Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Jane Austen Giveaway HOP 2013


Jane Austen
Giveaway HOP

May 24-27, 2013
hosted by vvb32 reads
complete HOP list

Featuring books and goodies with a Jane Austen theme - part of vvb32 reads event: TEA at Pemberley

Feel free to email me if you need more details about this HOP.

SIGN UP will end May 23, 2013 - details below.
HOP starts May 24, 2013 - links on list will be updated to reflect direct link to giveaway posts.

HOP RULES:

1. You must host the giveaway on YOUR site.

2. You must offer either a book (print-ebook-audio) or an item in keeping with the THEME, no gift cards.

3. Your giveaway post must include the hop image, title info and link to this page as posted above.

4. You must include the Linky list below (grab the code below) for best hopping action.

5. Your post can go live any time between May 24-26.

6. Your deadline should end on May 27, 2013, 11:59 pm (your time zone).

WANT TO PARTICIPATE?

Please complete Linky sign up below.

Include the following after your name

(US only)
(US/Canada)
(Intl) - or leave a blank if the offer is open to all

==========================================

HOP participants:
(click on link below to get the code for this link list)
Sorry for the inconvenience, the linky tool is temporarily disabled.
Feel free to send me an email vvb32@yahoo.com with your info and I will add you to the list once it is up and running again.






~*~

* source: badge image Jane Austen

~~- TEA at Pemberley schedule -~~


Monday, April 29, 2013

Flappers at Floyd's in May

Flappers at Floyd's
a virtual book event
May 13-19, 2013

HEY kiddo...

You are invited to a 1920's ritzy party at Floyd's!

There will be music and dancing (and bookish stuff).

You might be lucky and meet Mr. Gatsby or his crush, Daisy (from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald).

Perhaps you will have a word with Evie O'Neill who may give you a reading, if she is so inclined (from The Diviners by Libba Bray).

Hotsy totsy Bright Young Things (by Anna Godbersen) are sure to be on the dance floor.

So RSVP in comments and send me a link to a picture of a 1920's flappers dress (or gentleman's suit) you would get dolled up with for this event.

Hope you can join us, it will be swell!

~*~
* Floyd - new fictional vvb32 reads character

* badge image source: flappers

* What is a virtual book event? a celebration of books and authors that are in keeping with a theme which may include guest posts and giveaways. Audience participation is encouraged and most welcome.

_.oO0- Flappers at Floyd's schedule -0Oo._





Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Shifu Cloth by Prue Batten

The Shifu Cloth
by Prue Batten

Visit Prue:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

Published: 2012
Publisher: Darlington Press
Genre: Fantasy
ebook
Rating: 5

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | BarnesNoble | Smashwords

In a world where Others play with mortal lives, in a hidden province that survives on the backs of abducted slaves, Isabella, one of those stolen folk, sends a message woven into rare cloth made of paper and silk, in the vain hope that her cousin will find it, decipher it and rescue her.

For cousin Nicholas, with whose life the Fates have been playing, only time will tell if he shall find her and whether what makes a curse does indeed break a curse.


The Chronicles of Eirie series:
The Stumpwork Robe
The Last Stitch
A Thousand Glass Flowers
The Shifu Cloth

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): fate
If you are already a fan of Prue's series, then you can add this to your list. It blends fairy tale and fantasy in a delightful way with her set of special otherworldly characters.

As per in her previous stories, the use, description and details of crafting is engaging. In this case, the making of shifu cloth. Loved learning about this art and enjoyed how it is incoporated in this magical story.

--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~--
signup to win this ebook


~*~
* part of event: On A Sea Voyage

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sailor Twain or The Mermaid in the Hudson by Mark Siegel

Sailor Twain or The Mermaid in the Hudson
by Mark Siegel

Visit Mark:
Book Excerpt
Website
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

Published: 2012
Publisher: First Second
Genre: Graphic Novel, Mermaids
Paperback: 400 pages
Rating: 5

Amazon | BarnesNoble

One hundred years ago. On the foggy Hudson River, a riverboat captain rescues an injured mermaid from the waters of the busiest port in the United States. A wildly popular--and notoriously reclusive--author makes a public debut.

A French nobleman seeks a remedy for a curse. As three lives twine together and race to an unexpected collision, the mystery of the Mermaid of the Hudson deepens.

A mysterious and beguiling love story with elements of Poe, Twain, Hemingway, and Greek mythology, drawn in moody black-and-white charcoal, Sailor Twain is a study in romance, atmosphere, and suspense.


PeekAbook:




My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): sordid mishap

I really liked this moody, quirky, magical-kinda sort of story. The artwork showed off the time period's fashion, gadgets, etc. very well.


~*~
* part of event: On A Sea Voyage

Friday, April 26, 2013

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Monstrous Beauty
by Elizabeth Fama

Visit Elizabeth:
Book Excerpt
Website
Tumblr
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

Published: 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Mermaids, YA
Paperback: 304 pages
Rating: 5

Amazon | BarnesNoble

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him.

For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse?

With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean - but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.



My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): The more she knew
the more she loved
the more she loved
the more she ached
--part of prologue


I listened to the audio version of this story and fell for this story hook, line and sinker. It was read by Katherine Kellgren who did an excellent job with voice accents and capturing the past and present worlds presented.

What I like most was that each character's stories (not just the main character) are interesting and engaging throughout the story.

Peekabook: here is a sample of the audio version -- give a listen...




Special extra: Treasure Game: A Prequel to Monstrous Beauty in Comic Form (Part One) created by Elizabeth's son, Eric Fama Cochran


READ these: part 1 | part 2 | part 3

Snippet of part 1:



--~ Book Giveaway ~--
signup to win this book


~*~
* loved the various covers for this book which are presented here

* part of event: On A Sea Voyage


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Florence by Ciye Cho

Florence
by Ciye Cho

Visit Ciye:
Book Excerpt pdf
Website
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari
Twitter

Published: 2012
Publisher: Studio Amazepop
Genre: Fantasy, Mermen, YA
Paperback: 336 pages
Rating: 5

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Seventeen-year-old Florence Waverley is out of her depth. Literally. Kidnapped and taken below the waves to the mer world of Niemela, she is the ultimate gift for merman Prince Kiren: a human familiar tied to his side. But nothing is what it seems amid the beauty and danger of a dark ocean.

Every Niemelan has a role to play, from the mermaids who weave towers out of kelp to the warriors who fight sea monsters. But in trying to survive, Florence will end up in the middle of a war between the mer and the Darkness. A conflict that will push her between two brothers: Kiren, the charmer inexplicably drawn to both her and the monsters; and Rolan, the loner who has been pushing her away since the day they met. But in order to take a stand--and find out where she belongs--Florence will have to risk it all: her life, her heart... and her very soul.


Series:
Florence
Luminaire

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): All corals must spawn eventually -Niemelan Saying

Loved learning about this underwater world. The sea creatures and plant life are just as interesting as the merfolk. I liked how this world was presented in vivid colors.

I also enjoyed the sprinkling of action scenes and romance bits.


--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~--
signup to win this ebook


~*~
* review copy courtesy of author
* part of event: On A Sea Voyage

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

At Drake's Command by David Wesley Hill

At Drake's Command
The Adventures of Peregrine James
During the Second Circumnavigation of the World
by David Wesley Hill

Visit David:
Book Excerpt
Goodreads
Shelfari

Published: April 2013
Publisher: Temurlone Press
Genre: Adventure, Historical
Paperback: 426 pages
Rating: 5

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

fyi: Amazon Prime members with Kindles can get this for free here this month

Series:
At Drake's Command
Desperate Bankrupts - tba
Beyond Dreams of Avarice - tba

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): chin up, lad
Enjoyable read of life at sea!

Because he is a young man and new to sailing and the sea, I loved following the main character, Perry, on his various adventures and learning about a sailor's life and survival during the 1500's.

There's a batch of colorful characters as most sea tales include which make for interesting encounters. How Perry handles himself and lessons he learns in dealings were quite amusing at times.

Looking forward to reading more of this series. And if you didn't already, check out an excerpt from book 2 here which gets into some mermaid lore.

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~--
signup to win this book


~*~

* review copy (ebook) courtesy of author

* part of event: On A Sea Voyage

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Winner for April


Here is the winner for the
Treasure Chest Giveaway HOP
that ended April 22, 2013
during the On A Sea Voyage event

Thanks to all contestants!

Of Triton by Anna Banks
Winner: deasuluna of The Mini Onion

~*~

* to see the original giveaway offer, click on the prize title links

* I will email winners for mailing addresses within two weeks.
Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my email
or if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

* contest policy

* keep in touch with my giveaways and learn about other book giveaways by subscribing via email on my sidebar (you may want to go digest mode)

* if not this time, maybe next time

--> check out the current giveaways and upcoming events on my sidebar

Monday, April 22, 2013

On A Sea Voyage: end credits

On A Sea Voyage
a virtual book event
April 14-21, 2013

Thank you dear readers for joining me for this virtual book event.

Please note the Treasure Chest giveaway HOP ends today.

All other giveaways for this event end April 30, 2013.

THANKS TO: Authors, Publicists and Publishers for Book Giveaways and Guest posts

At Drake's Command
The adventures of Peregrine James
during the second circumnavigation of the world
(Volume 1)
by David Wesley Hill

Florence
by Ciye Cho

Seven Locks
by Christine Wade

The Shifu Cloth
by Prue Batten

Snapper
by Brian Kimberling

~*~

And for one last time, let us lift of our spyglass for one last look.

Land ho!!!!!

Birds, birds and more birds

--~ Book Giveaway ~--


A great, hilarious new voice in fiction: the poignant, all-too-human recollections of an affable bird researcher in backwater Indiana as he goes through a disastrous yet heartening love affair with the place and its people.

Nathan Lochmueller studies birds for just enough money to live and learn on. He drives a glitter-festooned truck, the Gypsy Moth, and he is in love with Lola, a woman so free-spirited and mysterious she can break a man's heart with a sigh or a shrug.

Around them swirls a remarkable cast of characters: the proprietor of Fast Eddie's Burgers, the genius behind "Thong Thursdays," Uncle Dart, a Texan who brings his swagger to Indiana with profound and nearly devastating results; a snapping turtle with a taste for thumbs, a German Shepherd who howls backup vocals, and the very charismatic state of Indiana itself.

And at the centre of it all: Nathan, creeping through the forest to observe the birds he loves, and coming to terms with the accidental turns his life has taken.


WIN my review copy of this book!

Open to all.

Offer ends: April 30, 2013 --> extended to May 6

TO DO: (2-parts)

1. ADD this book to your Goodreads Want To Read list.

Or on Shelfari if you prefer.

OR

Tweet about this giveaway.

2. TELL me you did the deed in comments.
AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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~*~

* PicMonkey was used for some graphics creations for this event.


~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~

Sunday, April 21, 2013

More Spyglass Sightings


Back at topside, we take up the spyglass to see what we can see...


Pirates!


The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
Directors: Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt
Writers: Gideon Defoe (book), Gideon Defoe (screenplay)
Starring: Hugh Grant as the Pirate Captain

This animated pirate film was part of nominated films in the 2013 Oscars category for Animated Feature Film.

Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.

fyi: based on a book

The Pirates!
The Swashbuckling Adventure Story
by Gideon Defoe

My two-bits:
Fun movie with cute scenes and funny moments - especially loved the cameo of Jane Austen!

And speaking of...

SAVE THE DATE for my upcoming Jane Austen themed event next month:


TEA at Pemberley, May 21-26, 2013 - meet some ladies at Pemberley and maybe have a word with Mr. Darcy

This will kick-off a series of TEA events that I whereby I will feature books related to certain fictional places.

June: TEA at Downton Abbey - meet the Crawleys

July: TEA at Buckshaw - meet Flavia de Luce

Fellow bloggers and authors are welcome to contact me, if you are interested in participating in this event with guest posts or giveaways.

--~ Pirate Giveaway ~--


If did not already know, mermaids make an appearance in the third film in the Pirates of Caribbean series.

WIN a pink and black Pirates of Caribbean bandanna!

Open to all.

Offer ends: April 30, 2013

TO DO: (3-parts)

1. READ at least one of the special author guest posts below:

Guest post #1: Wynn by Ciye Cho
or
Guest post #2: The Mermaids of the Darian Coast by David Wesley Hill
or
Guest post #3: Mermaid from The Shifu Cloth by Prue Batten


2. LEAVE a comment or question for the author at the individual post.
(if you already did this previously -- then you're all set)


3. RETURN to this post, let me know in comments that you did the deed along with your email.


~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Captain Vix's Treasure Chest


Captain Vix is looking through her treasure chest in search of a special cup. It once belonged to Marie Antoinette. She must find it before the next moonrise for the King (down under).

This is the payment the captain must forfeit to keep the crew and passengers safe from the swarm of merfolk who wish to steal souls.


In one of the boxes of treasure, the captain comes across this gem that you can take for keeping...

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of publisher ~--

Seven Locks
by Christine Wade

Set in the Catskills on the eve of the Revolutionary War, Seven Locks is a spare, haunting, and beautifully written debut for readers who loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.

In the years before the American Revolution, a woman’s husband mysteriously disappears without a trace, abandoning her and her children on their farm at the foot of the Catskill Mountains. At first many believe that the farm wife, who has the reputation of being a scold, has driven her husband away. But as the strange circumstances of his disappearance circulate, a darker story begins to unfold, sending the lost man's wife on a desperate journey to find the means and self-reliance to ensure her family’s survival.

Inspired by a famous American folktale, Seven Locks is an ambitious and poignant exploration of family love, secrets, and misunderstandings, and of the inner and outer lives of the American frontier at the end of the eigtheenth century.

In this lyrical and complex book, which opens with a mystery and ends with a literary twist, Wade creates a rich, imaginative and tactile evocation of life and times in the historical Hudson River Valley, where the lines between myth and reality fade in the wilderness beyond the small towns, while an American nation struggles to emerge.


WIN a copy of this book!

Open to US only.

Offer ends: April 30, 2013--> extended to May 6

TO DO: (2-parts)

1. ONE of these:

ADD this book to your Goodreads

or

ADD this book to your Shelfari

or

TWEET about this giveaway

2. AND, let me know in comments what you did along with your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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~*~

image source: Shell-shaped cup, ca. 1650 and ca. 1685. Cup (Byzantium): sardonyx, 10th–11th century, with later additions. Mounts (Paris, France): enameled gold, gilt copper, diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d’Art, MR 123. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY / Daniel Arnaudet

~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~

Friday, April 19, 2013

Treasure Chest Giveaway HOP


Treasure Chest
Giveaway HOP

April 19-22, 2013
hosted by vvb32 reads
complete HOP list

Featuring Books and goodies with a sea theme - mermaids, pirates, sea creatures (real or perhaps paranormal...)

~*~

Here's my treasure for you...


Of Triton
by Anna Banks
Release date: May 28, 2013

Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm. Syrena law states all Half-Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance in the Syrena world turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

Once again, Anna Banks infuses Emma and Galen’s points of view with humor, intrigue, and waves of romance.


--~ Book Giveaway ~--

WIN a copy of this book!

Open to all.

Offer ends: April 22, 2013

TO DO: (2-parts)

1. ONE of these:

ADD this book to your Goodreads

or

ADD this book to your Shelfari

or

TWEET about this giveaway.

2. AND, let me know in comments what you did along with your email.

~*~

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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Now, hop-along and see what these fellow bloggers have for you...






~*~

* source: badge image treasure chest

* please note: this book will be released at the end of May, so you will receive the prize in June (if not sooner)

* If it's your first time here, WELCOME!
and feel free to signup for my other current giveaways on my sidebar -->

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Ocean Views


The mermaids cleared away as fast as they appeared. Something from the bottom of the ocean simply called to them and they obeyed.

We shall never know what lured those sea creatures away. But thank goodness no one on board the Rusty Dagger fell for their seductive machinations.

Hmmmm, the vast ocean and its secrets.

Let's raise up our spyglass again and see what we can see.


The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

AFTER FOUR HARROWING YEARS ON THE WESTERN Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.



The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.

His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.



Railsea by China Miéville

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory.

Spectacular as it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain thinks only of hunting the ivory-colored mole that took her arm years ago. But when they come across a wrecked train, Sham finds something—a series of pictures hinting at something, somewhere, that should be impossible—that leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for.

Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.


~*~

READ more about one of these worlds...

--~ Book Giveaway ~--

WIN one of the books above. -- winner's pick

Open to all.

Offer ends: April 30, 2013--> extended to May 6

TO DO: (3-parts)

1. READ at least one of the special author guest posts below:

Guest post #1: Wynn by Ciye Cho

Guest post #2: The Mermaids of the Darian Coast by David Wesley Hill

Guest post #3: Mermaid from The Shifu Cloth by Prue Batten


2. LEAVE a comment or question for the author at the individual post.
(if you already did this previously -- then you're all set)


3. RETURN to this post, let me know in comments that you did the deed along with your email.

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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~*~
image source: ocean

~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Mermaid from The Shifu Cloth by Prue Batten


~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Prue Batten
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

The sea is always a mystery – an enigmatic place filled with superstition. In this extract from The Shifu Cloth a Ceasg, or mermaid, gives the hero the fright of his life, showing just how dangerous waterwights can be…


The evening was clear and calm, the welkin wind moist and cold, bringing a tingle to the back of Nicholas’s neck. As he sat on the rocks at the side of the cove, an image of his cousin being tied and hooded flashed through his mind. He tried to banish the traumatic moment until he was ready, instead thinking on his own place in this world of mortals in which he lived.

But as always, it came back to the difference that seemed to striate his very soul, the difference between he and she.

Why is it that the sum of one’s parts are so affected by one of those parts being so altered from the rest?

For so long he had quietly envied Isabella, envied that she was completely all of one thing – mortal – while he was neither one nor the other. A mixed up melting pot of Færan and mortal and as alien one to the other as sugar is to salt.

I’m a confusion where one side must by its very essence, cancel out the other.

But all that aside, he cared for his cousin as if she were gold and it was that above all else that reduced him to what he was as he sat on the rock in that hideous cove. He had not been able to protect her that night and he a Færan.

~*~


‘Poor miserable Færan man.’

A thrilling voice disturbed his self-indulgence, setting the hairs on his arms to attention.

He turned around and found a Ceasg standing behind him, her lustrous tail shed and in place, shapely legs. Her beauty drew his breath away. She was as tall as his shoulder and her form was clothed in sea-green fragments that undulated in the welkin wind. He chided himself for ignoring the unsettling fingers of the little zephyr earlier, knowing it implied something Other was close by.

Her hair waved in the eldritch breeze, silver tresses touched with the light of a winter’s frost, her skin as pale as snow, nacreous, like the lustre of the pearls that laced through her hair. Her hand touched him and he knew if he had been mortal he would crave more of the same. But he was of Færan blood and sensed danger, as though he had just put a finger into an icy stream. He stood up as she came closer, so close that as she spoke, cool breath with the tang of sea dusted his neck.

‘Poor Færan. Searches for his sister without luck it is said, and lost his speech as well. I can hear your thoughts, Færan. Speak to me with your mind voice.’

Alert as never before, he sifted through his thoughts, allowing only those the Ceasg would approve of to come to the fore.

‘It is true,’ he offered politely, knowing how malevolent the waterwight could be.

She looked him over – a glint at the back of her eye smacked of short temper.

‘Nicholas of the Færan has spent too long wondering and wandering. Cassiope of the Ceasgs has helped once and has waited long for him to return here to help him again.’

‘What do you mean, ‘helped once’? I’d remember one such as you.’

She simpered, walking around him, trailing cold fingers over his chest, round his neck, flicking the leather buttons of his shirt open. One … by one … by one until his chest was laid bare.

He let her move, his wits sharp. Something tingled, an intuition.

‘Have you not wondered how you did not drown so long ago as you lay face down amongst the ripples of approaching tide? The black men gave little care as they sped away.’

Nicholas’s heart began to thump, the woman having returned to her position in front of him, a scrap of sea-coloured wisps falling to reveal a perfect globe of breast. She sidled closer again, so that he was able to see the bluish veins tracing across her flesh. She reached for his hand, placing it on her cool skin so his palm lay across her nipple. Her fingers moved to his exposed chest, running along the lines of muscle – lower and lower to his belt. Seduction incarnate…

I feel nothing. She is iced poison and I feel nothing.

‘Did you help me?’ His guts clawed as a wicked giggle filled the space around them. ‘Then you must have seen the men, where did they go?’

Like a weather change, she whipped her breast back into the confines of the fabric and her face shut down.

‘Færan is an ungrateful churl. Cassiope wastes her time with him.’

She flung herself round and was about to walk back to the shoreline when Nicholas grabbed her arm.

‘I am thoughtless. But then all Færan are – you know this. It’s a universal truth.’ He held her chilling hands in his own and ran a touch over her palm, letting one finger linger. Her breath sucked in.

‘What you say is true.’

She kept her face turned from him.

‘If it was you who saved me, I am in your debt. What did you do?’

‘I turned you over and I nursed your head, stroking away your hurts until the tide changed and you woke. Do you not remember?’

‘I remember the black men and then a kick to my stomach and head. Nothing more. Which is a shame,’ he added as he gentled her with his fingers, shifting them back and forth as if she were silk. He bent his head and kissed her palm.

‘Færan knows many tricks,’ she sighed, sitting on a rock, indicating with a tip of her head that he sit by her. ‘It is true the black men hit you very hard. I thought if they had been your bane that you would have died from the force. Men were very strange. Voices were sharp and unknown.’

He lifted a hand and ran it through her waving silver hair, wrapping a tress of it round his hand and pulling her toward him, lowering his head to her neck.

‘Did you see them leave?’

He licked and felt her shiver, his own body stone cold at the touch of tongue to skin.

She sat very still and then spoke words that pierced him like sword strokes.

‘Perhaps, perhaps not. If Nicholas of the Færan will follow me and let me love him then I will take him to where they have gone.’

It was his turn to sit unmoving and then, ‘And if I do, shall it take you long to show me where they have gone?’

She pushed hard at his chin, almost a punch.

‘Færan does not believe me.’

‘Cassiope,’ he stood and towered over her, ‘give me proof that you know something and I will decide.’

‘Black men disappeared with great speed as if they had never been. Like ghosts of the sea.’

‘Then tell me, Cassiope, if they disappeared, how do you know where they have gone?’

‘Feckless Færan.’ She stamped her foot. ‘You have tricked the woman who saved you. If you were not already cursed, I would bring such an oath down upon you.’ She spat at him and stormed toward the waves. ‘Cassiope won’t forget, Nicholas of the Færan.’

‘I owe you for my life, Cassiope, and I will honour the debt,’ he thought-shouted after her. ‘But I will not enter your world.’

He watched her swim away, a splash of furious phosphorescence.

Make love to her? Never.

He buttoned his shirt and dragged the tails into his breeches, goosebumps lifting in the after-chill the Ceasg left behind.

I am cursed.

But how?

And by whom?


~end

Guest post created by Prue Batten, author of The Shifu Cloth
© 2013. All rights reserved.


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The Shifu Cloth
by Prue Batten

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In a world where Others play with mortal lives, in a hidden province that survives on the backs of abducted slaves, Isabella, one of those stolen folk, sends a message woven into rare cloth made of paper and silk, in the vain hope that her cousin will find it, decipher it and rescue her.
For cousin Nicholas, with whose life the Fates have been playing, only time will tell if he can find her and whether what makes a curse does indeed break a curse.


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~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~



Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Mermaids of the Darian Coast by David Wesley Hill


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by David Wesley Hill
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The Mermaids of the Darian Coast
excerpted from the upcoming novel, Desperate Bankrupts,
sequel to At Drake's Command

April 20, 1578
Off Cape Joy, Brazil

Just before dusk, after proceeding some miles into the vast bay of fresh water known as the Rio de la Plata, or Silver River, the Pelican anchored in the lee of a rocky island, which provided good protection against the southerly wind. After serving dinner, I joined the usual gang below on the gun deck among the cannon. The general mood continued to be as grim as it had been for the past week. Our course southward down the coast of Brazil proved to everyone that our destination could be only one of two places, and neither was a friendly harbor. Either we were headed around Africa to the Indies or else Drake was taking us through the Straits of Magellan into the Southern Ocean.

“God damn me, gentlemen,” whispered Pascoe Goddy, a hand going to the stump of his ear, “we are between a gale and a lee shore. The Indian Ocean is a gauntlet no English ship can endure. The Portugals guard the route more jealously than a pimp guards his strumpet.”

“Aye, without a pilot, we would be doomed rounding the Cape of Storms,” said Luke Adden. “It is a snarl of current and bad weather.”

“Magellan’s Straits are worse,” ventured Lancelot Garget. “You must enter at slack tide since the current runs in only one direction and will capsize any vessel caught in its grip.”

“Even Drake is not mad enough to take us through the Straits,” Adden countered. “Did not Magellan himself perish in the passage?”

“No,” answered Francisco Albo. “Captain Fernan went down in the islands of the Philippines while bravely defending his men.”

“Lot of good that did the poor bastards. Only twenty returned.”

“Eighteen,” Albo corrected the other. “Only eighteen.”

The conversation died away after this melancholy revelation, which allowed us to hear clearly the noise coming from the nearby island, which was home to dozens of sea wolves, as the Spaniards called them, a kind of seal. The males had the manes of lions and each was guarding a harem of smaller females and pups. The animals were continually barking, growling, huffing, and grunting at one another, and occasionally the bulls would let loose unsettling barrages of angry squeals.

“None of us will sleep with such din in our ears,” Garget complained. “The damned vermin are sure to keep us awake through all the watches of the night.”

Pascoe Goddy had taken up his marlinspike and was using the tip to work a strand of cord through the round knot he was weaving, which was known as a monkey's fist, or slungshot. The design was as practical as it was ornamental. Tied to the end of a line, and then cast off at speed at an enemy, its weight and velocity caused the knot to become a weapon, allowing you to stun your opponent from a distance.

“Come, Lance,” Goddy said, “do not pass judgment so quickly. Do you not know the beasts are truly mermaids and mermen in disguise?”

Garget would have none of this. “Get away, Pascoe, and cozen someone less gullible. Such creatures are Papist superstition. I have been before the mast two dozen years and never in that time have I encountered either a sea-wife or her husband. Have you?”

Goddy shook his head. “Not personally, no. But I have met a man who has, and I heard what happened from his own lips. Understand that this was in '73, just after the failure of our raid on the Spanish in Panama. You all know what went on there. The tale is famous.”

Even I had heard of the adventure, which had made Drake's fortune although more than half his men died in its doing.

“Well, mates,” Goddy continued, “we were lying in wait to ambush the caravan carrying the Treasurer of Lima and his family across the isthmus from the Pacific to Nombre de Dios. Supposedly eight mules of this train were laden with gold and one with jewels and we were all looking forward to becoming wealthy men. Our orders were to stay as silent as the grave until Drake gave the word to rise. Unfortunately, one idiot had imbibed too much aqua vitae without water and showed himself to the Spanish, forewarning them of our presence, and we came away with nothing. As you may imagine, gentlemen, the drunken fool who ruined our prospects had few friends among the company thereafter. One night, while we were licking our wounds in our lair on the coast, a couple of the men determined to do this man, Richard Pike, a mischief.”

Goddy paused to complete a complicated weave in the monkey's fist and we had to wait for him to continue the story. Finally he said, “Aye, well, where was I?”

“Pike,” prompted Luke Adden. “Richard Pike.”

“Yes, that was his name. As I said, a couple of the men pretended to be his companions and plied him with Madeira and sack, of which we had a good quantity, and with aqua vitae, too, until Pike was insensible. Then they rowed him in a long boat out to an island some cable lengths from the main, where they stripped him naked and lay him down unconscious at the high tide mark. The plan was to maroon Pike on the island and then to rescue him in a day or two after he had reflected upon the sad consequences of intemperance. Aye, it was a cruel jest, all in all, but no one expected any harm to come of it.


“When the time arrived to retrieve Pike, however, he was nowhere to be found. The island was less than a quarter mile from end to end and we searched every yard but there was no sign of the man. Nor would it have been easy to overlook him, as Pike was not only a huge brute but also a redhead, with a shock of bright hair that resembled nothing so much as the sparking tip of a slow match. It was not until we reached the seaward extremity of the place, a rocky beach, that we discovered him.”

Again Goddy paused to work on the slungshot. This was a favorite technique of his, to interrupt himself in order to ensure our attention, and although we were all accustomed to the trick, it never failed to work its purpose on us. “For God's sake, Pascoe,” urged Luke Adden “will you get on with the damned story.”

“Aye, well, where was I?”

“At the rocky beach,” everyone answered in unison.

“Exactly! And there was Richard Pike. We had expected to find him naked, sober, and chastened but instead he was even more drunk than when he had been marooned. This perplexed everyone until we discovered that the island was home to a grove of coco palms. Their nuts are sturdy things but if they fall upon stony soil, they sometimes crack open, exposing the milk and causing the liquid to ferment into wine. Having sampled the stuff myself, I can swear it is a foul beverage but when we found him, Pike was using a coco shell as a tankard and swilling down the awful liquor as if it were expensive Canary.

“He was alone on the beach but the sand around him bore the imprint of many bodies, as if a crowd had recently been lying there. To one side lay the corpse of a bull seal and in the shallows nearby several she-seals swam among the breakers. The place had apparently been employed as a rookery for many seasons.

“To our surprise, Pike was not made happy by our arrival to rescue him. 'Damn you all, you have scared them off,' he chastised us. 'My lovelies are shy things and cannot abide commotion.'

“It took awhile before we understood that he meant the seals. In his drunkenness he believed them to be beautiful sea-girls. 'Now they may wear the flesh of animals,' Pike explained, 'but come the small watches, they change into other shapes. I saw this myself this very night past. In the moonlight they became women in every way except that they had the tails of fish instead of legs. They called to me and I went to them and they made me welcome, feeding me clams and cockles, combing my hair with their fingers, which have delicate webs between them, and decorating me with garlands woven from seaweed.'

“John Harris, who died not long afterward from Spanish lead, God rest him, could not hide his amusement at Pike's delusion.

“'Say, Rich,' he said, 'why exactly were you so well received by these maidens? Do not ask me to believe they fell for your good looks since really you are an ugly fellow.'

“Pike was not offended by the observation since it was true. 'I asked the same question,' he replied sincerely. 'The lasses explained that sea-folk are born without souls and that they feel this lack keenly. The only way one of their kind may gain a soul for herself is by winning the heart of a mortal man. Thus my lovelies strove with each other to earn my affection, granting me every feminine comfort until I was exhausted and could no longer rise to the occasion, no matter the inducement.'

“Pretending to believe these ravings, Harris said, 'In all honesty, Rich, I would not have thought such intimacy possible. Did you not say the lasses had the tails of fish instead of legs?'

“'Aye,' Pike agreed. 'However, let me assure you that bifurcation is quite an unnecessary quality in a woman.'

“'There was not a dry eye among us as we thought of Pike gaining the experience required to speak so convincingly about so unnatural a subject. 'And what was the bull's crime?' asked Kit Minivy, referring to the corpse lying not far distant. 'Did he perhaps take offense at your romancing his brides?'

“'No,' Pike answered. 'The old fellow welcomed me with the same ardor as his wives and for the same reason—in order to win an eternal soul for himself. That was the rub. He was determined to demonstrate his love upon my person and I could not dissuade him from this desire except by hitting him on the head with a rock.'

“Minivy's face was turning as red as Pike's hair as he struggled not to laugh. 'Imagine that, mates,' he finally got out. 'A sea-buggerer. Who would have thought such a diabolical fiend existed.'

“John Harris, too, was beside himself. 'Tell us,' he asked, 'which of this bevy of beauties most caught your fancy?' He indicated a she-seal on a ledge of rock somewhat offshore. 'Her, perhaps?'

“'Of course not!' Pike exclaimed indignantly. 'Are you blind, John, to choose the plainest of the lot? No, I have given my heart to another. Where are you, my lovely?' he called, peering seaward. 'Where have you hidden yourself, you exquisite creature?'

“By now it was clear that Pike was mad as well as drunk. We knew it was our fault, too. We had left him naked and alone in the wilderness of the Darian coast, where the shock of being marooned had unhinged him. We also suspected Drake would not be pleased to lose a man to lunacy, seeing as how our company had been decimated by the Spanish.

“'Come, Richard,' said Minivy, 'bid your sea-wives farewell. It is time to rejoin the fellowship of men.'

“'Aye, mate,' agreed Harris with equal gentleness, 'I have heard that mermaids are fickle vixens and will turn you over for a bit of fresh fish. It is best to end the affair now before there are bitter memories.'

“After some trouble, since he did not wish to leave, we managed to get Pike into the longboat. He continued looking wistfully back at the island until we landed on the main, when weariness and drink overcame him and he fell into a slumber so deep that he did not wake for an entire day. To our relief, however, upon rising, he recalled nothing of the incident but for a few vague dreams of carnal excess. Minivy and Harris, happy that their prank had no worse consequences, never mentioned the matter again. As for myself, mates,” Goddy finished, “I, too, thought no more of the episode. As a matter of fact, I forgot it entirely.”

Goddy returned his attention to the monkey's fist in his lap and said nothing further. After some minutes passed, it dawned on us that the story was over. Lancelot Garget was first to speak:

“You have made my very point, Pascoe,” he exclaimed. “It is as I said—mermaids and mermen are the figments of drunks, madmen, and Papists.”

“I would have thought so, too, Lance,” Goddy replied. “Except—“

Whatever he intended to say was drowned out by an increase in noise from the nearby island, where two bull sea wolves had begun squabbling. It took some time for the commotion to die down. When the volume finally diminished enough for him to be heard, Goddy said, 'Aye, well, where was I?'

Except—“ we quoted back to him in unison.

“Precisely, mates. I would have thought the same as Lance except for something that happened just last year. I was sailing with Fenton aboard the Eagle, and our adventure carried us to the very part of the Darian coast where I had been previously with Drake. At twilight the Eagle passed the island on which Richard Pike had been marooned. We were not a cable's length offshore when we came abreast of the beach where we had found him. The place was still being used as a rookery by a family of seals, a half dozen females and their lord, a strong young bull. And here is what changed my opinion as to sea-folk and why I no longer believe them to be myth. Aye, mates, what I saw was sufficient to convince me that Pike had told us nothing less than God's honest truth. Ah—finished!”

With a last twist and tug, Goddy completed the monkey's fist and held the pretty thing up for study.

“Bugger the damned knot!” swore Luke Adden, echoing the thought in all our minds. “What in the name of Jesus did you see, Pascoe? “

“Why, Luke, I saw the young bull. As you know, seals typically have brown or black pelts but the fur of this animal was as pale as the skin of an Englishman. And his mane, instead of being dark, was a remarkable red, fully as bright as Richard Pike's hair. Draw your own conclusions, mates, but in my opinion the evidence is compelling. Even if there were no sea-folk in the world before—there are now.”

~end

Guest post created by David Wesley Hill, author of At Drake's Command
© 2013. All rights reserved.

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At Drake's Command
The adventures of Peregrine James
during the second circumnavigation of the world
(Volume 1)
by David Wesley Hill

It was as fine a day to be whipped as any he’d ever seen but the good weather didn’t make Peregrine James any happier with the situation he was in. Unfairly convicted of a crime he had not committed, the young cook was strung from the whipping post on the Plymouth quay side when he caught the eye of Francis Drake and managed to convince the charismatic sea captain to accept him among his crew.

Soon England was receding in their wake and Perry was serving an unsavory collection of sea dogs as the small fleet of fragile wood ships sailed across the brine. Their destination was secret, known to Drake alone. Few sailors believed the public avowal that the expedition was headed for Alexandria to trade in currants. Some men suspected Drake planned a raid across Panama to attack the Spanish in the Pacific. Others were sure the real plan was to round the Cape of Storms to break the Portuguese monopoly of the spice trade. The only thing Perry knew for certain was that they were bound for danger and that he must live by his wits if he were to survive serving at Drake’s command.


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~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~


Monday, April 15, 2013

Wynn by Ciye Cho


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by Ciye Cho
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“Wynn” (a Niemelan short story)
by Ciye Cho

“A world of harmony is a world of order.”
–Niemelan proverb (author: unknown).

In the world of Niemela, there existed a library known as the Repository. This place was a water-filled cavern full of stone pillars, and each pillar held scrolls made of kelp. Along the ceiling, sea anemones gave off a gold light. In this glow, clownfish in all sorts of colors spiraled to form a living rainbow.

But that was not all…

The Repository was full of mermaids and mermen, and each one had a different color scheme, from violet tails and green hair to red scales and blonde locks. These mer were knowledge collectors: adults who were known as thinkers; and youths who were known as thinker novices. The latter were students on the verge of adulthood. But regardless of age, all the mer in this cavern were busy inserting rolled-up scrolls into the empty holes of each pillar.

Well, all except for one novice.

Wynn was kneeling on the floor. His tail was curled beneath him as he stared up at the clownfish. “Would you look at that,” he whispered. He ran a hand through his mint-green hair as the fish began to form patterns. Some of them clustered together to become multicolored chains. “Hey everyone, look at…”

Wynn gazed around him. But no one else looked up, all focused on his or her work. The only sound to be heard was a soft rustling as mer tails brushed against the sand floor.

Wynn sighed.

He looked to the right at a jellyfish as tall as a merman. This animal had multicolored tendrils, and scrolls were attached to each strand. Every scroll was the same color as the tendril it hung from. Wynn watched as a pink mermaid took a scroll from the jellyfish and re-shelved it into a pillar.

Wynn plucked a scroll from a tendril and unfurled it. He found himself looking at a history of Niemela’s kelp farms. Wynn headed to a pillar reserved for agriculture records, then placed the scroll into one of the holes. He turned and stared at the center of the Repository. Amid a clearing was a huge mound of scrolls.

Once a year, the thinkers took out all the scrolls from the pillars and chucked them in a pile so that pipe-fish could clean the holes in each pillar. After this, thinkers and thinker novices would stick each scroll back in its original place. Yet, Wynn always found this routine to be rather silly. Dirt never got into the holes, so why all the fuss?

He’d once asked Master Tavani about this, but the old merman merely said, “Why? Well… because that’s how we always do it, child.”

That’s Niemela, I guess, thought Wynn. Order. Harmony. Rules.

He looked around and wondered if he had made the right choice back when he joined the thinker novices. Reading scrolls was the only thing he was good at. Yet, maybe he had been too hasty. Maybe he’d be better off studying to be a healer or a builder. Or maybe even a guardian.

Wynn wondered if any of the other thinker novices felt this way. These multicolored mer seemed to fit in so perfectly into their chosen calling, just like the colored scrolls that they slotted into pillars.

An old merman swam over to Wynn.

Master Tavani.

“Is everything alright?” said the elder.

Wynn hesitated. Would Tavani understand his doubts? Probably not. The young merman shrugged. “I’m fine, Master Tavani.”

“Hmph, very well,” said Tavani, already lost in his thoughts.

The old merman wandered off and Wynn found himself floating before a history pillar. Ever since he came to the Repository, he’d always loved reading scrolls about the ancient battles. The action, danger, and excitement—all of it was a million leagues from the insular world of the thinkers.

He pulled out a red scroll: the Life and Times of King Borealis.

He was about to read it for the umpteenth time, until a pair of mermen rushed past him. He looked up to see two bulky mermen who chased a squid among the pillars. These mermen each wore a red armband, marking them as members of the warrior path.

Tavani raised his voice, “Hey! Get out of here, you brutes.”

“Apologies, Master Tavani,” said one of the warriors.

On the way out, this warrior met Wynn’s gaze and frowned. “What are you looking at, thinker?”

“Nothing,” Wynn mumbled. He gazed at the history pillar and shook his head. Warriors… Bah! They act as if they can do anything, he thought to himself. Yet, as he watched them laugh and jostle each other, he felt a strange emotion. A feeling that squirmed about inside him like a flimmerworm.

Envy.

Did he want to be a warrior? Was it even possible?

Wynn looked at the red scroll and shook his head. “What are you doing here, Wynn? Time to get back to work.”

However, before he could return to his shelving duty, the warriors did another pass around the Repository. And as they went, a current pulled the red scroll from Wynn’s hands. This piece of kelp was carried to the far wall, and there, it settled behind a rock.

Oh bother!

Wynn headed over to the rock. But when he swam behind it, he noticed a small hole in the ground. An opening large enough to fit a merperson. “Huh?” said Wynn. He stuck his head into the hole to see murky water.

Without thinking it over, he swam through the opening and into a dark passage. Sand swirled around him, but eventually Wynn emerged in a cavern. The stone walls were covered with moss that glowed faintly. Wynn swam over to a wall and used his mind to send a thought-command to the moss: illuminate.

The moss glowed a bright red. Wynn realized that the moss was arranged in complex shapes, creating a mural of merfolk. He saw warriors fighting shapes made out of dark, unlit moss. The plants flickered, giving a sense of motion.

Where am I? Wynn wondered, before his gaze lowered to the floor. Here, moss was gathered in the shape of a giant spear. The symbol of the warriors.

The merman gasped. “Oh wow…”

This place… it’s the Warriors’ Sanctum!

He moved further in and saw tunnels carved along different parts of the cavern. He entered one and ended up in a chamber full of training equipment, such as padded clubs; he entered another to find himself in a room stocked with kelp armor. All these rooms were abandoned, but that made sense to Wynn. The Sanctum was supposed to be a sacred place.

Wynn wandered through a third tunnel. He entered a chamber full of stone swords, cudgels, and clubs. All these weapons rested on slate pedestals. The walls here were also made of black stone. They had holes cut into them. Wynn swam over to a wall and saw that each hole had a red armband inside it, and inside each band was a red coral that flickered. He wondered if this light was similar to the legendary ‘Land Fyre’ (the flames used by the mysterious beings known as humans).

That is, until it hit him:
Each armband represented a fallen mer. There were hundreds of them. This place was a shrine devoted to some of Niemela’s greatest warriors.

Wynn gulped. He felt a sense of wrongness being here. This was a place for the brave and courageous—not a curious thinker. He backed away. However, when he returned to the moss cavern, he heard a rustling. He followed the sound to another chamber and peered in.

Inside a chamber lit by purple moss, a mermaid was swimming in spirals. Or rather, that’s what it looked like at first. Wynn got closer, and he watched her shoot around the chamber to avoid darts that were being fired out of holes in the wall. She held a sword in each hand and spun them about to smash the darts. All the while, the purple light shimmered around her. Her eyes were closed.

Wynn instantly knew she was a warrior novice. She wasn’t muscly like the male novices in her group, but there was a strength and a solidness to her. Something that marked her as a fighter. Yet… she was also pretty. Attractive in a different way from most mermaids. Her hair was short and spiky. Dark too.

He leaned against the chamber opening.

A dart rushed past him and he sucked in a breath.


The mermaid slowed. The darts stopped firing. She opened her eyes and stared at Wynn.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

Wynn froze. “I, uh…”

“What are you doing here?” she said. The chamber light brightened, revealing a sharp frown on her face. Her tail and hair were a dark purple; her pale skin had a hint of red and blue shadows.

Speak! thought Wynn.

“Well, I was just checking this place out. I was, uh, thinking about becoming a warrior novice.”

What?

“You?” she scoffed.

Her gaze lowered to his sand-brown torso, and Wynn felt self-conscious. He’d always been skinny like a reedfish—and no amount of time had changed that.

She laughed.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked.

“You’re no warrior,” she said as she chucked her swords on the floor and swam out. “You’re a thinker.”

Wynn reddened. But before the mermaid could leave the Sanctum, he called out to her: “How would you know that?”

She turned around and her eyes narrowed. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” A smirk passed over her face. “You really think you could be a warrior?”

Wynn nodded. “Need I remind you that King Borealis was a thinker and a warrior?”

She folded her arms and said, “Fine. Then why don’t you prove it?”

“Prove what?”

“That you can be both a thinker and a warrior.”

“Alright.”

The mermaid waved him forward and swam into the room full of weapons. She gestured around her. “Behold, the Stone Armory. The place where…”

Wynn’s eyes widened. “Ah! So this is the Stone Armory. The place where the warriors kept the weapons from the ancient battle against the Stone Giants.” He started to recall something he’d once read: the Stone Giants were monsters from the time of Borealis. They were some of the first creatures to emerge from the Darkness, and they could only be destroyed if you struck them with the heaviest of stone weapons.

“This is it! The Stone Armory.”

The mermaid raised an eyebrow.

Wynn reddened. “Well, uh… so I’ve heard.”

The mermaid wandered over to a pedestal and said, “There is a test that each young mer must take before Dorsimer will train him or her.” She picked up a sword. “The test is simple: each mer is required to lift at least one of the weapons here.”

She held up the sword before placing it on the pedestal.

Wynn frowned. “That’s all?”

He reached out to grab the sword. “It doesn’t look very…” He sucked in a breath as he struggled to lift it off the pedestal. The mermaid chuckled, but Wynn didn’t relent. He lifted the weapon higher. It took all his force, but he managed to hold it out. “It’s not too heavy,” he added through gritted teeth.

The mermaid blinked.

Wynn quickly placed it back on the pedestal. His arms felt numb, but he felt a thrill in his chest: maybe he wasn’t so weak after all. Maybe he wasn’t that bad for a ‘reedfish.’

The mermaid shrugged. “Is that all you’ve got?” Before he could respond, she went over to a larger blade and lifted it up with one hand. Her arm was steady as she held it out, but Wynn did not hesitate. He picked up a similar weapon.

“Did you say something?” he said.

His hand shook, and in his mind, he cried out, By the All-Tide! What are you doing, Wynn?

The mermaid frowned, but put down her sword. Wynn lowered his so fast that it crashed onto a pedestal and chipped the slate.
The warrior novice went over to a large club and lifted it up with two hands. Her arm muscles tensed up a bit. “How’s this, thinker?” She said before she tossed the club to Wynn.

The merman caught it in his hands and felt his palms sting as the stone hit them. But he held the club. “How’s what?” he asked, before the tip of the club hit the ground with a thud. He let it go.

She started laughing, but Wynn folded his arms. “Hey, I held that one for a moment.”

“It fell from your grip.”

“Yes, but I was holding it while it fell. No small feat.”

“Whatever,” she said, looking at a stone altar at the front of the room. She quieted for a while. “Fine, here’s a final test. The person who fails to lift this next weapon loses.”

“I wasn’t aware we were playing a game,” said Wynn calmly.

“Life is a game,” she said. “We’re all winners or losers, and the sooner you realize that, the easier it will be for you to find your place, thinker.”

The way she said the word ‘thinker’ made it seem as if she were bundling thinkers into the second category. The losers. But somehow, Wynn didn’t redden. He swam over to the altar and said, “Let’s play.”

The mermaid swam over and pointed to the altar. “There lies the mighty blade of Borealis.”

Wynn looked at a stone sword. This must’ve been the weapon that Borealis used to crush the Bulwark Giant. Wynn reached over and grabbed the weapon with both hands. The sword was blunt but heavy. He gasped as he tried to lift it. Yet, a minute later, he held it in his hands like a heavy sack of kelp crop. As he did so, a smile crept over his face. He was holding a piece of history… Something that had once belonged to Borealis!

Wynn staggered forward and said, “There we go.”

The mermaid raised a brow, then said in a deadpan voice: “That’s the sheath… not the sword.”

Wynn turned to see another shape on the altar: a large sword made of black rock. He gulped, then dropped the sheath. It hit the floor and nearly smashed his tail.

“Of course,” said Wynn.

The mermaid went over and lifted the sword with both hands. Her hands shook a little, but she managed to keep it up. She placed it back down and the room filled with a rumble. Wynn went over to try his hand at the sword. The weapon barely budged.

Wynn took in a deep breath and tried again. The mermaid began to smirk, but Wynn leaned in and began to push the sword over to altar’s edge, thinking that if he could get the weapon to slide off, he might be able to quickly grab it.

The moment it slid off, the sword hit the ground.

A crack split the floor in two, and the wall corals went dim.

Wynn gulped.

“Hey!” said the mermaid. “Watch it!”

The chamber rumbled, and a piece of the back wall crashed to the floor. A giant hole was made, and from within this, four crabs crawled out. Each was the size of a boulder, and all of them were made of black chitin. The mer halted as the crabs entered the room.

“Uh oh,” said Wynn.

The crabs were excavators. Creatures that helped the warriors dig out stone for their weapons. The crabs wandered closer and Wynn held out his hands. Apologies, he sent out as a thought message. We did not mean to disturb you, friend crabs.

The crabs did not move closer, but raised their arms and clacked their pincers.

A moment later, loose rocks fell from the ceiling and hit the crabs. The animals reared back before staggering forward. The mermaid said, “Oh great! Look what you did.”

“Me?” said Wynn.

The mermaid lifted her hands as she too began sending thoughts to the animals. However, none of the crabs slowed and she shook her head. “They’re not responding to my thoughts!”

She turned and headed to the chamber exit, only to find it blocked with rubble. She cursed and Wynn swam over. He tried to lift away a rock, but the mermaid said, “Oh please. Don’t touch those rocks. The last thing I need is for you to take down the cavern.”

“Hah. You’re hilarious, you know that?” Wynn scoffed.

“I’m smarter than you,” said the mermaid. “At least I know when I’ve bitten off more than I can…”

The mermaid hushed. She gawked at something behind Wynn. He turned and saw the crabs rush toward them. Their feet made holes in the floor. That’s when the mermaid hurried back to the exit to try to clear the rocks. “Hold them off,” she said. “I’ll try to clear the path.”

She grabbed a club and smashed one of the bigger rocks into smaller chunks. Wynn gulped but held his hands out and sent out thought commands: Halt! he told the crabs. We mean you no harm.

The crabs slowed for a moment.

Then, a shard of rock flew outward and hit one of the crabs in its underside. It charged.

“Gah!” Wynn called out.

The mermaid turned and raised her club, ready to strike a crab.

Yet, before anything else could happen, the animals froze.

“Huh?” said Wynn and the mermaid.

They looked up to see a merman waiting within the hole in the wall. A merman with a jet-black body and ice-blue hair. His eyes were closed as he held a hand in the direction of the crabs. These animals turned to face him and bowed before they crawled into the shadows.

“Captain Dorsimer,” said the mermaid. “I was just…”

The captain opened his eyes and glowered at her.

“Marilenna,” said Dorsimer. She fell silent, and he said, “Life as a warrior is not about ‘winners and losers.’ ”

She paused. “How long were you watching me, captain?”

“Long enough to know that you do not understand anything about the warrior path.” He floated closer. “And with that in mind, you are hereby suspended from your studies.”

“But captain!—”

He grabbed the club from her and said, “You may not return here until you can prove that you have changed your ways.”

Her jaw slackened.

Dorsimer stared upon the armbands that were scattered throughout the chamber. The shrine was now a mess. “You may go,” he said.

Marilenna turned and glared at Wynn. “I will not forget this,” she hissed under her breath. And in her eyes, Wynn saw a fyre greater than that of the deep-sea Volcamia outside Niemela.

The mermaid swam off through the hole in the wall.

However, before Wynn could follow her, Dorsimer looked at him and said, “What is your name, child?”

“Wynnom,” he said. “But people just call me Wynn—”

“You are not a warrior, Wynn,” said Dorsimer.

“Well, I was just here to—”

“It doesn’t matter what you were here for,” said the old merman. “You are not, and will never be, a warrior.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it filled up every corner of the room. It was a rumble that left nothing unspoken and nothing open for questioning. “There are occasionally some unseen anomalies in Niemela. However, a thinker-warrior you are not.”

Wynn didn’t know what to say, but Dorsimer shook his head. The captain’s voice softened: “Child, you are more likely to see a human enter Niemela… than you are to see yourself become a warrior.”

Wynn reddened, but Dorsimer picked up Borealis’s stone sword. He lifted it with ease, then placed it back on the altar. “Go back to your studies. A world of harmony is a world of…”

“A world of order,” said Wynn. “Yes, I know. It’s a Niemelan proverb from the first era. Author unknown.” He shook his head but wandered toward the hole, his shoulders slumped. “Yes, yes, I know it,” he added softly.

“No you don’t,” said Dorsimer. “The author is not unknown.”

Wynn turned around and the captain said, “It was Borealis who said it.”

The young novice looked away for a moment. But when he finally looked up, Dorsimer was nowhere to be seen.

Wynn entered the shadowy hole and swam into a tunnel. A few minutes later, he popped out into the Oceanarium. Here, the coral balconies that lined the cavern glittered in all sorts of colors. And that’s when he stared ahead to see mermaids and mermen floating in the water. They were talking loudly. Something had stirred the peaceful waters of Niemelan life.

“What’s going on?” said Dorsimer who floated to the far left. “What is this commotion?”

No one responded, and the captain headed closer. Wynn squinted as he gazed ahead, and a moment later, he gasped.

Ahead of him, Malachiro was dragging something into the chamber.

A human.

A human female…

Her skin was pale, almost like the inside of an ancient clam. Her hair was coppery and it drifted all around her. However, Wynn watched the human breathing and noticed a breathing polyp at the back of her neck. The human was beautiful. Strange and alien.

She opened her eyes for a moment and stared around her. Her eyes met Wynn’s and he gasped. It’s a human! he thought to himself. A real human… drifting in Niemela!

A second later, the human passed out. Malachiro took her into a tunnel, and everyone in the Oceanarium burst into a chorus of gasps and chatter. Everyone save for Wynn. He sank to the ground and knelt amid the sea grass. His mind was reeling.

But as he saw the captain stare up in shock, he recalled the words he’d been told: “Child, you are more likely to see a human enter Niemela… than you are to see yourself become a warrior.”

Suddenly, Wynn began to smile.

Suddenly, nothing seemed that impossible. Not even in a world of order.

~ The End ~

Copyright 2013 by Ciye Cho. All rights reserved.

About this story: “Wynn” is a standalone adventure in the Florence Waverley series. To find out more about the books in this series, please visit http://www.florence-books.com

Thank you for reading!

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READ more about this world...

--~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

Florence
by Ciye Cho

Seventeen-year-old Florence Waverley is out of her depth. Literally. Kidnapped and taken below the waves to the mer world of Niemela, she is the ultimate gift for merman Prince Kiren: a human familiar tied to his side. But nothing is what it seems amid the beauty and danger of a dark ocean.

Every Niemelan has a role to play, from the mermaids who weave towers out of kelp to the warriors who fight sea monsters. But in trying to survive, Florence will end up in the middle of a war between the mer and the Darkness. A conflict that will push her between two brothers: Kiren, the charmer inexplicably drawn to both her and the monsters; and Rolan, the loner who has been pushing her away since the day they met. But in order to take a stand--and find out where she belongs--Florence will have to risk it all: her life, her heart... and her very soul.


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* image source: created by Ciye Cho

~~~ On A Sea Voyage schedule ~~~


 
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