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Or...this is the scene to read for the Author Island online chat contest Fantasy Author Sandy Lender is holding today

Excerpt from Chapter Two of Sandy Lender's Choices Meant for Gods
Available from ArcheBooks Publishing
For the chat taking place today at: www.authorisland.com
Send your answer to: NigelTaiman at yahoo dot com

(In this scene, Chariss and her wizard guardian, Hrazon, have arrived around midnight at the Taiman estate for protection. Godric and Kora Taiman are helping them up to a room where they can tend to Chariss, who is currently unconscious. Hrazon and Godric—who's putting on airs because he thinks he's oh-so-important—are discussing what's led up to this situation. If you'd like to read the whole chapter, including chapters 1 and 3, they're available as a Free Sample at my publisher's Web site at http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm.)

"We didn't realize he'd amassed so much power so fast," Hrazon said.

"I find it unbelievable Drake could do anything such as this without help. He's only been in Kida a few years. How could he convince his people to go along with this?"

"He's been there two years this spring, and I believe the Joveran people helped build the army."

"Hmpf. It seems longer than that since court was held. And do you still believe he attacked today? Do you mean that you were in Treown this morning?"

Hrazon nodded. "She [Chariss] brought us here. I don't know how. Somehow, she must've picked the estate from my mind, and when our horses gave out, she grabbed my hand and we moved through time. We moved like spirits, it seemed." He looked at Kora as if he expected her to understand. She looked like a sensible Geasa'n. Her mannerisms and demeanor spoke to Hrazon, telling him she understood completely, before he gave voice to his concerns.

"I've only performed that feat once in my life," he said. "And then it was a short distance, across a city. I fear what it's done to her, what you're not telling me."

With a motherly smile Kora looked down at her patient. Her fingers stroked Chariss's hand like a lover, and there was a supreme sadness in the gesture. "You already know she has a terrible fever." Kora's features betrayed how worried she was despite the kind expression she offered in her smile, her full, pale lips forming the curve with a practiced smoothness that spoke volumes. If she had intended to imply joy with that smile, her fairy green eyes would have twinkled with light; tonight there was a lackluster shine about them.

"She overexerted herself today," she said.

Even without Chariss's final wish, Kora couldn't have told him that the child he loved like a daughter had telabyrinth poisoning. The hormones and energies secreted during the act of teleporting made a dangerous combination. Typically, members of the Geasa'n never learned the skill. Yet, Kora sat staring at a young lady, barely twenty years of age, who had poured every ounce of strength she had into teleporting two people nearly two-thousand leagues in a day. Kora feared they might never solve the mystery of how Chariss had accomplished the feat. Her patient fell deeper into coma with each passing moment, and she found she couldn't bring herself to tell Hrazon that, indeed, Chariss was dying.

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You can also pick up the eBook version of CMFG at the publisher's link given above for $3.99, or get the hard cover edition anywhere you normally order books--Amazon, Barnes&Noble, etc.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, author island, fantasy author, Sandy Lender