Excerpt: Daughters of Ashby

A low rumble reverberated through the empty hall as the small entourage neared the throne room. Each step increased the volume of the throb of voices inside that hallowed room, murmurs ebbing and flowing with an organic rhythm. Delaney’s heart pounded harder and faster with anticipation. The pains in her belly returned, but she was too anxious to pay them any mind now.

Two guards stood by the great doors, dressed in finery the likes of which Delaney had never seen on any member of the Dodatrad army. Gone were the notched and beaten armor, hastily patched repairs, mismatched leather, bubbling veins of welding, and other such badges of battle. These two soldiers donned gleaming iron breastplates contoured to enhance their bust size. Flowing swirls of metal enhanced those smooth twin mounds, one made of bronze, the other whitish silver, with circular knot-work distinguishing them as symbols of the sun and moon. From their flat bellies to just skimming above the bust, two lines of silver sprang upward and branched out in an ornate version of Clan Dodatrad’s symbol, a dead tree.

Their iron helmets fit smoothly over the dome of their heads, padded with leather. Each had a nose guard dropping down from arched brows with a metallic, twisting silver knot-work of the dead tree growing upward between their eyes and spreading across the brows in lifeless branches. The side guards curved down their shapely cheeks with spiraling designs depicting two of the many deities, Lúcháir and Deirdre, goddesses of joy and sorrow. Under the helmets, their faces were fresh, their cheeks rosy, their eyes limpid and green, with plump lips and teeth so white, it must have been the magic of druids. These two ladies were likely chosen for being the most beautiful in the army.

The adorned guards opened the throne room doors. They creaked, not with rust and age, but with the heaviness of their solid oak reinforced with bands of iron. A long, brass trumpet sounded loud and clear, a triumphant fanfare that silenced the murmurs.

A melodic, stentorian voice boomed out. “Announcing: the eldest daughter of Queen Eilat, the heiress-apparent, Lady Delaney Oakenflower Hornbeam Dodatrad.”