Truthsong
Songmaker
Book 2
Elisabeth Hamill
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Fire and Ice YA
Date of Publication: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68046-326-2
Number of pages: 236
Word Count: 80K
Cover Artist: Caroline Andrus
Book Description:
The long awaited sequel to SONG MAGICK
When Telyn’s song magic freed ancient spirits of the Wood, it also awakened a long-slumbering evil. Now she and her beloved Mithrais must battle a spreading shadow that ignites crippling fear, and deal with the unexpected consequences of magic’s return.
More danger arrives with a royal delegation to the forest realm, sweeping Telyn back into court intrigue and the sights of a murderous lord. Mithrais may be forced to choose between his service to the Wood or the obligations of his royal blood.
As Telyn’s bond with Mithrais grows, she is torn between her love for him and the freedom of a wandering bard’s life. But when dark magic plunges the Wood into chaos, she must balance the two halves of her heart—or the Fates may take Mithrais from her forever.
Amazon Smashwords BN Fire and Ice
Excerpt 2:
“Old
One?” He kept his voice soft. “What’s out there?”
“Fear.” The sprite cocked its head
and never took its eyes from the darkness. On the fringes of the grove where
Mithrais’ light did not reach, the shadows were thick and impenetrable.
Something blacker than night moved
against the trees.
His breath and pulse quickened with
a primal terror he’d never known. A new reflex took hold. Power leapt to await
the cast of a spell without his conscious assent, and he tamped it down. Cold
sweat broke out on his forehead.
“You are safe, Magian,” the sprite
murmured. “It cannot stand against us in this form, although it can make itself
known.”
“What is it?” Mithrais could not
tear his gaze from that terrible nothingness.
“A projection of what was once
vanquished, long ago. A creature of elemental form. It has no shape of its own.
It simply is.”
“What does it want?”
“To be free, within a shell of
flesh. There, it can wreak the havoc it once fed upon.”
Mithrais fought to replace fear with
reason and action, but it slowed his thoughts. With supreme effort, he turned
his focus to the magical knowledge the Gwaith’orn had imprinted upon his mind.
“How do we defend against it?”
“It is yet contained. Some things
are best left alone.” The sprite looked at him at last. “It can do nothing but
spread fear in this form, but that is how it draws a vessel to it.”
“This
form is only a projection?” He did not want to imagine facing what produced
this fearsome shadow in the dark.
“It
will fade with the light. Breathe, Magian.”
The
light… Mithrais seized the lantern from the front of the wagon and thrust it in
front of him. The magelight flashed in blinding, silver-blue radiance, a
captive star in the depths of the Wood. It dispelled the darkness in the grove,
and the dark shape fled to slip between the trees until it was out of reach of
the magelight.
The
terror fled as well, leaving him hollow as it drained from his body. He could
think again and was deeply troubled. Around him, small sounds of night began to
re-emerge—crickets, the trill of a frog on the river’s edge. He allowed the
light to fade to its previous pale glow and attempted to wrap his mind around
this encounter. First dragons, and now dread shapes in the night: What else had
been wrought in the wake of the spell Telyn and the Magians cast in the Circle?
“Mithrais?”
Telyn’s sleepy voice sounded from the wagon. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m
not certain.” It was as if the dark shape had never existed. Even the sprite
had disappeared when he turned around and looked for it. He hung the lantern
back on the front of the wagon and reclaimed the space beside his lifemate.
“You’re
shivering.” Telyn moved closer and wrapped her arms about him. “I was having a
nightmare.”
“So
was I.” But his had been waking.
“Too
many ghost stories from Kendric and the sprite, I think.” She sighed and
relaxed again into sleep. But Mithrais lay awake until dawn’s approach outshone
the light of his spell.
About the Author:
Elisabeth Hamill is a nurse/wife/mom by day, unabashed geek/chocoholic/closet sci fi and fantasy novelist by night. She lives with her family, dog, and cat in the wilds of eastern suburban Kansas, where they fend off flying monkey attacks and prep for the zombie apocalypse.
Song Magick, her first novel, won first in category for Teen Fantasy in the 2014 Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction.
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