A preview of Incal Book 4 of Moon Rising series to be released on January first.
Coya dreamed of days long past. Once again she saw herself as a child of five playing with her sisters. On the day of the summer solstice they had been born and had thrived. Three daughters in a single voice had been deemed a miracle. Her dreams slid to the day they had been sent away to different places. Their Mother ailed and grew weaker everyday. The dream fragmented. She was alone, taken from her sisters by a strange woman to a series of caves. They stood at the entrance of a dark hole in a granite cliff.
“This is your new home.
Here you will learn how to fight. You will learn the sword and knife and ways
to use your arms and legs against the enemy. Perhaps you will be the one to aid
Midra, Mistress of the Moon to her proper place in Incal.”
Those words had ended her
childhood. From that day she had learned not only physical skills but reading,
writing and numbers. She had also been taught about honor and justice.
Her body moved toward
wakening. She fought to return to the days when she’d been one of three. For so
long memories of her sisters and lain dormant. Why did she remember them now?
Was this a portent of the future?
“Coya, wake.”
The voice sounded
unfamiliar. She shook her head. Why must she wake? Yearning for those forgotten
days drew her like a cord to remain with happy times. Twenty years had passed
since she had been with her sisters. Her eyes fluttered open. The snores and
breath sounds of the sleepers in the room lulled her. They slept. She wanted to
join them and return to her dream memories.
“Coya, Wake.”
The voice sounded loud and
drove sleep away. She slid from beneath the covers. Her feet hit the cold
stones of the cave floor. She gasped at the shock.
“Come,” the voice urged.
“The time has come. The moon rises full.”
She shook her head. Who
had spoken? At first she had thought the woman’s voice had been the Eldest’s. Not so. No one she remembered hearing
had been the speaker. She searched her memories and failed to identify the
speaker of the call. The need to obey strengthened.
She found her clothes and
donned a divided skirt and tunic. The summer had arrived but the nights
remained cold. She lifted her jacket from the hook on the bedpost. Carrying her
boots she made her way among the beds of the sleeping students and reached the
outer corridor. There she leaned against the stone wall and pulled on the
leather boots. With care she wrapped the ties around the boots drawing them
against her skin. As she strode forward the reinforced soft soles made no
sound.
Coya hurried to the main
room. Moonlight filtered through holes in the dome. The Eldest sat on a wooden
bench. Her graying hair shone in the moonlight.
“Well come, Coya. The time
has arrived for you to prove yourself.”
Coya sucked in a breath.
Was she ready? Doubts circled in her thoughts. For years she had studied the
ways of the sword. Would she fail as others of her age mates had? Her hands
clenched until her knuckles whitened. Forcing them to relax she released a held
breath. “Tell me what I must do.”
The elderly woman smiled.
“You know the ritual for the making of a sword. We have taught you how to
locate metals hidden in the earth. You know the ones you must weld together
using the power of your mind to forge them into a sword that you will draw from
the depth.”
Coya nodded. “I know what
to do. Where should I perform the casting, forging and drawing the sword?”
“Go to the grove where the
statue of Midra, Mistress of the Moon stands. Perform the ritual in the spot
where the moon pierces the grove’s canopy. Then return with or without the
forged blade. I will await you here.”
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