Splitting of Heaven excerpt I

an excerpt from the beginning of my second novel (currently being edited)

" Felmar was sitting in his hut, feeling grim as usual. He was tired of always playing the patsy for the village elder and his two rebellious daughters. It was he who communed with the spirits, not the elder, he thought, slamming his fist down on the table next to him.

Feeling the sting in his hand, he sighed. It wasn't true, though. He had never actually communed with the spirits. It was a well-crafted lie he’d come up with long ago, when he was a young man. Deception was the only thing he was any good at, as he was never a particularly successful hunter, and the idea of working the land made his skin crawl. Both roles felt beneath him.

He smiled as he remembered the day the lie came to him. For most of his teenage years he secretly watched the rituals and prayers the other villagers offered, but it wasn't until his 20^th birthday that the idea came to him. Noticing the surprising power the spirits had over the villagers, he realized that if he became their mouthpiece, he would also gain that power. It wasn't a hard feat, if he was honest. The villagers were almost begging for it when he crafted the deception.

He had faked a vision; collapsing in the middle of the village hall and pretending to become ill. Two days later he pretended to get better and told the worrying villagers that he’d been visited by the spirits; that they instructed him to become their shaman, to be their mouthpiece in order to communicate their will to the others. The ease with which they bought the lie was almost comical, and had since gotten easier and easier to sell. Once the adults had accepted the lie, it wasn’t long before they were teaching their children and grandchildren. 3 generations of villagers thinking he was something he wasn’t.

He sighed again, feeling the familiar pang of guilt in his stomach. Maybe it was time to give up the farce; maybe it was time to come clean to the others. He was running out of ways to convince them of his deception and as the years went on, the guilt was starting to eat away at his resolve.

He shook his head and scoffed. What good did his guilt do him? They would surely throw him out of the village if he told the truth, and as he was dependent on their support, he wasn’t likely to survive in the wild. He doubted any other village would accept him into their ranks either.

It was too late to turn back; there was no option but to keep it up. If only he had a way to convince the others to appoint him village elder, then he wouldn’t have to justify his lie anymore. But how could he do that? He already tried using his position as leverage to get the appointment, but it hadn’t worked. For some reason the villagers loved their elder too much to give him up. The only way was for the elder to die, but there was no easy way to orchestrate that without drawing attention to himself. And besides, he wasn’t sure he had the stomach for murder.

The cover to his hut opened and closed as if someone were entering, but when Felmar looked to see who was there, he saw no one. Had he imagined it? Deciding that perhaps he was more tired than originally thought, he got up to get ready for bed. Before he could make it across the room, however, he was stopped by something completely unexpected. Out of thin air, a tall, dark man materialized right before his eyes.

Staggering back in surprise, Felmar fell back in his chair, exclaiming “by the spirits!”

The tall man grinned wickedly and replied “Truer than you might think, Felmar.”

Stuttering, Felmar asked “You… you know my name? Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is why I’ve come.” The dark man grinned again.

“I… don’t understand.” Felmar blinked, trying to determine if this was some sort of hallucination.

“I’ve been watching you for a long time Felmar, and it’s time I put you to good use. If you do as I say, I will give you the thing you desire most.”

Shaking his head in disbelief, Felmar repeated, “The thing I desire most?”

The dark man laughed, clearly amused at Felmar’s confusion. “Oh come now, try not to be so naive. You desire power, above all other things. Is this not why you've have spent your years lying about your gift?”

“How did you…”

“Know it was a lie? Oh come now, anyone with an ounce of sense would see through your charade, Felmar. Lucky for you, most of these villagers don’t have much sense when it comes to mysticism. But that’s not why I’m here. I don’t care that it was a lie; in fact I need you to use your deception for me.”

“What do you mean?” Felmar asked, still reeling from the sudden appearance of the stranger.

“I want you to bring a message to the village elder’s daughter, Kira.”

“What kind of message?” Felmar didn’t like the sound of this.

“4 days from now, you are going to tell Kira that the spirits came to you and instructed her to go into the woods to the west.”

“The woods to the west? Do you mean the Black Wood? She’ll never go there willingly; it’s too dangerous!” Felmar protested.

“Then I suppose you should use your forked tongue to convince her, shouldn’t you?” The stranger sneered wickedly.

“She already distrusts me, what if I can’t convince her?” Felmar asked, feeling anxious about what he was being asked to do.

“Then I will destroy you.” The stranger bolted across the hut and grabbed Felmar by the throat, lifting him into the air with a single arm. Squeezing his throat until he couldn’t breath, the stranger asked,“Is that motivation enough for you?”

Terrified and struggling for air, Felmar choked out a “Yes.”

The dark figure sat Felmar back down in his chair and released him, saying, “Good. I’m glad we’ve come to an arrangement. Do as I tell you, and I will reward you with power beyond anything you've ever dreamed of. Keep an eye on the elder, he’s about to become ill. Perhaps you can use that to your advantage? Whatever you do, do not fail me.” The stranger finished, sneering before evaporating into thin air and leaving the hut.

Felmar rubbed his throat, still in shock from the encounter. He sat there for a long time, trying to calm himself and come up with a plan to do as the stranger asked. How would he ever convince Kira to trust him? She already suspected him to be a liar, how could he sell this deception? And how did the stranger know the elder would become ill? If it was true then there might be hope after all. A sick father would make manipulating the girl easier.

Power beyond anything I’ve dreamed of, he thought. He liked the sound of that. "