Maiden
Teresa A. Harrison
(The Lightwalker Series, #1)
Published by: Acorn Publishing
Publication date: October 13th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Marta and Jayme are childhood friends with different beliefs. Marta dreams of becoming a healer. Jayme has been schooled by the black-coats, a group of priests who claim women are inferior, and he fears Marta is jeopardizing her eternal future.

Despite a heated debate over Marta’s soul, Jayme betrays her to the priests. The consequences of this betrayal change Marta’s life forever and sends Jayme on his own journey.

After a brutal massacre, Marta awakens deep in the forest overcome with grief for her lost sisters, but the world will not let her rest. The tragedy has changed her. She hears the call of nature, eventually steering her toward a small cottage in the wilderness. There she learns of nature’s magic and what it means to be a LightWalker. The path is there for her to follow. If she’s strong enough to embrace it…

EXCERPT

Intruders, sitting high on their horses, circled their group, trapping Marta and the other women on the hilltop. Behind the horsemen, she could see the black coats of the priests.
For what seemed like an eternal moment, Marta waited as the men stared down at them. The women muttered, and the only other sound was the crackle of the fire and the snorting of the horses. A terrible sense of unease sat like a solid pounding rock in Marta’s chest. Then, in a blink, the horses and riders closed ranks, leaving no escape from swinging clubs and swords.
The screams began again, and Marta looked everywhere for a way out, but the dust from the trampling horses filled the air. Disorientated and frozen in a nightmare, Marta didn’t know which way to go, realizing she might die if she didn’t do something soon. She choked on her sobs as she scurried about in a frenzied effort to escape.
Flashes of steel glinted in the firelight, rising high above the soldier’s heads and striking down, again and again. The heat of the flames licked her skin when she stumbled too close to the fire. Sweat stung her eyes. And soon the shrieks of the women were swallowed up by the war cries of the men and the whinnying of their horses.
Before Marta could fully process the bloody scene, a soldier advanced furiously toward her, his sword raised high. She turned to run, wild with fear, but in only a few steps, she came up against the ring of men and horses. A whooshing sound came from behind, and with it a searing pain through her skull. Then all was darkness.

Author Bio:
Teresa Harrison grew up in Decatur, Illinois, and graduated from Eureka College with a BA in Speech and Theatre. She has a son and daughter-in-law and now two beautiful grandchildren.
She met her husband, Glenn, while on a spiritual journey to Sedona, AZ. They realized they had something special, but they lived on opposite edges of North America. Two years later, she joined Glenn in Southern California.
Teresa has been studying spiritual topics for nearly 40 years and is a Reiki Master, a Breathwork Facilitator, an herbalist and teacher. She has studied Universal Laws, Reincarnation, aromatherapy, yoga, meditation and many other spiritual topics.
Teresa has been reading and telling stories her whole life, and now she has finally written one of them down.

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