The first volume of the Tesa series by Justyna Wydra will be available soon! Courtesy of the Zysk i Ska publishing house, we have an excerpt from the novel for you.
The description comes from the publisher:
How much will you spend to survive? There are tough rules of the game at Ranger’s Pass
Tesa, daughter of the Valley Sheepers, has it all – youth, intelligence and beauty. Surrounded by the love of her relatives, she looks forward to her first meeting with her future husband, the son of a steward from a seaside town. He carries a significant dowry with him, as well as a herd of sheep. However, fate will put Art Fesersan and his robbers on her way.
The highwaymen are the people of the mountains. Tough and cruel, they hide in inaccessible watchtowers on the eastern border of the kingdom. They make sure that the Yellow Men do not get through the pass. In return, they plunder the inhabitants of the valleys at will. Thanks to them, Tesa Owczarka will lose everything. She will go to the mountains after Art, the Son of the Fisherman, to become his forced ally in the game of survival among unfavorable people, whose language he does not understand, customs, and life choices he does not accept.
Fragment
It was dawn. The whole robber village finally fell asleep tired of the celebration, and Tesa suddenly felt as if she were alone in the world. Samiusieńka in the face of the beauty of a cool, but sunny autumn morning. She sniffed the crystal-clear, sharp mountain air through her nose and felt its particles gently, almost pleasantly prick the farthest corners of her lungs. She looked around. The huts stood silent, the castle towering over the robber’s settlement was silent, the peaks were silent, the distant circle surrounding the robbers’ seat was silent. “What am I doing here?”. She thought. “What am I doing in the mountains among highwaymen … So far from home, family, decent, good people in my village.” Her eyes glazed over, her heart clenched with a sudden, overwhelming urge to run away. Ah, saddle the black man, mount him and rush the path down between the hills, through the swamps and forests, follow the stream winding in the valleys towards the warm sea! At one point, turn into the steppe and continue west, west, west… Find your mother, sisters and brothers. Going back to myself… In Tesa’s belly, the robber’s child moved. It kicked hard, painfully reminding her mother of its presence. There was a soft pounding of sheep in the distance. “Well, after all, I’m at home here too.” The Sheepdog sniffed, wiped the tears from her face with her coat sleeve and walked heavily towards the edge of the settlement, where her wards waited for her in the warmth of a wooden barn. She was amazed but pleased to find that Slav did not seem to be celebrating as intensely as the others, having groomed the animals properly, leaving Tesa with virtually nothing to do. In this situation, the breeders’ daughter went to the corner of the sheepfold with relief, where she buried herself in the hay and – finally! – she quietly fell asleep.