Fantasy

The Huntress Says Hello

Hi Readers!

Welcome to our first *special* edition of the New Year! Exciting right? We thought so.

It’s time to look back and what our scribe wrote & published last year and forward to what we want Melinda to write & publish this year.

I’ll go ahead and call it what it is: our 2019 editorial calendar! #goals #motivation 😉

Here’s what published last year:

+ Angels & Magic
+ A Different Kind of Hero

Here’s what we hope to publish in 2019: 

  1. Caught in a Glance, Episode 1 of Curse Breaker’s Shadow – 2/28/2019*
  2. A Darker Shade of Love, Episode 2 of Curse Breaker’s Shadow 
  3. Relic Hunter 
  4. Curse Breaker: Hidden
  5. His Angelic Keeper: Hidden
  6. Curse Breaker #7
  7. His Angelic Keeper: Fallen
  8. Changing Tides* – Summer 2019
  9. Ride the Darkness
  10. Stealing Christmas
  11. Vampire, Dragon Hunter* – Sept. 2019
  12. Robin & the Rogues (working title) – Sept 2019
  13. Curse Breaker: The Coloring Book? 

–>Follow our attempts to create colorable-character-line-art on our blog or in our Facebook group/ Facebook page/ Instagram account & comment on our progress!<–

The asterisked stories will publish in anthologies. Fingers crossed. #8, 9 & 11 are part of our extended universe.  All the rest are Curse Breaker novels. We gotta get that all-important page time!  (You know my M.O. by now.)

Ambitious, aren’t we? We like that our scribe aims high. And anything she doesn’t complete this year, she’ll finish and publish in 2020, so it’s a win either way.

And now, I will return you to the adventure in progress, Stealing Christmas. If you missed a part, we’ve got your back. You can catch up here: Part 0, Part 1, Part 2. We’ll publish an expanded edition later this year. Our scribe is writing one part per week for you as our special gift, but we reserve the right to demand more mayhem later. That’s our other M.O. 😉 ❤

Stealing Christmas: A Curse Breaker Story

Part 3

Three years ago…

Nolo pivoted and scanned the darkness beyond the glow of his lumir crystal. The Marksman’s startling pronouncement still rang in his ears, and he was so rattled by it, he didn’t see the woman until she laughed just once to catch his attention.

Though calling her a ‘woman’ might be stretching the definition of the word. For ‘woman’ didn’t adequately describe the Huntress. She was as imperious as a queen on a parade ground, and her ‘breastplate’ tinkled like bells as the Huntress circled him.  It was made of large silver medallions, and silver rings connected them, leaving left plenty of her tawny, fur-clad chest visible. The ensemble ended at the womanish creature’s midriff, baring the taut muscles of her stomach. They too were covered in a fine, tawny fur.

A divided leather skirt picked up where her top left off, but it stopped at just above her knees. Her long, gazelle-like legs ended at a pair of silver hooves, and they were sharpened to points. Apparently, she’d upgraded her outfit since he’d run into her last winter. All she needed was a soft glow to complete the picture. She looked like the Goddess of the Hunt, but she wasn’t.

“What do you want?”

Nolo gripped the handle of his bone-knife but didn’t draw it. The forest had three rules and one of them forbade harm to anyone passing under its boughs. Of course, every rule had a loophole, and he might be facing one now. The thought chilled him more than the biting wind.

“I ride the longest night, where no light but mine shines. Pay the toll or heads will roll,” she said in clipped Shayarin.

With her long neck, the Huntress bore more than a passing resemblance to a gazelle. But the generous portions of her curves exposed to the elements said she was more human than that. So did the riot of brown curls tumbling down the Huntress’ back. A leather band kept those locks out of her eerie eyes. They were pale green mirrors reflecting the glow of the lumir crystal he held.

Nolo looked away disconcerted by the promise of pain in those eyes. “You can’t have him. I gave him a direct order. He can’t disobey it.”

Run Sarn, because your life depends on it. Nolo resisted the urge to turn and glance behind him for any trace of his Indentured servant. I hope the Kid shut his eyes. Their green glow will give him away if he doesn’t. But Nolo couldn’t worry about that now. The longer he stalled her, the more time he bought for Sarn to escape. That would have to be enough.

“Oh really?” She raised one manicured eyebrow at the mere suggestion that anyone was beyond her reach.

“Really. His magic won’t allow him to disobey me.”

“Then you’ll have to give him new orders. Now, won’t you?”

The Huntress smiled and threw something at Nolo. It expanded as it sailed toward him into a shimmering net. He dodged but not far enough. As the net fell on him, it delivered a paralyzing jolt to his body, and every muscle loosened as he pitched forward and landed in a limp puddle on the blowing snow.

The Huntress seized the end of the net and hauled it over her shoulder then she trotted away, dragging Nolo in the snow. She raced into the night as quick and sure-footed as the gazelle she resembled.

The ground sailed away under Nolo at nauseating speed, but he forced his gorge down. I can be sick later when everyone’s safe. Right now, I have a job to do. And someone to protect. Run, Sarn, get back to the mountain. Even if she could cross its threshold, she’d never find Sarn. He would disappear into the bowels of the mountain the moment he entered the stronghold. Let that be enough. 

But Nolo had a feeling it wasn’t as the Marksman rose inside him again.

Find out what happens next in volume four of our *special* presentation. Until then, our scribe and the cast of the Curse Breaker series wish you and yours an awesome week!

Deals, Giveaways & Other Cool Stuff

 

 

Until next time, dear reader

This is Ran, son of Sarn, “Goal-Setter for the Scribe,” wishing you a great week! 😉