Druid Quest

Happy Hump Day. I want to thanks Shiela for letting me blog today along with all these other fantastic authors. Here's a blurb and brief excerpt from my 5th Celtic/Fantasy/Romance from Awe Struck -Ebooks.

Blurb: In first century AD Britannia, as the Romans move to crush Queen Boudica's revolt, the future of the mist covered isle and its brave people rest in the hands of two druids whose views are as different as fire and ice. Arch Druid Rhys is a master of the sacred mysteries but a novice in the ways of the heart. Sulwen, a sacred druidess, discovers Rhys, the shape shifter, has evoked a basic,feral desire in her, only to find the goddess may soon exact the unfathomable price of taking him from her. Though their love is as potent as their magic, is it strong enough to survive their desperate quest?

Excerpt:

Sulwen's essence rose from her like gray smoke from a snuffed candle. She gazed down on her still body, her white skin, and her long, blondish hair. She felt like a heavy cloud as she pushed against the wind and floated into the body of the bird.

She felt small. Compressed. She gazed out of tiny yet sharp eyes. She opened her mouth, expecting a shrill scream, but her beak emitted the caw of a gull. Her teeth were gone. Frightened by it all, she felt as if she had leapt off the cliff and was falling helpless, to her doom.

Hot, almost fevered, her heart hammered alarmingly. She breathed faster than any human. She felt hurried. She needed to hasten, to move swiftly. Sulwen needed to fly. She began to move up and down. Faster than any human can move their arms, she flapped her wings hard and dove off the cliff. Fighting the urge to shut her new, keen eyes, she worked her wings with all her might until she caught a wave of wind and ceased the frantic flapping.

As she stretched out her wings, her entire body eased. That feels so good. Like lying down on the most comfortable bed, all the tautness and tension in her body rolled off. She rode the wind, arching her wings slightly. Her tiny, light body had the strength and power to defy the pull of the earth and break free.

Sulwen coasted, effortless, across the sky with the speed of an ironpellet fired from a slingshot. She whizzed through the air, breathless. A chariot at top speed seemed slow, compared to the swiftness of flight. She tilted her head up and rode higher. With an empowering freedom, her body ran with little guidance from her brain as she soared beyond the clouds.

As her sharp gull eyes gazed upon the rocky sides of Ynys Mon jutting out of the tranquil blue water, she quivered with joy. She soared above strips of sandy beach, patches of huge white rocks blanketed in emerald green and the blueberry-toned mountain range. Making a large, playful loop in the air, she circled the ancient rocks of Holy Head where she first fell in love with Rhys.

She glided above mountains topped with groves of trees crested withlush green leaves, and slopes covered with dense woodland. Sulwen flew free over splashes of bright blue, she knew as lakes and streams, as well as strips of ebony rocks dotted with green, which stretched into the sea.

Lifting one wing higher than the other, Sulwen turned back to fly overYnys Mon once more. As she flapped her wings slower and slower, the earth began to pull her closer. She flew past a grey seal basking in the sun on a rock jutting out of the white-foamed water. She soared over a forest as she headed towards Eryri. Sulwen came to a clearing with a small ring of green sparkly standing stones.

With a twist of her wings, she slowed her landing, then spread andlowered her tail feathers to brake to a stop. With feet outstretched, she landed on top of one of two tallest stones in the center of the ancient ring. Like its mate, the long stone stood twenty hands high. Glancing to the north, she looked upon Holy Head but to the south across the sea she gazed at the peak of Eryri where Rhys stood, waiting for her sprit to return to her body.

Perched on the tall slab-like stone of green schist, she gazed at itsmate. At the last Beltaine festival on the Ynys Mon, in the center between the two long stones, Madog stood, beating a bodhran drum as he led her and the other druids in a chant. She looked to the smaller stones circling the larger two. She had stood there, between her best friends, Goewin and Brisen, holding their hands and dancing around the sacred ring. When the Beltaine sun set behind the stones, the shadows of this and the other center stone stretched across the ground, looking human like an ancient giant, like a god.

Thanks,

Cornelia Amiri

http://myspace.com/CelticRomanceQueen