Excerpt:We climbed the backside of the canyon, still winding through the singing forest. A sudden gust blew through the treetops, causing the tall hollow stalks to cry a warning and my heart to beat faster. What danger was Nahoa getting me into this time?
By midday we reached the tree line, and the terrain
became near vertical, with slabs of volcanic rock stacked in a series of small
ledges and caves.
I turned around, looking out over the green bamboo
treetops. To my right, the towering snow-capped summit of Mauna Kea dominated
the sky. It was the tallest and most sacred spot on the Great Island, and on
rare occasions smoke and ash billowed from its peak, rising above the icy white
snowdrifts. Fortunately, there had not been a major eruption or lava flow in many
generations.
“I’ll race you to the top,” Nahoa challenged. “I’ll even
give you a head start.”
We had always enjoyed a spirited rivalry, feeding off
each other’s competitive nature. I surveyed the cliff, picking my route.
“You’re on,” I said as I hoisted myself up and grabbed
onto a small lava finger hold. Just above me was a long fissure in the rock,
sloping upward to my right and then back to the left. While this path would
take me on a longer course, it was less demanding, and my best chance to beat
Nahoa to the crest.
He saw my plan. “Good, little brother. That path is
safer.”
I carefully moved forward, while Nahoa soon got stuck
above me on the sheer vertical wall of lava, his legs dangling and his feet
probing the cliffside.
“Fingers getting tired?” I asked him as I moved closer to
the top. I was going to beat him, for once.
“I won’t be here long,” he said.
As I followed the crevice back to the left, Nahoa whipped
his body to the right and leapt off the cliff, his foot landing on my shoulder.
He pushed off my neck and hoisted himself onto the ledge above me, just below
the crest.
“Thanks, omo,” he said with a wicked laugh.
As I pulled myself onto the ridgetop I saw Nahoa ahead,
following a fast-moving river that disappeared in the distance.
“Move it!” he yelled above the sound of the rushing
water.
I hurried to catch up and we crossed the river along a
jagged path of partially submerged boulders smoothed over by the rapids.
Before us, the river gained strength where it merged with
a smaller tributary and formed a swirling vortex that plummeted off the cliff
as Waimoku Falls.
“That’s it,” said Nahoa, pointing at a small hill piled
with rubble just in front of where the two rivers joined.
There we found the remains of a crescent-shaped fortress
made from stacked lava rocks. The curved wall was crumbling, with crusty orange
lichen growing in the crevices and bright green geckos sunning themselves on
top. The ground was littered with shark teeth, razor sharp and bleached by the
scorching tropical sun.
I was disappointed. I’d hoped to find a great temple with
cryptic markings or intricate carvings. What lay before us was nothing more
than a pile of weather-beaten rocks.
“Well, this is a waste of time,” said Nahoa. He picked up
a stone and hurled it at the remains of the fortress. From beneath the broken
wall, a gathering of centipedes scrambled to escape the sunlight.
An icy wind went through me. It wasn’t like a tropical
breeze that cools your sweaty cheek. No, it pierced my flesh like I was no more
solid than a palm frond. Disturbing the centipedes was a bad omen—they were
minions of the shadows.
“Did you feel that?” I asked.
Nahoa stood frozen, the hair on his arms standing on end.
He swallowed. “Feel what?”
“I don’t think we should be here,” I said, motioning for
us to leave. For once, I hoped he’d agree with me.
“Do you want me to hold your hand, little brother? We’ll
just have a look around, that’s all.”
Nahoa walked over to where he’d thrown the rock and knelt
to examine the rubble. He picked through and uncovered a wooden tiki head. The
carving was badly weathered, its left ear missing. Its mouth snarled, and its
eyes glared with menace.
I looked at my brother’s face. He was in a trance, his
head tilted down and his eyes looking up. They were cold and lifeless.
“Nahoa,” I screamed. “Stop playing around. That’s not
funny!”
But he just stood there. I yelled again, “Nahoa! We
shouldn’t be here. Let’s go!”
He blinked, but otherwise remained perfectly still.
As I stepped toward him, Nahoa pulled his knife and
backed me toward the rushing river.
“It’s you that doesn’t belong here, little brother,” he
said in a hushed tone.
Then he charged at me like a wild boar, knocking me into
the water. I stood up, knee- deep in the fast-moving river, and dug my feet
into the rocky bottom, bracing myself so the current didn’t pull me downstream.
Nahoa leapt again and landed on top of me, sending us both tumbling into the
whitewater.
Since we were old enough to walk, Nahoa and I had been
schooled by the masters in lua[4]—wrestling, hand-to-hand
combat, and the use of our tribe’s most savage battle weapons. From years as
sparring partners, I knew all his offensive moves and counter attacks as though
they were my own. But as we raced downstream, bouncing off the rocks and
plummeting down the rapids, I felt as though I was fighting a stranger. And I
was fighting for my life.
Up ahead, jagged rocks rose above the waterline. I
flipped onto my back with my feet below me, struggling against Nahoa’s hands
wrapped around my throat. I kicked free of him, but that only quickened my pace
down the rapids. I slammed into a boulder, my feet bracing my impact. I was
exhausted, but knew I had to get out of the water before I reached the falls. I
managed to clamber partway up a slippery rock, then gathered the strength to
hoist myself completely from the rushing current. Upstream, I saw Nahoa
dangling from a tree branch, the rapids churning below him.
My footing slipped and in an instant I was back in the
river. The turbulence engulfed me, pulling me into the foaming whitewater. Then
I was weightless, freefalling.
[4]Anicent Hawaiian school of martial
arts
About the Book:
The Kingdom of
Oceana is the
first book in a new Young Adult fantasy adventure series by Mitchell Charles.
Five centuries ago, on the
island now called Hawaii, there was a kingdom filled with adventure, beauty,
and magic. When 16-year-old Prince
Ailani and his brother Nahoa trespass on a forbidden burial ground and uncover
an ancient tiki mask, they unleash a thousand-year-old curse that threatens to
destroy their tropical paradise.
As warring factions collide
for control of Oceana, it sparks an age-old conflict between rival sorcerers
that threatens to erupt--just like Mauna Kea, the towering volcano. With the
help of his ancestral spirit animals, his shape shifting sidekick, and a
beautiful princess, Prince Ailani must overcome his own insecurities, a
lifetime of sibling rivalry, and a plague of cursed sea creatures brought forth
by the tiki's spell. Can peace be restored to the kingdom? Can Prince Ailani
claim his rightful place as the future king of Oceana? Two brothers, but only
one can rule.
“While the book is fiction,
it is heavily influenced by the rich and beautiful Hawaiian myths, legends,
locales, and culture. Many locations in the story are inspired by real
places in Hawaii,” says Mitchell.
The Kingdom of Oceana takes readers on a fun and exciting
adventure, with big wave surfing, fire walking, and shark taming, while also being
educational and bringing to light many environmental and social issues, like
ocean conservation.
The Kingdom of Oceana is currently available for
sale on Amazon in kindle and paperback. The
audiobook will be released in April 2016.
Praise
"This book is a real page-turner, full of action and adventure,
and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I hope that there will be more books
like this from Mitchell Charles in the future." – 5
Stars, Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers’
Favorite
“This is a rollicking good read -- a fascinating journey into a
mythological world filled with legendary characters and magnificent twists and
turns.” – 5 Stars, DG on
Amazon
About the Author
Mitchell Charles’ love of the
ocean and its miraculous creatures began at the age of 12 when his father
taught him to SCUBA dive. From his first adventure 50 feet (15 meters) beneath
the Caribbean Sea he was hooked. He has
been involved in the Oceanic Society,
America’s first non-profit organization dedicated to ocean conservation,
established in 1969.
Mitchell’s inspiration for The Kingdom of Oceana was born of
exploring the spectacular coastline, lush valleys, and vibrant coral reefs of
the Hawaiian Islands. On these excursions, he imagined what Hawaii was like
hundreds of years ago. Before Captain Cook arrived from England. Before the
golf courses and hotels. Before the ukulele and the Mai Tai became icons of
Hawaiian culture. He dreamed of a time when the islands were an undiscovered
magical paradise.
These days, Mitchell divides
his time between Southern California and Hawaii. He has two teenage children
and a dog named Magic.
Mitchell is currently working
on the second book in the Kingdom of Oceana series, The
Legend of the Nine Sacred Pearls. For more information, visit
http://kingdomofoceana.com/
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