Hi guys, and welcome to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you
stopped by for this, the last of our excerpts for the month of January. In this
one, I want to show you a little something about what’s coming, a little flavor
of what these people will face.
I want to get you as
excited as I am—because preorders hit shelves tomorrow.
So, I hope you enjoy
this excerpt. And I hope you see how much went into this story, how deeply this
story impacted me.
I can’t wait for you to
read the whole thing.
[love]
{Rani Divine}
Excerpt from Anialych: People of Sand
By Rani Divine
© Copyright RAD
Writing, 2019
Rhaden leapt onto the
back of his horse and firmly took hold of the reins. He didn’t bother to make
sure Zion followed suit. The man had already now spoken to Moses himself, and
knew there would be no transfers, no reassignments. He was stuck with Rhaden,
until such time that he was officially promoted to command.
The hardest part about
this day would be spending it with a man who thought so little of him. Even a
few days ago, Rhaden would’ve said that the man who now rode beside him was one
of his best friends, that the two of them would likely always play some role in
each other’s lives. Now, he wondered how long it would be before Zion gave up
and found a way to subvert Moses in order to get out from under Rhaden’s
command. Or how long it took him to resign.
His heart burned in
his chest with the movement of the horse beneath him as they started up and out
of the valley, around the edge of the cliffs to a path that led to higher
ground. When he’d been in Aran’s home, he’d thought it would be the most
difficult part of the day; being so close to Delilah without seeing her, having
her in the same building, hearing the faint sound of her tears through the
door, while not allowed to do anything about it. But that had only lasted a
moment, and there was no telling how long this task would take.
All he hoped was that
the army wasn’t already on their doorstep, that they had time to prepare, time
to send the women and children away to the Anialych before the battle began.
He’d already thought things that far through. If the men were ordered by the
village leaders, to send the weak away to another land, they would listen
without hesitation. They wouldn’t even have to know where their families were
going. The men themselves would stand and fight, if only to protect those they
loved. He couldn’t stand to think how much hurt could come over Tywed if the army
had already arrived, if the danger was already on their doorstep. There wasn’t
much two men on horseback could do to thwart an entire army.
He sighed under his
breath and kept his eyes on the path before him. He’d wrapped a cloth around
his head, to keep him cool in their travels. Zion had neglected to do the same,
but it wouldn’t be an issue. The man had always been able to last longer in the
sun. Only Rhaden’s eyes had been left uncovered, unprotected from the rays of
heat that bounced all around them.
As they went, he
scanned the road. Parts looked as though another group had passed through here
recently, but from atop the horse it was difficult to tell if the tracks were
from other horses or if they’d been made by animals in the wild. With much of the
ground hard and rocky, it was hard to tell where anything had actually walked
anywhere, or if the mess had only been caused by a landslide. They’d seen
dozens of those, in the caravan’s first trek down to where Tywed now stood.
For hours they rode,
Zion a short distance away to Rhaden’s left, as they made their way up the
hillside. Neither had spoken a word since they’d left the town, and for Rhaden,
it grew cumbersome. The least Zion could’ve done was speak to him about the
tracks, the strange markings upon the ground, the fact that there might very
well have been an army up there waiting for them. But all he did was ride in
silence, keeping his eyes on the path and following in Rhaden’s command. If he
hadn’t been ordered to do so, Rhaden had no doubt that the man would’ve stayed
behind. He’d done everything in his power to stay behind as it was, but Moses
didn’t like to see newly promoted men slacking off. He wanted to see the new
lieutenant commanders doing what they’d been called to do, no matter what. So,
unhappily, that was what Zion now did.
When they were almost
halfway up the side, Rhaden tugged on the reins. “Whoa,” he said, patting the
animal’s thick neck.
Zion silently came to
a halt behind him, as though he didn’t even care why his commander had stopped.
Sighing under his
breath, Rhaden dismounted and tied his horse’s reins to a cleft in the rock
formation beside him. “We go on foot from here,” he said, looking up at the
lieutenant still upon his horse. “That’s an order,” he added when Zion made no
move to follow.
By the look in his
eye, Rhaden knew what the man was thinking. This was far from the first time
he’d angered a man enough to have him plotting murder. Unfortunately for Zion,
this path was well known by the rest of their people. If he did try something,
they would know. Moses would know. And Zion would lose everything he’d worked
so hard for—including Delilah.
“Don’t make me repeat
myself,” Rhaden said as he started up the hill on foot.
Behind him, he heard
Zion’s begrudging feet land solidly on the ground. The horse trotted a few
steps, and within moments Zion was walking up the hill behind Rhaden.
That was all he’d
needed to know. Zion was still willing to follow orders, even when he no longer
fully trusted his commanding officer. It meant he would make a good commander,
when the time came. In many ways, he was already good enough to have been
promoted. But he was still naïve in so many others.
Less than a mile
later, Zion was the one to break the silence.
“Why couldn’t you have
brought someone else on this mission?” he asked, exasperated.
“Moses wouldn’t allow
it,” Rhaden replied flatly. If all the man wanted to do was complain, he
would’ve preferred if he’d kept his mouth shut.
He grumbled under his
breath, quietly enough that Rhaden couldn’t quite make out the words, and he
didn’t want to. He didn’t listen as Zion groaned about his current
circumstances, about being stuck with a man who he believed had solicited a
woman of the night, a man who no longer held his respect. There was no point in
fighting it. If Zion had already made up his mind, how could he hope to change
it back? The man was as hard-headed as a mule. Delilah had even said as much.
“Quiet,” Rhaden
whispered as a few stones slid down the hill ahead of them. He couldn’t see
where they’d come from, couldn’t tell what might have caused the slide, but he
didn’t want to take any chances.
They stopped and
waited a few moments, both men staring in the direction of the fallen stones.
“It was probably just
a lizard,” Zion breathed.
Rhaden nodded. “Carry
on.”
Again they walked, and
again Rhaden felt as though the man at his side wouldn’t bother to stick up for
him in any sort of fight. Why would he? He wondered if this task had been a
good idea at all, or if they should simply turn around and go back to Tywed.
But if they did that, he would have to explain about the druids. He sighed
quietly. Many still suspected there were creatures out there. The stories were
still told in some of the taverns, late at night. What harm would it be, if
they found out how much was true?
“Zion,” he said,
slowing his steps but continuing up the path.
His lieutenant did not
reply.
“I am aware of your
lack of trust,” he continued, glancing over to look the man in the eye. “But
things are not as they seem.”
“Unless you have an
alibi I’m not aware of.” Zion shook his head. He saw hope in the man’s eyes,
hope that somehow he’d been wrong, that the man he’d chosen for his little
sister was not as bad as he now seemed. It spurned something in Rhaden,
something that caused him to open his mouth and speak the words he’d been
avoiding since the beginning of the incident.
“That night, when you
saw Jezea in my home, I was not in Tywed,” he said, shifting his eyes back to
the path in front of him.
The words were out. If
Zion believed him, then the conversation would continue. If he didn’t, then
Rhaden would again be scoffed, and they would continue on in silence. Either
way, he’d tried. Something had been done.
For a long time,
silence stood between them once again. Neither spoke a word, only kept their
eyes upon the path and walked up toward the top of the cliffs. Rhaden’s mind
turned back to the mission, to the task at hand, to finding a way to get
Delilah back. That was the whole point of this, after all. He’d come out here
in the first place to find the army, to tell the leaders of Tywed about the
druids, to make it known that he’d gone to see them, and to have a solid alibi.
Having Zion by his side now was the one thing he hadn’t accounted for. It gave
him pause, made him wonder what would happen if the army really was up there
waiting for them. This man wouldn’t be prepared to face them, especially if the
plains had sent Scarrah’s best warrior.
“Why?” Zion asked,
breaking the long quiet.
Rhaden stopped in his
tracks and turned toward his second in command. “I saw two creatures, standing
on the edge of town,” he said. “I went to them, and they took me to their
home.”
He knew even as he
spoke the words how bizarre and untrue it sounded. He doubted Zion would wish
to continue the conversation, much less consider the fact that it might be
honest. But the man looked him straight in the eye and nodded. “The ones that
visit Delilah?” he asked.
Rhaden’s eyes widened.
“You know of them?”
He shook his head and
turned back to the path. “I don’t know what I know,” he breathed.
Having this new
knowledge, Rhaden took a step closer to his friend. “I went to them to ensure
your sister’s safety,” he continued. “They asked her to come to their village,
to live the rest of her life with them.”
Zion’s narrow eyes
looked back up at Rhaden. “Lilah would never—”
“What did she do when
your brother threatened her?” he asked.
He nodded slowly.
Delilah was going to leave them, when Aran had threatened her. She had no
problem turning her back on her brothers, on their whole way of life. Silently,
Zion started back up the trail, still following the tracks they’d seen from the
very beginning—which were, by now, undoubtedly tracks.
Rhaden watched him for
a moment, sighed, and followed after him. He’d hoped, when Zion knew of the
creatures, that he would be more understanding. But this was not the time nor
place to discuss such things. Zion had been right to walk away, to continue the
mission. He couldn’t have his mind clouded, not with so much at stake.
He walked several
steps behind his friend, and stopped in his tracks when Zion rounded a rock
formation and lifted his hands in defense. “Run,” the man breathed, just loud
enough for Rhaden to hear.
“I wouldn’t do that if
I were you.”
Three more men walked
out from behind the formation, arrows pointed directly at them.
“Take it off,” one of
them ordered, gesturing to Rhaden.
He did as they said,
unwinding the cloth from his head and letting it drop to the sand, unsure what
else to do.
“My boy!”
Rhaden’s eyes closed
and his heart sank to hear those words, words he’d hoped he would never endure
again. The plains had done as he’d feared.
