I am honored to have on my blog today
R.E. Sheahan
and Fire and Ice (Storm of Arranon #2)
About the Author
Before I wrote, I read. Voraciously. When I wasn’t able to read, I listened to audio books on tape or CD. Still do.
Hi. My name is Robynn E Sheahan and I live and write from the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest.I started to dabble in writing while working as a Paramedic/Firefighter in Northern California. Trust me, it’s not like it appears on TV. There was plenty of time for books.
Ideas from dreams follow me into warm sunny days or the quiet of falling snow. What ifs feed a vivid imagination. Even miss-typed phrases may lead to an aha moment. Brain storming sessions standing in windy, dark parking lots with fellow writers release thoughts that pry at the corners of my mind, grasping for purchase. Sometimes the ideas pursue me, with persistence.
About six years ago the dabbling became serious when worlds and characters screamed for, no, demanded attention. So I wrote my first manuscript. Critiques and rewrites filled the next five years.
I now had STORM OF ARRANON, the first book in the series. Storm of Arranon Fire and Ice quickly followed. Then Storm of Arranon Allies and Enemies. Book four is in a rough draft, no title as yet, and should be done by Spring 2015. Book five awaits it’s turn!Social Media Links:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5780410.R_E_Sheahan
About the Book
Fire and Ice (Storm of Arranon #2)
by R.E. Sheahan
Paperback, 292 pages
Published December 29th 2012 by Rule of Three Press
Newly commissioned Interceptor fighter pilot, Erynn Yager, knows sacrifice. Her battle against a brutal alien enemy intent on destroying her two worlds set her on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment, all while struggling to gain control of her secret abilities. With the alien threat crushed, Erynn believes the worst is behind her. She settles in to experience first love and a changed life on a hidden military base deep inside a glacier covered mountain on Arranon.
Her peaceful existence can’t last.
Dhoran, the evil sovereign of Arranon’s underworld has risen from the dead to possess an unwilling human. Dhoran’s powers grow while he plots a war that may plunge Arranon onto a path of destruction neither realm will survive. Arranon is pulled into chaos as violence spreads across the planet.
Drawn first in visions, Erynn enters a diverse world beneath Arranon’s surface, a realm teeming with danger, mystery, and beauty. The battle thrusts her into an uncharted kingdom, intensifying her connection to the heart and soul of the living Arranon.
Want to purchase this awesome book? You can find it on AMAZON
Take a Peek…
From Chapter 4
WIND DROVE THE HEAVILY FALLING snow sideways as Erynn raced into the storm and down the mountain. She opened vents on the sides of her helmet to prevent her breath from fogging the inside of the face shield. Icy air rushed in, numbing her cheeks. She sped around boulders, sliding out of turns. She relished being outside and doing something useful. These two enemy soldiers had probably had enough of Arranon’s extreme weather and dangerous wildlife. They would gladly come with her. She could bring them in peaceably.
The tree line loomed ahead. She slowed the speeder, banking to a stop. Powdery snow fanned away, landing with a soft plop in the growing drifts. She cut the power to the speeder, and the humming engine whined to silence. A deep quiet that only comes with snow followed. An occasional gust of wind whistled around the high boughs, adding a lonely voice to the soundless forest. Erynn raised her visor and gazed through the trees. The faint, spicy scent of needle leaves swirled in. She smiled. “Beautiful.”
“Now, where are you?” Her whisper plumed out, darting among the dancing flakes to be spirited away. She faced forward, then right, then left. Nothing. “Hmmm. Did you leave?” She started the speeder, deciding to go deeper into the woods, straight ahead but slower. Dark shadows scurried, keeping pace with her from beneath drooping, snow-laden boughs.
Thoughts of meervorines, with their razor teeth and claws, clamped an icy hand around her spine. No aleuns flew from tree to tree or chirped a song among the branches covered in their thick white blanket. No maejen prowled the outer boundaries of the heavy boughs, yellow eyes gleaming, their great heads low, muzzles sniffing at the snow, tails tucked between long sinewy legs. Nor did they howl a greeting from the tops of ravines. Not even the katjaramuud, with their large, thick bodies poked massive round heads from the trees to watch her progress.
“Where is everyone?”
A sudden icy gust pushed through the forest. Limbs rose and fell, swaying under their mantle of white.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Erynn lowered the helmet’s face shield and activated the infrared sights. If something or someone was out there, she would see a heat signature through the sensors imbedded in the visor. She continued to creep down the mountain, rising up and over drifts, scanning the area under and around the trees.
“Nothing.” She sighed. “Okay, so what has my awareness on alert?” Her stomach tightened and rolled. She stopped the speeder, cut the power, and threw her leg over the seat. She stumbled through uneven drifts, moving only a few meters from the ski-speeder, listening to the unusual silence while peering into the storm and around the trees.
“What is going on?” She spun back toward the speeder, staring beyond the vehicle and into the swirling snow. Flakes skipped and darted, creating an illusion of flittering shapes closing in. Her breath caught. Nothing lit up the sensors, but something watched her. She could sense eyes, their gaze burning into her like dagger points, sharp against her back. That feeling of ice along her spine spread, tightening her chest.
She pushed through the deepening snow pack to the speeder, jumped onto the seat, and hit the starter. Her gloved thumb slid off, jamming against the speeder’s frame. “Batias!” she cursed, shaking her hand to ease the pain shooting up her wrist. That sense of others, of being watched, came closer, studying her. Their scrutiny stabbed through the frosty air. She punched the button again, but the speeder’s engine remained silent. Her respirations increased. Fog misted the inside of her visor, obscuring her vision. She flipped the shield up and out of her eyes. Without the visor, she couldn’t observe an approaching threat, but with it on, she was unable to see to start the speeder.
“What’s wrong? Why won’t you start?” She gritted her teeth, depressing the button repeatedly.
A small screen below the starter sputtered to a dim yellow glow. Words in a faint red radiance blinked off and on.
SYSTEM FAILURE. POWER RESERVE DEPLETED.
The light in the screen flickered and went out.
“No! There was a full charge.” The heavy blanket of white around her buffered her voice.
To her right, tree limbs shook, losing their mantle of snow.
Erynn pulled her weapon with a smooth, fluid motion. Yellow eyes appeared under long pointed leaves.
A heavy breath rushed between her pursed lips, fogging into the icy air. “It’s you.” The relief in her voice carried to the three white maejen, and they slipped out from the shadows. Erynn glanced around, still holding the staser. “But you aren’t what I sense out there, watching.”
The maejen circled her, yipping and dancing nervously on round paws.
She frowned. “Something’s hunting me.”
The alpha threw back his head and howled, the other two maejen joining his song.
“So what do I do?”
The group hurried under the limbs, glancing back at her.
“Follow you. Good idea.”
Erynn abandoned the speeder and ran.
***
The den of downed trees covered with snow was dry inside, and the wind didn’t penetrate. Erynn pulled off the helmet and stripped out of heavy gloves, placing them inside the upturned emptiness. She no longer sensed being watched, except by the pack. This season’s pups were nearly full grown. Their curiosity radiated to her. She sat back against a wall of sticks and held out her hand.
One by one, the five young came forward, sniffing her.
“Friends?”
The big alpha male chuffed, his teeth showing in an obvious grin. He scooted in next to Erynn and sat down.
“Thanks. I owe you.”
He lay against her leg, head on her lap, his blazing eyes gazing up at her, and whined.
“Okay, we’re even, kinda.” She brushed her hand over warm, dense, soft fur. “I won’t keep score if you don’t.”
Outside the small opening, the day gave over to evening in faint degrees, finally succumbing to night and the impenetrable dark.
Erynn opened her pack. She pulled out water and a bland protein bar. More curiosity flowed from the young maejen. She offered to share her meal.
The pups sniffed the portion she held out, sneezed, and backed away, shaking their heads.
She chuckled. “I don’t blame you. They’re pretty bad.”
Erynn finished her meal, washing the tasteless bar down with a bottle of water. Wiping the back of her hand across her lips, she curled against the wall to wait for morning. When a fitful sleep came, unsettling dreams took her underground.
Open caverns dimly lighted by distant fires were alive with human-like forms. Screeching howls punctuated the gloom. Shadows slithered behind rocks and at the periphery of her vision. The dream shapes faded into nothingness, and she was alone in the dark.
***
Erynn woke to a gentle snowfall, but no wind. Soft morning radiance crept lethargically through the small entry. With a modest effort, the day created little more than a pale silver puddle of light near the den’s opening. The maejen slept around her, feet twitching, barking quietly as they ran after dream prey. An unidentifiable carcass stripped of flesh and discarded in the center of the den was evidence of a successful night’s hunt and full bellies. She was glad she hadn’t been awake for that part.
Pushing into a sitting position, Erynn yawned and stretched stiff arms over her head. She considered another protein bar but decided to wait until she was back at the base to eat something tastier, and warmer. Perhaps the bloody, raw smell of the pile of ravaged bones was another factor in her lack of appetite. She pulled on gloves, crawled to the opening, dragging the helmet with her, and poked her head out into the fresh morning air.
Snow-burdened trees lay beyond deep drifts. With eyes closed, she sent her senses flying. Like the aleun, her awareness soared, out and away. After a careful search, she reversed her probing consciousness. There was nothing threatening in the forest this morning. She crawled the rest of the way out but stayed tight against the opening, scanning the spaces around and under the trees.
A nose pushed gently against her back.
Erynn side-crawled to the right.
A massive white head popped out of the entry.
“Morning.” She watched the alpha. His intense gold eyes searched the woods. Her gaze tracked where the maejen’s had. Nothing.
He snorted snow from his twitching nose and glanced at her. Showing his teeth, he trotted into a deep drift outside the den.
“Yeah, I don’t sense any danger either. Whatever was out there is gone now. Thanks again. I gotta get back before they send out a search party.” She sighed. “If they haven’t already.”
The alpha dipped his head, staring at her. He chuffed, showing more teeth.
Erynn returned the smile. “At least you’re finding humor in this.”
His head swung in the direction they’d come from yesterday.
She frowned. “Yes. I’m going back for the speeder. There has to be a reason the power source is reading a complete failure.” She shook her head. “Strange.” She stood up, brushed snow off her pants, and set out through the forest.
***
The speeder was a lump among others in the snow. Erynn stood a moment, catching her breath. Walking through the deep drifts was a workout. When the ache in her chest eased, she began brushing the powdery blanket off the speeder.
She crouched, took the protective cover off the small engine, and examined the wiring. She could find no reason for the failure. Replacing the cover, she worked her way around the vehicle, checking each connection. On the other side of the speeder, she found the problem. The main power cable appeared to have been chewed through.
“When—” Erynn bolted upright. The watchers had returned. Every muscle in her body coiled to react as she peered into the falling snow. Icy fingers crawled from the base of her spine to her neck, and her skin prickled with the chill. “Okay, time to go.” She opened the repair kit from a case affixed to the rear of the seat. Electric blue and purple tendrils wound around her gloved hands. She knelt next to the damaged wiring and began to fuse the separation.
Movement in the distance to her right screamed for her attention, but she ignored the cry.
“Get this fixed. Get out of here,” Erynn whispered with urgency. When she had the heavy wires twisted together, she wrapped the spot in strong tape. “That should get me home. I hope.” She stood up and returned the tools to the box, her gaze drawn to the right. Several dark, human-shaped forms darted between the trees, edging closer. Her lungs hitched, and she jumped onto the speeder, throwing her hood off and her helmet on. Hot, fetid breath brushed at her neck. The stench of putrid flesh filled her nostrils.
Imagination? Yes. No. Maybe. Go!
Bright purple static popped off her hands as she reached down to the starter. The snapping currents enfolded the chassis. The speeder started without punching the button. Erynn twisted the throttle full open and sped away, up the mountain.
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