by Guy Antibes
“A momentous three years it’s been. Since we killed off all the University sorcerers, we are the only college in Paranty. Some might think destroying your competition is not a particularly nice way to start a business.”
“But effective,” Pira said. “Sometimes I think it’s too bad you didn’t copy the Rings.”
“I don’t mind. I’ll always be a Tower sorcerer, but I’m glad the Samira School won’t be putting on the airs the Duterian Rings do.”
A messenger ran down the steps and interrupted them. “A revolt is about to start in Fisttia. You are being asked to help.”
Ricky looked at Pira. “Shall we save another kingdom?”
“Yes, we shall,” she said with eyes flashing.
“As long as you promise not to expose the Queen, again.”
Pira laughed and looked into Ricky’s eyes. “I’ll agree, but bear in mind, some promises are made to be broken.”
~~~~
The End of The Song of Sorcery Series
An Excerpt from A Boy Without Magic
follows the Song of Sorcery Character List
Character List for the Song of Sorcery Series
A Sorcerer Rises
Hendrico (Ricky) Valian. MC
Gobble Bangetelli - Ricky’s maternal grandfather
Mistress Marissa Doubli - Runs the Doubli Academy in the city of Tossa.
Saganet Crabacci - Ex- captain in the King’s Lancers.
Victor Taranta - Angry boy, a year older than Ricky.
Jockal Forbaska - “Jock” Head gardener at the Academy and a gruff man
Liria Mansali - Student. Twelve years old.
Franken Pestella - Student. Not quite up to speed.
Borial (Benno) Vesteria - Seeks out Ricky as a friend.
Karian Grandari - Young shopkeeper who has been a friend of Ricky’s as long as he remembers.
Dari Calasay - Sorcery teacher.
Krispor Denata - History teacher from Hesilia,
Mina Doria - Teacher of Parantian, the language of Paranty. Young, pretty. Saganet’s daughter
Baron Porio Mansali - Loria’s father and a very successful and rich speculator.
Betti Singilia - Female sorcerer.
Duke Bariani - Leader of Tossa.
Duke Dino Noacci - Adapo Valian’s second cousin and usurper of Ricky’s hereditary title.
Effilia Asucco - Ex-bodyguard to Princess Pira and weapons instructor at Doubli Academy.
Adapo and Vera Valian - Ricky’s performance sorcerer parents.
Mirano Bespa - Healing sorcerer who studied many years in Duteria.
Petrolo Garini - Royal University trained sorcerer. More schooled than Dari Calasay.
A Sorcerer Imprisoned
Nania Sarini - Warden of the Applia Juvenile Home.
Rocco Risticca - History Teacher
Nemo Mattia - Science Teacher
Leon Pisan - South Building warden.
Sossia Hisso - Parantian and Arithmetic Teacher
Gil Bisacci - One of Ricky’s ‘gang’
Siria Lonsi - Sorcerer/Teacher
Kela Torris - Fisttian inmate - female. Real name: Mara Torris
Henni - Library guard at the AJH
Taribaldi - temp library guard who accuses Ricky of theft.
Antino Pacci - Duke’s representative to the Home.
Baco Poppi - Inmate Arms Trainer
General Farlotti - Commander of the Royal Barracks in Applia. Friend of Saganet’s.
A Sorcerer’s Diplomacy
Jac Griama - Broomball champion and Loria’s flame(out)
Insippa Baldico - Physical education instructor, friend of Saganet and Broomball coach.
Lord Forari Griama - Jac’s father and Ricky’s host in Dimani. Close to the king and leader of the loyalists to the King of Dimani
Lady Amira Griama - Jac’s mother - encourages her son in sports and social activities much to the chagrin of Lord Forari
Ticco Griama - Eldest son of Lord Forari Griama and heir to the Dimani throne.
King Courer Listta - King of Dimani Confused as to what to do.
Dicco Wamia - Aide to the King and an associate to Duke Bariani - not-quite-member of the Order. Link to the Vorrian government. Betrayer.
Vana Rasso - Student - Ricky’s age. Likes Ricky. Family at the Griama’s
Ubbo Cassia - Friend of Jac’s on the Broomball team. Family at the Griama’s
King Leon Crepsi - King of Paranty
Princess Pira Dorgia - 2nd Niece and ward to Leon Crespi and 1st in line to the throne of Paranty
Tirio Estippia - Sorcery performance promoter in Dimani
Tobia Castocca - Ricky’s personal servant at the Griama estate. AKA Toberu Dastoya
Minnie Castocca - Tobia’s wife AKA Hamina Dastoya
A Sorcerer’s Rings
Kened Gostok - Tower sorcerer, neighbor and member of the Tower Council. A member of the Green faction.
Mossa Benkoya - Ricky’s First Ring roommate.
Zilya Yestoy - female Fifth Ring sorcerer from the city of Pokmar on the far eastern side of Hessilia.
Jarl Nobrovy - Swordsman/Sorcerer at the Third Ring
Cissle Rankoya - Gruntalian Third Ring sorcerer
Polaru Worko - Gruntalian Third Ring sorcerer
Tameru Taragoya - Tower Healer - Director in the Hospital.
Healer Larna Kokorak - middle-aged healer in the Hospital.
Garulia - Portal Officer and Broomball coach.
Hemo Grakel - Tower sorcerer and Ricky’s Fifth Ring advisor.
Sorcerer Benicci - Parantian Tower sorcerer who left after a botched assassination attempt.
Ciara Pecco - Princess Pira’s principal bodyguard
King Renako – King of Vorria
Blinak “Blink” Renako – son of the king of Vorria
Danna Toracci - Samira Castle’s housekeeper
Eddo Toracci – Samira Castle’s steward
Aned Leekal - Ricky’s Tower supervisor
A Sorcerer’s Fist
Espina Bennuto - Applian Housekeeper
Master Gottal - master of the Vorrian Sorcerers Guild
Purdo Sesskal - Hemo’s brother in law and a functionary in the Ministry of Trade
King Korlia - ruler of Fisttia
Queen Ula - wife of King Korlia
Brollo Giani - manager of the Coliat branch of Mansali Trading
Sorcerer Terkia - Botoyan sorcerer who controls King Korlia
Emperor Hanni - ruler of Jarrace
Laria Bwasee - manager of the Mansali Trading office in Jarrace
King Wako of Cralt - ruler of the country of Cralt
Sorcerer Bocca - performance sorcerer to Duke Noacci
Zaria Laccia - battle sorcerer
Captain Arriana - Captain of the guard of Cistia Palace
Puboli “Pub” Bennetto - Chief Steward at Cistia Palace
Rachael Bennetto - Asst. Steward of Cistia Palace, steward of Samira castle
Krankel Kokorak - Healer Kokorak’s husband.
Tarka Kokorak - the son.
General Jackel - Army commander in charge of Ricky’s battle sorcerers.
Master Sorcerer Golitto - head of the University sorcerers
Excerpt from Book One of the MAGIC MISSING Series
Chapter One
~
S ammy ran through the meadow, laughing with his sister Addy. Both of them had made butterfly nets from the magical pollen that drifted all around them. None of Sammy’s creations lasted very long, and his mother told him many times that he would have to get older to do better with his magic.
It didn’t matter this afternoon. There were so many butterflies flying up from the wildflowers that even his net caught a few. Unfortunately, most butterflies knew how to dissolve magical pollen and they escaped. Sammy repaired his net and went after them again and again. He couldn’t stop laughing.
The sky began to darken and Sammy looked up at the threatening clouds and flinched at the
thunder that rolled through the meadow. He looked for Addy, since she was old enough to know how to make an umbrella from the pollen. Sammy hadn’t learned yet, but then he was only five years old. When he became a big boy, he would learn how to make and do all kinds of things, even help his father in his smithy.
Addy called to him from across the meadow where she stood underneath a tree. He could see the shiny dome of her umbrella. It floated above her head like it should. Sammy waved, but he frowned as big drops of rain began to pelt him. Halfway to his sister, Sammy splashed through the little creek that meandered through the grass, but then he saw a light that hurt his eyes, and heard a crack of sound that filled his whole head, before everything went dark.
~
Sammy’s head felt like someone struck it with one of his father’s hammers as he swam up from a deep sleep. He opened his eyes and felt pain all through his body from the top of his head to the bottoms of both feet. He groaned and shut his eyes again. He had never felt so bad before, so he groaned again and pulled his blanket to his chin.
“Sammy!” His mother rushed into his room, holding water, but something was wrong.
“You made the water float in the air,” Sammy said.
His mother gave Sammy a funny look. “The water is in a pollen-pan,” she said.
“I don’t see it, just the water.”
After wiping Sammy’s face and hands, she noticed Sammy’s tears. “What is wrong?” she said.
“I can’t do magic!” Sammy said.
“Of course you can. Try a butterfly net. They are easy to make,” she asked.
Sammy went through the motions, but where he could pull pollen from the air to make something, there was nothing to grab on to. “I can’t,” he said. He began to feel worse and then he started to cry.
Addy poked her head into the room Sammy shared with his two older brothers. “He isn’t dead?”
Sammy saw the worried look on his mother’s face and he began to wail. Something was really wrong. “What happened to me?”
His mother sat next to him and held his head to her. “You were struck by lightning. The town healer said you should have been fried to a crisp, being a little tike, but you survived. It went into the top of your head and out your feet.”
“The stream steamed up right where you stood,” Addy said.
Sammy sobbed, but he tried to control his tears. He pulled off the covers of his bed and looked at wrapped feet.
“They are burned, especially the bottoms,” his mother said. “We had to shave your head to see what happened to the top. It was burned, too, but the healer put some salve on it and said it would heal on its own, just like your feet.”
Addy laughed. “You look funny without hair, Sammy.”
Sammy forgot about his tears as he looked at his sister in anger. “But I’m not burnt to a crisp!” he said, clamping his lips together.
~
Sammy became a curiosity in their town and the town became a quite different place than Sammy remembered from a few days ago. As people learned about Sammy’s miraculous story, many strangers paid attention to him. That was a scary thing for a five-year-old. Sammy didn’t know if he liked strangers or not.
“Hello, Mistress Baker,” Sammy said as the woman came up to him.
Her eyes widened. “How did you know it was me? I am wearing a veil.”
“You are?” Sammy said. Many women wore veils out in public, but Sammy didn’t see any veiled ladies after he recovered enough to walk the streets with Addy.
“She is, too,” Addy said. “Can’t you see it? It is beautiful, with a picture of the sky on it.”
Sammy didn’t see one and then his mind made a connection. “Is it a pollen veil?” he asked.
“Well, of course it is, Sammy Smith. All veils are pollen-made. That’s how we can make them so beautiful.”
“Yours is beautiful,” Sammy said, knowing he told a fib. He smiled and gave the woman a bow, just as his mother had taught him.
He dragged his sister down the street so no one could hear what he had to say.
“I can’t feel pollen or see pollen-made things,” he said.
Addy laughed. “You are just making things up. Mother said it wasn’t going to last long.”
Sammy shook his head. “No, I’m not. Remember when I could see the water, but no bowl in my bedroom?”
She nodded. “I just thought you were still ill. You know, not right in the head.”
“I’m still not. I can’t see pollen stuff.”
“What is on the other side of the curtain in front of Mr. Maker’s window?”
Sammy looked across the street. “What curtain? Mr. Maker is putting a new display up in his store.”
Addy took Sammy’s hand and they tromped across the street through the dirt and walked up to the wooden sidewalk. “You stay here,” she said as she walked into Mr. Maker’s store. He sold pots and pans and implements made by their father. Pollen-made pans didn’t last very long when used for cooking, and that made their father’s work valuable. She came out with her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe it. You are right, Sammy! I’m taking you home. We have to talk to Mother.”
Tessa Smith looked down at her two children. Sammy stood with his hands folded in front of him while Addy told the story of their walk down the street.
“Perhaps your magic will come back, Sammy. The healer had never heard of anyone losing all their magic before. It’s never happened before.”
Sammy didn’t know what to say. He didn’t feel like his magic was close to coming back and it had been days since the lightning struck him. His feet still hurt a bit to walk, reminding him of that fateful day.
“Show me pollen-made things,” Sammy said.
For the next few minutes, his mother showed him her own veils, the pots and utensils that were pollen-made. Sammy couldn’t see any of them. He broke down into tears. “I don’t want to be blind!”
The problem was, Sammy was blind to magic and he stayed that way, even after he started the town’s grammar school when he turned seven.
~ End of Excerpt ~
A BIT ABOUT GUY
~
With a lifelong passion for speculative fiction, Guy Antibes found that he rather enjoyed writing fantasy, as well as reading it. So a career was born, and Guy anxiously engaged in adding his own flavor of writing to the world. Guy lives in the western part of the United States and is happily married with enough children to meet or exceed the human replacement rate.
You can contact Guy at his website: www.guyantibes.com.
†
BOOKS BY GUY ANTIBES
SONG OF SORCERY
Book One: A Sorcerer Rises
Bound to a cruel grandfather, thirteen-year-old Ricky Valian is an orphan and a thief. Compelled to steal a valuable item in a public place, Ricky uses the only trick he knows, a magic trick. His crime doesn’t go unobserved. The Dean of Doubli Academy witnesses the theft and recognizes Ricky’s latent talent, volunteering to become Ricky’s guardian at the boy’s trial. Ricky finds himself, unlettered and untutored in sorcery, in a place filled with students. As he struggles with his unexpected circumstances, Ricky becomes a target of a vicious bully, who may not be above taking the life of someone who gets in his way.
Book Two: A Sorcerer Imprisoned
Ricky Valian always dreaded the Juvenile Home in the city of Applia. Killing a member of the Council of Notables is enough to sentence him for a stay. The lord’s widow is anxious for revenge and Ricky has to scramble to stay ahead of people out seeking his life. While there are strange things going on at the Home that will put him in peril, he finds a priceless treasure long forgotten at the Home. Can he stay alive long enough to save it?
Book Three: A Sorcerer’s Diplomacy
Back at Doubli Academy, Ricky finds new acquaintances and a new pastime. However, all is not bliss as circumstances converge to make it impossible to avoid confronting his nemesis, Duke Noacci, the man Ricky suspects of killing his
parents. While on a school break, he finds himself in the middle of two powers ready to go to war. Ricky must make life-altering decisions as he struggles to save himself and his new friends.
Book Four: A Sorcerer’s Rings
Fleeing for his life, Ricky Valian heads to Duteria, home of an institute of sorcery. With the help of his two servants, Ricky must learn basic sorcery that he hadn’t needed before. His studies take him out of the Duteria and into new perils as he discovers an insidious plot to disrupt all the governments of his world.
FANTASY - EPIC / SWORD & SORCERY / YOUNG ADULT
~
THE DISINHERITED PRINCE
Book One: The Disinherited Prince
Poldon Fairfield, a fourteen-year-old prince, has no desire to rule since his poor health has convinced him that he will not live long enough to sit on any throne. Matters take a turn for the worse when his father, the King of North Salvan, decides his oldest will rule the country where Pol’s mother is first in the line of succession, followed by Pol, her only child. Pol learns he has developed a talent for magic, and that may do him more harm than good, as he must struggle to survive among his siblings, now turned lethally hostile.
Book Two: The Monk’s Habit
With his health failing, Pol Cissert takes refuge in a monastery dedicated to magic, healing, and swordsmanship. As a disinherited prince, he thinks his troubles are behind him so he can concentrate on learning magic and getting his body repaired. He soon finds that his sanctuary isn’t the protection he hoped for.
Book Three: A Sip of Magic
Expecting to resume his studies after a long absence, Pol Cissert is disappointed when he is drafted by the Emperor’s Seeker to infiltrate into Tesna Monastery. His mission is to verify rumors of a new army being raised by the South Salvan King, a man he perceives as a personal enemy. Pol will face new challenges, not the least of which will be figuring out the mysterious roommate who arrives not long after he learns about the Tesnan’s plans to take over the world.