Heeled shoes click along a cobblestone path in the gardens of the extravagant school grounds of Darr-Kamo. A teenage girl carrying a quill and a sheet of parchment approaches another girl who’s sitting down reading a book.
Genetta: Hello, I’m Genetta, covering news around the school, would you mind if I ask you a few questions?
Aireyal (looks up nervously from her book): Me?
Genetta: Absolutely! You seem like a clever apprentice mage. What’s that book curled under your arm?
Aireyal: I-it’s u-uh, a magic book.
Genetta (laughs): This is Darr-Kamo, where the best and brightest young mages go, so I would certainly hope so. What kind of magic book is it though, if you don’t mind me asking?
Aireyal: It’s a-about fire m-magic.
Genetta: You’re doing a lot of stuttering. Don’t worry, there’s nothing to be afraid of. By the way, I don’t believe I got your name, Miss…
Aireyal: Ando. Aireyal Ando.
Genetta: As in Grandmage June Ando’s daughter?!
Aireyal: (cringes): Yes.
Genetta: (feels around her pockets): Then you must be doing some incredible fire magic. I may have some red fey dust around if you’d like to demonstrate.
Aireyal: (shakes head vigorously)
Genetta: Oh well, it would’ve been a spectacle for sure. Anyhow, on to the true purpose of this interview. How do you feel about Darr-Kamo taking away several dances off the school calendar this year?
Aireyal: It’s m-my first year, so I’m not really sure.
Genetta: Oh, come now, you must have some kind of opinion on the subject. That means less time kissing cute boys.
Aireyal: (covers face with hands before blushing furiously)
Genetta: Or are you more of a girl kisser?
Aireyal: (mumbling, still covering her face): A-are you sure this is important for me to say?
Aerial
Genetta: Inquiring minds would love to know.
Aireyal: No one wants to know a-about me.
Genetta: Miss Ando, everyone wants to know about you. From your fellow students, all the way up to Headmistress Markado. But let’s return to the topic at hand. What does your ideal young man look like? Do you like hair that’s short and cropped or long and luxurious? And what about height? I assume you wouldn’t want him to be too tall, considering your own vertical limitations.
Aireyal: (finally drops her hands from her face): I’m not that short.
Genetta: (scribbles something on her parchment)
Aireyal: What are you writing?
Genetta: I made a note that you like shorter boys with shorter hair.
Aireyal: I do not!
Genetta: So you are more into girls then.
Aireyal: (blushing): I…
Genetta: Don’t fret, Miss Ando, romance is quite alive every year at Darr-Kamo. And young love is such a beautiful and treacherous thing. I’ve spoken with many of your fellow apprentices as well to put together a poll.
Aireyal: A poll?
Genetta: Yes, to find out the most desirable traits according to your peers.
Aireyal: (pauses, before whispering): What are the best traits? Do I have any of them?
Genetta: For me to tell you, I’ll need you to answer one last question for me.
Aireyal: (groans): Very well.
Genetta: Do you prefer a partner to bring you flowers or candy?
Aireyal: That’s a good question (pauses, thinking). How about both?
Genetta: (scribbles down several things, then looks back up and smiles, but says nothing)
Aireyal: What about the most desirable traits?
Genetta: You can find out in the next edition of the school news.
Aireyal: But I thought—
Genetta: Sorry, Miss Ando, but a good story always makes you wait.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Stories By Storytellers
Pages: 440
Word Count: 112,000
If you could change your life by trusting in a stranger… would you?
Erevan has a problem. He grew up on the unforgiving streets of Bogudos and has the scars to prove it. His friend, however, is stuck in jail because of his mistake. But when a suspicious courier offers him a chance to fix things, should he lift his sword and journey across treacherous lands to aid her cause?
Meanwhile, Aireyal has been accepted into the wealthiest and most prestigious magical school in all the land. There’s just one problem. She can’t do magic. But that’s far from the only secret within the walls of Darr-Kamo. And what she discovers might just change the world.
Swordsman & Sorcerer
Scholar & Spiritualist
All four have enemies. And all four need help to get what they want. But help is never free.
What would you sacrifice to get what you most desire?
EXCERPT
Knock. Knock. Both Aireyal’s and her mother’s heads spun toward the door. “Why don’t we take a little break,” her mother said, going to open the door.
Behind it was a boy with light blond hair curled to perfection. His face was pale like he’d sat out in the cold autumn air for too long, though that didn’t stop him from being the most handsome boy Aireyal had ever seen. He stood tall in his purple school uniform which might have been baggy on some but fit his form perfectly. And the sophisticated jerkin was embroidered on its front with the leafy designs of Lanasall’s flag.
Best of all though, the boy was an elf. He had soft, but somehow sharp facial features like elves tended to, unlike the broader, more rugged features of humans. And Aireyal loved the vivid color of elves’ irises. She found them so much more interesting than mundane human eyes like her own. She stared into the twinkling, ocean blue eyes of the boy before her. That is, until those beautiful eyes flitted over to her.
Pump, pump. Her heart raced, so she dashed over the stone floor to a corner of the room, barely in sight. Aireyal pretended to be interested in the contents of her mother’s mahogany table. It was a mess, like the rest of the room. Even the chair behind it was loaded with papers and books. How her mother managed to find anything in here was a mystery. Then again, this was her private study, not her main office that influential people were always in and out of. Which is surely why she had such a curious collection of things atop it. Aireyal risked another glance back at the handsome boy and his eyes met hers again. Pump, pump.
Aireyal snapped her head back down and skimmed over her mother’s table. Pouches of dust, strange colored paper, an ash black egg that was a little smaller than a goose’s. A black egg?
Something flickered in her eye, and she flinched, but it was only a hand mirror, maybe nine inches wide, laid flat against the desk. Its golden-rimmed edges suggested it was expensive. But it was frosted along its glass which… didn’t reflect the room at all.
Instead, the mirror showed what appeared to be a field of wheat shrouded by something too foggy to make out. And for the slightest of moments, a pair of eyes appeared behind the fog. Aireyal reached down to pick up the mirror and wipe the frost from its face.
Sssss. The mirror’s handle was sizzling hot to the touch. Aireyal jumped, startled and her knee slammed into the table, shaking it. The commotion sent the egg rolling until it fell right onto… no, into the mirror, as though the mirror’s glass was a hole.
All of it would’ve been fascinating if Aireyal wasn’t in so much pain. She was unsure whether to attend to her bruised knee or burning hand. Wait. Burning?!
Aireyal screamed as flames scorched her fingers. Agony, like her flesh was being cooked alive. It coursed through her hand into her body. The faint sound of her mother shouting something filled her ears as Aireyal’s knee buckled, sending her tumbling forward. The last thing she heard was an ominous thud and a gut-wrenching shatter…
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Ethan Avery believes in the power of stories. As a child growing up in Ohio, they gave him a chance to see a bigger world, and to hear what life was like for people that didn’t look like him or believe what he did. And now years later, he hopes to do the same for others. For more information on Sword and Sorcery and what Ethan's writing next, please visit www.storiesbyethan.com
