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Book Feature! Magic's Stealing by #Author Stephanie Flint
Blurb
For centuries, ribbons of magic have
provided the kingdom of Cirena with light, healing, and protection. Then, in a
span of minutes, those ribbons fly from their masters, stolen, save for the
magic of a few chosen mages. One of these mages is Toranih, a young noblewoman
who would rather have a sword in her hand than use her powers to heal or throw
fireballs. As a result, her magic skills are lacking. But with former mages
dying from magic withdrawal, and the looming threat of an army of shadows who
are impervious to mortal weapons, she must either embrace the responsibilities
of a mage or watch her home perish.
Magic’s
Stealing is
a 34,000-word, young adult fantasy novella. This is the first book in The Wishing Blade series.
Excerpt
Toranih cast a glance toward the distant
mountain and shivered. The closer they came, the more her unease grew. It
wasn't her usual dislike of magic. As close as they were now, the magic inside
the forge glowed like a star. Yet the whole place was shrouded with a thick
fog, a veil that kept the magic hidden from the distance.
She frowned.
She could almost see thin filaments
weaving through the fog, like the shadows of strings from a poorly played
puppet theatre. The filaments lashed out in different directions, disappearing
as they touched bright, sunlit sky. She tilted her head and squinted, but the
strings vanished altogether.
She shivered and returned to picking at
the soft innards of her roll.
There was something different about that
magic. Wild. Unsteady. Like a foal that hadn’t been broken, and might never be.
The magic was curious, like a dark storm cloud spewing cracks of thunder and
lightning when the rest of the land was gold.
Toranih shivered.
All this magic was bound to cause strange
visions.
So why was she drawn to follow?
She looked up sharply. “What do you know
about magic’s lure?”
“What?” Daernan lowered the last hunk of
cheese from mid-bite.
“Shouldn’t we have come with some kind of
guard, in case there’s trouble?”
Daernan frowned. “If we brought guards,
we’d be more noticeable.”
“We’re nearly three hours from Viyna. A
guard could stop here, and we’d be reasonably undercover. More so, because they
don’t have magic that’s lighting them like a beacon.” She bit her lip. “What if
something’s calling us? Like how I almost touched that glass-thing in the
seer’s shop?”
Daernan frowned and followed her gaze.
“It’s possible.”
The mountain seemed foggier than before,
lost in time and unreachable. Tendrils of mist climbed toward the hidden forge
as they watched. Despite the heat of summer, a chilly, unnatural breeze swept
past them. Daernan froze, and Toranih reached for the short sword at her side.
Daernan stood quickly. “You felt that?”
She nodded. She drew her sword and shifted
into a fighting stance.
A wisp of darkness fluttered just out of
sight. Daernan thrust his hand out, using magic to send a gust of wind that
direction.
There was a grunt, and the shadow
vanished.
“I can barely see him,” he said, hurrying
behind Toranih so that they stood back-to-back.
“He was like a shadow,” Toranih whispered.
Oh, she really hated magic now. If magic had to be stolen, couldn’t it have had
the convenience to take this magic, too?
“Shadow, then. Show yourself!” Daernan
raised his hands and livid blue ribbons swarmed from his core to his palms. He
had a knife at his side, though Toranih really hoped he didn’t have to use it.
He was about as competent with a knife as she was with light magic.
She brandished her sword.
“Mortal blades cannot hurt us,” a voice
mocked. Distant, like eavesdropping through a thick wall. Toranih squinted in
the direction of the voice. A faint man stood in the darkness. He looked as any
man would, but faded, cloaked.
“Toranih…” Daernan touched her sleeve and pointed.
Several more shadows stood behind them.
“I suggest we run.” He sent another gust
of wind in the shadow’s direction, then sprinted toward the mountain.
***
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Preview the first four (almost five!)
chapters on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/576043/3/magics-stealing
***
About The Author
Stephanie Flint (formerly Stephanie Bibb)
graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in
photography and a minor in creative writing. She merged the two interests into
book cover design and photographic illustration, but she particularly enjoys
writing speculative fiction. She lives with her husband, Isaac. Together they
plot stories in the form of table-top role-play games, and enjoy the occasional
cosplay.
Online, Stephanie often goes by the
nickname of SBibb.
