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    A Path of Swords and Feathers
    A Path of Swords and Feathers
    A Path of Swords and Feathers
    Ebook45 pages36 minutes

    A Path of Swords and Feathers

    By Stephanie Flint

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Before the Wishing Blade was forged, a young weapon mage embarks on a journey to protect those he loves...

    He serves the goddess of the dead. 
    Though Nihestan longs to see his family, his duty to his goddess leads him to the far reaches of the kingdom. But once he arrives, she refuses to answer his summons.
    Not without an offering--
    An offering he can't afford. 
    In need of money, he freelances as a bodyguard for a family heading deep into the northern mountains. Given how happy they are together, he wonders if he should have stayed home.
    If he should be protecting those closest to his heart.
    But his goddess may yet have her own plans for him... 
    And the families he can save.

    Explore the trials of Nihestan's past... read "A Path of Swords and Feathers" today! 

    *** This is a stand-alone, prequel short story to The Wishing Blade series, which follows the early adventures of Daernan's father. ***

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInfinitas Publishing
    Release dateMar 10, 2019
    ISBN9781386316985
    A Path of Swords and Feathers
    Author

    Stephanie Flint

    Stephanie Flint (formerly Stephanie Bibb) graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in photography and a minor in creative writing. She merged the two interests into book cover design and photographic illustration, but she particularly enjoys writing speculative fiction. Stephanie lives with her husband, Isaac. Together they plot stories in the form of tabletop role-play games, and they enjoy the occasional cosplay. Online, Stephanie often goes by the nickname of SBibb.

    Read more from Stephanie Flint

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      Book preview

      A Path of Swords and Feathers - Stephanie Flint

      A Path of Swords and Feathers

      A Short Story from "The Wishing Blade" Universe

      by Stephanie Flint

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental.

      Copyright 2019 by Stephanie Flint

      Formatting and cover design by Stephanie Flint

      All rights reserved. Published by Infinitas Publishing.

      infinitaspublishing.com

      Want to participate in the creation of Legend of Cirena short stories?

      Join the Legends of Cirena - Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group!

      Table of Contents

      One

      Two

      Three

      Four

      Acknowledgements

      Newsletter

      Join the Experience

      About the Author

      Also by the Author

      ONE

      The family’s wagon ambled up the steep road of the mountain pass, the wagon’s iron-rimmed wheels bumping over every pothole in the worn road. Large draft horses plodded along, paying no mind to the jarring bumps or the pebbles the wheels spit to either side. A chill wind whistled overhead, but kept clear of the wagon and its guard, not low enough to trouble the family with the cold melt-water breeze of early summer.

      Nihestan kept to the side of the wagon, well out of the way of the sharp pebbles and the horses’ hooves. He kept his eyes trained on the tall pines looming over the pass. According to the locals, this was the most dangerous stretch of the journey to Savarne, the southern city on the outermost edge of Cirena’s Reveratch region. A mountain lion might decide to ambush an unsuspecting traveler—though unlikely to target a full party—or rogue bandits might camp on the cliffs and attack a wagon for ransom or treasure.

      Or other beings—immortals with a taste for human flesh—might wait for their chance to strike.

      He tightened his fingers around the hilt of his sword, a simple arming sword with a leather-wrapped hilt. Nothing too fancy to draw attention to himself. While traveling, the family would know him only as a hired guard, nothing more. Certainly not as some acolyte on a quest for the goddess of the dead. His only true specialty was that he had ribbons of weapon magic.

      He walked along at the pace of the wagon, listening for danger, for any hint of metal swords unsheathing, whispers of plotting, or rocks scrabbling underfoot of a larger beast.

      Or the whoomph of giant wings.

      The immortals roaming the area weren’t friendly to mortal-kind. He flexed his fingers, loosening them around the leather hilt. Wouldn’t do the family any good if something attacked their wagon and he was too tense to properly fight.

      A shadow of movement caught the corner of his eye, but it was only the family’s daughter hopping from the back of the wagon. He sighed. So much for the quiet.

      Have you seen anything yet? She linked her fingers behind her back as she jogged up beside him. "The bard at the tavern said there are gerarmansee out here, and that they have crooked beaks, sharp talons,

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