15 Days — & Counting Down To “The Gathering of the Lost”
Only two weeks to go now until the The Gathering of the Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two is published and officially “out there” in the USA & Canada, Australia and New Zealand! (The UK release day is 5 April.)
I am going to have some more information about Publication Day and festivities around the launch for you on Wednesday (so ‘watch this space’!), but in the meantime I am posting a series of excerpts from the book, and today’s extract is from the opening of Part 3, The Border Mark.
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from The Gathering of the Lost
(c) Helen Lowe
Chapter 28, Border Crossing
“Just what we need,” said Garan. “A coterie of Stone priests.” He had led his company out of the Barren Hills just on dusk, intending to camp overnight by the Border Mark, only to find another group of travelers already settled in by the standing stone. And not just any travelers, Garan thought with an inward groan. Stone priests were the nearest thing to a warrior class within the three priestly Houses, and as rigid as the House of Blood in their adherence to the divisions that had arisen out of the civil war.
He rubbed at his chin, aware of the quality of Nerys’s silence beside him and mutters amongst the other honor guards. The minstrel they were escorting said nothing, his expression untroubled. Nothing in his appearance reflected the grueling weeks they had spent on the road north, contending with the wildest of spring and early summer weather as they traversed the Barren Hills. As though road dust doesn’t even stick to him, Garan thought—and although Haimyr had put aside his usual golden garb for the wool and leather of the road, there was no denying that he did not look Derai. But then again, if the Stone priests wanted to pick a quarrel they would find a reason, whether it was because the newcomers were retainers of Night or because they rode with an outsider.
Garan shrugged, reaching his decision. “We ride in slowly and make our camp away from theirs. And we don’t fight them, no matter what provocation they offer.”
—
This being the Derai Wall ‘n’ all, any guesses on how that might work out for him? 😉