Saskia Trilogy by Aoife Marie Sheridan

Description:

Sarajane Anderson is your regular twenty one year old. With family, friends and a normal job. She also happens to be the only person who can save Saskia, a world parallel to earth.

When Sarajane is taken to Saskia, she could never have imagined the reality of the world she steps into, a world where magical abilities are in everyone's possession.

She must face a father she never knew, a world that is beyond her belief. A guardian who captures her heart, and a darkness that wants to take it.

On this journey Sarajane discovers her magical abilities and realizes they come with a price. Sarajane is truly tested, as her loved ones are put at risk. The question she must ask herself is, how do you choose who lives and who dies?

Description #2

A war awaits her arrival,

A warrant for her arrest.

She must rise as a princess,

And Darkness shall fall.

But will their love survive this battle?

For Tristan and Sarajane?

Step back into Saskia.

EXCERPT

TOUR SCHEDULE

I put my head down against the rain and hoped they would let me pass. No need to panic yet, I told myself. As I drew closer, Saul stepped closer, his fists hanging at his side. Rain had soaked the men, but they didn’t seem to notice or care. I stopped a few feet away and looked up as they moved around me.

“Are you lost, lass?” Saul asked. He didn’t look as if he had drunk anything. “Give us all your money and you can be on your way.”

I didn’t have anything on me and I told them as much. Saul removed a small dagger. “You don’t want me to mess up that pretty face, so do as I say.”

The others had created a full circle around me, barricading me against escape. Their breaths filled my breathing space; alcohol hit me like a slap on the face… along with the knowledge that drunk men were dangerous men.

“I said give me your money now!” Saul warned me one last time.

I looked around, trying to see if I could see anyone, but their large forms blocked my view. I tried to relax my racing heart and felt for my dagger. I had to keep it together.

“I’m afraid I have nothing to offer you, except…” my stomach turned as I mimicked Dea’s actions, running my hand aimlessly along his chest, but that’s as far as I went.

Saul laughed.

“You don’t interest me,” his face turned into a snarl as he grabbed my waist, bringing his knife closer.

I was out of options. I slid my knife with my free hand out of my waist band. A large hand grabbed my other wrist.

I turned to the man behind me. He squeezed my wrist until I dropped the knife.

“Not so fast,” he said. The sky lit up with lightening and a rumble ripped through the night. I felt it vibrate deep within me. I wasn’t sure how to use my so-called powers, but there was no time like the present. I looked at Saul and raised my hands slowly. I let the fear of the situation become alive on my face.

“Okay, I’ll give you everything I have,” I said.

He gave me a toothy smile and turned to his comrades as if to say now that’s how it’s done.

“Good choice,” Saul said, still smiling. I felt the storm build up inside me, as well as around us. The rumble of the thunder sounded overhead, giving a deafening crash. The men jumped as the lighting flashed across the sky. The storm was growing angry now.

Saul lifted his knife again to my throat. “Hurry up!” he shouted as the storm was working up.

The tip of his blade cut me, releasing red droplets of blood. I willed the lighting to strike, and it did, three feet away, causing the men to fall with the impact. Two of them ran for their lives, but when Saul looked up at me from the ground, his eyes held suspicion. So much for going under the radar.

But he wasn’t done. He rose and made a leap for me, grabbing me around the throat. I stamped on his toe hard. He yelled but didn’t loosen his grip, causing my cut to burn now. I got my hands above his, reached for his eyes and pushed them in with my fingers. He screamed and let go as lighting struck beside him, blasting him off his feet.

He stood, shaking his head, as if to make sense of what was happening. The next fork of lighting struck his friend, whose screams were covered by the loud rumbles of thunder and the crack of lighting.

The smell of cooked flesh filled the night air. The man lay on the ground, convulsing. Saul raced toward me and hit me with as much force as possible into the face, knocking me to the ground.

I could feel the gush of blood from my nose, and my head swam from the impact. I felt the storm leaving, moving on, as I lost contact with it. My dagger lay only a foot away. I started to crawl even against the dizziness I was now faced with.

“Running away are we? Had your fun?” Saul said.

I looked back as he made his way toward me, rain pouring down on top of him. He hadn’t seen my knife; he thought I was trying to crawl away. When I reached the knife, I lay my body on top of it. Saul’s heavy foot came down on my back, pushing my face into the soaked ground. 

He lifted it and grabbed me by the head of the hair, making me look at him. My hand felt for the knife and I tightened my fingers firmly around it.

Saul’s hand tightened around his own knife, and he brought it to my face.

“I’ll mess up that pretty face of yours,” he said as he still held me up by my hair.

I knew I had to act. I drove the knife into his foot that stood firmly beside me. He screamed and there were no rumbles of thunder to cover his cries.

My head lulled back as his grip faltered.

A figure moved toward us swiftly and quietly, face covered by a hood, but I could tell it was Tristan. I would know his movements and build anywhere. He silenced Saul by snapping his neck. Saul’s body fell to the ground. Tristan removed my dagger from his foot and helped me stand, wrapping an arm around my waist. I felt disoriented from the punch Saul had given me; warm blood made a trail from my nose down to my chin and dripped like a tap onto my rain-soaked clothes.

*****

After what felt like two hours of hanging on for dear life, but more than likely was only a few minutes, my arms trembled with exhaustion, sweat coated my body and my eyes were half- closed in concentration. I could feel my hands starting to slip. I tried to tighten my grip around the swords but my hands felt numb and they slowly slid away. There was nothing I could do as the air whizzed past me. Panic fueled my body. I reached out with my hands blindly, trying to grab onto the wall. The stone ripped into my flesh and wetness filled my palms. My pulse drummed in my neck, the air ripped at my hair and clothes… I pulled my hands in just as my feet sank into something cold, and then water covered my head. The shock made my eyes shoot open, but the water was turning red around me… I soon realized it was from my hands. 

A movement in the water caused a wave to come rushing toward me. Whatever was behind it was huge. I only caught flashes of silver scales, teeth, and black eyes with yellow slits. I frantically tried to swim out of its way, but the more I flapped, the more blood filled my vision. 

Then it collided with me, sending me up onto the bank of the chamber along with a crashing wave of water. It took me a few moments to come fully around and I started to gag, bringing up lots of water. 

When I settled, I crawled on my hands to sit up, but froze as a set of huge black eyes with yellow slits watched me closely. I stayed frozen with fear. I didn’t even know what it was; it looked like a lizard that was blown up to the size of a dinosaur. Fear kept me frozen as it sniffed me, its sharp teeth inches from my face. Its whole body seemed to be covered in a silver scale that dripped with water. As it breathed on me, gills opened at the side of its neck. I dropped my eyes to the ground and focused on breathing. All I could see was webbed feet. 

As my eyes fell on the creature’s feet, dizziness washed over me. My hair was blown off my face as the creature let out a heavy breath again. I looked up, and the creature started to back away, but kept its black eyes on me. Then, to my own amazement, it started to transform. While it did, its cries were ear-piercing, I could hear its bones crack, its spine arched high into the air, and a mist swirled with it. Soon the cries turned into a woman’s moans of pain and then she fell silent. 

All I could do was stare at her in awe. She was naked but her skin was covered in a silver scale, and long hair covered her breasts. I couldn’t see her face, as she was breathing heavily, but I caught the movement at the side of her face. Gills opened and closed as she breathed and then those same eyes looked at me – black with yellow slits – and gold swirls framed her eyes. The woman was about seven feet tall and started to walk toward me. 

“What brings you to my domain?” she asked in broken English. I couldn’t place the accent. 

“I’m sorry I... I fell down a hole.” 

She silenced me. “Do you know what I am?” Her head tilted to the side and she studied me with curiosity. 

“You’re… you’re.. I don’t know.” I was going to say a woman but with the gills and webbed feet and weird looking eyes. I thought differently. 

“I am Suraga, the Keeper of Lost Souls.” She reached me and knelt down so we were at eye level, which sent shivers all over my body. 

“Lost souls?” I questioned. 

“Lost souls, yes. Souls that have parted from a body, yet the body still lives. I protect them until they are joined together in re-birth… or death. Are you lost?” she asked with a hint of mischief in her voice. That scared me, and I realized I must choose my words carefully. 

“No, I’m not lost. I just want to get back to camp.” 

She looked at me with disappointment and rose to her full height. “Stand!” she commanded. 

I stood, but my whole body shook and I couldn’t stop it. I looked around the cavern that I was standing in; the platform that I stood on was about twenty feet wide and circled around the pool of crystal clear water. Large boulders where placed every few feet apart and stood at the edge of the platform… their purpose seemed to be holding up the roof… and there were three different routes out of the large cavern… water made a small path in each, but it didn’t seem deep. 

She raised her hand, getting my attention “Your soul would serve well in my domain,” she said while her eyes turned to complete slits, eliminating all the yellow. 

I swallowed but tried to stand taller. “My soul is fine where it is…or was.” 

She studied me. “Very well, but one day it will be mine.” 

Before I could reply, she waved her hand in front the pool of water, causing the water to part in two directions. At the end of each side stood golden doors, both doors shining as if they were on fire. “Now I will give you a choice. I see you have two different paths and two different men play a large role in each one. But the choice is yours, as it always will be. The left will bring you to your prince and the right to your warrior.” I moved to the left straight away, knowing it was Tristan. 

Suraga looked annoyed. But I moved quickly. A rock that seemed to appear out of nowhere caused me to stumble and I landed on the other path, the path that led to Carew. I watched in horror as the path to Tristan closed in with water. I turned to Suraga. “Wait, no!” but she shook her head, a smile on her face. 

“You are the difference between his rebirth and his death.” She approached me and handed me a silver dagger, which appeared out of mid-air. The handle was designed in unusual gold swirls, matching the ones that Suraga had on her face. “To protect yourself with.” 

I shook my head. “No, I...” 

She turned away from me. “Go, before you drown, and then I will have your soul, no fault of mine.” 

The water started to close in, splashing against my boots. I stuck the dagger in the band of my trousers and raced toward the golden door as the water closed in. 

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About the author:

Aoife Marie Sheridan is twenty eight years of age. She lives in Kells, Co. Meath, a small town just outside Navan. Aoife was raised in Navan but left with her family at the age of sixteen. Aoife has always had a passion for writing but mostly poetry. This is her first time to write a novel. 

Aoife Marie Sheridan studied Accountancy and qualified as an accountant technician. She worked in this profession for several years but with the economic downturn she was made redundant. 

Aoife Marie Sheridan now spends endless hours reading and writing.

Aoife Marie Sheridan’s first novel Eden Forest placed first in writers got talent.

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