Today’s excerpt involves a slight spoiler–nothing beyond a revelation that would necessarily be part of a trailer, however. That’s why I decided to use it.

I did want to give a warning, though. If you don’t want a “spoiler” that would be in a trailer, I wouldn’t read further.

Today’s excerpt is when Kora, the protagonist, and her friends, Lanokas (a man) and Kansten (woman), are on their way to the ancient Hall of Sorcery in the Pearl Mountains. They have been following a path through mountain caverns and finally have reached its end: an exit out onto a mountain ledge. Check it out!

(Y’all, I am stoked. I have wanted to share this excerpt for SUCH a long time now! Some dialogue tags changed to avoid REAL spoilers.)

The sunlight, the wind, and the sight of fresh snow were miracles, so much so that Kora ignored the cold. She felt as though she’d been trapped in the caverns for months. Judging by the sun, she’d spent four or five hours in the mountain. She extinguished the torch and left it behind.

Lanokas was first to step out. Kora followed onto a broad, flat protrusion on the side of the mountain, which fell sheer away before them and rose unscalable at their backs. Twenty feet distant, on the side of an adjacent peak, was a second cliff with a marble platform somehow free of the white powder that smothered everything else. As the leaguesmen watched, it shot a beam of golden light into the sky, a beacon to call them.

Kora, whose throat dried out, stood with her back against the rock. She shut her eyes because her vision had gone hazy. Lanokas and Kansten grabbed her hands. Gathering herself, she pictured the column of light. “Trasporte.”

 “Kora!”

Kora crumpled to the snowy ledge, faint and achy. She watched her friends’ terrified expressions swim in and out of focus and struggled to stay conscious, until she gave up and fell into oblivion. She came to with a cold, damp face. Someone had rubbed snow on her temples. Her sight grew clearer, mostly by force of will. Lanokas helped her up.

Kansten grabbed Kora’s arm. “Are you all right?”

“I think so, but I . . . My magic won’t get us across. There’s an enchantment of some kind. It blocked me.”

Lanokas’s face was troubled, his cheeks and nose red from the chill, but he kept his voice cavalier. “How do we cross without the transport spell? Suggestions?”

Kora stammered, “I don’t know.”

Kansten stomped her feet to keep warm. “This is the last test. We know it can be done.” Suddenly, understanding softened her face. She walked to the cliff’s edge. Kora’s head was spinning.

Lanokas demanded, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Kansten shook with excitement. “This is the point closest to that other ledge. I bet there’s a bridge.”

Kora’s vision blurred a second time, though Lanokas’s pinching hold on her shoulder kept her alert. “Don’t be absurd,” Lanokas told Kansten.

“There has to be a bridge. There’s no other way.”

“Get back here!” Kora pleaded. Her stomach had turned to mush.

“If I fall, use mudar. You can’t use magic to cross the gap, but you can lift me back up, right?”

“I wouldn’t depend on my spells right now. I—”

Kora’s voice died as Kansten stepped off the ledge, neither floating in midair nor falling; a slab of stone materialized beneath her. Lanokas relaxed his grip on Kora, who forced herself to watch as Kansten walked the twenty feet to the cliff where the pillar of golden light rose. With every step a new slab appeared, while the old one vanished the moment her weight left it. She motioned for the others to join her. Kora turned to Lanokas. “I can’t do this.”

He gave her a friendly jab. “You can.”

“Not this. Lanokas, I don’t like heights. It’s bad enough being out here, but to step out like that . . . I’d rather there actually had been a dragon. I’m serious. I’ll faint, and I’ll fall. I can’t do this.”

“I’ll go with you.”

 “I’ll pull you down too!” Kora fought the impulse to collapse where she stood.

“We’re crossing together. Take a deep breath for me.” She did so. “Good. A couple more. Now shut your eyes.” Kora refused. She was horribly aware of the wind tossing her hair, flailing her dress behind her, where Lanokas had maneuvered himself, his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll guide you. Just follow my direction.”

She looked back at him. “I’m telling you, I won’t make it.”          

“Do you think I’d let you fall?”

“All right,” said Kora. “All right, I trust you.”

“Then close your eyes. I said I’ve got you.”

 Kora squeezed her lids so tightly little dots popped out in front of her. She tried to ignore the gale, the skirt whipping at her knees, and to concentrate on the pressure Lanokas exerted, once again, on her shoulders.

The first step was agony. Kora counted to ten before she took it. The second was not as bad, but she counted before that one too, and each one after. There was no way to know which shuffle of her feet pushed her body beyond the cliff. She could imagine solid rock still surrounded her, and that way, at her own pace, she moved farther from where she had started until Lanokas announced, “We made it.”

He had guided her across the open air. She smiled at him, and he clapped her on the back. Kansten stared at the marble dais, which was so close its pillar of light looked like solid gold. “You should go first,” she told Kora. “When you’re ready.”

Kora reasoned, “That must be a transport. You know where to.”

“Take what time you need,” said Lanokas.

There you have it! The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope is now available in paperbook and ebook from Amazon (free on Kindle Unlimited).

There are character spotlights, editorial reviews, and excerpts here on the blog. You can also check out the book’s website here from my publisher, Archangel Ink.