A dark fantasy, historical romance novella with witches, vampires, a hunky mage. And Black Magick.
Hacked at with knives and tossed in the Danube, Melis Andresen is in desperate straits. Her tormentors are certain she’s dead, or they wouldn’t have let her go. With survival on the line, she leverages witchcraft and her training as a healer, and it’s just barely enough. By the skin of her teeth, she survives the river running at flood stage and is asleep in a bedraggled heap next to a small fire, when a man walks out of the surrounding woods.
Though she doesn’t know it at the time, her life is about to change forever.
I'm basically a mountaineer at heart. I remember many hours at my desk where my body may have been stuck inside four walls, but my soul was planning yet one more trip to the backcountry. There's a timeless element to the mountains. They feel like old friends as I visit them, and visit them again. There's nothing like standing on a remote pass where I've been before and seeing that the vista is unchanged. Or on an equally remote peak. Mountains are the bones of the world. They'll prevail long after all of us are dust. It feels honest and humbling to share space with them. I hope I'm blessed with many more years to wander the local landscape. The memories are incomparable. They warm me and help me believe there will be something left for our children and their children after them.