Wiloxsleve: Riddles in Time

By Ginger Triplett

Down a dark corridor that ebbs between the shadows of time and alternate
dimensions, Taleighka fearlessly eludes the clutches of her masters.
Although abducted and forced into slavery as a child, she does not outwardly
display the scars of a frail and empty-eyed servant. Instead, she has grown agile and
ardent. In this strength, she must fearlessly push forward to unfurl the secrets of a
300-year-old riddle.
A riddle, if not solved, will bind her in an abhorrent marriage to the son of the
man who sanctioned her fathers murder, and enchain her people in bondage forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462885671

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Ginger Triplett.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011909489

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-8566-4

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-8565-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-8567-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Index

CHAPTERS

1. Reminisce

2. Imprints

3. Dimensions

4. Draeban

5. Lovers, Not!

6. Encircled

7. Secrets

8. Intolerance

9. Nemesis

10. Taken!

11. In Quest

12. Matrimony

Explanation of the Riddle

Dedication

To Alexandra and Adam with love.

A special thanks to my husband

and

my mom

And to my family and friends, too many to

list, who have helped and encouraged me

along the way, you’ll find your names

riddled in this book.

Chapter 1-letter R-and Abducted.jpg

REMINISCE

Chapter One

 Reminisce

Once upon a time, there was a world snared in its own past and future. Where mountaintops pillared timeworn castles and resolute kings shackled the masses in malice and retribution. It was once a time that whispered for change.

Taleighka sat on the stone floor, her bared feet snuggly tucked beneath the folds of her wool skirt. She looked up from the book she was reading and gazed through her pale lavender eyes at the walls that confined her. She ached to return home, to the place of her birth, a sun-bathed valley curtained by stately forests. She gently ran her fingers over the illustrated page that had kindled the memory.

Suddenly, a thread of icy air pirouetted the chamber. Its frosty fingers cuffed her cheek, rustled the pages of the book, and taunted the candle’s flame. She pulled her crudely woven shawl tightly around her shoulders and continued to read.

It was only when the candle had become no more than a thin puddle of hot wax seeping into the cracks of the floor, and the quivering flame flickered out that she reluctantly closed the book and placed it under her bed of straw. Heavy-eyed, she climbed on top and slid beneath a coarse blanket, its roughness no longer a cause for complaint, but a small comfort in her bleak life.

She deeply yawned and listened to the wind race around the towers and through the broad colonnades of the castle. Its mournful song lulled her. Again, she yawned and allowed sleep to carry her to the realm of dreams.

However, her dreams were not filled with visions of laughing children and merry-making; instead, she was shuttled back to a dreadful day, four years in her past.

It was spring. The earth was wet with the morning’s dew and she was seated on the steps of her uncle’s porch. Suddenly, she froze as a throng of men appeared. Seated upon wild-eyed horses, they attacked ruthlessly her beloved home in Sharragled. To the outskirts of the village, the people fled, but they could not escape, for the enemies’ hearts craved to plunder.

To one side, she heard the screams of her mother. To the other, before her unshielded eyes, she saw her father fall. His body dropped to the ground already littered with kinsmen.

Unsteadily, she rose to her feet as the enemies’ leader, Lord Brumal, gave the order to torch the buildings. Taleighka turned her face from the horrifying scene, gathered up her skirt, and fled into the woods. Concealed within its shadows, she crouched and firmly clasped her hands over her mouth to muffle the sound of her sobs.

Although she was well hidden, she had not escaped, for a young officer had caught sight of her. He turned his stallion in her direction, without dismounting, he grabbed hold and hoisted her onto the saddle in front of him. She struggled, he held her tight. She screamed, but no one came to her rescue.

Prodding his horse across an open field, he urged it to jump over a wide, stony stream. However, it hesitated, so he reined back, gently patted its lathered neck and spurred the black beast. It slightly reared and bolted forward, not over, but into an unexplained dark passageway that loomed just above the water. Inside, Taleighka’s skin tingled and her hair glinted with tiny sparks of light as she was drawn down a dark corridor.

Then on the other side, they abruptly emerged; the horse’s hooves struck the snow-covered road with such force that it nearly jarred her off the saddle. Terrified, she no loner fought her captor, but she clung to the saddle afraid she would fall and be lost forever. Her eyes frantically searched for something familiar, yet there was nothing recognizable. Instead of the morning’s light, the land slept in inky darkness. Moreover, where the fingers of the sun should be caressing her cheek, winter’s lips chillingly kissed it. Only the round fullness of the milk-faced moon bridged the gap between this world and hers.

After a while, the horse slowed its pace as they approached a large village. The young rider pulled in on the reins and stopped in front of a barn-shaped building; its uncovered windows glowed from a fire burning within. A burly guard stood near the door. He approached, lifted Taleighka from the saddle, and nudged her through the arched doorway. Inside, she was roughly seated on the floor, tethered, and abandoned with a group of other captive children. She scanned the room, searching for her mother, but there were no adults in sight. She surmised that her mother and the other kinswomen must have been secured in another building.

Somewhere in the night, bells chimed loudly and the lively sounds of men and women broke across the cries that filled the room. Taleighka looked up as several laughing women entered. One-by-one, they inspected the children, and selected from the new arrivals those they would use as servants in their homes and shops.

A tall bony woman, the Lady Sableen, came close to her. She tugged Taleighka’s strawberry-gold hair and roughly pressed her fingertips against her tender skin. Wegmar, take her! She barked.

A graying woman came forward. Without speaking, she placed a leash of leather around Taleighka’s wrist, and led her to the door.

Taleighka turned her pleading eyes upward. However, the woman stared ahead.

She cast her eyes to the ground; a tear slid down her cheek and dropped onto her muddied shoe. Grisly pictures emerged as she inwardly cried out for her parents. She tightly squeezed shut her eyes and tried to replace the images. Mercifully, to her mental rescue came the face of her brother, Marsevik. He had not been in the village that morning, because he had risen early and joined their uncle to sell hens in a nearby coastal town.

Wegmar opened the exit door and nudged her, from the warmth of the building, into the night’s chilled air. Taleighka released a heavy sigh and climbed into a wooden coach.

The broad-backed horses pulled the coach forward, leaving the room of whimpering children far behind. They turned from the village and made a slow, steady climb along the side of a mountain. Taleighka glanced out of the draped window to the deep canyon below. Her stomach churned as one of the coach’s wheels rolled close to the rocky edge, tilting the coach toward the chasm below. She turned away and gazed at the stone-faced strangers, their callous stares chilled her. Dejected, she huddled in the corner of the seat and closed her eyes.

As the moon began to doze beneath the morning horizon, the horses came to a full stop in front of an imposing gate. The guards pulled it open and allowed the coach to pass. It was there, on top of a craggy mountain, that Taleighka came to be, a servant in Belkscliff’s castle.

Chapter 2-letter I-and to the library.jpg

IMPRINTS

Chapter Two

 Imprints

The morning sun ventured in through the slats of the wooden shutter.

Although, she knew that Lord Brumal expected punctuality, she remained in bed and allowed the sun’s rays to embrace her face.

Life, in the castle, was not easy. The long months of cold weather, improper food and clothing sent the weak to an early grave. Despite these hardships, servitude had not left its brand on her. Now ten years old, Taleighka was an intelligent, strong, and agile