by Kyra Halland
Money and Measurements:
copper bits = 3 per penny
pennies = 3 bits
drinas = 10 pennies
gildings = 100 drinas
Week: nineday. 8 gods/one day per god, All-Gods day
Month: three ninedays plus a Darknight
armlength = 26"
measure = man’s arms spread out, from fingertips on one hand to fingertips on the other hand (72"/ 6 ft)
league = 1000 measures (1.13 miles)
The Gods:
The Provider – giver of what's needful, provider of good crops and herds
The Maker – creation, childbirth, creativity, growth of seeds, increase in herds
The Joiner – bringing separate things together, marriage
The Sunderer – violent death, separations, breaking apart
The Defender – defends, protects
The Gatherer – death, return to origins, harvest
The Avenger – attacks, avenges
The Mender – brings together things that were formerly together then separated, reconciliation, restoration. honesty, integrity, wholeness.
The Dragon's Threes Deck and rules:
7 suits/point multipliers: Sun (4x), Moon (3x), Stars (2x), Earth (1x), Water (2x), Air (3x), Fire (4x)
ranks/points: Dragon (15pts), Mage (14), King (13), Queen (12), Priest (11), Demon (10), Warrior (9), Crone (8), Merchant (7), Hunter (6), Farmer (5), Harlot (4), Begger (3), Joker (2), Death (1)
Straight: pts x 3 (3 cards in a row from same suit)
Level: (3 cards of same rank) pts x 2
Ranking points: number of players -1 x 10. e.g. 7 players: best combo gets 60 points, next best gets 50, etc. Worst combo gets 0 ranking points.
The cards are dealt out evenly, extras are taken out of play and placed face-down in the center of table.
Players lay down combinations of three cards. All chosen combos for the round are placed face down before combos are revealed.
Points earned depend on combos, how good they are compared to other combos. Points may be kept with colored pebbles.
Bets change during play.
Up to 10 players can play at once.
Rules of courtesy:
No smoking at the card table if any of the players object to it.
Onlookers may not discuss the cards in players’ hands (this is a shooting offense).
For maps, character interviews, previews of the other books in the Daughter of the Wildings series, and more book extras and information, visit http://www.kyrahalland.com/daughter-of-the-wildings.html
Preview of For the Wildings (Daughter of the Wildings, Book 6)
Brin Coltor was out in the front yard of his big, white-painted, single-level ranch house, talking with his foreman, Mr. Nikalsdon, when Lainie and Silas rode up. Lainie hung back, not wanting to interrupt. Mr. Coltor had a stern temper, as she had seen for herself, and she was worried Mrs. Coltor might have spoken out of turn when she offered them hospitality.
Abenar whickered nervously, seeing strange horses, and Mr. Coltor and Mr. Nikalsdon both turned towards the sound. "Vendine!" Coltor exclaimed. "And Mrs. Vendine! What brings you --" His voice trailed off as he looked at Silas. "What happened?"
"We need a place to lay low for a while," Lainie said.. "Silas is hurt bad, and really sick, and every mage hunter in the Wildings is probably after us."
Mr. Coltor came over to take a closer look at Silas. Silas looked at Lainie, fear in his face.
"It's okay, baby," Lainie told him. "Mr. Coltor's our friend."
"What happened?" Coltor asked. "He hasn't been --" He caught himself. "Come on in. I owe you folks a lot, and if you need help I'm happy to give it."
Again Lainie nearly broke under the relief that settled on her. She blinked back more tears. She hadn't dared hope for such a warm welcome, had expected at most permission to use an empty shed or spare couple of bunks in the ranch hands' bunkhouse. She dismounted from Mala, and Silas followed, climbing down from Abenar. Nikalsdon came over and took the horses.
"Take the best possible care of these fine animals," Coltor instructed him.
"I'll do that, sir. I'll see to them myself."
Nikalsdon guided Abenar and Mala towards the stables, while Coltor led Lainie and Silas into the spacious house. It was simply but beautifully furnished, with creamy-white plaster on the walls and polished wood trim and floors. "He hasn't been Stripped, has he?" Color asked when they were inside.
"No, not really. Sort of, but the people who did it said it can be undone. I don't know what they did, though. And he's been shot and I don't think it was ever really treated proper, and --" All at once she was too tired to say another word. "It's a long story. We've come all the way from Sandostra, and I'm awful tired."
"Get some rest, then, and you can tell me about it later."
Guiding Silas by the hand, Lainie followed Coltor down a hallway and into a bedroom with a big bed made up with pillows and quilts. Coltor left the room, closing the door behind him, then Lainie helped Silas undress. He fumbled with his buttons and belt buckle as though he had never learned how to manage such things. She hadn't seen him with his shirt off since she rescued him, and now she took the opportunity to examine his bullet wounds.
There was a new scar high on the right side of his chest, where one bullet must have gone straight through, and four more scars on the right side of his back, one corresponding to the exit wound on his chest, the other three left by bullets that were probably still in him. Usually it was best to leave bullets in place if they couldn't be extracted easily, but these were causing him so much pain that they would have to be removed if at all possible. At least the wounds weren't festering.
She pulled off his boots and undid his belt and his pants and finished undressing him. He was absolutely filthy; she was going to have to bathe him, and his clothes were fit only to be burned. Probably the bedding as well, after he slept in it. And she needed to figure out what had been done to his mind and his power...
But not now. Right now, she couldn't do one more thing. "Here you go, baby. You can rest now." She settled him in the bed and covered him up.
There was a knock at the door, and she opened it to see Mr. Coltor standing there with a warm bowl of bread and milk. "Thought Vendine looked like he could use some nourishment," he said.
Lainie took the bowl. "Thank you. But you didn't have to go to all that trouble --"
"You folks found my daughter and saved my herd. There's nothing that's too much trouble."
Lainie helped Silas eat the bread and milk -- in truth, she fed him, though it made her feel better to think of it as helping him eat it himself. When the bowl was empty, he closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.
And then there was nothing else to do for the moment. They were safe from hunters and hanging mobs, and out of the weather. Now that Lainie was at loose ends, the hunger, as worn down as her emotions from the hardship of their long ride from Sandostra, came back sharp and clear. The aching emptiness inside her cried out, demanding something, anything, to fill itself with. She forced herself to turn away from Silas; half-conscious and tied up was one thing, but she wouldn't avail herself of him when he was like this, hurt, scared, sick, and bewildered, with his mind reduced to that of a child.
She took the empty bowl and walked back down the hall to the spacious front room, all cream-colored plaster, polished wood, and furniture upholstered in white wool woven in fancy designs. She was too dirty to sit on such fine, clean furniture, so she hunkered down against the wall. She could cry now -- Silas wouldn't be able to see her -- but she'd been holding back the tears for so long it seemed like she'd forgotten how to cry.
Mr. Coltor appeared next to her. "What about you?"
"I'm awful hungry."
He gave her a good-natured, teasing grin and wink. "I'm married, Mrs. Vendine."
She tried to smile back. "So am I, Mr. Coltor."
"Kitchen's that way," he said, pointing. "
Help yourself. Tell Mrs. Murrison I said you're to have as much as you want."
She made her way to the kitchen, which was just as big and shiny and beautiful as the front parlor. The first thing her eyes alighted on was a pie -- apple, she thought, smelling it -- set out to cool on the counter. She moved towards it, wondering if Mr. Coltor was rich enough that he could afford to hire someone just to bake pies and cakes and cookies for him, like the people who read that Ladies' Fashion Monthly book she had seen at the hotel in Sandostra. She hoped so, because that pie wasn't long for this world.
Lainie took the pie to the table, where a little girl, about seven years old, was sitting, carefully copying words on a piece of paper. She had the white hair and dusky blue-toned skin of an A'ayimat, but instead of braids her hair was done in long ringlets, and she wore a ruffled dress of green calico printed with pink and yellow flowers. She looked up at Lainie with eyes as dark as Coltor's instead of A'ayimat gold.
"Hi, Shayla," Lainie said as she sat down with the pie and dug in. "Do you remember me?"
"You're the lady that stupid wiseman tried to kill," the child replied. "You made the bad spirits go away. The stupidman wanted to feed me to the spirits, but you saved me."
"That's right," Lainie said around a mouthful of pie. She inhaled it, bite after bite, picking up the crumbs of crust that fell on the table and eating them as well.
Shayla laughed. "You're awful hungry. Murry's gonna be mad."
Lainie couldn't help smiling back. Laughter and pie; it felt good. "I'll clean up after myself. And your Pa said I can eat as much as I want."
"Are you and the man who killed the stupidman going to live here with Pa and Mama Brinna?"
Lainie wiped the rest of the crust crumbs and drips of filling out of the empty pie plate, then sucked her finger clean. "We're gonna stay for a while, until Mr. Vendine is feeling better." And then, after that? She didn't know. Time enough to worry about that later.
For the Wildings
Daughter of the Wildings, Book 6
Coming Soon!
More Tales of Fantasy, Heroism, and Romance
by Kyra Halland
Urdaisunia
In Urdaisunia, a land torn by war and drought and abandoned by the gods, a widowed rebel and a prince walk intertwining paths of danger, love, and war to save the land they both love.
Now Available
A Cure for Nel, And Other Stories
Three short fantasy stories of love, family, greed, ambition, and the desires of the human heart.
Now Available
Chosen of Azara
In a quest that spans centuries, Sevry, the last king of the land of Savaru, searches for the woman who holds the secret to bringing his destroyed homeland back to life.
Now Available
The Lost Book of Anggird
Stodgy Professor Roric Rossony has been asked to find a way to stop the deterioration of the powerful magica. He hires free-spitited Perarre Tabrano to translate books for his research, and finds his life turned upside-down by their unexpected romance and the most important work of his life. When he goes too far in his research, delving into lost and forbidden books, magical disaster strikes, and he and Perarre must flee in search of the secret of the magica's origins.
Now Available
The Warrior and the Holy Man
Haveshi, a young wife and mother betrayed by her clan, sets out on a path to regain what she has lost. Latan, a lowly clerk in a magical order, finds himself on a path of unexpected danger and self-discovery, guided by the warrior named Haveshi Yellowcrow. Two fantasy stories set in the same magical world as Chosen of Azara.
Now Available
Sarya's Song
In a world where music is magic, disgraced musician Sarya dyr-Rusac hears strange and powerful new music on the wind. Torn between the man who loves her, whom she can never have, and a beautiful man in chains who appears in her dreams, begging her to sing him free, she must discover the meaning of the mysterious music she heard before the world itself is torn apart.
Now Available
Daughter of the Wildings
Cowboys and gunslingers meet wizards in this high fantasy series inspired by the Old West. Silas Vendine is a mage and bounty hunter, on the hunt for renegade mages. He's also a freedom fighter, sworn to protect the non-magical people of the Wildings from ambitious mages both lawless and lawful. It's a dangerous life and Silas knows it, but when he comes to the town of Bitterbush Springs on the trail of a rogue mage, and meets Lainie Banfrey, a young woman both drawn to and terrified of her developing magical power, he finds more danger and excitement than he bargained for...
Book 1: Beneath the Canyons - Now Available
Book 2: Bad Hunting - Now Available
Book 3: The Rancher's Daughter - Now Available
Book 4: To the Gap - Now Available
Book 5: City of Mages - Now Available
Book 6: For the Wildings - Coming Soon!
For complete catalog and availability,
please visit http://www.kyrahalland.com/books.html
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Jill B for her feedback.
Also thanks to Mominur Rahman, for bringing Silas and Lainie to life on the cover.
And, most of all, many many thanks to my husband for his love, patience, and support, and to my God for the talent and opportunity to share my stories with readers.
About the Author
Beginning with the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander and the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Leguin, Kyra Halland has always loved fantasy. She has also always loved a good love story. In 1990, as a new stay-at-home mom with a young baby, she finally decided to combine those two loves – like chocolate and peanut butter! – by writing the kinds of romantic fantasy novels she wanted to read.
Complicated, honorable heroes; heroines who are strong, smart, and all woman; magic, romance, and adventure; and excursions into the dark corners of life and human nature mixed with a dash of offbeat humor – all of these make up Kyra Halland's worlds. She hopes that readers will enjoy her worlds, stories, and characters as much as she does.
Kyra Halland lives in southern Arizona. She has a very patient husband, two less-patient cats, two young adult sons, a lovely daughter-in-law, and the world's most adorable granddaughter. Besides writing, she enjoys scrapbooking and anime, and she wants to be a crazy cat lady when she grows up.
For more information, visit her website at
http://www.kyrahalland.com