Keir's Fall has finally release, woo hoo! So I'm sharing another snippet this week. Here Quin and Keir have travelled to an in-between world for Keir's first meeting with her son Gethyon. The setting was inspired by a place I know well in my local area (featured in the photo below).
The gateway opened to a wasteland of silt.
Keir followed Quin as she stepped out, now appreciating the heavy cloaks and
boots she had insisted they wear as the chill winds of this world tugged at his
clothing. Gray mud stretched as far as the eye could see, shimmering faintly
under a gray sky. Flickers of brightness came from shallow water that covered
the silt in wide patches, small ripples stirred in its surface by strong,
unchanging winds. Nothing broke the horizon; it was featureless and flat, the
faded sun hidden behind clouds that allowed no more than the odd bright ray of
light through.
“Is this Loganum?” Keir asked, raising his
voice over the eerie howl of the wind.
“No. This is a halfway point,” Quin said,
her voice distant as she stared straight ahead. “We always meet at a neutral
place.”
“Why?”
“Remember the Emissary and the Siah-dhu?”
she said, sending shivers through him.
He nodded, recalling all too well the
frightening force that had tried to consume Quin, and the terrifying consequences.
“They used a bounty hunter once who could
sense where we’d opened gateways if she was close to them. Using remote,
unpopulated worlds like this makes the openings harder to track.”
“How so?”
“Distance makes them seem dimmer. Difficult
to spot. Although they would have a hard time tracking Gethyon regardless.”
Keir sensed her pride in that fact. “He can open gateways anywhere. He doesn’t
need a power source to do it. He’s so much more talented than I am. But that’s
why I never see him, and why he never travels. It’s safer not to draw
attention.”
“You must miss him, though.”
“All the time, but it’s better this way.
Gethyon may have tricked and imprisoned a majority of the Siah-dhu, but, as
you’ve seen, there are still remnants hunting us.”
“How will he know you are here?”
“He’ll know.”
True to her prediction, a gateway opened
opposite them. A man stepped through, walking steadily toward them in a thick,
knee-length coat, his ragged red hair blowing around his face. He was taller
than Keir and heavier in build, with broad shoulders and a long, serious face.
There seemed very little of Quin in him, aside from the hair color. Wrinkles
creased the corners of the somber green eyes that regarded him with an
appraising look. Time had stood still for Quin, but her son showed his natural
age from a life spent on a single world.
As he came closer, he smiled at Quin and
reached out to her. She ran into his arms. The top of her head barely touched
his chin, making her appear more childlike than ever. Gethyon’s expression shifted
from happiness to puzzlement, his mouth opening to form a word that she stopped
with her fingers to his lips, as if willing him to silence.
Confusion wove through Keir’s thoughts. It
seemed a peculiar exchange of greetings. Gethyon released her to glance at
Keir, and Quin laughed, gesturing him over.
“Gethyon, this is Keir,” she said. “My husband.”
To read more, please check out any of the buy links under the image at the top of the post, or you can visit Goodreads to download a free sample chapter. Right now book one of the series is only 99 cents/Euros/pence until the end of the year, or you can enter the Goodreads giveaway for the print edition by clicking on the widget below.
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