The Gate Guardian's Daughter
The
Gate Trilogy Prequel
by
K.T. Munson
Genre:
YA Dark Fantasy
29
Pages
The interplanetary gates require guardians and the reformed demon Malthael is one of them.
His adoptive daughter, Elisabeth, is special, but her dangerous ability hasn’t awoken yet. Malthael knows it will one day and from then on her life will forever be altered. Malthael isolates her from outside world as much to protect everyone else as to safeguard her. It is all he can do to delay the inevitable.
Now that Elisabeth is ten, how long can Malthael keep her confined?
K.T. Munson is a freelance author. First published at 5 years old in the young writers conference, she has pursued writing ever since. She maintains a blog creatingworldswithwords.wordpress.com that is about writing and her novels. She was born and raised in the last frontier, the great state of Alaska.
The great house sat back from the road—far too much space for four people and two dogs as far as Elisabeth was concerned. Her papa, Malthael, was the Gate Guardian for Ashlad, a position that Elisabeth understood was very important and had been the reason they’d had to leave their home in the south. But that didn’t mean she had to like it. It wasn’t as though she’d had any friends there either, but at least she’d liked their secluded house on the seaside. Just thinking of Asilla made her miss that peaceful beach home.
She didn’t have any friends and didn’t try to play with the children she was observing because she was a very dangerous young girl — or at least that is what Malthael told her. It wasn’t as though she’d ever hurt anyone. But Malthael insisted that she could and should, therefore, be kept away from people until she was older. Elisabeth didn’t like it, but she loved her papa and didn’t want to make him angry.
“Elisabeth!” her tutor, Milo, called.
Sighing, she leaned forward as he strode across the grounds, searching for her. Milo’s black hair had been smoothed back multiple times in irritation, no doubt at her tardiness. Duke sat up, his ears primed forward as he listened to Milo beckoning for her to return. Lifting her legs up into the safety of the trees boughs, she decided she wasn’t ready to return to her studies. Duke’s deadly triple bladed tail shifted away from his boar-shaped body. Elisabeth eyed the nick in his ram-like horns and wondered for the hundredth time how it had happened.
“Elisabeth!” Milo yelled louder, catching the attention of the children beyond the wall.
Duke vanished. She wondered where he went when he disappeared like that—to another dimension or even the Netherworld? The children scattered, screeching about a monster in the mansion.
Elisabeth giggled because they were so wrong. There were three demons living in the mansion and two Netherhounds, but no monsters!
“Hello?” a voice called out from the other side of the wall.
Elisabeth froze. She heard grunting, and an instant later, a head popped over the top. A young boy with filthy brown hair smiled at her. One of his front teeth was missing. Elisabeth stared, her mouth ajar; she’d never talked to someone her own age without Malthael or Milo present. Elisabeth hesitantly smiled back.
“Hi,” Elisabeth managed, despite the lump in her throat.
This is against Malthael’s rules, she thought. Another part of her mind whispered, But only if he finds out.
Excerpt 2
She took his hand and they walked together. His black skin with its flecks of gold was a stark contrast to her pale skin and blond hair—one highlighted by the pale purple dress she wore with a matching ribbon in her hair. As he listened to the clip-clop of his hooves on the marble floor, he resisted the urge to touch his broken horns. When they entered the dining hall, Elisabeth ran to her seat, practically jumping into it. Shaking his head, he went straight to his seat as well.
Milo entered a moment later with Tiss, the snake demon, slithering in behind him, bringing in the last of the food for breakfast. He watched Elisabeth stretch her body up to see what they were carrying. Apparently pleased to see fruit and croissants, she settled back down. Smirking, Malthael picked up the paper and began to read, although his mind was still on the letter and its edict.
“You forgot the jelly,” Milo said to Tiss before exiting the dining room.
Almost the instant he was through the door Elisabeth announced, “I’m done!” She jumped up.
“No slipping out of studies today, young lady,” Tiss said with a maternal tone. “Milo has been quite vexed.”
“You’ve been neglecting your studies?” Malthael asked, looking up and noticing that Tiss’s humanoid upper half was particularly well dressed that morning.
Elisabeth’s blue eyes darted between Tiss and Malthael. “I’ve only been taking longer breaks outside. Milo just likes timeliness.”
“It is summertime.” Malthael shrugged, remembering children of the plant dwellers. Elisabeth hadn’t been able to play with them because of what might happen but that didn’t mean she had to remain confined even in the warmer months. “Go off and play, and I’ll deal with Milo.”
“Malthael,” Tiss censured as Elisabeth bolted from the room, “Her studies are important.”
“It is my understanding that the planet dwellers break from school during the summer,” Malthael said, taking a sip of tea and turning the page on his paper. “She will need to blend in with them eventually.”
He considered the issue closed, but apparently Tiss did not. “She needs to be ready for more than that, and you know it.”
Milo walked in, jelly in hand, and returned to his seat. “Where is Elisabeth?” he asked.
“Taking the afternoon to be a planet dweller,” Malthael replied without looking up.
Tiss harrumphed before leaving the room with her plate in her hand. Malthael raised an eyebrow as her long serpentine tail followed her from the room. His tail swished back and forth once in confusion before he set his tea down without taking a sip.
“What was that about?” he asked Milo.
Milo spread jelly on his croissant. “I won’t even pretend to have any knowledge of how a female’s mind works.” He glanced at Elisabeth’s seat. “No matter her size.”
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