by A. L. Knorr
The man halted the wheelbarrow and with the woman’s help, dragged Daracha’s limp body unceremoniously toward her intended resting place.
“How long will the henbane last?” the woman asked in a thick highland brogue as they propped Daracha up and began to work on walling her up.
Henbane? So they poisoned her then.
“Long enough,” replied the man. He sounded weary.
“What if it doesn’t work?” The woman handed the man the trowel and put the bucket of mortar within reach.
“As long as she’s kept off the ground, she canna come back. That’s what she said.”
My skin prickled and I stepped forward. “What did you say?”
Of course they ignored me and set to work building the wall around Daracha’s form.
I paced in the clearing, watching and listening, but the couple didn’t talk again until the half-wall was built and the beam sat on top.
Impatiently, I spoke again. “What did you mean, as long as she’s kept off the ground? Elaborate, would you?”
When the couple was done, they put the now empty mortar buckets and the trowel in the wheelbarrow and faced one another. The woman put her face against the man’s chest. “What a nightmare.” Her voice hitched and I knew she was crying.
He put his arms around her and held her, letting her cry. “Shhh, Mary. It’s over now. She canna hurt anyone any longer.”
“What if someone finds her?” Mary sniffed.
“They won’t, at least not anytime soon. By the time this cottage can no longer stand, we’ll be gone and it won’t be our problem.”
Mary looked up at her partner, misery etched on her face. “But, what if they bury her? She’ll start all over again.”
“Shhh.” He put a finger on her lips. “Dinna think on it, Mary. You’ve been through enough, there’s no use worrying about something that might not happen to people we’ll never know. We’ve done the best we could against this… creature of darkness.” He gestured toward the wall behind which Daracha lay dying. “She’s been stopped for now. It will have to be enough.”
My heart was pounding, and my whole body felt frozen in ice. I shook my head, wishing I could unhear all of this.
“No, no, no.” I put my face in my hands as the couple began to walk away.
I looked through my fingers to see Mary look over her shoulder one last time with that look on her face, the one laced with so much emotion. I stood there aghast, horrified, confused. I knew what was coming next and dread filled me.
The ithe came slinking through the trees, sniffing around the wall where its master lay hidden.
“You know she’s there. Why didn’t you just unbury her?” I snarled at it. “Why did you leave her there for a few hundred years?”
The ithe ignored me, just moved in its flickery, dancing way. It stalked away, right through where I’d been standing when I’d seen the residual for the first time.
My face felt wet and I put my hands on my cheeks. When I pulled them away, I was sitting in bed. Laec wasn’t there. Moonlight spilled in through the window and pooled where he’d been sitting. Tears were running down my face. Frustration and terror boiled in my gut, and anger that Laec had just vanished once again, leaving me to reel at what I’d learned. I was alone with my regret.
It wasn’t over. Daracha would return. She’d return because of me, because I’d buried her, because I hadn’t known any better. Her laughter as she fell into the earth echoed in my mind, making my skin crawl. It made sense now, that laughter. She wasn’t mad, she’d just known it wasn’t the end.
I didn’t know how much time I had or what Daracha would want when she returned, but I knew without a doubt that she would return.
When she did, I had to be ready.
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End Book 1
Go directly to book 2
Her power has attracted the wrong kind of attention. Now a centuries-old witch wants to burn her at the stake…
Blackmouth, Scotland. After burying the vicious witch with her earth magic, Georjie is horrified to learn entombing the spellcaster in soil has enabled the dark woman to rise again…
Georjie and Lachlan travel to Dundee for clues to the fiend’s power. But when the vengeful hag comes after her, Georjie narrowly escapes into the Fae realm. There, she’s warned against returning to face the threat. But she can’t let the monster roam free, even if it means risking her own life.
Can Georjie unlock her magic or will a sinister force claim her ashes?
Ashes of the Wise is the second book in the gripping Earth Magic Rises YA contemporary fantasy series. If you like wicked action, dark tales, and bold heroes, then you’ll love A.L. Knorr’s wild ride across realms.
Buy Ashes of the Wise to keep evil in the ground today!
Author’s Notes
Still here? Cool. If you’re reading this then it means you enjoyed the story enough to read the entire thing all the way through AND you’re interested enough in me as an author to make your way back here. Thank you! I’m still slightly amazed that readers love my work to continue along on this journey with me, and so grateful.
I set this story in Scotland because I fell in love with it when I was a teenager. I loved the fog, the greenery, the gloom, the softly rounded hills, the castles and ruins, the people, the folklore. There is so much to love about it, and writing about it makes me feel like I’m there again. And what better place to set a fae story than in the highlands?
I visited Findhorn last year, on the coast of the North Sea, and there was so much energy there that I had great trouble sleeping. I think I’m sensitive to that kind of thing, as the same thing happens in other locations where I suspect ley lines cross. ;D
Blackmouth is not a real place, you should know. Though I was inspired by Dunrobin Castle in both architecture and setting to create the small town, I wanted to take more artistic license than a real small town in the highlands might’ve appreciated me taking. Thus Blackmouth was born, though you’ll discover in book two that was not its original name.
Also the reference book Lachlan reads aloud from: Scottish Fairy Belief: A History is a real text by University of Glasgow Senior Lecturer in History, Dr Lizanne Henderson. The phrase Lachlan reads aloud to Georjie is taken directly from her text and is reprinted with permission.
Lastly, I know some of you will be wondering what the Gaelic words mean which Laec utters (Na sheasamh gu hìosal) upon hearing the description of the shadow creature (the ithe) from Georjie. The translation is: stands beneath, or stands underneath. Yes, that is a rather cryptic thing to say, but read the rest of the series and all will become clear, I promise.
Thank you again for spending some of your precious reading time with me, and I hope you continue to enjoy the twists and turns I’ve planned for Georjie in the next two books!
Also, if you didn’t know it, I give away a free gift to readers who make it all the way back this far. It’s a digital copy of a spin off trilogy called Mira’s Return, which contains all three stories: Returning, Falling and Surfacing. It chronicles the returning of Targa’s (Born of Water) mother and ties in to the Elemental Origins Series as well as this Earth Magic Rises series. Everything I write (except for the Kacy Chronicles) is set in the same universe and are interlinked.
This trilogy sells for $6.50US on Amazon, but I like to hide it as a freebie in the back of my books for readers who are engaged enough to make it all the way to the end! I hope you enjoy the story. Grab it here.
Yours always,
Abby
Also by A.L. Knorr
The Elemental Origins Series
Born of Water
Born of Fire
Born of Earth
Born of Æther
Born of Air
The Elementals
Earth Magic Rises Trilogy
Bones of the Witch
Ashes of the Wise
Heart of the Fae -> 2020
The Siren’s Curse Trilogy
S
alt & Stone
Salt & the Sovereign
Salt & the Sisters
Elemental Novellas
Pyro, A Fire Novella
Heat, A Fire Novella
Rings of the Inconquo
Born of Metal
Metal Guardian
Metal Angel -> 2020
Mira’s Return Series
Returning
Falling
Surfacing
The Kacy Chronicles
Descendant
Ascendant
Combatant
Transcendent
