Aleyi Stories

All young Lallie Nonsire wanted was a quiet life, minding her own business and ignoring what she was by birth. After her magic betrays her by saving a friend's life, she'll settle for escaping Saf before she's turned into a live torch. But where can the child of a despised race flee? - (A short story of 2600 words, followed by an excerpt from the related same-MC novel, "A Fistful of Earth".) The free* e-version of this story can be found here: http://bit.ly/showcase-OHO *The story is not free on all vendors, but it's free wherever the author has been able to set it that way.

Tales of loathsome kings and prophesied saviors aren't so appealing when you are a royal bastard of prophecy... Evonalé Yunan is supposed to somehow free her grandmother's enslaved people, but she's merely a child, and her father is the powerful fire mage who subjugates the realm. She has therefore fled home, her half-siblings, and the father who really should've been her uncle. Unfortunately, it's the middle of winter. Fortunately, following her mother's directions has put her in another king's hunting grounds. To Evonalé's bewilderment, that king picks her up and gives her a place in his castle. The prince seeks her out to tease and befriend. Then one of Cook's daughters starts teaching her magic, and a scullery maid proves herself immune to poison. Evonalé isn't the only one with secrets. ----------- Followed by "A Fistful of Earth"

She can regain what her father gave up, but it'll cost all she has to get it... Geddis Feyim is tired of others complaining because they have all she ever wanted. Her father and elder sister serve as prophets for the king, their father's half-brother, but that doesn't help the rest of the family. Her mother's dead, her brother's insane, and she's working herself sick to keep her uncle's castle clean despite other servants' incompetence. Something has to change. She can't become nobility or earn a title, but she's a reasonably educated young woman, with Finding magic and blood ties to a few of the more powerful realms in the area. She has options. More than she wants to consider. Whatever she chooses, it'll shape the rest of her life. -------- Features someone who qualifies as an "other woman".

For women like Flory, fear comes far more easily than trust. Is the strange dwarf visitor another person she should fear, or might he be what she needs, to be able to trust again? (A short story of about 3,200 words / 11 pages / 12 minutes for the average reader.)

A collection of short-short stories and vignettes set in my fantasy world of Aleyi, which will all make more sense if you've read the series. Some will contain spoilers for various stories, so I've marked each vignette with a header that'll cue you in about what it has spoilers for (and for whose PoV it's in). I hope you enjoy it! ^_^ Cover credits: Knights Quest font ©Graham Mead of GemFonts Kelly Brown font © Mike Allard of DeNada Industries brushes = duly licensed from DesignTNT

This book is FOURTH in a series + a FIRST DRAFT. It may not make sense without having read the rest of the series. This is being posted as part of the First Draft Fridays run by Carradee, a.k.a. Misti Wolanski. Thus, this version is rough and may or may not bear significant differences from the final version that ends up published. --- DRAFT BLURB: Tully "Tuelzi" Brylee has spent decades in the shadows, first doing her father's bidding, then later doing her own after obeying her father resulted in the deaths of the few people she dared hold dear. Those responsible are powerful and untouchable without careful maneuvering, which has taken her decades to prepare. Now one of her targets has assassinated her high king, giving her the perfect opportunity to strike... Except she's fallen in love with the assassin's brother-in-law. Between that and a few hours of weakness, she might've undone plans years in the making. She wants justice, not vengeance, and that might now be impossible. She won't give up, because to give up is to surrender to her desire to die. But she might just have to break her heart again to succeed. --- Book one, "A Fistful of Fire", and book two, "A Fistful of Earth", are both available here on Wattpad. They are also are available for sale. Book three, "A Fistful of Water", is available here on Wattpad in first draft form, and the final version is in the middle of being posted.

Fael Honovi needs a job, else she'll go insane from her life in the monochromatic land of creepy. She's been offered one, if she can only get there on time. But her own plane of existence doesn't like that kind of magic, and it's out to stop her. (A short story of about 2300 words-be warned that it contains some violence and persons with limited control of their own faculties...as well as a slightly creepy vibe.) - • - • - • - This story is COMPLETE and available to read in its entirety on Wattpad for free. If you wish a copy of your own, you can find it on multiple e-book vendors for $0.99.

Some mistakes take months or years to collapse. Some take centuries... The elven kingdom of Marsdenfel is poised on a precipice. Its father, Breidentel, has essentially collapsed and become its child. Salles, its old longtime alley, has been chafing from years of rule by conquerors who ignored the realm's class divisions, and the current ruler has been missing for months. The crown heir is consort of another realm--Grehafen, an enemy of Marsdenfel from its very founding, which more recently enslaved Marsdenfel and even now claims a bastard of Marsdenfel's royal line for its queen. And just before the king of Salles went missing, a nearby island of slavers assassinated the king of Marsdenfel, kidnapped that king's son, and left a teenage boy as ruler of Marsdenfel. The entire region is like tinder awaiting a spark. And it might have just found one.

She has the magic to save her friends-but it'll cost their trust to use it... Lallie Nonsire Cobbleson is no stranger to prejudice. Between her heritage and her childhood spent in an orphanage, she knows full well how most folks like people they find strange. So when her friend, the illegitimate Evonalé Yunan, gets a crown and a husband, it doesn't surprise Lallie that assassins soon follow. Assassins that Lallie can assassinate in return, if she wants to. If she dares admit what she's become. But folks fear and hate what she is with good reason. Mages, folks who use magic, commonly go insane, and Lallie's magic is far stronger than most. Strong enough that it's taken control of her before, and done things she never would. Protecting her friend the queen will force Lallie to stop playing human and to admit what she is, abandoning the only life she's known. And that's only if she survives the friends whose trust she'll shatter by admitting her lies-and the magic she'll have to use in doing it. -------------- Features someone who with a mental illness that's unique to Aleyi.