Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Damselblossom
    Damselblossom
    Damselblossom
    Ebook48 pages44 minutes

    Damselblossom

    By Barbara Hambly

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A novelette of 12,000 words, sequel to Hambly's Dragonsbane (Winterlands) series. When a visiting wizard calls at Alyn Hold with the news that the region is about to be attacked by a horrible monster, John Aversin, Dragonsbane and Thane of the Winterlands, and his wizardly partner Jenny Waynest, are much less upset than the Silver Mage thinks they should be. The Silver Mage demands that the whole countryside turn out to kill the Kraken once and for all; John points out that it would involve far fewer casualties if everyone simply moves out of its way for the three days (out of a hundred and fifty years) during which it comes ashore, easily determined by the behavior of the matriarch pig Damselblossom. When the Silver Mage insists upon a showdown, John begins to suspect his motives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarbara Hambly
    Release dateOct 22, 2015
    ISBN9781311759290
    Damselblossom
    Author

    Barbara Hambly

    Since her first published fantasy in 1982 - The Time of the Dark - Barbara Hambly has touched most of the bases in genre fiction. She has written mysteries, horror, mainstream historicals, graphic novels, sword-and-sorcery fantasy, romances, and Saturday Morning Cartoons. Born and raised in Southern California, she attended the University of California, Riverside, and spent one year at the University of Bordeaux, France. She married science fiction author George Alec Effinger, and lived part-time in New Orleans for a number of years. In her work as a novelist, she currently concentrates on horror (the Don Simon Ysidro vampire series) and historical whodunnits, the well-reviewed Benjamin January novels, though she has also written another historical whodunnit series under the name of Barbara Hamilton.Professor Hambly also teaches History part-time, paints, dances, and trains in martial arts. Follow her on Facebook, and on her blog at livejournal.com.Now a widow, she shares a house in Los Angeles with several small carnivores.

    Read more from Barbara Hambly

    Related to Damselblossom

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Witch Finders

      Jul 16, 2020

      Beth pulled her cloak tightly around her. It was the very last day of October and the air was damp and chill. Dead autumn leaves lay in deep piles in the woods and smoke curled into the night air from her cottage. Not far to go now. She bent her head

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Wimblestone

      Oct 1, 2023

      The Wimblestone
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Witches Of Literature

      May 30, 2023

      Tor Books T. KINGFISHER challenges the idea of the “wicked witch” through the gravewitch in her subversive fairy tale Nettle & Bone. The nameless dust-wife—part witch, part gravedigger—is all too willing to help the novel’s heroine on her quest to ki

      2 min read

    • Article

      Jenkins

      Feb 4, 2021

      Jenkins
      6 min read

    • Article

      Illusion

      May 22, 2019

      Illusion
      2 min read

    • Article

      Shards Of Earth

      May 19, 2021

      Shards Of Earth
      2 min read

    • Article

      Must an Author’s Wishes Be Honored After Death?

      Oct 24, 2017

      Authors once turned to fire to be rid of writing they didn’t want the world to read. Terry Pratchett took a slightly more creative – and modern – route. He ordered that his hard drive be crushed by a steamroller after his death.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Sisters And Other Life Forms

      Jan 1, 2021

      Sisters And Other Life Forms
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Library of Gromma

      Jul 10, 2023

      Zac was sweating and panting as he reached the top of the hill. The crooked beams of the library loomed over him. He dropped the buckets of water, swore at the few drops that spilled, and escaped the piercing morning sun in the shade of the library.

      22 min read

    • Article

      Woodland Sanctuary

      Feb 1, 2023

      Woodland Sanctuary
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Short Slice Of Fantasy

      Apr 7, 2022

      A Short Slice Of Fantasy
      6 min read

    • Article

      Coming Soon...

      Dec 15, 2020

      David Tennant stars as Phileas Fogg in this new adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel. Phileas is joined on his voyage by sidekick Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma) and journalist Abigail Fix (Leonie Benesch).  The cookery show returned earlier this year afte

      1 min read

    • Article

      Home On The Range

      Jan 14, 2021

      Home On The Range
      4 min read

    • Article

      Prepare Your Dairy for Winter

      Sep 17, 2021

      Prepare Your Dairy for Winter
      7 min read

    • Article

      Bill And The Tooth Fairy

      Mar 10, 2021

      Bill believed in the Tooth Fairy. Big deal, you’re thinking. Lots of kids believe in the Tooth Fairy. Well, Bill wasn’t a kid. He was twenty-eight years old. You don’t believe it. My girlfriend Mary Beth didn’t believe it, either. We were having dinn

      15 min read

    • Article

      History Extra

      Jun 9, 2022

      History Extra
      1 min read

    • Article

      Fairy Tale

      Sep 7, 2022

      Fairy Tale
      2 min read

    • Article

      Sienna’s Monster

      Sep 10, 2023

      Sienna lived with a monster, but no one else knew it. The first time Sienna realized her monster wasn’t like the rest was in fourth grade. The whole grade assembled in the auditorium. A police officer watched them enter from his place on the stage. H

      27 min read

    • Article

      Martian wants Drabbles

      Jul 7, 2022

      Martian is a zine for SF drabbles and the team publish new ones twice a week. Drabbles are very short stories of exactly 100 words (excluding title) and they are tricky to write. Read what’s published here to see how other writers do it. The editoria

      1 min read

    • Article

      The City Of Dusk

      Mar 23, 2022

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 576 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Tara Sim Publisher Hodder & Stoughton City Of Dusk is deceptive; it starts off relatively fluffy and ends elbows-deep in blood. It’s told from the perspectives of a number of characters, t

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Cosmology Of Monsters

      Jun 17, 2020

      RELEASED 30 JUNE 448 pages | Paperback/ebook Author Shaun Hamill Publisher Titan Books Shaun Hamill’s debut arrives with a fierce buzz and a glowing Stephen King cover quote. That feels apt. A Cosmology Of Monsters may riff heavily on HP Lovecraft’s

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Damselblossom

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Damselblossom - Barbara Hambly

      DAMSEL BLOSSOM

      by

      Barbara Hambly

      Published by Barbara Hambly at Smashwords

      Copyright 2015 Barbara Hambly

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please include this license and copyright page. If you did not download this ebook yourself, consider going to Smashwords.com and doing so; authors love knowing when people are seeking out their material. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author!

      Table of Contents

      Damsel Blossom

      About The Author

      DAMSEL BLOSSOM

      by

      Barbara Hambly

      Lord John Aversin, Thane of the Winterlands and Dragonsbane of the Realm of the Kings of Bel, was shoveling out the pig-sty when Lamprias Silvermage rode up to Alyn Hold with tidings of coming disaster.

      Yeah, we know, said John, when the Silver Mage had imparted to him the frightful news of the imminent coming of the Dark Kraken, which would rise from the gray river Elde in wrath and horror at the dark of the moon. He removed his spectacles to squint up at Lamprias, seated high on his dappled palfrey, then sought about him for some portion of his shirt clean enough to make some difference on the spattered lenses. He abandoned this fruitless quest, replaced them on his long nose, and thumped the largest of the sows affectionately on her sturdy shoulder. Damselblossom here’s been diggin’ a nest under the far side of the shed an’ tryin’ to make her piglets stay in it – which they won’t do, of course, bein’ three months old now an’ a bit of a handful—

      Damselblossom leaned her head against his thigh with a sigh of deep content.

      "But accordin’ to the Elucidus Lapidarius, under certain conditions, black pigs with white spots like her have the ability to forecast the attacks of water-monsters an’ will try to save their piggins in that fashion. She’s been eatin’ towzel leaves, too, which Terens writes is a sign that pigs make when disaster is comin’, so I started checkin’ with old Granny Brown over in Far West Riding – whose gran lived to be a hundred an’ eight – an’ that copy of the Liever Umbraeorum that I picked up last winter at…"

      Black pigs… His guest seemed for a moment torn between shock, horror, and outrage. This is no a matter for… for old wives’ tales and random guesses! He swept one arm back in the direction of the river, his mouth pursing small under snowy floods of beard. I saw the rising of the Kraken in a dream of dreadful portent, a dream of blood and devastation! It is coming!

      Aye, me wife – Jen – had a dream like that, too. John scratched the side of his nose. We figured if we moved everybody in the village to the other side of the Wolf Hills for about two weeks, the most it’d do is smash a couple of houses, an’ then go back into the sea. Will you stay for lunch? He climbed over the dilapidated railing and held out his hand in greeting – carefully wiped it with his shirt-tail and held it out again. Lamprias took it as if he were glad he was wearing gloves and intended to give them away to the poor afterwards.

      John took the bridle of the mage’s horse. It’s no more’n cold eel pie an’ bannocks, he apologized, but me Aunt Umetty makes a rare pie, an’ the bannocks was baked fresh this mornin’.

      Er – just so. The Silver Mage looked down his nose at his host, as if trying to align the unshaven, medium-sized man before

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1