An Ancient Saga of Myth and Magic
Date Published: October 27, 2025
Publisher: MindStir Media
Alone but guided by ancestral spirits and a bond with a mysterious elephant, Etana journeys into the realm of myth. A powerful ruler summons her to tame a ferocious elephant meant for war. But to claim her future, she must master more than beasts--she must face enemies, survive betrayal, and confront a court that thrives on secrets and blood.
As kingdoms clash and gods murmur in dreams, Etana rises from fugitive to warrioress, from outcast to commander. In a world where loyalty is eternal and power demands sacrifice, who will she become when everything she loves is threatened?
Told through the rhythms of oral tradition and infused with magic, myth, and cultural memory, The Weight of Dreams is a luminous tale of spiritual resilience, feminine power, and the living bond between human and nature.
For readers of magical realism and literary historical fiction who believe the past still speaks--and sometimes, it sings.
Excerpt
King Apedemak raises the war cry. With a low rumble, we materialize in
front of the rising sun like hungry demons spat from the god himself. At our
sudden appearance, half of our foe’s troops step back in fear.
Behind me on the elephant, King Apedemak gives the command to charge.
Our soldiers release a spine-shivering and feral screech that only men
who must kill or be killed could produce. Upon
Rūamoko’s neck, I put him into a run, then signal he should trumpet.
Racing toward Ényòn’s front lines, a
gut-rending dread grips me.
A bull gallops from amid their ranks, and I nearly give Rūamoko the
signal to halt. The huge bovine’s red coat and curved horns glow. Frothing at
the mouth, it bellows, lowers its head, and charges. The elephant plants his
feet. I feel his muscles ripple as he heaves the bull into the air with his
tusks. It crashes to the ground, and Rūamoko gores its stomach. Its bawl cuts
off when the elephant stomps the body, making bowels spurt.
Rūamoko rushes on before I can take in the bull’s ugly death. The
squinting enemy is slow to react to our assault. Then we are on them, the
elephant swinging his head, enormous tusks sweeping bodies aside like twigs.
I am dazed by the violence. Rūamoko flings men into the air, where they
float in dream-like suspension. Each moment stretches as they drift downward,
slowly tumbling into others and to the ground with arms, legs, or heads at
impossible angles.
As time resumes its normal tempo, screeches assail my ears. They come
from a man impaled on Rūamoko’s tusk. His body flops, and blood drips from the
ivory. Rūamoko, at first irritated, becomes angry. I command him to sweep his
head again. An arrow zips past my temple. I had not entirely understood these
men, whose names I will never know, whose faces will never be familiar, wish to
cause my death. I lean to the side and retch.
Apedemak shouts an order. I force the nausea aside, guiding Rūamoko down
their front line.
The cacophony is deafening, and I realize I, too, am yelling. Men fall,
pierced by arrow or spear. Arrows clink upon my cuirass and greaves and drop
away. In the blur of heaving bodies, an archer targets the king. I load my
sling, twirl, and release, aiming at his brow. I miss, and the stone bursts his
eyeball, drilling into the socket. He falls, mouth open in an eternal scream.
Men scramble away from Rūamoko. I am rocked as he weaves to catch them,
barking and stomping. A head crunches under his foot in a wet spilch.
Seeing an exposed foe, I let fly a stone, and then I am twirling and releasing
as fast as I can.
An elephant’s screech rises above the tangle of noise. Idisi picks up a
man by the ankle. He stabs her trunk, an elephant’s most sensitive area. She
slaps him against the ground twice, flings his limp body away, and swings her
head, toppling six men with her tusks. Two scramble away on hands and knees.
One, his legs broken, struggles to pull himself beyond Idisi’s reach. A giant
foot smashes his ribs.
The three elephants split up, moving through Ényòn’s ranks with
devastating effect. I come to recognize the distinctive crunch of bone under
Rūamoko’s feet. The king’s guard rushes to keep up, and Nubiin’s warriors
follow in our wake. I direct Rūamoko deeper into Ényòn’s lines.
As the battle progresses, the elephants become islands in the melee.
Rūamoko’s movement is limited, and he draws more fire. With a shout, I throw
myself forward and fling my shield over his forehead. A spear strikes its edge,
cracking the wood. Before the man begins to throw another, I reach for a stone
and find the bags empty. I nearly panic, but a calm voice within says Your
bow. I grab it and an arrow, aim, and release. The man collapses. I
continue firing.
Rūamoko screams and stumbles. A spear shaft protrudes near my foot.
Another agonized yelp marks a second hit. I track the source to a cluster of
eight soldiers. Two are throwing again. The third spear misses. The fourth
sinks into the elephant’s hide up to the shaft.
A vibration builds in my body, gathering power. It rams my lungs and
bursts from my mouth. The gust of my macabre scream bends the grass. Every
soldier pauses, the battle forgotten. They peer about, seeking the unearthly
source of the boom. My hands fly as I nock and fire arrows. Shafts find faces,
necks, and chests, felling the spearmen. The fighting resumes as the last one,
seeing his comrades are down, takes aim at me. I watch the spiraling point
close in while fitting arrow to bowstring. Dropping forward upon Rūamoko’s
head, I fire. The spearpoint catches the pangolin scales at my back, ripping
the leather and cutting my skin. The warrior’s head sags, revealing my arrow
jutting from his skull.
I give a shout of triumph, but my voice chokes as I am slammed in the
chest with a force so great it could not have been dealt by a human, and I
wonder if a god has swatted me like a gnat, and I try to run yet my feet find
only air as my stomach floats into my throat then the Earth captures me in a
hug so powerful I cannot breathe.
To find her latest releases and upcoming novels, visit www.NicoleSorrell.com.
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