Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Dragon's Message Ebook Release

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

A dragon writes a cryptic message with its ember breath in the evening sky...
Lady Rhiannon watches from the turret wall with an ache in her blood. She's the only person who can decipher the message as the sole keeper of the Dragon Tome. When an old enemy threatens the castle, her father charges his knight with escorting her to a safe haven—the same knight Rhiannon had a crush on as a girl. But she must now convince him to change his plans, for she has her own sacred charge to fulfill...
So begins a journey to hidden ruins where magic slumbers in the stones and love lies in the heart, waiting to awaken. As Rhiannon and the knight face seemingly insurmountable odds, only the dragon knows if they can fulfill their destiny...

 

The Dragon's Message is available now on
 
 


 
Enjoy an exclusive excerpt:
 
When Rhiannon was small and had just learned to read, her mother brought her into the hall one day when her father was on campaign, and led her to the large table upon which a great map of their lands lay.  She instructed Rhiannon to read the words of the landmarks: castle, road, mountain, forest, village.  The young girl touched words inscribed over a place where trees met craggy peaks.  “What does that say, my love?” her mother prompted.
     “Here be dragons,” Rhiannon answered, glancing up at her mother.
     Her mother nodded, smiling.  She knelt down in front of Rhiannon so they were at the same height.  The lady’s hazel eyes sparkled as she whispered, “I have a secret to share.  But I can only share it with a little girl with red and gold hair,” she pulled playfully on Rhiannon’s braid,” who knows how to read.”  Rhiannon giggled.  “Are you a little girl such as this?” Rhiannon nodded eagerly, and her mother laughed.  She stood up and gestured at a tapestry on the wall.  “Come, child, the dragon guards our treasure.”
     Hand in hand they walked to the tapestry of the sleeping dragon.  “Your great-great grandmother wove this tapestry when she was an old woman.  It took her a long time to complete, with her hands gnarled so, like the twisted oak by the drawbridge.”  The dragon was curled up in front of a turret, with stone dolmens in a semi-circle behind it, interspersed with trees and a mountain peak in the background and bright blue sky above.  The dragon’s scales were crimson and woven through with glittering gold thread, and its curved horns and talons were gold.  As they paused in front of the large tapestry, Rhiannon looked closely at the eyes of the dragon; she thought perhaps she could see a slit of gold, as if the dragon were only pretending to be asleep. 
     Rhiannon’s mother stood on tiptoe and moved part of the tapestry to the side, revealing a slit in the stone wall.  With her free hand she reached in and drew out a large leather-bound tome.  She motioned her daughter to come sit with her on one of the benches that lined the walls.  “Look and listen well, my daughter,” she said, and ran her fingers along the smooth cover, “this book is our special treasure, and it contains many secrets within its pages.  I am going to teach you how to read them.”  She opened the book as Rhiannon snuggled closer to her, her mother’s loose red-gold hair falling over the girl’s shoulder and brushing the crinkly parchment pages of the book which she turned until she came to the picture of a girl.
     “The first secret is a story…”
 
 
Huzzah! Praise for The Dragon's Message:
 
"It is a beautifully imagined tale, perfect for curling up under the covers with for an hour or so and falling under the dragon's spell." ~Christine

"Fitzgerald's writing style is poetic and rife with compelling descriptions of medievalesque life that make her novella a true cut above the usual fantasy fare." ~Angel Wing Buyer

"It is romantic, inspiring, and quite the surprise at its satisfying end." ~Augusta McCrae
 
 
Enter the world of the Dragon Tome and discover its secrets!

 
The Dragon's Message

 
~Cover design by Najla Qamber Designs~
 
 
 
 
*"The Dragon's Message" was originally published in Mystic Signals Magazine Issue 19 August 2013*
 


   

 

 
 

2 comments:

  1. This looks like a great read! Any plans to write a full novel?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! Yes, actually. I have plans for a prequel and sequel in the Dragon Tome world, which I will then bundle together with The Dragon's Message. But before that I am working on a novel with two stories that connect. If you'd like, you can get clues to this next work on my Forest Magic Pintrest board. Thank you for commenting!

    ReplyDelete