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Chapter One - Sepia Memories
Sophie and Jessica bent over an old photo album looking at faded sepia photographs of bridal veils, orange blossoms, waxed moustaches and babies in christening gowns that swept the floor. Motes of dust danced up from the black pages and floated in the sunlight streaming through the open window.
Jessica wrinkled her nose at the faint smell of aged dry paper. She fingered a parched twig of heather, and brushed her hand over a photo of a young couple laughing up at the camera. The girls’ grandmother, Nonnie stood beside the antique cedar table pouring tea from a silver tea pot.
‘Nonnie, who are they?’ asked Sophie, pointing to the joyful faces.
Nonnie peered at the photograph and a wistful smile crossed her face.
The young woman wore a tailored suit with a fur collar, the straight skirt nearly brushing her ankles. A small hat perched on her neat curls and her face gleamed with fun, lips painted with a dark lipstick. The man, tall and proud, slung one arm protectively around her shoulder, while he cradled a pipe in his other hand.
‘That is me with your beautiful Papa,’ Nonnie replied, her voice catching. ‘I was twenty and Papa was twenty-two. That photograph was taken a few weeks after we met. I had only known him a short time but we both knew we would marry.’
Sophie and Jessica gazed up at their grandmother, fascinated. Nonnie looked so beautiful and so fragile in the old photograph. They could see the same narrow shoulders and straight back, the same curls although now streaked with grey, and a hint of the same mischievous laugh. more + |
Chapter One ~
Hunt for the Wild White Stallion
The full moon had already set and it was dark and chilly. Ethan crouched on the broad branch of a huge old tree, completely hidden by its leaves. He shivered and wrapped his cloak tighter around him for warmth. A slim streak of white hair at his left temple glimmered softly against his light brown hair. He peered through the darkness, ears straining for any noise.
He heard only the sounds of the forest: owls hooting across the valley, a crackle of twigs in the distance as an animal moved through the forest. Could that be the wild white stallion, the object of the Royal Hunt? A rush of excitement surged through
him, warming his body despite the chilly air.
‘Too-wit-to-wooooo,’ came a bird call from behind him.
Ethan listened closely. He couldn’t remember ever hearing that bird call before.
An answering ‘too-wit-to-woooo’ came from the other side of the clearing.
Ethan waited patiently high in the tree as the horizon turned from dark grey to the pearly half light just before dawn. At last he heard it.
Excerpted from The Quest for the Sun Gem. Copyright Belinda Murrell. Excerpted by permission of Random House Australia. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. more + |
~ Chapter One ~
The Palace Library
Queen Ashana swept into the palace library, followed by one of her ladies-in-waiting, and a troop of ten Sedah soldiers dressed in black armour. The soldiers set to work thoroughly searching the library. Queen Ashana stood to one side, tapping her foot imperiously, with her arms crossed.
One of the soldiers checked that each of the large glass windows was padlocked. Another checked that there was no-one hidden under the desks or behind the deep velvet couches. When the library had been meticulously searched, the soldiers marched out. Their leader paused at the door.
‘Remember, Lady Ashana,’ Captain Malish snarled, ‘we have your son, and if you try to escape, we will kill him.’
A look of intense pain crossed Queen Ashana’s face.
‘How could I forget that you invaders have kidnapped Caspar?’
Queen Ashana snapped, her voice trembling slightly. ‘Every waking moment I think of my precious children and wonder if they are alive. I already know that you and your masters hold everything in your hands, Captain Malish. Do not begrudge me an hour or two to lose myself in a book.’
Captain Malish’s eyes swept the vast room, with its white shelves groaning with thousands of books, soaring to the magnificent painted fresco on the domed ceiling. Ladders on tracks leant against the shelves so that books could be fetched from above. Glass windows ran in a circle just below the dome, filling the library with light.
‘Enjoy it while you can,’ Captain Malish sneered. ‘I hear that Governor Lazlac plans to burn all these useless books and turn the library into a games room for our soldiers. Perhaps you could join them then for a game of darts?’
Excerpted from The Snowy Tower. Copyright Belinda Murrell. Excerpted by permission of Random House Australia. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. more + |
Chapter One ~
Sniffer prowled down the staircase of the palace. Behind him tramped twelve Sedah guards, dressed all in black. The sharp tips of their cutlasses glinted wickedly in the light of the candles burning in the wall sconces.
Down one, two, three flights of stairs. They marched through the dim corridors. Maid servants and lackeys scuttled out of their way, staring nervously after the threatening black shadows of the Sedah soldiers.
Sniffer was enjoying this. He felt a rush of adrenalin. So close now. Any moment those brats would be his.
Sniffer threw open the thick, iron-hinged door that led to the kitchens. Apprentices and scullery maids melted away. The heat in the kitchens was stifling. A large joint of beef sizzled on a spit over a huge fire. A second fireplace was banked with hot coals for warming pots of sauces and stews.
The servants huddled wide-eyed against the walls. The kitchen was filled with the mouth-watering scents of roasting meat, pungent herbs and baking bread, but underlying it all was the salty smell of fear.
‘What’s going on?’ demanded the head chef, as she continued stirring a delicate sauce in a large copper pot. Cookie was a well-rounded woman, fierce and loyal, and known to be a tyrant in her domain.
Sniffer ignored her and the other staff. ‘The entrance to the dumbwaiter is somewhere down here,’ he barked, enjoying his newfound authority. ‘Those children must be here – and one of them is the princess. The captain’s orders are not to harm her. Search carefully and leave no pot unturned.’
Excerpted from The Voyage of the Owl. Copyright Belinda Murrell. Excerpted by permission of Random House Australia. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. more + |
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