Amazon Wendy Gillissen Category:  Fantasy Publisher: Booklocker ISBN-10:  1601458398 Type: Fiction Pages: 444 Copyright: May 1, 2009 ISBN-13: 9781601458391 A journey through haunted forests, through dreams and time. A story of love, magic and the power of forgiveness. A Tzanatzi outcast and an Einache shaman are on the trail of an ancient curse. Will they save their people from destruction? When Rom, a young man shunned for his Tzanatzi ancestry, crosses paths with Yldich, an Einache Shaman, they embark on a journey which will change their lives and that of their people forever. Yldich believes that Rom can free the Einache people from a curse that has been brewing for five-hundred years. A dark force is already rising in the North, while in the South power-hungry nobles will stop at nothing to get what they want. Yet Rom has no clue to who he really is, and will have to grow up fast if he is to fulfill Yldich’s prophecy. Together with Eald, a lively little Einache boy Rom and curse of the TahiéraYldich travel north through Gardeth Forest, where the veil between this world and the underworld grows thinner each day, and the army of the Southern King is closing in. Embattled on all sides, but with the loving guidance of Yldich and his spirited daughter Maetis, Rom must face his own past and that of his people to heal the wounds inflicted by centuries of persecution and hatred. But sometimes uncovering buried secrets comes at a price. Will Rom be able to accept his true self and regain his power in time for the final battle?       Excerpt Curse of the Tahiéra 9 He looked at the tracks the horses’ hooves had left, but they went the other way, deeper into the Forest. What if Yldich had stolen the horses and left him intentionally? He would be alone, on foot, in the middle of Gardeth Forest. He had only the small pack of provisions he had laid aside yesterday. They wouldn’t last long, and he had no means to hunt for himself. He considered quickly stuffing his belongings in his pack and following Yldich’s trail, to overtake him and get the horse and pony back. The other man was taller and heavier, but anger and despair might give him the edge he needed. Maybe he could subdue him in a surprise attack. He was just picturing how to surprise Yldich and throw him off his horse, when the man appeared from the other end of the clearing. He whistled softly and walked as if he were taking a relaxed morning stroll. The horses and the pony followed him obediently at a few paces distance. ‘Where did you go?’ Rom called, his voice hoarse with anger and relief. ‘Oh, there’s a patch of herbs the horses like, just a bit to the east.’ Yldich smiled cheerfully as he crossed the clearing and walked up to him. ‘Will do them good, I thought, so I took them there.’ Then he saw the look on Rom’s face. ‘Why, what did you think?’ Rom hesitated. ‘I see,’ Yldich said. ‘You thought I’d gone off with the horses.’ He frowned. He started to put the baggage back on the pony and checked the straps. He seemed deep in thought. Rom waited for him to say something more, but Yldich went about clearing camp and getting ready to travel in silence. He quickly ate some of the leftover bread and cheese, and handed Rom a share without comment. He then hid all traces of their fire. He buried it in the sand and laid some branches over it. Then he did a strange thing: he went and stood in the middle of the clearing, his eyes closed, and started to sing in a language Rom had never heard before, his hands palm upward. When the chanting had ended, Yldich opened his eyes slowly and kept still. He looked as if he were waiting. An expectant silence seemed to fill the clearing. A blackbird started to sing. Its song rang clear in the morning air. A dragonfly flew across the field in a straight line, its wings an iridescent green. Yldich wasted no time. He strode to his horse and mounted. ‘Well, stop standing about then, let’s go!’ He spurred on his horse. Rom still stood beside his horse, watching him in wonderment. He quickly mounted when Yldich was about to disappear between the trees. He followed him in the direction the dragonfly had gone. They rode through the Forest in silence. Rom noticed the landscape changing subtly; green, leafy trees were being replaced by tough birches, tall pines, and oaks with gnarly trunks and roots. Yldich was doing his good- Wendy Gillissen 10humoured humming again. It blended in perfectly with the sounds of forest floor. It removed all need for talk, and Rom was grateful for it. After a while Yldich stopped humming and turned to Rom. ‘Tell me, Rom, what’s your horse’s name?’ Rom started and looked up. ‘Well, I call it horse.’ Yldich laughed out loud. A few birds, startled by the sudden booming sound, rose from the bushes and scattered through the air, chattering like affronted old ladies. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know your horse’s name?’ ‘I bought it off a farmer a couple of years ago. It didn’t occur to me to think of a name.’ ‘And the pony?’ ‘I call it pony.’ Yldich laughed again, shaking his head. Rom didn’t know whether to be offended or to laugh with him. His mouth twitched. ‘Where I come from, it would be considered very strange behaviour to live with a fellow creature for years, even ride on his back, and not know his name,’ Yldich said. ‘Now, if you listen closely enough, you can discover your horse’s name.’ Rom’s eyes widened in incredulity. ‘How?’ Yldich laughed again at the expression on his face. ‘Just ask him.’ ‘That’s madness. Are you saying horses can speak?’ ‘Not exactly,’ Yldich said. ‘What I’m saying is that if you listen closely enough, you can hear what they say. Now,’ he said quickly, before Rom could voice his disbelief, ‘I don’t mean your horse will tell you his name like a human person would. What I’m saying is, that if you take the time, and watch, and listen, you might learn more about your horse you might ever have assumed possible. Or any other being, for that matter.’ He motioned at the area behind them. ‘For instance, how do you think I knew where to look for the herbs this morning? I don’t keep a map of this area in my head. I listened for what the horses wanted, and they directed me to it. It’s very simple. Just listen.’ Rom sat shaking his head at him in silence. Yldich chuckled. ‘By the way,’ he said. ‘His name is Skála.’ At noon, they rested the horses and ate some more of the leftover bread. They sat at the edge of a small dry gully surrounded with bushes. ‘I don’t understand,’ Rom said, while they were eating. ‘How can you know the horse’s name is Skála, when you tell me they don’t use words as humans do?’ ‘Good question. They don’t. What I ‘heard’, so to speak, was not the exact word, Skála, but its meaning. In my language, it means something like likes to run with the wind. Did you ever notice Skála being restless in windy weather?’ Curse of the Tahiéra 11‘Well, yes... but I thought the wind made him nervous.’ Yldich shook his head. ‘Try and pay attention next time he gets restless. My bet is, when the wind is in the west, he’ll want to run with it. You should let him. It’s his érstwae.’ ‘It’s his what?’ Yldich searched for words. ‘It’s difficult to translate. Every living being has érstwae, men, women, children, horses, even dogs. It can be an element, an animal, a mineral... your érstwae depends on the hour on which you are born, and on the signs that accompany your birth. With my people, our names are based on it. But érstwae can change over time, as you learn, and grow, and change by new experiences.’ ‘So what’s your érstwae?’ Yldich chuckled. ‘You could know if you had paid attention. If you’re not perceptive enough to see it, I’m not going to tell you. But you might want to find out what yourérstwae is.’ ‘How?’ Rom said, his interest raised in spite of his scepticism. ‘Pay attention. If you want your érstwae to come to you, all you have to do is invite it. Then you pay attention. You watch, and wait, and listen.’ When they were moving again, Rom made an attempt to locate his érstwae without Yldich noticing. He tried looking around, taking in as much detail of the world around as possible. He tried listening, but all he heard were the familiar sounds of the forest: rustling leaves, the chirruping of birds, the sounds of small creatures in the undergrowth. Yldich saw him work at it, frowning with effort, and laughed. ‘It doesn’t work that way, lad. You have to feel it in here.’ He pointed at his chest, at the height of his heart. ‘Feel the connection. Feel how you’re a part of everything else. Know it. Then your érstwae will come to you. Maybe,’ he added, a teasing glint in his eyes. Rom stared at him. Yldich sighed. ‘You’ll work it out.’ That night, when the fire had gone out, Rom fell asleep and found himself standing before the burnt-out fire pit. It was dark, yet he was able to see the forms of the trees before him in a greyish light. He moved his hand in front of his face and saw it clearly. It emanated a subtle silver light. He was strangely unsurprised. He started to walk carefully through the dark forest, his senses tuned into the world around him more sharply than they had been during the day. He heard a small mouse-like creature scurry through the leaves and twigs on the ground in a hurry. An owl flew overhead at its leisure, surveying the ground for prey. Wendy Gillissen 12While he made his way through the nightly forest, he became subtly aware of another conscious creature’s presence. How he knew this, he could not be sure of. He felt as if someone was watching him. He knew the creature was there before he saw the eyes. They were fluorescent green. The eyes moved towards him. Then he saw the animal that was the owner of the eyes. A large, black hunting cat was stalking him. He froze. The cat circled him, and Rom sucked in his breath. He hardly dared breathe out again. The cat was big, bigger than the wild cat he had seen the other day, almost as big as a large hound. It circled him three times, without making a sound, and every circle narrower than the last, until it stood face to face with Rom. Rom’s breathing was shallow, he felt his heart beat wildly, high up in his chest. He wanted to turn around and flee; he knew that if he did, the cat would be on him in a heartbeat. There was nothing left to do but stand there and stare back into the eyes. They were beautiful eyes, of a deep, luminescent green. They were different from the cat’s eyes he knew from experience. Some house cats did have an uncanny intelligent look in their eyes. But looking into the big hunting cat’s eyes, he saw that it truly saw him and knew him. He would have been only mildly surprised if it had started to speak. But somehow, he felt human speech would be beneath the magnificent, deadly creature. It would be crude and awkward compared to this knowing silence. All he would want to know was in the creature’s eyes. The cat moved as if to pounce, but instead it set its front paws, the large, razor-sharp claws clearly visible, heavily on Rom’s chest. Its big feline head was now nearly level with Rom’s. The cat opened its mouth slightly and breathed, as if it wanted to taste the air between them. Rom was frozen by the sight of the animal’s large head, the sharp incisor teeth, so close to his face. The cat sniffed and looked straight in the eyes with a piercing stare. It opened its mouth wide and screamed at him. Shocked, Rom stumbled backward. The animal raked his tunic and the skin beneath painfully with its claws as it slid down. The spell broken, Rom turned and ran as hard as he could. He heard the cry of the cat close behind him. Fear spurred him on faster. Branches scratched his face as he scrambled through the forest in a panic. He was caught by his shoulders, a sound booming in his ears. He cried out, struggling, and suddenly looked into Yldich’s face. The man was shouting at him. Bewildered, he tried to fight him off, but the other man held him in an iron grip against the trunk of the tree he had been sleeping under. ‘Let me go,’ he yelled, struggling frantically. Curse of the Tahiéra 13‘Stop it, Rom,’ Yldich shouted, and shook him. Rom blinked, bewildered, and stopped struggling. ‘You were screaming in your sleep.’ Yldich slowly relaxed the grip on his shoulders. Rom lowered his hands, and Yldich let go. Rom moved his hand across his face. It was damp with cold sweat. ‘I... I was having a nightmare.’ He wiped the hair out of his eyes. ‘So you were.’ Yldich moved to the fire pit and got a small fire going again. Then he went to fetch the water skin. He filled the cooking pot and put it on the fire. ‘Let’s hear it then,’ he said in a good-humoured tone. Rom took his blanket with him to the fire. He sat down and wrapped himself in it. ‘You —you want to hear my nightmare?’ ‘I’m not sleeping anyway after this, and it will be morning soon.’ Yldich filled their mugs with some dried herbs from his bag. ‘Besides, nightmares are important.’ ‘I thought they were just... scary dreams.’ ‘There’s dreams, and then there’s dreams.’ Yldich filled their mugs with hot water and handed one to Rom. He sat back at the other side of the fire. ‘My people take dreams very seriously. Nightmares are unfinished dreams. Important ones. Tell me about yours.’ Rom drew a hand across his eyes. ‘Well, I was walking through the forest. It was strange, because I could see in the dark. There was this black forest cat. It came to me. No, it stalked me, going around me in circles. Then it came up to me. It screamed at me, and I ran....’ Yldich stared at him with wide eyes. ‘A black forest cat? It came up to you?’ Rom nodded. ‘It stood with its paws on my chest, and looked me in the face. It screamed at me.’ He put his hand on his chest where the claws had scored him. It still burned. ‘It raked me with its claws, and I ran as fast as I could—’ Yldich put down his mug. ‘Let me see.’ He reached out to pull aside Rom’s tunic. Rom flinched, jerking backwards, away from Yldich and overset his mug. Yldich froze and looked at him sharply. He drew back his hand and sat back. His movements were slow and careful. He gazed at Rom without the usual twinkle of amusement in his eyes. ‘What happened to you?’ Rom settled in his place before the fire again. He pulled the blanket closer around him. He was frowning. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well,’ Yldich reverted to his usual lilting speech, ‘ever since I met you, you have reminded me of the pup my daughter took home with her one day.’ He smiled grimly. ‘It had been beaten and misused, so it was distrustful and anxious. We had to take it away eventually, because it attacked the children when they startled it. When trust is broken early, it’s hard to trust people Wendy Gillissen 14again.’ Rom stared at his hands. His face was tense. He didn’t speak. ‘Some stories can poison a man from the inside, if they’re not told,’ Yldich said slowly. ‘Tell me. What happened to you? Why are you so distrustful?’ Rom’s head snapped up. He shook the hair out of his eyes. They had turned black. ‘Why did Rabbit ask for a favour of the King of the Pixies?’ He clenched his fists. ‘I’ve been running from the past all my life. What good is there in telling about it? It can’t be changed.’ He looked down and muttered to the ground: ‘Why should you care, anyway?’ He stood up brusquely and moved to walk away from the fire. The blanket dropped from his shoulders. The strap of his tunic was loose. Yldich looked up at him. His eyes widened. ‘Rom. Look at your chest.’ Rom looked down. There were bloody claw-marks, big ones, crimson against his pale skin. ‘This isn’t possible. This isn’t happening.’ Rom tugged at the straps of Skála’s harness. The horse whinnied in protest. Rom hurriedly fastened his saddle. The marks on his chest burned, but the rest of his body felt icily cold. Yldich was urgently talking to his back. ‘Rom, wait. Don’t run off in a panic. The forest is too dangerous to blunder through like a fool. Wait, now. There’s something I should tell you....’ ‘What now? More about rabbits and pixies?’ ‘No, indeed. About black hunting cats.’ Rom shuddered and said nothing. He rolled up his blanket and threw it behind the saddle. Yldich shook his head and sighed. ‘Have you any idea what significance the black cat has where I come from? It’s the... the daemo, the chief Spirit Animal of the Tzanatzi people.’ Rom stiffened at the name. He fastened a rope. ‘There are no Tzanatzi,this far to the north.’ ‘Not anymore. But once there were. Many of them. They came to the North, when they settled in these lands many years ago. These woods were their battlegrounds.’ Rom shook his head. He felt another story coming on. ‘What’s that got to do with me?’ Yldich gazed at him, long and deliberately, the dark hair, the dark eyes. ‘Well, look at you, lad.’ Rom felt the blood rise in his face. His fingers tightened on the rope. ‘What are you implying?’ ‘Easy, now. There’s something I haven’t told you. It wasn’t a coincidence that I met you in the Squealing Pig. I was there on purpose, to meet you, or someone like you.’ Curse of the Tahiéra 15Rom spun around. ‘I knew it! I thought there was something suspicious about the way you sought me out. And when you were going north too, it was too much of a coincidence.’ ‘Maybe,’ Yldich said with a wry grin. ‘But even as your intuition was right, there’s a difference between malicious and good intent. I didn’t deceive you to bring you harm.’ Rom drew up a brow. ‘So why did you deceive me?’ ‘Rom, I am Yaever for my people,’ Yldich said, the melodious accent more marked than before. ‘It means true-dreamer in our language. It means I have, how does one say in your language, warning dreams, dreams that come true. I knew how to find you because I dreamt you.’ Rom’s eyes widened. ‘You dreamt me?’ ‘I knew I had to go south, and search the inns along the way for a dark-haired young man with dark eyes,’ Yldich said in a chanting tone. Rom guessed he had told this story before, many times. ‘He would be travelling on his own, he would be a loner, and he would have great significance for my people, my House, and for the dark powers that are threatening us. I knew so in my dreams. I’ve dreamt you for over seven years.’ ‘What—what are you talking about?’ Rom said. ‘What dark powers?’ ‘For years, I’ve had dreams about something dark, something evil, being awakened in the earth. At first, they seemed to be only nightmares.’ Yldich shook his head. ‘But it’s true what I told you at the inn. A balance has been disturbed. A horror is stalking the Forest. One by one my nightmares are coming true. Who knows where it will end?’ Rom felt a shiver travel along his skin. ‘All I knew,’ he heard Yldich continue, ‘was that I had to find you, because somehow you may avert the evil that’s threatening my people.’ Rom shook his head in uneasy disbelief. ‘What about the black cat? What does that mean?’ ‘That’s what I wonder, too. But bearing in mind your appearance, Rom,’ Yldich said, choosing his words with care, ‘my guess would be you have Tzanatzi blood in you. The cat sought you out for a reason. I’ve never heard of the children of my people dreaming a powerful Tzanatzi daemo in their first true-dream. It must mean something. It must be important. Maybe it’s telling you to tap into your heritage. So you can make a difference somehow.’ Rom scowled. ‘I want nothing to do with that—that filth. All I want to do is go north, tend to my business, and go home.’ He turned brusquely and tied his tunic with fingers that were stiff and cold. ‘If you don’t stop running from the past and face it,’ Yldich said softly, ‘it might hunt you down one day.’ Rom ignored him. He strode off to the pony to pile on his luggage as quickly as he could. He donned his cloak and Wendy Gillissen 16mounted the horse. Skála’s ears were turned backwards. He sidled, and then moved hesitatingly. Rom spurred him on. He turned to look at Yldich. ‘Safe journey,’ he muttered. He felt a strange, sinking sensation beneath his anger. He hurried the horse along to escape it. The pony followed. They shot away into the trees. ‘Neachspragae,’ Yldich said softly. ‘Until we meet again.’

A tale of healing
I think it’s a beautiful story: the storylines, the characters, and above all how the story is carried by deep spiritual understanding.
The workings of karma, love, compassion…it’s a tale of healing.
There is so much warmth and wisdom in the book!
Roms journey through the Underworld truly is a brilliant combination of humor and spiritual depth.
Pamela Kribbe


It can be a dangerous thing for a man not to know who he is
Author Wendy Gillissen’s spiritual adventure ‘Curse of the Tahiera’ succeeds on so many levels; her characters have personality, depth and personal history, the fantasy environment is vibrant, detailed and filled with mythic wonder and the storyline is absorbing and well paced from beginning to end. Plain and simple it’s one of the most enjoyable fantasy books I’ve read in a long, long time.
De Vloek van de Tahiera bekroonde roman Wendy Gillissen

However my highest praise for Ms. Gillissen’s book is reserved for the deep, profound spirituality oozing from her written words; her understanding of the nature of dreams, her innate knowledge of the unseen but sometimes felt lifeforce emanating from the world (or worlds?) around us and the way in which she reveals the spiritual underpinnings and karmic destiny that ultimately determine who and what we are.
Many writers have attempted to wed their own personal spiritual paradigm with literary fiction and generally the results are less than satisfying. Either the ‘message’ overpowers the story to such a degree that the fiction is delivered flat and contrived, or the author is forced to compromise the ‘message’ for the sake of the tale and the readers entertainment. In both cases both the author and the reading audience are left unsatisfied and wanting.

In the case of ‘Curse of the Tahiera’ both of these pitfalls have been successfully and masterfully avoided! If you’re looking for nothing more than pure fantasy entertainment this is the book for you. On the other hand if you’re looking for a generous dose of spiritual insight that will help guide you in answering some of those inner nagging questions and doubts we all carry with us this is also the book for you. Now if you’re looking for both, this must be your lucky day!
Brian E. Erland, Amazon top 500 reviewer

Captivating from beginning to end
Though much of it takes place in a physical world of forests and stones, the real story of Gillissen’s protagonists, Rom, Yldich, and Eald who journey through enchanted lands northward, is one of kinship and illusion as they struggle to save their people from the destructive power of an entity known as the Tahiéra. Gillissen uses dreams the way that an artist might use watercolors to paint a vivid portrait. Her expressions are at once clear and beautiful as they are abstract and distant, eventually culminating in an ending revelation that is unforeseeable (unless, of course, you’ve “dreamwalked” through the story already).
Though much of it takes place in a physical world of forests and stones, the real story of Gillissen’s protagonists, Rom, Yldich, and Eald who journey through enchanted lands northward, is one of kinship and illusion as they struggle to save their people from the destructive power of an entity known as the Tahiéra. Gillissen uses dreams the way that an artist might use watercolors to paint a vivid portrait. Her expressions are at once clear and beautiful as they are abstract and distant, eventually culminating in an ending revelation that is unforeseeable (unless, of course, you’ve “dreamwalked” through the story already).

Rom is haunted by “énthemae” dreams, or dreams of his past which reveal a power in him to confront the Tahiéra. As he learns these things throughout his journey, he becomes acquainted with “ayúrdimae” dreaming, or “dreamwalking”. “Curse of the Tahiéra” is full of mystical enchantments and riveting adventures, but it’s these particular facets which make it different from most other fantasy novels. Gillissen creates a dream world within a dream world; worlds inside of other worlds which are constantly in motion. It might seem complicated, but Gillissen handles them all like a well trained juggler, and the show is spectacular.

“Curse of the Tahiéra” achieves on nearly every level of excitement and entertainment that the genre of fantasy prescribes. It’s enlightening in its connection with real world values of love, honor, and camaraderie and on top of that, its great entertainment. Gillissen’s take on pixies, beasts, and other common fantasy figures is unique and revitalizing. Fantasy novels are all about the journey, and Gillissen is able to weave several into a single amazing voyage that is captivating from beginning to end.
Eric Jones
Bookreview.com