Lacing her fingers with Bay’s, Kaelia gazed back at him. ‘We already are...together.’
* * * * *
The story continues in the third Mortiswood Tales book...coming Winter 2015.
Glossary & Meanings
Creatures & Beings
Dis - A fallen goddess who sees fate and destiny, aims to guide but not intervene unless humanity is under threat.
Disir - Plural of Dis.
Draegarni - A shadow demon from the Corpse Shore located in Niflheim. It can be used as a form of possession over a human.
Draegarnae - Plural of Draegarni.
Draugr - A pale-blue skinned, immensely tall, undead creature. Possesses magical abilities, super strength, reeks of decay, and can change its shape at will into that of a rotten, flayed horse, a fearsome cat, or take on a humanlike appearance.
Draugar - Old Norse plural of Draugr.
Dybbuk - A demon spirit of unrest with the ability to possess a human, keeping the human spirit trapped to the physical body. A Dybbuk controls the human until it is torn from the human.
Dybbuks - Plural of Dybbuk.
Hel - Goddess daughter of the Norse god Loki. Ruler of the dead. Resides in her realm in Niflheim.
Isandr - Great warlock who possessed the ability to shape-shift into a stag. Exists as a fiery stag spirit to guide in times of trouble. Summoned by using Rosealrium oil in a spell.
Jormungandr - Giant sea-serpent child of Loki, brother to Hel. Also called the Midgard snake.
Marrock - The one Kaelia must find to release her full power.
Necromancer - Has power over the recently dead, able to bring them back to life. Possesses magic. Can see the dead and communicate with them.
Rosealrium Bush - A flowering shrub. Strong magical properties, extremely difficult to cultivate. Will only bloom for those truly working for good. The first bush grew from pieces of Isandr’s antlers.
Rosealrium Oil - Derived from the crushed petals of a Rosealrium bloom.
Sifar - Sorceresses who can bend the elements to their will. Possess power over anything that is natural. For example - anything grown from the ground, made/formed from natural sources, water, the air, wind, rain, clouds etc.
Shadow Dancer - A shadow demon whose shadow can exist as a separate entity. Devours other persons/beings shadows, turning the victims to stone.
The Chosen One - The one The Salloki have been waiting centuries for.
The Dark One - Also wanted by The Salloki for strength and magical ability.
The Salloki - Secret sect who are well concealed from the human world.
Valkyrja - Old Norse, meaning Chooser of the Slain, a death rider who chooses souls from those killed in battle.
Valkyrjur - Plural of Valkyrja.
Vallesm - Ancient wolf breed. Larger than normal wolves with extreme strength, agility, and speed. Elusive, shapeshifting creatures.
Vanadis - A goddess who resides in Asgard. She is a Vanir deity. Half of the souls lost in battle go to her field, Folkvangr and her hall, Sessrumnir.
Vanagandr - The giant wolf child of Loki, brother to Hel.
Places
Asgard - One of the nine worlds in Norse mythology. Home to the gods and goddesses of the Aesir. On a plane above Midgard, linked by an ethereal bridge/pathway. Lots of halls for the gods and goddesses. Also the afterlife home to spirits who died an honourable death.
Broadstairs - A coastal town located in Thanet, Kent.
Drauguri Sea - A viscid, sapphire sea in the Draugar realm. Used to fill the lungs of spirits to enable transition into a Draugr.
Gjoll - River that flows closest to Hel’s realm.
Gjallarbru Bridge - A golden bridge leading to Hel’s realm, stretching over the river Gjoll.
Helheimr - Hel’s realm within the lands of Niflheim.
Isle of Stone - An island with a meagre population. One church and graveyard.
Margate - A seaside town located in Thanet, Kent.
Midgard - The world - the earth - where humans live. Another of one of the nine worlds in Norse mythology.
Mortiswood - Magical woods overlooking the sea. Home to magical buildings and creatures.
Mortiswood Academy - An academy dedicated to training anyone who possesses any kind of magical ability or power, as long as they are good. Accepts students of all ages. Located within Mortiswood.
Nastrond - The shore of the corpses/Corpse Shore in Hel’s realm, home to the Draegarnae and other shadow demons.
Niflheim - One of the nine worlds in Norse mythology. Home to the realm of the goddess Hel and the afterlife for anyone who did not die a brave/heroic/honourable death. Land of ice, mist, and cold.
Northdown Park - A park in Margate.
Vanaheimr - Old Norse home of the Vanir gods and goddesses, and one of the nine worlds in Norse mythology.
Some of the creatures, characters, and places within this book are loosely based on myth - primarily ancient Norse. Other places exist only in the imagination of the author. However, Margate, Northdown Park, Broadstairs - all within Thanet - DO exist and are located in Kent, within the United Kingdom. There are no known Draugar, Dybbuks or Draegarnae present in Thanet ... at the moment, although there may well be Vallesm.
* * *
Maps
Visit
mortiswood.blogspot.co.uk
To view pictures of the real places mentioned within this book and for more information about the Mortiswood Tales series.
* * *
A note from the author
Thank you so much for reading this Mortiswood Tales novel. I love to hear from readers so please do get in touch by visiting my website. I’m on all the usual sites—Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads etc.
* * *
About the author
Gina Dickerson lives by the Thanet coast on the north-eastern tip of Kent with her family and playful Siberian husky. She is a full-time author and also a columnist for her local newspaper, the Isle of Thanet Gazette. She writes romantic suspense with a twist, horror, and fantasy because her characters refuse to play nice and wind up with more than a few bone-rattling skeletons in their closets.
Having been an avid reader and story-scribbler from an early age, Gina loves being fortunate enough to fill her days writing. When she’s not writing, she likes to amble along one of the many gorgeous Thanet beaches with her pooch, or rummage in vintage shops.
Find out more about Gina, and her newest releases, on her website:
www.ginadickersonwriter.co.uk
* * *
Also by Gina Dickerson
MORTISWOOD
KAELIA AWAKENING
MORTISWOOD TALES BOOK ONE
“They’ve been waiting lifetimes for you, Kaelia. They want you and will stop at nothing to have you.”
The warning’s rung in Kaelia’s ears since she discovered she’s far from the ordinary girl who grew up in the coastal town of Margate. She has power. The first time she shows it, death strikes, the second, she loses someone special, and on the third, her mother disappears.
Destiny is coming for Kaelia and there’s nowhere she can hide. THEY have stepped out of the shadows to find her. For generations, there have been whispers of The Chosen One. They speak of a name - Marrock - whose destiny entwines with that of The Chosen One.
Kaelia must avenge the wrongs, uncover who Marrock is, find her mother, and ...
FIGHT
Facing forces of depraved evil, magic, and myth, Kaelia’s search leads her through magical forests and unearthly realms.
Who, or what, can Kaelia trust? Is she strong enough to survive the horror? All she knows is her life will never be the same again...
Underleaf
Tales of secrets, lies, and strangeness.
A house with a disturbing secret, jealousy which turns deadly, heartbreak in more ways than one, and people who aren’t quite what they seem make up a few of the stories within this collection. Turn the pages and discover that there is more to each t
ale as you venture Underleaf...
Unveiling Christmas
Families silenced by secrets, lost heirlooms and a ruthless killer...who can be trusted?
When Suzy Harte discovers on her wedding day that her bridegroom-to-be has been hiding a huge secret, jilting him at the altar seems the best option. What she didn’t anticipate was he wouldn’t ever make it to the altar either and being found in the church cemetery in her wedding dress with a bloodied knife dripping onto the snow really seals the day as her worst ever.
Suzy’s life picks up crazy momentum upon discovering her bridegroom found a lost diamond ring worth millions of pounds. The problem is someone else wants the ring and they’ll stop at nothing to have it, not even serial murder.
As the body count rises, Suzy races to unravel the mystery, stumbling across years of family secrets while the killer closes in. Can Suzy unscramble the secrets before it’s too late? Will she find true love again? Or will the secrets which silenced many before her, lead her to a grisly end?
The Pennington Christmas Curse
Something came for the Pennington’s at Christmas time. On the same day thirteen years later, daughters Iysobel and Ziema are terrified by what appears in the mirror before them.
There’s a curse on the Pennington family but as eldest daughter Iysobel nears the truth those she loves are threatened.
Can Iysobel fight the curse and save her family? This winter one thing Iysobel isn’t wishing for is a white Christmas . . .
Out now and published by Limitless Publishing
All books are available now.
Also available in paperback.
* * *
Mortiswood: Kaelia Falling (Mortiswood Tales Book 2) Page 27