5/13/2025

Stosh's disguise

 

Disguises can be achieved in various ways. Trelleir used magic to hide his dragon form. Unless he chose to reveal his true self, all anyone saw was tall, thin man, a scholar who was totally unskilled in the handling of weapons. In reality, his abilities with a sword were impressive, even more so when supplemented by dragon strength.

In Dragon Destiny, Anastasia donned a physical disguise that of a teen-age boy so that she could attend the Ceoltier Guild, the disguise was necessary because only new could study at the guild and be the historians and jurists. The masters and students all knew Anastasia's true gender, but didn't care. Anastasia, or Stosh, her cover identity was one of them. 

However, no disguise is perfect as seen in the following excerpt. To set the stage, Anastasia is at the Ceoltier's Guild and is lonely. Adding to her melancholy is her part in the death of a man. 

Excerpt:

Anastasia put a finishing touch on the sketch of the high peak on the easel and laid the charcoal stick down. Aches in her fingers reminded her of how long she had been at work. Her quarters on the top floor of the building offered more benefits than the bright, autumn colors of the Revarn Mountains in the distance. The buzz of speech drifting up from the open windows of the eating hall caught Anastasia’s attention. A familiar voice sent her racing to the other side of the room and the window that overlooked the courtyard. Down below, a dappled brown horse stood at the rail.

“Uaine’s here!” Anastasia cried. Throwing on a faded apprentice tunic, she ran down the stairs two at a time until she caught herself on the locking bars of the front door. A tug and the heavy wood panel swung open to reveal a changed Uaine. No longer the beardless youth of her first acquaintance, a muscled, self-confident male stood before her.

“It is good to see you, Anastasia,” Uaine said. He picked her up and swung her around in an abundance of exuberance.

She felt a warmth creep up her back. The power of his arms brought back a reminder of another embrace, one now seasons past. Branin was far away, Uaine was here.

A cough broke the direction of her thoughts. “I don’t want to intrude on old friends reuniting after several seasons apart,” Vivel’s wry tone said. “However, two male apprentices embracing on the front steps might set tongues wagging.”

The emphasis on male reminded Anastasia of the slip of her disguise.

“Sorry.” Anastasia wriggled out of Uaine’s grasp. She bowed to Vivel. “Master Cuisle is in the eating hall with the other masters. Would you like me to take your bag to your room?”

“Thank you, Stosh,” Vivel said using Anastasia’s apprentice name in gentle reminder of her place at the guild hall. “Cuisle has called a cloak ceremony for dinner tonight. You are dismissed from your lessons until then.” His gaze turned stern. “And dressed appropriately.” Uaine draped the carry strap of his bedroll over his shoulder and picked up Vivel’s travel sack. “I’ve got it. Just show me where to go, Stosh.”

The sparkle in his eyes awakened a long suppressed feeling. Grabbing his free hand, Anastasia pulled him toward the stairs.

 ~ ~ ~

 I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. ~till next time. Helen

 


Find Dragon Destiny at Amazon more sellers .

More Excerpts, reads of the first chapters, and buy links for the rest of the Dragshi Chronicles is here.

 

5/03/2025

2025 Challenge Reflections


Thank you for visiting Journey to Worlds of Imagination during the 2025 Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge. To reflect on the past thirty days, it was a challenge that I hope to revitalize my fiction work-in-progress, Fire and Legacy, the next book in the Tear Stone Collectors fantasy series. Adding to the uniqueness of finding a topic was not duplicating thoughts from any of the previous ones. Surprisingly, the letters that normally give me trouble such as Q, V, X, Y, and Z were relatively easy. ”N” which should be easy refused to cooperate.

If your followed along, thank you. If a topic interests you, the link to each day's post follows. Most topics contained an anecdote from real life, fantasy worlds, of excerpts from the Windmaster Novels, the Dragshi Chronicles, Imprisoned on Stone, and the Tear Stone Collectors.

Archaeology
Blue Sky
Cave and Caverns - in real life and fantasy worlds
Disguise
Event-New Orleans an exciting reader signing event. More info to come.

Freedom
Guilds
Holidays
Islands
Jon or John - same name, different characters

Kimeshi - emergence of a dragon
Libraries - recollections of libraries
Matawan - historic town, historic house museum, and my books
Names - trouble with characters’ names
Obsidian - statues on black stone

Passengers
Query - writing experience
Rivers - real and fantasy
Sailing - seas, sailing, and storms
Threat - not even a dragon is safe
Underwater - escape from beneath the waves

Vigil
Wall -battle from the ramparts 

X-ray - the call sign, not the machine
Youthful Characters
Zealot- dragons and magic, search them out



PS - I finished the entire challenge for the sixth time. Woo Hoo.

4/30/2025

2025 Z : Zealot #mfrwhooks

     



In the challenge, "Z" is for zealot. For the purposes of the post, the definition of a zealot is a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.

A zealot has appeared in the fantasy worlds of the Windmaster Novels and of the dragshi. The brethren in Imprisoned in Stone was a fanatical cult determined to rule the world by any means possible. Blood sacrifices, curses and dark magic were their primary tools. Anyone with even a hint of power was forced to submit the Brethren's rule or be killed. In Dylan's case, for healing without payment in disobedience of the brethren's rules, his soul was imprisoned in stone.

The dragshi had their own zealotry to deal with for not everyone appreciated the rule of the dragon lords. Those without a dragon soul twin hated those who did. Not just because the dragshi had power, wealth, and respect, but because they were different. One such group was Groslom and his descendants. The tale of one descendent, Pyrell, is told in the novella "Forever Bound" in First Change

In Windmaster, a cult of clerics determined to rid the world of magic were not going to stop with the deaths of anyone who had even a hint of magic. It didn't matter if they were innocent and had no magic themselves, the friends and families of a wizard were also marked for death. The clerics planned to raze any place associated with a mage.

The following excerpt from Windmaster illustrates the depth of their hatred. To set the scene, Ellspeth arrives on horseback at her ship to find her way blocked and  stopped her horse in the shadows of the alley’s entrance. From her height she could see a squad of mercenaries gathered at the water’s edge. Craning her neck, she saw a row of  armed men in the guild colors of the House of Cszabo filling the dock. Several squads of mercenaries stood at ease in the patches of shade around the edges of the square. Nearest to her, a dozen unaffiliated sailors blocked the entrance to the alley. Even worse, a ranking member of her house council stood on the dock. And his companion? A cleric of the Oracle of Givneh.

Captain Ellspeth,” her kinsman dismissed her with a wave of his hand, “by order of the House of Cszabo I am taking command of Sea Falcon.”

“Falcon is my ship. If it goes anywhere, I will be at the helm.”

 “Enough of this.” Another’s imperious voice broke in.

Ellspeth shifted her focus to locate the speaker and settled her gaze on the face beneath the brown cowl.

“That ship needs to be purified. It is tainted by magic.”

“You want to take my ship because I gave passage to a wizard?”

“It is tainted. It will be purified... as will the crew.” Each word spit out, the tone demanded immediate, unconditional obedience.

Without looking Ellspeth could sense her crew preparing for battle behind her. Her own sword’s weight felt comforting across her thighs.

Read Windmaster to see if Sea Falcon sets sail and who would be at her helm. 

I hope you enjoyed the challenge posts. ~till next time, Helen  

To find buy links, click on the covers in the banner or use the pull down menus, or find me on Amazon.

The posts from the Marketing for Romance Writers group are listed below.

If you're following other blogs in the #AtoZchallenge, here's the master list of the other participants.