Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Healwoman Meet the Hero #MFRWHooks #BWLAuthor #Fantasy #healing #swords #sorcery #romance

 

Join the authors at #MFRWHooks here  http://mfrwbookhooks.blogspot.com for some intriguing excerpts. Mine is found at eclecticwriter.blogspot.com and features the hero of Healwoman

BLURB:

 Born under a dark moon, Norna has to battle rumors that she is tainted by evil and unworthy of being anything more than a servant. Discarded by her mother, she runs away from her aunt, a priestess who wants her to enter the temple.

Instead, Norna chooses to be a Healwoman, and a chance encounter with a novice hoping to be a priest helps her discover she has talents of water, air and fire at her disposal. With these gifts she is called on to battle treachery and attempts to prevent the promised prophecy of the god and goddess. As she battles evil powers, she loses her heart to Shandor, the man she met when her journey first began. She must come to grips with Britha who plots against her. Shandor has his own enemy Vorgan. When the pair of foes unite, the battles begin.



Excerpt:

A pungent odor halted him.  Though he’d never seen a living firelion, when he’d been a student in the Gate of the Tutors, he’d seen drawings of the beasts.  He’d also smelled vials of the feline’s venom and would never forget the phosphor scent.  He also knew the danger of an attack.  Not only did the firelions use claw and teeth, their fangs contained a fluid that ate flesh.

He cautiously crept forward until he reached a small clearing.  The fire in the circle was dead.  A heap of cloth lay on the ground beyond the fire.  When he edged into the clearing, he realized the cloth was a shredded chameleon cloak.  The priest had curled into a protective ball and spared his face from wounds.  Shandor noted the claw marks and the patches of burned flesh on mid Chu’s arms, legs and back.

Shandor searched for water and found a small stream not far from the camp.  He filled a leather flask and returned to the priest.  With cloth torn from an extra tunic, he cleaned the wounds.

Mid Chu’s eyes opened.  “Vorgan came.  Bragged.  Your trophy.  Took token.  Left.  Firelion came.”

Shandor leaned closer.  “I’ll find a way to help you.”

“No time.  Go.  Find Vorgan.  I’ll live as long as I can.”

Shandor sucked in a breath.  How could he abandon the man who had been his mentor for his entire training with the Shadows?  Mid Chu would suffer an excruciating death.  Shandor didn’t know how the Healwomen treated such wounds, but he had to try.  As he worked, he saw signs of Vorgan’s hasty departure.  He thought of what the priest had said.  Had Vorgan driven the firelion to attack the priest?

After building a small fire, Shandor lifted the older man’s pack.  He was torn between following the priest’s order to catch Vorgan and staying to help.  How could he leave?  Where would he find help?  How could he transport mid Chu to where help could be found?

By midday, the priest’s condition had worsened.  Several clusters of small blisters had formed on the burned flesh.  Shandor wished he had more than a talent for calling fire.  Why hadn’t he watched his Healwoman mother as she worked?  Could he have learned what to do?  He’d been just five when he’d left Bethsada to join his father.

He put water to heat and added chocha leaves.  While a mug cooled, he drank some and set snares in the forest.  Then, he carried the warm beverage to the priest.  “Mid Chu, you must drink.”

The priest’s skin burned.  Shandor sank on his heels.  He had to find help.  If the priest died, there would be no witness to Vorgan’s duplicity.  That meant any chance to join the priesthood would be lost.  The nearest place was the temple, but no priestess of Midra would help a servant of Midran.  How could he leave his mentor unprotected while he hurried to the nearest posada?  If the firelion returned, the priest wouldn’t survive a second attack.

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4 comments:

  1. Love the headline. And love how he is left at a crossroads at the end of the scene. Beautifully done.

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  2. A worthy hero indeed - driven to do what's right, faced with an impossible dilemma. Great hook!

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  3. A sad scene with his desperation to help the priest.

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  4. Yep, a worthy hero for sure. How does he choose? At the crossroads how will he chose. Great hook!

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