Sunday, July 3, 2016

# Post # Snippet Sunday

Servant of the Old Ways -Snippet Sunday

It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

Happy (almost) 4th to those US readers! It's my birthday month, vacation month, and book launch/tour month! Meanwhile, I've been busy slapping keys on Sons of Herne 5, Feillor: God of Lammas. 


Last time, Feillor, god of the harvest, was harvesting wheat when a naked human woman appeared out of nowhere, right in front of his scythe. We ended with: A human woman-naked, no less-had come out of thin air, kneeling before him with her hands outstretched until she saw his blade coming for her. She gasped and ducked, then threw herself prostrate on the ground.


We pick up from a couple sentences later, where we have switched to our heroine Salina's viewpoint...



Salina had only milliseconds in which to act to save her own life, throwing herself flat at the feet of the very deity she had just been begging for help. She saw the flare of anger, the steely determination in the greenish-gold eyes of the horned god as he swung the scythe to cut her down. She’d obviously done something wrong, but she couldn’t imagine what could have sparked such animosity. 
Something had stayed his hand at the last moment, however, because she’d seen his eyes widen and his arm pull back right as she prostrated herself face down among the itchy reeds.
“Forgive me, oh great Herne, for however I have offended you,” she said, wondering how to address a pagan god who was actually standing there in the flesh.
He didn’t reply.
“I am a servant of the old ways,” she went on, unable to stop herself from filling the silence with chatter. “If calling on you made you angry, I’m sorry.”
“Either silence your tongue or rise up so I may hear it properly,” he said. “Your words are muffled within the stalks of sacred wheat you are crushing.”

What do you think?  



About Feillor: God of Lammas

Feillor is preparing to bring in the first harvest before the celebration of Lammas, a task he undertakes for his own realm, not for the benefit of the humans who long ago abandoned respect for nature and the old ways. He raises his scythe to cut the sacred wheat and nearly "harvests" a woman who appears out of nowhere. Returning the earth woman means dealing with the Fates, who will grant his request to send her back on one condition--he must cross to the human realm and stay there for three days before deciding gods should abandon mortals forever.

Salina has no intention of letting a construction company gobble up the precious woods where she conducts her most sacred pagan rituals. She is praying for guidance when she is taken swept away to the realm of immortals--and almost straight into the blade of a horned god's scythe. She believes her prayers to Herne have been answered, but instead she learns that Feillor is actually Herne's son--and that he has little care for humans. When she is stuck with him for three days back on Earth, she decides to that she is just the witch to convince a god that the mortal realm is worth saving.

When forces in her world and his own combine to draw them apart, Feillor must come to terms with budding respect for humans-particularly the witch he aches to join with in the ritual of harvest.


Read Book 1 of the series, Dominus: God of Yule--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

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I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

14 comments:

  1. Good luck with the Blog tour, Rose!

    I imagine our Feillor is going to get more that an earful, when Salina does as commanded!

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    1. Thank you! I'm so excited about the tour. LOL, Feillor's got quite a lot coming that he didn't expect, true!

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  2. Hah. Even the god seems nonplussed.

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    1. Better to be nonplussed than, uh, plussed. :)

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  3. LOL She's trying so hard to save herself, and he can't hear her pleas. Have fun on your holidays and all the best with the tour! :)

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  4. I like that she has to fill the silence with chatter--nice touch of character-building. :-)

    Have a good vacation, Rose!! Enjoy your getaway. :-)

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  5. Lovely scene with so much feeling in it.

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  6. Here she is, in fear for her life, and all he's worried about is his sacred wheat- typical farmer. :-) Hope you have a fabulous month!

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  7. Great scene! She is so heartfelt in her chatter and he so concerned only with his crop!

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  8. He's so... friendly. On the other hand, I'm sure the sacred wheat is really important.

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  9. I like his reply. nice snippet.

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  10. What a powerful snippet, so intense.

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  11. Fun snippet. I love that they are both somewhat confused and surprised.

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  12. Talk about a confusing encounter, and certainly most unexpected. Now I see why she appeared naked and such as she did to him, though I do wonder HOW she got there. Love the use of the Pagan gods in this so far. This might be a tale right up my alley.

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