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<\/a><\/div>\nI’m excited to be a stop on the Feel Real Fantasy blog tour<\/a> celebrating the completion of the\u00a0Rys Rising<\/i> series by Tracy Falbe<\/a>. Here’s an excerpt from the first novel,\u00a0Rys Rising<\/i>.<\/p>\n This scene takes place in the city of Jingten. It is a remote colony where tabre\u00a0magic masters have bred a new race of magical beings called rys. The tabre tightly\u00a0control the small rys population, and the leader Daykash Breymer has decided to use\u00a0corporeal punishment against Onja. The rys Dacian watches as the brutality unfolds\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Onja said no more, and the Daykash ordered that the charge be officially read\u00a0against her. A Nebakarz priest named Dutan stepped forward. He lifted a small wafer\u00a0thin disc of stone upon which was inscribed the charge. Willful wandering the tabre legal\u00a0system called it.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then her sentence was read. She was to endure eight strokes of the phliamel. Although rumor had already informed all gathered what the sentence would be,\u00a0discomfort still rippled through the assembled rys upon hearing the sentence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A priest, named Angpar who was young and just advanced from being an acolyte,\u00a0stepped out from behind the Daykash and held out the thin long stick that was split\u00a0three times at one end where crystals were attached. The thinness of the stick gave it\u00a0springiness so that its crystal-barbed splinters could deliver a whip-like sting.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Breymer said, \u201cLong centuries ago, before tabre had fully come to master and\u00a0appreciate the orderly joys of civilization, harsh methods were employed to teach\u00a0us discipline. I have decided that the use of the phlia-mel has become necessary\u00a0again because the rys are a young breed and, as this female has shown, have need of\u00a0discipline.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No one among the hundreds of rys said anything, but Dacian could feel the\u00a0collective protest caged all around him. He felt he should say something. Ask for mercy\u00a0at least, but so many things held him back. Was he wrong to question his elders? Did he\u00a0want to jeopardize his future as a Nebakarz? Did he have any reason to risk himself on\u00a0account of this female who ignored the law?\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cBegin,\u201d was all the Daykash said, and the two priests who had escorted Onja\u00a0earlier swiftly grabbed her again and pushed her to her knees. Angpar walked around the\u00a0trio and regarded his subject. He shook the phlia-mel once so that all could see the spring\u00a0in the rod, and then he reached down and yanked off her cloak and whipped it aside. He\u00a0seemed eager to have at her.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Onja\u2019s clothing was meager. She wore only a small vest and shorts and her lower\u00a0back was already properly exposed. Dacian could see the muscles in her back tense in\u00a0anticipation of the abuse, but she did not look over her shoulder at her punisher.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Angpar raised the phlia-mel, but his eagerness faded for a moment, and he\u00a0contemplated his next action as if he suddenly realized that the world would change when\u00a0he lowered his arm. Then his self righteousness returned and he swung at the rys female\u00a0hard. The crystal barbs flashed with white light when they struck Onja\u2019s blue skin and her\u00a0cry mixed with the meaty thwap of the rod hitting her. She lunged forward automatically\u00a0but her handlers yanked her back in place.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Many rys cried out or gasped, and some turned away, and before anyone could\u00a0recover from their disgust, Angpar hit her again. The Daykash fixed an emotionless gaze\u00a0on Onja. Dacian could not see her face but he imagined her grimace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dacian looked at Halor urgently. His lips trembled with outrage. \u201cStop this,\u201d he\u00a0begged.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cIt will be over soon,\u201d Halor said woodenly. His eyes insisted on obedience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When the third blow fell, Onja\u2019s cry was louder. Dacian heard her take a deep\u00a0breath to brace herself for the next stroke. As she filled her lungs with this painful gasp,\u00a0Dacian felt all his rational reasons for standing by collapse like a hillside soaked by\u00a0torrential rain. He looked at the tabre priests and acolytes lined up on both sides of him.\u00a0They watched the punishment raptly. Where was their compassion for her suffering?\u00a0They were all civilized creatures, but Dacian realized that their values did not entirely\u00a0extend to their much-maligned rys cousins. They would watch Onja endure eight\u00a0strokes from the phlia-mel and agree with the Daykash that it was necessary and proper.\u00a0Civilization required order but was brutality the only path to that end?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Angpar gave Onja her fourth stroke. Her sentence was half complete.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cStop!\u201d Dacian shouted. He rushed forward and felt Halor grab him but he shook\u00a0him off and moved toward Angpar.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He spun Angpar away from the female and then shoved his chest so that he fell\u00a0on his butt. Dacian\u2019s magic erupted. The crystals of the phlia-mel disintegrated in three\u00a0successive blue flashes and the old wood of the rod burst into flames. His next spell\u00a0cracked the domux and it fell off Onja\u2019s wrists. Its enchanted crystals lost their power and\u00a0faded to pebbles.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As the tabre holding Onja shifted to intervene with Dacian, he raised both of his\u00a0hands into their faces. They were swept backwards off their feet by the hot blasting force\u00a0of his attack spell.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Onja had collapsed forward and she was trying to push herself up but the pain\u00a0in her back was nearly paralyzing. Purple bleeding blisters ravaged her sleek youthful\u00a0back. She looked over her shoulder at Dacian. Agony twisted her tear-streaked face, but\u00a0gratitude radiated from her eyes, and he could believe that she would honor him forever.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cOnja,\u201d he whispered, casting his mind toward her thoughts, her soul. He felt\u00a0her lifeforce. It was hot and powerful, too powerful for her to have endured this gross\u00a0mistreatment.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Distracted entirely by the sight of his downtrodden damsel, Dacian had no shield\u00a0spell ready when the magic of the Daykash netted him. The spells of many tabre priests\u00a0piled on next, and Dacian could not move. His legs began to wobble and the blood in his\u00a0veins became hot and painful.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dacian summoned his power and began to untangle the spells gripping his body.\u00a0In this crisis, he suddenly realized that he could throw off their attacks. He was very\u00a0powerful. He would teach them not to abuse a rys female for a petty infraction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Halor was shouting for him and pushing his way through the tabre. But it was not\u00a0the voice of his Master that got through to Dacian\u2019s enraged mind. It was her voice.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cDo not fight them,\u201d Onja said. \u201cNot yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dacian looked at her again. She had managed to roll onto her side, and her call\u00a0to patience intrigued him. Not yet? What does she mean? Dacian thought. Even without\u00a0an answer, he would do as she asked. He relaxed and the spells of the tabre bit into him\u00a0vindictively. Defenseless again, Dacian crumbled in pain.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Halor put his arms around his pupil. \u201cEnough!\u201d he called. \u201cEnough. Stop!\u201d Then\u00a0in a softer voice he spoke to Dacian. \u201cYield. Do nothing, I beg you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dacian nodded and was not ungrateful for the protective embrace of his Master.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tracy Falbe invites you to give her characters a chance to feel real to you. The\u00a0Rys Rising fantasy series is driven by magic, passion, bravery, ambition, conquest, and\u00a0defeat. Rys Rising: Book I<\/a><\/i> is a free ebook and hopefully your gateway to an epic reading\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n