Shadow Lair: Shadow Winged Chronicles, #0.5

By Jilleen Dolbeare

Alaska bush pilot, Piper Tikaani, is on a desperate search. Her kid sister has been kidnapped and taken deep into the Alaskan wilderness by a dark shamanic sect of her own tribe. Only her skills as a pilot, and her ability to shapeshift, will give her the edge needed to get her sister back. Together with her best friend Branwyn, she will take a desperate flight to save her sister before the worst can happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ice Raven Publications
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578941455

Book preview

SHADOW LAIR

A Shadow Winged Prequel Novelette

JILLEEN DOLBEARE

Ice Raven Publications Ice Raven Publications

The Shadow Winged Chronicles

Shadow Lair: Book .5

Shadow Winged: Book 1

Shadow Wolf: Book 1.5

Shadow Strife: Book 2

Shadow Witch: Book 2.5

Shadow War: Book 3

*Forthcoming

Shadow Lair

Jilleen Dolbeare

Copyright © 2021

Editor: Cissell Ink

Cover Designer: Crimson Phoenix Creations

Interior Art: Rose Rasmussen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form including digital, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, uploading, or by any information storage and retrieval system without prior written consent of the author except for brief quotes for use in reviews.

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Shadow Winged

Glossary of Terms

Please Review Shadow Lair

About the Author

Also by Jilleen Dolbeare

I dedicate this book to the people that have supported and encouraged me along the way.  To my niece, Baylee Rose, who read everything, kept me focused and made suggestions. And for her brilliant art and help with every part of the book and novella.  To my husband, Chad, who helped encourage me, and kept me in line with all of the aircraft and pilot stuff. And to Glenn Holmes, my middle school librarian, who started me on the path to love sci-fi and fantasy!  Thank you all!

Foreword

First, thanks for picking up this book, I hope you enjoy it!  It’s always tricky when a non-native writer writes about a native character.  Living among the Inupiaq in Barrow, Alaska, I felt I could bring a native character to life while incorporating native Alaskan folklore.  

Since Piper, having lived outside of her culture, gets to learn along with the reader about her background and traditions, I hope I will be forgiven for any unintentional slights as a non-Alaskan native.  I love the rich history and traditions of the Inupiaq and learning their folklore has been enlightening and difficult since until very recently (in anthropologic terms) they were passed down orally.  

I have used recordings from oral tellings; conversations from Inupiat friends, colleagues and neighbors; tales from the Arctic Inuit peoples, and other Alaskan native folklore to create Piper and her world.  I hope that the stories I’ve spun will bring the folklore of the north alive. Good reading everyone!

Map of Alaska

Chapter 1

Bran gasped. The sound echoed in my headphones as the Super Cub suddenly dropped three hundred feet. I shook my head. Not my fault.  There was a lot of turbulence. Bran didn’t like to fly, and it scared her. I scared her. I also didn’t have a choice.  

I was following a Cessna Skyhawk, a small plane that could carry four. It carried my kidnapped sister, and I was desperate.  It was faster and could go further. I had to stop halfway to get fuel and it didn’t. I only vaguely knew where it was headed. Before I was forced to stop, I tried to stay as close as I could. That made it a rough ride. 

While a low fuel gauge forced me to stop in Fairbanks, the Skyhawk, carrying my kidnapped sister, drew further away from me.  I was tracking the GPS on my sister Baylee’s phone, but the further north the less reliable that would be.  Luckily, I was still getting a reading because the Skyhawk was long gone from visual range. 

Some dude working for the satellite tv company had felt the need to impress me with his knowledge of how satellites worked this far north. I’m assuming it was because I was a feminine, average-sized woman who couldn’t possibly know anything. He’d used a lot of technical jargon attempting to impress me. I had to contain my eye-rolling, but his main point was that the satellites were closer to the horizon this