Release Date: December 2, 2021
After giving her favorite hen a few bites of an overripe
tomato, Eliana took off her scarf and sweater to use as a pillow as she lay
down in the grass by the stream. The mist was gone and the morning sun warmed
her face. Every now and then, a chicken came by to check for another treat in
her hands, but they were such a part of her everyday life that she hardly
noticed.
A slight breeze shifted the branches of the massive oak
trees that grew just beyond the stream. The musical rippling of water dancing
over rocks in the creek soothed her, and she closed her eyes, drifting
somewhere between awake and dreaming about building an Eliana-sized boat to
take her wherever the water flowed.
Until she heard a sound that stood apart from the usual
morning symphony. Different. A rustling. A stirring. She opened her eyes and
pushed herself up on one elbow to look across the stream. Again, she heard the
sound—it was coming from the forest—much louder than that of a squirrel. Maybe
a deer? No, it wouldn’t make that much noise unless wounded.
Eliana scrambled to her feet, grabbed her sweater and scarf,
and clutched them to her chest. No wild cat had been seen in the forests around
Morganshire in years. The activities of humans kept them far from the village
itself and even the outlying private lands. Even so, she looked for the
telltale tawny form now, though she felt certain that a wild cat wouldn't be so
loud. She noticed their rooster Henry the Fifth standing stock-still behind
her. He stared into the forest which now seemed too close. The dense summer
canopy of the trees allowed only a diffuse light to drift to the forest floor,
and shadows swayed, forming shapes that shifted with the breeze.
Eliana realized then that Henry had herded his flock back
into the coop. He stood in the open doorway of the wooden structure, still
staring at the place from where the sound had come. Eliana scanned the dark
green world under the trees for the glowing eyes of a wild cat crazy enough to
come within a hundred feet of humans.
But wait. There.
A flash of vivid turquoise lit by a mere sliver of light
descending through the trees, gone so fast Eliana was sure she imagined it. But
then a flicker of emerald green, so bright that nothing in nature could have
produced it unless the King’s jewels had mysteriously gone for a stroll in the
woods behind her yard. Certainly no forest creature sported such amazing
colors.
Eliana’s sweater and scarf fell to the ground as she took
one step forward, and then another. Even if the trappers did see strange blue
lights in the forest one night, they wouldn’t be dangerous, would they? Just a
little closer and she would stop. In all her twelve years, the forest had never
frightened her; why should it now? Her parents worried too much sometimes…
Eliana took another step. The rustling had stopped, but there, just beyond the tree line, she could see glints of turquoise and that amazing emerald green. She barely felt the chill of the stream as she waded through and up onto the wildflowers growing on the slender strip of land outlining the forest. Over the murmur of the stream, she heard her brothers pushing their way through the back door. Before the screeching of the door stopped, Eliana ran the last few yards to the first oak trees, stepped into the cool dimness of the forest, and found herself staring into the large, blue-green eyes of a dragon.
Website * Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram
Author's Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
3 comments:
This book sounds very interesting. Lovely cover!
Looks like a fun book.
Thanks for the contest.
Looks like a good read. Thanks for the chance to win.
Post a Comment