I am working on another novel titled "Daldriada".  The inspiration for the location of this book was taken from the Gardens of Ninfa in Italy.  Here is an excerpt from the book.  Let me know what you think.

     With his tongue Fyrddin dislodged a blackberry seed between his teeth.  He turned his head away from the Lady and spat the seed on the ground.  When he looked back at her, she still stared at him, apparently waiting for him to answer her questions.  He did not quite know where to begin.  Tell her the truth.  What is the worst that can happen?  Ah, he had been bitten by that before.  He wanted to shake his head like a wet dog ridding its coat of water every time the memory of that anguished and lovely face came to mind.
     “Very well.”  He draped the reins over his left shoulder while he refastened his chain mail.  “I do not know how you got here.”
     “What?”  Her left eyebrow shot up.
     “I know only that you were to come, that you are the Lady of the Labyrinth and that your time here would be for only - ”  No, he did not want to tell her that part just yet. 
     “For what?”
     “Uh, I believe your visit here serves a specific purpose.”  Fyrddin resisted the urge to wipe the beads of sweat gathering on his forehead just below his hairline. 
     “But how did I get here?  How?”  She was swinging her arms again.  He expected a blow to his middle at any moment so he clenched his stomach muscles just in case.
     “One minute I’m standing in the labyrinth.  The next minute I wake up here.  Without a stitch of clothes or any of my stuff!”
     Fyrddin whistled softly as his own eyebrows went up.  “I have always expected such would be the case.  ‘Tis fortunate Rigel saw you before I did.”  Grinning at her reddening cheeks, he tried to sober at the rebuke in her stare.  He could not help the chuckle that rose in his chest.  “My Lady.”  He held out a hand as he slowed his pace.  “You must see the blessing in this.  You are safe.  You have dined on the best I could offer you, and you have a new gown to wear.”
     She said nothing. 
     “The garments I left for you, they fit you perfectly, do they not?”
     Silence.
     “And they are rather lovely, are they not?”
     She replied with a noncommittal grunt and walked ahead of him.
     “They are merely an enhancement, an adornment to your beauty, my Lady.  I fashioned them especially for you.”
     She stopped and faced him.  Fyrddin waited to see if she would accept the compliment.  “You made these?”
     "Aye.”
     "For me?” 
     He had not noticed the small dimple in her cheek when she smirked.  He was grateful she was not outright angry again.  “Aye.”
     “Look.”  She began walking. “Fyrddin, I appreciate the clothes and yes, they are beautiful, and thank you for the kind words.  I’m grateful you did not see me because the last time any man saw me like that was because I was too stupid to tie my bikini top into a knot instead of a bow.  But – “
     “You believe I have not answered your question.”  Fyrddin fell in beside her.  
     “Right.”
     “But I have.  ‘I do not know’ is an answer, my Lady.”
     “Aghhhhh!”

* * *

     “Fine!” Nina stomped several paces up the path ahead of Fyrddin.  “Don’t tell me.  I don’t care!”
     “My lady, wait.” 
     Nina heard him but she thrust her head forward, held up her hand behind her and kept walking.  “Don’t!  Just leave me alone.”
     “But, my lady, you are going the wrong way.”
     Nina dragged her feet to a stop.  She rested her hands on her hips, closed her eyes and inhaled a deep, calming breath.  “Of course I am.  Why would I go the right way when I don’t even know where I am?”  She turned.  Fyrddin and Rigel stood at the intersection of a fork in the path.  She scowled as he leaned his shoulder against Rigel’s side.  “I’m coming.” 
     They walked along the narrow and rough path that led toward a dense part of the forest.  Nina watched them go past her as she paused to remove a pebble from her shoe.  Fyrddin looked skyward and then scanned the forest to either side of them.  Nina struggled to catch up, hopping as she put her shoe back on.
     “Okay, then, if you won’t tell me how I got here -” she paused at Fyrddin’s look of correction, “rather, if you don’t know what to tell me.”
     He nodded.  “Aye.”
     “Then tell me about those men, the ones that came after us.  Who are they?  Why were they after me?  And you?  Why were they talking about you?”
     Fyrddin let go of the reins, allowing Rigel to walk on his own.  He dropped back a pace, unhooked the wineskin from the pack and rejoined Nina.  “A long tale indeed, of which I know only part.  Yet, I will tell you what I know.”
     “I’m listening.”  She accepted the skin he offered and drank deeply before she realized how little was left. “Sorry.”  Nina handed it back to him.  “I didn’t mean to take it all.”
     Rigel neighed and perked his ears.  Nina checked her distance to the head of the great horse and calculated that she was out of harm’s way.  Instead of taking the wine from her, Fyrddin paused and looked back at Agrestes who dozed on his perch.
     “Your pardon, my lady,” Fyrddin gave Rigel a pat on the neck and went once more to the sack behind the saddle.  There he pulled out a small scrap of paper and wrote a brief note.  He wrapped the note securely in the leather thongs around one of the falcon’s legs. 
     “What?”  Nina placed her hands on her hips.  “What’s going on?”
     “A moment, my lady,” Fyrddin picked up the falcon, whispered into its ear and sent it aloft.  He watched the bird’s flight for a long moment before he turned back to Nina.
     “What?”
     “I needed to send a word to my father,” Fyrddin said as he gathered the reins and pulled Rigel along, leaving Nina to catch up.
     “Now?  In the middle of a conversation?” 
     Fyrddin kept walking, scanning the sky. 
     “About what?  What is going on?”
     “I was always told that patience ran like rivers in the Lady of the Labyrinth,” he said, his usual grin absent.  “Yet, I see that is not the case.”
     “What?”  Nina hurried to catch up with him.  “Of all the –"  Nina stomped up behind him.  “Just because I seem a little, um, a little -” 
     When Fyrddin stopped, she nearly collided with him.  He did not look at her as he tightened the girth of the saddle.  He is just not going to listen to me.
     “Here.”  Nina handed the wineskin to him.  “I don’t see how you can call me impatient, when, uh –"  Nina up looked at Rigel’s head - held high, his attention piqued and his ears standing straight up.  “Do you smell smoke?”