2026 D: Dogs

Cats have been covered so I thought I would use "D" to post about a cats enemy, the dog. Introducing Kir from Fire and Amulet and Faoth from MAGIC AND STEEL, a novella in the collection titled, First Change: Legends From The Eyrie.

Kir is massive, black-faced dog. When responding to danger, his hackles stand up in a golden crown around his face. The lead dog of the pack, Kir not only has to obey his master's commands, but to ensure that the other dogs do as well. They 5help herd the sheep from pasture to pasture and stop any sheep from wandering off. Even more important is their job as livestock guardian. Kir and his pack protects the flock of sheep from wolves and other predators.

Idwal is the official master of the flock and Kir's master. However, that is only part of the reality. The flock is the property -- and intended to be the meal -- of a dragon.

Karst opened his eyelids a mere slit. Instead of a night-filled sky or the first silvering of dawn, his gaze met the glowing green eyes of the head sheepdog. The animal clamped its teeth on the blanket and with a tug robbed Karst of the slender protection the fabric offered.

“Now, Kir,” Idwal’s voice came from the darkness on the other side of the ashes. “That’s no way to greet such a distinguished guest as Slayer Karst.” He gave a harsh laugh. “My apologies. Kir doesn’t always have the best of manners. I just told him to wake you, Slayer, ‘cause we be leaving. You can stay as long as you wish. I drew the landmarks and directions to get to the upper trail in the firepit ashes.”

Karst felt more than saw the massive dog pad away in response to Idwal’s whistle. 

 

From my childhood, the inspiration for Kir and Faoth. 
Even without formal training, the collie
became quite adept at herding sheep and children.

Faoth from MAGIC and STEEL is a puppy. Several things make her a useful addition to the pack. Her tawny hide helps her hide from predators until she is ready to attack and she has a special instinct as to what sheep will wander off. More importantly, she is not afraid of dragons. Something the guardians of this particular flock need as they are kept in tribute as the intended meal for the true dragons. 

To set the stage for the excerpt. Faoth is now almost full grown and was as large as her sire. The earlier instinct for safeguarding the sheep had matured along with her body. Her talent not only alerts her master to danger, it made her indispensable as a scout. She also served a more unusual function. Her size enabled her master to use her as a focus for the illusion capability of his enspelled sword, Mt’wan Comraich. Kedar has been summoned to the office of the leader of the dragshi to be given a new assignment and he takes the opportunity to use his sword’s magic.

With a flick of his fingers, Kedar signal ed Faoth to bow to Lilese. A single step shifted him to the side. Pleased that he could maintain two ruses at the same time, he projected his voice to where Faoth stood. “You summoned me, mistress? How may I serve?”

Lilese gestured at the younger woman. “Kedar, I want you to meet Lady Mairin Aledriwyr. And, Mairin, this is Kedar, friend and valuable ally of the dragshi.”

Before Kedar could switch places with Faoth, Mairin stood and offered a hand to where sh-e thought Kedar stood. Keeping her part of the illusion, Faoth balanced on his hind feet and held out a paw.

“What?” Mairin shrieked at the touch of fur rather than skin.

~till next time, Helen

If you want to see my previous postings for the challenge, go here. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the participants.

Buy First Change: Legends From The Eyrie at Amazon and these sites

Buy Fire and Amulet at Amazon and these sites

2026 C : Cold

 

Although the weather has changed and spring has gathered a foothold, freezing temperatures, storms of a generation, and inches of snow on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, provided the inspiration of cold as the "C" in the challenge. From Windmaster, an excerpt of bad weather captured in one of my worlds of fantasy. 

Ellspeth’s world reduced to the shifting gray shadow that was Tairneach. Her eyes hurt from straining to see through the curtain of snow and rain that almost obscured the stallion. She rode with one foot scraping the rocks on the side of the narrow trail while her other hung over a thousand-foot precipice. One misstep and both rider and mount would plummet to the valley floor. The driving rain stung every spot of un protected skin like a thousand cuts. Icy rivulets ran off her wide-brimmed hat. They sneaked beneath the collar of the lake seal cloak and ran down her neck. Waterlogged, her clothes sucked every ounce of heat from her body. Only where her legs lay against Cadno’s coat did she have vague feeling. Hours of riding in the howling maelstrom of cold and wet had dulled her mind to anything beyond the need to stay in the saddle.

Dal’s bellow penetrated Ellspeth’s consciousness. “This storm isn’t going to stop. Taer can’t take much more of this, and neither can we. There’s shelter not far up the trail.”

Chattering teeth made a reply impossible, so she just nodded. Even that slight movement threw her numbed body off balance. Fighting not to fall - into the abyss, Ellspeth dropped the reins onto Cadno’s neck and wrapped nerveless fingers around the saddle horn to let the colt pick his way across a stream of water rushing over the rock-strewn path. The crunch of ice beneath his hooves reminded Ellspeth of the snap of the Sea Falcon’s canvas in a stiff wind. If I can stand on the Falcon’s deck, I can stay in this saddle. She clenched the leather horn tighter with a renewed sense of determination.

~till next time Helen

If you want to see my previous postings for the challenge, go here. 

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

Buy Windmaster at Amazon and These Sites

2026 B: Books and Bans

I have always been any avid reader and came from a family of book lovers. For many years it was assumed I would be a librarian. And for a period of time I studied in the field.  After children's books I devoured my mother's collection of Cherry Ames and Sue Barton books, then went through the normal childhood books of the time, including Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Next came my father’s genre, westerns. When our small rural county library expanded into a new modern building, additional worlds became available. In my mind I solved crimes with Leslie Charteris in The Saint books and had adventures with the tales of Alistair Maclean. (Sea Witch is still on the, bookshelf in my bedroom.) Eventually my interest shifted to worlds beyond our own with Anne McCaffrey, E.E. Doc smith and Katharine Kurtz. Eventually I created my own worlds of magic and dragons, romance and adventure. 

As for the bans? At my last signing event, the 3-d printer created dragons watching over the stacks of books were the attention grabbers. Then things became a little weird. You should understand that I don't write explicit material. Nothing that even remotely classified as "hot." However, several people acted like they were underage teens in an adult bookstore. They looked around to make sure no one was watching before they picked the book up. Then checked again before turning it over to read the blurb. This happened several times over the course of the day.

It has never happened before and I am not sure why it did that day, other than the works were in the fantasy genre. Maybe because the stories dealt with magic and mages? There are some places where the Harry Potter books are banned from libraries and bookstores. Or that it dealt with dragons? 

The browsers didn't seem to do the guilt look for the other fantasy authors in attendance, but those works were all promoted as Christian fantasy.

I will admit it made me feel like my books were about to be banned. Whatever the reason, it was unusual enough to make the day notable.

~till next time Helen

If you want to see my previous postings for the challenge, go here. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the participants.