Lady Tanglewood Prequel – Toni Cabell

All gone in a breath, in a whisper on the wind, Fallow magic. “On your left!” yelled Pryl, extinguishing his flame and withdrawing his sword in one fluid movement. He shouted a defensive incantation. “Conjure a shield around this spot, defend with strength against onslaught!” Nari incanted the spell with him, but nothing happened.

Pryl frowned in confusion, and Nari saw a flicker of fear in his eyes. As a fay-born mage, not being able to access his magic would be inconceivable to him. Nari reached deep inside, probing for her magic’s life force, but she searched in vain. She felt no sparks of magical energy. Her Serving magic —and Pryl’s—had been disabled somehow.

Nari’s palomino, Goldah, reared as a pair of wolves charged Pryl and Nari. One of the wolves was hideously deformed in the face, with a human forehead and eyes, and wolfish snout and muzzle. The creature had a bushy tail and four wolf legs, with a pair of furry human hands for paws attached to its two front legs. “Oh my stars,” cried Nari, swinging her blade at the wolf-man. He bared his teeth at her and lunged, wrapping his two hand-like paws around her leg and tugging.

Nari lost her balance and toppled off Goldah, who neighed and took off running. Nari didn’t blame her. Nari landed on her side, her sword fallen behind her. The grihm snapped its jaws at her, and something in the way the grihm moved told Nari the crossbreed was newly turned, still retaining some human instincts. Nari pushed herself to a seated position and yelled, “No!” The grihm hesitated a fraction. Nari used her mage’s commanding voice and shouted into the trees and the wind: “I am Lady Tanglewood, protector of Serving magic.

My clan will stop this wicked sorcery!” Nari pointed to her mother and Pawllah ahead of her, and her father and Elanya behind her. The lead grihm yowled into the air. The wolves and grihms surrounding the Tanglewood group withdrew six paces, their sides heaving. One of the Arrowood warriors ran up behind the lead grihm and ran him through with his blade. The other wolves attacked the clansman. Nari scrambled to her feet and took up her sword, ready to help, but Pryl placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Leave him.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. OceanofPDF.com N C H A P TE R 1 ari shifted in the saddle, stiff and sore from a week on the road. She looked forward to spending time with her fiancé and visiting his Arrowood clan.

Their formal rites of binding would be completed during the Midsummer festival in six weeks. Nari’s stomach fluttered nervously every time she thought about her pending wedding. This trip to Arrowood would be the last official visit between the two clans until the ceremony itself, which would occur in her parents’ Tanglewood stronghold. The two families still had wedding plans to discuss, including the final dowry details. Nari traveled the road to Arrowood with nine others from her clan: her parents, three fays, and four servants.

The fays in their party technically weren’t from Tanglewood, although Nari’s fay tutor, Pawllah, had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. Nari’s father, Selden, led the Tanglewood clan, and her mother, Ayala, was the Faymon Liege. Ayala oversaw magical and military matters for all the clans. With the long trip, nerves were beginning to fray all around. Nari heard her parents arguing about something as they rode side by side. Since her parents rarely disagreed about anything, Nari decided to intervene.

She waited until the road widened and then pulled her palomino alongside her mother’s mare. “What’s wrong? You’ve been arguing since our last rest stop.” “Nothing’s wrong.” Ayala shook her head, her long braid swishing with the movement. Her chestnut brown hair glinted with the characteristic blue highlights that every Faymon, regardless of their clan or status, shared in common. Faymons were ninety-eight percent human and two percent fay, their blue-streaked hair a reminder of their fay ancestry. Fays had one hair color: vivid blue.

Their men’s beards grew blue as well. Even among fay elders, not a hint of silver ever threaded through their bright blue locks. Nari drew her brows together. “I have ears, and you and Father have been ‘debating’ for the past two hours.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: aac7b562242329f3
• File Extension: .pdf
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• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 57
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 97.19 minutes
• Total Words: 19,437
• Total Characters: 111,883
• Average Words per Page: 341.0
• Average Characters per Page: 1962.86

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