Her voice responded sleepily in my head. Safe, she told me. Well. Sleepy images chased those thoughts: soaring towards the ground, talons reaching to pluck a fat sheep from a paddock; racing over a wind-whipped ocean; flying through clouds, the misty shapes coating her in a fine layer of mist; and I realised she was dreaming.
My thoughts turned to Galanta and the world around me shifted. Trees towered above me, shadowing me with their huge trunks. I tensed at the sound of drums beating. I hadn’t had one good experience that involved goblins and drums.
Frozen with indecision, I paused. Did I go to see what the drums were about or did I try to find another Guard. Problem was that the Guards on duty now would be from the Southern Hemisphere, where it was night at the moment, and I didn’t know any of them.
The drums increased in tempo. Whatever they were up to it was going to happen soon.
I shook my head and ignored the feeling of foreboding that was lodged in my throat with a scream. Then I crept through the forest, stopping to check around me as I went.
A large bonfire flickered through the trees. I slowed my progress, scurrying from trunk to trunk till I found a large, low thicket. I pushed my way into it until I could see out the other side.
Galanta stood naked in front of the fire. Sweat trickled between her breasts and down her stomach. She held a knife in each hand and her head was thrown back as she swayed and chanted.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as her voice reached a fever pitch. The drums beat so fast they were a continuous thrum. Her voice grew louder and louder as she shrieked and screamed and then suddenly, instantly there was silence.
I had a bad feeling about whatever was about to happen.
She opened her eyes and stepped back from the flames as one of her warriors thrust out an arm. His hand was wrapped tight around the neck of a little girl.
Her eyes were wild with terror as she cried and suddenly, I was a little girl, hiding under my bed.
I bit down on my hand till the pain returned me to the present. I hadn’t gone through everything I had to let this happen.
I started to push out of the thicket but Emerald’s mind was suddenly in mine.
Stop.
I have to help her.
You will die.
I knew she was right, but at that point in time, with irrational fear burning inside me, I didn’t care.
Her mind pressed down on me, preventing any movement.
Witness.
I didn’t want to witness. I didn’t want to see this. I didn’t want to know.
Bright blood splashed as Galanta whipped a knife through the girl’s neck. Her scream of pain and terror, and Galanta’s screech of triumph, masked my whimper.
Galanta shook her, holding her so that the blood dribbled out of her neck and onto a stone.
A sick feeling started in the pit of my stomach. I recognised that stone. The two broken bits had been pieced back together, but it was the stone Aethan had been lying on when I’d found him.
Oh Great Dark Sky. Terror beat inside my stomach and ice formed in my veins.
Steam started to rise off the stone as blood ran freely over it. The little girl’s head hung. Her eyes were closed, but her chest still moved as her heart pumped her blood from her body.
That icy breeze that had escaped the breaking stone – what had it been?
The cloud of steam grew larger, as it pulsed in the air. It warped and waned and, as the blood flow continued, it took on the form of a man. I heard Emerald hiss in my mind.
Oh Sky, what had I done? What had I done?
The shape shifted its smoky limbs as if stretching.
Galanta laid the girl’s head on the stone and picked up her legs. The more blood that flowed, the more solid the man became.
My heart thundered in my chest as I stared at him. Dread owned me. Its icy fingers held me down. Panic swelled and roared in my ears.
I could hear Emerald chanting in my mind. It’s him. It’s him.
Her terror amplified my own. Spreading its wings inside me till madness fluttered frantically at the edges of my mind.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, just when I thought I would start screaming hysterically, it was done.
Galanta tossed the dead girl to the side and opened her arms as the man stepped away from the stone. Hard, lean muscle dressed his naked form.
She bowed low and her warriors prostrated themselves.
‘You have done well Galanta.’ His voice had a sonorous quality.
Oh please don’t let it be him.
‘Thank you my Lord,’ she said.
He spun on the spot with his arms held wide and then he started to chuckle. ‘It feels good to be back,’ he said as he laughed.
Chills ran down my spine and Emerald whimpered in my mind.
He lifted Galanta’s head with a finger until her eyes met his own. ‘I will make them pay.’ His voice was cold and hard.
‘Yes my Lord.’
‘I will hunt them down and crush every last one of them.’ Insanity danced through his words. ‘Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets away with tricking me.’ He threw both arms in the air and a bolt of lightning arced across the sky. ‘Nobody gets away with tricking Santanas Gabrielle.’
It was him, it was him.
Great Dark Sky save our souls.
Santanas, the War Faery, was back.
Thank You
Thank you for reading Faery Born. If you liked my story I would love for you to give me the gift of a review on the site you purchased it. It doesn’t have to be gushy or flowery or even very long; I just ask that it is honest and fair. Thank you so much for your generosity and time.
If you would like to find out when my new books are released I have an opt-in box at the top left of my blog site - www.donnajoyusher.com. I promise not to use the information you provide me with for anything but the express purpose of notifying you whenever I release a new book.
About Me
Hi there, I’m Donna Joy Usher. I started writing my first novel when I was seven. With no idea about plot or character development (I mean I was only seven) my storyline quickly disintegrated into a muddled jumble of boring dialogue between two horses. Disillusioned, I gave up writing stories for quite a while after that. Instead, I concentrated on my studies, eventually graduating as a dentist.
After many years of ‘drilling and filling’ I turned to writing in an effort to escape the seriousness of my day job. During that time I created my first book, The Seven Steps to Closure, and discovered that I love nothing more than making other people laugh. Well that, and my husband and two miniature schnauzers, Chloe and Xena.
I currently live near the Swan River in the beautiful city of Perth. When I am not working or writing, I love to kayak, ride my bicycle, and sip chai lattes at the local cafe.
You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn or my blog site.
The Seven Steps to Closure
Winner of the 2012 elit Publishing Award Humor Category.
Finalist in the 2012 Shirley You Jest Book Awards.
Finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards Chicklit Category.
Tara Babcock awakes the morning after her 30th birthday with a hangover that could kill an elephant – and the knowledge she is still no closer to achieving closure on her marriage breakup. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that, not only is her ex-husband engaged to her cousin – Tash, the woman he left her for – but that Jake is also running for Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Desperate to leave the destructive relationship behind and with nothing to lose, she decides- with encouragement from her three best friends – to follow the dubious advice from a magazine article, Closure in Seven Easy Steps.
The Seven Steps to Closure follows Tara on her sometimes disastrous- always hilarious – path to achieve the seemingly impossible.
A credible and amazingly touching debut novel from Donna Joy Usher, this is a solid, light-hearted a
nd honest read with plenty of laughs.
“The Seven Steps to Closure’s heroine Tara is an endearing character and her entertaining journey to closure is packed with laughs and plenty of heart.” Tonya Plank, Shirley You Jest! Book Awards judge and author of Swallow.
If you would like to have a better look at The Seven Steps to Closure click HERE.
Cocoa and Chanel
Book One in The Chanel Series
Winner of the 2014 National Indie Excellence Awards Humor Category
Winner of the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards eBook Fiction Category
Faced with the unattractive options of an affair with her boss’s husband or the unknown, Chanel Smith chooses the unknown and unwittingly traps herself into joining the New South Wales Police Force. More interested in fashion than felony, Chanel staggers through training and finds herself posted to the forces most notorious crime hot spot: Kings Cross. Against her wishes she becomes entangled in a case of the worst kind, a serial killer targeting young women in The Cross.
As she is drawn further into the seedy underworld of The Cross in her attempt to unravel the truth, Chanel makes new friends, new enemies and draws the attention of the killer. Can she solve the case in time, or will she become the killer’s next victim?
Cocoa and Chanel is now available for sale as an eBook and in paperback on Amazon.com.
Goons 'n' Roses
Book Two in The Chanel Series
It’s been 3 months since Chanel’s world fell apart and now she’s ready for a vacation. Unfortunately, her all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas is not turning out as she had hoped. Within hours of arriving, her mum, Lorraine, is kidnapped. Then Trent, her boss and Lorraine’s boyfriend, disappears; but not before he imparts information about an Interpol investigation into missing girls in Las Vegas.
When Chanel hooks up with local bad boy, the seriously sexy Billy, in a bid to get information, things only start to get worse. As she and Martine search for answers they are thwarted by obstacles and pursued by ruthless killers.
Who really kidnapped Lorraine? What happened to the missing girls? Can the delicious Billy be trusted? These are all questions that she needs to find the answers to, before the answers find her.
Now available from Amazon.
Self-Publishing: How to Publish like a Pro for a Fraction of the Cost
Anybody can self-publish – but not everybody does it well.
Want to self-publish your book but concerned about the cost involved? Frustrated with ‘how to’ books, that tell you what to do, but not how to do it? Bamboozled by the number of self-publishing options available?
Self-Publishing: How to Publish Like a Pro for a Fraction of the Cost contains everything a DIY author needs:
The crucial self-publishing options available.
Things you need to do before you self-publish.
How to self-publish for $10 and have your book available for sale on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Sony, and iBookstore amongst others.
How to format your 2007 or 2010 Word Document to look like a professionally printed book.
How to format your eBook.
How to format for Smashwords’ Meatgrinder.
How to load your files into Amazon, CreateSpace and Smashwords.
This book is ideal for all authors, especially those with limited computer skills, who want to produce a professional looking product and reap the rewards.
DONNA JOY USHER is the award-winning, Amazon best-selling author of The Seven Steps to Closure and Cocoa and Chanel. She is a self-taught, self-publishing author, who is passionate about helping others achieve success.
Available as an eBook from Amazon.
Faery Born (Book One in the War Faery Trilogy) Page 21
