Beloved of the River Goddess

Stephen Symons holds an MA in Creative Writing (University of Cape Town) and is currently completing a PhD in Historical Studies at the University of Pretoria. His poetry and short fiction have been published in journals, magazines and various anthologies, locally and internationally. His first collection of poetry, Questions for the Sea received an honourable mention for the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry, and was also shortlisted for the 2018 Ingrid Jonker Prize. His unpublished collection Spioenkop was a semi-finalist for the Hudson Prize for Poetry (USA) in 2015. Landscapes of Light and Loss is his second collection of poetry.

All Edrun and Jina ever wanted was to get married, raise children and have a long, happy and uneventful life in their native village, at the very last walking together hand in hand through the Gate of the Sixth Path into eternity. But the Gods of the Kalion Islands have other plans for Edrun and Jina. Dark forces are stirring up strife and discord that threatens to explode into destruction even more terrible than the chaos of the Temple Wars, still a bitter memory. Neither Edrun nor Jina alone can stop that. But together...?
After a year of torment and pursuit halfway across northwest Kalion, Edrun and Jina have finally found themselves both safe and well-funded. They decide to take a much-deserved holiday in the fascinating Temple-City of Hazek while they decide on their future.
While enjoying a lazy lunch outside a tavern, to his horror, Edrun finds himself publically hailed as a Lord of the Gathering. The warrior aristocracy of the Islands of the Sixteen Gods are very protective of their status and privileges and are swift to inflict punishments upon those who would usurp their position. Moments later, Edrun and Jina discover a former nemesis is also in Hazek and has in mind a sadistic revenge against them for the trouble they caused him in the past.
Making for a citadel that was once a safe haven for them, their plans are soon cast into disarray when they're forced to rescue the fiery daughter of a wealthy merchant from attacking brigands. Once more Edrun and Jina find themselves in a fight for their lives.