For my readers, just know, I am working on book two of the Earth Mother saga. A lot of work has been put into defining and detailing Tabitha’s world. It is no short process to create histories, myths and legends. With that said, here is Chapter One from the second book tentatively titled Champion of the Light. It picks up right where Book One left off. I will release more and more of these and time passes.
Michael Wigington
(P.S. if you haven’t read Book One of the Earth Mother saga, The Bloodstone Reckoning, you can find a link below.)
The Darkness Rising
Chapter Two
Tabitha sat across the table from Papa and Aarika.
They had spent the day picking up and repairing the damage to the house. Dusk settled on the land and a cold north wind blew. A fire crackled and popped in the fireplace. Their wooden table had been patched back together and Papa’s wounds were on the mend. He chewed his lower lip as Tabitha explained what transpired with Lord Drake and the demon in detail.
“I have had my head soaked in too much ale.” He bowed his head. “I am sorry, Tabitha. I have ignored you, girl and I should not have. You are my heart and soul.”
Tabitha remembered him saying that about her mother and she smiled.
Aarika placed her hand on his and spoke in a soft voice. “Tell her the rest, Garrick.”
“The rest?” Tabitha asked.
“Yes, the rest,” he sighed. “It makes sense now. Tabitha, I have never used your middle name, but your mother and I gave you one.”
More hidden things. She understood he did it to protect her, but no matter what choices he had made there was no safe place. Evil could reach out and touch you no matter what you did or did not know. People did not care who they hurt as long as they got what they wanted. No, hiding things did not help. The only security that exists is the one you make for yourself.
Tabitha cocked her head sideways, “What do you mean it makes sense now?”
“I am getting to that,” he shook his head.
“It is alright, Garrick. She needs to know.” Aarika patted his arm as a tortured expression came over Papa’s face.
“We gave you your mother’s middle name. She said it is a tradition in her family that the women share their middle name. All of them, no matter if the family has one girl or seven. Your full name is Tabitha Ameline Blakemore. I changed our name when we fled Kedgewick. Using your middle name is painful for me. Every day I am reminded of who I lost. I have lived in the shadows of the past too long, Tabby.” Tears brimmed in his eyes as Aarika rubbed his shoulder. “It is time to let go of the past and look to the future.”
Tabitha’s mind reeled. Ameline?
The mage? Dame Mage Ameline? Blakemore? The blanket in her dream with TAB on it.
“Are you saying I am related to Ameline the Mage?”
“She lived in Àrdmond. Her daughter Camella came with her. At least that is what Baba told us. Yes, Tabitha you are a descendant of Ameline the Mage.”
It was all too much. She was related to one of the legends of old? Even her last name, it rolled off her tongue but she did not have any recognition of it.
“Blakemore?” Tabitha asked. It sounded foreign to her. More theft of her life by Lord Drake. He had taken more than she had known. He had robbed her of her mother and Papa, her grandparents, aunts, uncles, maybe even brothers and sisters. The full realization of what he had done was now coming to light. Sadness crept in at her loss, but she had never known these things. It all came back to one decision her mother had made. Strange how one mistake can carry on, and hurt those who remain even when you are gone.
“Yes, that was our last name. We are the Millhouse’s now.”
“Even though the threat is gone? You do not want to change it back?”
“It is only a name, Tabby girl. It is what is here, in your heart, that counts.” He touched his fist to his chest.
Tabitha smiled. She smiled more now. Papa’s new-found happiness brought cheer to her soul.
“I am so proud of you, Tabitha, even though you disobeyed me and ventured too far into the forest. I told you there were things out there beyond you and I.” Papa grinned. “You saved my life, girl. That is a lot of pride for me to swallow. A father is supposed to be his little girl’s hero, not the other way around.”
“I love you, Papa.”
Papa’s white teeth showed as his smile lit up his face, “I love you too, my Tabby girl. You could have gotten yourself killed, but you are stubborn, like your mother.”
Aarika stood, “It is getting darker, I better get back to town and to my room.” She leaned in and kissed Tabitha’s father on the forehead.
He took her hand and held it briefly as he smiled up at her. “Be safe, Lady.” He beamed his big Papa smile at her.
The door slammed, and they were alone.
“Do you love her?”
“I do not know yet, Tabitha. She is wonderful though. I hope she stays, she says she has not made up her mind.”
“I hope she stays too. She makes you happy.” Tabitha smiled at her father.
He stood, “It is time for sleep, girl. Tomorrow I must do what I can to repair the damage you did to the mill.” He winked at her.
She stuck her tongue out and shook her head. “Are we going to go to Kedgewich?”
He turned and looked at her. “Yes, I believe we should. We have kin you need to meet.”
“Kin?”
“Your mother has a brother and two sisters, and I have two brothers.”
“I understand now why you did not tell me, but it hurts not knowing about them for so long. What about my grandparents?”
Papa shook his head. “I am sorry Tabby. Your mother’s father died a long time ago and her mother died a few years later. As for my parents, they are gone too. My mother died giving birth to my brother. My father? I have not seen him for many years. He ran off and I raised my younger brothers. My grandparents helped too.”
“I am sorry, Papa.”
“Ah, it is alright, girl. Ancient history. We will have to get over to Llanwyg and take the long ride over.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Tabby. Now off to sleep.”
Tabitha lay down, looking up at the thatch.
It was over and all had come to be known. So now what would become of her? The mantle of the Earth Mother was hers to bear once Baba was gone. Baba who seemed so eternal, so strong, now Tabitha worried for the old woman. She could not bear the thought of the Earth Mother dying but it seemed inevitable, seemed Baba welcomed it, even wanted it. Death. How it stung to lose those close to you.
Crickets chirped and an owl hooted in the distance. A calm settled over her, sleep came and along with it…dreams.
Tabitha sat at a stone table, and stone walls closed about her. Even the roof of the room she was in…stone. Cold lifedraining gray. Across from her was a man, she could not make out his features. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. He was shaking his head.
“I am disappointed in you, Tabitha,” he said.
His voice revealed his identity. Lord Eldwin Drake. His face came into focus. It was wrinkled, and his skin was shriveled, as he was after she had taken his soul. His mouth was black as night and his eyes held no pupils, just blood swelled veins.
“You could have done more. You could have saved me. You could have…”
“No,” she exclaimed and turned her head. Looking at him repulsed her. “I did as you asked, I freed your soul.”
“Look at me, Tabitha.” His mouth became a rictus, tremors overcame him, and he vomited a flower into his palm. A black rose with a black stem and red thorns. He extended a withered viscous hand to her. “Here, for you.”
Tabitha, trembling, shook her head.
He laughed and let go of the flower. It floated up and dissipated into small bits of ash. His features blurred, and he changed. A creature now sat where Lord Drake had been.
“You should have let me have him,” the creature snarled.
“Camulus?” she questioned. He was vanquished with Lord Drake’s end. He could not be here. “How?”
His fist pounded the table. “Lord Camulus,” he screamed.
She tried to stand but her wobbly legs would not obey her. Her whole body was weak as if she were drugged again.
“Come child, and see what you have wrought.”
The stone around her fell away. It crumbled and cascaded to the ground. All around her was a wasteland. Small leafless trees stood, blackened and lifeless. A small pool of fetid water bubbled close by. Smoke rolled off it and as the bubbles popped, they emitted a foul odor. The ground was black with small sprigs of brown grass here and there. No animals roamed, nor did she expect to see any. A city lay in ruins just beyond the pool. All around her was death and decay. A lone figured tied to a dead tree struggled against his bonds. He was wearing a brown jerkin over a white shirt, brown trousers with cuffed boots. Lord Camulus walked over to him.
“I live like a cur thanks to you and your Earth Mother,” the demon growled. He grabbed the man by the chin. Trembling and fearful the man closed his eyes. Lord Camulus opened his mouth, wide, wider than Tabitha thought was possible. The demon lord inhaled. The man screamed as a white mist so thin Tabitha had to strain to see it, streamed from his face and into Lord Camulus’s mouth.
The man glanced at Tabitha once, his voice a hoarse whisper, “Help me.”
She could not move, her limbs leaden. His scream turned into a wail and the wail into a whimper as the man’s essence left him. His flesh desiccated and wrinkled tightly to his bones.
“Welcome to the Void, Tabitha Millhouse.” Lord Camulus snapped his claw-like fingers. A cacophony of shrieks and shrills shattered the air. She looked around but Lord Camulus was gone. Tabitha drove her arms down into the table and stood. Her knees buckled, and she fell.
Creatures of nightmare from all around closed in on her.
Thousands upon thousands of them. Their flesh was black and red, and any hair they had clung in odd places to their skulls. Dark and tortured skeletal faces with slavering fangs, dripping gore and snapping hooked pinchers that clicked as they ran, drew nearer. The first creature to reach her raised its hook and cried out.
Tabitha screamed.
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Awesome can’t wait to read book #2!!!
We’re getting closer everyday!
Thanks Amy!