The Silver Sickle
by Ellie Ann
Young Adult Sci-Fi
Date Published: February 14, 2014
The end of humanity will come through the Silver Sickle . . .
Farissa lives every moment with reckless abandon, for it may be her last. Any day now, the alien goddesses will harvest her and take her to the mysterious Silver Sickle, never to return. She’s accepted that. What she can’t accept is this new idea of freedom Zel has planted in her head. She’d give almost anything to be with Zel, but how can she run from her destiny if it means putting the whole kingdom in danger?
Everyone in the desert kingdom believes the goddesses are immortal, but Zel has invented a way to kill them. Now all he has to do is convince Farissa to run away with him and plant a seed of hope in her heart that she’s not destined to die. Little does he know that one seed of hope could change the course of the future.
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“I don’t know why the King doesn’t have you in his harem.” His lewdness made her want to poke his eyes out with a scorpion claw. “I’d land you in bed any chance I could.”
Farissa took the money from her wallet. Still holding her breath, she tried not to move or else the great anger roiling in her might explode like a volcano. She kept her eyes down until she felt him reach over the counter.
“But I guess I can see why he doesn’t want you.” He touched a strand of her undone hair. “You are rather rough around the edges.”
For a moment she considered taking the crate and leaving. But something gave her pause. It wasn't simply the haughty expression on his overinflated features that made her angry. It was his eyes that glanced at her and didn’t see a person, only meat.
She wanted to take something from him, as he’d done to her.
So she tilted her head up and said, "I will not take this load of sawdust. It is too thin. And it isn't even made of carrizo like you promised. Are you trying to get me in trouble with my uncle? There's no way he'd accept this."
The man leaned forward, his fat belly bulging over the counter. Farissa tried not to gag on the stench of his breath. "This reed is as fresh as they come. It’s exactly what Hurin uses to keep his cogs dry."
"Well." Farissa sniffed. "We are not Hurin. There's no way I'm paying fifty for this crate of rough-hewn shoe soles. Twenty, perhaps. But not fifty."
Now the man was visibly angry. “You think me a fool? There's no way I'm letting this go for twenty."
“Do you know who I am?” she said, straightening to her full height.
The man started to smile. But the smile disappeared when Farissa continued. “I bet a man like you has heard of the Tyrant of Toureen.”
She covered her mouth and nose with her scarf, leaving only her eyes uncovered as she did every race. “You may have heard how I sliced off the Sand Lord’s finger with my dagger during the Nooching Race when he tried to cut my reins. Or maybe you’ve heard of the pileup on the Ghutan Trail, when I threw a rock at a lead horse and took out it and the four riders behind it.” The man backed away from the counter, rubbing his sweaty hands on his shirt. But Farissa wasn’t about to stop. “But surely you’ve heard of the fight after Reish, when the Nail Eater drew a knife on me and he ended up unconscious. You know what he’s called now? Hm?”
The man shook his hand so his fleshy cheeks wobbled.
Ellie Ann was born in the jungles of Thailand, was raised in a small farming village in Iowa, lived in the middle of a Texan desert, and now abides in the Ozarks.
She is an award winning snake charmer, goat cheese maker, and nose flutist. She also likes to make up tall tales, so you can’t trust everything she says. But from some deductions and second-hand accounts, it looks like she’s an author of science fiction, comics, thrillers, and multi-media adventure stories.
She’s a producer for Noble Beast, an enhanced book publisher, and an editor for Stonehouse Ink and several bestselling clients. You can find her new multi-media fairy tale, Slice of Life, on sale for iPad at iTunes.
Come say 'hi!' she doesn’t bite. Unless she’s been turned into a zombie.
Ellie Ann is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of science fiction, thrillers, and comics.
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