The Rabbit and the Raven: Book Two in the Solas Beir Trilogy (41 page)

Meridoris
(MEER-ee-dor-ess): a sea hag and vile sorceress from the depths of the ocean.

Michal
(MEYE-kahl)
Sloane
:  a wealthy girl who is best known for being a bully. She and her friends, Marisol Cassidy and Monroe Banagher are referred to as “M Cubed” or M³. Michal and her parents were close friends with the Corbin family.

Monroe Banagher
: a wealthy girl who is friends with Marisol Cassidy, Michal Sloane, and David Corbin.

Nysa
(NEE-sah): a water sprite called a
nixie, loyal to the queen. Her spirit animal is the golden koi.

Nerine
(NEER-ih-nee): a mermaid and daughter of the Sea King.

Northern Oracle
: one of the four Oracles, she governs the Gauntlet and the Ice Mountain Territories.

Obelia
(oh-BEEL-ya): head of the Solas Beir’s court council. The other members of the council are Gorman, Erela, Eoin of the North Forest, Fedor of the Great Plains, Navit of the South, and Rodas of the East.

Phelan
(FAY-lan): a knight, and Cael’s second in command, charged with the security of Caislucis.

Riordan Buchan
(REER-den BYOO-can): a writer, mythology enthusiast, and admirer of all things Gaelic. Married to Cassandra Buchan, he’s the father of Ciaran, Siobhan, and Rowan, and the nephew of the real Moira Buchan, who was murdered by Lucia.

Solas Beir
(SO-lass BAIR): ruler of Cai Terenmare. In representing the Light, the Solas Beir is endowed with great power and is meant to be a servant to the people. Solas Beir can be translated literally as Lightbearer, but this less formal term is used to refer to a future ruler who has not yet ascended to the throne. The term Lightbearer can also be used as an insult, referring to a ruler who is weak.

Southern Oracle:
one of the four Oracles, he governs the Rainforest.

Tynan Tierney
(TIGH-nan TEER-nee): the leader of the Kruorumbrae, creatures of the Darkness. He calls himself Kruor um Beir and seeks the throne of the Solas Beir. He is often referred to simply as Tierney.

Western Oracle
: one of the four Oracles, she governed the seas and was mother to the murderous sirens. She, her daughters, and her island temple were destroyed by Cael.

Yola
(YOH-lah): a woman from the village of Nuren, whose brother, Daudi (dah-OO-dee), was abducted along with five other villagers, including a young girl named Aziza (ah-ZEE-zah).

PLACES AND TERMS

(in alphabetical order)

The Barren
: the vast desert in the center of Cai Terenmare, spanning from the Great Plains to the Eye of the Needle.

Blood Altar:
a ruin with a macabre history located in the middle of the rainforest.

Cai Terenmare
(KIGH TAIR-en-mahr): a parallel world to Earth filled with magic, shape-shifters, mythical creatures, and blood-thirsty monsters.

Caislucis
(KASS-loo-sis): castle and city of the Solas Beir, perched on the cliffs above the Western Sea.

City of the Eastern Oracle:
a large, bustling, walled city governed by the Eastern Oracle.

Emerald Guardian:
a magical tree stump located near the northern boundary of the rainforest.

Eye of the Needle
: a rock spire near the City of the Eastern Oracle.

Newcastle Beach Inn
: a mansion built by Thaddeus Buchan as his home, and later deeded to the Newcastle Beach community. It sits across the street from his brother Samuel’s mansion, which was damaged in an earthquake and is in ruin.

Nuren:
a small village on the Great Plains.

Pool of Healing
: a sacred pool within Caislucis that can heal almost any wound.

Sigil
: a seal, signet, sign, symbol, or image with magical power.

Sign of the Throne
: the sigil of the Solas Beir and an object of great power belonging to the Light. It is used to open and close portals from Cai Terenmare to other worlds.

Silver Hand Mirror
: an object of power also used to open and close portals, but created and corrupted by Darkness.

Southport:
a coastal town notorious as a haven for pirates and slave traders.

Village of the Southern Oracle:
governed by the Southern Oracle, this tiny village stands in the center of a dangerous rainforest.

The Wasteland
: a parallel world to Cai Terenmare that serves as a prison. In this endless desert where time is frozen, prisoners are compelled to count scarlet grains of sand for all eternity.

THE SOWER COMES

Book Three in

t
he Solas Beir Trilogy

Melissa Eskue Ousley

THE WASTELAND

T
he girl sat beneath the cobalt sky, cupping the scarlet sand in her hands. She mumbled the numbers to herself, counting, counting, counting. She remembered nothing but her name. Sometimes she was called Abigail, and sometimes she was called Abby.

David
Corbin was trapped. Lost in a place where he wasn’t awake, and he wasn’t asleep. He remembered everything, especially the last thing, the part where he had heard
her
voice telling him to heal Lucia—even though that was the last thing he had wanted to do. After all the lies, all the betrayals, he had wanted to see Lucia die.

But the healing wasn’t for Lucia. It was for her, the one he had lost. Now Lucia had no more pain. He had taken it all. A part of him savored the agony that twisted his broken body—he was drowning in pain, but it helped him forget Abby’s eyes. The problem was, he would heal eventually, as he always did. Before long, the pain would fade. Then he wouldn’t be able to forget. Then, he would have to face Lucia. Already she had been calling for him.

Lucia had been staring at the floor of her cell for hours, waiting. The other cells in the dungeon were empty. She had woken up alone, in the dark silence of the underground.

              She suspected the other prisoners had been removed from the dungeon out of fear that she would bend their will to serve her own. Even the guards had kept their distance, afraid she might somehow infect their minds, reducing them to serve as her minions. The thought that she was so feared was amusing, considering her mind was still clouded from a death-like sleep. But there were benefits to having a bad reputation, and she didn’t mind the solitude. There was only one person she wanted to speak to. He was too broken to come to her just yet, but he
would
come, and soon. She reached out to David again with her mind.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M
elissa Eskue Ousley lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family and their Kelpie, Gryphon. When she’s not writing, Melissa can be found hiking, swimming, scuba diving, kayaking, or walking along the beach, poking dead things with a stick.

Before she became a writer, she had a number of educational jobs, ranging from a summer spent scraping road kill off a molten desert highway, to years spent conducting research with an amazing team of educators at the University of Arizona.
Her interests in psychology, culture, and mythology have influenced her writing of
The Solas Beir Trilogy
.

www.MelissaEskueOusley.com

www.goodreads.com/MelissaEskueOusley

www.facebook.com/MelissaEskueOusley

Twitter:  @MEskueOusley