Forgotten Embers: Soul in Ashes, #1

By Shauna E. Black

As an exile studying the healing arts in a foreign land, Alswyn hides the details of her troubled past and the true reason she was banished from her homeland.

But when the king's foreign bride falls prey to a mysterious illness, Alswyn must face the man who ordered her exile and use her knowledge of dark magic to catch the ash sorcerer before the countryside is plunged back into a bitter war.

 

Unfortunately, digging up the bones of Alswyn's past may well prove fatal to her soul.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shauna E. Black
• Release date: Dec 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781940855035

Book preview

Forgotten Embers: Soul in Ashes Book 1

Text copyright, original edition © 2015 Shauna E. Black

Text copyright, revised edition © 2018 Shauna E. Black

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Forgotten Embers / Shauna E. Black

Summary: Alswyn has lived in a cloistered sanctuary for a year, building a new life for herself in the land of her exile. But when King Ghalad's intended bride falls prey to the evil magic of ash sorcery, Alswyn must use knowledge from her dark past to undo the magic before the countryside is plunged back into war.

This is a work of fiction. Settings and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance characters may have to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

To Mrs. Davis

For encouraging a twelve-year-old overachiever to be a writer

ONE

If Koen thought I was staying in the Eagle Castle a moment longer than necessary, he was stark raving mad. I had reminded him so on the way here, several times, in no uncertain terms.

I need your assistance with the bandaging, Koen said as he came up behind me.

I ignored him and wiped the blade of the chopping knife clean, using a rag soaked in lavender oil for disinfectant. The smell battled with the scent of cooking food and turned my stomach.

Koen lowered his voice, hissing his words under his breath. I know you don’t want to be here, Alswyn, but you shouldn’t take it out on the boy.

I apologized, didn’t I? I hissed right back. You didn’t have to send me off to clean up the mess like some orphling just dropped on the Sanctuary steps.

Koen’s jaw bunched in his round face as he ground his teeth. Young lady, you need to improve your bedside manner if you’re ever going to pass the test for journeymaster.

Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, Koen. I mopped up the blood on the cutting board, but the stain was permanent. The board would have to be replaced. You’ve only been journeymaster a few months yourself, and when I turn eighteen at the end of the summer, I’ll pass my exams and deliver a well-deserved kick to your rotund behind.

You’ll never pass those exams if you don’t learn to control your temper.

I scrubbed harder than necessary at the remaining stains. I didn’t do it on purpose! Sometimes the needle catches, that’s all. Besides, the boy’s a milksop. He needs to learn to take it like a man.

Stop expecting everybody to be a battle-hardened psychopath like you.

Fine. I shoved the bloody rag at him, along with a harsh glare. You want to finish this by yourself, be my guest.

He took a deep breath and let it out in an exasperated huff that inflated the already full cheeks in his round face. He looked like a frustrated cherub. Don’t be like that, Alswyn. I brought you along because you’re the best in the Sanctuary at sewing up cuts.

I snorted. You brought me because everybody else is busy tending to the victims of that cave-in at the canal digging site.

That, too. He flashed me one of his innocent smiles, the one that somehow managed to dissolve my anger every time. I felt my emotions break apart like smoke before a stiff breeze.

I rolled my eyes. Can we just be done here and go home before we run afoul of a T’yathan?

We’re in the kitchens, Alswyn. Nobility doesn’t hang out here too often.

You don’t know much about T’yathan nobility.

Koen stuffed the blood-stained rag into a leather pouch at his waist for later cleaning. If you’re so anxious to leave, then come help me bandage the wound.

I took a deep breath and nodded. I turned around with him, facing the rest of the room.

The kitchen of the Eagle Castle was like a vast cavern, made of sandstone bricks scorched on one side by years of smoke from the fire alcoves along that wall. Right now, the place was like a kicked anthill as the castle’s kitchen staff prepared the evening meal. Three long tables were covered in mixing bowls, chopping blocks, and ingredients. Some people cut meat or shelled sunflower seeds, others mixed vegetables to pour into shallow clay dishes and top with cornmeal batter.

At a table with a wash basin, a burly woman in an apron scolded a straggly man with a ruddy complexion and puffs of grey hair like balls of dirty cotton above his ears. He hunched his shoulders against her tirade, but I recognized the fire burning in his eyes. We would be in for it next.

Koen cut through the chaos, making for the center of the room. His blue robe swished around his ankles. I followed as best I could, though my steps were halting. My right leg was missing just below the knee where a wooden support was strapped to the stump. I leaned into an ornate oak crutch on that side. My father made it for me two years ago in a land far north of this one, just

Reviews for Forgotten Embers

[rbarckhaus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good, clean fantasy books for young adults are difficult to find but Out of the Past by Shauna E. Black certainly fits the bill!

The heroine, Alswyn, is crippled, an apprentice healer, and banished from her people. Living in her enemy's territory, she mourns the life she once had. Her mentor, Koen, brings her with him when he goes to treat the king's fiance. In doing so, Alswyn is opened to her past.

Ms. Black does an excellent job with world building. She hints at the complicated political maneuverings that also appear to include gods and goddesses. The revelation at the end has me curious to read the remaining books in the series.

My only quibble was when Alswyn noticed how attractive a certain male character was. I felt it was out of character but I could also understand why it was included, since Alswyn is a teenager and is of an age of noticing that.

As an introduction to a young adult fantasy setting, there are certainly worse!