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    Legends of the Demon Shapeshifters, Shadow Lover
    Legends of the Demon Shapeshifters, Shadow Lover
    Legends of the Demon Shapeshifters, Shadow Lover
    Ebook50 pages41 minutes

    Legends of the Demon Shapeshifters, Shadow Lover

    By Ledia Runnels

    ()

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    About this ebook

    For years, Tomiko has defied the laws of men by daring to climb sacred Mount Haguro. But this time, surrounded by the ancient cryptomeria forest, she finds herself in the presences of the King of the Tengus. Little does she realize, her life and those she loves will never be the same.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLedia Runnels
    Release dateDec 1, 2016
    ISBN9781370486366
    Legends of the Demon Shapeshifters, Shadow Lover
    Author

    Ledia Runnels

    A writer since high school, Ledia Runnels has self-published several novels under Vrint Publishing as well as travel related and fact-sheet articles online. Some of the articles have appeared in USA Today online. Her screenplay "Sakura, Jewel of the Rising Sun" won the "Grand Award for Best Screenplay at Worldfest Houston in 1998. She also posts a blog entitled: “Mysterious Orient”. The author lived in the Tokyo, Japan area for three years. She now resides in East Central Texas near her two adult children and grandchildren

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      Book preview

      Legends of the Demon Shapeshifters, Shadow Lover - Ledia Runnels

      Legends

      of the

      Demon Shapeshifters

      Shadow Lover

      by

      Ledia Runnels

      Shadow Lover, formerly entitled Forest Bathing is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

      Copyright © 2016 by Ledia Runnels

      This novelette is dedicated to my children,

      Adrian and Shayla,

      who never gave up on me,

      to Mike, their father, who protected

      me and gave me confidence when the story

      was in its fragile, infant stages.

      Special thanks to my Uncle Verlon

      and to Ross and Leon,

      my friends and fellow writers who spent many

      hours reading, editing, and helping me

      polish the story to what it is now.

      Cover Design by Ledia Runnels using altered image of

      Illustration of a Japanese Fairy Tale by Warwick Goble 1910 Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales

      Chapter One

      Mountain Goblin

      The spring morning calls

      into the haunted forest

      forgotten secrets.

      --Ancient Scroll

      Year of the Dragon--1484

      Men had set a death kinjiru that forbade women to set foot on the sacred ground. Yet for the past eight years, Tomiko Hino crept in secret beneath the grandfather cryptomeria, the giant evergreens that covered the sloping sides of Mount Haguro.

      Each spring, when the dance of the dawn goddess lured Amaterasu back from winter exile, Tomiko’s family made their pilgrimage to the smallest of the three Brother Mountains. It was Haguro where the shrine dedicated to the three gods of the mountains perched on its summit. This was the place and the time when Tomiko crept away from the other women and made her clandestine journey into the forest.

      Through the dense branches that grew high above her head, shifting sunlight filtered down through the morning fog. She closed her eyes hoping to hear what the gods would tell her. All the times before, they spoke through whispers in the wind or through the chilled dampness that kissed her cheeks. But this morning they spoke through sharp, crisp snaps and pops in the crack of high branches. The sounds echoed against the whirring wing-beats of a crane in flight.

      Elegant neck extended, the white bird, with black-tipped feathers, soared from the enclosure of trees toward the green canopy high above Tomiko’s head. The bird’s voice quavered like a haunting trumpet of protest. But at what was it complaining?

      Near the tree where the crane took flight, Tomiko spied a raven perched on a lower branch. Its ebony feathers glistened like emeralds in the early morning light, as if jewels shined beneath the dark pinions.

      Tomiko smiled, pretending the sassy black bird could actually understand her words. She said, Did you frighten the crane?

      Head cocked to one side, the Raven waited. Its shrewd eyes seemed to watch her. The next instant, the brute flew at her face. The tip end of one wing flicked her nose as it soared by, sending a shock wave of astonishment that rolled down her spine to quake in the pit of her stomach.

      She threw up her hands, beating wildly at the raven’s sharp beak that snapped close to her ear. Then in a swooping motion, the black bird doubled back, diving straight for her again, but this time, it grabbed onto the narrow slope of her shoulder.

      Startled

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