'I may need therapy after this'

Review: House of Valla

by

Poppet

It has been a while since I read the first book in this series. I must admit I procrastinated because of time constraint, as these books are long, and I'd forgotten just how long.

It was with enthusiasm that I started reading, sucked back into the drama of the humans and golden glowing lumin Vallorians fighting the dark evil of the Darak Or.

In book 1, we met Rain, and it's around him that this entire tale pivots. he is gorgeous, otherworldly, and in this installment he comes to his full awareness. In this book we find out just how potent Rain is (haha that sounds like such a pun). I wish I could tell you so much more but I hate spoilers. But I do think the blurb for this book doesn't do it any credit at all. This is an epic novel, so alike to the first fantasy author Tolkien, in that it leaves nothing out. It is a vivid construction of alien landscapes, races, sorcery and magic, all blended to help you fall into the hologram and live this book while you read it. And I am horribly emotionally invested in Rain's future and all that haunts him.

This is a book sizzling with magic, both dark and light, the unveiling of holy site after holy site in a bid to...

Read more: Amazon and Smashwords 

(Thank you, Poppet!)

Every experience...

Queen's Chessboard

A multiverse flea market

Although the town was set in the dry western regions, it was more fortunate than most towns on the seaboard; it was situated within the bifurcation of the Mors River. The town was therefore on a natural island; sturdy stone bridges allowed pedestrians and wagons to enter and exit at will and in safety. Compared to the land beyond the two rivers, Linmoor was a little paradise.


Space was restricted; therefore buildings were three to five storeys high, narrow affairs with communal walls. The cobbled alleys were narrower still, permitting little natural light, but were clean and dry. Only at the harbour jutting into the ocean was space set aside- for informal trading. Here the population of Linmoor gathered to buy and sell at bright, gaudy stalls, anything and everything anyone could need, want and imagine. Here they came to socialise and seek the sun, and to gawk at visitors, for there were plenty of those at any given time, Linmoor being well known for its market.


The din was incredible. A babble of chaotic sound enveloped them instantly. Vannis almost grabbed at his head and Rain frowned. Saska took it in her stride. They left their skiff with a man who could have been the twin to the sailor in Mintor. Saska quietly gave him the same warning she had given the other, but was not sure whether he believed her.


Stepping off the jetty behind the two men, she stared open-mouthed at the wares on display. Despite the watering sun no one seemed inclined to pack up. She had never seen the like in her long life. As they threaded their way through the dense throng, even Vannis looked around with avid curiosity. There were clothes, bright and drab, catering to all tastes, pots and pans, jewellery, semi-precious and costume, vegetables ordinary and exotic, toys, quaint wooden bowls shaped like fish and swans, leather belts studded with semi-precious stones, knives for hunting, knives for eating, soaps, drying racks, candles in a variety of shapes and sizes, pot plants, alcohol, foods deliciously aromatic…and she was glad she was walking on two legs and not swimming in some far ocean. For once her hankering as a Sylmer for open water receded into the background.

We Immortals are too aloof from everyday life. Wistfully she looked at Rain’s retreating back. I’d have liked to enjoy this with him. She caught Vannis looking at her and mentally shook herself. He did not need to know what her weakness was. Or who. He had already referred to her relationship with Rain, if one could call it that, but he did not need to know how much it mattered.

HOUSE OF VALLA

I spy a little dragon

Rain was drawn to a stall where the merchant sold small animals in ornate cages. He moved closer, intrigued, and Vannis with him. The animals were healthy- just as well, or the vendor would have faced an irate Lord of the Mantle- and were largely domesticated creatures such as kittens, puppies, birds and a few fluffy rodents. He had a few exotics on display- squirrels, wild birds, a number of water fowl- and it was here that Rain’s attention fixated. Not the water fowl, the lizards. Tiny, bright, arresting lizards, one of them a dragon in every way but size. It was sleekly scaled with a horn behind its head and a tail flicked as if irritated. It was blue. Vannis, beside him, drew slow breath, and they glanced at each other.

‘A little dragon,’ Rain whispered.

‘Is that native to Valaris?’ Vannis asked.

The vendor heard and was quick to point out it could not possibly have come from elsewhere. That was true…as far as animals went. In the present.

‘I’ve never seen one like this before,’ Rain muttered.

‘A Blue Spike, sir. Look it up in any library,’ the vendor responded touchily. ‘Rare, but not protected or even close to endangered. I have a license.’

Rain nodded and moved away. The man stared after him. Vannis was about to haul the man over the counter for lying about the creature being endangered and then thought they did not need the attention. He moved after Rain and caught up with him.

‘He was lying.’

‘I know.’

‘Strange little creature.’

‘Yes.’

Vannis sighed. ‘You were instantly enchanted...because it looks like a miniature dragon?’

Rain stared at him. ‘It’s unusual. What are you trying to say?’

‘That certain instincts begin to assail you. You’d do well to start listening.’

HOUSE OF VALLA

Great Forest a.k.a. Forbidden Forest

The Great Forest of Valaris is a broad and dense band of trees stretching from the east coast to the west, thereby literally dividing the continent into north and south. This is why it is also known as the Great Dividing Forest. The north regards the band of trees as dangerous (the why of that is explained in Gathering of Rain) and northerners therefore refer to the forest as Forbidden.

However, all is not what it seems...

Yes, in case you wonder why I post about a band of trees frequently, I do like my Great Forest!

Dialogue: Dantian

Dantian

(Blue could not interview Dantian, Vallorin of the Valleur beyond the Rift, for the time between rift tear and his capture was too fleeting. Blue subsequently spoke to Dantian via a visitation from the realms beyond. The Valleur, it is told, can do this. Whether or not you believe what is recorded below, these are the words as remembered upon waking.)

Blue:  My Lord Vallorin, thank you for appearing. We believe others need to know of your sacrifice.

Dantian: I do not regard what happened as a sacrifice. My destiny was written into my name at birth.

Blue: The Valleur scry a newborn’s future and apply a name to suit, right? Is that how you became aware of what you call your destiny?

Dantian: When one grows with a name that is a destiny, one accepts.

Blue: I cannot believe it is as simple as accepting.

Dantian: It was not easy.

Blue: Your brother Dante- what was his destiny?

Dantian: To be the father he was.

Blue: Ah, yes, he had a daughter. According to our records, she did not survive the burning of Hutito.

Dantian: There are different kinds of death, Blue. Her survival may not be as you trust it to be. Mark the future for news of this daughter of the Valleur.

Blue: We do enjoy a challenge. We shall watch.

Dantian: My time in this form grows short.

Blue: And before you dissipate, my lord, could you tell us what lies beyond?

Dantian: Life. Salvation, if you desire it. Redemption, is you require it. Choice, where before choice was a relative factor.

Blue: I assume you speak now of a destiny voided.

Dantian: Destiny fulfilled. And beyond it new choice. Life.

Blue: We need not fear death?

Dantian: Fear it. What you do in flesh echoes in these realms…

(Dantian’s visitation ended then, although Blue claims the essence of his presence lingered for a time. From that lingering she claims to have absorbed more of the man’s personality.)

Blue: A footnote, reader: Dantian was a man who loved life despite knowing his destiny. He lived large and loved as much. We are the poorer for his passing. I wish I had known him.

Three Gates

In the friendly light the islands were softened, nestling into the calm ocean, slumbering before the heat of the day.

Three islands, close and visible to each other, rose sheer on all sides out of the sea as if pulled by an almighty force from the depths. The cliffs were a brilliant, sparkling white, smooth, with no handholds, impossible to scale, but carved into the side of each island there was a gentle meander of time-worn stairs rising from the deep ocean, here so like a lake, spiralling around the outcrops of land until they gently gave way to the plateaus above.

When she came with Vannis the day before the stairs were there, although substantially eroded, and the sea beat itself senseless against unforgiving grey cliffs. The land, though level, was black and brittle underfoot, as if scorched for ages. A harsh place, sustaining no life, not even a hardy seabird. Now, after the uncloaking, the plateaus were uniform emerald, grass cropped short as if a contented herd of horses had been a-grazing but moments ago. There were no horses, but there were birds; strange, little yellow creatures with long scarlet legs and sharply pointed blue beaks. They fluttered here and there and every time they moved their wings, the sound of mournful flutes filled the air. They walked with graceful, dainty steps and every time their small three-toed talons touched ground, the sound of tinkling bells was heard. Saska was entranced by the little creatures, and by the happy-sad melodies of their movements.

Yesterday Vannis whistled a short, complicated tune that brought them to him in greeting, their fluttering causing flute music to rise and fall in deliberate melody. Communication, she realised. She had never before experienced such complete serenity.

‘They are sky-born,’ Vannis whispered, tears in his eyes. ‘They are the very last of their kind, rescued from a far planet poisoned by darklings. They are almost sentient and would have achieved it if they continued undisturbed. The Valleur call them Ephnor, an ancient word for Heavenly Music.’

‘Why do they not fly away?’

‘This is their home.’

‘Vannis, has all the life around the sites been in stasis?’

‘Time has no meaning out there in the magical realms, Saska. For the Ephnor, for every blade of grass, it has been but a moment, a blink, a thought.’

Incredible. She looked at them now, the birds of music. How happy they seemed; how sad they had lost their sentient future.

She raised her eyes to the nearest arch, still amazed by it, by all of them. The birds had so taken her in yesterday that it was a time before she actually looked at the islands; aptly named little spits of land, for to any eye it was three gates. Upon each island there stood an iridescent blue arch, free-standing in splendid isolation, structures at least ten times higher than the average woman, seemingly sculpted from one solid block of stone. What stone it was, she could not comprehend, but she knew there were no joins; the surfaces were smooth and unblemished.

‘The Three Gates,’ Vannis said, rather obviously, causing her to smile. ‘The Gate of Forgotten Past,’ and he gestured to the arch left of them, ‘and the Gate of Remembered Future.’ He pointed right. ‘This one before us, sandwiched between Past and Future, is the Gate of Present Dreams.’ They had uncloaked from the central island. ‘Self-explanatory, I would think.’

House of Valla 

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Smashwords

About Valaris

I would like to share with you the homeworld featured in all my Tales from the Path of Shades. Known as Valaris, it begins its journey into the multiverse in Gathering of Rain and continues in House of Valla, Shades of Shadow and The Sunless One. Thereafter (Glittering Darkness onward) Valaris remains the homeworld, but the multiverse expands a fair bit to include other worlds and dimensions. Always Valaris is hearth and home to the characters that populate the Tales.

A small world, in the grand scheme of time and space, but beautiful and benign. There is one continent and a host of islands- a water world, really…although the folk living there are more than a little wary of the great depths of unchartered oceans!

Here are a few descriptions and images:

Drasso’s continuing legacy was a continent divided by the one region that had remained relatively untouched by the battles: the Great Dividing Forest. Valaris was a largely water world- one continent and thousands of unexplored, uninhabited islands, the rest being ocean in every direction. Thus, when one described the continent as divided, one was actually saying a world had been divided and its people also, and most effectively as Kisha and Kylan came to understand.

Back in Valaris’ beginning, once it became a habitable world, there was no sentient life. The humans of today did not evolve here; they came from faraway worlds, much the same as happened elsewhere. One starship came and saw it was good, and then there was another and another, a familiar tale. This was and is a paradise world and the humans who settled were happy, but, being human, being sentient, they were selfish also- another familiar tale- and denied entry to other races. Now, around the time that selfish mind-set began, a space warp materialised in the heavens above that made it impossible to travel the stars again, the same warp still in position today. It also, of course, denied entry to other settlers, and put an end to other races interfering with the humans already here. Thus, without any great effort, the humans got their wish, and the Valarians were born as a people apart.

Valaris went beyond every dream. It was far more than this miserable excuse of a world. Even when the light shone benignly here and the mountains were green and white, rounded and inviting, it could not compare.

Ah, what a kaleidoscope world! Sapphire and emerald, silver and white, gold, crimson, amber and violet! Mountains of infinite variety, fertile valleys, oceans, islands, lakes and rivers! Wondrously growing things! There he could live, BE! He could never return to that innocent young man, but, then, he no longer had interest in recapturing that kind of wonder. He was what he was, and it would bring him what he desired. Beauty. Valaris had beauty. In abundance.

A real world, don't you think? Would love to hear your opinion.

A flare...after millenniums!

Lanto cursed. Last night he was weaponless when there were four flare guns.

‘McSee?’ he called over to the sleeping giant. Kisha and Kylan were wrapped in each other’s arms near the big man. They stirred first.

McSee snorted.

The others were gathering firewood or perhaps just taking time alone. Vannis had not slept at all, and left the campsite before dawn to vanish into the lower mists. Lanto heard and watched him go. Moments after that Raken rose to follow the Valleur, keeping her distance. Vannis was so wrapped up in guilt and indecision he had no idea she was there watching over him. Lanto saw the look on her face, the look of a woman who thought she might have found the man she could give her heart to. Ah, well, you win some, you lose some.

‘McSee!’ Lanto called louder, waking Kylan and Kisha, but not the red-haired sleeper. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered.

Kylan stood up, pulling Kisha with him before bending over McSee to shake him.

‘What…where?’ McSee bolted up and then groaned at Kylan: ‘I was sleeping, man!’

‘McSee! Look at the sun, for Aaru’s sake! Are you going to sleep all day?’ Lanto taunted, the sun being merely a hesitant brightness through the mist. Kylan and Kisha looked at each other sheepishly. ‘No, not you two; you’re in love.’ Kisha blushed root-red and Kylan hugged her, grinning. She ambled off to do her morning’s ablutions.

‘What, Lanto?’ McSee growled.

‘These flare guns, how do they work?’

‘You woke me for that?’ McSee roared.

‘What are they?’ Kylan asked curiously, reaching over the smouldering embers to pick one up from before Lanto’s feet. His hand automatically clasped the gun in the universal grip, finger on trigger. He pointed it at himself to study it.

‘No!’ McSee roared again, lunging at Kylan's arm and knocking it sideways. ‘It’ll blow your head off!’ Kylan dropped it as if stung. ‘Hell, man, don’t bloody drop it like that, it could go off!’

‘McSee, calm down,’ Lanto admonished. ‘Show us how it works, so we may treat it with respect.’

Kylan nodded, somewhat angry at the rough treatment.

‘Okay, but give me a chance, will you?’ McSee went to relieve himself, and came back.

‘Okay, pass it here. This was designed as a lifesaving tool. If you were in trouble- particularly at sea where distances are great- or lost or some such emergency, you could shoot this into the air, and someone would pinpoint your location and come get you. It isn’t a toy; it can maim and kill. I wouldn’t want to be shot with one of these, trust me; I’d rather take a bullet from a handgun…yeah, yeah, I’ll explain the difference some time. It works like this: these cartridges contain a phosphorous substance that ignites when fired…as it will ignite your insides if you get shot with it. You load them in like so…’ McSee slammed one in. Lanto winced. ‘I’m not sure the thing will work after so long, but it was pretty dry and cool in the chamber…’

‘Only one way to find out,’ Lanto prompted, and Kylan sent him a dubious look.

‘Indeed.’ McSee smirked and Kylan cautiously moved away. ‘You release the safety catch, point it in the air…and, here goes, pull the trigger…’ McSee pulled and startled them when brilliance shot through the mist, lighting it instantly. A red glow spread, infusing the moisture and turning their surroundings into luminous red daylight.

‘Fuck me,’ Kylan swore uncharacteristically.

‘It works!’ McSee gloated, jumping up in glee.

‘Wow!’ Lanto stood up in astonishment.

‘Kylan!’ Kisha was heard screaming.

One after the other everyone crashed through the tree line back to the campsite.

‘See?’ McSee laughed. ‘That’s how you call for help.’

House of Valla

Smashwords

Amazon

The Point

Deep within he knew he was incomplete. Something was definitely missing, but he could not find what it was.

And then it no longer mattered.

He stepped over.

The process was complete.

He had to find the Darak Or and welcomed the search and the challenge.

Where would the Evil One hide?

He stood at the most extreme southern point of the continent, facing the landmass with his back to the raw beauty of the ocean. The Point; the most desolate region on Valaris. Forever uninhabited, scoured by gales, darkened by ominous fog, scorched by intense heat and gouged by sleet, winter to winter, summer to summer; there wasn’t a blade of grass…not a rock even.

To the east lay a mountain range as lifeless as the desert surrounding it; the Gosa. To the northwest were the dark smudges on the horizon where the Three Gates slept in the heat.

The Darak Or would not be here, but to the man standing firm in the gale on shifting dead sand, it was a good place to marshal his thoughts and plan strategy.

He was as desolate and empty as the place. Who was he? He had been known by many names, but now could not recall one. How had he come to this place?

House of Valla available on Smashwords and from Amazon