Sunday, October 31, 2021
Sneak Peak at my new book, Tears of Phoenix
Welcome to the world of Phoenix, a desert planet in orbit of a red dwarf star, it's it's inhabitants call Fornax
Over the last two months, I’ve told you a bit about the novel I it has taken me half my life to finish, Tears of the Phoenix, and while it still needs to be thoroughly edited, I’m anxious to share it with the world.
That’s why I decided to publish the prologue from it, which takes place in the distant past, but whose events sets the whole story in motion.
So, without any future ado, here it is. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below:
PREFACE: Betrayal
“Who are you to betray the prophecy?! To betray G-d?! To betray me!”
The woman on the left, the eldest of the three, looked up, hatred turning her eyes a deep red. “The Tears of The Phoenix are too powerful for any one man to possess,” she spat.
The king back-handed her across the face, hard. “I will have none of that witch!” he said. “Do you take me for a fool? Do you think I would not have taken precautions against your powers?” he asked nodding to two women standing behind him, their eyes glowing red from beneath their hooded white robes. “For far too long we have been ruled by you Tyrs and your constant rivalries! All you have brought us is war after bloody war. I am so near to ending at that…”
He turned to face the woman in the center.
“Morwyn, my wife! How could you of all people betray me?” he half sobbed. “How could you lead this rebellion against me when it was you who first foresaw that I would find and unite all eight Tears and with them our people under one banner?”
“You mean unite them under one tyrant!” the third woman hissed. Her small narrow eyes, flat nose and thin mouth twisted into a bitter expression.
“Jethric…” Morwyn said softly. “My sisters and I were just trying to do our g-d’s will. The Great Phoenix split The Tears for a reason. It knew their power would be too much of a temptation! Look at you, husband. Your desire to find the final three Tears has clouded your mind. Can you not see you do not need them? You were so very close to victory. Had it not been for your lust to complete the set, you would have already achieved your goal! The Tears changed you, Jethric. They have driven you mad!” she wept now. “The rebellion was the only way we could protect our people! We had no choice!”
“Of course you had a choice!” he yelled, taking her chin in his hand. “You could have trusted me! Please, tell me where they are and all will be forgiven.” Tears filled his eyes now.
“I am sorry,” Morwyn whispered, looking into the face of a man she no longer knew. “I cannot.”
Jethric released his wife’s face, stepped back and drew an ornate sword he wore on his side. With a single quick thrust, he plunged it into each woman’s chest. His expression was strangely blank as he watched a crimson pool slowly ooze from beneath the bodies and run in streams down the seams in the stone floor. For a long time he didn’t move or speak. Finally, he turned to his castellan. “Bury them,” he ordered, his voice flat, emotionless.
“Sir? You mean burn them? Traitors or not, they are – were – Tyrs.”
“They were nothing!” Jethric growled, some life creeping back into his voice. “They never existed. I am erasing them from history.”
The castellan’s jaw dropped in horror as he realized what his king was asking. He just didn’t want them dead. He wanted them annihilated. Burying them would trap their souls in their bodies forever. He was wiping them from existence for all of time.
“Sir…” he hesitated.
“Do as I ordered castellan, or your body will join theirs.”
The castellan shivered, nodded once and ordered the bodies removed. The king turned from the carnage in front of him and walked over to a nearby window, and just stared out into the desert.
“The price of betrayal,” he muttered when the castellan joined him a moment later. “I will fulfill the prophecy and unite our people. Then all this bloodshed can finally end.”
“And what of the eight Tears?”
“It is my destiny to unite them too.”
A white mist began to swirl around the men, who suddenly seemed to be receding, though they were not moving. Soon they were completely obscured. Then through the fog emerged two balls of flame. They burned through the mist, finally transforming into a set of glowing red eyes.
A white mist began to swirl around the men, who suddenly seemed to be receding, though they were not moving. Soon they were completely obscured. Then through the fog emerged two balls of flame. They burned through the mist, finally transforming into a set of glowing red eyes.
“Never forget what they did to us, Malise. Never forget.”
“Yes mother,” Malise said.
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