Daughter of Fire (55 page)
Authors: Carla Simpson
Tags: #Historical Fantasy, #Merlin, #11th Century
Then as he drew closer, Tarek saw that it was not the tawny-coated creature at all, but a slender boy. He prodded the lad, dressed in fawn colored breeks and tunic, with the tip of his blade.
There was no movement, yet he was cautious that the lad might have a knife, waiting only to strike as he drew closer. He cautiously nudged the lad with the toe of his boot. Still, there was no movement. He nudged the lad over with the toe of his boot.
Pale sunlight bathed silken skin over fragile bones and delicate features. Slender brows arched over closed eyes with dark golden lashes. Full curved lips were softly parted, the slender throat exposed, head thrown back amidst a torrent of golden hair. Not a lad at all, but a girl!
Blade sheathed, Tarek knelt beside her. As he reached for her the hazy sun disappeared and the mist returned. It shimmered in the thick, pale gold of her hair and bathed delicate features, making her suddenly seem like some creature of the netherworld. Amidst the sounds of the approaching riders, Tarek heard a desperate warning.
“Do not touch her! Leave this place!”
He glanced about, his sharp blue gaze searching the rocks, the path ahead, and behind. The warning seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere, yet he saw nothing. He looked back down at the girl. A stain seeped through the soft leather tunic at her shoulder. He jerked open the tunic and discovered the bloodied wound at her shoulder, discovered too that she was no gangly stripling of a girl, but a slender young woman in the full curve of breast covered with blood from her shoulder. As he touched his fingers to the wound, the silvery mist retreated and fell away like a silver veil. Dark gold lashes quivered against her pale cheeks and slowly lifted to reveal eyes the deep green of a highland glade, the irises as dark as slate as she stared back at him with pain and confusion, and for a moment the image shimmered before him—of a slender, tawny cat looking back at him through that veil of mist, blood at the golden coat at its shoulder as it stood over the slain Norseman.
“There is danger...” she whispered, the words stirring another memory of another time and a slender, golden creature that had emerged at the edge of a highland pool and led him to safety. Then those gold lashes fluttered down over those green eyes, like the mist closing out the sun.
“A captive, milord?” Stephen inquired as he pulled his horse to an abrupt stop.
Tarek slipped one arm beneath her legs, the other beneath her shoulders. Her hair spilled over his arm like a mantle of mist and sunlight as her head lay against his shoulder. Her hand—slender and delicate, hardly the claws of some wild cat—lay curled against his chest. As he lifted her, he again heard that voice that seemed to come from the rocks, the sky, the earth beneath his feet. Only this time it was the sound of mournful weeping.
“Aye, a captive,” he nodded as he carried her to his horse. But at that moment he couldn’t be certain who was the captive — the beautiful creature in his arms, or himself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Titles
Writing as Carla Simpson
Desire’s Flame
Silken Surrender
Passion’s Splendor
Silver Mistress
Memory and Desire
Always My Heart
Desperado’s Caress
Seductive Caress
Seduced
Deceived
Ravished
Writing as Pamela Simpson
Partners in Time
Fortune’s Child
Mirror, Mirror
Writing as Quinn Taylor Evans
Merlin’s Legacy Series
Daughter of Fire
Daughter of the Mist
Daughter of Light
Shadows of Camelot
Dawn of Camelot
Daughter of Camelot
Books Optioned to Film
Partners in Time
Fortune’s Child
Awards
Reviewer’s Choice Award—Best New Age/Fantasy Novel
Reviewer’s Choice Award—Best Suspense Novel
Reviewer’s Choice Award—Best Historical Novel
Dear Readers,
Everyone always wants to know, “Where do the stories come from?”
For most authors it starts with the question, “What if....”
The historical books I’ve written have wrapped around actual historical events: the Civil War, the Westward movement in the United States, the French Revolution, the Norman Conquest, interwoven with real historical figures.
And then comes... the “What if?”
For the Legacy Series it is, “What if Merlin was real; what if there was a world between the real and spiritual world; what if the forces of Good and Evil were locked in a battle for mankind (sound familiar?); what if Merlin had daughters who were sent into the mortal world, possessed unusual powers from their father, were caught in that battle between good and evil, with a stunning discovery of their power and abilities along the way?
Throw in my trip to the north of Scotland, a soul-stirring walk among the standing stones at Brodgar where the marks etched into the stones tell an ancient story of their own, and voices that whispered on the wind.
Now, come with me into the 21st century, with so many requests for the series in eBook format from those who have collected the entire print series of the books along with new readers eager for the eBooks, beginning with Daughter of Fire, then Daughter of the Mist, followed by Daughter of the Light, then back into Merlin’s history with Shadows of Camelot, Dawn of Camelot, and the sixth book in the original series, Daughter of Camelot.
And... very soon a new series that will link to the Legacy books, The Young Dragons, which takes the legend into new stories.
For those who prefer contemporary thrillers, look for Jenna7, a trilogy about a young girl who is brutally murdered. Years later her death haunts the investigator of another brutal crime, with an ending that will challenge the rules about life and death.
What do I do in my spare time?
We live on our ranch just below the gates to Yosemite National Park, ride our horses on mountain trails after the snow melts, then cozy in for the winter and find new stories that ask the question, “What if?”
Please visit me on my website at
http://www.carlasimpson-author.com
for the schedule of my new eBook releases.
Carla Simpson
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