Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 62
March 22, 2024
March 21, 2024
Just published O Oleiro
Available in a few days from wherever eBooks are sold (Amazon takes a while longer, though).
March 20, 2024
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March 17, 2024
Excerpt: Ilfin of Arc - Green Orb
My story with a Celtic twist, so fits in nicely for St Patrick's Day :)
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ONTHE THIRDday of employing Horin’s bridges, it changed.
Theplateau dwellers had to fight the authorities to leave their cities and towns;they escaped slave masters, ran from raiders, coped in extreme weatherconditions, and even suffered the cavalry chasing them. All this happened whilethey brimmed with both fear and hope. They had also seen and lived sorcery now.The latter had saved them numerous times.
Mirlingrew up accepting the talents as a natural condition, but even in the west itwas not commonplace. He, too, needed to fight the authorities to leave, andwalked across the plains in the hottest dry season in living memory. It nearlykilled him.
Thus,everyone marching knew about hardship, wherever they originated from, andexpected the unexpected, but they had overlooked something integral.
Theauthorities tested for talents long before Damin sprung the Porlese trap and thereforediscovered many latent abilities; why else continue the program of testing? Logically,it meant those authorities, whoever they were, possessed certain talents astheirs to command. The unfortunates caught before the march to a haven did not nowwalk with the host; they remained as captives upon the plateau.
Thisfundamental oversight did not occur to Mirlin until everything changed, and by thenit was too late.
OnHorin’s second bridge of the day they heard what sounded like the drone ofinsects, possibly a swarm in flight. At first Mirlin thought of bees, perhapseven locusts, but there was nothing to be seen. Eyes darted everywhere, his andmany others, only to look again at each in confusion. The wildlife inhabitingthe plains, whether mammal, reptile, avian or insect, was another unknownfactor; the approaching mass could be anything.
Exceptthere was nothing to be seen.
Inconsternation, he halted. The Mur girl’s face captured his attention and drainedhim of all hope. Siri lifted her head upward and her face lost all colour. Herjaw hung slack and she could not move. With shivers of dread coursing through him,Mirlin too looked up.
Bluewar shields were in the air, flying in formation, on swift approach, and atopeach curved platform perched a man, bow raised, face manic, and mouth wide asif screaming challenge.
Thiswas the effort of someone controlling the talent for utter manipulation, ableto alter the normal into something extraordinary. Perhaps more than one mindachieved it, a concerted joining of power, he could not know, but it wasobvious that someone had taken an ordinary war shield and created from it aflying machine.
Manyflying machines.
Thiswas something straight out of a Glonu legend.
Howthe soldiers were strong-armed into accepting the duty was anyone’s guess; mendid not fly, after all – creatures feathered and scaled did. Perhaps thosegaping mouths had more to do with fear than it did with challenge. However it cameto pass, it no longer featured, for a host of trained men was about to attackfrom the heavens.
Cursingunder his breath, Mirlin flayed himself for his lack of foresight. By thesands, not that anyone would have foreseen a situation close to it even inimagination. This event would be difficult to recover from. Many would die thisday.
Thefirst arrows flew.
“Offthe path!” Damin shouted.
Fearparalysed everyone.
“MOVE!”Damin hollered, cupping his hands at his mouth. “Horin needs the bridge!”
Animationreturned, and men, women and children launched into the scrub, hauling animalswith them. It was a mess of limbs and gear, but it happened fast. Arrows thuddedto earth and some found flesh. Gargles swiftly became screams.
Daminand Mirlin immediately formed a buffer over Horin when the boy kneeled, the menlocking into a forearm grip and crouching over him. Mirlin suffered the senseof a thousand arrows smacking into his exposed back; no doubt Damin felt thesame. Siri hunkered between Forest’s legs beside them, praying to Massin’sso-called benevolent stars.
“Quickly,Horin,” Damin murmured.
Mirlinmarvelled at his calm.
Therain of barbs intensified, and the shields overhead blotted the sun. They squattedwithin a twilight of death with eternal doom but an arrowhead away. Goosefleshassailed skin and ears twitched.
“Horin,” Mirlin urged also.
Thelad shook head to toe. Fear had him. He swallowed with difficulty, eyesflitting into every direction.
“Concentrateon what you must do,” Damin said. “We deal with pain after, all right?”
“Doit,” Siri added.
Horinstared at her for a moment, and then nodded. He elevated his hand and, thankthe sands, the ‘bridge’ lifted and swiftly altered both substance and shape. Itbecame fluid, as heavy water.
Everythingfroze in the ensuing moment. Arrows juddered to a stop in the air. Shields haltedin mid-flight and -turn. Soldiers were immobilised in various poses, while themarchers were as living statues. The green barrier did not move either.
Frowning,Mirlin wondered what the boy sought to achieve. Horin gazed at Damin. Itappeared only the four of them were able to move.
“Theonly way to end it, Damin, is by killing all of them.”
Thosewords explained the frozen state surrounding them. Horin sought permission todo what he had to, or hoped for absolution before the act. Siri was pale, butremained silent, her gaze moving to her brother also.
Daminclosed his eyes. His jaw worked through his inner tension. “It is us or them,Horin. This is defence, not cold murder.”
Horinnodded, his face oddly expressionless, the reaction of a mature man rather thanthat of a mere boy, and his fingers opened to bleed tendrils of red light. Thosescarlet wisps, reminding Mirlin of blood, weaved into the pulsating jadesubstance, to form a lattice within the fluidity. Abruptly Horin clenched hishand into a fist and they flinched as sound and movement resumed with the nextheartbeat.
Itwas chaos. People ran and stumbled, screamed, and groaned. Arrows caught inmid-flight smacked down. Donkeys brayed and horses neighed. Shields in the skybuckled briefly before correcting for the next pass.
Mirlinread terror in many eyes. The soldiers on those shields stared at the risingsubstance, and they were afraid. On the ground, silence fell as everyone gazedup. Even the animals were now quiet.
Arrowswere nocked and loosed ever faster, but now none found target; the spreading greenand red ‘net’ absorbed every impact. The magical device lifted ever higher andstretched wider and further, becoming almost transparent, it was that thin. Itwas now a veil between the marchers and the archers on their flying blue shields.
Mirlin’sheart threatened to escape its cage in his chest. Peripherally, for thespectacle overhead garnered all his attention, he noticed Horin punch the air.
Themiasma exploded.
Thesonic boom accompanying it felled those on the ground. They stumbled to knees, fellto all fours, but still all stared up, transfixed. Small pellets of sorcerytargeted the archers. Tiny missiles smacked into flesh with popping, wet soundsthat served to empty a few guts on the ground.
Sirigagged, but held on to the contents of her stomach.
Mirlinexpected the archers to explode also, by the sands, but instead they became asnothing in an instant. One moment a man perched atop a shield, the next he was ether.His shield hurtled to earth, and his bow and arrow pouch joined the headlongtumble. Within two minutes the sky was cleared, and shields, bows and arrowslittered the scrubby terrain.
Horinunwrapped his fingers. The miasma instantly formed anew and then contracted swiftlyuntil a tangible green orb rushed to him, and lowered gently into his palm.
Hisfingers enclosed it and he stared at it in horror. “It was inside me,” hewhispered, “and now it is free.”
Come, reader, join the great march today …
According to legend, a paradise awaits across the plains, asanctuary that has survived every impact and every battle. Known as Arc, it is aplace of isolation, a place to restart civilisation.
A fireball grows ever larger in the skies and ancientenemies wing through the spaces; the world Massin is the gathering place forevery omen of disaster. Every resident soul faces a choice. Time now to marchsouth to the sanctuary, from the eastern highlands and the western seas, there toescape apocalypse, and the renewal of the war between the Ilfin and Glonu, orstay behind, hoping for a miracle.
An Elemental will find the sanctuary – Lyra is gifted – aWarrior will defend the dispossessed – the boy Horin will grow up fast – and aMarsh Devil will lead them – Damin spends years preparing for this epic event –but it is also true that a sanctuary is not always a haven. Has the legendlied? Will Arc protect them?
Prepare for an adventure that will journey from ancient waysof living into high-tech environments. Ilfin of Arc is a dystopian Fantasy talethat flies into star filled spaces – strap in!Ilfin of Arc
