Rainbow's Lodestone: Lodestone Tales, #3

By J.M. Ney-Grimm

On a whim, the rainbow's child falls to earth, where a cruel adversary takes advantage of her innocence. Bereft of her thunder-swept heavens, she dwindles. The sky calls to her, but she cannot answer. This transcendent short story of J.M. Ney-Grimm's troll-ridden North-lands explores how inner freedom creates outer opportunities.

Earth trumps heaven until ancient music plays.

(This edition of Rainbow's Lodestone includes its sequel story Star-drake.)


The Lodestone Tales

In the years that came before the ancient days of the North-lands, a brilliant inventor fabricated the lodestones – powerful artifacts that concentrate magical force.

And while men and women walk the earth but a short while, the lodestones persist through centuries and millennia. When they fall into the hands of mortals, history changes.

Follow the lodestones down through the ages as adventure follows adventure, and ordinary folk rise to meet extraordinary challenges.

Skies of Navarys (1)
The Tally Master (1.5)
Resonant Bronze (2)
Rainbow's Lodestone (3)
Star-drake (4)

Although the Lodestone Tales form a rough history, each story stands alone. You need not read them in order.


Praise for Rainbow's Lodestone and Star-drake

"...almost "Tolkienesque"...the stories feel like they're happening on the Earth we know, but long before our recorded history... Despite the fact that it deals with a grim act of mischief, [Rainbow's Lodestone is] a delightful read. The enchanting thing about it is the personification of the Rainbow, and the general attitude she has towards her fate... All in all, these are wonderful stories...Ney-Grimm's unique blend of Nordic fantasy and fairy tale mentality is a refreshing take on the genre, and [her] poetic style of writing (whichever tone she uses) adds a special sheen to the work. I read a lot of fiction, and I can honestly say I've not come across anything quite like this." – James J. Parsons, Speaking to the Eyes


Excerpt from Rainbow's Lodestone

She did not see him, but a rainbow's child might not. The sky was her realm - air and light and wind - with brief visits to earth and the creatures of earth. She pranced and leapt and whirled. She tossed back her head, tresses swirling, and flung her arms skyward. She bent and bowed. She rejoiced in this highland dell.

He threw the lodestone.

It caught the hem of her gauzy gown of light, pinning a sapphire panel to the ground.

Pain. Terror. Shock. Her face registered all these and more.

She tried to straighten, tugging at her dress. It dragged her downward, trapping her against the ground.

She looked up, eyes dilating, pleading in the gesture of one hand.

Now she was seeing him.


About the Author

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands. Look for her novels and novellas at your favorite bookstore - online or on Main Street.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.M. Ney-Grimm
• Release date: Aug 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386855170

J.M. Ney-Grimm

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands. Look for her novels and novellas at your favorite bookstore—online or on Main Street.

Book preview

Rainbow’s Lodestone

~ A LODESTONE TALE ~

includes a bonus story

Star-drake

by J.M. Ney-Grimm

Rainbow’s Lodestone. Copyright © 2012 J.M. Ney-Grimm

Cover photo by Branislav Ostojic / Dreamstime

Star-drake. Copyright © 2012 J.M. Ney-Grimm

For Rachel,

who loves music

Table of Contents

Rainbow’s Lodestone

Star-drake

Author Bio

More Titles by J.M. Ney-Grimm

Rainbow’s Lodestone

At bedtime, all across the North-lands, motters and patters tuck children into bednooks, sit on the edge of the mattress, and tell the story of The Princess and the Troll or The Sea-dragon’s Triumph over the North Wind or The Griffon’s Gift.

This is the tale of the rainbow’s child.

It happened in the days of Koschey the Deathless. He was a mighty troll-lord who governed a secret realm in the vast pine-hill stretches above Giralliya’s north border, somewhere between the Tahdenfiall range in the east and the Iarbaston mountains in the west.

His incantors defeated the sentinels the emperador sent to vanquish him.

And his troll-heralds – his most special envoys – scoured the countryside for wealth to enrich him, for slaves to serve him, and for news of his potential enemies.

The cruelest of his heralds, one Gefnen, who had served Koschey long, was returning from Silmaren alone. His purpose there had been fulfilled, and his satisfaction in bearing news of his success might have given pleasure to a newer troll. But Gefnen was decades into his troll-disease, and nothing brought happiness to him save the deliverance of unhappiness to others.

The weather was stormy.

Gefnen cared little. His troll-blood ran hot in his veins, warding off any chill. And the sodden dampness brought by sheets of rain was merely uncomfortable, not dangerous. He hitched his woolen cloak more securely around his shoulders, tipped his high-crowned hat forward to better shield his eyes, and spurred his horse. The beast had slacked its pace due to the steep grade of the mountain path they followed.

Lightning stabbed ahead, followed by its crack of thunder.

Gefnen’s horse shied, tossing its head, then obeyed his hand on the reins, settling into a faster walk. The wind gusted suddenly, flapping Gefnen’s cloak out behind him. Another curtain of rain turned the path into a rushing stream, foaming around his steed’s hooves.

He paid no heed. The water level would ebb between downpours, and he wanted to reach the other side of the mountain before nightfall.

The storm eventually outpaced him, driven fast into the west by its winds.

He reached the top of the pass perhaps an hour before sunset. The sun was hidden behind the massive cloud bank, but its radiance limned the thunderheads in searing white, streaming