Blurb:
Three Moon Summoned women. Ashiera the Seer who controls the winds and sees into the thoughts of others. Dian the Warrior who controls fire and fights with the sword. Egeria the Healer who controls fluids and heals those who are injured. They are joined in their battle by Sieper a sailor who knows the winds, Kobe once sworn to the Lord of Shadows and Jetan a healer of animals. These three vow to help the three women against those sworn to Evil.
Lugal the Cabal reads the winds and thoughts. Sargon the Gladius controls fire and the armies of the Lord of Shadow. Lugal the Cabal has knowledge of herbs and uses them for evil. These three with their cohorts will face the three and three sworn to the Mistress of the Moons.
Editorial Review: Janet Lane Walters has written a story that will take you to another time and place. She gives vivid descriptions of her characters and their role in this story. Ms. Walters has constructed a civilization so real that you will feel its very existence. A place where men rule women as chattel for their sexual needs, and three evil rulers who drain their bodies of their very essence for spells and to gain power. There is betrayal and treachery inside of plots, as each priest plans to rule alone. Ashiera, Egeria, and Dian are bound to the spirits of the ones who came before them. They discover a truth that will astound them, and have them doubting their chosen path. They will experience a love that is forbidden and discover that two stand together better than one. I could feel the emotional struggle between love and destiny, described so passionately by the author. I hope Ms. Walters plans to continue this story. I could feel that this is just the beginning of this tale. Janet Walters book, Moon Bright, Moon Dark will go on my keeper shelf, beside such authors as Charlotte Boyett-Compo and Nancy Gideon. I give this story Five Hearts and recommend it highly. Enjoy!
Excerpt:
The setting sun brought shadows
creeping along the mountain slopes. From the battle lines stretched across the
plateau, the smell of blood mingled with the dust. Metal clanged against metal.
Shouts, curses and screams filled the air. The moans of the wounded broke the
Seer’s concentration on the amber light streaming from the crystal atop her
staff. The beam sent a jagged pattern through the growing darkness.
A piercing cry
arose. The ruby ray from the Warrior’s sword shot toward the sky. The Healer
darted among the fallen and knelt beside the sorely wounded woman. Blue light
from the Healer’s wand focused on the Warrior’s wounds. The Healer poured
life-sustaining energy through the azure beam.
Gusts of wind drove
thick waves of fog from the mountain peaks to obscure the plain and to cover
the retreat of the women. A cluster of the servants of the Mistress of the
Moons, clad in tunics of amber, red and blue, stumbled after those who bore the
Warrior. They carried her between a pair of standing stones into a narrow
passage that led to a crater lake and the Place of Choosing.
The Seer stumbled
and would have fallen if the Healer hadn’t caught her arm. Together they moved
through the fog. The edges of their cloaks brushed the standing stones.
“How much time have
we?” the Healer asked.
The Seer tightened
her grip on the staff. “I pray enough to complete the ritual before the eclipse
hides the light of the moon.”
The Healer guided
the other woman into the narrow passage. “With the coming of the fog, the
bright moon and the dark moon have risen. We must succeed or all is lost for
the One we serve.”
“Pray our call is
answered before the next eclipse and the time of the lunar of the dark moon.
For now and to all eternity, the thirteenth moon, the dark moon will rise each
year to fill the sky.”
“We must wait
thirteen years before this comes to pass. Pray the Mistress of the Moons will
hold the Queen of Darkness at bay so the ones we call will have a chance.”
“Unless those who
serve the Lord of Shadows call the Queen forth.”
The Healer sucked in
a breath. “Never will the ones who serve the shadowed one share the rule.”
The Seer sighed.
“Mistress bless. So be it. We will call, the Three will come and all will be as
it has been. Unlike those in the other nomes, we can’t allow a drastic change
to alter what we’ve built.”
“Agreed,” the Healer
said.
They emerged from
the passage and walked across the rock-strewn earth to the crater lake. The
walls on three sides formed a crescent around the pool.
The Seer marshaled
enough strength to walk unassisted. Her hair, darkened by age, flew wildly
around her face. The Healer’s hair was as black as a night beneath the dark
moon.
The remaining women
clustered at the edge of the lake. The Seer and the Healer took the ends of the
stretcher on which the Warrior lay. They waded through the cool water to the
isle in the center of the lake. Gently they laid their companion on the pale
rock. The Healer placed the Warrior’s sword on her chest and crossed the
woman’s arms beneath the orb in the hilt.
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Beautiful scene. So visual.
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