The Dance of The Huntress: A fantasy romance of being more than the world wants you to be (Book 2 of The Eternal Dance of the Blacksmith and the Huntress)

By Paul Willson

Escaping an arranged marriage was just the beginning of Ophelia's extraordinary journey to become a legend.

A courageous decision led her away from a life of wealth and opulence into the perilous world of a cateran, a warrior contracted keep monsters roaming the countrys

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Willson Fantasy
• Release date: Mar 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9781738578436

Paul Willson

Paul Willson is a fantasy writer with five published books.He began writing after being made redundant from his IT job during the Covid pandemic. This was short stories at first then he began attempting longer fantasy novellas. It was then that the fantasy action romance, "The Dance of The Blacksmith and The Huntress," trilogy was born and Ophelia and Doyle began their eternal dance. Not long afterwards, "The Demon and The Raven," come to fruition which has received 5* ratings on Amazon.This year his first full-length fantasy book, and the first book in the "Gods and Runes series", "The Fall of Cadoria" was released.

Book preview

Prologue

Bow And Arrow with solid fill

Sara was excited. Writing her grandfather’s story was hard. She stopped and wept at the unfairness of it all several times. He had to face one adversity after another, but her grandmother was inspirational, she had so many achievements, not even getting disfigured stopped her, she was unstoppable.

Sara’s grandmother believed that girls were just as capable as boys even in a world where boys were favoured. She expected girls to fulfil their potential and not accept what they were told to do by society. She had little time for those who did, but it was rare for any girl not to be inspired by her to chase their dreams.

As inspirational as she was, she did nearly give up at one point. Her world had come crashing down around her, her dreams in tatters. Life had been easy until that point. It was just a sparring session. Then the real fight came. She fought hard and won after being knocked down. Her trophy was her happiness and that was the greatest lesson she wanted to teach.

Sara closed her eyes. Where to start? There were so many stories She thought of all the statues in the city of her grandmother. The girl arriving for the first time, the proud woman with the eye patch, the woman in love dancing close with her lover, the headmistress inspiring students. There was one though, one statue of her grandmother’s first love of her doing something that she was better than anyone else. Even in her old age, she was able to hit a target from a distance many thought impossible. The statue was of a young girl firing an arrow with her bow at a target outside the Temple of Drethia.

Sara said a quiet prayer of thanks to the goddess Drethia, for giving her such an incredible grandmother and began writing.

Chapter 1

Bow And Arrow with solid fill

Well done, Ophelia! You won again! the expensively dressed guest said putting down her teacup and applauding as Ophelia retrieved her arrows.

Ophelia looked pleased. The boy she had beaten yet again, looked less so.

The warm sun shining down on the large ornate garden made Ophelia’s smile look even greater. This was a very upper-class scene. Both hosts and guests were from the very upper echelons of society, they were wealthy and lived in large houses with splendid gardens despite being in the capital city, Cellier. For Ophelia, this was a perfectly normal life.

Ophelia was sixteen years old intelligent, and very pretty with unusual black hair and deep green eyes that flashed brightly when she got excited. Ophelia had been told to help her mother entertain several guests at the house since the spring began and the winter cold had departed. Every time it was a mother and son. The sons were often her age or close to it but sometimes much older. Her sheltered upbringing and being an only child made her oblivious to what was happening. For Ophelia, she enjoyed these visits. It meant she could do two things she loved, archery and winning especially winning against boys. She loved seeing their faces when they lost.

Yes, Ophelia does have a talent for archery, Ophelia’s mother said but she was less enthusiastic about Ophelia’s victory than their guest was.

I will not allow my wife to do archery, the boy Ophelia had beaten stated sulkily.

That is probably because you are not very good at it, Ophelia shot back smugly.

Ophelia! Watch your manners! Apologise to the boy at once! Ophelia’s mother said scolding Ophelia.

It is perfectly alright, my son needs to be more of a man if he is to find a wife, their guest assured Ophelia’s mother. And it is true, he isn’t very good at archery. I’m afraid we must be on our way. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ophelia.

Ophelia beamed. She liked this lady and the lady had taken to Ophelia.

When their guests had left Ophelia’s mother angrily told her, Ophelia, you are sixteen. You are ready to marry. Are you going to humiliate every boy you meet?

If I am going to marry someone, it will be to a man who cannot be humiliated so easily.

I’m afraid young lady, you will not be choosing who you will marry, her mother snapped at her irritably. "Life isn’t like in those books about those unpleasant caterans you admire