Snippet from THE RUBY KEY

I’m not going to give too much set up here. My young heroes have made a life-or-death deal with the nightling Kai-lord, and have realized he doesn’t intend to keep his end of it. They’ve gone to visit an ancient audiomaerist—a woman who can track people through time and space from the words they’ve spoken.

And the old woman is studying the cut the heroine, Genna, received on her hand from the dream she was dreaming.

I held out my hand.

“Here are the bits of gravel I dug out of it,” Yarri said, and put her little handmade bag on the table.

The old woman ran one gnarled finger along the edges of my cut, and hissed. She undid the little tie on the bag, and touched the grit, and suddenly she wrapped her arms around herself, closed her eyes, and began rocking back and forth, making keening noises. Dan and I both jumped, but Yarri held out her hands, a calming gesture. “Wait,” she mouthed.

“He hunts the three of you, by the roads and also through the second world, the world that the wounded child has entered. He has set the silver women and with her blind hounds on you, and the bard with his harp strung with the hairs of long-dead warriors. When the bard’s harp sings on its own, the warriors come forth, and their eyes see through the worlds and through life and death and time.

“And the one you seek hides from him, and has hidden from him for a long time, bearing many faces and many names, and our enemy has only the one name to follow. You seek a trickster, and perhaps you will find him, and perhaps he will find you. And if he finds you first, you may face danger from all sides.”

She opened her eyes, and stared at my brother and me, and then at Yarri. And then she turned to her cat. “You’ll go with them, of course. They’ll be walking the moonroads, and we cannot think they’ll find their way without your sort of help.”

“I thought you’d want a favor,” the cat said, and I shrieked, and Dan jumped. “I might go with them, even if just for a while. I don’t like the silver huntress or her vile white-eyed hounds, but that old harp and I have crossed paths a time or two before. I might play with it again, just for the fun of it.”

Even Yarri looked shaken. “How did you make him talk?” she asked our host.

The old woman looked disgusted. “I have done nothing with him but feed him at night and listen to his long-winded tales. If you value your sanity, don’t let him tell you about the time he sailed all the seas.”

“I’ll take them along the moonroads,” the cat said. “But you’re the one who will have to tell us which roads we’ll need to follow.”

“Dare I say the name of the one they seek?” she asked the cat. “Though better you than them, better here than later. He can’t see them here. Or me. I always feel better when he can’t see me.”

“I don’t think he concerns himself with cats,” I said, and the cat turned all his attention on me, and looked straight into my eyes, and from his mouth I heard the words, “Neither do I,” while in my mind, just as clearly, his voice said, And you, Dreamer … do you think I’m a cat? Here, kitty, kitty, have some nice fish?”

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11 responses to “Snippet from THE RUBY KEY”

  1. PolarBear Avatar

    What a cool thing to leave us for the weekend! Thanks.

  2. heather Avatar

    The audiomaerist sounds very interesting. I’d love to know more about her and her abilities. Guess I’ll have to read the book, huh. Sounds like an awesome world from the bits and pieces I’ve gathered from your blog.

  3. TJ Avatar

    It’s very interesting, and of course it’s great. I will await this book for sure.

  4. firelight Avatar

    I love talking cats! Now I want to read the book.

  5. The English Rose Avatar
    The English Rose

    Hey Holly, just wanted to say I’m about halfway through the character clinic for a new story and I love it! The project is something I truly want to work on and that I think is honestly complex and going somewhere, a feeling I haven’t had in quite a while. This is in part (a lot) to how deep this protag is becoming. Thanks!

  6. BookLover Avatar

    (smiling and chuckling) OH! That Cat! I love it and of course I’ll be reading YA books, if that’s what you’ll be writing (and may I hope for a snippet from Hawkspar soon?

    BookLover

  7. Chassit Avatar

    This is freakin’ awesome! I can’t wait to read it! Holly, how do you do it? You’re head must weigh so much from all the awesome ideas that fill it. Keep ’em coming!

    Jason

  8. zette Avatar

    I LOVE this! I can’t wait to see the entire tale!

  9. TinaK Avatar

    I’ve been reading quite a few YA books lately and I’ll be quite happy to put this on my list. And I’ll love to introduce my three children (11,12 & 15) to your work.

    This sounds wonderful so far Holly.

  10. The English Rose Avatar
    The English Rose

    Looks like a lot of fun! I love the Silver Huntress idea. And yes, the ‘cat’! 🙂 I don’t normally read YA books but I can make an exception.

  11. Gabriele Avatar

    There’s a lot going on here. Intriguing.

    I love that ‘cat’. 🙂

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