Book extract

 

TYR

       His nostrils filled with the smells of his mother's kitchen.  His mouth began to water as teasing wafts of fresh herbs, oven baked bread along with onions and garlic frying, swirled around him.

        He could hear his mother singing gently in the distance and then he could feel the soft, loving touch of her fingertips as they trailed down his cheek and chin.

        The tinkling laughter of a beautiful, young woman made him smile. The sweet smell of her hair and skin, the touch of her lips on his.  The memory of just one kiss was so indelibly imprinted on him he could sense the lingering trace of her.  The presence of her.  His heart swelled. 

        The garden was filled with more laughter now.  His parents, Parras and Abelia, his sister Maia, her partner Gabriel and their child Aurora were all there of course.  So too the raven-haired beauty who held his heart.  But who was she?  He couldn't name her or ever remember meeting her and yet inexplicably, he was deeply in love with her.

        They were all giggling along with Tyr as they watched his niece chase the silvery, glass orb about the garden.  The sphere had a mind of its own, dodging and weaving in mid-air as the young girl squealed with delight and gave chase.  The beautiful sound of the night lark interwove with the musical sounds of the family's glee.

        Bright lights began to move faster and faster around the garden.  Tyr moved with them, became part of them, spinning, spinning around all the people he loved. They were looking up at him but couldn't see him.  He was calling out them, but they ignored him.

        He was moving at a dizzying speed, he begged them to grab him.  To stop him.  To pull him back down.  They just laughed and pointed.  Why couldn't they see or hear him?

        They began to blur now, their faces melting away into a smear of colour.  Their laughter morphed into a deep guttural howl of a foul beast from childhood nightmares. 

        He sought the refuge of his father's embrace.  There was always great comfort being wrapped in those big arms.  Whether awoken by a scary dream as a child, ill abed or just welcomed home, being hugged into Parras' barrel chest represented everything that was safe.

            His father's embrace became tighter and tighter.  Tyr began to panic; his father was crushing him in his vice-like grip.  He could feel the air being forced from his lungs; he couldn't breathe.  The burning pain in his chest grew.  He struggled but was unable to move.  He tried to scream out, but words would not come.  He could feel hot tears running down his cheeks.

        Then blackness came.

An extract from my yet to be completed novel, The Blight.