Welcome to the first Friday of Meet the Characters. Every
week, I'll do a character sketch for a character from one of my novels. If this
generates any interest, I'll have characters from other writer's novels as
well.
Today you will meet Micayta (pronounced muh-kay-tuh). She is
the main character in my most recently released novel, Shadow of the Dragon (YA
Fantasy). Age: 19 Hair Color: Light Black Eye Color: Brown Skin Color: White Birthplace: Talphan (tal-fun) Occupation: Barmaid Special Skills: dagger throwing Parents: Sannel (san-el) & Anora (uh-nor-uh) Sibling: Pytaki (pie-tuh-ky)
Micayta has grown up in a world that is trapped in an
endless winter. The cause of this is a mystery. She lost her mother when she
was eight and her relationship with her father is strained because of a shared
secret. She is a strong woman who at times can seem callous and unfeeling. This
is simply a way for her to guard her heart from hurt.
Blurb: Micayta’s
world has long been gripped in the thrall of an endless winter that grows worse
with the passing of time. Life is a constant struggle. Then catastrophe strikes
the small town in which she lives, thrusting Micayta and her brother Pytaki
alone into the snow laden countryside. To keep herself and her brother alive
will take all the strength that she has.
Then a mysterious stranger appears to complicate
matters. Tech has an amazing story to tell, but is any of it true? Old wounds
and betrayals make Micayta slow to trust, but without Tech she and her brother
will never make it across the countryside alive. Through bandits, wolves, and
snowstorms, the three struggle their way to the city of Phadra. But the real
danger lies within the city walls, where Micayta becomes a player in a deadly
game with a dark-eyed mage.
Nothing is what it seems.As the truth unravels, Micayta finds herself drawn into a struggle much bigger than she ever dreamed. Choices must be made and sides taken. But the question of who to trust is one not easily answered. Micayta will have to open her heart and find a way to let someone else in, or the flames that destroyed her home will consume the world.
Excerpt: Another explosion
rolled through the night and Micayta lost her footing on a patch of ice. She
went down hard on the frosted ground. Her knee cracked against the ground and
she cried out. For a moment, she lay panting with her face pressed against the
ice. The scent of charred wood came to her on the wind, mixed with another,
fouler scent that she could not place. Holding her knee, Micayta rolled over on
her back and looked straight up into the face of a nightmare. Two long, black
horns curved back from a reptilian face covered in crimson scales; sharp spikes
ran all down a serpentine neck that was mottled with a faded shade of orange;
clawed feet gripped the edge of the bakery roof; two leathery wings cast a dark
shadow over the alley. The dragon’s black eyes gazed at something over the
rooftops, seemingly oblivious to Micayta’s presence below.
Micayta lay frozen there, staring up. Her heart was beating so loud she was sure the dragon would look down at any moment and see her. Her life would end in a blast of fire. A thousand things she should have said and should have done rolled through her mind. None of these things happened. After a short time that seemed to drag on endlessly, the dragon lifted off the roof with a massive sweep of its wings and passed on.
It took a moment for the pain in her knee and the ice at her back to assure her she was still alive. “Pytaki,” her brother’s name spilled from her lips in a gasp. There was a good chance he was home alone as their father worked late into the night and often did not come home until long after they’d gone to bed. They lived on the edge of town, but even there he must have heard all this noise. He might come to see what was happening.
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