Starsight, Vol. I
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Synopsis:
Trenara never thought she would have to guide a student she loved to become a messiah, but it is the only way this second trial Starguider can salvage her world.
“[Starsight] is one powerful and imaginative fantasy adventure novel with many nice touches...there is magic galore, and challenge galore; nothing comes easy. It's the first of a series, and it should do well...”
Piers Anthony
“Minnette Meador has begun reinventing and redefining the field by page 30 of STARSIGHT, and hasn’t stopped by the final sentence. But there’s more than just novel ideas going on, here; Meador also knows the unfakeable secret of keeping even newcomers turning the pages: care about your characters so much it becomes infectious. This is a Typhoid Mary of a book, from a writer to watch."
Spider Robinson, co-author with Robert A. Heinlein of VARIABLE STAR
Book Excerpt:
The clearing was dark. The sun had taken its last yawn at the sky and nestled beyond the horizon to the west, while the larger of the two moons, Redwyn the Giant, rose stiffly from his slumber in the east and cast a ruby hue over the night. Whilema would soon slip from the waves of the Ethosian Sea and try to drown her brother’s light. Though a great deal smaller, the moon was several times more brilliant. Their battle for the dominion of the night would begin. Neither moon was full that night, allowing the milliard of stars to litter the sky like a thrown handful of magic dust. A night fowl shrieked, a rodent screamed, and then all was very still.
Trenara faced the east with Andelian held high. She closed her eyes and a barely audible chant chimed on the air, the crystal rod beginning to take on an almost imperceptible glow. A single exquisite musical note came from her throat: low, resonating, and perfect. There was a sudden hiss of wind that whipped the guider’s robes around her, and then a blaze of white radiance that flashed through the glade and settled into a frosty glow around the guider’s tall form.
She took a deep breath to ease the tension in her limbs and then sang another high note that floated a long time on the air. It focused the swirling light until she glowed like a white flame. Ecstasy enfolded her face as the power took hold and a radiant expression chased the age and wrinkles away, leaving not a woman, but an ethereal spirit, a shining goddess. When she lowered her eyes to Joshan, they glowed with white-hot fire that painted the young boy’s face with awe.
Trenara’s smile was glorious.
“You like magic, don’t you?” the guider asked, her voice dulcet and reverberating. Joshan nodded mutely. “Then, let’s see if we can conjure some.”
She pointed her scepter just to the right of Joshan’s ear and began her song, so beautiful the boy’s heart skipped a beat. A beam of light escaped the orb with a crackle and stopped where she intended, leaving a white spot no larger than a coin. The beam returned, but the spot remained and began to dance merrily in the darkness to the rhythm of her music. Joshan held his breath and heard a soft tinkling, like suspended glass in the wind.
The air began to fill with tiny dancing lights as Trenara struck fire again and again, until the sound of their music blended with her singing. It became a chorus of delightful bells.
Joshan’s intoxication with the lights grew as he jumped from the rock and began to chase the elusive pseudo stars. They evaded his every move, teasing him mercilessly as they glided between splayed fingers, around his head or through his legs. Trenara’s laughter echoed through the clearing in rippling waves that shook the leaves of the nearby trees.
The lights seemed to be strangely attracted to the boy as they gathered around him like so many moths to a flame. The guider hadn’t given it much thought, however. Ethotic starmoths were an independent lot with likes and dislikes of their own. She remembered vaguely hearing they preferred children to adults. Something about being attracted to purity of heart or that strange, enigmatic quality that youngsters had, which seemed to harden with age.
After the frantic chase, Joshan sat heavily on the grass and Trenara decided to end the chaos. They had a long, hard ride ahead and she didn’t relish the thought of carrying a sleeping prince back to the Keep. Off in the distance she caught the faint sound of horns coming up the cliff walls. The gates would be closed soon.
She lifted her scepter once more and spoke to the starmoths gently. “Come, children, time to go.” Waving Andelian twice, Trenara sang to the wind and one by one, the lights were extinguished. Joshan held out his hands, watching the failing stars sadly, as they brushed his palms in farewell and then sighed when they were gone.
Andelian lost her sheen at once, and Trenara put the via back in her robes. Exhausted, she sat next to the prince and put her arm around his small shoulders. “Well, lad, what did you think?” Joshan was speechless for a moment, but then took the guider’s hand and kissed it.
“Oh, Trenara, that was the most wonderful, the most spectacular… I’ve never seen anything like it. They are—delightful.” Joshan felt it inadequate, but could think of nothing better.
“Perhaps, but the moths can be the devil’s own when they want to be, especially to those they don’t like.” She smiled at an old memory and rose stiffly.
“I’m glad you enjoyed them… and they you. But we need to go. We’ll barely make it back before they close the gates.” She went to Gliding and donned her cloak, throwing the satchel over her shoulder. She turned to Joshan. “Are you coming?”
“In a moment, guider. I just wanted…” His voice was cut off as a strong gust of wind swept from the east, so powerful it threw Trenara into her eecha. Joshan’s eyes widened in terror, and his feet became anchored to the ground. He stood as still as stone, although Trenara was having trouble keeping upright. His mouth hung open at an odd angle, moving as though he were trying to speak, but couldn’t.
“No!” Trenara screamed against the wind. “Not now!” Fear ripped through the guider when she realized what was happening. She cursed the gods for choosing a time when she was unprepared. She had seen first trial several times, but each time the same foreboding took her. Will the child survive the trial? Will my own power be enough? And, strangely… is the child old enough? Never in her experience had the power taken one so young.
She struggled to get to the boy and pulled the still warm Andelian from its place. Joshan went to his knees as Trenara reached him, some silent demand having been given. The guider raised the scepter high above her head. As she placed her free hand on Joshan’s brow, anger welled inside her at this unfortunate turn of events. Here, in the middle of the woods, leagues away from another living soul, there was nothing to help her but her via and her courage. She hoped they would be enough.
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Original Publish Date:
March 15, 2008
Formats and associated ISBNs:
1600760562
Formats:
Paperback, eBook
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