The Shapeshifters The Kiesha'ra of the Den of Shadows

by Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia

• ISBN13: 9780385739504
• ISBN10: 0385739508
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-12
• Publisher: Delacorte Press

Summary

Five shapeshifter novels-one fascinating read! Hawksong: Danica Shardae, an avian shapeshifter, will do anything in her power to stop the war that has raged between her people and the serpiente-even pretend to be in love with Zane Cobriana, the terrifying leader of her kind's greatest enemy, and accept him as her pair bond. But will Zane strike as swiftly and lethally as the cobra that is his second form? Snakecharm: A surprising union has brought peace to the avians and serpiente. Soon a child will be born to carry on their royal lines. But Syfka, an ancient falcon, is claiming that one of her people is hidden in the avian and serpiente land. Is Syfka's lost falcon just a ruse to stir up controversy among them? Falcondance: Nicias is a falcon, the son of two exiles from Ahnmik, and images of this distant island have always haunted his dreams. When his visions become more like reality, his parents send him back to the homeland-and a royal falcon-they've tried their best to forget. Wolfcry: Oliza Shardae Cobriana is heir to Wyvern's Court, home of the avians and serpiente, whose war with each other ended just before Oliza was born. But hatred is slow to die, and Oliza's serpiente suitor is found beaten in avian land. How can she be expected to lead a unified society if her people still cannot live peacefully together? Wyvernhail: Hai, daughter of a falcon mother and a deceased cobra father, is considered a mongrel by most, an ally by some, and a friend by few. When Hai's cousin abdicates the throne of Wyvern's Court, Hai has visions of destruction. Now she will do anything to protect her new home-even if it means betraying the very people who need her most.

Author Biography

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. Born in 1984, she wrote her first novel, In the Forests of the Night, praised as "remarkable" (Voice of Youth Advocates) and "mature and polished" (Booklist), when she was thirteen. Other books in the Den of Shadows series are Demon in My View, Shattered Mirror, and Midnight Predator, all ALA-YALSA Quick Picks for Young Adults. She has also published the five-volume series the Kiesha’ra of the Den of Shadows, here for the first time in one volume: Hawksong, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and a Voice of Youth Advocates Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Selection; Snakecharm; Falcondance; Wolfcry, an IRA-CBC Young Adults’ Choice; and Wyvernhail. Her most recent books are Persistence of Memory and Token of Darkness.

Excerpts

Chapter 1    

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and narrowly avoided retching from the sharp, well-known stench that surrounded me.  

The smell of hot avian blood spattered on the stones, and cool serpiente blood that seemed ready to dissolve the skin off my hands if I touched it. The smell of burned hair and feathers and skin of the dead smoldered in the fire of a dropped lantern. Only the fall of rain all the night before had kept that fire from spreading through the clearing to the woods.  

From the forest to my left, I heard the desperate, strangled cry of a man in pain.  

I started to move toward the sound, but when I took a step through the trees in his direction, I came upon a sight that made my knees buckle, my breath freezing as I fell to the familiar body.  

Golden hair, so like my own, was swept across the boy's eyes, closed forever now but so clear in my mind. His skin was gray in the morning light, covered with a light spray of dew. My younger brother, my only brother, was dead.  

Like our sister and our father years ago, like our aunts and uncles and too many friends, Xavier Shardae was forever grounded. I stared at his still form, willing him to take a breath and open eyes whose color would mirror my own. I willed myself to wakeup from this nightmare.  

I could not be the last. The last child of Nacola Shardae, who was all the family I had left now.  

I wanted to scream and weep, but a hawk does not cry, especially here on the battlefield, in the midst of the dead and surrounded only by her guards. She does not scream or beat the ground and curse the sky.  

Among my kind, tears were considered a disgrace to the dead and shame among the living.  

Avian reserve. It kept the heart from breaking with each new death. It kept the warriors fighting a war no one could win. It kept me standing when I had nothing to stand for but bloodshed.  

I could not cry for my brother, though I wanted to.  

I pushed the sounds away, forcing my lips not to tremble. Only one heavy breath escaped me, wanting to be a sigh. I lifted my dry eyes to the guards who stood about me protectively in the woods.  

"Take him home," I ordered, my voice wavering a bit despite my resolve.  

"Shardae, you should come home, too."  

I turned to Andreios, the captain of the most elite flight in the avian army, and took in the worried expression in his soft brown eyes. The crow had been my friend for years before he had been my guard, and I began to nod assent to his words.  

Another cry from the woods made me freeze. I started toward it, but Andreios caught my arm just above the elbow. "Not that one, milady."  

Normally I would have trusted his judgment without question, but not here on the battlefield. I had been walking these bloody fields whenever I could ever since I was twelve; I could not avert my eyes when we were in the middle of this chaos and someonewas pleading, with what was probably his last breath, for help. "And why not, Andreios?"  

The crow knew he was in trouble the instant I addressed him by his full name instead of his childhood nickname of Rei, but he kept on my heels as I stepped around the slain bodies and closer to the voice. The rest of his flight fell back, out of sightin their second forms--crows and ravens, mostly. They would take my brother home only when it did not mean leaving me alone here.  

"Dani." In return, I knew Rei was serious when he lapsed into the informal and used my nickname, Dani, instead of a respectful title or my surname, Shardae. Even when we were alone, Rei rarely called me Danica. It was an entreaty to our lifelong friendshipwhen he used that nickname where someone else c

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Excerpted from The Shapeshifters: The Kiesha'ra of the Den of Shadows by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
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