Fellow Travelers: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #2

By Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Moonhawk is a priestess of the Goddess, traveling on quest. Lute is an itinerant magician, specializing in sleight-of-hand and ventriloquism. The two of them meet on the road, and continue on together, down the road, and across lifetimes.

"Where the Goddess Sends," is the story of Moonhawk and Lute's first meeting. "A Spell for the Lost" sees them working, each in their different ways, to solve the mystery of their host's missing daughter. "Moonphase" begins the story of Priscilla Mendoza, consecrated to the Goddess and given the temple Name Moonhawk -- until she accepts her Name's true power.


"Ambitiously creating a complex emotional environment, they pique our curiosity. First rate science fiction adventure" -- Romantic Times

". . .the great excellence lies in the characters" -- Analog

". . .classic space adventure. . .is full of action. . . The world building is outstanding. . ." -- Booklist

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pinbeam Books
• Release date: Jul 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781935224365

Sharon Lee

Sharon Lee has worked with children of various ages and backgrounds, including a preschool, a local city youth bureau, and both junior and senior high youth groups. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and also in psychology. Sharon cares about people and wildlife. She has been an advocate in the fight against human trafficking and a help to stray and feral animals in need.

Book preview

WHERE THE GODDESS SENDS

TIME AGO ONE went out from Circle, sent by the Mother's Own Word. The one was called Moonhawk, and she knew neither the face nor the name of what she went seeking.

The course of Seeking wound through the land and through the seasons and brought Moonhawk to a place that stank of Evil.

It is told that she hesitated at the edge of this place and thought she would not go in. This is the first of the things told here which must without fail be said: Moonhawk thought she would not go in.

At the moment of thinking so, she heard the Voice of the Goddess and the Words were: Enter, thou. Obedient, Moonhawk went forward.

The second thing that must without fail be said is this: Moonhawk was afraid.

* * *

THAT'S MINE.

Lute flashed a grin sideways and upward, chidingly.

Apologies, Noble lady. The bag is mine. It contains the necessities of my trade. The repository of magics, you might say. Dangerous in untutored hands. He gripped the disputed item and straightened, smiling with urbane idiocy.

You will understand my reluctance to place so beauteous a lady as yourself in the slightest peril.

The lady took a breath that brought the principals of her beauty into high display, and thrust out her lower lip.

It's mine.

Noble—

She said, the walking mountain at her side interrupted, that the bag's hers, tricksman. Are you calling Lady Drudae a liar?

Lute sighed inwardly. The intervention of the mountain was as unwelcome as it was inevitable. He made a mental note to curse himself roundly for visiting this Goddess-blasted place at all, and smiled more widely.

It would give me nothing but joy to surrender my bag into the care of the Noble Lady if I did not know that it contains instruments of dread magic. Even now, I might place it in her hands safely, for I should be here to hold her protected. But think, sir, what if I were to leave the bag with the very Noble Lady and withdraw myself and my protection over the boundary of your delightful village, as we all know I must. What then? He affected a shudder. I cannot complete the thought.

It was doubtful that the mountain had ever completed a thought in his life. The lady was more facile.

You say only you can keep me safe from these dangers?

I say it, Noble, and it is veriest truth.

She frowned, then smiled with pretty malice. Why, then, it is simple! Since the bag is mine—and only you may control it—you must be mine, too!

She laughed and clapped her hands.

Take him to the pit, Arto. And leave the bag here.

* * *

MOONHAWK CAME INTO the place of darkness and she was afraid. Still, she held her head high and made her step firm, as befits a Witch-in-Circle, and gazed upon those that crept out from between the thatch-bald hovels with calm eyes and compassion.

Goddess give you good even, she said softly to the one who ventured nearest, though the taste of its emotions sickened her. Terror lanced the creature and it scuttled back to its fellows. The boldest lifted a hand, showing rock.

Moonhawk stopped, anger heating fear. For shame! Is this how you treat a traveler, most blessed of the Mother! I claim travel-right, and mean you no harm.

Travel-right? That was the boldest, rock yet steady. You claim travel-right in Relzda?

If this be Relzda, then I do.

The rock-bearer laughed like another woman's weeping. "If you claim travel-right, you must go to Lady Drudae. I can show the way.'

Moonhawk bowed her head. It is a kindness, sister. My thanks.

No kindness. Your cloak is fine. With no further words, she scrabbled between two lean-together huts.

Listening in vain for the Goddess, Moonhawk followed.

Lady Drudae sat upon a wooden throne in the center of a drafty hall. The floor was dirt and the wall-rugs threadbare. Smoky oil-lamps gave uncertain light. There was a musk of rotting wood.

Come forward. Petulance rather than command. Moonhawk and her guide obeyed.

"Well?'

This one claims travel-right, Noble Lady, gabbled the bold one, not so bold now. I brought her. Her cloak, Noble Lady. My bounty, my—

Shut your horrid mouth!

The rock-bearer did so, bending until her unkempt hair brushed the dirt floor. Moonhawk stood forward, sharpening her eyes in the gloom.

The woman on the throne was beautiful: red-gold hair above a face the unInitiated would claim for the Goddess. The robe of doubtful crimson revealed her breasts, in the manner of Circle robes. But this one was not of Circle.

At the woman's side a man—hulking and muscle-gripped—stood stoic. There was a gash below one eye and a purpling bruise along the line of his jaw.

Well, said the woman again. "Travel-right, is it?

Reviews for Fellow Travelers

[dwwilkin_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Truly a disappointment. Not that all things Liaden have to be good to great, but when most are, and this is not, then you are left wanting something else. Again, $10 for three very short short stories, leaves you with the impression that you have not gotten anywhere near your monies worth. The three stories, Where the Goddess Sends, A Spell for the Lost, and Moonphase deal with Moonhawk or Priscilla Delacroix y Mendoza. Fine, but she is not our present series Korval. Back story to why Liad will be what it will be but so far back that it truly does not have bearing.The first story reminded my of the first part of Longyear work of Baraboo, when the performers are in the wilderness uniting the planet. It didn't feel new, it felt like a rehash of all derivative pieces that the boondocks just are disconnected. The second was worse. A missing person, and our protagonists will of course deduce what happened, but it is clear that the guilty culprits are introduced quickly to us (in so few pages, of course you are going to meet the villian.) The last is the only story that should have been included, and it is the least fleshed out. It is the one that has the most bearing on the series, and we have just a snippet. The authors even discuss that they only wrote it as an exercise for back story and that the first two were meant as fully fleshed short stories.While their other Chap Book might have been worthy of something, here it shows that perhaps all who strive to write, shouldn't also be charged with their own sales. I can't recommend this to any but the die hard Liaden fan.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Three pretty good stories. Two are from the ancient past (well, not as old as the Crystal books!) - Moonhawk and Lute, in their first meeting (battling a crazy village ruler); the same, in a later story, as Lute begins to see some of Moonhawk's 'magic' (trying to find a lost girl - finding her, but no happy ending). The third is Priscilla's story, before the beginning of Conflict of Honors - how she ended up in that alley listening to herself declared dead. They're all rather mystical and fuzzy, but reasonably enjoyable. More detailed reviews on the individual stories.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of three short stories about Moonhawk, a priestess of the Goddess, who in the time contemporary to Val Con yos'Phelium is also Priscialla Delacroiz y Mendoza, and her lover, the magician Lute.

We see the first meeting and adventure of Moonhawk and Lute, and a later episode in which they search for a woman's missing daughter. And finally, we see the events that lead to Priscilla/Moonhawk, centuries later than the earlier stories, to leave the temple, her culture, and the planet.

These stories are wonderful look at the background of a character who becomes very important to Clan Korval in the stories that may be more familiar to most readers. They truly illuminate Priscilla's background and formative experiences.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3 short stories giving background for Priscilla...