Blurb:
As Bern and his father harvest
their crops, a portal appears. The creature chased into their world is taller
than any building in the village. While the villagers are terrified, Bern
realizes the creature is also scared. He names the beast Kattya after his dead
mother and vows to protect it.
Kattya is not safe after Subja learns of this new creature. Bern, Garth, and
Ne-tel realize their mammoth charge must be protected. When Bern and Kattya are
separated, the two find safety in the lost country of Telantia; but their
reprieve from danger is short-lived when Bern learns Garth and Ne-tel have been
captured by the Vil.
Can Bern save his
friends when his heart beats with fear?
Extract:
Beauty—what the soul sees and the mind
cannot fully comprehend. Wisdom of the
Kings, Book of the Fallen World, pg 29
Bern felt like running. In fact, he turned and started to head for
the village.
“Aw-ug!” the dinosaur bellowed. It sounded so forlorn that it stopped Bern in
his tracks. He turned around and looked,
really looked, at Tel’s latest gift.
This creature, this dinosaur, was immense. One swipe of its tail and an entire field
section’s harvest would be wiped out.
And it was so distressed at the loss of its companion that it might just
do that. Or go off running and trample
their village.
Bern looked up again at the dinosaur. Its head blocked the glare of the sun. Its face was rather beautiful in a strange
way. The skin of the creature glowed
with all the colors of the rainbow depending on the way the light hit it. What was the word his teacher would use for
that? Iridescent. That’s it.
Its eyes were large, black orbs that could move independently. With one eye, it kept focused on Bern. The other eye kept moving looking at Bern’s
father, the field workers, and giving hopeful glances behind. The teeth were huge. Some of the foreteeth appeared larger than
Bern’s hand. Its nostrils were barely
visible over its mouth and it seemed to be without ears. A strange collection of body parts, but put
together they seemed almost graceful.
Staring at the creature’s face, Bern felt calm. This
wasn’t a vicious animal for all its size.
Its doey eyes reminded him of the cows in their pasture. If only its friend had gotten through, too.
The portal watcher looked into the animal’s eyes. Not friend, he thought. It just lost its mate. Bern suddenly understood its terror. It was alone in an unfamiliar world. Alone Bern understood.
“It’s all right,” Bern said softly. He walked toward the great beast. “It’s all right.”
The shock of seeing the strange and rather large
creature wore off as Som saw his own son walking toward it. He jumped up and ran toward Bern, knocking
him back. “What do you think you’re
doing, son? Have you lost your wits?”
“No, Dad,” Bern felt the peace of Tel steal over
him. He stood up again and looked at the
creature. “She needs me.”
“She?” Som asked.
“How in Tel’s name do you know that?”
“I don’t know,” Bern admitted. “But I do.
And she will lay eggs soon.” He
turned to the mountain of animal in front of him. “It’s OK, girl.” Bern took another step toward the
creature. The exhaustion he had felt
moments before fell away from him. Now
there was only him and this beautiful beast.
Bern was now directly beneath her head. In response to his constant, gentle voice,
the creature appeared calmer. Bern could
hear a low rumble coming from her long neck.
If it weren’t for the volume of it, he would have called it a purr.
By now, half the village had come out to the field
following the sound of the noise and commotion.
The dinosaur bent her head down closer to Bern.
“That’s a girl,” he said. He stretched as far as he could and patted
her chin. “Good girl.” He paused.
“You need a name. I know,” he
said, “I’ll call you the best name of all.
Kattya. It was my mother’s name,”
he whispered.
Devotion/inspiration
If you look at the dedication, written to my best
friend from childhood whose nickname was Bern, you get a sense for my
motivation to write this. She always sold herself short. She undervalued who
she was and what she was capable of. In addition, the young man who inspired Bern’s
character descriptions also felt a bit like an undersized weakling until he
grew up.
With those inspirations in mind, my main character in
this story, as the smallest and slightest of the Portal Watchers, undervalues
himself too. He accepts he is a good friend to Garth, but that is as far as
he’ll go to compliment himself. He’s not strong like Garth. He’s not smart and wealthy
like Ne-tel. His dad is a simple farmer, not a trader or merchant like the
others. And his mother died years ago when he was a toddler.
To change him, probably a bit forcibly, the dinosaur
thrust upon Bern is the largest of the creatures that ever come through the
portals. He is awarded Kattya, a brachiosaurus who is due to lay a clutch of
eggs. And she adopts him… no one else.
And on her trail, he discovers a hidden land,
Telantia, which has its own secrets in store for Bern designed to change his
self-perceptions to their core.
It’s my hope and prayer that as many youth read Bern’s
adventure, they will see themselves in him and, in turn, accept that they are
worthy of like challenges.
Buy links
https://www.amazon.com/Heartbeat-Fear-Portal-Watchers-Telba-ebook/dp/B0CBQH625H
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heartbeat-Fear-Portal-Watchers-Telba-ebook/dp/B0CBQH625H
Heartbeat of Fear - Illuminating books from Pelican Book
Group
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