Taming the Weald

By Lindsey Duncan and TBD

Timid Keryn wants nothing more than to be a mother. Within the Weald–the last bastion of nature on the space station that serves as her home–she encounters Verdant, a daughter of that forest who has somehow survived without parents or community. Keryn tries to prepare the girl for life in the station, but Verdant has strengths and se

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781619505230

Lindsey Duncan

LINDSEY DUNCAN is a life-long writer and professional Celtic harp performer, with short fiction and poetry in numerous speculative fiction publications. She feels that music and language are inextricably linked. She lives, performs and teaches harp in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Contents

Copyright Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

About the Author

Taming the Weald

by Lindsey Duncan

All rights reserved

Copyright © September, 2010 by Lindsey Duncan

Cover Art Copyright © 2010, Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this eBook are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this eBook may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-523-0

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: October 5, 2010

Chapter 1

Keryn pressed her back against the wall under the ventilation pipe and tried to make herself smaller as the three gossips wandered up the space station corridor. Common sense—even the fringes of the Weald were dangerous—warred with the hot flush of embarrassment working up from her stomach.

… third time she has requested a child. The voice belonged to Nila, a cloth-constructor.

Denied?

Of course. The matchers have no time for her.

And she still wants to try?

Of course she did. Keryn didn’t mind if it was a boy or girl, from her genetic stock or not—who would want big feet, a flat face, and coarse, almost colorless hair?—she simply wanted a child.

Hearing Nila’s derisive laughter, Keryn pushed off the wall and rounded the corner. An ominous spectre of green swept out before her. Sneaking tendrils of grasses and flowers gave way to crouching shrubbery and then the trees: dark, deadly giants whose leaves cast shadows more treacherous and uncertain than the comforting black of space.

The fence was perfunctory. Station denizens knew better than to enter the Weald. She scrambled over, hearing the weird crunch of grass under her feet. The smell was acrid, unpleasant. The ground seemed to wobble underfoot, constantly out of sync with what she expected. She was thankful she didn’t have far to go to take cover behind a bush.

Keryn pulled her arms in, protecting herself from the leaves. She knew the greenery was poisonous to eat, not whether it was harmful to touch, but why take chances? If nothing else, it might cause a rash. She felt a surge of wistfulness.