Teaser Tuesday – Magicless Excerpt

Following is an excerpt from my debut novel Magicless, a story about a young man born without magic in a world filled with it, and a young woman with magic that pulls her inexorably into a dangerous and unpredictable future.

Magicless:

Her normally tall and rigid posture was bent as if she were carrying some great weight. Her face was streaked—clearly she had been crying again, and her voice was heavy with exhaustion. Tredon eyed her warily as she approached, but said nothing.

“Tredon may be brash, but he is right.” Her strident manner was muted, and Magicless felt a pulse of compassion for her despite her years of brusque dismissal of him. She carried the weight not only of her loss but the losses of all of Aclay on her shoulders, even though many had willingly supported her plan.

“We cannot continue to allow him to steal from us. We cannot continue to let him abuse us in such a way. We need to stop him. We need to protect our people.” She looked out at the crowd, pinning each and every person with her gaze as she spoke. More than a few squirmed as she turned her eyes upon them.

“Leali is right. His profound imbalance threatens everything. He must be stopped.”

Magicless’ jaw dropped in surprise as the rich, velvety tones of Alekka’s voice blanketed the room. She never spoke up in a group such as this. He was not the only one surprised. A soft murmur broke out in the room as they absorbed her words.

“But we cannot risk our villages anymore, Tredon.” She turned to look at him. “We cannot ask all the people of Aclay to pay for our actions. We go, but we go alone. And we go in search of the Bogul Noz.”

 

K.