November 4, 2013

Fergal of Cai Terenmare by Melissa Eskue Ousley #GuestPost #Giveaway

Abby is an ordinary girl haunted by dreams of an ivory castle, blood-thirsty monsters, and a striking stranger. Working as a babysitter for a family of mythology lovers in wealthy Newcastle Beach, California, she struggles to define herself among the elite class while trying to make sense of her strange visions. Upon meeting David, the doppelgänger of the mysterious young man in her dreams, Abby’s life is changed forever.

Encountering the queen of Cai Terenmare, a magical kingdom in a parallel world, Abby learns of an evil lord hell-bent on usurping the throne, the murder of Cai Terenmare’s king, the Solas Beir, and the kidnapping of the Solas Beir’s infant son.

As the kingdom struggles to endure, the queen shows Abby the full extent of her destiny. She must convince her mysterious crush, David, that he is the lost heir. While braving attacks from the dark lord’s sadistic minions, David must realize his true identity and return to Cai Terenmare to claim his throne before time runs out, lest the evil that was temporarily locked away be unleashed, threatening to destroy both the kingdom and all of humanity.

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November 8, 2013


Abby spent the next evening babysitting for Cassandra and Riordan. She putthe kids to bed and laid out her homework on the coffee table downstairs. She was immersed in her work when she realized—the house was quiet. Eerily quiet.

She was used to the familiar creaks and groans of the old house, and night ushered in the occasional chirp of a cricket or flutter of moth wings around theantique sconces lighting the room. Tonight she heard nothing—there was only dead silence. She felt a prickle at the back of her neck and realized she was shivering. The room had gone unnaturally cold, and she had the distinct sense that she was not alone.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadowy presence, someone standing still, watching her. She turned to look, but there was no one there. She felt a terrible unease twisting in her gut. Something was wrong.

Responding to her intuition, she got up and climbed the stairs to check on thechildren. Ciaran was snoring, perfectly at peace. He had wriggled out of his covers in his sleep. Abby tucked him back in.

Leaving his room, she walked down the hall to the twins’ room. The nightlight inthe hallway began blinking erratically. She entered the room and froze. Perched monkey-like on the corner of Rowan’s crib was a shadowed figure thesize of a small boy, leaning over the sleeping child. Sensing Abby, it turned its head, blood-red eyes meeting hers.

Abby gasped with horror as the creature leapt with unnatural agility from thecrib and crouched like a spider high on the wall, staring down at her. Slowly, it smiled, revealing rows of pointed narrow teeth, sharp as razors. And then…it pounced.

Abby raised her arms to shield herself, scrunched her eyes shut, and screamed. But there was nothing. She heard a low chuckle behind her and saw the creature near the door. The shadow boy laughed and ran out. Thesmoky form changed into a large black housecat before disappearing throughthe hallway wall.

Abby ran to the twins’ light switch and turned on the lights. She checked to make sure Rowan and Siobhan were unharmed, and then hurried to Ciaran’s room, flicking on lights as she ran. Ciaran was still fast asleep—her scream had not disturbed him at all.

She jerked open his closet door and found his aluminum baseball bat. Then, scooping him and the quilt up from his bed, she ran back to Rowan and Siobhan’s room. She shut the door and nestled the five year old into a make-shift bed on the floor. Sitting against the dresser next to him, she hummed, trying to reassure herself. Armed with the bat and the adrenaline coursing through her body, she waited.



Like humans, the faeryfolk of Cai Terenmare come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some make their home in the primeval forest surrounding Caislucis; others reside in the castle itself. Some faeries have wings and can fly. Others, like Nysa, a water sprite called a nixie, are aquatic. All of them have the ability to shape-shift.

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Many of the people in Cai Terenmare have a signature spirit animal that reflects their personality. For faeryfolk, the animal form is usually similar in coloring to animals found in Cai Terenmare and our world, allowing them to more easily blend in and move around without attracting attention. Some have tiny spirit animal forms, but this does not mean they are not important. On Earth, every creature, even the smallest of zooplankton, serves a purpose. This is also true in Cai Terenmare.

Fergal the Valorous is an example of someone who is diminutive in size, but whose courage rivals that of giants. Although he is the smallest soldier in service to the Solas Beir, ruler of Cai Terenmare, Fergal is a master swordsman and a true knight. He is agile, quick-witted, lightning fast with a sword, and above all else, holds himself to the highest standards of honor. He is not to be underestimated, although at first glance, he could easily be dismissed. His spirit animal is the Cai Terenmare equivalent of the Pacific Tree Frog, a tiny amphibian as small as a coin, with velvety emerald skin and gold-ringed eyes. Even in his faery form Fergal looks amphibian, with mottled green skin and webbed hands and feet. He often wears a prim waistcoat, and uses a silver sewing needle as a sword.

In addition to serving as a messenger between the imprisoned queen and the court council, Fergal played a critical role in the return of the lost heir to the throne of Cai Terenmare. Braving a vicious assault from the Kruorumbrae, blood-thirsty monsters masquerading as cats, Fergal slipped into David Corbin’s bedroom to deliver a magical pendant called the Sign of the Throne. This sacred artifact was the key to helping David find his way home, but Fergal paid a terrible price in completing his mission—he was severely injured and one of his comrades, the raven Eithne, was murdered by the Kruorumbrae. Still, these sacrifices could not kill Fergal’s spirit or his loyalty to the Solas Beir. He will play an important role throughout The Solas Beir Trilogy.



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Author Picture - Melissa Eskue Ousley
Melissa Eskue Ousley is the author of The Solas Beir Trilogy. “Sign of the Throne,” the first book of this young adult fantasy series, will be released on September 14. She is currently working on the second and third novels in thetrilogy, “The Rabbit and the Raven” and “The Sower Comes.”

Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family and their Kelpie, Gryphon. When she’s not writing, Melissa can be found swimming, hiking, kayaking, scuba diving, or walking along the beach, poking dead things with a stick.

Before she became a writer, she had a number of educational jobs, ranging from a summer spent scraping roadkill off a molten desert highway to years spent conducting research with an amazing team of educators at the University of Arizona.


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