Helen B. Henderson's Blog, page 57

L is for Legend

L  is for Windmaster Legend the newest of the Windmaster Novels. Windmaster Legend gives full due to the legend of Iol and Pelra that was first mentioned in Windmaster


As an introduction, from Windmaster, the original telling of the myth of Iol and Pelra told to Lord Dal by Captain Ellspeth as they shared a dinner.

"Two stars are named Iol and Pelra. Iol and Pelra were captains; both had won their gold bracelets. Their rank was suitable but his mother had rejected her father’s courtship, so a joining between Iol and Pelra was not allowed. Since no one had ever sailed the southern island route in less than four sevenday, the two families proposed a wager. If Iol and Pelra made the trip in less than two sevenday, the families would allow the marriage. The pair set off in their respective ships with all masts carrying as much canvas as the rigging could handle.

"Iol and Pelra prayed, and in recognition of their devotion the water god favored them with fair skies. Brisk winds pushed them faster than any vessel had ever sailed before. The ships returned in the final hour allowed by the bet. Despite their return within the allotted time, the parents reneged and declared that Iol and Pelra had lost the bet and refused to allow the marriage. The ruling council of Iol’s house ordered him to a remote inland lake to captain an old scupper. Pelra was confined to her family complex. Unable to return to their ships and the sea, the pair sneaked to the twin rocks that guarded the harbor entrance. When the families sent soldiers to enforce their orders, the water god brought up a storm to protect the lovers. Then he transformed Iol and Pelra into shipfish. Legend has it they swam together to the end of the world. One powerful leap carried them into the night sky."

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Tomorrow’s post - "M is for Mage." If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen

K is for the Kapuna Tree

K is for the Kapuna Tree.

In the following excerpt from Windmaster the archmage, Lord Dal, is introduced to the tree of mages by his friend and mentor, Semelen. The tree holds the heritage of every wizard back to time immemorial and to a future not yet revealed.

Three steps took Dal into the veiled clearing. The stillness, the feeling of peace, was even more overwhelming here than on the mountain. Even the need for vengeance, bred into his bones by the traditions of generations of his ancestors, gave way before it.

An ancient tree, old before time began, almost filled the small space. Long tendrils hung finger-like from the branches that formed a high canopy. Heart-shaped leaves covered each narrow strand. In each leaf, veins, the brown-red color of dried blood, made the tree look like the grisly aftermath of battle. Dal slowly walked around the tree. Close up he could see a faint symbol—a mage identification—on each leaf. With each step he traced the names of dead friends and the fellow members of the Wizard’s Council.

Something shimmered at the end of a branch. The leaf’s vein was a vibrant pure red. Instead of the stillness of the other leaves, this one pulsed. Even before he spotted the rune that symbolized his own name, Dal realized the leaf’s rhythm was that of his own heartbeat. The leaf marked his lifeline.

At the end of the branch, a leaf without a symbol also vibrated. He ran a finger along of its main vein. Despite the feather-light touch, a shock numbed his arm. Ellspeth’s face appeared then faded, leaving behind only an undefined yearning.

The name for the ancestry tree of mages came from the Hawaiian word for ancestor. Not only does the Kapuna Tree have a leaf on it for every living mage, in the vein of ancestry, the tree has a leaf on it for every mage that has ever lived, even those that have passed beyond the veil. Where the previous excerpt forshadowed one mage's destiny, another leaf tells not of life, but of death. of a mage who is about to join his ancestors.

The flicker of the adjacent leaf was noticeably slower, and with each passing second, the color turned darker and darker. Its small veins had already shifted into deep red. Dal knew without even looking that the name marked on the leaf was Semelen’s.

Semelen’s hand felt warm on Dal’s shoulder, despite the coolness of the glade. “It was not your fault, my friend, that you were away when it happened. The poison spread so quickly not even the most skilled healers among us could have saved those on the island. We’re just fortunate you survived to carry on the work... and to rebuild the council.”

Dal wrenched away from the intended comfort. “There is no council anymore. Everyone is dead. I built the pyres myself.” His voice grew quieter with each word, until it was almost a whisper.

Semelen spun Dal around, his grip firm despite his impending death.

Windmaster - universal buy link


Tomorrow’s letter is "L" and stands for Legend as in Windmaster Legend. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen

J is for Jardrese

J is for Jardrese

To me, creating a world involves more than magic and swordplay. The characters need food and drink, and occasionally, recreation. In the world of the Windmaster Novels, jardrese is a dice game or sometimes called a game of tiles. It is played with multiple rows of dice or tiles each bearing a specific symbol designating its ranking or power. The game can be played with multiple players or in a two-handed, single-player version.

A Hint? Play ivory against the wolf.

Tomorrow’s post is about the Kapuna Tree, from Windmaster Legacy.


If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen

I is for Imprisoned in Stone

I is for Imprisoned in Stone

There was no doubt in my mind that the topic for the post would be the dark fantasy, Imprisoned in Stone. But what to say about it?




A blurb and excerpts is available by clicking on the cover. Either the one in the banner or embedded in the post. The magical equines the seisag were mentioned in the A-Z post, H is for Horses. I thought the turn's end celebration where horses and seisag danced with the sprites. But again, that tale was told in the post Welcome and Farewell.

Other ideas were considered and tossed, so a different tact was taken--what it took to create the novel.

Sword play is an accepted part of fantasy so that was nothing new to me by the time I started plotting out the novel. The biggest challenge in telling the tale was not the blood sacrifices or the darker element, but something more prosaic, getting the characters together. Each of the three main characters resided in a different part of the country. They had to be gotten together at a specific place and time, all the while building the relationships between them so that by the time they met physically for the first time, there was a relationship. An additional problem that had to be solved was Dylan, since he was imprisoned in a stone pillar, he couldn't physically move.

Plotting the movements quickly became so difficult I resurrected a flow-chart design from my earlier computer programming and system analysis days. Timelines laid out on a large sketch pad helped track the character's paths.



Imprisoned in Stone - universal buy link


 
Tomorrow’s topic is the game, Jardrese from the world of the Windmaster Novels. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.
 

~ till next time, Helen

H is for Horses

His for horses

Now how, you wonder, did such an ordinary word get into a fantasy world. First, let me say I like horses and have even ridden them a few times. In most fantasy worlds, horses and sailing ships are two of the most common means of transportation, besides flying on dragon back, of course. But the main reason these horses are included is that they are not true horses. They may look like nothing more than big horses, but they are magical creatures of intelligence, unusual speed and stamina, loyalty and character.

The Seidheirn of the Dragshi Chronicles possess a special kind of magic. Their intelligence and character made them fun to write. In Forever Bound, Wiral liked to kick down the gate to his stall when his rider, the dragon lord Lasair was not available and the grooms didn't open the door fast enough. Ohlmar provided solace and companionship to Talann in the dark years when everyone waited for a dragon soul twin to awaken and Talann to join the ranks of the dragshi, but no song was heard. The stallions often have the unusual markings of black and white striped manes and were battle trained. Their loyalty and skill was recorded in the song, the "Battle Hymn of the Seidhern."

Lanterns hanging from stall posts illuminated a nightmarish scene. Mares and their foals cowered at the back of their stalls. Horses and seidheirn stampeded up and down the aisles in panicked confusion. The flying manes and tails of both blurred in indistinguishable color. Branin found it difficult to tell which were the true horses and which were the seidheirn. One spot of order appeared in the chaos. Marsainn and his offspring lined the aisle, white-striped manes rippling over their gleaming midnight coats while the seidheirn formed a living bulwark between the mares and the bedlam.

The rest of the excerpt is found in the post, Year of the Horse.



In the worlds of the Windmaster Novels, the equines are called falaire. They live in a vale near the Isle of Mages. Taerneach is not only the head stallion of the falaire herd in the vale, but he also chose Lord Dal, the archmage, as his rider--and his friend. A snippit of one of their meetings after Dal's extended time away is at Watcher Revealed.




The last breed of magical equines to be mentioned are the seisag. Like the other horses written about, they have magical speed and stamina beyond that of a true horse, but even an earth magic doesn't make them immune to trouble. Eirean and his heard of seisag needed the assistance of the apprentice mage, Maerva, to survive a blizzard. More of that post is told in the post The Weather Strikes and Weather Fought.

Image courtesy of PixabayHere's an excerpt I love of a turn's end encounter between two magical beings: sprites and seisag.

The thunder of hooves shattered the silence of the meadow. In a flash of white, Rascal galloped out into the center of the sprites. Kai moved like a dark shadow at the stallion’s side. Instead of a solid glowing sphere, the sprites broke apart into four balls that each mirrored the full moon. Clusters of the golden creatures settled on Rascal and Kai, limning them with a ghostly radiance. The remainder formed ethereal versions of the horse and seisag. Real and sprite-created horses cavorted around the meadow to an ancient tune that floated through the night.

Whether a falaire, seidheirn, or seisag, I want to go for a ride in the mountains. Care to join me? Click on the covers for buy links for each of the books mentioned.

Tomorrow’s post "I" is for Imprisoned in Stone. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen

G is for Givneh

G is for Givneh.

Givneh is a high plateau in of the continent of Nerelan, isolated from the rest of the land by gullies, washes, and grassy plains. Here is its description from the book, Windmaster, whose name was later taken for both a series and a world.

The low sun shadowed the red cliffs that raised the Givneh plateau hundreds of feet into the air. Gullies and washes trenched the grassy plains leading to the rock pillar. Earlier in the day, Tairneach had smelled water and led the way to the clump of short trees. Water and good grazing turned the short rest into an overnight camp. Dal lay on the side of the shallow wash, scanning every inch of the trail that twisted up the sheer rock face. In a few locations, a scrub tree or low brush clung tenuously to the edge, while at others, scattered piles of boulders marked dangerous switchbacks. He knew from his military experience a few men could hold the approach against an army.

Besides the plateau that gave the area its name, Givneh was more well known for the religious order of the Oracle of Givneh and its temple. Clerics wear brown robes; higher ranked ones wear dark brown robes; bishops were black robes; acolytes wear gray ones. You don't want to be given a white one.


Also from Windmaster, Ellspeth's entrance into the temple.

Hidden among the neat lines of pilgrims, Ellspeth studied the temple courtyard. The setting sun reflected off the gold leaf that covered the massive gates. The glare blinded any who dared to lift their heads during the mandatory prayers so she studied the area and those within from lowered eyes. The placement of the columns confined, she noted, not welcomed. No one could leave without permission—even if someone wanted to.

Through slitted lids, Ellspeth saw the gates swing open. Inside was the gaping maw of a dimly-lit tunnel. The cleric raised his arms in benediction over those gathered. “Rise and know the truth of the Oracle.”

Among the Oracle’s tenets as shown in Windmaster, is that magic is evil. Contrasting with Ellspeth’s experience at the temple where it was a cult, is an excerpt from the March 2019 release, Windmaster Legend of Iol’s time as a guest at the temple. Instead of the teachings introduced in Windmaster that ordered the destruction of anything tainted by magic and the confiscation of personal property, in the time of the past that Windmaster Legend takes place, the temple was a community of service.

Iol took advantage of the time to survey his surroundings. Instead of the pale glow from the handful of torches that illuminated the hallways, every sconce in the vast space of the audience hall held an oil lantern. Their bright light transformed what would have been black featureless walls without it into life-like murals. Each scene was a work of art and would have taken a master of his craft a lifetime to execute. Fascinated, Iol walked from one colorful vignette to the next. Here, one showed the bountiful harvest owed to those who worked hard. In another, pilgrims followed a white-robed Oracle up a gold path to paradise.

One depiction of a man with outspread arms caught his interest. That must be the First Oracle, Iol realized. The artist had depicted the children sitting around the man’s feet with an expression of innocence. Iol shifted his focus from the children’s faces to the pilgrim’s outfits. The design on the robe hems reminded him of the old-style music annotation Conall had once shown him.

Windmaster - universal buy link
Windmaster Legend - universal buy link

The next post is "H is for Horses." If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen

F is for Fate

F is for FATE

In mythology, one’s fate is controlled by three women. One who spins the thread of life, one who dispenses it, and one who cuts the thread.

Talann's destiny is at the hand of fate. As a child born of two dragon shifters, his heritage was to be a dragshi and everything in his life, from his formal education to the weapons training was geared towards that role. The reality of his life is that no dragons sang at his birth. No dragon soul awaited awakening and without a dragon soul twin, Talann could not become a shifter.

As to the thread that controls the moment of Talann's death, the action isn’t foreseen but when he was captured by the Parant, a cult leader determined to eliminate all dragons and dragon shifters from the world, an imminent demise would not be unexpected.

Despite fate's intentions, even though he was not a dragon shifter and believed he never would be, Talann must fight to save all of them—including his parents.

A quote summarizes the difference between the fate decreed by heritage and the one we make. “You are not who the past says you are, but who you choose to be.” Henrietta Lang, NCIS Los Angeles

Hatchling's Mate - one click to estores

Tomorrow’s post shifts from the land of the dragshi, to the world of Windmaster. "G" is for the land of the Oracle, Givneh. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen

E is for Eruichin

E is for Eruichin

Readers are first introduced to the civilization when Dragshi Lord Branin Llewlyn is tasked to sail to the far eastern civilization, Eruichin. Every two hundred years a dragon rises from the volcano in a recreation of an ancient ceremony. the dragshi honors the legend by performing the ceremony and representing the sacred scroll containing the dragon law. 

What was called dragon law was started by Mirabeesh whose tale is presented in Fire and Ice and introduced in D is for Daxa and Diovi.

First Change - universal buy link

Tomorrow’s post is taken from Hatchling’s Mate, "F is for Fate." If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~till next time, Helen

D is for Diovi and Daxa

D is for Diovi and Daxa.

While only one word is usually assigned to a letter, in this case, there are two words that are intricately entwined: Daxa and Diovi. Both are from the novella “Fire and Ice” from the collection of novellas and short stories from the world of the dragshi that comprise First Change: Legends From The Eyrie.


Daxa means obey in the local language, and is the title given the men who serve in the temple of the god Tagachim. The head daxa is the temple leader and while he is only one step below the emperor and empress, his power comes from his position as servant to Tagachim, an authority which includes human sacrifice. Although officially selected by a lottery, those chosen to be given to Tagachim are usually non-believers or those who the head of the temple wants out of the way.

The one so selected is called the Diovi, which in the language the word was inspired by, means to burn. Chosen by lottery, carved ivory tokens placed in a wooden tube. The diovi is led out of town as a bride on her way to a wedding, only the ceremony is not to a man but to the mountain god, and the joining is achieved by sealing the woman in an ice cave. The ceremony is usually done in the late fall to ensure an early spring and to ward off hunger during the cold season. Whereas a spring ceremony to meant to ensure bountiful crops during the growing season and the sacrifice is supposed to leap from a rocky ledge into the lava at the bottom of the volcano’s crater.

Xelme dropped the green token into the tube. Making a show of his movements, he tied the lid in place with gold wire and held the container above his head. Despite the crowd of thousands, except for the pounding of her heart, Mirabeesh only heard the clatter of the diovi markers. Instead of reflecting the sun, the wood absorbed it. No longer a tube it became a black arrow, the symbol of destiny—and death.

A drumbeat and two acolytes stepped from the shadows. The youths carried a metal globe mounted in a wooden frame. Light flashed on the polished bands. Xelme adopted a solemn demeanor. “No hand of man will decide who will be diovi. Tagachim will select his own bride.” After the prelate’s gaze raked each of the women before him, he slid the container of tokens into a slot in the middle of the wire cage and secured it with more gold wire. Deft movements slid a long handle into an open slot in the frame. One by one, first the acolytes, then their masters took three turns at the handle. Rattles accompanied each spin of the globe.

Mirabeesh closed her eyes and wanted to cover her ears. Each clash of token against wood sounded like a death knell.

An eerie silence forced her to open her eyes. Xelme held the tube in one hand, the lid in the other. Smiling, he tossed the lid back into the selecting globe. His tongue licked his lips. “Let those presented for sacrifice prepare to meet their god Tagachim.”

Slowly, inch by inch, the temple leader tilted the container until a single cube dropped into his hand. He raised his hand above his head, but kept the marker hidden.

The name of the woman attached to the jade cube and who would become the next diovi, as well as the rest of the legend is revealed in First Change.

First Change: Legends From The Eyrie - universal buy link

Tomorrow’s post in the challenge is also taken from First Change and contains more about Mirabeesh’s land, Eruichin. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~till next time, Helen

C is for Cailin

C Continuing with the theme of the dragshi, “C” is for Cailin.

Within each of the Dragshi Chronicles, the ceoltiers, the keepers of the past and teachers of the present, recount some legend. As with all such tales, some contain larger than life deeds. Others are the simple story of a man or woman doing what must be done, regardless of the cost. Sometimes embellished, the ceoltiers use the stories of times and actions past to educate and inspire. Forever Bound, one of the tales in the final volume of the Dragshi Chronicles, recounts a legend mentioned in the other Dragshi Chronicles, the love story of two dragon lords, Lasair and Cailin. This scene introduces both.


Taking advantage of the first clear skies in several sevenday, Lasair took on the winged form of his dragon soul twin, Donnursach. He flew too far too fast and now paid the price. Slowed by exhaustion, storms caught him far from the protection of Cloud Eyrie whose thick walls protected man and beast from the ground-rocking storms.

Streams of fire leapt from the clouds. Far below, a rock jutting from a craggy cliff exploded, sending fragments skyward. He side-slipped to dodge a lethal sliver of stone. Two more missed, but then a dagger-sized shard of rock grazed a pinion, ripping through dragon hide. Hissing, Lasair blocked the pain and struggled to avoid crashing into the rocky peaks below.

For more on the world of the dragshi, some romance to go with the action. The storm on his wingtips, Lasair landed to the following reception.  

A form in the murkiness blocked his way—Cailin. What was she doing there? Placing an arm around her waist, he pulled her with him into the building, slamming the door against the growing wind.

“Why were you outside?” Lasair yelled. Cailin’s pale face quickly cooled the anger that had surged forward.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she cried. The white of fear quickly shifted into red. Her closed fist swung at his head. “You scared me.”

Lasair blocked the blow and pulled his attacker close. Her slender frame trembled beneath his touch. “Cailin, darling,” he whispered. “I’m fine. Our tips did not even brush the tree trunks.”

The woman in his arms struggled for a moment, then yielded, melding her body to his. Cailin turned eyes red with unshed tears upward. “All I saw in the link was you start to change, then you vanished in the fog. I couldn’t sense you for three candlemarks. Every time I tried to mindspeech you, I only felt the emptiness of the void.”

For several seconds, Lasair held his wife close. “There was no danger.”

A sob laden with fear and anger escaped Cailin. “I thought I’d lost you.”

The gentle strokes meant to calm her warmed Lasair’s hand, but her skin remained chilled. He recognized the fear behind her angry words. If he died, she would be left alone—forever. Dragshi mated for this life and the one beyond.

First Change - universal buy link

Tomorrow's post “D is for Daxa or Diovi” is taken from First Change. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~till next time, Helen