It is a privilege for me to share an excerpt from Elji and Galrass by Colin Sinclair today. It is the first book in The Essence Saga, published by World Castle Publishing LLC and it is with thanks to Love Book Group Tours that I am able to give you this extract. Do have a look at the other stops on the tour.

Saloora

Saloora was hunkered down behind the bales of cloth, her whole body as relaxed as it could be considering the predicament she was in. She was confident that they didn’t know where she was—she had run through the twisting streets very swiftly and had turned and doubled back as often as she could so as to ensure they had not been able to follow her. Still it was right to be cautious—the men following her seemed to have some kind of insight. She had only just escaped them on numerous previous occasions as they had managed to track her down well beyond what she would consider to be normal ability. She was, by any stretch of the imagination, a warrior of immense ability, who understood and was able to escape even the most capable of trackers. She had been trained well and by a very unusual source. Her mind turned inwards….

She had been born seventeen summers previous and, as was the custom in the warrior tribe she belonged to, she had been abandoned in the wild hours after her birth, left in a cave beyond the reach of all other humans to either thrive or die as the gods willed it. Less than one in a hundred survived this ordeal. For the first few days of her life she had screamed as babies do, hungry and tired and cold, but he had visited her and placed his hand on her and quietened her, staying for no more than a few minutes, but on his departure she knew what she needed. She had cried no more, and had, with the power of some basic understanding, used her mind to pull on the universal fabric and draw to her the cave lioness. From that animal she had suckled and grown, and had learned the ways to hunt and track and be as one with her surroundings. She had very quickly become accepted by the pride as a whole, bending them to her will with her understanding of the basic nature of the fabric of the universe.

Seven summers later she had left the pride and made the journey to return to her order. She had been welcomed back, and had taken her rightful place among them as a trainee warrior. Even at that early stage she knew she surpassed even the leader in her abilities and understanding. She became known as “Ahhbreshemen,” voice of the god, though still she preferred her name of Saloora, a name taken from the sound of the cave lions cry in the night as they kept track of each other. It hadn’t taken long till she left them again to discover her true calling, and find the one who had given her life and set her on the path that was driving her.

A noise behind her and to the right alerted her. She snapped out of her thoughts and her body tightened, coiled, ready to answer any threat. It passed; perhaps a rat or a small rodent scurrying through the bales looking for nesting material or food. She closed her eyes and extended her mind, gently probing her surroundings and stretching out down alleyways and streets. Nothing…she could not feel them nearby.

For the last week or so in this small city she had felt somehow that she was close to finding him. The sense of an impending meeting and the fact that her abilities seemed to sharpen day by day, as if they were being lent power by something else, confirmed her intuition.

She eased with cat like grace from her crouched position, her movements lithe and subtle, flowing like water over rounded stones and with a fluidity that denied human constraint. She came to rest again at the corner of a junction and hunkered back down.

It was then she felt the hand on her shoulder, and her whole mental capacity shifted. She was transported to another plane, and in an instant she knew she had found him—or rather, he had found her. Her whole being felt like it had expanded to fill the universe, and she felt in touch with every living entity.

Everything suddenly snapped back. She realized he had removed his hand, and then she looked up at him.

Elgred smiled at her, a smile so pure and wonderful it filled her whole being.

“You found me!” she said.

“Come on, follow me,” he said as he walked past her. She followed without question.

She looked at him again. This man—he felt so familiar, but how could it be that she knew him after all this time? She knew who he was, she knew his purpose, and she knew it was him that had visited her when she was only a few hours old…how could that be?

“It’s because I felt you,” he said. “That day you were left in the cave, your soul cried out and I found you. When I touched you, I opened your mind and showed you what is possible. I knew that one day we would meet again, that you would seek me out, and that together we could begin to strengthen our cause.”

“How did you—?” she asked.

“Because you are part of me and I am part of you, there is no need for us to voice our questions. We are part of The One, and as such we understand each other at a basic and fundamental level. We have no secrets. You can’t hide anything from me anymore than I can hide anything from you, and that is how it should be. I imagine you will be hungry—let’s find somewhere to sit and eat, and you can tell me how you came to be here. It’s always much better when spoken rather than me looking into you…it seems to carry so much more colour when the tale is told. Come, let’s sit, eat, and talk.” He seemed genuinely pleased at the opportunity, and she was indeed hungry.

He looked at her again, and she saw his eyes shift from green to blue, and saw the whole of creation seated there. She was sure—now she was sure she was safe, she had found him, and her true journey would begin.

The Author

Colin Lives just outside the city of York in the beautiful Yorkshire country side. He has been married for 32 years and has two children and grandchildren. He has been acting and singing on stage since he was a teenager and still today performs at the large theatres in the region both acting and singing in lead roles. He is a gym enthusiast and has competed in natural bodybuilding competitions and also engages in many sports such as Badminton, Squash and Bouldering. He has two dogs which keep him busy walking through the countryside. Before settling in Yorkshire, he was brought up between the Middle East, where his parents worked in the Oil Industry and spending the rest of the time in the UK at boarding school. This is where his love for words came from and he has written poetry for many years. He now has the time to pursue his passion of writing and has written his first book in a fantasy series that he says has been in his head for longer than he cares to remember. http://www.colsinclair.com https://www.facebook.com/authorcol/

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• Tagged: Colin Sinclair, Elji and Galrass, Love Book Group Tours, novels, The Essence Saga, World Castle Publishing