READERS CAN GET A SENSE OF CHARACTERS AND WRITING STYLE BY READING A PART OF THE PROLOGUE & FIRST CHAPTER OF UNEXPECTED MAGIC AS SET OUT BELOW.

PART OF PROLOGUE

An unexpected sound played through the air, rousing an ancient one from his nightly stroll in the realm of dreams.  Tomma blinked; his mind in a state of sleepy confusion.

Surely it’s not daybreak already, he thought, rubbing his large roughened hands over his face.

“Huh, I guess I was wrong,” he mumbled.  Before opening his eyes he had sensed a faint light all around him and could have sworn daylight was about to break.  Now, as he looked about, it was plain to see – or not see, rather, that it was still dark.

Good, he thought, wriggling about until he was again comfortable – he was too, that was until his wife’s arm fell onto his face.  He puffed through her splayed fingers in mild exasperation before rolling onto his side.  Again the sound came. This time Tomma distinctly heard it.

“Baby is crying,” he yawned while patting his wife on the leg.

“You get it,” Estar said sleepily.

“You can do it,” Tomma mumbled.

More crying … One eye popped open then the other.  Tomma listened carefully, trying to determine from where the sound was coming.  It seemed like was from directly below them, underneath the family wagon.  His wife sat up beside him, her confused expression hidden by the night.  They didn’t have any babies, so why did it just sound like one had cried within proximity?

They listened closely.  When they heard nothing, both Tomma and Estar thought it strange.  The likelihood of both of them suddenly hallucinating or hearing things that were not actually there was next to impossible.  They were positive, however, they had heard baby crying. That was confusing for two reasons. One was because their youngest child Tashee was aged six; the second was because she and her brother Axel, aged eight, were fast asleep in a shelter next to the wagon.

There it was again … the sound of a baby’s whimper.  Tomma shot a look at his wife, but couldn’t see much of anything given it was dark outside and even darker still inside the wagon.  They both tilted their heads down to better listen, for it was now very clear to the parents of six children that a baby lay somewhere beneath the floorboards of their wagon and they were definitely not sharing a weird hallucination.

Estar nudged her husband before laying back down, indicating that he should be the one to investigate.  Not that she was afraid of what might be out there, not at all.  Aside from being a strong woman, Estar was a very skilled fighter, but right then she just wanted to lie back down, even if it was only for a few more minutes.

After fumbling around for a moment, Tomma crawled to the side of the wagon.  He cautiously pulled back the canopy and peered out, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dark.  Next, he very carefully placed his feet on the ground, not wanting to stand on the baby.  Striking flint to torch, he bent down to locate the little one only to be completely dumbfounded by the sight that greeted him.  His mouth fell open while he struggled to comprehend what was going on.  There wasn’t one baby under their wagon but three, and none of them belonged to any of the families in their community, of that he was certain.  In fact, his daughter Tashee was the youngest child.

What the hell is this, he thought.  Why would someone leave their children here … and in the middle of the night no less?

PART OF FIRST CHAPTER

TWELVE YEARS LATER … ALAYA IS IN TROUBLE

(Name pronounced: Ah-lay-ya . Put it together: Alaya)

Shivering with excitement the young girl stared in delight, her imagination already taking her through a magical maze of the strange and the wonderful.  A fire breathing dragon burst through a dark mass of stormy clouds, its silver scales glittering like a star filled night as it swooped down through a rainbow sky.  A young wizard suddenly materialises atop a rainbow, standing there as easily as he would on solid ground.  He slides down the curve of colours to leap onto the back of the silver skylord.  Together they zoom towards the earth, towards Alaya.

Alaya smiled as brightly as the sun – a beaming smile that added unnecessarily to her extraordinary beauty, as she revelled in all that she could see.  Her otherwise pale, green eyes sparkled; a reflection of her barely contained excitement. Her mind overflowed with creativity, turning the world around her into a magical place as what did not exist came seemingly to life.  As the skylord bearing the wizard boy came within a hundred feet of her, the glorious images shimmered out of sight, leaving only her inspiration.

Earlier that morning when she was going to the Delana village to buy some flour and honey for her Ma, she was inexplicably drawn elsewhere.  The trail leading to the village skirted the edge of the mysterious Tamlayan Forest.  Whenever she went by there, she felt a deep connection to the ancient beauty with its spectacularly tall, evergreen trees.  Each time she passed, a windy visitor would whirl around her with cool scented air; its invisible touch pushing her towards them.  It seemed there were voices in the wind too, sweeping through the leaves with urgent whispers – almost as if the woods were an old familiar trying to encourage her back home.

As with all the local children, the Tamlayan Forest was forbidden to all the children of their community.  The folks of Delana warned all who passed through the area that the forest was a place best left unexplored; that on occasion, strange lights or sounds issued forth from deep within.

Until that day, Alaya had always resisted its allure.  She respected her mother’s wishes as a good daughter should.  She also wanted to avoid getting into huge trouble; which she would if her mother or father ever found out.  When leaving the trail many hours earlier she had no intentions of going in there let alone straying so far from the track, but it was like she had fallen into a trance – as if she were compelled by a sorcerer’s spell; one that led her far into the forest.