Wild Women Focus: The Forest Witch, by Toni V. Sweeney

Wild Women Authors is pleased to focus on: The Forest Witch (Book 7 of the narrative of Riven the Heretic, Part 1 of the Arcanian Chronicles)

          Valriven kan Ingan, wounded and left for dead by the margrave’s men, is saved by Tamsin, a Ghermian forest witch. With Hronhild the wolf-shifter, he becomes her companion. When he believes she and Hronhild die in a battle with a wizard’s minions, he returns to his quest of reuniting his brothers to fight Morling of Francovia.
          Tamsin didn’t die, however, nor did Hronhild. Instead, they survived to continue their adventures and achieve whaat each desired most in life.

Here, then, is the complete story of Tamsin, the Forest Witch…

“Where is my son?”

On her knees in the midst of the garden where she’d been gathering herbs, Lis the midwife looked up at the man on the horse. The sun behind him made him a black silhouette above her, a wild-haired figure wrapped in animal skins. Though she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the glare, she couldn’t see his features and that frightened her as much as his words.

Dear Ildred…can it be? How did he learn of Ossian?

“There’s no child here,” she denied, hoping the boy would obey her this once and stay inside the hut as she’d ordered.

“Don’t lie to me. Tamsin told me she left him with Lis, the midwife of the Lynx village. Do you deny you’re she?”

“You know Tamsin?” Fear surged through Lis.

“I know the wench well.” His laugh was rueful, as well as sardonic.

“How is she?” She’d heard nothing from the girl since she left her son in Lis’ care over two years before.

“Dead for all I know.” His answer was grim. “She gave me four of the happiest months of my life.” His expression told her admitting that shamed him. “Then she ran away. I’ve been seeking her ever since…”

He looked away, not as if shunning her gaze, but rather inspecting the hut.

Lis wondered if it passed his scrutiny. Is it worthy to house your son?

He took a deep breath. “Soon the winter winds will come, so I’m discontinuing my search. I thought to find her, then claim my son, but the gods will it otherwise. I’ll take the boy now. In the spring…” His blue eyes met Lis and in them she saw an abrupt surrender to truth, something she sensed this man rarely did with anyone. “If she lives, I’ll find her and bring her home…to be with me…with us.”

Lis’ fear thickened. She’d promised Tamsin she’d protect the child but if the mother were dead…perhaps he’d be better off with his father.

Nevertheless, before she relinquished the boy, she had to be certain of this man’s identity.

“Who are you?”

“I think you know.”

“Nevertheless…”

“I’m Samric the Mountain Wolf and I’ve come for my son.” He gave the answer impatiently, his temper ready to escape what little control he kept on it. “Bring him to me.”

“If you’re Samric, prove it,” she persisted, not ready to give over custody of Tamsin’s child on the strength of a few words.

Briefly he didn’t speak, shaking his head as if pondering what proof he had. Then he pulled open the neck of the fur cape slung over his shoulders. Around his throat was a chain, hanging from it the beaten copper image of a wolf.

Lis recognized it. Tamsin had clutched it while the child was being born.

To purchase The Forest Witch, go to:

Paperback: http://www.classactbooks.com/component/virtuemart/fantasy/the-forest-witch-8662018-01-13-20-32-06-detail?Itemid=0

Amazon e-book & Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Forest-Witch-Arcanian-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B07916QNYZ/

About Our Focus Author:

Toni V. Sweeney has lived 30 years in the South, a score in the Middle West, and a decade on the Pacific Coast and now she’s trying for her second 30 on the Great Plains.

Since the publication of her first novel in 1989, Toni divides her time between writing SF/Fantasy under her own name and romances under her pseudonym Icy Snow Blackstone. In March, 2013, she became publicity manager for Class Act Books (US). She is also on the review staff of the New York Journal of Books. In 2016, she was named a Professional Reader by netgalley.com.

In 2015 and 2016 Toni was voted one of the Top 10 authors of those years by Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. In 2013, the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice voted The kan Ingan Archives (Part Two of the Arcanian Chronicles) a Special Mention, and the following year, named the individual novels The Man from Cymene, and Space Studs, from the same series two of the Top 8 SF/fantasy novels of 2014.

As of 2018, Toni currently has 55 novels in print, including 3 series, and 3 trilogies.

To learn more about Toni V. Sweeney, go to:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tvsweeney

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BLQBB8

Twitter: @ToniVSweeney