Champion in the Darkness
Tyrean Martinson
Author Bio
Tyrean Martinson lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest, with her encouraging family. An avid daydreamer and reader, Tyrean has studied the art of writing through various book resources and classes. Her first love in genre fiction is fantasy, seconded by scifi and most of the variations of those two genres. She also enjoys some contemporary fiction and poetry, with occasional forays into historical and romance fiction.
Writing and the study of writing make up a majority of Tyrean’s life as she writes and teaches writing classes to homeschooled teens at a local homeschool co-operative. Tyrean hopes that with each book, story, and poem she writes, she will grow as a writer. She shares her experiences with her students and encourages them to persevere past any kind of rejection, whether it’s the kind of rejection in a rejection letter from a magazine editor or any kind of social rejection that teens often face.
Tyrean has been published in anthologies like How I Found the Write Path, Overcoming Adversity, The Best of Every Day Poets and Sunday Snaps: The Stories. Her collections Dragonfold and Other Adventures and Light Reflections showcase Tyrean’s stories and poetry. She is currently hard at work on the third novel in The Champion Trilogy: Champion’s Destiny. Her twitter handle is @TyreanMartinson and she can be found online at facebook at on her blog, Tyrean’s Writing Spot.
Description
Enter the world of Aramatir through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Sword Apprentice Clara, who wants to walk in the footsteps of her Sword Master mother and her unofficial Sword Scout mentor Stelia. Her father’s faithful life as a Shepherd of the Lord is beautiful to her, but she is drawn to the life of the sword. Despite her strict training in weapons-work, she has a streak of restlessness and likes to race through the streets of her home city of Skycliff and pull pranks on unsuspecting nobles with her best friend Salene.
This life comes to an end abruptly on the day she discovers she is destined to become the next Champion of Aramatir, a hero chosen by the Lord only when great evil threatens the world. She cannot enter the Hall of the Swords to receive her blade of power, for the true blade of the Champion will come to her in a time of need, as it has for all Champions. She must give up her pranks and continue her training as a high-ranking Sword Master Apprentice under the tutelage of the grim Sword Master Dantor.
Dantor has seen a vision of Clara as the Champion and he knows she will need rigorous training to overcome the dark forces already gathered at the edges of their small country, Septily, within the world of Aramatir. Septily has lost its allies due to the strange behavior of King Alexandros, and now it stands alone with the mercenary Drinaii and the sorcerous Dark Sisterhood camping out along the border. Dantor must break the news to the Sword Master Council that Clara is the next Champion.
But that isn’t the worst of the news they receive. Stelia, Clara’s unofficial Sword Scout mentor and an ally not trusted by all of the Sword Council, has discovered that Kalidess, the evil Sorceress who leads the Dark Sisterhood, has wormed her way into the heart of King Alexandros of Septily. The strange new guards of the King who have replaced respectable Sword Guards within his castle in Skycliff may, in fact, be Drinaii in disguise. Darkness threatens to overwhelm Septily from within and from without, and Clara is not the Champion yet.
Champion in the Darkness is YA Christian Fantasy, and is the first book in the Champion Trilogy.
Book excerpt
Lightning struck from the thick black clouds all around her. The burning man raised a fiery sword above his head and Clara cowered in the wet, slimy mud with a broken sword in her hands. Sharp, harsh sounds of fighting surrounded her, and the smell of smoke filled her lungs. When the dark lightning flashed again and the fiery sword began its descent, Clara’s eyes flew open and she gasped for air.
The recurring nightmare had struck again. The lightning burned into the blackness of sleep was replaced by sunlight pouring into her room, hitting her directly in the face. She closed her eyes, and tried to remember the details. She felt like she had to replay it, had to understand it. The darkness had been filled with the noise of battle, but underneath that, there had been chanting voices. It didn’t make sense.
Despite being covered in sweat from her nightmare, she shivered and goose bumps rose on her arms. Burrowing into her quilts, she curled into a ball on her side.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” sang out her father’s baritone voice. “Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory.”
Clara smiled under the covers, but groaned out loud. At fifteen, she didn’t really want her dad singing songs to her in the morning, did she? Well, maybe a little, and his job as a Shepherd and teacher just seemed to pour out over in all aspects of his life. Shepherds led their flocks in prayer, study, and song, and her Dad’s special love was music.
Clara opened her eyes and pulled the covers back just enough to see her Dad. His eyes twinkled. He had always been the morning person in the family, waking well before sunrise to start his prayers of thanksgiving and his study of the sacred scrolls.
“Am I raising a sword master, or a butterfly?” he asked, teasingly. “You keep wrapping yourself in a cocoon each night, so one of these mornings; I’ll expect you to have wings.”
“Dad,” she groaned again, and frowned at him, “I’m not a little girl anymore. I know I’m not going to grow wings overnight.”
His face stilled for a moment, looking almost sad. “Ah, but you have,” he said. “You’ve grown up, and today your wings will take the form of a sword of power, the weapon of masters and senior apprentices.”
He sat on the edge of her bed, and cupped her face in his soft hands. “You’ll always be my little girl, even when you’re off fighting and I won’t be able to protect you.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “May the Lord lift you up on wings like eagles, and keep you safe.”
Clara wished her dad wouldn’t be so melodramatic about her growing up, but she knew he meant well. If he hadn’t been so serious already, she might have told him about the nightmares. As it was, she didn’t want to concern him any further. She reached up and hugged him hard, squeezing him to let him know she wasn’t going anywhere yet.
Author Website
http://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.com/
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