by G. H. Duval
“But we were wrong, Brother. We should have heeded you. Should have awaited Avelare’s next cycle, no matter how we tired of waiting. In our haste, we’ve created that which this world never intended. We must put it back to rights.”
Now it was the Primus’ turn to shake his head. He rose and descended the steps until he was level with the Maven. With the briefest cut of a glance, he sent the Maven’s Elven minion scurrying back.
“That is always where you’ve gotten lost, Sister,” said the Primus, pitching his words for her alone. “Avelare gave us the power to create. To guide her forces. To make life such that she could not alone. She never gave us the power to unmake.”
The Primus turned from her and made for one of the rear exits of the Council chamber as he added, “Hirute is unbalanced and that which belongs to him is also out of balance. I’ll grant you that.”
He paused as he reached the door; stood in the threshold.
“It will be Avelare, Herself, who will correct the imbalance. Our aid is not needed.”
For a moment, he simply appreciated the sight of the Maven, glowing softly amethyst in the moon’s glow. The light for which she had been made.
So beautiful.
Sadness overtook him as he said his last.
“Can’t you see that we have already done enough?”
The Primus moved through the threshold, leaving the Maven standing alone in the moonlight. He knew that she would ignore his words, as she always had. She was doomed. They all were.
And the Primus was glad for it.
SNEAK PEEK
OF SEERS AND SORCERERS
“Be not the lone wolf, for such is the path of failure. Embrace humility and seek the pack, for in such unity alone is victory to be found.”
––The Hundred Truths of Chie
Dezan watched, frozen by confusion, as the human creature he had worked so carefully to undermine fell from the sky—slamming into the ground in a controlled crouch then rising to stride purposefully toward the corrupted Shepherds Dezan had unleashed on the Kirin town of Chen-yei. He had purposefully chosen Chen-yei for its size and location; Dezan would ensure a handful of survivors escaped this time, intending for them to sail for aid and quickly share the news of what had occurred.
The First Stewards had broken their oaths, they would declare as they sought refuge from this carnage. Word would spread…the Shepherds of Coerdom were no longer to be trusted.
That the creature whom Hirute called “Formynder” had arrived in Kirin so soon, however, was not part of Dezan’s strategy. He marveled that this Formynder was the same breed as the more mundane humans to which Dezan was accustomed. He towered above most mortals, for one, easily topping six feet and nearly closing in on the height of Dezan’s Elven brethren.
Another uncomfortable similarity was the shape of the man’s face—angular, with prominent cheek bones. Hair that was long, braided, and the pure black typically reserved for his Elder-race cousins also disquieted Dezan. But he was far too muscular to be one of Dezan’s folk, and as Dezan watched him bear down on the town’s center, there was something clearly inhuman about the creature’s movements. He was too smooth, too graceful.
What have you made, Young One?
Even in what Dezan assumed was a weakened state, as the Formynder had been lured from Hirute’s domain, this was not the time to engage, particularly as he had not come alone. Four black-clad figures had descended from the skies with him and were moving throughout the town.
Only one of his companions remained with the Formynder as he continued along his original trajectory. A trajectory that would bring him directly into contact with Dezan if he did not move, and quickly.
Gods, he thought, impressed despite his animosity, the man was fast!
Dezan’s minions were spread out, as their minds were too far gone and disjointed for them to work in concert any longer. The maddening of their targets’ minds was a puzzle he and Chae had not yet solved; clearly, Hirute provided some type of stabilizing influence that he and his protege could not. It was not ideal, but they’d made the best of it.
Dezan noted that one of the black-uniformed soldiers—a female—remained aloft and was closing in on his Air Shepherd, who rose to meet her. The newcomer raised her arms at angles from her body, forming a “Y” in which her body, legs straight and pointed, made up the stem. Her eyes glowed a bright, flaming blue as she soared toward the human once called Nika, her speed and control clearly outstripping the abilities of her former sister-in-arms. His minion sank lower and lower as the female in black pulled currents from her.
Briefly, Dezan considered going to Nika’s aid before dismissing that option; his focus must remain on the Formynder. If Dezan moved quickly enough, aiding some of the victims to escape, the fact that the Commander of Coerdom’s army, himself, had appeared would only make the reports of this day more damning. As Dezan skulked after his target, the tendril connecting him to Nika broke, a stab of pain flaring in the back of his mind for just a moment. He did not bother to look back.
Keeping to the shadows, he channeled his magic, becoming indistinct as his form turned from solid to mist. To human eyes, he would appear as swirling dust. With all the commotion being caused by his unhinged Shepherds and the response of those who had come to quell them, his appearance should prove unremarkable to anyone who managed to notice him at all. As he moved, he whispered to the Earth, seeking aid in masking his presence while he moved steadily closer to his prey. He had to get around the Formynder to reach the docks and help some of the villagers’ escape.
She refuses me!
He pulled up short near a storefront, pressing close to its walls to stay hidden. He needed a moment to understand what was happening. As his concentration waned, his mist-form twisted from him, and he grew corporeal once more. Tentatively, he reached for the Earth again, but rather than ask anything of her, he simply observed her—waiting for a sign…something, anything, to explain the Earth’s reluctance to heed his call.
After several long beats—during which he could hear the Formynder stalking through the town’s streets toward its center, and thankfully, away from the docks where Dezan was headed—he saw it: a faintly glowing tentacle of power moved outward from the Earth’s core.
With his mind, he followed the ribbon of power, and he was not surprised to find that it grew stronger as it neared the Formynder, eventually terminating at a point within the man—a point he could see clearly, though he could not grasp it as he could those of the lesser beings he had tainted. Unlike the slivers of power in the others, which he and Chae had captured so easily, this one was of pure power, manifesting as a giant emerald, and the Earth’s ribbon drove directly into its center.
While his minions’ nodes had been connected to thin, nearly ephemeral tendrils, the Formynder’s node was connected to a thick rope of pulsating power. In spite of his loathing, Dezan was drawn to the emerald, and he allowed himself to probe it, sending his mind to sniff at its edges—and while he drew in the tantalizing scent of the Earth unleashed in her union with this strange human, something sniffed back.
He felt that something—that presence—begin to move along the node-emerald. Before he could fully understand what it was, it began moving along his shields, pushing to enter his very mind!
That witch!
He screamed inwardly, wanting desperately to bellow his rage, appalled that Hirute’s disgusting leech would have the audacity to touch him so. He wrenched his mind away, breaking his connection with the Earth abruptly. Painfully.
He opened his eyes, once more firmly in his body. His head ached horribly, so he spared a few minutes to gather himself and assess the situation. His minions’ deaths were acceptable casualties. Enough damage had been wrought before the Coerdans had arrived, and even their interventions had caused destruction. Though not in the way he had envisioned, his Shepherds had served their purpose. The Formynder had come—shedding the full protection of Hirute and leaving his wife unprotected
. He now knew it could be done, and he would be able to lure the creature out again. Perhaps he could draw them both away from Hirute’s stronghold next time.
Briefly, he considered the work his protege was completing. Yes, he mused, that should prove sufficient enticement for Hirute’s mongrel witch. But first, he must complete the work before him.
He schooled his mind to calm, pulling his power into focus as he once more assumed his mist-form, though it was weaker, and moved toward the docks. The pounding in his head eased slightly, but he knew it would be hours, perhaps days, before he fully recovered. He moved quickly for fear that the leech might direct the Formynder his way.
He selected the pier farthest from the center of the docks, a small shack for storing tackle and the like off to its side. As he made his way toward it, shadows moved over him, spreading across the ground ahead of him. Once more tucking himself under cover and glancing up, he found an arresting, confusing sight. He squinted, baffled at what he was seeing. He wiped at his eyes, but the sight persisted. As best he could tell, there were more than a dozen humans hovering in the air above Chen-yei. They were high enough that they were partially obscured by the morning’s mist—the highest clouds that had not yet been seared by the morning’s sun.
As he peered, what he was seeing took shape: two human females in shining silver hovered in the center of the group. They faced one another with their hands clasped together and heads bowed over their joined hands. The morning’s mist swirled around them, but Dezan still saw at least a dozen more humans arrayed in grey and amethyst. They hovered in a circular pattern around the two females in the center, facing outward, and as Dezan brought his own powers to bear and focused on them, he realized their eyes were pulsing with a violet glowing light.
The fine hairs on his arms and the back of his neck rose, his body tingling as the first wave of their power reached him…then another. The pulsing of their eyes grew stronger, faster. Another wave of power fell across him.
His blood chilled and his body stiffened. These were the worst of Hirute’s abominations—those to whom he had granted access to the spiritual realm, a practice forbidden to even the Elder races. These were the ones before whom even Dezan’s gifts were frail.
He did not have much time. He glanced back at the shack that, on a normal day, would have been surrounded by fisherman and dockworkers clamoring for attention. Now, it persisted in silence and isolation, no customers to serve. But it did provide shelter, however meager. He cast his hearing toward it and confirmed what he suspected: a handful of frightened humans huddled within.
He moved quickly to it, pulling a glamour about him that turned his eyes and hair from his normal lavender to a dull brown, and ripped away the paltry screen that passed for a door. Those inside started then calmed when they saw him. In their own tongue, he urged the group out of the shack and into the closest boat. He marshalled his strength, pushing the last of the terrified group across the plank and onto the boat while casting off the mooring lines. If they noted his unusual strength and speed, they were too frightened or distracted to remark upon it. With one final push, he sent the boat moving, and one of the males had regained enough sense to take it from there. Not a one of them thought to cry out to him to join them. They spared him not another thought and turned their entire focus to their own survival.
Typical. He nearly laughed.
Dezan let his glamour fall and instead cast his focus into the space around him. He called to Air and growled as she, too, resisted him. The two hovering, silver-clad humans were interfering with his command of what was his. He closed his eyes, ignoring his anger, and ruthlessly pulled at the element of Air around him. He knew what he did was cruel, perhaps even wrong, but he would not be further thwarted by these apes!
Finally, the power of the currents flowed into him, and he immediately thrust them forward toward the boat—pushing it from the harbor and beyond the bend that would set it into open water and to their closest neighbors. He released the air currents and retreated.
He sped along the path that led up from the docks, skirted along the far eastern perimeter of the city, and made for the countryside beyond. He was too spent to fly, his mind reverberating from his tangle with Hirute’s witch, but he could still move faster than any human. In near minutes, he was almost beyond the farthest of the town’s borders.
Something slammed into his back, and he nearly fell, catching himself at the last on bended knee. He twisted, coming up quickly, and braced for whatever had struck him, but he found no one there. He once more turned his attention upward, gaping at those floating in the distance.
The waves of power emanating from them grew even faster. Heavier, he thought, realizing it was their power that had struck him. Their eyes became blinding and a sharp buzzing sounded inside Dezan’s mind. He felt them pushing at him—pushing into him. As he and his kind were forbidden such powers, he was unaccustomed to defending himself in this way. He’d had only the most rudimentary instruction from The Maven in protecting his mind. He clawed at his mental walls as best he could, but his previous exertions had taken their toll, and he had them in place without a moment to spare.
A final, cresting pulse washed over him, and Dezan gasped as power erupted from the hovering mass of humans, a purple-tinged dome encompassing the entire town of Chen-yei.
Nauseated, spent, and exhausted, Dezan fled.
About The Author
G H Duval
G.H. Duval is a first-generation American of Haitian parents. Raised with a love of mystical Catholicism and a reverence for nature, she is a teller of tall tales and an unabashed rescuer of dogs. Both of these passions abound in her work.
She lives near Atlanta, GA, with her husband and five dogs.
G.H. loves to hear from her readers. Please leave an Amazon review and follow her for bonus content on the world of Avelare!
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Books In This Series
Children of the Younger God Saga
The Children of the Younger God Saga is a New Adult/Epic Fantasy series set in the realm of Avelare, where gods and a semi-sentient planet have coexisted for eons. Now, the Younger God, Hirute, threatens that balance, and the mortals who've inherited Avelare will fight to put the world back to rights before it's too late.
Of Seekers and Shepherds
Siare au L’espri is desperate. Seventy years into her reign, she yearns to cede her responsibilities to her successor. Instead, her god has gone silent with no successor in sight just as ancient enemies rise to fill the void her god has left. Now, she commands her throne with waning powers, seceding warriors, and political infighting. To save her people, she must endure and adapt, relying on her intelligence and the few allies she has left where supernatural powers fail - even if it costs her life.
As mortals contend with gods they scarcely remember, Siare will enter the fray and redefine not only her place in the world but the very world itself if she and the humanity she has devoted her life to protecting have any chance of survival.
Of Seers and Sorcerers
Release date - November 2022
Sneak Peek in Book One!
Of Demons and Demigods
Release date - November 2023
TBD
Release TBD
TBD
Release TBD