Leslee Sheu's Blog - Posts Tagged "excerpt"
Excerpt - Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Please enjoy this excerpt from Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin, available at Amazon.
Without a thought, Jayan jumped over the wall and ran into the orchard. Najat’s slow, contemplative steps followed a path in the opposite direction. “Ai, Najat!” Jayan yelled, but then he caught sight of the Mahasagi off to one side, flanked by Dechen and Rajung. Even at that distance Jayan could see the hint of alarm on their faces as they tracked his sudden appearance. Rajung moved immediately, starting toward him through the trees.
Jayan did not stop, but his sprint skidded down to a hesitant jog when he looked back at his brother. Najat had turned to stare at him. An inexplicable, scale-raising shiver of awe tripped Jayan down further to a walk. Najat stood wrapped and draped in the pale blue robes of a renunciate. It was not normal dress for the Kumasagi—he only wore the robes during sessions of intense mental and spiritual training. Jayan swallowed hard, acutely reminded that his younger brother was an old mystic, older than even their present lifetime.
He continued forward, ignoring Rajung’s footsteps and braving Najat’s cold posture. But then Najat moved a hand to shade the sun from his eyes, and suddenly his blank expression transformed to surprised recognition. Jayan broke into a run again as Najat’s trembling hands reached toward him.
“Jay-la!” Najat’s voice trembled a bit as well. He caught his brother’s hands between his own palms and bowed to rest his forehead against Jayan’s. The ancient gesture caused the scales at Jayan’s wrists to flare again, goose bumps following up his arms. It was another reminder…Najat could sense the pulse of Jayan’s spirit. Jayan could only sense the pulse of a vein in Najat’s brow.
Najat pulled back and smiled, but his eyes looked tired. Jayan noticed sharpened angles from cheekbone to ear and jaw to clavicle. “Are you alright?” he asked Najat for the second time in their lives.
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The Kumasagi Fantasy Saga
Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife
Without a thought, Jayan jumped over the wall and ran into the orchard. Najat’s slow, contemplative steps followed a path in the opposite direction. “Ai, Najat!” Jayan yelled, but then he caught sight of the Mahasagi off to one side, flanked by Dechen and Rajung. Even at that distance Jayan could see the hint of alarm on their faces as they tracked his sudden appearance. Rajung moved immediately, starting toward him through the trees.
Jayan did not stop, but his sprint skidded down to a hesitant jog when he looked back at his brother. Najat had turned to stare at him. An inexplicable, scale-raising shiver of awe tripped Jayan down further to a walk. Najat stood wrapped and draped in the pale blue robes of a renunciate. It was not normal dress for the Kumasagi—he only wore the robes during sessions of intense mental and spiritual training. Jayan swallowed hard, acutely reminded that his younger brother was an old mystic, older than even their present lifetime.
He continued forward, ignoring Rajung’s footsteps and braving Najat’s cold posture. But then Najat moved a hand to shade the sun from his eyes, and suddenly his blank expression transformed to surprised recognition. Jayan broke into a run again as Najat’s trembling hands reached toward him.
“Jay-la!” Najat’s voice trembled a bit as well. He caught his brother’s hands between his own palms and bowed to rest his forehead against Jayan’s. The ancient gesture caused the scales at Jayan’s wrists to flare again, goose bumps following up his arms. It was another reminder…Najat could sense the pulse of Jayan’s spirit. Jayan could only sense the pulse of a vein in Najat’s brow.
Najat pulled back and smiled, but his eyes looked tired. Jayan noticed sharpened angles from cheekbone to ear and jaw to clavicle. “Are you alright?” he asked Najat for the second time in their lives.
--------------------------
The Kumasagi Fantasy Saga
Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife
Excerpt - Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Please enjoy this excerpt from Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri, available at Amazon.
In Solgaran’s house, Padir sat with crossed legs while Bal applied extra tari oil to his scarred shoulders and back. Sopan was eager to help, so they let him rub the oil over his father’s arm.
“I want to bring Sopan down there this time,” Padir said.
“No,” Bal said gruffly behind him.
“I want him to see the first flight.”
“I want to go!” Sopan said.
“He can see the second flight, and many more of ‘em after,” Bal said to Padir.
“Let’s make sure you survive the first one, right?”
“What does ‘survive’ mean?” Sopan said.
Bal grumbled to himself for letting that slip.
Padir patted Sopan’s head. “It means I’m going to fly hundreds of times, and you’ll get to see it hundreds of times. And someday you’ll get to fly, too.”
--------------------------
The Kumasagi Fantasy Saga
Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife
In Solgaran’s house, Padir sat with crossed legs while Bal applied extra tari oil to his scarred shoulders and back. Sopan was eager to help, so they let him rub the oil over his father’s arm.
“I want to bring Sopan down there this time,” Padir said.
“No,” Bal said gruffly behind him.
“I want him to see the first flight.”
“I want to go!” Sopan said.
“He can see the second flight, and many more of ‘em after,” Bal said to Padir.
“Let’s make sure you survive the first one, right?”
“What does ‘survive’ mean?” Sopan said.
Bal grumbled to himself for letting that slip.
Padir patted Sopan’s head. “It means I’m going to fly hundreds of times, and you’ll get to see it hundreds of times. And someday you’ll get to fly, too.”
--------------------------
The Kumasagi Fantasy Saga
Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife
Excerpt - Kumasagi Part 3: Wife
Please enjoy this excerpt from Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife, available at Amazon.
“Ta’lak!” the other divers called his name. They tried to join him but he waved them back up the slope, already dragging their Amala by the arm away from the lake.
“Let go! Let go!” She slid and struggled against him.
A rumbling came to their ears, even louder than the roar of the bore on the river. Ta’lak saw the sea coming over the dunes at the end of the canyon. The water swelled through the Tines, crumbling one and sweeping the debris of it over huts and fields in the valley.
Ceasing to struggle, the Amala climbed up the slope with the divers. They came to the temple, half of it already ruined by the primary wave of the quake. She sat trembling next to Ta’lak as they watched the ocean roll into the lower valley. It pushed everything with it—people, buildings, bricks, and boards, smashed canoes and broken trees, crushed boulders and churning mud.
As the debris sank into Ayunath Lake, the Amala stood up to her feet. The diluted water of the lake rose, submerging the pods completely from view before flooding over the shore. Ta’lak pulled on the Amala again. She finally joined the divers in scrambling over fallen bricks to even higher ground as the lake and ocean waters swirled together, bubbling up the slope to the very steps of the temple.
Finally the ocean wave exhausted itself, spreading and thinning as it reached for the back end of the valley. The Amala untied the shoulders of her muddy dress and wriggled out of it until she wore only her short underslip.
“Amala!” Ta’lak said. “It’s not swimmable!”
“Bring a boat,” she said to the divers. She stepped carefully back down to the edge of the floodwaters.
“The boats are all destroyed,” said one diver.
“Find something!” Ta’lak told them. He hurried to follow their Amala. “Don’t dive in,” he begged her under his breath.
She dove in, and came back up bloody.
He cursed her, then waded in to follow. She set out with strong strokes toward the lake, never noticing the blood or the pain. Ta’lak struggled to catch up to her, earning his own scrapes from floating and sunken debris.
--------------------------
The Kumasagi Fantasy Saga
Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife
“Ta’lak!” the other divers called his name. They tried to join him but he waved them back up the slope, already dragging their Amala by the arm away from the lake.
“Let go! Let go!” She slid and struggled against him.
A rumbling came to their ears, even louder than the roar of the bore on the river. Ta’lak saw the sea coming over the dunes at the end of the canyon. The water swelled through the Tines, crumbling one and sweeping the debris of it over huts and fields in the valley.
Ceasing to struggle, the Amala climbed up the slope with the divers. They came to the temple, half of it already ruined by the primary wave of the quake. She sat trembling next to Ta’lak as they watched the ocean roll into the lower valley. It pushed everything with it—people, buildings, bricks, and boards, smashed canoes and broken trees, crushed boulders and churning mud.
As the debris sank into Ayunath Lake, the Amala stood up to her feet. The diluted water of the lake rose, submerging the pods completely from view before flooding over the shore. Ta’lak pulled on the Amala again. She finally joined the divers in scrambling over fallen bricks to even higher ground as the lake and ocean waters swirled together, bubbling up the slope to the very steps of the temple.
Finally the ocean wave exhausted itself, spreading and thinning as it reached for the back end of the valley. The Amala untied the shoulders of her muddy dress and wriggled out of it until she wore only her short underslip.
“Amala!” Ta’lak said. “It’s not swimmable!”
“Bring a boat,” she said to the divers. She stepped carefully back down to the edge of the floodwaters.
“The boats are all destroyed,” said one diver.
“Find something!” Ta’lak told them. He hurried to follow their Amala. “Don’t dive in,” he begged her under his breath.
She dove in, and came back up bloody.
He cursed her, then waded in to follow. She set out with strong strokes toward the lake, never noticing the blood or the pain. Ta’lak struggled to catch up to her, earning his own scrapes from floating and sunken debris.
--------------------------
The Kumasagi Fantasy Saga
Kumasagi, Part 1: Destin
Kumasagi, Part 2: Kandargiri
Kumasagi, Part 3: Wife
