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Prince of New Avon

by Willow Skye Robinson

430 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1007; ISBN 1-4120-0637-6; US$32.50, C$37.00, EUR27.00, £19.00

They're royalty, they're beautiful, they're newlyweds and they're nowhere near human. And neither is the monster trying to devour them. An adventure of danger, discovery, rock-and-roll, and fancy.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpt      Catalogue Information

About the Book

Bruce was the happiest pegasus in the seven worlds. As Master Wizard and Prince of New Avon, he ruled scores of outlying herds and commanded North America's most powerful source of magic: Mornwing Upwelling. He was young and handsome and newly life-mated to Alcyon Skydance Galeryon of the Far Isles, the most beautiful Pegasian princess he had ever seen.

As we humans say, Bruce had it made. Then, suddenly: Transfer orders! His ancestral dimension was slated to be downsized to dandle fluff by the Great Herdmaster and the Council of Greater Sentient Species.

As if that weren't enough, his gorgeous little princess became a headstrong, power-hungry nag, and then Bruce blundered into the arms of a very powerful, very inept witch. The woman most foully Enchanted him, and her polluting touch forced Alcy, her annoying firedrake Maitland, and Bruce into exile in the mundane.

Imagine! Pegasian Royalty in a stall! That's where the trio had to take refuge, though, thanks to Laura Hennessey LaCroix whose commands required Bruce to use every last ounce of magic and all his Powers—invisibility, mimicry, flight, telepathy, and Inspiration—to obey her or die. Thrown into the world of men, Bruce became an outlaw, lost his principality, and open a gifted man to dark and dangerous Powers.

And, while Alcy and Bruce struggled just to stay alive, an evil, shape-changing monster declared war on them, their humans, and all of mankind!

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About the Author

Willow Skye Robinson is a resident of Michigan, but for more than twenty years, she and her two children lived in many different states as her husband, a career Army officer, was transferred from base to base.

In spite of frequent moves, Willow earned a teaching degree and went to work. Though she put in long days, she always found time to write, and she published many of the short stories that she created for her students and for her kids. Bruce the pegasus emerged as the bruised and battered hero of many of these stories, and Willow's family finally demanded a full-fledged book about the problem-plagued prince. When Willow and her husband retired and moved to west-central Michigan, they built a cabin on the shores of the mighty, magic Muskegon River, and Willow got busy with that book.

Though writing takes up most of her time, Willow is also a vocalist, musician, and composer. She has released three albums and has begun composing the fourth, due out this summer of 2004.

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Excerpt

Chapter Two

Bellowing, I tore myself free of the downward spiral and powered after my disappearing mate and her attacker. The horrid creature rocketed up out of the darkness, fangs flashing, scales glittering, tail fins whistling wickedly through the air. It skirled like a pack of evil, anarchistic bagpipers as it oriented on me.

I hovered, increased levitation, and tented my wings. I Gathered a Wielding to attack, but before it was completed, Alcy sizzled past me and cut me off. She shrilled, "NO! Bruce! It is my 'drake! Lady Maitland, get hold of yourself! What are you doing outside Glade? Phase out this instant!"

A pair of huge, glowing, orange eyes blinked in the darkness. The phosphorescent creature swallowed loudly, then said, "Y-yes, M'lady! P-please forgive." Claws, legs, sinuous body, and feathery-scaled wings disappeared first, and then the fish-like dorsal spikes. Finally, Maitland's smooth-scaled, sharp-snouted head winked out. Little plumes of glowing, green smoke whirled away on the sudden gust of humid wind that ruffled the crowns of the dark trees below us.

The magic I had Gathered began to burn my insides; it lurched and snorted to be free. It was too far formed to reabsorb. Cursing, I pulled my wings apart and threw the half-formed Wielding into the trees. A bolt of blue-and-silver lightning blasted the top off an age-twisted pine.

"I should have let you have that Wielding!" I shouted above the rising wind. "Were it not for the pleading of the princess, you would be nothing but a greasy spark right now!"

The orange eyes doubled in size, while the firedrake jittered and whirled until Alcy sharply commanded, "Explain yourself, you fool of a 'drake, or my prince will Wield punishment, and no escape for you!"

"My lord, my lady," Maitland began in her obnoxious voice. "Oh, 'tis terrible! Two brute men are attacking a helpless woman and her tyke! Claws! I was waiting for you, M'lady, and I heard . . . "

"You heard? Inside Glade?" I demanded.

"Well, no," the she'drake dithered, "Y'see, I was just outside the Gate—but no farther, I swear. I was that worried about my Princess Alcy being out in the mundane, I just could not stay in Glade alone, no knowing . . ."

"Finish the story, 'drake!" Alcy said sharply. So, now she knew how it felt t o be disobeyed.

"W-well, I heard the screams and I had to see. Oh, Sire, they may be murdering the woman as we speak! Zurkies! Who knows why these humans are so near Glade this time of night, but there! And tonight of all night, this being Downssend and all!" she wailed, a pale cloud of steam outlining her in spite of the breeze. So much for invisibility.

I hissed, "Idiot 'drake! Mind your smoke! Speak quietly!" Then to Alcy: "Princess, you and your ornamental will return to Glade at once while I see to this."

The ether rippled as Alcy 'pathed a shielded command to Maitland, and the 'drake's aura sped into the night. Then Alcy rounded on me. "And why must you take care of it? This park is not yours to protect any more. If you Mornwing males and your Patrols had not insisted on flitting about, playing hero every time some stupid humans threatened one another, we would all still be living happily in Glade instead of having the Council order us off to some obscure principality in the desert!"

Alcy flapped to regain her balance, and she finished coldly, "Do as we Galeryons do: let the humans take care of themselves! That is what their patrols are for and . . ."

She gasped, and suddenly every nerve in my body sparked fire. In an instant, the sensation was gone, leaving a jangling buzz in my head. Alcy's glowing amethyst eyes widened, and she shrilled, "Bruce! Did you feel that? Some kind of Power just . . ."

Below us, rough shouts and hysterical screams drowned out the rest of Alcy's words. A dog's tortured howl tightened my hide. No time to waste! Beneath the roiling, black treetops, Death stalked the innocent!

As I slid into a dive, I shouted, "Someone is being murdered! Mornwings protect their subjects! Begone! Back to Glade! Obey!"

But, true to form, Alcy did not obey. Blue wings rippling, she hurtled down with me, crying, "Bruce! You must not go! There is something bad on the wind; in the ether! Stop!"

I felt it, too, knew that Alcy was right, but I was unable to resist the unnatural pull of the human woman's screams. "Lady, go home!" I screeched. I was caught in something I could not escape; Alcy must not be caught as well!

Alcy called to me again, but her voice was lost in the roar of the wind in my ears and in the alarmed pounding of my own heart.

I plunged into the tops of the trees, landed, phased out and was pulled headlong through the underbrush, roaring like a beast to scare the thugs away, but the woman's chilling cries drowned me out. Stinging from many cuts, I clambered to the edge of a clearing and peeked through the trees. There, surrounded by shadow-haunted pines, two hulking men menaced a human female who crouched beside the limp body of a huge, coal-black dog. Sobbing, she cradled the animal's head in her lap.

The bigger of the two men yanked the woman savagely to her feet by her hair and backhanded her across the face. Instantly, rage consumed me, and before I could resist the urge, I Gathered a Wielding for attack.

The woman gasped and struggled. The bully slapped her again, growling, "That's for putting your dog on me! Now, what kinda' money ya' got!" His body pressed against her, his face twisted into a bestial grimace, he seized the front of her coat and tore it open.

She screamed, and for a wingbeat, the scene was suspended, frozen by an icy wind that stabbed to my bones, to my heart. Then foreign Power crackled through me; tore my Wielding away from me, and replaced it with a raw current of hatred. As I was swept forward, I struggled to Wield a Counterspell against the alien will.

It was no use. Suddenly, all thought was gone. Evil throbbed in my head. I shot into the clearing, roaring, "KILLKILLKILL!" As I sank my invisible teeth into the attacker's hand and felt the bones crack, raw, animal joy fired through me.

The man howled in agony, looking with dumb terror at his mangled hand. Dropping the woman, he whirled to face his enemy, but found nothing. A nothing which butted his jiggling gut and shouted in his filthy ear, "You sssstinking coward! I can tear you throooat out, and you will never know what got youuuuu!"

My cloven hooves knifed down onto the man's foot; my head smashed into his face. The gout of blood that instantly poured from his crushed nose wickedly aroused me.

Lit by the mottled moonlight, his eyes widened, dark centers contracting to tiny, black dots. His mouth twisted in a shriek of mindless terror. He tore himself free of me, fell, rolled upright and in spite of his ruined feet, he ran into the brush.

I spun on my forehooves and delivered a magic-enhanced kick so savage that it lifted the second man off the ground and dropped him into thick, stabbing brambles. Charging forward, I slammed my forehooves into his chest.

Destruction, death, revenge filled my heart. Hatred flowed in my veins instead of blood. I was a creature foreign and horrible. Not since the death of Tristan had I been so filled with murderous rage.

As the broken man below me writhed in anguish. His gurgling cries slowly seeped through my haze of insanity. His filth was revolting, his brutality against the woman begged for vengeance, yet he was human. And I was a Mornwing Prince, sworn to protect all in my domain, pegasus or otherwise. Hauk's Mane! What was I thinking? I could not kill this human, however depraved he was!

Gasping for breath, I shifted my weight to my hindquarters, not sure what to do with the man. I shivered. Slowly the night came back to me; the woman's quiet weeping, the dog's feeble answering whines; beneath my hooves, the thug's labored breathing and grunts of pain; leaves rustling in a damp wind. In the distance, thunder rolled and clouds striped the moonlight.

I took another breath. The strange compulsion that drew me to this horrible clearing suddenly released me. Abruptly, a new, unbearable urgency replaced the bloodlust. The night was wearing on, and Alcy and Maitland needed me in Glade. The Downsending awaited; the hour was almost here!

Still invisible, I backed off, out of reach of the man's knife should he take a blind, parting swipe, but he was only too glad to escape the dark and bloody glen.

Shaking, I watched him go. What had possessed me, rushing in like that; tearing into two humans and revealing, if not my form, then certainly my existence? In all my reign as Prince of New Avon, I had never done anything so blatantly against the hard, fast Rules of Council. Sharp fear stabbed through my chest, followed by an overwhelming need to be away. I had to get to Glade and perform the ceremony! Alcy had been right; I should have left the humans to their fate!

I prepared to levitate, but glanced at the woman huddling in the fitful moonlight. She was shaken but unhurt. The dog was rousing and would be able to walk soon. Surely, she could find the path just on the other side of the trees. The thugs were long gone and still running, no doubt. They would not trouble her again.

Prickling with warning and the all-consuming need to be away, I thought, What of her! What of her! I have fulfilled my duty! I cannot breathe one more breath of this foul city or this cursed glen!

Frantically, I snapped my wings open for takeoff, but the woman spoke. Instantly that silky thread of voice held me tighter than a steel cable. An overpowering sense of doom twisted my guts.

"Please," she said, "Please, I know someone's still there! Don't go!"

I managed a rough, human whisper. "You are safe. The path is just behind those trees. Stay on it to the main road. Police patrol will help you I MUST go!" I quickly faced into the rising wind to launch.

"But you don't understand! I'm blind!" the woman cried. "Othello here could guide me in the daytime, but he's hurt, and . . .and there's a storm coming, and . . ." she gasped. "And I'm scared, all right? Help me!" Her voice became shrill as she continued, "What is this! One minute, you're Robin Hood, and the next you're abandoning me! You can't just leave me here like this!"

While she stared into the night, waiting for me to answer, I struggled to leave. But I was trapped, as surely as if the solid earth had turned to quicksand around my hooves. The sweat froze on my hide.

The woman shouted again and waved her arms. Suddenly a black fog ebbed and flowed on the edges of my vision.

This is impossible! I thought in rising panic. The woman is Gathering! But she has no aura of Magic! Where. . .who is it coming from?

"N-no! Let me go . . . !" I whispered, but the sound barely left my mouth.

"Hey! I get it! You want money! You jerk! Well, don't worry, I have it! Look!"

She dug into the pockets of her coat, fumbled frantically, yanked out a small purse, and threw it toward where she thought I was. "Take it! It's all I have!" Angry tears glinted in a lightning flash.

As thunder answered the flash, the dog suddenly heaved itself to its feet; its white-ringed eyes stared wildly and let loose a howl that froze my blood. Hackles bristling he backed against his mistress as a wave of fear flooded the glen. The dog knew! Something horrible was coming! Evil was on the wind. A thickening Power roiled between the trunks of the trees, filled the small, breathless space of the clearing, wrapped around my neck and started squeezing.

The ether tore asunder, the dog howled, and with a sickening lurch, the clearing disappeared! Suddenly, I found myself on a frozen plateau ringed by jagged, black mountains. In the lightning's strobing glare, the woman became a towering figure, hooded and robed in arcane fire. The dog at her side grew into a huge wolf, its eyes and fangs glowing as crimson as fresh blood.

After a few wingbeats of total, choking blackness, the lightning flared. Once more the frail, shivering woman and her bedraggled dog stood in the mundane clearing. Panic fused me to the ground as the explosions of light threw the clearing repeatedly into a realm of ancient evil, then back to the mundane world.

Heavy rain now pelted the forest, the cold, driven raindrops like gunshots in the old leaves. The air was acrid with ozone. In the steadily rising gale, the woman's long hair whipped about her like flame.

Witch-to-woman-to-witch-to-woman, she cried into the storm, "Answer me! I know you're still there; I can feel you!"

The massive dog—wolf—growled murderously, straining at his leash. The woman stumbled forward, and finally halted the beast so close to me that his burning breath seared my neck.

Every nerve, every instinct screeched, Fly! Dangerdangerdanger! But, I was turned to stone. With an ear-numbing roar, the sky split open; a blinding wedge of fire exploded a great tree into white flame. Screeching in terror, the woman hurled herself forward.

Her face a stark mask of black and white planes, her reaching hands chiseled, ivory claws, she fell toward me through the flickering dimensions. My will was swallowed up in deadly, immobile fascination. All sound and sensation and time hung suspended.

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Catalogue Information

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