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.
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
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
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
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
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
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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Buy Mark
Love the headline. And love how he is left at a crossroads at the end of the scene. Beautifully done.
ReplyDeleteA worthy hero indeed - driven to do what's right, faced with an impossible dilemma. Great hook!
ReplyDeleteA sad scene with his desperation to help the priest.
ReplyDeleteYep, a worthy hero for sure. How does he choose? At the crossroads how will he chose. Great hook!
ReplyDelete