Advent is nearly over but we have plenty more to come from our Advent calendar. Today we have an extract from Rising Empire: Part 2, book 2 in the Chronicles of Celadmore for you.
Rising Empire: Part 2 – An extract
Magic has all but disappeared from Celadmore. Many civilisations have graced the face of Celadmore. Empires have risen and fallen like the sun. Each people had a magic they cultivated, magic they could summon and control – all within the gift of the goddess.
But when each civilisation fell, the secrets of their magic disappeared with them. Scrolls and parchments contain secrets of magics that have long passed out of usage, some magics that no longer have any power.
Only one type of magic still exists on Celadmore: blood magic. Tied to the blood of the goddess, not all those born of the blood can wield it. Those of the Order have all but ceased using the craft, but the Valians have kept it alive.
The Valians, a sect of the Order that split from them when their civilisation was still young. Valia, Queen of the Anaguras had caused a civil war. She had been a practitioner of blood magic, and it had driven her mad. Granddaughter of Anagura and Queteria, daughter of Brigid and Allamonto, the power of their blood was also their weakness – their bodies too weak to survive the power of the goddess that coursed through their veins.
Queteria and Allamonto lived to see the madness of Valia. Her mind so clouded by paranoia, she believed her own sisters coveted her throne. In the city of Queteria, the father of their people ruled, his son-in-law holding power in the city that was named for him.
As Valia’s madness became more apparent, her sisters, Landra and Mala went to their father and grandfather for help. Their brothers were with their father. They left their two youngest sisters behind. When they returned, Landra and Mala led an army with their kin beside them.
Valia had prepared and as the army approached, demanding that she lay down her weapons and submit the throne to her grandfather. Valia’s mind had become so warped that she no longer possessed any form of morality. Her belief in her sovereign rights was absolute; she no longer believed that any law could govern her, or any man.
She ordered her youngest sister, Ina, to be brought to the battlements. Ina was barely four years old. In a single stroke, Valia severed Ina’s head from her body.
Dana, the last of the five daughters of Brigid, was so stricken with rage and grief at seeing her youngest sister murdered that she attacked. She was eight years old. Valia’s royal guard impaled Dana on their spears, Valia laughing cruelly at how pathetic her sisters were.
When the army arrived at the city, Valia ordered the bodies of Ina and Dana to be catapulted over the battlements onto those that stood below.
Thus began the civil war. It was bloody and brief. Valia had many that were loyal to her, but the sheer number of those in the combined armies of Allamonto and Queteria overwhelmed the Valian forces.
Though Valia was defeated, the war was not without casualties. Mala, the last daughter of the Order, was made queen. Those that had fought for Valia were asked to swear allegiance to the new queen. Those that refused were exiled.
They formed the Valian Order and swore to one day retake the throne for the descendants of Valia, the true ruler of the Order, marked for greatness by her mastery of blood magic.
The Chronicles of Celadmore is a fantasy series based in a fictional realm, written by C.S. Woolley. The Chronicles of Celadmore fall into the epic fantasy end of the fantasy genre with some influencing elements of gothic fiction and gritty realism that combine to create a fantasy series that is for those who like fantasy and those who don’t. Some of the more fantastical elements of magic and mythical beasts are missing from the series which makes them accessible to those who normally avoid the fantasy genre. The realm of Celadmore is one that is fully formed with lots of different kingdoms that each have their own cultures, languages and religions. They also have their own histories, intrigues and relationships with other kingdoms and there is even a coalition of Free Cities that do not bend the knee to any monarch. The Chronicles of Celadmore follow the royal line of Anagura and Queteria, the founders of the tribal people known as the Order. There are also plans for a spin off series of novels under the series title The Dragonian Wars.
The nine kingdoms of Celadmore are at war. The people suffer under tyrants that strive to gain land and power in the struggle for superiority. As war threatens to tear Celadmore to pieces, Kasnata struggles to bring peace back to the realm. She fights against venality to bring hope to all those that are oppressed. Can she find the strength to fight knowing the fate of her people rests on her?
A blood moon rises and madness is unleashed The nine kingdoms of Celadmore are at war. The people suffer under tyrants that strive to gain land and power in the struggle for superiority. Kasnata, Queen of the Order and Queen of Nosfa leads her armies against the people of Delma. A war she did not want to fight, but her husband, the King of Nosfa, Mercia Nosfa VI has forced her hand.
The streets run red with rebellion. The siege of Delma has not been broken. Kasna remains a prisoner, a prize of war and a bargain chip to be used against her mother. Duke Kelmar DeLacey, the Regent of Delma, must choose between obeying his King, gone mad, and the woman he loves, the daughter of his most dangerous enemy.
The Chronicles of Celadmore (in chronological order)
The Rising Empire Trilogy
1. Rising Empire: Part 1
2. Rising Empire: Part 2
3. Rising Empire: Part 3
Shroud of Darkness Trilogy
4. Shroud of Darkness
5. Lady of Fire
6. End of Days
Fading Dawn Trilogy
7. When Darkness Falls
8. Torn Allegiance
9. Fading Dawn
Ailing Light Trilogy
10. Ailing Light
11. Ill Blowing Wind
12. Shadow of the South
Mightier Than the Sword UK Publications 
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