Song of the Flutist
Epic of the Ancient Etruscans
by
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THE LOVE THAT BUILT THE PORENNA-LARIS GENERATION:
“Have mercy, ogres of death!” Vel slashed at the air. “Demons, don’t devour my family.”
“Speak louder,” Anneia’s voice floated at him, compressing the moonflowers to his mutilated body.
“The light of day confuses. What vision do I see?” Vel asked in his fog. “Old woman or young?”
“Old as night, young as dawn,” she said, her face near his.
Vel fondled the rippled surface of her tunic. “This velvety softness embodies your spirit. Lovely vision, you make my lips quiver.”
“Kiss the cloth if it pleases. It will bring you closer to me.”
Vel brought the cloth to his lips as she invited. Awakened by her lavender fragrance, his blood surged. Warmth repossessed his cold body from slumber. Lacking strength, he whispered, “Are you real, Vision? No, not so. I must be on my afterlife journey.”
She smiled. “You barely live. Pain fragments the body. Touch restores.”
“Who are you that I escape the netherworld at your hands?”
“Anneia, the Healer.”
Her melodious voice, like a harp’s full rich tones, dared Vel to say, “Touch my cheek so I may feel your caress.”
Her fingertips traced the lines of his wounded face and stroked his forehead.
Vel rose onto stiff elbows. His bones and muscles moved like they were pinned under a load of tufa bricks. “Am I the same man who left Tarchna? How well do you know me?”
“Your wounds improve. They respond to my hands. God Tinia requests the pleasure of your life.”
Desperately, Vel wanted to live to see her again. Her smiles lit his being. Her touch melted his self-importance. Never before had he such comfort with a woman.
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About the Book
Two thousand years before Dante, Michelangelo and the Medici of the Renaissance, the extraordinary Etruscans civilized central Italy.
3 generations of the ambitious Porenna-Laris clan
2 powerful rival cities threaten to tear apart this noble family
1 mysterious Flutist guides their journey to the afterlife.
Meanwhile, The Great Prediction heralds doom.
Amidst pestilence, tyranny, deceit and murder, sophisticated Etruria prospers. Magnificent temples, sumptuous dwellings and roads with arched bridges dot the land. Men revere women. Women own property. Couples eat together at banquets wearing fashionable tunics and stylish leather shoes, while the rest of the cosmos goes barefoot. Wealth, wisdom and artistic beauty abound. Opulent tombs provide for eternal contentment. Praise the gods! Glory to the Etruscans!
Rosalind Burgundy brings the unique Etruscans to life in the stirring epic
Song of The Flutist
About the Author
Rosalind Burgundy’s enchantment for the Etruscans’ amazing culture began when she worked with a renowned archeologist in Rome as Technical Illustrator and Curator of Etruscan artifacts. After more than 40 years as educator/lecturer, wife, mother and world traveler, Ms. Burgundy returns to her life-long interest to create a trio of novels on that ancient civilization.
Song of the Flutist, a three generation family epic, and Odyssey of an Etruscan Noblewoman are set in Etruscan Italy, two thousand six hundred years ago. Tuscan Intrigue, a contemporary archeological escapade, takes place in modern Tuscany and Umbria.
Ms. Burgundy divides her time between the Central Sierra in California and Palm Beach Coast in Florida, feasting with family and friends in Etruscan tradition.