 THE LAST PRIESTESS By Terry L. White Crs'tal looked up at the heavens. Far away, in the distance, she could see the last fading light of the great bird-like vehicle that carried her lover Jared away. Crs'tal could not imagine how far a light would have to travel before it could not be seen by the naked eye, but she did know each moment that passed carried her beloved Jared and his ship further and further from the plain on which she stood. Months before there had been a disturbance in the heavens and Jared's great sky ship had landed on the plain, casting The People into confusion, causing them to run from place to place in terror and to make endless bloody sacrifices to the ugly gods they worshiped. The People were squat and dark, with hooked noses like the beaks of hawks. They had short sturdy limbs that allowed them to walk long distances over the rugged terrain of the plain and nearby mountains. Their visitors had long, graceful limbs, fair skins, and hair the color of the sun. The People carried on the activities of their daily lives with implements of soft, beaten copper and stone. The visitors from the sky carried knives of hardened metal and weapons that belched fire and light. Those weapons brought death with voices as loud as thunder. The People had watched from their hiding places as the fair visitors walked the streets of their village and examined their dwellings. It did not pass unnoticed that the visitors did no harm in their explorations. Satisfied the sky-born intruders were none of their own kind, The People came to the conclusion the entities who fell from the sky were Gods and thus, their priests and wise men made the decision to worship them with sacrifices of children and the deflowering of virgins. The sky men turned away in horror. Crs'tal had been one of the young women marked for sacrifice in honor of the visitors, but the Chief of the Sky Gods, Jared, had stopped her execution with a shout of outrage, and taken her hand to lead her from the bloody altar while The People watched with open mouths. Jared had taken one look at the world in which Crs'tal lived and fallen into a spell, charmed by the woman's mysterious eyes and her beautiful surroundings. Certainly the world of The People was beautiful, with its mysterious, brooding plains and the towering, Andes, the mountains whose saw-toothed peaks were often shrouded in dreamlike mists. Yet something in this place felt like home to the man Jared, who had spent his life in travel from galaxy to galaxy looking for intelligent life on other worlds. Terry L. White, author of MYSTICK MOON, was raised in the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania. The eldest of eight children, she dreamed of being a writer and made up stories to amuse herself and her siblings. Of European and Native American descent, she grew up with the family legends of being Abraham Lincoln's relative; of ancestors arriving in the New World as indentured servants, and of abandoned coal mines that burned forever underground on the mountain overlooking her childhood home. Terry's fascination with history, folk art and ways, and New Age philosophy provide her with much of the material she incorporates in her work. She has published hundreds of short stories, articles, poems and songs. Terry is a long-time member of the International Women's Writing Guild and teaches a workshop at their summer conference at Skidmore College each year. Coming soon from Terry L. White will be HANG YOUR HEAD OVER; HELL OR HIGH WATER and THE LAST PRIESTESS. She can be reached at:www.sunweaver.com/stonesoup/. THE LAST PRIESTESSby TERRY L. WHITE
"Qwana is born the last priestess to the Temple of the Moon Goddess at a time when her world is turning to heart-ripping worship of the Sun God. When Qwana is sent out onto the Nazca Plain to investigate a strange falling light, her discovery of a stranger from another world plunges her people into a religious war, while Qwana struggles to retain her faith and discovers the possibilities of true love. Terry White creates a mystical world that will enthrall the reader. If you love mysticism and UFO's - then don't miss this one readers." Highly recommended Fans who enjoyed the dark overtones and complex plot of MYSTICK MOON will recognize Terry White's powerful voice in THE LAST PRIESTESS. Matching the harsh strength of the subject matter, THE LAST PRIESTESS presents a realistic and memorable tale of the destruction of an Incan city. Once the star traveler Jarrod had visited Earth and loved Crs'tal, teaching her and the People to sacrifice grain and drink to their Goddess, lifting them from their beastly habits. Although he had intended to return to Earth and the woman he left behind, it was not meant to be. Instead, it will be his son who travels many worlds until he at last finds Earth, his father's Eden. Qwanta, a woman born of destiny, is the only Priestess to the Mother Goddess, the Moon, in her generation. While the People forget the old ways, turning to the vicious, blood demanding ways of the Sun God and following his evil Priests, Qwanta and her companions preserve the memory and teachings of a gentler past given to them generations ago by Jarrod. As she assumes leadership of those who had been her teachers, Qwana fearlessly faces the change brought by a mysterious falling star. The path leading to the fallen star changes Qwanta's life forever. When she arrives at the site of the star's resting place she does not find scorched earth and stone. Instead, she finds a star ship. The strange leader looks like no man she has ever seen with blue eyes and blond hair that sharply contrasts her own dark complexion and eyes. Rowlland does not find the gentle People that his father Jarrod left behind. Instead, he finds the People of an Incan civilization that sacrifices its finest men, women and children upon altars of blood. However, he also finds himself instantly mesmerized by the beautiful, brave Priestess who investigates his ship's landing alone while the Priesthood plots her death. Rowlland quickly finds himself committed to the woman wed to her faith. Rowlland little realizes that his arrival signals the end of the coexistence of the religion of the Sun and the religion of Moon, and few will live through the tumultuous upheaval. With strength and carefully chosen detail, White recreates the vicious, blood letting culture of an Inca city. White's philosophical depth gives explanation to incredible horrors with care, presenting the Inca as simple people easily related to by the reader--a phenomenal task that White meets with phenomenal success. While I felt a bit overwhelmed at times with the violence of the culture, the presentation validates the need of the detail, and White abstains from any more detail than that which is necessary to the story, demonstrating skill seldom matched within this genre. I highly recommend THE LAST PRIESTESS. |