Title: Belega
Series: The Karthagans, Book One
Author: Dianne Hartsock
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 03/12/2024
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 99600
Genre: Fantasy, fantasy, magic, sorcerers, mage, psychic powers
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Description
The Karthagans have regained their ancient powers of manipulating nature, but at the price of madness. In their lust for control, they’ve destroyed their island and most of their race. They come now to Belega, where one of them, Camron, seeks domination over the known world. The Mage has come from the northern continent of Sennia to bring peace, but finding his strength no match for the coming struggle, he passes his abilities on to Natan, who only desires a simple life.
Now only Natan has the ability to stop Camron, but the personal cost is more than he imagines. It is only with the combined strength of his friends, his Karthagan lover, Kavi, and his deep desire to bring lasting peace to the earth, that he finds the courage to overcome Camron and restore balance to the world.
Belega
Dianne Hartsock © 2024
All Rights Reserved
“No!” Kavi took a step out of the shadows without a thought of where he was. The men around him stopped in shocked surprise.
“Intruder!” One of the soldiers recovered enough to shout, lunging for him. Kavi broke his arm with a quick sidestep and a twist of the man’s arm around his back. Snatching the soldier’s knife from his belt, he laughed as men came at him with their clumsy swords and fumbling knives. He’d sparred every day since childhood with better warriors than these. He shoved the wounded soldier from him, then silently cleared a wide field around himself with three soldiers dead and several missing their fingers.
Kavi strode toward the gates, drawing on the energy of the earth that came so easily to his people as horsemen rode up to block his way. A powerfully built man jumped from his mount to confront him. Landlan. “You cannot leave, my dear. You’re to be held for aiding in the murder of Lord Gargary.”
Kavi heard his words, but power flowed in him, and he made to walk around the man. Landlan reached out to restrain him, jumping back at the glitter of the knife in his hand. Landlan beckoned another horseman forward. This one trained an arrow on Kavi’s heart. Kavi looked at the soldiers. The thrumming of power in his ears made it difficult to think; he couldn’t focus his eyes. He stepped back to widen the space around him.
“Let me through,” he said, his voice sounding strange to his own ears.
Landlan shivered and then anger swept over his face. “No. I think I’ll kill you instead.” He motioned to the bowman with a jerk of his head.
Kavi laughed, a wild high-pitched note that set men’s teeth on edge. He opened his arms. “People of Belega.” He’d raised his voice and all within hearing stopped in their tracks at the throb of power in the air. “You’ve hated and feared me since I first stepped on your shores. You fear my people because of our gifts. I’ll show you that you were right to fear.”
He stooped to pick up a handful of dirt. A tiny part of his mind pleaded for reason, but he’d gone beyond that point. Power flowed into him from the earth and from the air he breathed so deeply. He opened his hand and blew lightly on the dust he held. It swirled, slowly at first, then with increasing speed, until a tiny whirlwind formed in his open palm. With a sound of delight, he tossed the swirling mass into the night sky.
The cyclone hit Barkuit with a roar of wind and blinding dirt. Men and horses became drawn into the swirling chaos as it touched down. Kavi stood at its calm center with Landlan. The man fell on his knees, unnerved by the terror of the wind. He begged Kavi to stop as the bowman along with every man within reach continued to be swept from the walls and streets, but Kavi had become part of the storm in all its glory and ignored him.
But someone urgently called his name. As his consciousness slammed back into his body, he recognized Natan’s voice and knew safety lay close by, just out of reach. He flung his arms toward the gates, and Landlan screamed as the cyclone nearly took him as it burst through the oak and stone of the wall, leaving a large gap in its wake.
Kavi folded his arms on his chest, the whirlwind dying to nothing. Dust settled on the silent world. A quarter of the city lay in ruins at his feet. Broken buildings and crushed men tangled in heaps of mortar and stone and blood around him.
He walked unseeing through the shattered gates. Power still pulsed in his body and held him in its sway. Kavi moved on impulse toward the voice that called his name softly in the night.
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Dianne is the author of paranormal/suspense, fantasy adventure, m/m romance, the occasional thriller, and anything else that comes to mind. She lives in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon with her incredibly patient husband, who puts up with the endless hours she spends hunched over the keyboard letting her characters play. She says Oregon’s raindrops are the perfect setting in which to write. There’s something about being cooped up in the house with a fire crackling on the hearth and a cup of hot coffee warming her hands, which kindles her imagination.
Currently, Dianne works as a floral designer in a locally-owned gift shop. Which is the perfect job for her. When not writing, she can express herself through the rich colors and textures of flowers and foliage.
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