He shivered. They would need them if they were going to save Remargaren from this Ascendant threat. First, he needed to understand what being the Lady’s Captain meant, then to find out how to seal the Veil, and after that he needed to discover who the Ascendants were and how to stop them.
He heaved a deep sigh as he stared across the room. He rubbed his temples, trying to relieve his growing headache. Maybe Torsion was right; he ought to find out more about the Sentinals. He would speak to Birlerion first.
Somehow, he knew his problems were only just beginning. The Ascendants had inveigled their way into the Watches unseen, and they had nearly succeeded in overthrowing the King. He was sure they wouldn’t stop there. Whatever it was they were planning, the Lady expected him to stop them. He clenched his left fist; he had two more crystals to find. Standing, he glanced around. He had better get on with it, then.
The End
Acknowledgements
If it wasn’t for my mother, Margaret, instilling in me a love of books, I would never be writing these words today. I wish I had started writing earlier so I could have shared this moment with her because I know she would have loved my characters and the world they inhabit.
I am thankful for my darling daughter, Jennifer, who encouraged me to take the step and self-publish, and go social, and build a website, and take to twitter.
A big thank you goes to my beta readers, Mike Wall and my number one fan, Michael Strick, for reading my early versions and providing detailed and thoughtful feedback, and even putting down Game of Thrones to read Sentinals Awaken. I appreciate the time and effort you took to read and think about what I had written, and the suggestions you had on how I could improve it.
To my very dear friend Kaye Adams, who patiently listened to me go on and on about characters, names, plot, and the vagaries of the English language when our crafting evening turned into a writer's discussion group. Thank you for being my sounding board and for your constant support and encouragement.
Jeff Brown designed my beautiful cover, (https://www.jeffbrowngraphics.com) and Tom from FictiveDesigns (https://www.fictive-designs.com/maps) drew the exquisite map of Vespiri.
I hope you enjoy reading Sentinals Awaken as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I look forward to continuing the adventure with you in my second novel, Sentinals Rising, which hopefully will arrive in 2021.
Letter from the Author
It’s funny how all the major events in my life happen at the same time. I graduated from university, got married and started a new job all in the same month. My daughter was born just after we moved into a new house. It seems I need a perfect storm of events to take the next the step.
When my mother passed away four years ago, and my daughter headed off to university, I suddenly had an empty house and time on my hands, and I finally sat down and wrote. The ideas came tumbling out, and there was my first book.
My love of books came from my mum, Margaret. She was voracious, consuming a wide range of books of varied genres. She would sit and knit, watch the telly and read a book, all at the same time. As a child, I inherited the bookworm, though I never picked up the knack of knitting! I devoured Enid Blyton, Elinor Brent Dyer’s Chalet School books and moved onto Mary Stewart and Alistair McLean and then we found Anne McCaffrey and then David Eddings, to name a few.
Sentinals Awaken is the first novel in what I originally intended being a trilogy, and although the first three novels fit together, there are another four books with the same characters and world, so I hope you enjoyed the first in the series and stay for the journey. You can follow my progress and find out more about the next book, Sentinals Rising, at www.helengarraway.com.
If you would like to stay up to date with news and book availability then please sign up to my mailing list on the above website for a periodic newsletter. I promise I won’t bombard you. I prefer to be writing!
If you have a moment please do leave a review and tell other fantasy readers why you enjoyed the book. Reviews are so important to independent authors to drive visibility and to help me to continue publishing. Thank you so much!
Thank you for your support.
Helen Garraway
October 2020
Amazon direct review links:
UK: Amazon.co.uk/review/create-review?&asin=B08JQJZKKC
USA: Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08JQJZKKC
CANADA: Amazon.ca/review/create-review?&asin=B08JQJZKKC
Other Books in the series
One: Sentinals Awaken
Two: Sentinal Rising (to be published)
Three: Sentinals Justice (to be published)
