The Medusa & The Black Oaks

By Christopher Watson

Revered as the best House Dancer in the southern realms, Tallulah’s skill attracts business from far-off lands. Never called by name, the praise and adulation always falls upon the Golden-Eyed Girl – the masked dancer who never could reveal her monstrous face. Refusing to be denied again, a foreign noble set his men upon the house to steal her away. Tallulah slips their grip and now must find help

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christopher Watson
• Release date: Feb 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781625380319

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

THE MEDUSA & THE BLACK OAKS

Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Watson

Cover art copyright © Andreiuc88 / Dreamstime.com

Book and cover design copyright © 2013 Elsewhere Publishing

Published 2013 by Elsewhere Publishing

Smashwords Edition

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

First Printing, 2013

Electronic Version, 2

ISBN: 978-1-62538-031-9 (Electronic)

ISBN: 978-1-62538-032-6 (Print)

Elsewhere Publishing

http://elsewherepublishing.com

PO Box 145121

Coral Gables, FL 33114

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About the Author

Copyright Information

Dedicated to:

family and friends

mentors and minions

Kay McGarvey

THE MEDUSA & THE BLACK OAKS

YOU MUST!

The smack resonated through the small moss-covered cave and rung Tallulah's ears. She held her stinging cheek. Heat seared in her eyes.

She clamped them shut and recoiled from Lady Cassandra, her second-mother; the only mother she knew. The temperature in her irises peaked and dropped. Almost separate creatures, her serpents awoke and writhed around her shoulders, ready to defend her from further attack.

Through their darting tongues, she could feel the cave's precise temperature. Also, from her snakes, Tallulah knew a family of field mice nested in a nearby hallow. Something instinctual made her mouth water. I will not leave you.

Come over here so I can strike you again, girl.

Leaned against the opposite wall, Tallulah opened her eyes. The dimming full-spectrum colors in the cave had changed to subtle ranges between black and white. The vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds of her mother's traveling cloak were lost; the light colors were nothing more than high registers in a new grayscale world.

Tallulah's saliva washed her mouth again, and she wondered why Lady Cassandra looked so haggard. Just get up, mother. We can make it to Liphlor. Adsf -- a

That is a week's journey-- her mother rolled to pull the small, hurriedly packed sack from beneath her, --and we only have enough food for two days.

But you know the wild berries. Tallulah took the sack. The bottom was a deeper grey and glistened. The smell of the sharp cheese within stirred her hunger further and she tightened her abdomen to squelch the growl. She opened it to see what had spilled. Surely we can forage as we go.

We're being hunted, love. That will not be an option.

Beneath the apples, Tallulah's fingers moved across the damp canvas.