Release date: August 22, 2019
Subgenre: Epic fantasy
About Choices of Honor:
Sometimes vangeance becomes more complicated than expected.
Avenging the death of co-Leader Inharise of the Two Nations appears straightforward at first for Katerin Leader and Rekaré Kinslayer. The curse that killed her points directly to the Witches Council of Waykemin. Therefore, they’re responsible. But as Katerin and Rekaré lead a small avenging force to Waykemin’s capital city of Formis, they discover that things are not quite as they seem.
At the same time, Waykemin’s overseas ally, Chatain, Emperor of Daran, sends an invading force that Katerin’s daughter Witmara must counter. But is Chatain’s sortie a distraction from the attack on Waykemin, or does it serve a deeper purpose? Katerin must choose between her daughter and the challenge that Waykemin presents—and hope she made the right choice.
Excerpt:
Something’s wrong. And what was worse, she couldn’t identify whatever it was.
Rekaré Kinslayer scowled into the tiny warming fire of dried
grasses, dead sagebrush, and juniper twigs, looking for wisdom in
the flickers of flame and finding none. Maybe it was the season
that caused her worry as spring and winter fought for supremacy,
the weather unsettled and raw, warm one day, bitter cold the next,
the abrupt transitions that made the hair on her forearms prickle
with uneasiness.
Except that today was a nice day. The fires her two tens of Mer
Galad riders had kindled in this bare spot on the snow-covered
ridge’s point were for the purpose of drying out gloves and
preparing a hot drink for the noon meal more than the need for
warmth. While lacy, scattered clouds occasionally diffused the
early spring sun’s rays, that soft chill was only momentary. The
short interruptions in sunlight weren’t enough to pause the tiny
rivulets of snowmelt trickling from under the knee-high snowbanks
under the rimrocks. Mud and not ice squished under her heels. The
trill of a bluebird swooping overhead testified to the presence of
enough bugs for it to feed.
So just another lovely early spring day on the sagebrush plateau.
Except that worrisome tingle, which had grown to a cool tightness
in her gut. Rekaré raised her head, tired of not finding answers in
the flames. She inhaled deeply, savoring the fragrant smoke,
working her fingers open and closed to help banish the chill.
Nothing revealed itself in the clouds as she watched the sky,
either.
There was nothing unusual about this trip, save that it was earlier
in the season than she and Katerin usually met. So why did she have
this nagging sense of wrongness that had been tugging at her all day? The land would not be
talking to her. It wasn’t hers.
Maybe it was something amongst her people.
Except she knew how that discord felt from past experience. That wasn’t the source
of her uneasiness. Senth and Deta would have sensed any dissonance
as well and moved to deal with it before her fretfulness escalated
this far. So not amongst her riders.
No. Whatever this was affected her and her alone. But what could it
be?
She looked away from the fire to check the Mer Galad anyway, even
though Senth and Deta were moving from fire to fire talking to
their tens, joking and chuckling, and would report any issues to
her soon. Brown-skinned peoples from the nations of Larij, Medvara,
Keratil, the Two Nations of Keldara and Clenda, and Saubral mixed
with the gray-skinned Saubral Shadowwalkers without worry. Twenty
riders, male and female, just about in equal numbers. All wore the
blood-red cap and cowl of the Mer Galad as they warmed themselves
by the fires, some squatting like her, others standing.
Nothing out of line, certainly nothing that would fuel her
uneasiness, not like it had been in the early days when it took
her, Detaluna, and Sesenth to smooth out fights between riders of
different nations.Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple
About Joyce Reynolds-Ward:
Joyce
Reynolds-Ward is a speculative fiction writer who splits her time between
Enterprise and Portland, Oregon. Her short stories have appeared in Children
of a Different Sky, Steam. And Dragons, Tales from an Alien Campfire, River,
How Beer Saved the World 1, Fantasy Scroll Magazine, and Trust and
Treachery among others. Her books include Shadow Harvest, Alien
Savvy, Netwalking Space, Pledges of Honor, Challenges of Honor,
and Klone’s Stronghold. Joyce recently completed editing her first
anthology, Pulling Up Stakes. Besides writing, Joyce enjoys reading,
quilting, horses, skiing, and outdoor activities.
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