Journey to a Strong Tower is Book 1 in Higher Ways, a Christian fantasy series. Prince Eghan Lhin is at first terrified when he is abducted from his father's castle on the night of his sixteenth birthday. Though brought to a place that seems safe, he is torn between what his mind tells him and what his heart feels. Should he trust the man who says he is his uncle? Should he forgive his enemies and befriend the girl who lives there? Or should he run for his life and try to warn his father about the war that is about to begin?
To believe is to betray his father. But what if it's all true?
Journey to a Strong Tower is an action packed story about a young man who struggles to believe. His struggles are grounded in reality.
The battle to restore Nara to her throne
Consciousness seeped into Eghan like the mists that slipped seductively down from the mountains -- slowly -- so slowly his mind fought to clear the haze away. Leather thongs binding his ankles and wrists twisted into his skin when he moved. Memory flooded back. He was in his own room in his father’s house, staring at a cup in his hand. The cup’s rim blurred. His head spun. He remembered turning toward the door, seeing a man he did not recognize, just before everything went black.
He opened his eyes, but all he could see was a gray haze. Panic spilled bile into his mouth as he tried to free himself, but his body felt limp, without strength. A gray lump that he thought was a rock sitting in front of him, moved. Eghan lay still and blinked, but could not bring it into focus. In frustration, he kicked out.
Who are you? Why are you doing this?” He spoke through clenched teeth. “My father will not pay ransom!” Breathing hard, he tried to sit up. The shape moved again and Eghan felt a large hand on his shoulder, pushing him down.
“Don't thrash about so, boy. Let the drug wear off in its own time.”
The voice, strange to Eghan, seemed far away. His strength gave out again and he leaned back, aware of the heavy scent of pine and the hardness of the boughs beneath the rough blanket on which he lay. Dampness clung to it.
At times fear threatened to pound its way into his mind, but Eghan challenged it. I’m safe enough with this Huntsman, at least for now, he thought. He tried to see his circumstance as an opportunity. Lately he had been discontented with life in his father's castle. He had longed to ride out into the country, to live out his own adventure.
Well, this certainly is adventure, of a sort, Eghan thought. The last effects of the drug had worn off and a trembling excitement kept him wide awake.
For the past while the land had been steadily rising. Eghan's heartbeat quickened as he realized they were drawing closer and closer to the mountains. As darkness gradually began to give way to a soft dawn light, he stared up at the rough walls of rock that brought an abrupt end to the fertile valley where he had lived all his life. So often he had gazed from the windows of his father's castle, drawn by these gleaming peaks and rugged cliffs. He was never allowed to ride anywhere near them, not even with Khalwyd of Stohl, his guardian and constant companion.
Eghan's inspection of the mountains was interrupted as the ground rose up in front of them and he heard Faelan speak softly to his horse. Then he was thrown forward, his face touching the horse's neck as it lunged upward. He tightened his grip with his legs until they were on even ground again, a wall of rock rising close beside him on his right, another on his left. It seemed as though they had entered a crack in the mountain’s side.
The horses' hooves clacked loudly on bare stone now, the sound echoing high above their heads. Eghan was about to ask, again, where he was being taken, when they came to an abrupt halt. His heart stopped as he heard the echo of another horse’s hooves.