Gathering of the Light: The First Chronicle of Kohlnar
()
About this ebook
Kohlnar: A land of dragon-shifters known as Kin, and the Folk whose love allows them to change, and patrol the skies while praising His Name. A peaceful country cut off from the rest of the continent by a vast mountain range known as the Spine of the World. A prosperous land, with deep mines and soil producing crops nowhere else can duplicate. A land desired by the Two Kings of Sirulan, who will stop at nothing, including use of the death magic of the Church of the Blood, to get it. These are the Chronicles of Kohlnar.
Gathering of the Light: The war started by the Sirulani against the Dragon Folk and Kin and its aftermath.
Taren’s Tale (excerpt): Neighboring Threld fights the Sirulani invaders and a traitor in their midst tries to kill their Senior Mage during the battle. Only the man who would be Taren’s can save him, but at what cost?
bloodLight (excerpt): A thousand years after the Breaking of the Spine, a serial killer stalks the streets of Dialhon the City, while the Senior Healer desperately tries to find a spell to cure the unknown disease slowly killing his husband, the City’s chief detective and the man in charge of stopping the killer.
The Dragon Winked (excerpt): Far north of Dialhon, a mage and the slave the gods forced him to buy, bound together by love they won’t or can’t admit, return to dead Kohlnar, determined to restore the Light, restore the Folk and Kin, even if they might die in the attempt.
Read more from Eric Alan Westfall
The Rake, The Rogue, and The Roué Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5UnBirthday Present Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Warlord & The Bard Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurrender Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Cocky Confession Story Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Warlord and The Bard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Princes False and True Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cooking Mage & The Parchment Prankster Part Three Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cooking Mage & The Parchment Prankster Part Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrince Ivan, A. Wolfe & A Firebird Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lieutenant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Song Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Raven Prince Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDancing in the Dark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cooking Mage & The Parchment Prankster Part One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTattooed Wolf, Painted Dragon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Thousand-and-One Rides of the Devil's Horse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLike A Mountain, Waiting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/53 Boars & A Wolf Walk Into A Bar... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Gathering of the Light
Related ebooks
The King's Whisper: Book Two of the Vanguards of Viridor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStation House Six: A Night Wars Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood Moon,Yellow Sky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGood Breeding Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Man of Unusual Talent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Stars of Dallas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGuarding His Fortunes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mystery at Skeffield Manor: steampunk mystery gay romance, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfidante Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFindley Black and the Ghosts of Printer's Devil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tomb of Tomes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWolfsbane: MIA Case Files, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobert and Louie: steampunk mystery gay romance, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMidwinter Firelight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCall Me Church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTis the Season Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dragon of Bellerose Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Carpenter's Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Next Of Kin (Unnatural Selection #3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coins Not Accepted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Maddest of Men: In the Kingpin's Shadow, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Layered Mask Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDancing in the Dark Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Strange Desire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeat Wave: Tucson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsObsessed to Death: A Jamie Brodie Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIlluminated Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Siren's Love Song Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThicker Than Water: Shadownotes, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Guildmaster: Book Three of the Vanguards of Viridor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Gay Fiction For You
The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exquisite Corpse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pomegranate: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kiss Her Once for Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City of Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Him: Him, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Querelle of Roberval Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maurice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are Water: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lie With Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silver in the Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Lonely Broadcast: Book One Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5White Trash Warlock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Young Mungo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orlando: A Biography Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Marvellous Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zombie: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Us: Him, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jonny Appleseed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Was: a novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Faggots Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Wall: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Charioteer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reality of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Line of Beauty: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Persian Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Violent Delights: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Gathering of the Light
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Gathering of the Light - Eric Alan Westfall
Gathering of the Light
(The First Chronicle of Kohlnar)
by Eric Alan Westfall
Copyright 1998-2017. Eric Alan Westfall.
All Rights Reserved.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR
Gathering of the Light
A Hearty Round of Cyber-Applause For:
Roberto Quintero, for his absolutely perfect painting for the cover
Samantha Lamb, whose artistry with words created the final version of the cover
Ava Penn and Alexis for their beautifully brilliant beta assistance.
(They said they liked it, so what could be a better beta than that?)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
The First Chronicle of Kohlnar:
Gathering of the Light
The Second Chronicle:
Taren’s Tale (Excerpt)
The Third Chronicle
bloodLight (Excerpt)
The Fourth Chronicle
The Dragon Winked (Excerpt)
Author Bio
Gathering of the Light
(The First Chronicle of Kohlnar)
The old city was dying.
Each morning, the sun sent a tsunami of light across the continent from the Western Sea, surging past hills and plains, ancient forests and wide rivers, until it splashed against the mountain wall forming the Spine of the World. It roared upward, dropped back, and rose again to assault the peaks which thundered into the sky. Once, the light would have vaulted over the snowcaps to waterfall joyfully on Kohlnar. Now it merely crept across, oozed down to the lesser range of the Barrakech Heights, becoming trapped in pools and puddles by the walls and towers of the new city. Each tier collected more of the light as the tiers stepped down the mountainside toward the bay, until all that was left for the old city huddled at the base was a faint, thin haze barely illuminating the crumbling homes and businesses crammed against the shattered docks. New city and old, the light was now the color of bronze, the color of copper.
It had not always been that way. Once it had been different.
Before.
* * *
Moments frozen in time.
A century and a quarter past.
The men who were Kin called.
Soft melodic voices drifted across the land like bubbles sparkling in the souls of all who heard. The Folk heard, the land heard, and hearing, gave, and in giving the Kin changed, rising on thermal updrafts and wing strokes from farm and palace, from school and court, from tavern and mine, from bakery and brothel, reaching for sky the color of molten gold. They swam through a sea of brilliant light in the bone-chilling air above the Heights and then up further yet, rising above the tops of the Spine, swooping and turning, rejoicing in His gift, His Light.
Below, laughter and joyous calling drifted up from the city and the land to join them. When the Kin flew, not merely alone, or one or two on patrol, but when they all flew for joy, forming and re-forming in elegant three-dimensional hymns, the city and the land did not grind to a halt—they merely...stopped.
Foreigners fumed, but silently, when the impromptu holidays began. They could do nothing, of course, but watch with varying degrees of amusement, anger, contempt or resignation as all Kohlnar moved outdoors. Ships drifted untended, only a mage’s hastily set spells averting disaster. Children with Kin-designs painted on their cheeks cheered, pointing upward as they ran and leaped on streets of mage-smoothed stone. Farmers lifted hand-shaded eyes to the glory in the sky. An elderly couple gladly paused in languorous morning love-making to experience a greater joy. Servants stopped the changing of bed linens, as each of the Folk answered the call of the Kin.
Come, the voices of red and gold and blue, the voices of leaves and soil and water, the voices of hooves and drying wheat and stone, whispered to the Folk.
Rejoice, the voices of white and black and grey, the voices of tears and tourmalines and stars, the voices of wings and sun and storm, chanted to the Folk in layered harmonies.
Praise Him, the sky-borne chorus sang.
And so they did.
In quiet thought. In the laughter of children large and small. In joined hands. In flowers carefully laid in His myriad shrines, floating on pools of crystal water, waiting for a caress of light from one of the moons to open the petals to celebrate this day. The heart of the city pulsed, as the land pulsed, as the Folk gave, and His land gave, and in giving, the Kin soared.
Great wings lifted on the gifts of Folk and land, a carillon of color and music cascading in intricate patterns, somehow visible against the backdrop of shining gold, until at last they spiraled back, changing. Walking once more among the Folk, cheek-dragons glowing, the Kin herded children back into classrooms to resume lessons, and led the afternoon prayers in His temple. They plowed a field and pleaded a case in the ducal courts. They hurried to get drinks