Excerpt from Myth

An Excerpt from Myth - Prologue first scene

Dusk rapidly descended in Tesknata Halle as the sun sank behind the hills of the desert. Brentar hid in the shadows and moved along the back of the structures that lined the main road.

            Music mingled with loud voices and the clinking of dishes came from the building he approached. A tavern. Yes. The back door was held open by a rock, the lantern light spilling into the alleyway. A public house and inn might buzz about recent visitors. I could create a simulated male form as a disguise and walk in. No. I prefer to remain in my Behm physique and reach out with my spirit self.

The longer he stood there he realized they would not have brought the soul-enchanted Mage here. Nor was it a likely place where Ty Greial or her companions would confide their reason for coming to the Halle.

The apothecary. He had passed a shop and residence several doors down that smelled of herbs and incense. They would have taken him there for healing.

            Brentar returned to the two-story home and lurked along the wall. Berry brambles had spread and taken over the barrier. A large garden took up most of the yard.

He recognized the aroma of each plant, the strongest being the raspberries at the spot where he stood. Rose and jasmine mixed with sage, bergamot, and lemongrass. All had a purpose for curatives and teas.

            He settled in, camouflaging himself in the foliage against the perimeter fence, and then closed his eyes, and cleared his mind to search. Two souls—a male and female—both on the upper level. Once he had located the alchemists, he breathed in slow and steady, allowing his essence to drift from his body and enter the home.

            As assumed, the ground level was a shop. Vials, bottles, boxes, littered the shelves behind a counter on the right. On the left a stairway led to the upper floor. The inhabitants’ presence emanated from a room at the far end.

            Brentar stared at his sleeping victims from the foot of the bed. A Djen male and female. They would know everything that transpired while Ty Greial and her companions were here.

            The woman was small and looked frail. I will enter her mind first. He encountered resistance as he attempted the mind join and pushed harder.

Ka-chet! Brentar’s ethereal form landed back in the hallway, forced out by an abrupt violence such as he had never encountered. What magic is this?

He lingered at the door. What power could toss me from her mind—and the room as well? Confused and a bit dizzy, Brentar rejoined his physical form.

            Once calm, he tried to make sense of what happened. Mages, over the course of a thousand years of Djen existence, had attempted binding spells against the elemental beings. Not one ever surpassed the extreme power of the Behm.

            Should he contact his Queen? She will think me weak—a pathetic excuse. No. I must discover this spell on my own.

            He decided to wait among the plants blending his form in the berry thicket. In the morn, I will cast out my astral body once more. Surely, something in their routine or physicality would provide a clue.

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