Hello folks! I have been busy at work on my NaNoWriMo project and am therefore a bit behind on my reading and book-reviewing schedule for the month. I have one book review I need to write up still, and a couple books in the queue, but I am trying very heard to keep focused on my NaNo project while I can.

So, because I still wanted to post SOMETHING today, and in the spirit of sharing with the writing/book community, I thought I might share with you all the opening for my current project.

I gave a brief description of the project in this post: “It’s That Time of Year Again.” The project is going fairly well so far (*knock on wood*). I’m at about 28,000 words currently, which is just a TINY bit behind the recommended daily word count. But I have hopes for getting caught up this weekend (*fingers crossed*).

I also made a Spotify playlist for the project, which you can find here:
Wesmaris Story (Nano 2022) Playlist

If you’re only interested in my book review posts, I totally understand, and I apologize for the lack thereof this week. But hopefully some of you will enjoy this little sneak-peek.

Prologue —

When Ellianora was five her mother told her folktales about the Osei, from her homeland of Noridreia — magical shapeshifters who lived in the forests and made deals with humans that were as much curse as gift. When Ellianora was ten her Noridreian-immigrant nanny told her the Osei were not mere folktale but REAL, hiding in the secret places of the world following years of human violence. There had been no recorded contact with the Osei in nearly a century, but every once in a long while one might still appear when summoned by a human desperate enough to call them. Or so her nanny said. Ellianora was not sure she really believed it.

When Ellianora was twenty she snuck out into the forest that skirted the eastern edges of Idelwyth to summon the Osei. She was finally desperate enough.

She wore her simplest, sturdiest dress in a deep navy that blended into the shadows. She carried a bag of the items needed to perform the summoning, as taught to her by her nanny, and a single lantern to light her way through the dark moonless night. The new moon was the best time to summon the Osei. They were more willing to appear with no moon as witness to their movements and the deals. Once she had gone far enough into the forest, Ellianora found a small clearing, surrounded on all sides by tall imposing great-grandfather trees, and knelt.

From her bag she revealed a small silver bowl she had borrowed from her mother’s best silver service, a glass bottle she had filled with cool, clean water, a sachet of tea leaves and rose petals, and the sharpest paring knife she could find in the kitchen. As her nanny had once instructed, she took a moment to clear her mind and focus on her intention, her desire.

Call the Osei. Make a deal. Beg for help.

Then, mind clear and intention firmly set, she placed the silver bowl before her and poured the water into it. Next came the tea leaves and rose petals. She waited a moment for the leaves and petals to swirl in the water, some staying afloat on the surface, some sinking to the bottom of the bowl. Finally, she lifted the knife in her right hand, pressed it firmly into the palm of her left hand, and pulled as quickly as she could, before she could overthink it and back out. The knife sliced through the meat of her palm. She squeezed her hand, gritting her teeth against the pain, and let the blood drip into the bowl.

Water, tea and flower, blood. Gifts for the Osei, to entice them out into the open.

“Osei, I summon you,” she spoke in a low clear voice. “I beg an audience with Kunochi, Lord of the Forest. Lord Kunochi, I entreat you to grant me your aid.”

Kunochi, according to her nanny, was one of the most powerful and most magnanimous of the Osei. If any Osei would grant her their aid, it would be he. It would have been best to speak the summoning in Noridreian, but her mother had given up her language in the name of assimilation and forbidden anyone from teaching it to her children. Wesmarin Imperial would have to do.

Ellianora waited. The forest was silent around her except for the occasional breeze and the music of the crickets. She counted to one hundred in her head, and then repeated the summoning, just to be safe. And waited. And waited.

Nothing happened. Of course, nothing. It was a silly fancy to try this at all. A fool’s errand. A desperate last-minute ploy for reprieve that did nothing but give her a momentary illusion of control.

And then, something did happen. The branches and leaves that surrounded Ellianora shook and shuddered. The entire forest seemed to take a deep breath and hold it. From the deepest shadows around her, a pale long-fingered hand appeared.

“Hello little human,” came the rumbling of a deep voice like distant rolling thunder.

Ellianora choked on a gasp and slapped both hands over her mouth. Blood from her left palm smeared across her lips and chin.

“I am not Kunochi,” said the thunder-voice, “but perhaps I will suffice…”