Available on Pre-Order: Peace Flower, 2nd Edition
What's it About?
An ancient order. A sacred trust. A partnership. These three things align, but will a young adept come to grips with her power in time to end the war raging across between her kind and the kingdom of man
How Does It Start?
Shoru fell amidst the fighting. Her basket flew from her hand and disappeared beneath booted feet and metal-shod hooves. The peonies were trampled and the scent of crushed herbs mingled with the smell of blood.
She knew better than to scramble after them, and curled against the step that had made her stumble. Someone leapt over her, using her back to reach the doorway. She heard the jingle of spurs as they passed.
Swords clashed above her and another set of boots danced their way through the measured steps of a swordsman’s shuffle. Shoru had no choice but to stay where she was until the fight was over.
“Death to all invaders,” the one upon the step yelled.
“And so say all of us,” his opponent rumbled in reply.
Shoru did not stay to ponder. The boots moved sideways, metal scraped on bone, and blood fell in a warm shower.
“You’ve killed me.” The swordsman’s voice sounded suddenly young.
His opponent turned away to meet another attack with a savage parry. Shoru heard his answer as she ran for the corner of the building. “And so must all invaders die.”
Around the corner, in the lee of a barricaded doorway, Shoru regretted the loss of her basket. The herbs would have to be gathered again, the peonies more so.
She glanced at the sun, noting it was close to its peak. There was too little time for her to fetch another basket from her home. She glanced toward the entrance of the alley.
The fighting had moved on. The rattle of hooves, and clash of steel, had shifted. Only sporadic echoes of its ferocity followed in its wake. The victors ‘cleaning up.’
Shoru’s resolve wavered. There’d be some in need of a healer. Her back ached where it had been used in place of the step.
A sharply cold breeze drifted down the alley. It brought the sweetness of the peonies’ scent, stronger now than when they had fallen. It reminded Shoru of the strange crimson in a few of the blossoms.
Peony. Blood flower, wind flower; flower of peace. Of truth. Of war. Sky flower. Shoru sighed.
Her skirts would hold as many of the blooms as the basket had carried. They might even hold more, and she could use magic to reach the field and return.
She glanced at the alley’s entrance once more and let her hands weave a spell of transportation around herself. She did not see the swordsman step into the alley after her.
He was in time to see her leave, to see her fade like a desert mirage. His eyes caught the gentle dance as her fingertips stroked the air and wove the power, but all he caught was the faint scent of a woodland meadow.Where Do You Find It?
The stand-alone version of Peace Flower can be found in ebook form on a number of platforms: Kobo, Amazon, DriveThruFiction, Smashwords, and GooglePlay for a start, and other sites will follow. Check for a link to your preferred store at the following Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/u/meJ8p9
Be aware that some links are still populating at the time of posting. If you can't see the link to your favorite store, check your store, anyway. It might already be there.
You can find an earlier version of this short story in A Collection of Shifters, along with more shifter-themed short stories, poetry, and flash fiction in links listed at: https://books2read.com/u/3JoJNX
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