Trusting Their Magic: Misfortune and Magic

By Kari Kilgore

Pure Joy and Fierce Competition

Tonn thrills at the sight of airhorses, even after tough months as a rider-in-training.
Knowing every day brings him closer to a pairing of his own.
And the ultimate freedom of taking to the skies.
But conflicts with other riders prove the bigger challenge.
Can Tonn learn to overcome difficulties and trust himself?

 

Also available in the collection Fantastic Side Trips: Side Characters Take Center Stage

 

An excerpt from Trusting Their Magic:

The Match That Defines a Lifetime

 

Tonn jumped at Master Adur's sharp voice.

"How did the airhorses learn the flight pattern we're observing right now? Tonn?"

He was certain he knew the answer, but a rush of nerves sent his belly twisting anyway.

"Same way landhorses do, or fish or fowl or anything else, Master. They're playing. Or at least that's how it starts out."

"Exactly so." Master Adur's warm smile balanced out her sometimes harsh tones and fierce expressions. "The wild colony of airhorses not far from here does much the same every morning when the weather's fair. Have any of you had a chance to observe them in their own play?"

Every hand shot up.

Tonn took every chance he got to take the long walk out past Maestar's towering city wall, cutting through the low, wide passage out to the rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. He wasn't the only one who made the trip by the faintest light of dawn, hoping to catch a display even more breathtaking than the one over their heads.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spiral Publishing, Ltd
• Release date: Oct 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201863685

Kari Kilgore

Kari Kilgore started her first published novel Until Death in Transylvania, Romania, and finished it in Room 217 at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where Stephen King got the idea for The Shining. That’s just one example of how real world inspiration drives her fiction. Kari’s first published novel Until Death was included on the Preliminary Ballot for the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in a First Novel in 2016. It was also a finalist for the Golden Stake Award at the Vampire Arts Festival in 2018. Recent professional short story sales include three to Fiction River anthology magazine, with the first due out in the September issue. Kari also has two stories in a holiday-themed anthology project with Kristine Kathryn Rusch due out over the holidays in 2019. Kari writes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and contemporary fiction, and she’s happiest when she surprises herself. She lives at the end of a long dirt road in the middle of the woods with her husband Jason Adams, various house critters, and wildlife they’re better off not knowing more about. Kari’s novels, novellas, and short stories are available at www.spiralpublishing.net, which also publishes books by Frank Kilgore and Jason Adams. For more information about Kari, upcoming publications, her travels and adventures, and random cool things that catch her attention, visit www.karikilgore.com.

Book preview

Trusting Their Magic

For all of us who’ve learned about ourselves

with the help of a four-legged companion

TRUSTING THEIR MAGIC

A MISFORTUNE AND MAGIC STORY

KARI KILGORE

SPIRAL PUBLISHING, LTD.

TRUSTING THEIR MAGIC

Even after nearly two months of spending hours with them every day, a huge group of airhorses still took Tonn Groyen’s breath. Especially when they flew riderless and free overhead, stretching out their wings before a day of hard work.

They wheeled and spun, weaving through the air in great patterns that reminded him of the vast machines that made the woolen parts of the uniform he wore. His jacket and breeches were a nondescript tan like all the other riders-in-training, with matching leather added where the clothes took a lot of abuse. They all carried helmets and wore boots in the same drab shade.

One of the best parts about finally being paired with his own airhorse rather than the constant changes of training would be having riding gear made to match. That small change would drop the possibility of blending in with other riders to non-existent.

Because the soaring creatures maneuvering so joyfully against the clear blue autumn sky sported all the colors Tonn knew the names for and more. Sunflower yellow, blood red, rich pumpkin orange. Brilliant pink,