{"id":119,"date":"2013-08-09T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/2013\/08\/09\/render-by-heidi-c-vlach\/"},"modified":"2013-08-09T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T13:00:00","slug":"render-by-heidi-c-vlach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/08\/09\/render-by-heidi-c-vlach\/","title":{"rendered":"Render by Heidi C. Vlach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

In a far distant land, where magic flows and legends bloom, three races face their troubles together.<\/p>\n

A TROUBLED COMMUNITY<\/p>\n

The insect-like aemets built new homes under mountain maples, and they wished for luck. But the\u00a0years brought them much work and meagre reward. After poor harvests and a brush with forest fire, now wolves are striking down aemets who venture into the forest. Wolves have never menaced peoplekind in any of the teaching legends. Always a non-violent people, all the aemets know to do is
\nwork harder and pray.<\/p>\n

A GIRL CALLED LUCKY<\/p>\n

Rue is a young aemet coming of age in this strained village. Named after the fortuitous rue plant,\u00a0she has never cared much for the idea of luck. She believed from the start that it was folly to live in this place \u2014 and when fellow aemets turn up dead, Rue is through waiting for the winds to change. With her aemet skill of sensing air movement, her chemistry training and a guard dog at her side, Rue promises herself that she’ll find the root of Aloftway’s problems. But she’ll need help from otherkind allies, including the local recluse, Felixi. He is a dragon-like korvi, and a hunter of big game \u2014 who\u00a0knows more about the wolf attacks than he’s willing to share.
\nRender<\/i> is part of the Stories of Aligare<\/i>, a fantasy series set in a magical, human-free world.\u00a0It is a stand-alone novel, only loosely related to other Stories of Aligare.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Render<\/i> is available to download for $2.99 on:<\/div>\n
Amazon<\/a>
\nBarnes and Noble<\/a>
\nKobo<\/a>
\nSmashwords<\/a><\/p>\n

Excerpt<\/h4>\n

He jerked his chin toward the basket at Rue\u2019s feet. \u2018That\u2019s my payment?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, all hazelnuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stepped over the nurl and approached, tall and broad as he came near. Rue spotted another scar as he picked up the basket, a faded one concealed between the tendons of his hands.
\n<\/a>
\n\u201cAnd,\u201d Rue said.<\/p>\n

Air rushed under Felixi\u2019s hackling feathers. Looking to Rue with a hard-line mouth, he listened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to arrange another catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor your new arrivals? Can\u2019t they catch their own damned meat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt it. Should I tell you the whole story? I won\u2019t ask anything for the telling, either. I\u2019m not a bard.\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t expect it to work, a bare bribe against someone cannier than her. But Felixi stared for a hard moment and then barked a ragged sound \u2014 Rue barely recognized it as a laugh. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cFine, Rue,” he said. \u201cTell me your tale of Aloftway\u2019s need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLong ago,\u201d Rue obliged. And then she shook her head, feeling radiantly absurd. \u201cI\u2019m not actually telling this like a legend. The village only goes back three years and four months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felixi stared. His laughter had long since died \u2014 so much for lightening the air between them. Rue ought to get to the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnypace \u2026 We began this village on hopes and prayers, really. We haven\u2019t got connections like well-known old villages, and Aloftway\u2019s two korvi friends are too valuable to go off building renown. My father left to find allies but right now, we haven\u2019t a notion of where he is. We\u2019ve just been working on the beginning basics of trade \u2014 growing a surplus of crops, that sort of thing \u2014 but it’s been slow work, and now, some days ago a village fellow was killed by wolves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felixi still had no comment. He stood fixed on her; Rue sensed a shift of his jaw muscles, a marginal rise in his feathered back or maybe it had never settled.<\/p>\n

Rue went on, \u201cIt \u2026 It came right out of the yellow. We hadn’t thought wolves would mistake peoplekind for prey so easily. The fellow was only off foraging for tree bark, maybe a furlong from the edge of town. And we found a second fellow\u2014 \u201c<\/p>\n

As though anyone but Rue had found that fellow and guarded the secret.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014He was the same way, hunted and torn apart by wolves. We can see the pawprints, we hear their howling on the wind… Everyone has been scared since then. No one wants to be the next friend circled and torn apart next.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019re feeding some creatures in exchange for protection,\u201d Felixi asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cDogs, I\u2019m told. Some fellow or other breeds pups and he owes Aloftway a favour \u2026 They\u2019ll need to be fed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you haven\u2019t got a scrap of meat to share, so you\u2019re asking me to fetch it each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every day,\u201d Rue blurted. \u201cI don\u2019t think so, anypace. That\u2019d be stupid, taking on so many dogs that we all starve.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with a raise of his brow, Felixi shifted \u2014 changing all over, his feathers finally settling. \u201cGood to know that you have that much sense. Hmf. I\u2019ll catch one more large creature for you. A deer this time, for a half-bushel of nuts or something like them. I\u2019ll be three days.\u201d He paused like his own bristly words stuck in his throat. \u201cI don\u2019t make long-term arrangements, Rue, so tell your mages to scrape out a better plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will. I\u2019ll make sure we find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made a low, flat sound, and turned away. Yellow plumage fanned between them, his wings spreading like the closing of a door curtain.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelixi? There\u2019s a parchment pouch, tucked down the side. I salt-roasted a few of the nuts, they make a fine snack \u2014 it\u2019s Aloftway\u2019s thanks for your trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

The look he shot Rue was different somehow \u2014 lighter, more bitter, and with an odd twist of a smile. In this gemstone moment, Rue was looking at his features in profile, his unstyled shock of mane feathers and the shallow curve of his nose. Felixi\u2019s face was younger than she had thought. No lines from smiling. No grey feathers where his hide and plumage met. Just his mouth set like carved stone and the razor thought in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll leave your basket in this field when I\u2019m finished with it,\u201d was all he said.<\/p>\n

Find more from Heidi on her website<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Tumblr<\/a> and Goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a far distant land, where magic flows and legends bloom, three races face their troubles together. A TROUBLED COMMUNITY The insect-like aemets built new homes under mountain maples, and they wished for luck. But the\u00a0years brought them much work and meagre reward. After poor harvests and a brush with forest fire, now wolves are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,161,177,224,423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aligare","category-excerpt","category-fantasy","category-heidi-c-vlach","category-redner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}