Saturnastra Nalini - the pied piper - Chapter 5 Part 1 - The hunt
1Nalini is a wandering Magus who uses a flute as a catalyst. Nalini is searching for something to give meaning to her life.
During her travels, this pied piper stumbles upon a mysterious elven city. The magical creatures that live in the border of this forest live in fear of the elves.
Through her eyes, Nalini starts discovering the sinister underbelly of this beautiful elven city.
I was never a fan of making protagonists who are a bit of a Betty Sue. In all my books, my protagonists will have more than a couple of flaws. They usually become more obvious as the story progresses. This is not a true sequel to Marduke. Rather, it is its own standalone story, occurring parallel to Marduke's adventures. More than once, her little helpful ventures tends to make things worse. It all boils down to the elves thinking they are all that, and she being full of herself. In the backdrop of this, is the strange creature Nalini calls Vaikus. He is stalking the elves for reasons that are later explained. The way I wrote the book, you will start wondering if Nalini is a good person, a bad person or a good person who makes bad decisions. Like we all know, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Nalini intents to help the elves, but often her help does much more harm than good. The book takes place in two settings. Half the story takes place in the Elven city, and the other half in a different elven forest. This book has more magical elements than Marduke
#audobook #fantasy #saturnastra #nalini #piedpiper #book
https://www.amazon.com/Saturnastra-Nalini-Teresita-Blanco/dp/1730756948
@ArtsySister #artist
Chapter 5
Life went by, uneventful, for a year. From time to time, someone got sacrificed. I noticed that whenever someone got sacrificed, the faint wrinkles in my father’s face became invisible. Heck, all the adults seemed to get younger after each sacrifice. I also noticed that my aging process slowed down whenever I attended a sacrifice. After my first visit, I did not attend any future ceremonies. My father was much relieved by such turn of events. Our relationships softened throughout that year. From time to time, he would have me enter his study to test out a new mind block spell. These spells did work whenever he was focused on blocking my thoughts. However, they were useless whenever I caught him by surprise. He had his assassins test how far I could perceive their presence. After much trial and error, they gave up on trying to figure me out. Indeed, my senses were sharper than most of my kind. They only grew the more I aged. By now, I was keenly aware of what was happening in half the world. The only problem was that these senses were limited because I inhabited an alien body.
Despite these limitations, I became aware of some life forms that lived below the elf city. At first, the life signals felt faint, almost imperceptible. The more I focused on them, the more I became aware of their presence. To better focus on them, I used to lay flat on the ground.
One day, my father caught me lying flat on the ground. The way I crawled around my room forced him to ask, “What the hell are you doing?”
I played my flute against the ground. The girl heard the sound of the flute. The sound was not new to her. She reacted to it by covering her ears. She seemed to yell at the top of her lungs. Her hysteria brought the attention of other beings underground. Unlike her, when they heard the flute they became enthralled. I released them, since they were not my target. In vain, they tried to calm the girl. The strain of fighting my influence made her faint. The two who came to her aid, carried her limb body, down below, away from my influence.
I felt a pat on my back. Turning around, I saw Grimiere sitting beside me. He had a puzzled look in his face. I rested my face in my hands and gazed back at his sad eyes. His bewildered look changed to one of admiration. He began to gently stroke my hair. In a soft whisper, he said, “You truly are very beautiful…”
The real Nalini would have blushed. I simply stared back at him and giggled. Even without my flute, Grimiere was wrapped around my finger. I rolled to my back to better look at him. If he wasn’t an elf, I might have fallen in love. He was a handsome devil. Although, my affection for him was the kind of affection one had for a dog. I sat up and I drew his face closer to mine; I drew him so close that I could taste his hot breath. It was the first time that Nalini had ever truly kissed Grimiere. First, I kissed his lower lip. I then locked both my hands around his neck. I kissed him again and again. As I drew back, I bit his lower lip. He seemed to be frozen in place, as if he doubted his senses. I pushed him back pretending to blush. I left his garden giggling.
While skipping back home, I saw my father reclining against a column with his hands folded. That epic waiting mannerism was typical of a human.