Serpent's Foe

In the legendary duat - the mystical passage where the sun god Ra travels from west to east in the night, so that he rises again in the dawning - a lioness of ancient Egypt lies caged.

Once she stalked the duat by Ra's side, carrying his light in her eyes and battling the monsters that assailed them.

Now, tormented by confusion and her own fury, she longs to regain the unique powers which - inexplicably - elude her in captivity.

Even her own name slides out of her thoughts, while the how and why of her capture escape her memory entirely.

More than she realizes rides upon reclaiming her freedom and defeating her unknown captor.

In this mythic tale of pride and revelation, a fight beyond death delivers one last chance at redemption.

EXCERPT FROM SERPENT'S FOE

What would hunt a lioness?

And toward what end?

Her breath came hot in her mouth and heaved her flanks. She was no horse, meant to race from river mouth to first falls. A sprint, not the marathon, was hers.

The mud grew dry and cracked under her paws, grew sandy.

She slackened her speed. Had she outrun that which chased her?

A rattle of the reeds behind galvanized her anew. Amon Ra! That she should come to this!

The desert sand provided easier running as she spurted for the Valley of the Kings.

I will escape my hunter and then defeat him. I, who protect the gods themselves, will do this.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands. Look for her novels and novellas at your favorite bookstore - online or on Main Street.