“We need to talk,” Tal said. Then I knew it was going to go badly. ‘We need to talk’ is the conversational equivalent of walking into your basement without turning on the light, on a dark and stormy night, when a known psychopath is on the loose. You might as well cut to the chase and slit your own throat.
Chloe Diaz assumed three things: that when Tal said that she was one of The People sent from heaven to maintain the cosmic balance, it was code for ‘I’m a pamphlet distributing, incense burning, religious weirdo;’ that the gorgeous Seth Wilks would never be her soul mate and that she’d never have to choose between them. Chloe was wrong.
Now the future of the world is in her hands, but what if price is too great to pay?
Praise for Life in the Palace
I loved this world that Catherine Green created. I happily lost myself in the life & deep love between Chloe & Seth …..I loved the attention to detail, the fleshing out of the world around them, the obvious growth of all the characters… Even the heartbreaking choices made at the end.
Book two I cannot wait to read! – Ebon Darkmyth on Smashwords
Loved it, great story line, fun characters and after reading it and thinking deeply about the duality of our lives, it made my prayers come alive! – Rebecca Wittenstein on Amazon.com
This book introduces you to a whole host of characters that you want to meet in real life. ….The action keeps you reading, while the budding love between Seth and Chloe makes you breathless. A great read. – Cypora Cohen on Amazon.co.uk
I considered protesting that I wasn’t trying to do any Service, I just liked spending time with the elderly. I was about to give some bland response she would have seen straight through, when Tal saved me by walking through the door guitar in hand.
She smiled when she saw me, “Oh good, you made it. We’re in for a treat today. Gal and Dava came today too.”
Her brother and the chick with the mousy brown hair that was at their house for the Dinner wandered over to the little stage area. In actual fact, it was just where Marian had cleared away some of the chairs, but it was as close to a stage as any one was going to get in the activities room. Gal pulled up two extra chairs for them and they took their places. Jov waved hello at me as he took his place.
Marian seemed to have disappeared so Cale just started playing. It was the same opening number as always, the one that seemed like a prayer. Now that the music and the setting were familiar, I felt brave enough to try sliding my mind with Tal’s. I couldn’t get a clear picture. There were swirls of pink and sunflower yellow. Something beautiful was happening but I couldn’t tell what.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Hols staring at me again. After a minute she seemed to make a decision. “They’re thanking He Who Gives for life and for enabling us to make the Service,” she whispered.
I guess she really wasn’t deaf because she pitched her comment exactly right for me to hear clearly but for no one else to overhear. I nodded and smiled. I didn’t want to say anything and break my concentration.
When the song ended, it felt like a curtain had dropped over the stage. As Dava began singing the next song, it was obvious that we had changed scenes. Her voice was spectacular. The notes seemed to weave higher and higher as Tal, Noy and Jov harmonized and Gal strummed the guitar. I didn’t recognize the language. The song itself sounded as old as time. The melody flowed up mountains and across oceans. I was almost lulled to sleep. In contrast, Mrs. Hols was remarkably alert. I vaguely wondered if I’d eaten too much lunch. Another thirty seconds and I’d have been asleep. Later it occurred to me that was the point. Just as my eyes closed, the attack came.
It started with a feral snarl somewhere to my left. For a second I saw Tal still strumming her guitar, Dava and Noy were still singing, and Cale’s hands didn’t even pause on the piano. Like a badly developed photo superimposed on their calm performance, I saw each straighten and clasp their weapons for battle. Dava pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back as a bow materialized in her hands. Behind her Tal gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands. Cale readied his spear. A low rumbling that was almost more threatening than the original snarl announced the enemy getting closer and closer. This beast was in no hurry to attack. A matching snarl from the right made it clear that they were in no hurry to attack.
When they came into view, I realized that my hands were trembling. This was no species that walked the face of the earth. It was big like a bear with a face like a wolf, but no wolf was that big, no bear that light on its feet. Its fur was jet black, only emphasizing the double row of bared teeth. The jaw looked large enough to snap a person in two. With heads cocked to one side, they stopped about five meters away and looked the defenders up and down.
Tal was white with fear. Jov looked like he was about to throw up. Apparently they had never seen anything like it either. I could tell they were thinking what I was thinking: how the hell were they going to defeat these things and still walk away? I remembered what Tal had told me, if you die in the Palace, you die in the physical world too.
Am I just supposed to sit here and watch them die?
I looked around wildly and nearly fell out of my chair. When I took my focus off the immediate battle scene, I was still in the beige walled old age room. The elderly were all still sitting there in their chairs; some of them were still clapping. Mrs. Hols was muttering something under her breath. I stared at her.
She looked up, “Just keep clapping, dearie. We don’t want Marian to notice anything funny going on.”
Anything funny going on? My friends were about to be mauled to death by some quasi-mythical beasts and we were worried about Marian getting the wrong impression.
I opened my mouth to say something.
“Don’t worry love, we’re on it.”
If I had retained power over my body, I might have slapped her. Instead I just watched. I hadn’t noticed that she was holding a small book in her hands. I looked from the book to her face.
She paused for breath and said quickly, “Supplications. They need more firepower.”
I felt pressure building in the seat next to me. Mrs. Hols spoke faster and faster, her wrinkled hands flicking the pages as she went. After a lifetime, that was probably no more than half a minute, I thought I saw an ax head hover in front of her.
I looked back to the battle. The beasts were inching closer. Suddenly two things happened, the color returned to Tal’s cheeks, and she seemed to grow taller. At the same time a heavy wooden stick with a double headed axe appeared in her hands. I didn’t dare look at Mrs. Hols, but it seemed like the extra firepower had arrived. The others now also brandished new weapons. Presumably, all of the other elderly were busy doing what they could.
My heart began to beat again. Now they might actually win. At least they might walk away from it alive. Do those things ever just retreat? I’m not sure if I missed the signal but one the beasts leapt in attack. Dava shot off her arrow, hitting the left beast in the eye. It didn’t pause for a second. Noy was closest to its giant paws. As the thing bore down on her, she ducked and rolled under it. Tal swung the pike and the axe lodged behind its left ear. She jumped to the side, retrieving her pike and swinging wildly again as soon as it was free from the beast’s flesh. Noy had disappeared but as the beast reared suddenly in the air, I saw her roll out from underneath it, a bloody dagger in her hand.
On the other side, Dava seemed to be holding the beast at bay with a barrage of arrows. Cale flexed his muscles and hurled a spear into the side of the attacking animal. I counted five other spears still lodged in its hide, making it look like a really angry pincushion. Gal held a large sword, but he could hardly get close enough to use it. Jov was creeping around to the side of the snarling animal. Just as it looked like he might get close enough to attack - it wheeled around and sent him flying with one flick of its head. Jov landed awkwardly and seemed unable to get up again.
Even with the extra firepower, it wasn’t working. They were only just managing to hold them at bay. Do they just keep going until they drop from exhaustion? A quick glance around me showed that the elderly were still doing their thing. For every spear Cale threw another arrived in his hands but it didn’t seem to be enough. My mouth was dry and I had to remind myself to breath.
Would You really let them die here with everyone watching? What about Marian? What would happen? Would they just drop dead here in the middle of the activities room? Would they do an autopsy? How would anyone explain away five young people just dying in the middle of the afternoon?
I didn’t want to watch the battle, but I couldn’t draw my eyes away. They were going to get massacred and I was just sitting and watching. As I felt despair washing over me, something changed. At first I didn’t see him, I just saw the shift in their posture. I registered surprised and relief.
“About time,” Mrs. Hols whispered under her breath.
Soon I saw what they were all looking at. The beasts moved closer to each other and further away from the approaching horse. I skipped that horsy stage when I was younger, but this thing was certainly not My Little Pony. Its hazel flank glistened, standing at least as tall as the black beasts. It moved with the calm of a body builder breaking up a playground fight. The beasts still snarled but the edge had gone out of their menace.
It took me a while to realize the most unusual thing about the approaching horse; it had a rider. In all the times I’d seen the Palace through Tal’s eyes, the animals had been the forces of the Adversary. The regal figure in robes rode the glistening horse like a farmyard pet. His sword was blinding as he drew it from beside him. With a tiny twitch of his heel the horse surged forward. With one swoop, the head of the first beast lay on the floor and the return thrust finished off the second. As suddenly as it had started, it was over. The hood of the rider’s long mauve robes covered his face, but he seemed to bow to Tal and the others before he too disappeared.
My head pounded as the pictures snapped back into one and the activities room returned to being the only thing I saw. Gal wiped his brow, Tal shot me a smile of relief. Dava held one long note as she ended the song I hadn’t heard, continuing in the present. The elderly clapped with extreme enthusiasm. Their shining eyes made it clear they were acknowledging a job well done in more ways than just singing.
EXCERPT
I considered protesting that I wasn’t trying to do any Service, I just liked spending time with the elderly. I was about to give some bland response she would have seen straight through, when Tal saved me by walking through the door guitar in hand.
She smiled when she saw me, “Oh good, you made it. We’re in for a treat today. Gal and Dava came today too.”
Her brother and the chick with the mousy brown hair that was at their house for the Dinner wandered over to the little stage area. In actual fact, it was just where Marian had cleared away some of the chairs, but it was as close to a stage as any one was going to get in the activities room. Gal pulled up two extra chairs for them and they took their places. Jov waved hello at me as he took his place.
Marian seemed to have disappeared so Cale just started playing. It was the same opening number as always, the one that seemed like a prayer. Now that the music and the setting were familiar, I felt brave enough to try sliding my mind with Tal’s. I couldn’t get a clear picture. There were swirls of pink and sunflower yellow. Something beautiful was happening but I couldn’t tell what.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Hols staring at me again. After a minute she seemed to make a decision. “They’re thanking He Who Gives for life and for enabling us to make the Service,” she whispered.
I guess she really wasn’t deaf because she pitched her comment exactly right for me to hear clearly but for no one else to overhear. I nodded and smiled. I didn’t want to say anything and break my concentration.
When the song ended, it felt like a curtain had dropped over the stage. As Dava began singing the next song, it was obvious that we had changed scenes. Her voice was spectacular. The notes seemed to weave higher and higher as Tal, Noy and Jov harmonized and Gal strummed the guitar. I didn’t recognize the language. The song itself sounded as old as time. The melody flowed up mountains and across oceans. I was almost lulled to sleep. In contrast, Mrs. Hols was remarkably alert. I vaguely wondered if I’d eaten too much lunch. Another thirty seconds and I’d have been asleep. Later it occurred to me that was the point. Just as my eyes closed, the attack came.
It started with a feral snarl somewhere to my left. For a second I saw Tal still strumming her guitar, Dava and Noy were still singing, and Cale’s hands didn’t even pause on the piano. Like a badly developed photo superimposed on their calm performance, I saw each straighten and clasp their weapons for battle. Dava pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back as a bow materialized in her hands. Behind her Tal gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands. Cale readied his spear. A low rumbling that was almost more threatening than the original snarl announced the enemy getting closer and closer. This beast was in no hurry to attack. A matching snarl from the right made it clear that they were in no hurry to attack.
When they came into view, I realized that my hands were trembling. This was no species that walked the face of the earth. It was big like a bear with a face like a wolf, but no wolf was that big, no bear that light on its feet. Its fur was jet black, only emphasizing the double row of bared teeth. The jaw looked large enough to snap a person in two. With heads cocked to one side, they stopped about five meters away and looked the defenders up and down.
Tal was white with fear. Jov looked like he was about to throw up. Apparently they had never seen anything like it either. I could tell they were thinking what I was thinking: how the hell were they going to defeat these things and still walk away? I remembered what Tal had told me, if you die in the Palace, you die in the physical world too.
Am I just supposed to sit here and watch them die?
I looked around wildly and nearly fell out of my chair. When I took my focus off the immediate battle scene, I was still in the beige walled old age room. The elderly were all still sitting there in their chairs; some of them were still clapping. Mrs. Hols was muttering something under her breath. I stared at her.
She looked up, “Just keep clapping, dearie. We don’t want Marian to notice anything funny going on.”
Anything funny going on? My friends were about to be mauled to death by some quasi-mythical beasts and we were worried about Marian getting the wrong impression.
I opened my mouth to say something.
“Don’t worry love, we’re on it.”
If I had retained power over my body, I might have slapped her. Instead I just watched. I hadn’t noticed that she was holding a small book in her hands. I looked from the book to her face.
She paused for breath and said quickly, “Supplications. They need more firepower.”
I felt pressure building in the seat next to me. Mrs. Hols spoke faster and faster, her wrinkled hands flicking the pages as she went. After a lifetime, that was probably no more than half a minute, I thought I saw an ax head hover in front of her.
I looked back to the battle. The beasts were inching closer. Suddenly two things happened, the color returned to Tal’s cheeks, and she seemed to grow taller. At the same time a heavy wooden stick with a double headed axe appeared in her hands. I didn’t dare look at Mrs. Hols, but it seemed like the extra firepower had arrived. The others now also brandished new weapons. Presumably, all of the other elderly were busy doing what they could.
My heart began to beat again. Now they might actually win. At least they might walk away from it alive. Do those things ever just retreat? I’m not sure if I missed the signal but one the beasts leapt in attack. Dava shot off her arrow, hitting the left beast in the eye. It didn’t pause for a second. Noy was closest to its giant paws. As the thing bore down on her, she ducked and rolled under it. Tal swung the pike and the axe lodged behind its left ear. She jumped to the side, retrieving her pike and swinging wildly again as soon as it was free from the beast’s flesh. Noy had disappeared but as the beast reared suddenly in the air, I saw her roll out from underneath it, a bloody dagger in her hand.
On the other side, Dava seemed to be holding the beast at bay with a barrage of arrows. Cale flexed his muscles and hurled a spear into the side of the attacking animal. I counted five other spears still lodged in its hide, making it look like a really angry pincushion. Gal held a large sword, but he could hardly get close enough to use it. Jov was creeping around to the side of the snarling animal. Just as it looked like he might get close enough to attack - it wheeled around and sent him flying with one flick of its head. Jov landed awkwardly and seemed unable to get up again.
Even with the extra firepower, it wasn’t working. They were only just managing to hold them at bay. Do they just keep going until they drop from exhaustion? A quick glance around me showed that the elderly were still doing their thing. For every spear Cale threw another arrived in his hands but it didn’t seem to be enough. My mouth was dry and I had to remind myself to breath.
Would You really let them die here with everyone watching? What about Marian? What would happen? Would they just drop dead here in the middle of the activities room? Would they do an autopsy? How would anyone explain away five young people just dying in the middle of the afternoon?
I didn’t want to watch the battle, but I couldn’t draw my eyes away. They were going to get massacred and I was just sitting and watching. As I felt despair washing over me, something changed. At first I didn’t see him, I just saw the shift in their posture. I registered surprised and relief.
“About time,” Mrs. Hols whispered under her breath.
Soon I saw what they were all looking at. The beasts moved closer to each other and further away from the approaching horse. I skipped that horsy stage when I was younger, but this thing was certainly not My Little Pony. Its hazel flank glistened, standing at least as tall as the black beasts. It moved with the calm of a body builder breaking up a playground fight. The beasts still snarled but the edge had gone out of their menace.
It took me a while to realize the most unusual thing about the approaching horse; it had a rider. In all the times I’d seen the Palace through Tal’s eyes, the animals had been the forces of the Adversary. The regal figure in robes rode the glistening horse like a farmyard pet. His sword was blinding as he drew it from beside him. With a tiny twitch of his heel the horse surged forward. With one swoop, the head of the first beast lay on the floor and the return thrust finished off the second. As suddenly as it had started, it was over. The hood of the rider’s long mauve robes covered his face, but he seemed to bow to Tal and the others before he too disappeared.
My head pounded as the pictures snapped back into one and the activities room returned to being the only thing I saw. Gal wiped his brow, Tal shot me a smile of relief. Dava held one long note as she ended the song I hadn’t heard, continuing in the present. The elderly clapped with extreme enthusiasm. Their shining eyes made it clear they were acknowledging a job well done in more ways than just singing.
Download a FREE copy now!
Goodreads ** Amazon * Barnes & Noble ** Smashwords
About the author:
Catherine Green writes fantasy books featuring religious characters in a brazen attempt to make the people in faith communities seem less weird. She lives with her husband, children and three marginally neglected goldfish. When she's not writing, or pretending to be one of her characters on Facebook, she has been known to cook dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment