Excerpt from BELTERRA by Carol Ann Kauffman

Some wild horses were grazing at the bottom of the hill.  Neeka dismounted Sunshine, her beautiful blond horse, a special gift from Braedon.  She removed the pack Jennell made for her.

“Oh, now, listen to me, my dear Sunshine.  See those nice horses over there?  I want you to go over there and introduce yourself.  You are sweet and very handsome.  Make some new friends.  Non-human friends.  Believe me, horses are much more loyal.  You have been a wonderful companion to me, Sunshine.  And more loyal to me than the love of my life.  I am going far away, somewhere you cannot come, somewhere there are no horses.  So you go with those nice horses over there.  I love you.  Now go, be free.  Run.  Be happy.  Go!”

Sunshine took a few steps away from her, then turned back and looked at her.

“Go!  Sunshine, go!” she pointed.  He ran in the direction of the horses.

She dropped the pack on the ground and walked away from it.  She walked in the direction of the ocean.  She could feel it.  She could smell it.  She could hear the waves.

She walked down the shore, looking for the sea lavender.  She felt weaker and weaker, sadder and sadder, lower and lower.

She had such high hopes and dreams at one time.  She was an accomplished healer.  She was an excellent rider, good with a bow and arrow, decent aim with a weapon, decent looking, not tall enough, or slim enough, but decent looking.   She knew how to read people.  She was a good cook.  She had a sense of humor.  She had been educated in the best schools in the West.  She could read and write, draw and paint.  She knew how to run a large household.  She knew basic electronics and simple engineering.  She knew math and science.  She had self-defense training in the North with Joss.  She wanted a happy family, a good and loving husband, and children.  She didn’t get that.

She had such hopes and dreams for her world.  She wanted to make Belterra a better place.  One world, no clans, freedom for all people.  No electronic neckware or wristware.  No poison mush.  No torture.  No slavery.  Freedom to move about, live wherever you want, earn a living doing what you want.  Belterra was a very beautiful world.  She had seen all four parts.  They each had special beauty.  But most Belterrans only saw their own part.   She had wanted to change that.  She wanted to bring her people together, to unite them.  She didn’t get that, either.

So now, all she wanted to do was find the sea lavender, inhale its sweet, rich, heady fragrance, throw away her clothes, and then walk straight into the big blue ocean until she disappeared.