Here's a tidbit from the first chapter of The Necromancer's Bones. Read it in good health!
Chapter One
The Chaos Moon
Out in the garden, something flashed. Shenza Waik of Tresmeer looked up as the flare of light caught her eye. Her pen stopped scratching across the scroll of cloth in front of her.
Shenza was kneeling beside a low table in her work room. A teakwood lamp hung above her head. Carved in the shape of a sea-whip, it cast a pool of light around her while the rest of the house lay dark. Shenza gazed through the open sides of the cottage, into a garden hinted by shadows. A light breeze made the treetops whisper like someone calling her name.
The night was warm in Chalsett, City of Gardens. It hummed with songs of crickets and frogs. Another soft breeze stirred the leafy garden and Shenza saw what had caught her attention. Instead of stars winking between the branches, a round, shining object rose in the sky.
Which moon was that? Shenza frowned thoughtfully. It was too small to be Prenuse, too pale to be Quaiss, too bright to be Meor. Perhaps it was nothing, yet the tenor of the night had changed. It suddenly felt as brittle and easily shattered as a fallen leaf.
Shenza put down her pen and leaned away from the table, arching her back to ease its stiffness. She rubbed her dark eyes and ran brown fingers through her loose black curls. Then she pushed back the inventory of spell ingredients she had been working on. Shenza was between investigations, an ideal time to replenish the talismans and amulets she had used up, yet she felt too restless to concentrate.
Glad of an excuse to stop, she gathered her purple robe and stood, strolling toward the porch. The mysterious moon was now hidden by trees. Shenza followed a gravel path toward the center of the garden, where she would have a better view. Insects and frogs fell silent as she passed.
The last time she had gone into a garden at night, she had met a stranger -- one of the Eleshi, a nature spirit. First in the form of a snake, and then something like a human. It had been like the sea, beautiful and wild and deadly. Shenza shivered, remembering its alien beauty.
That had been the first of several encounters, all of them in darkness or deep shadow. There was no reason to think another spirit was visiting her, yet still she felt tension in the air. She stopped, inhaling lightly. There had been a certain fragrance the spirit carried with it, like blooms of an unearthly flower. She didn't smell it now. A part of her relaxed.
Shenza continued forward, watching her step on the dark path. The cottage behind her was quiet and empty. Shenza shared the dwelling with Master Laraquies, her old teacher. Since her training was finished, she could have returned to her mother's house. Or, since Lord Aspace had chosen Laraquies as his Vizier, he could have claimed a grander residence in the first lord's estate. But the living arrangement was so comfortable, neither one had suggested it. Shenza, at least, benefitted from having access to her master's wise advice.
Tonight, Master Laraquies was up at the palace. Lord Aspace didn't entertain as much as his late brother, Lord Anges, but he still had banquets. Laraquies had to be there, observing the byplay of the nobles and sometimes intervening in their squabbles. Shenza had been invited, too, but she had declined. Although her rank as magister was respectable, she still felt like a lowly fisherman's daughter. It was easier to be alone than to deal with the nobles, who resented her intrusion into their elite circle.
Then Shenza smiled at herself for prowling through her garden in the dark. If inventory made her this restless, maybe she should have gone with Master Laraquies. She didn't like the nobles, but Lord Aspace was another story. She could enjoy his company if he ever stopped teasing her.
Not that someone like Shenza could ever have any hope with a man like Aspace. Maybe that was the real reason she avoided the palace. It hurt to like someone so much and know he could never be hers.
Shenza found a clear spot beside the brook that wound through the garden. When she looked up, what she saw threw all her petty complaints out of her mind.
Skall was in the sky. Skall, the moon of chaos! Shenza took a step backward, toward the house. It couldn't be. She felt a sense of unreality, as she had when the Eleshi came to her. Shenza squeezed her eyes tightly shut, then opened them again. The chaos moon was still there.
Now Shenza studied the heavens intently. Inkesh was just rising, its ruby crescent showing in patches through the treetops. Meor rode at its zenith, a gibbous lavender orb. The other two moons weren't visible.
The dim sky made Skall's glow all the brighter. It's face was vivid white marked with darker splotches. Skall was also the smallest moon. Shenza felt she could pluck it down from the sky and wear it, like a bead, but she didn't want to.
Like the other four moons, Skall represented a force in life -- chance and change, the whims of fate. While the other moons had regular movements which could be studied and predicted, Skall only appeared rarely. There was never a pattern. It seemed to come and go at its own whim.
Shenza's neck was tight from gazing upward. She shook her head, let out a breath, and forced herself to relax. There was no reason to panic. This was an omen, yes. Skall's appearance foretold an important event, but there was no way to know what it would be. She could only watch, stay alert, and try to prepare.
She took another long look, and then turned back toward the house. Suddenly her inventory seemed much more urgent.
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That's it! If you want to know what happens next, you'll have to buy the book. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
