First Magic is out today! Amy’s life has gotten even more complicated with her father’s reappearance. Plus, there’s the militia and their demands, the Faerene’s response, and … wait for it … fiery butterflies of death. Grab your copy on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VW5NWTN
Amy’s father is alive, but can she trust him? His human allies are the same militia who want to control Amy and use her magic against the Faerene.
Meantime, Faerene are vanishing. Five are dead in mysterious and isolated circumstances, and Rory is called to investigate.
With threats everywhere, Amy’s adopted human family would be safest in Justice, but that would require them to live surrounded by the Faerene. Their future would change as radically as Amy’s.
However, everyone’s future is changing, whether they want it to or not, because prior to the Migration through the Rift the Faerene made some big assumptions about Earth and its creatures, and those assumptions are about to prove spectacularly flawed.
Amy’s newly learned magic will be put to the test with cataclysmic results.
And here’s a peek at what a griffin magistrate and dragon spymaster discuss when they’re alone.
Istvan circled high above the militia’s temporary camp, twenty miles south east of Justice. “They blame us for their problems.”
“And they’re right to.” Piros soared beside him, almost lounging on the air. Dragons had some funny tricks of flight. “But the Kstvm would have annihilated them. We secured their survival, and one day they’ll understand.”
“Generations from now.”
Piros flapped his gigantic red wings, once, idly. “Maybe faster than that. Humanity isn’t quite what we anticipated when we studied them from Elysium. They’re already adjusting to their new reality in which they’re aware that magic exists. Their societies are adapting to accept our presence on Earth. Sometimes in healthy ways. Sometimes not.”
Istvan eyed his old friend shrewdly. “We’re not talking about the militia anymore, are we?”
They flew west, across the river and over fields and new forest. Grazing cattle startled as their two giant shadows darted over the open ground.
“The militia aren’t as important as they think they are,” Piros said. Then he coughed a ball of flame. That was a habit of his when annoyed with himself, a sort of self-chastisement since fire tasted acrid, or so he claimed. He flew through the ball of flame. “Sorry, that was arrogant. The militia are important. They’re helping human survivors to reorganize, to consolidate resources, and to construct a new way of life. But they’re caught in patterns of thinking that belong to Earth’s pre-Faerene era.”
“Linear progress.”
“And fervor to restore nation states, specifically America. Maybe an empire could span this continent east to west, but I doubt it. Not at the level of technology we’re permitting them. They need to start thinking of city states, trade routes, looser connections and multiple redundancies. No more monocultures. If a crop fails, they need other crops to succeed.”
Piros sighed. “We anticipated this response. They see us as invaders, but they can’t rebel against us because we refuse to govern. The militia wants to draw us out into acting and interacting. Their military training shapes their thinking. Other groups also want a relationship with us, but their approach is cultic. Propitiation, imitation, worship and aggression.”
“How is a cult’s aggressive posturing different to the militia’s intent to provoke us?”
“The cults are turning their aggression on other humans. We provide the excuse to ‘sacrifice’ human lives to us.”
***
First Magic is available on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VW5NWTN