Book Title: Return to the Eyrie
Series: Medieval Hungary
Author: Katerina Dunne
Publication Date: 30 April 2024
Publisher: Historium Press
Page Length: 404
Genre: Historical Fiction (Medieval) / Historical Romance
Triggers: battle violence (moderate), love scenes (moderate),
character suffering from childhood trauma (molestation)
Return to the Eyrie
by Katerina Dunne
Blurb:
Honour, revenge, and the quest for justice.
Belgrade, Kingdom of Hungary, 1470:
Raised in exile, adolescent noblewoman Margit Szilágyi dreams of returning to her homeland of Transylvania to avenge her father's murder and reclaim her stolen legacy. To achieve this, she must break the constraints of her gender and social status and secretly train in combat.
When the king offers her a chance at justice, she seizes it—even if it means disguising herself as a man to infiltrate the vultures' nest that now occupies her ancestral ‘eyrie’.
Plagued by childhood trauma and torn between two passionate loves, Margit faces brutal battles, her murderous kin's traps and inner demons on her quest for vengeance. Only by confronting the past can she reclaim her honour—if she can survive long enough to see it through.
Return to the Eyrie is an epic coming-of-age tale of a young woman's unwavering pursuit of justice and destiny in 15th century Hungary.
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bz8gJL
Author Bio:
Katerina Dunne is the pen-name of Katerina Vavoulidou. Originally from Athens, Greece, Katerina has been living in Ireland since 1999. She has a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens, an MA in Film Studies from University College Dublin and an MPhil in Medieval History from Trinity College Dublin.
Katerina is passionate about history, especially medieval history, and her main area of interest is 13th to 15th century Hungary. Although the main characters of her stories are fictional, Katerina uses real events and personalities as part of her narrative in order to bring to life the fascinating history of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, a location and time period not so well-known to English-speaking readers.
Return to the Eyrie (published April 2024) is the second book in the Medieval Hungary series, a sequel to Lord of the Eyrie (published in February 2022).
Author Links:
Website (publisher): https://www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/hp-authors/katerina-dunne
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Katerina-Dunne/author/B09R4P733K
Book Excerpt:
The morning dew still glimmered on the trampled grass, and the musty smell of the river’s swollen waters lingered in the air when the army engaged with the Ottomans the next day.
For Margit, the intermittent harassing and skirmishes were now a familiar game. She felt safe loosing arrows from a distance, avoiding the clash of steel.
Yet by late afternoon, these small encounters erupted into full engagement. Ahead rang the clamour of battle: the clang of metal, the men’s bellowing war cries and the horses’ neighing as the armoured cavalry collided with the Janissary ranks.
It was not long before the fighting engulfed Margit and her comrades.
“Enemy on the left!” the Serbian captain screamed, his voice echoing among the trees of the grove which covered the mounted archers’ position.
Hidden in the undergrowth, the Turkish infantry pounced on them so swiftly that they drew steel, lacking time to nock arrows.
Margit reined Csillag in to avoid the fray as the men engaged.
But no...
Two Turks closed in, sabres flashing. Margit bared her own blade and drove the horse forward with her heels. Clutching the reins in her left hand, she leaned right with her sword arm extended. Csillag’s galloping speed powered her strike. She severed the first man’s arm below the elbow in a spray of crimson.
The impact almost unhorsed her and hurtled the contents of her stomach to her throat. She screamed, fighting for balance. The second man loomed before her eyes. She jerked the sabre at him, but her waning strength just sent him to the ground.
Margit wheeled Csillag around and moved to finish the attacker before he found his feet. But a fierce huszár burst from the copse like an avenging angel and took him on in her stead.
Thank you, Lord!
“On your right!” a disembodied voice warned her.
Pulse roaring in her ears and breath coming in gasps, Margit barely glimpsed a lone Ottoman rider charging towards her.
“Run!” she screamed at Csillag, the enemy in pursuit.
Clumps of muddy earth and vegetation flew under her horse’s hooves, each stride precarious as she guided Csillag left-handed while clasping the sabre in her right.
She glanced back. The man was inexplicably upon her, swinging his axe.
Urged by the last shreds of blind desperation, Margit bashed his arm. The weapon flew from his grasp.
Her next blow knocked the helmet off his head.
But before she knew it, the Ottoman pounced and pushed her off the saddle. Margit crashed with a shriek onto the grassy ground.
Now straddling her waist, the man punched her face before his hands closed around her throat.
Dazed, Margit stared into his blue eyes and saw a frantic fight to survive. As scared and as young as she was. Probably a Serbian, Wallachian or Hungarian boy abducted by the Turks and forced to serve them. In a different world, he would endeavour to court her now, not kill her.
The pressure on her throat brought her back to reality. She struggled for the knife on the side of her thigh, but his grip tightened, and the world began to fade.
She was a child again, crying and calling her father. And by a miracle of God, he heard her. For he appeared there in his splendid plate armour, brandishing his axe and screaming in rage. His warhorse’s hooves pounded as he galloped to her rescue.
The soldier released her and stood up to face this new threat. It must have been some blow that hit him because it severed his head in one clean sweep. The head rolled by Margit’s side, his body dropped atop her, and blood spurted onto her face.
Margit shoved the lifeless burden away. She sat up desperately and glanced about.
The sight of her saviour stole the breath from her lungs: a knight in full harness of blackened German plate armour astride an ebony steed moved in a circle around her. Blood stained the blade of his longsword. A short-shafted iron Morgenstern hung from his saddle. The visor of his sallet was closed. Instead of a family crest, the Hungarian royal coat of arms adorned his short tabard.
Margit’s jaw dropped. Before she could utter a word, he wheeled his courser and disappeared into the forest nigh.
Alone again, she trembled uncontrollably. She pulled the helmet off her head and shut her eyes. An invisible hand clutched her throat, plunging her into a violent whirlpool. She gagged and choked. Violent convulsions in her stomach ejected its contents from her mouth.
At length, the debilitating sensation passed, and she could breathe freely again. Perhaps it had all been a dream. But when her eyes met the mangled body of the enemy soldier still lying there, the image of the mysterious knight returned and made her pulse race. Everything seemed strange and unreal. Was it her brush with death or something about the knight that left her so rattled? He had appeared from nowhere to save her before vanishing like a spectre. The heavy cavalry fought far from there; so, who was he? A real man or a supernatural entity? Was his sudden appearance the result of her appeal to her father? That thought sent a shiver down her spine. The old legends of the dead warriors returning to help their country in times of danger fascinated her, but she knew they were only myths.
There must be another explanation.
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Thank you so much for featuring Katerina Dunne today, with an extract from her fabulous new novel, Return to the Eyrie.
Take care,
Cathie xo
The Coffee Pot Book Club