The Seventh Pearl
A novel
T.S. Austen
The Seventh Pearl is our new, in-progress novel, a sapphic spin on a tried-and-true fantasy motif: a badass tracking a dangerous enemy over treacherous terrain. This story takes special inspiration from the rugged beauty and of Caribbean desert islands, especially Bonaire.
Dania is a woman in her thirties, an up-and-coming minor officer of the Storm Regulators, an experimental cohort of soldiers who escort priests from island to island, so that they can magically calm storms and gentle volcanoes.
Enter Zephiñar, “the Coyote.” A radical priest who refuses to cooperate with the Storm Regulators, he terrorizes the peaceful Kralen City by poisoning its coral reefs and infecting its citizens by the thousands. No one knows how he does it or how he has managed to evade capture for so long.
When Zephiñar captures the desert island of Haato, hoping to prevent Karpata’s priests from gentling its active volcano, the Provincial Governor of Kralen City taps Dania, of all people, to capture the Coyote and bring him to justice.
Although Dania and her team outnumber the Coyote nine to one, nothing can prepare them for how savagely Zephiñar wields the island’s rugged, foreign, and unforgiving terrain against them in his desperate struggle to avoid capture.
Dania must discover the truth and protect her team from the Coyote’s wrath, especially the mission’s field navigator, Sobrevia—the team’s only hope of escaping the island and a woman Dania has come to love.
This novel is currently in the early stages of drafting and is not yet available for reading. Sign up to our newsletter for updates on this and other upcoming stories.