box and ran down the path to the overlook. When she was on the stone floor of the overlook, she turned back. Charles was on his way down the path. She looked at him with the question she wanted to ask on her face. <br />
“Yes, he’s still alive. I locked him in the pool shed. It won’t hold him, but it will slow him down. He won’t know where we are in a minute anyway.”<br />
Charles looked her over professionally as he reached the stone circle at the edge of the yard. She suddenly felt like a little girl who had fallen in the back yard. Charles reminded her of his father, and she took some comfort from that strength.<br />
“Step back a bit.”<br />
With his right hand, he turned a stone near the center, exposing a handle. He pulled on the handle and a door, disguised in the cobblestone, opened, revealing stairs leading into the blackness and toward the house. He stepped down a step and leaned the door against his left shoulder with a grimace. With his only usable hand, he fumbled with a flashlight in his right coat pocket.<br />
“Here, let me,” Melissa said as she pulled the Maglite from his pocket and turned it on. “You don’t have to be the hero all the time.”<br />
“I didn’t stop Nicklaus with a piece of jewelry. I’m not sure why he’s that strong or how you did that, but I knew things were getting weird when your grandmother sent me out here last week.”<br />
“What’s out here?” Melissa asked as she led the way down the stairs. Charles closed the disguised door behind him and engaged a locking wheel on the center of it.<br />
“You don’t know? You’ll have to see it, then. There’s a large cave down here. It’s safer than the house, and it has something to do with that journal.”<br />
He pointed at the box, and she looked at him as if he was going to explain something to her.<br />
He shook his head. “No, I knew she was writing it before she died, and she left it in that box for you. She told me it was important. I just hope you have all you need down here because Nicklaus will have access to the house now. I can’t keep him out, and I don’t think we can go back up for anything until you figure this out.”<br />
“I have what he wants.” She lifted the box up. “I’m not sure what else I’ll need. I’m not even sure what you’re talking about.”<br />
“You didn’t read it?”<br />
She frowned and kept walking. She didn’t need his disappointment on top of her own. They followed the stairs until they leveled out in a room as large as the entire north wing of the house. They had been descending for a few minutes, but Melissa was not sure how far under the house they were or even how deep. Most of the cavern was rough and natural. The floor was level and covered with chests of different sizes.<br />
“What’s all of this?” Melissa asked, amazed that such a secret had been kept from her. She had been all over the house and property since she had been a baby. She was a little upset she didn’t know about it. <br />
“The foundation of your estate, literally. Your grandmother told me these were the crown jewels of your country.”<br />
“Who else knows about this?”<br />
“Me and you, as far as I know. I was supposed to show you this when you asked. She expected you would be busy tonight.”<br />
“What do you mean?”<br />
“She spent her last days writing in that journal. She told me she had little time and had to finish it. I was supposed to bring you here when you asked me to if she died before the solstice and she was unable to finish the preparations.”<br />
“What do you know about all of this?” She held the box up in front of her.<br />
“Not much. I know she felt it was important that whatever she was preparing happen before sunset tonight. She was always asking me how much time she had left. I had to mark the solstice on my calendar and tell her how many days she had left every morning.”<br />
“<i>Today’s</i> the solstice?” Melissa gulped.<br />
She felt cold all over.<br />
She could feel the color draining from her face.<br />
Her stomach turned nearly over.<br />
“What time is it?”<br />
Charles lifted his left wrist and looked at his watch. “9:17.”<br />
Melissa bent down to put the box on the floor and settled beside it. Using the flashlight to locate the lock, she clutched at her chest to make sure she still had the pendant and the key. When she felt the comforting weight, she exhaled; but she could not escape the fear that she had failed her grandmother.<br />
“Hold this,” she ordered without thinking and handed him the flashlight.<br />
Looking down at the box in front of her, she used the key on the chain to unlock it. Inside was everything she had left there before going to meet Nicklaus. She lifted out the journal and flipped to the first page. Her grandmother’s writing appeared readable, as if she was sitting in the library.<br />
“Help me, please. Do you have any idea what she wants me to do?”<br />
“No. She never told me.”<br />
Melissa looked back at the journal and the first page she had not read. It was describing the history of her family going back over a thousand years. Melissa didn’t have time to read it, so she skimmed the pages until she reached a section that seemed to be instructions. Those she slowly read and then set the book down in her lap.<br />
“She wants me to cast a spell.”<br />
“What? What do you mean?” His face showed the conflict of a man who lived in a concrete world.<br />
“She wants me to cast an ancient spell. If I can’t cast it before sunset I won’t stop what she’s calling the emergence and then it’ll be harder to correct...” She couldn’t finish. She couldn’t believe what the pages had told her.<br />
“What are you going on about?”<br />
“I’m not sure. What time is it?”<br />
“9:24.”<br />
“I’ll never make it. I can’t get it right in that little time.” A vision of a giant black scaly body passed before her in her mind. Its head turned to look at her. Nicklaus was with her for a moment and was urging her to stop.<br />
“Okay, what is this emergence, and why do you have to stop it?”<br />
“I’m not sure. I can’t take time to read it all, but if she thought it was important, I’m not going to question it.”<br />
“What do you need?”<br />
“Time, everything else is here.” With that realization and the pressure in her mind from Nicklaus, she stood up.<br />
“Shine the light around.”<br />
The beam of light exposed the floor in three-foot-wide slices, and she followed it until the outline on the floor matched the diagram in the journal.<br />
“Stop,” she shouted while comparing the mosaic on the ground with the drawing in the journal.<br />
Convinced they matched, Melissa stepped into the central circle of what would be a giant pentagram mosaic in the floor of the cavern.<br />
Vertigo, like she had felt facing Nicklaus in the parlor, rushed over her. Dropping to one knee and looking up at Charles, she swore she could feel wings protruding from her back. A different but familiar voice in her mind screamed, and she had a sudden sense she was about to do the wrong thing. An image of dragons surrounding the pentagram with their wings raised filled her mind. Nicklaus, in the form of a dragon, walked the outer edge looking in at her in the middle where she stood. Her hands trembled.<br />
“I’m not sure I can do this.”<br />
“She believed in you, so do I,” Charles urged from nearby. “You can do this.”<br />
Reassured, she opened the journal. She closed her eyes to clear the visions that continued and exhaled slowly. With effort, she forced Nicklaus’ urgent arguments away and resisted the pressure from her own mind to stop. When she finally calmed herself, she began reading the words written out for her in the journal aloud. As the first sentence was completed, the text before her began glowing like a bad karaoke song. As the words passed her lips, they vanished on the page in a flash, turning to ash.<br />
The pentagram on the floor began to glow.<br />
Charles stepped to the outer edge and watched. The flashlight he was holding was no longer needed.<br />
She read each line until she had finished the first page. Ash fell from the journal as she turned to the next page. She wanted to speed up, but the glow set a specific cadence and would not allow her to change it.<br />
At the end of the second of three pages, she waited for the glow to go on, but it had not moved on from the last word. The glow of the pentagram vanished, and she stood in darkness waiting for what was next. A bell rang through the room, and she knew in her gut that she had failed. There was no need to go on.<br />
“What was that?” Charles shined the flashlight around the cavern looking for the source of the bell. When he couldn’t find it, he turned to look at her.<br />
“I didn’t make it in time. It’s sunset.”<br />
“Go on, finish it then.”<br />
“I can’t.” The weight of her failure made her feel tired. She wanted to lay down and sleep.<br />
Suddenly, Melissa’s mind blurred with a whirlpool of images. Memories rushed through her head. Vertigo and excruciating pain overwhelmed her, and she fell to the floor. The individual tiles of the pentagram swam before her eyes. Images of her father, mother, and other relatives in a foreign place filled her mind. She saw Nicklaus changing from a dragon into the man she knew, only older by a few years. Melissa heard the voice in her head.<br />
<i>Finally!</i><br />
A feeling of relief filled Melissa’s mind with the thought. It was as if something was suddenly resolved. A shiver ran down her spine.<br />
“Charles, I don’t know what’s happening.”<br />
Melissa pushed away from the tiles and tried to stand but could not overcome the vertigo that held her there. She could feel minds, imprisoned for ages, celebrating their freedom. <br />
<i>There is no reason to resist. We are one,</i> the stranger in her mind said to her.<br />
Flashes of realization ripped through her mind. The spell was gone now.<br />
They would emerge.<br />
The dragons were coming.<br />
They were already returning all around her.<br />
“I’m not a dragon!”<br />
“This is not me!”<br />
“I can’t allow it.”<br />
“I’ll not be consumed,” she cried into the stones beneath her hands.<br />
She felt a rush of strength and power pour over her body. It felt good. She was euphoric in the sudden flow of energy.<br />
<i>Release me!</i><br />
“No! Why should I?”<br />
<i>Focus on me and return to yourself. Why are you making this so hard?</i><br />
Melissa struggled against the power surging through her body demanding to be released.<br />
There’s nothing wrong with being a dragon. Why should we be suppressed? Why were we? How long has it been?<br />
Melissa felt a blast of pain in answer to the question. The power inside her fought back, and it felt so good to be strong.<br />
Charles had stepped over to help her where she writhed on the floor, but he backed away as a guttural growl escaped her throat.<br />
In her mind, images of her past formed and flashed by. Some brought joy with them. Others were cauldrons of sorrow. Her mind was a whirlwind of childhood thoughts. Her mother the dragon; the castle where she had lived; humans she had fought beside… Melissa fought the images by reaching out to recent memories of her relatively short life. It was insane to believe she was a dragon. She would not surrender. This demon would not take over her mind and body. She would not be lost to it.<br />
She looked up from the ground to Charles and reached out a hand to him. He hesitated a moment. She could see fear in the eyes of a man who had witnessed war, but he recovered and stepped in to take it.<br />
<i>We will not be held back!</i><br />
Power surged through her body.<br />
<i>We will be free.</i><br />
She felt it fighting within her.<br />
<i>You will understand if you relax.</i><br />
It suddenly tried to sooth her with a mellow crooning voice in her mind.<br />
Melissa gripped Charles’ hand and he winced as she squeezed.<br />
“NO!” she screamed.<br />
With Charles’ help, she stood up and forced herself to breathe. She looked around the cave and realized she could see everything. The light they had used to find their way into the cavern glowed in Charles’ injured hand but did nothing to aid her. She could read the text on the floor and see every crack in the distant wall.<br />
<i>You resist for no reason. I’m not taking you over. We are one. We are the same. We are Meliastrid.</i><br />
In her mind, a red-scaled dragon stood on a frozen courtyard. It spun in the flakes falling from the grey sky, and Melissa could feel the childish joy of the moment. She loved the snow. She loved the castle. Melissa found herself spinning in the cavern as the dragon had in her memory. She could feel the event as if she had lived it.<br />
<i>You did. I did. We did.</i><br />
As the joy enveloped her mind, Melissa relaxed a little. The crack in her defense was small, but it was enough. The power inside her surged, and coppery wings sprung from her back. Instead of pain, she shivered in a euphoric spasm. With the chill of the spasms, scales rippled over her skin and covered her body. Her clothes ripped and fell away from her as her armored form grew beyond their capacity.<br />
Charles fell away from her and raised a hand to defend himself as if she might hurt him.<br />
“Charles, I’m okay. Don’t be afraid,” she said with a little trill in her voice.<br />
The feeling of emerging into this form was so overwhelming she could no longer resist it. Her own fear was suddenly lost in the uncontrollable spasms of growth and emergence. She was still afraid of what was happening, but the quiet cooing in her mind assured her it was safe.<br />
She didn’t want to believe it. She struggled again to remember. She fought to see if she was being deceived. As payment for her effort, pain ripped through her head and interrupted the transformation. She clamped her hands over her pointed ears, but it did nothing to stop the pain. She nearly dropped to the floor again when another surge of power fought against the pain. <br />
With the pain suppressed and all of her resistance quelled, a long tail extended from her back and raised her into the air as her legs grew beneath her. The power turned into strength as her chest expanded and she grew to her full height. Stronger and stronger spasms wracked her. Large, triangular scales covered her chest as the tail consumed her. Her neck grew from the root of her chest, and wings carried her head away from her much larger body. Melissa could feel the crown of horns and spines grow from the back of her head. Fleshy, scaled whiskers extended from her chin. Thin wing flaps grew from below her ears.<br />
Her nose expanded into a long snout. Her black hair vanished into bronze and black scales that covered her neck down to her wings. She could not suppress the grin on her newly emerged face.<br />
A huge bronze and copper colored dragon replaced the short frail form of Melissa on the tiles where she had lain moments before resisting the transition. In her mind, the others that she had felt before were celebrating their freedom. However, the joy was quickly overwhelmed by a closer mind, a mind filled with rage. <br />
“This is the emergence that she wanted to stop.” Melissa spread her wings behind her and thrilled at the feeling of power that rushed through her.<br />
<i>That was a silly idea, I fear.</i><br />
The thoughts and memories of the emerged dragon filled her mind, and she struggled not to disappear in the swirling memories and pain that still wracked the mind. It was not clear which thoughts she could trust.<br />
“Emergence? That’s exactly what Helena wanted you to stop! What are you doing?” Charles asked.<br />
She could see the terror in his eyes, and Melissa was not sure what kept him in the cavern. The door was not blocked. He could leave if he wanted. The little girl inside wanted him to run and take her with him, but she couldn’t go.<br />
“You should not be here, Charles.” Melissa could hear her own voice in the dragon’s mouth. Charles stared at her and stayed where he was.<br />
“I’m not leaving Melissa. Whoever <i>you</i> are, I’m here to help her.”<br />
<i>Brave for a human.</i> The voice in her mind seemed unimpressed and somewhat agitated by his presence. <i>He should not have seen this. We should kill him.</i><br />
Melissa reacted physically to the threat to Charles by turning the dragon’s head away from him to look elsewhere. As she focused on a large opening on the other side of the cavern, the nearby rage turned into familiar agitation. Nicklaus was awake. He had emerged, and he was searching for her. His rage returned, and she could sense his desire to kill someone. He wanted to kill Charles. A final surge of Nicklaus’ satisfaction filled her mind as he sensed his prey.<br />
She turned back to look at Charles where he now stood. He had marshaled his fear and faced her. Flashes in her mind mingled his face with another’s who was decked in a full suit of armor and sitting astride a charger. She grinned at him and realized in those images that there was no doubting his faithfulness.<br />
<i>Our mate will not see it that way. Are you prepared to deny him his retribution? This human has wronged him.</i><br />
“This human has defended us. We were taking a stand, and he helped us.”<br />
<i>But was it the right stand we were taking? Now that we are free, do you agree with what Heliantra wanted?</i><br />
Melissa struggled with the massive memories that she had suddenly come to possess and tried to find an answer that she could rely on. Pain filled her mind as she tried to fight her way through memories and with a shake of her dragon head she surrendered and made a decision.<br />
“In the absence of proof that she had reason for her directions tonight, I will still listen to my grandmother before I trust to Nicklaus.”<br />
<i>Then you will face that decision soon. He will find you. Be prepared for it.</i><br />
Melissa looked down at the small form of Charles in front of her. She slowly dropped her chest and forelegs toward him and tried to make soothing sounds to keep him from being threatened. It came out wrong, and she could see him tense in preparation for whatever she was doing. Unable to stop the reaction she carefully placed her foreclaw on his shoulder and stopped him before he could run. He looked down at it and up at her.<br />
In her other claw, she handed the journal to him.<br />
“My mate comes. He comes to kill you and perhaps me for defending you. I need your help. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but the world we both knew has changed. Dragons have emerged. We will have to face it, and I need your help.”<br />
Charles wrestled with his fear and looked into her eyes. He studied them for a moment and then knelt on one knee, dropping his eyes to the floor.<br />
“I swear, my lady. I have done the wishes of your kin and will continue to serve you.”<br />
A surge of excitement and pleasure filled her mind as Nicklaus found the cave entrance. They were out of time. She turned to face the direction in which he would appear as a blast of air rushed into the hall in front of his black shiny body. Nicklaus folded his wings back and landed in the middle of the floor to join the pair in the center of the hall. Melissa pushed Charles behind her and shifted her body between them. Their chests nearly touched when Nicklaus had stopped. <br />
“Why,” Nicklaus roared into the chamber, “do you protect this human?” His head leapt at the small form hiding behind her, and his teeth clashed in loud snaps. Fire flared in Nicklaus’ otherwise dark eyes.<br />
“Because, he has served me well. He was doing what he was charged to do. His courage saves him. You have no right to him.” Her knee slammed into his eye and sent his head away from Charles.<br />
“They have enslaved us.” His foreclaw defended his injured eye as he withdrew his head from the sudden danger and looked at her, shocked by her physical attack. Only partially derailed by the assault, he continued his thought after a pause. “We will avenge this disrespect. You understand now, don’t you?” He looked up at her, confused. His left eye blinked to recover.<br />
Thoughts from her rebellious mind rushed forward to defend what Nicklaus was saying. Melissa could feel her resolve failing as her mate tried to convince her that humans deserved to be punished, starting with Charles. She paused as Nicklaus fought with his injured pride to think. There had to be some reason Helena wanted her to cast the spell that would have stopped this. Through the pain, she struggled for an answer that was just out of reach when the image sprang forward in a blast of excruciating realization. Like she had felt the joy of the dragon spinning in the snowy castle courtyard, she again could sense the fear and dread as her young mind chanted similar words into the crisp air of that same castle. Nicklaus paced beyond a magical boundary and a circle of dragons that protected her as she cast the spell. The pain of the memory exploded into her mind, eradicating the image in shards of agony. It was enough to stop the argument from her mind and strengthen her resolve.<br />
Melissa extended her tail to point at Nicklaus’ injured eye. She raised her wings above her head to balance herself for his attack and reached out with her foreclaws to protect her space from her one-time mate.<br />
“We are free now. This is a different time, though, and we must be careful. You are wrong, my love, as you have been for generations before and since. I know how angry you are, but you must be cautious and not be overcome by emotions not supported by facts. Do not surrender to your rage, or it will be your end.”<br />
“Never again,” he roared into the cavern. “Across the world we have all emerged, and we will never again be subjugated to them. The humans will pay for their insolence, and I will not be stopped by you and your love for them.” Nicklaus raised his head level with hers, keeping his eyes on her. The flickers of hatred in his eyes warned her he was ready to fight. She puffed up her chest and thrust her wings forward, pointing the claws on each joint out to show him the fight he would be in if he chose to attack. She wanted to look like the porcupine she would be. He would pay dearly in this fight.<br />
Her show of force worked, and Nicklaus turned his back on her to leap across the cave. As he retreated, he continued to threaten her.<br />
“You will see you were wrong. Others will agree with me. Your father will stand beside me and end your love affair with humans. They have stood against us, and I will see that they pay for their arrogance.”<br />
Without looking back, he exited the cave, leaving only the aroma of his anger.<br />
Melissa sighed the tension out of her body and relaxed her wings. Part of their history was becoming clearer in her mind accompanied by the pain that drained her strength. She believed her grandmother’s decision had reason.<br />
<i>No! Do not return us to the prison of that weak form.</i><br />
“It is the form I am comfortable with.”<br />
<i>It is a prison.</i><br />
“Then you shall be imprisoned.”<br />
<i>We, you mean.</i><br />
Melissa shrugged her mighty shoulders and refused to fight with the voice. She was in control of her body. She returned her thoughts to the problem of what to do about the ancient spell she had failed to cast. There had been a reason for it before. If her memory was correct, she had actually cast it before. What could the reason be? Fire rushed through her head at the attempt to recapture that memory, and she shook her head to clear it from the pain.<br />
Suddenly triumphant against both her own confused mind and Nicklaus’ anger, but otherwise a failure, exhaustion overwhelmed her. She took her last ounce of strength and focused on her human form. Melissa collapsed from her dragon form into her completely exhausted and naked human body. She felt Charles’ strong, comforting, human arms catch her as the shroud closed over her eyes, and peaceful darkness swallowed her mind.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h2>
- See what happens next - </h2>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BI63XS6">Order your e-book at Amazon.com</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.createspace.com/4109857">Or your hard copy at Createspace.com</a> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-82554738563088695512013-02-20T16:03:00.000-05:002013-04-01T22:46:24.712-04:00Legacy of Dragons: Emergence - Now on KindleIt is the moment you have been waiting for. The e-book version is now available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BI63XS6">Amazon.com</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-63215955574663435832013-02-19T14:23:00.000-05:002013-04-01T22:46:24.707-04:00Legacy of Dragons:Emergence - Now Available at CreateSpace<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">T.D.
Raufson Introduces what happened to dragons in Legacy of Dragons:
Emergence <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Author T.D. Raufson of Chattanooga, Tennessee pulls the
covers back on why dragons disappeared 1500 years ago and what happens when
they come back in the first book of his new Legacy of Magic series. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In the
first book, Legacy of Dragons: Emergence, he introduces the Schwendemann family
and their new matriarch, confused, twenty-something Melissa. Along with her
inheritance of the family manor she also inherited the responsibility for the
secret of the dragons’ disappearance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As it becomes quickly clear that Melissa is not prepared
for her new responsibility, an even more critical problem emerges when the
dragons return. To avert an ancient war, she has to figure out why dragons were
originally imprisoned before they take their revenge on who they believe
tricked them—the entire human race.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Raufson drew on his love of fantasy, magic and dragons to
create an interesting view into the lives of dragons and ultimately the Legacy of
Magic in our modern world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In this debut novel, Raufson introduces a broad new world
that is superimposed on the world we know with a history that is an interesting
what if. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Order your copy today at <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4109857">CreateSpace.com</a>. </div>
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Also coming soon to Amazon.com and a Kindle near you. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-86530906878611085982013-01-09T20:03:00.001-05:002013-04-01T22:46:24.714-04:00Coming Soon - Legacy of Dragons: Emergence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XUfuF_03XQ9MFx4jrGYKcPiCRIm_MnxR_mnAsghlMetJaQX3cEE1KAjZ3oNcDWDOye4_qDAh2M6VyydzYDaswXmOfUYWDoq93Qos1zgAMkjLkw9nURYNCpGUQ9Itfjpx1_xOTZFAm0AP/s1600/FrontCoverFinalLow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XUfuF_03XQ9MFx4jrGYKcPiCRIm_MnxR_mnAsghlMetJaQX3cEE1KAjZ3oNcDWDOye4_qDAh2M6VyydzYDaswXmOfUYWDoq93Qos1zgAMkjLkw9nURYNCpGUQ9Itfjpx1_xOTZFAm0AP/s400/FrontCoverFinalLow.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
The pages are uploaded, the cover is submitted and the final proof is on the way. In the next few days I will finally complete a journey I have been on for a few years and start the next leg. I am looking forward to sharing this story with you and several more to come in this series.<br />
<br />
The characters I have highlighted in the sketches here are only a few of the characters in this wonderful novel. Ordering information for both the print and e-book will be available here shortly.<br />
<br />
From the back cover -<br />
<b>1500 years ago dragons vanished from the earth and became
legend along with all other magical creatures. At the same time magic vanished
and the world descended into the dark ages. Melissa Schwendemann, a young
college student who just inherited her grandmother’s estate inadvertently
uncovers the ancient secret of what happened to the dragons by releasing them
from their fifteen hundred year old prison.</b><br />
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Now she has to figure out the real question; why were they
imprisoned… before they take their vengeance out on who they think imprisoned
them—the human race. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
While you wait for the final release announcement, please enjoy the beautiful cover art by Rio Sirah, Lynn Cole of Lynn Cole Body Art, Grace Moss of Bohdi Tree Photography and Jessica Moss. <br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-72179082412324333872012-10-15T06:22:00.004-04:002013-04-01T22:46:24.709-04:00Renard's Promotion within the Arcane Assembly<br />
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<b>Here is a look into the history of one of my key characters in Legacy of Magic.</b></div>
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Renard flipped through the velum pages of the ritual with
his left hand as he walked down the newly exposed passageway. Although he had been to the Assembly's
labyrinth many times, he had never been to this particularly dark region. An orb of light preceded him, chasing
shadows and frightened creatures alike deeper into the corners and hidden
realms. The metallic tick-tock of his staff on the stone as he walked reassured
him that the floor was solid. Any change in tone would allow him to react
before he was falling or worse, impaled. Each time the Assembly had called him
before them, the ritual required to get
through the maze was different as was the layout, but Renard had given up on
memorizing any route. It was best, and often life saving, to relax and let the
ritual guide his steps. <o:p></o:p></div>
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With a ritual this complex, the event he had been called to attend promised to be far more important than anything he should be doing for his father's kingdom, including helping his brother take their father's place some day. Renard enjoyed the ripple of
excitement that ran across his body at the thought of what awaited him at the
end of this ritual, but there was no way to know what was planned. The Assembly never
communicated their actions to the members until they were called. The orb of
light ahead of him exposed a long dead and stripped corpse. The physical
reminder of how serious this situation was sobered Renard’s thoughts. With the
end of his staff, he slid the unrecognizable mass out of his way while looking
for what might have killed it. Scanning the walls and floor for the possible
trap, he also looked for clues that he was being followed.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When he resumed his course, satisfied that there was no trap
and convinced he was being followed, he picked up his pace. To survive the
labyrinth, it was important to listen to the warnings and something was telling
him he needed to get out of this passage. Although time had little meaning in
the labyrinth, if he spent too much of it in any one place the shadowy
inhabitants would grow brave and that could quickly become dangerous. However,
it was not the danger that drove Renard forward; he was far too excited about what the
Assembly had planned and the nagging warning that he was being followed was
frustrating him.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Renard stuffed the ritual into the bag at his waist and drew
his wand from the slit pocket in its strap that crossed his chest. In a single
motion, as the wand cleared the leather strap, he turned to face his follower
while voicing the power word to activate the protective barrier his staff
commanded. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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With a sweeping motion he described the top left and bottom
right anchor points for the barrier. The invisible shield covered the entire
passage that had been behind him. The orb, adjusting to his change in
direction, shot over his shoulder and stopped just before barrier, dispelling
the shadows around what was following him. The sudden brightness captured a
puff of dust as whatever had been there vanished. His pursuer was small, but
that realization did not make him relax his grip on the wand. Size was
meaningless when the follower was one of thousands of magical creatures the
Assembly had imprisoned in the labyrinth throughout their history. An abyss
beetle, for example, was nothing to ignore and it would fit in the palm of your
hand. Luckily that little beast was not what was following him today; they
didn’t bother with teleportation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He reviewed what he knew and decided that the follower was
most likely a sprite or an imp of some type.
They were usually not dangerous unless they felt mischievous. As with
everything trapped in the labyrinth, the sprites wanted to escape. They often
tried to get out by stowing away in open bags or pouches. Renard had remotely watched
several try, without success, a few years back when the Assembly had tested
another wizard for entry. Neither the pixies nor the wizard left the labyrinth
that day. He relaxed his grip on the wand and rolled his weight back onto his
heels. A sprite following him in the maze would not normally have caught his
attention. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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With a flourish of his cloak, Renard turned his back on the
barrier and his miniature follower to focus on his goal. The memory of watching
the wizard in the maze answered his question. He didn’t have time to worry about
the inhabitants of the labyrinth, because the care takers and all of the Assembly’s
members were watching him complete this ritual. In his mind he could clearly see them all sitting
around the chamber where he had watched the trials that year. The importance
and difficulty of the ritual in his bag suddenly settled in and a shudder and
cold sweat asked the question. What had he done to deserve their individual
attention? Without giving away anything to the gallery of watchers, he shook
off his concern; he had to follow the ritual and stay on target. His life and
death were both written in its pages. He shrugged his shoulders to shift the
invisible weight that had just landed on them, slipped his wand back into its
place and retrieved the ritual from his bag. If they wanted a show, he would
give them a good one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At the end of the chamber there was a choice between a
descending path to his left and a path to his right on the same level. He
consulted the ritual for a moment, reading through the lines of magical text in
his mind to see if there was a clue about which path to take. After a short
pause he elected to delve deeper into the labyrinth and took the path to his left.
The sloping chamber was as dark and foreboding as the last but he paid little
mind to it as he followed it to its end. It did not level out again before
ending in a rough stone wall. Sure he had made the correct turn; he voiced the
words awaiting him on the current page of the ritual. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As he spoke, the words on the page glowed as if they were burning
off the page. Green, red and blue flashes followed the strokes of the writer as
the words were laid down on the page. Tendrils of smoke wafted off the vellum
and ash slipped down it as the words released their power. The wall in front of
him transfigured and exposed the rest of the chamber that descended a little
further into a much larger room. Caught up in the magical cadence, Renard
walked into the room trailing an enchanted mist that fluttered around his feet. Stones that had transfigured to allow him into the room slammed back into the
wall after he passed through the portal. That was not his exit.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The first thing to attract Renard’s attention in the room
was the naked female elf standing in the center of the room. She did not move
as he entered and he took in the contents of the room with a quick scan. To his
right were tables stacked with vials, flasks and silver piping. To his left was
an operational iron maiden and rack. In the very center of the room, in front
of the elf, a stone table projected out of the stone of the floor. It had been
carved as the room had been formed. The table’s flat surface was a polished
plate of silver that reflected the light from his orb around the room. Troughs
lined with silver ran from the foot of the slightly angled smooth surface and
descended around the table until they ended in a funnel pointed into a silver
pot suspended over a metal ring. Hanging over the silver pot was a funnel with
a retort that would direct the distillate into the condenser coil before
dropping the concentrate into the crystal alembic at the end of the cold fire
distillery. Renard now knew the purpose of the ritual. He would be distilling
the essence of a magical creature down into a potion. The actual use and
character of the philter would be defined by the specific creature to be
sacrificed and the ritual performed during the distillation. The first
question, the creature, had been answered already. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The elf was held magically within the boundary of a
pentagram inscribed on the top of a raised stone circle on the floor. Another spell,
which he would be dispelling, held her in a state of suspended animation. She
had been bathed in pure oils and delivered to the chamber where she waited her
fate. She was the sacrifice. Renard felt a sudden surge of pity for her. As the
emotion surged through him he cursed his weakness. He could not allow his
emotions into this ritual, the effects on the concentrate would taint it and
forever color any magic performed with it. He quickly cleansed his mind of any
concern or care for the subject. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Renard took his place at the table, now very sure of his
role in the ritual. The Assembly planned for strong magic to come from this
ritual. Based on the base ingredient, virgin female elf blood, he would be
making ink for inscribing and illuminating spells. He had never produced the
level of magical alchemy that was represented by ritually draining the blood
from an innately magical creature. A tingle of excitement raced up his spine. The ceremony would produce something that only
he could use and the only wizards allowed to create rituals and inscribe spells
into scrolls and books were masters of the Assembly. He had to admit that he
had campaigned for a place on the council of masters for the Assembly, but he
had not expected it to come this soon. After indulging in the sudden flash of excitement,
Renard felt the rush of fear drench his linen shirt. This was a true test as
much as it was a ceremony. If he failed, there was no second chance; this
ritual would either promote him to the highest level of human magical
attainment or destroy him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the third time he chastised himself to control his
emotions. He had to treat this like any other process. It had to be a recipe
that he followed exactly. Any deviation would destroy him and any emotion would
color his ultimate character on the other side. It was critical that he
maintain control throughout the ritual. He sat his guide on the podium next to
the table and inhaled a cleansing breath to chase all thought out of his body.
He had to surrender himself to the ritual and be nothing but its conduit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With his eyes closed he felt the first words appear. He
voiced them in monotone. The magical power released from the words obliterated
the script on the page. The barrier containing the elf on the dais broke and
invisible hands lifted her onto the table. Life returned to her eyes as the hold
was dispelled. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Renard continued with no emotion as enchanted bonds wrapped
her arms and legs on the table. Fear and then anger rippled across her face as
she realized what was happening but Renard maintained his emotionless chant as
the words continued to vanish from the page. With the last word of the first stanza,
Renard exhaled and stepped back from the table. His head was spinning. He felt
as if he could not stand. The powerful ritual threatened to overcome him and
leave his rotting corpse on the floor of the labyrinth for some other mage to
find. With a few breaths to stabilize himself he returned to the job at hand. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The young woman thrashed on the table against her invisible bonds
and screamed at him to stop as he stepped back up to the table. He again closed
his eyes and imagined the words on the page before he spoke them to rip their
bonds to the physical page. With every word, the spell merged with the fear and
anger of the subject forming a cloud that hovered over her. Flashes filled the
cloud like a small thunderstorm. Each line of the spell vanished into vapor
that mingled with the energy he could feel rushing out of his body to build the
tempest that churned above the screaming form. The final word of the spell struck
him like a hammer and threatened to send his sprawling to the floor. He reached
out to grip the podium. His fingernails dug into the wood on the underside as
he leaned into it to remain standing and focused. It was critical that he
remain in the flow of the magic as he lifted a ceremonial spike from the podium
next to the ritual guide. Reaching down to the young girl, he placed his left hand
over her mouth and nose. Fear and finality met in her eyes as he positioned the
spike against her jugular. Her eyes widened with the unspoken request for mercy
that he could not grant. A feeling at the base of his spine raced up to the
back of his skull and he felt the suppressed joy explode through his body as he
inserted the razor sharp spike into the rapidly pulsing artery. A hot stream of
the subject’s blood raced out of the silver tube attached to the spike. It
rushed in unison with the rapid beating of her heart that he could feel in his
fingers where the tool exited her neck. Her
essence rushed into the trough resonating with the elation he felt crashing over
his body. He released her mouth and the scream that had been trapped behind his
hand. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trembling, Renard turned the page and began the final
incantation. The cloud that had formed over her descended in tendrils to mingle with the blood as it flowed around the table. Bright flashes of blue lightning encased
the stream as it circled the table. Renard’s words teased magical fire from the
ring at the base of the cauldron as the first essence poured over its edge. The
cold fire reacted with the infused blood and a whirlwind of color and fire exploded
upward to be trapped in the funnel where it disappeared into the silver piping
of the distillery. The screaming had reduced to cursing and whimpering as the
elf fought with her own death. Each reaction imbued the cloud and the essence
with more power as did a tendril of mist that was forming around Renard. It was
nearly invisible but he knew that he had introduced an emotion into the recipe.
He didn’t care as he continued to voice the ritual. He would not be destroyed
by a creature that had kept humans in the dark so long when they had asked for help
over generations. The elf dying under his hands represented all of the races
who had cursed humans into subservience to all magical races. They had
relegated his race to begging for magical gifts and implements just to survive in
the magical world they lived in. Over time the human race had become slavish consumers
of the magic dispensed freely so long as they remained subjects to their magical
masters. All of the races had refused to help humans stand up and join their
magical ranks. Renard could not help but be happy about her death. It was
proper and it was what needed to happen to them all for how they had kept
humans dependent on them for so long. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The last tendril of
mist and smoke joined with the last breath and beat of the heart as Renard
spoke the closing word. When the terminal drops of blood completed their cycle
and filled the crystal alembic Renard would finally be a part of the only human
coalition really working to change the face of the magical world and carve a
place out of the magical hierarchy where humans could stand equally with the
magical races. He was nearly where he needed to be. Now he could focus on completing
and escalating the Assembly’s plans to exact justice and eliminate all of the other
magical races so that humans could stand on their own feet and rule their lands
without the interference of meddling magical creatures like the one on the
table before him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-74497593396652178462012-10-01T16:47:00.000-04:002013-04-01T22:46:24.711-04:00Adrian arrives at Military School<b>As I am working on completing edits for my upcoming book, <u>Legacy of Dragons: Emergence</u>, I thought I might share some entertaining snippets about some of the characters involved in it. The snippets may occur before or during the timeline of the first book and I can't guarantee they will be in any order. I hope you find them interesting and entertaining.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Here is a view into Adrian Forester's first day at St. George's Orphanage and School.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Adrian stepped out of the car into the cool morning Virginia
air. It was not all that different from any other air, except it was supposed
to be safe from the hunt squads. Thing is, he hadn’t even worried about hunt
squads tracking him down until his cousin Karen told him about them on the
way to Saint Geroge's.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the two weeks he had been taking care of his father
after they had both changed into what he now knew was their partial dragon
form, he had not even heard about the hunters who were scouring the hills
looking for others like them. When Karen had brought them up, he had
laughed. He lived in the city where people paid attention to your business but
didn’t hunt you. She quickly advised him
that he needed to wake up. They were real, they were out there and they were
one of the reasons they were on their way to Virginia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
So, Virginia air was safe, but only because it was right
around Saint George’s Orphanage and School. That was what the sign said
beside the military parade ground where several segregated groups of boys and
girls were in the middle of calisthenics as the sun rose around them. Adrian was feeling the flight gene his mother
had given him ringing in the back of his head. The web site about this place he
had read fourteen hours before had talked about all of this and it all seemed
cool, then, but to stand on the wet grass and watch two hundred kids his age
doing pushups in black shorts and gray T-shirts was a little surreal. Maybe he was
better off taking care of his catatonic father. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“Welcome to Saint George’s.” The voice behind him drug him
out of his thoughts, and he turned to face a very large Hispanic man wearing a uniform. He had no idea what the collection of bars on his chest meant, but he
seemed in charge so Adrian became suddenly attentive. The man watched him
stiffen. “Relax, there will be plenty of that tomorrow. You’ve just made it in
time to get through registration.” He lifted a clip board from his side and
looked down the list. “What’s your name?”
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“Adrian.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Still not focused on what was happening the man waited for a
moment for him to finish. “And your last
name?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“What? Oh… Forester. Adrian Forester.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
His finger slid down the page and he nodded an then said, “As I said, welcome. I’m Master Sargent Rodriguez. Grab your
gear and join the other boys up there by the road.” He pointed toward five
other boys his age who were carrying or standing next to several different
types of bags in what could be considered a line by the road. The Master
Sargent moved on to talk to Karen and get her on her way, dismissing Adrian
without further thought. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Adrian’s bag contained a few clothes and personal items. The
site had been pretty specific about how to pack, and he had tried to follow
directions. It seemed the others in the line had not paid as much attention. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first boy looked Asian and was standing next to an old
military duffle that may have come to the states with his father. When
Adrian walked up to the line he put out his hand as the others continued
laughing over a very slender boy’s phone. He took the hand and smiled. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“Hi, I’m Chan Lu, but please call me Chip. It’s easier on
you and me.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Adrian grinned and turned to look at the others. The phone
was obviously playing one of the many “lizard-man” videos that had made it onto
YouTube, and apparently it was one of the funny ones that never ended well.
Come to think of it, none of them ended well. He rolled his eyes and looked
back at Chip. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“What’s up with them?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Chip grinned a knowing grin and introduced the others. “The two
leaning over the phone are Garret and Walt. They’re brothers, but not twins.
For some reason they want everyone to know that. The last guy with the phone is
Jay.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Adrian looked over the three of them and looked back at
Chip. He had been through several school registrations but never one that
promised to be so odd. He knew that each of the boys wouldn’t be in the line
with him if they were not partial dragons who had learned how to transform back
into their human form. He also knew this was a military academy where tomorrow
they were going to start their own cycle of training just like the two-hundred
other kids now running off in semi-organized lines into the woods surrounding
the school. This was not what he had in mind for his senior year, but at least
he wasn’t going to be alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155159354131289197.post-11714138399951690242012-08-28T13:04:00.000-04:002013-04-01T22:38:08.560-04:00Of creatures and magicWelcome to a world of emergent magic blended within our modern life. I have always been amazed at how much we think about magic and the magical. It permeates our history and legend and yet we say it is impossible. This is the genre' I choose to write in and throughout these posts I will share some of my characters and maybe even some ongoing tales within the world, both historic and modern, I have built for my upcoming book series <u>Legacy of Magic</u>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08412315599208388629noreply@blogger.com0