Aimee Easterling's Blog, page 17
May 5, 2017
Incendiary Magic: Chapter 1
I’m very excited to be taking part in the Fire Kissed anthology of 13 entirely new novellas featuring dragon shifters. My contribution is in the Dragon Mage universe and follows two characters you haven’t yet met. Here’s chapter 1 so you can get to know Fee…
When life gets tough, you’re left with two choices. Surrender to the pain…or become a pyromaniac. Fee chose the latter.
“Burn, baby, burn,” she chanted, fingers tingling with the force of fire magic exiting her skin. All around, dormant trees woke, stretched, sought her spark of life…then went up in flames as the superheated air ignited loose bark, crunchy lichen, and eventually even the sap-sodden Green itself.
Take that, suckers!
The beech was the first to go. Ghost leaves dangling from smooth gray twigs were perfect tinder for an incipient blaze. Not quite as satisfying as the pines up on the ridge, though, which seemed to thrive on fire, popping and spewing seeds of destruction in their wake. Still…. “Not bad,” she muttered as she spun, sending tendrils of fire licking up the hillside in her wake. “Not bad at all.”
“Focus, Bug.” As always, the male voice made Fee startle with combined fear and anticipation. Never mind that this time around the words emanated from the magic-infused cell phone at her hip rather than from a flesh-and-blood human. Never mind that Malachi—never Dad, never Father—was presently too far away to lash out with fists or fire.
Regardless, the partially healed burns dotting her pale skin ached with the pain of recent memories. The scars along her spine puckered at the mere sound of her father’s voice. And the joy of fire-starting abruptly vanished.
“Yes, sir,” she said, hating the way her voice quavered, hoping the distance between face and hip was sufficient to block out the intensity of her fear…and longing.
It wasn’t. Malachi’s voice was smug when he answered. “I know you’ll try your best, Bug. I just hope your best is good enough this time.”
And there was the familiar disappointment creeping into his tone. The disappointment that led to the rages, to the infernos of agony that built slowly until Fee blacked out and dreamed of self immolation. She tried so hard to evade her father’s displeasure…and yet, she never quite managed to sidestep in time.
Smoke whipped down out of the conflagration, teasing tears out of Fee’s eyes. Gritting her teeth, the fire mage smeared the liquid away with the back of one soot-covered hand then pushed the full force of her own frustration into the surrounding forest.
I’m just like my father, venting my rage on the weak, she realized as a standing snag exploded, splinters of flaming wood shooting off in every direction. Would she one day create a daughter of her own to terrorize? A daughter to turn into a certified firebug bent upon devastation?
“Not likely,” she murmured even as she obeyed Malachi’s instructions to the letter, pushing fire downwind and up the slope she’d turned to face. The Aerie lay just over that hill, close enough for dragons to smell smoke and come hunting the culprit. Close enough so she’d have no time to flee back to the hidden settlement of fire mages that Malachi ruled with an iron fist.
But running away had never been in the cards. This was a suicide mission, and that concept Fee could fully get behind.
“What did you say?” demanded the voice at her hip.
It took Fee a moment to realize her father was responding to the muttered “Not likely” rather than to the thoughts that had been whirling through her mind. A moment during which she was unable to breathe…and not just because the wall of flames had superheated the surrounding air and threatened to blister the interior of her lungs.
“I was talking to the Green,” Fee prevaricated once she pulled equilibrium back around her like the quilt her mother had sewn six months before she died.
Okay, I won’t lie to myself. Before Malachi killed Mama for trying to escape.
The mere memory of Mama’s quilt gave Fee the spine she so often lacked in the presence of her ever-volatile father. So she elaborated on her fib even as she kicked at charred tangles of what had once been semi-sentient plants. “The vines are waking up,” she said. “They’re less dormant than we thought.”
And it was true that the Green did hunt every spark of electricity and fire magic it could get its grubby little tendrils on. During the Change twenty-nine years earlier, the Green had swallowed everything from cities to farms, sending the remnants of humanity scurrying to the few regions too dry, too wet, or too high for plants to survive. Fee hadn’t been alive back then, but she’d heard the stories.
So it wasn’t a stretch to believe the Green would now be fighting back against the destruction a lone fire mage could wreak. Despite the danger, though, Fee had worked fast and the plants had lacked time to transition from winter slumber to active retaliation.
Malachi hummed something that could have been complaint or possibly encouragement. Whatever it was, Fee could tell he didn’t quite believe her. Still, her father was too far away to know for sure whether she told the truth.
“They’re homing in on the electrical signature,” she said quickly, stepping closer to the flames in an effort to strengthen her resolve. It didn’t matter that soot clogged her nostrils and burned her eyes. She always felt stronger in the proximity of fire. “I’m gonna turn off the cell phone to give myself space to work. Don’t worry, though. I know what I’m doing.”
Not that Malachi ever worried. He wouldn’t worry now either, not even when she powered the device down without giving him time for a reply. Not even when she was the only pawn presently on the board in the face of an enemy so much more powerful than the Green itself.
Malachi wouldn’t worry because he knew that Fee would obey him without question. Minor rebellions like dropping his call were one thing. A major rebellion like taking advantage of this wall of flames and using the distraction to disappear into the wilderness? No daughter of Malachi’s would be so stupid as to try to evade his grasp.
Fee tried to talk herself into proving her father wrong. Into walking away from this battle she’d been enrolled in since birth. She yearned to escape the father who manipulated her and hurt her and—she suspected—didn’t even know how to begin loving her.
But she couldn’t. Instead, running across the charred earth in the wake of the flames, she chased her personal inferno up onto the hilltop. There, ultra-flammable pines were already sizzling into life…but not the kind of life the Green preferred. Instead, this was a plant’s afterlife, one flaming pillar of catharsis reaching toward the pure blue sky, grasping at the smoke, clinging onto the skyline.
Beyond the flames, a city that had once been Knoxville stretched out across the valley below. Down there, the jungle was unseasonably active, vibrant leaves shielding most of the original human habitations from view. Because the Green didn’t sleep so close to the dragons’ Aerie. No, the plants reached upwards toward the high rises where dragons and humans still lived in all of the luxury of Before. Where they lived in all the luxury Fee had heard about but had never really been able to imagine.
The dragons refused to share that luxury with fire mages like her father. So Malachi had resolved to take it by force…or at least to ensure the dragon cities couldn’t be used against him when he constructed high rises of his own.
As she watched, a black speck took off from the top of the golden globe just west of the Aerie proper. Winged beast dipped, rose, then arrowed directly toward her location. The fire had been spotted and a dragon was on its way.
“I did everything you asked, Papa Bug,” Fee murmured, using the childhood endearment with a sad smile on her lips. Because even though she’d obeyed Malachi’s instructions to the letter, she knew his plans would fail. After all, the rebellion depended upon her reaching the Aerie safely…
…And the flames had eluded her grasp, growing a mind of their own while their maker was peering out across the valley below. Now they encircled her body in a wall of overwhelming heat, dense smoke not only tearing her eyes but also rasping her breath. Her head was already growing muzzy, her thoughts slowing to a snail’s pace.
“The fire,” she muttered. “I can still guide the fire.”
So she did. But not the way Malachi would have wished. No, rather than asking the flames to move along and leave the closest trees untouched, she pushed the heat deeper into the leaf mold at her feet. Deeper even than that until the earth itself ignited.
“I always knew I’d go up in flames,” Fee whispered. Then, with a smile on her face, she slid away into darkness.
Don’t want to wait for Fire Kissed to go live? Check out the rest of the series here.
April 23, 2017
Flight of Fancy
Did you ever wonder how the Dragon Mage world came to be? Perhaps you’ll enjoy this flight of fancy….
Here’s the trouble with writing a series set twenty-nine years in the future — I have to dust off the time machine in the barn in order to interview the protagonists. My husband is less than thrilled about the endeavor.
“I don’t think that thing is safe,” he says, lips pursing and brow furrowing as I move used beekeeping equipment and rusty garden spades aside to reach the contraption hidden underneath. “I thought we’d agreed that neither of us wanted to mess around with time.”
“How am I supposed to write about dragons if I’ve never meet a dragon?” I counter. Then, batting my eyelashes, I feign a pout. “Please, honey?”
Even after over a decade of coupledom, Mark is still an easy mark. Or maybe he just realizes how much the project means to me. Either way, he takes a deep breath and assesses my expectant posture. Finally, shrugging, he gets to work.
“I’ll need to change the oil and put in a new spark plug…” he mutters.
“Great!” I answer, already tiptoeing out of his presence. “I’m gonna grab a notebook, then I’ll be right back.”
***
The time machine works perfectly. Unfortunately, I forgot one small thing.
My fictional future doesn’t just come complete with dragons. It’s full of terrifying vines that rip and grip at arms and legs before I even make it out of the barn.
Luckily, one of the dragons — Jasper — offered to pick me up, and he arrives in a swirl of fire and smoke. I could tell you all about the ride — streaming through clammy clouds, flapping sunward, swooping in for a picture-perfect landing — but I’ll leave that for one of my novels. You and I are just here to meet the cast. So let’s get started.
“Welcome to the Aerie,” Mason greets me as my feet slide down to land atop the Sunsphere. The globe-topped tower is far more terrifying than I assumed when spinning fiction, and I find myself clinging to my host’s powerful arm even though I’m nowhere near the edge. The Lord Dragon is a perfect gentleman, though, guiding me away from any potential fall while his foster sibling shifts into human form amid a bonfire of unshielded flames.
I don’t realize Jasper has failed to follow us until we’re halfway to the stairs leading down. “Aren’t you coming?” I ask, swiveling to catch his eye.
Jasper shakes his head, relentlessly mute. Right, I didn’t give him a speaking part. Accepting the inevitable, I allow Mason to guide me downstairs until we’ve left the open air behind.
We sidestep ordinary humans, pausing half a dozen times for the Aerie’s top dragon to solve a minor crisis or merely shake a newcomer’s hand. Then, at long last, we step out into the lowest story of the Sunsphere, where I’m greeted by a sixty-nine-year-old woman who I know as well as my own mother.
In fact, I based her on my own mother.
“This is Sarah,” Mason offers, his voice filled with love even though he calls his foster parent by her given name.
“Welcome!” the woman in question greets me, clasping my hand and drawing me into the donut-shaped room. There are three other tall, chiseled men chatting by the far window, each one more handsome than the last. And, as they stand backlit, for a split second I can’t tell them apart.
Then Alexander is breaking away, goofy grin identifying him before I can take in any other physical feature. “Our intrepid author! Killed off any beloved characters lately?”
The room stills, a memory none of us is comfortable with filling the air. As if he hasn’t just made a massive faux pas, Alexander continues. “Or maybe you’re working on writing up a treasure for our Lord Dragon here?”
I narrow my eyes, then am forced to laugh. Leave it to Alexander to bring the issue out into the open and, in the process, steal some of its power to harm. So I tease him in turn. “Just for that, I’m going to leave your story until last. Maybe I won’t write about you at all.”
“Ooh, burn!” Nicholas — the jokester’s twin — wrestles his brother to the ground…only to find himself pinned by Zane’s more wily approach to warfare.
Glancing to the side, I find Sarah’s face full of bittersweet memories. When her foster sons act like small boys, she remembers the other shifter who should be here today but isn’t. I know this because I wrote it that way.
“Mo-om, tell him to get off me,” Nicholas complains, eyes twinkling as he mimics the child he must once have been.
A secret passes between mother and son almost too fast for an outsider to notice. I do recognize, though, that Nicholas is the only one who called his adopted parent by anything other than her real name.
Gotta get that down in my notebook, I think.
But before I can open my mouth, Zane is glancing at the sun. He tenses, and I realize that I’ve already used up the small window of time allotted. “I’ll take you back,” he offers, flicking a lever on the closest wall.
Air roars in to spiral around us, then Zane is leaping into midair, morphing into a massive golden dragon as he falls. Soaring back up to hover one foot past where floor turns into nothingness, he turns his head toward me and waits.
There isn’t time for farewells. Instead, I glance backwards, my eyes locking with Sarah’s for one short second.
“Be careful with their hearts,” she mouths.
Then I’m dragonback once again, racing the clock to return to the time machine Mark left for me in the not-so-dilapidated barn. We land in the burnt patch, which is already beginning to fill back in with scary plant life. Maybe I shouldn’t have made those vines quite so tenacious.
Suddenly, I think I may have stacked the deck just a little too hard against these dragon brothers. They seem like such nice guys…even Alexander. It would be a shame if they can’t hack the hurdles, even more of a shame if Sarah loses more than she can handle in the process.
I hesitate, but Mark made me promise not to leave so much as a hair behind. “Don’t change the future,” he admonished. “You can’t know what impact a single tweak can make.”
So I don’t pull out the bar of chocolate waiting in my pocket in case I need a snack. Even though I want to, I don’t place the promise of pleasure into Zane’s capable hand.
But I do offer up a clue. “Chocolate,” I tell him.
“What?”
This future world is rough. No more container ships, no massive processing plants. Something I take for granted to prop up a bad day isn’t available down at the corner store because there is no corner store.
But plants still exist, and chocolate comes from plants. It’s possible.
“Ask Nicholas to look it up,” I tell him, walking backwards toward the barn’s open doors. “Then pass the information along to Mason. Sarah will thank you for it.”
Zane doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t bat an eyelash. This most loyal of shifters was sold as soon as I mentioned his foster mother’s name. “Done. Now don’t be late. I promised your husband I’d get you back in time.”
Promised my husband? Mark was so intent upon me using extreme caution when he powered up the time machine for what I thought was its maiden voyage…and he’d visited the future by himself already?
I table the issue, though, because lights around the chassis are flashing. The LEDs don’t do anything, but they’re good for dramatic effect. And every novelist knows stories flow faster when there’s a ticking clock powering along tumultuous scenes.
So I take one last look at the world I created out of thin air…then I step into Mark’s contraption and am spirited back home.
***
Sighing, I open my eyes and watch dust motes filter through the air above my head. Outside, a warbler is trilling a spring song. There is no time machine behind the clutter. No flashing lights. And, after all, what battery would have been able to power the contraption up nearly three decades in the future?
But the hem of my shirt sports a small round hole, as if a spark flew awry and melted the man-made fabric while I wasn’t looking. And the air smells ever so faintly of smoke.
Time for another day of writing. I’d better get back to the computer and begin.
Read more about Mason, Zane, Nicholas, and company in the Dragon Mage Chronicles…
March 31, 2017
Fantastical romance…or is that romantic fantasy?
I realized it had been nearly six months since I last regaled you with the cream of the cream of the books that have passed through my kindle. Some are new releases, some are old standbys I ran across while browsing the library or kindle unlimited charts. All are so satisfying I wish I could delete a few neurons and read them again.
So, without further ado, here are the romantic fantasy/fantastical romance books I most enjoyed in recent weeks:
Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn is romantic fantasy for those who don’t mind a character-driven meander. The worldbuilding was simple and rich at the same time. Something to aspire to as an author…and a darn fine read even if you don’t write.
Burning Bright by Melissa McShane is a free-in-kindle-unlimited selection. Age of Sail + magic + a light but perfect romance = One of the best books I’d read in quite a while. I cried. I went looking for the sequel. Perfect book.
Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is the beginning of a trilogy…and please be forewarned that you won’t be able to think of anything else until you complete all 1200+ pages. That minor issue aside, the series is full of thought-provoking worldbuilding (based on the Roman Empire), a heroine who is flawed but strong, and a love story you’ll need to see resolved. The covers don’t do these books justice.
The Sorceror’s Concubine by Jaclyn Dolamore is a strongly character-based book with a solid romance thread and top-notch worldbuilding. Basically, imagine what would happen if Pinnochio had been a woman in a world where puppets were created as concubines. Would he ever have become a real boy? Find out for free with Kindle Unlimited.
Encrypted has all of Lindsay Buroker’s hallmark features — smart and action-packed storyline, mild but satisfying love story, and characters you’ll root for. But this book transcends Buroker’s already high bar by adding in a high geek quotient and by giving you a solid resolution at the end of the book. At the time of this post, it’s also available along with several of her other novels in the 99-cent Beginnings box set.
Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine is a darker version of the more mainstream steampunk complete with class struggles, great characters, and beautiful imagery. Great book…but beware the cliffhangery ending!
A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer is perhaps the most memorable book I read during this time period, but I put it last because it seems to really split readers. If you’re willing to suspend your disbelief and accept a world in which earth gender roles are turned on their head, you’ll likely love this book. If not…give it a pass.
***
Okay, I lied, that’s not quite the last of my recommendations. Even though I tend to like books best when they straddle the fantasy/romance line, here are two bonus books where the fantasy won out over the romance:
Stolen Magic by Marina Finalyson can totally be judged by the cover. I loved the world, familiar enough to urban-fantasy readers so the book isn’t a slog but tantalizingly unique with an Australian flavor that really hit the spot. Our heroine was equally delightful — a thief on the run from an impossible decision. Add in a light introduction to a perfect love interest and you have a major winner (that’s also free in kindle unlimited).
The Last Necromancer contains C.J. Archer’s trademark combination of intriguing heroine, light romance, and rich setting. This is set in the same world as her Freak House books, but with a classic-novel tie-in that I’m tempted to write about but can’t without spoiling the plot. Download it for free on any of the major retailers and see what I mean.
I hope that keeps you busy for a little while!
March 28, 2017
Crewing an airship
Those of you who’ve read Verdant Magic will be familiar with the heroine for the book I’m currently working on. Sabrina Fairweather is the captain of an airship…and in Cerulean Magic it was time to give the captain a crew. But how many employees would Sabrina need and what would each one do?
I started my research by determining how many crew members an airship of a similar size from early in the twentieth century might include — twelve. Then I sat down with my husband and picked his brain about how those crew members might be arranged. Here’s what we came up with:
My husband informed me that it’s all about the chain of command. The Captain, of course, is too busy for anyone except the Cabin Boy (general dogsbody) and the First Mate to report to her directly. So the First Mate is usually the Officer of the Deck (basically, the guy in charge), although but he’d trade off that duty to the Weapons Officer to stand night watch.
What does everybody else get up to during a normal day in the air? The Chief Engineer and his apprentice would keep the ship running, easier on my airship than on the 1923 prototype because there are electric motors and batteries rather than an internal combustion engine. Meanwhile, the Mess Cook and Steward would be in charge of feeding the crew, managing the ship’s store, and cleaning up after everybody.
In contrast, the unwashed masses all serve under the Bosun’s Mate, who is less of a gentleman than the other officers. His airmen would keep busy “humping stores” (carrying on cargo) while in port, then managing the balloon, anchoring, and doing all of the other things too messy for the officers to get their hands dirty with once the Intrepid is in the air.
What about during times of war, when the order “General Quarters” would send sailors scurrying to their battle stations? I guess you’ll have to put Cerulean Magic on your to-read list and wait until May to find out.
March 21, 2017
Alpha Underground box set
I decided to splurge and get an entirely new cover made for my Alpha Underground box set…and it’s gorgeous! In the meantime, the rest of the series (including the box set) has now rolled out to all major retailers.
So if you’ve been waiting patiently to read Fen’s story on Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, or Smashwords, you’re finally good to go. Here are all the links.
For non-Amazon readers — thank you so much for your patience! I hope you enjoy reading the stories as much as I enjoyed writing them.
March 10, 2017
Thank you!
A huge thank you to everyone who has made Verdant Magic such a great success! It seems like my crew gets bigger with every go round, so I hope I don’t forget to mention anyone here.
Although their job came last, I first want to thank my amazing readers. Your reviews and shares helped the book soar…and also eased my fear that no one would be interested in reading a novel that didn’t include a single werewolf. Kind words like these made me smile from ear to ear…and pound away at the keyboard even faster on the sequel:
“Electric story telling” — JOJO
“Wild post apocalyptic world building” — Tera Comer
“This was one of those rare stories that sweep you away into another world, and you leave it looking forward to your next visit.” — BookAddict
“I lost sleep to read it fully, then when I did sleep I woke early to get back to the story. Do not attempt to read if you have work to do first.” — Cynthia Stevens
“Totally rocked” — Patti Hays
On the production end, this time around I added in an amazing developmental editor who saved the day on several fronts and an awesome paperback designer who created a physical book so lovely I could sit and look at it all day. Of course, I continue to sing the praises of my startlingly beautiful cover created by Rebecca Frank along with Chereese’s painstaking copy edit.
Meanwhile, a slew of authors supported my launch by emailing their lists, sharing my facebook post, or otherwise helping ensure Verdant Magic saw the light of day. And, finally, I owe my VA Kayla endless gratitude for her hard work behind the scenes…which extended so far as to help with a photo shoot to pep up my bio.
Want to see the book created by this village? Verdant Magic is for sale on Amazon and is free to borrow with Kindle Unlimited. The novel has already hit nearly a thousand kindles…perhaps yours will be next?
March 5, 2017
Alpha Underground going wide
Now that the Alpha Underground series is complete, I’m bringing each book wide (to non-Amazon retailers) as their KDP Select term ends. Dark Wolf Adrift is already available everywhere that ebooks are sold:






In fact, Dark Wolf Adrift is currently on sale for only 99 cents at Smashwords as part of their Read an Ebook Week.
Stay tuned for another post as Half Wolf follows Dark Wolf Adrift into the stormy waters outside the world’s biggest ebook retailer. And, in the meantime, if you’ve already read and enjoyed Dark Wolf Adrift, I hope you’ll consider leaving a review on one of the new retailers listed above. Your kind words help get the book off to a good start and ensure that Hunter’s story reaches beyond the choir. Thank you!
March 1, 2017
Verdant Magic is live!
I’m excited to announce that Verdant Magic is now live on Amazon! The novel is the first in a series of interconnected standalones with no cliffhanger, a draconic romance, and plenty of fantastical fun and worldbuilding. It’s free to borrow in Kindle Unlimited for the next three months and is priced at 99 cents for a short time to reward my Shifter Secrets subscribers for listening to me ramble every week.
Here’s the blurb:
***
Sparks fly when a rogue witch and a dragon shifter collide.
Ever since dragon fire killed her parents, Amber Gardner has always kept one eye pointed to the sky. So when a winged shifter lands in her garden, her initial impulse is to defend her enclave of illegal earth witches using every weapon at her disposal…up to and including the use of deadly force.
Zane Pendragon has spent his entire adult life shielding regular people from the sentient plants that turned earth’s surface into a death trap. Stumbling into the heart of enemy territory, he finds himself bound by his own magic…even as his heart is unwillingly drawn to that of his captor.
Enter a murderous dragon on the rampage, an unexplained fading illness, and shifting alliances within Amber’s home village. Can she abandon her post as protector and team up with her enemy in time to save people they both hold dear?
Dive into an exhilarating new romantic fantasy with this first in a series of interconnected standalones!
***
And a few words from early reviewers:
“The sheer uniqueness of these scenarios had me glued to the book like my life depended on it! I was in suspenseful torture page after page….” — Patti Hays
“This plot is unlike any other book I’ve read.” — PennKay
“Highly recommend!” — TaraB
Sound interesting? Buy or borrow your copy here. And if you like what you read, I hope you’ll consider writing a review, telling a friend, or sharing the book on facebook. Thanks so much for reading — you are why I write.
February 25, 2017
Verdant Magic: Chapter 1
Verdant Magic is almost here! I know I’ve been teasing you for weeks. But how about one last preview — the entirety of chapter 1? (Unedited, so please excuse any typos that might have slid past my radar.)
***
Partly cloudy with chance of dragons….
The chime on her enchanted weather vane gradually pulled Amber out of her intense gardening trance. She absently brushed a strand of mousy hair away from her face with the least grimy part of her palm, then jolted alert as she took in the forecast.
Momma’s weather vane has been wrong before, she wavered. At her feet, fifteenth generation experimental seedlings were just beginning to grow, plantlets sprouting quickly as filaments of magic streamed from fingertips into the dark, moist loam. The babies were doing great…for the moment.
On the other hand, if left alone in this condition, half would be dead by morning. Pointy cotyledons would dessicate in hours beneath the pounding summer sun and hungry slugs would move in to chew up sensitive stalks as soon as evening dew fell.
But furthering her dead parents’ experiments didn’t hold a candle to protecting present human life. Ten years earlier, the weather vane had been horrifyingly, life-alteringly right and Amber wasn’t willing to risk a repeat. After all, it was her job as Watcher to make sure the village continued to slide beneath dragons’ fire-spewing radar.
“Jasmine!” she called, jumping to her feet. Fingertips left inch-deep imprints in the earth, the brief touch sufficient to recharge her mild use of borrowed life force. But the energetic boost was momentary, her elevated mood quickly overshadowed by the first sign that her weather vane knew what it was talking about.
Because as she turned to take in the view, every tree ringing the garden began swaying gently to the tune of a sudden breeze. In any other location, the influx of cool air would have come as a welcome relief, too. After all, helpful tendrils of wind sipped sweat off the back of Amber’s neck and soothed her parched throat.
Still, she ignored momentary pleasure and broke into a run. “Jasmine!” she called again, trying not to think about the way encircling hillsides prevented even the mildest air flow from dipping down into her protected hollow.
Even the mildest natural air flow, that was. Dragons, on the other hand, flew where they willed.
The rustle of dancing leaves above her head built into a thrashing chatter of branches, prompting Amber to give up on catching the teenager’s attention the easy way. Jasmine’s tie to the earth tended to make her absent-minded when surrounded by the Green. And here in Amber’s garden, the wild magic of growing things thrummed through the air and tapped them both relentlessly on the shoulder. Her young apprentice’s walls wouldn’t have stood long against such a sustained assault.
So her third shout wasn’t for the girl. Instead, she shrieked the name of her goat at the top of her lungs. “Thea!” she hollered, barely able to make out her own words over the ever nearing roar of wings.
The blood-curdling scream of a terrified mini-Nubian pulled Amber up short and turned her in the opposite direction from the way she’d originally been traveling. Thea wouldn’t have strayed far from the girl’s side, which meant Jasmine was no longer potting up seedlings out of battered plastic flats back at her cabin. Instead, the goat’s voice pinpointed the duo’s location off to the southeast, where one tiny tributary of the River Wend stroked its path through the center of her hollow’s hunched shoulders. There, the encircling canopy opened up to expose objects on the ground to the eye of every passing bird…or to the much more dangerous eye of passing dragons.
“Jasmine!” she called again, hoping the goat’s cry had been sufficient to wake the girl out of whatever earthen daze he’d fallen into. And, to her relief, the teen replied at last, her shrill tones carrying easily above the throbbing beat of the dragon’s thunderous wings.
“Amber!”
“Go home!” the latter ordered, stopping in her tracks so she’d possess sufficient air to broadcast her words a quarter of a mile mile to the girl’s youthful ears. The Green would help, she knew, vines twisting aside to let an earth witch’s orders carry. Still, she needed to holler and she couldn’t do that while running. “Tell your father to get everyone into the tunnels and to lie low until I call them.”
“But Thea won’t follow!”
Despite the danger that approached on massive wings, Amber couldn’t resist smiling at the girl’s care for her cherished goat. Of course Thea wouldn’t leave her mistress, even in the face of dragon fire. “She’ll come to me,” Amber yelled back. “Leave her and run like a rabbit. Go now.“
The girl would appear as a tiny spark of green to the dragon’s searching eyes, Amber knew. A largely untrained earth witch, Jasmine wouldn’t be able to shield her powers from aerial predators. She’d be easy pickings for anyone hunting magical prey.
Time to make a bigger spark so that little spark will have time to go to ground.
Abruptly, Amber sank down onto her haunches, pressing fingers into the leaf mold to join grubby toes that had long since burrowed into the musty, decomposing remnants of plant matter past. Immediately, microscopic fungal filaments latched onto her skin, the mycorrhizal hyphae slipping between cells of her cuticles to sip from her bloodstream.
The first invasion felt like the pinpricks of a thousand tiny needles. But then her flesh warmed and the pain faded.
When she’d been Jasmine’s age and first coming into her powers, Amber had deemed the symbiosis “gross.” Now, though, tapping into the underground network that connected trees and vines and toadstools felt like waking up from a long, deep sleep. After hours spent walking on two feet with only her human senses to guide her, she abruptly became the Green, thousands of miles long and aware of every fox and vole and turtle passing through her forest’s sheltered expanse.
As a result, she could sense the ache as dragon wings shook a faltering tree branch loose from the tall elm up on top of Cemetery Hill. And her teeth chattered at the crash of the sundered limb plummeting to land on a bed of clover inches away from her parents’ grave.
“You got them, but you won’t get Jasmine,” Amber muttered aloud. She’d thought she was talking to herself, but soft nostrils nuzzled at the scruff of her neck as Thea made her presence known. Crazy goat. Trust the food-obsessed ruminant to ignore dragons and instead search for treats down the back of her mistress’s shirt.
There wasn’t time to send Thea to safety, though. Not when Amber’s magical billboard was attracting the dragon like soft baby flesh drew mosquitoes.
Sure enough, the beast soared into view directly above their heads at that very moment. And for an instant, Amber forgot that dragons were terrible, the born enemies of earth witches. Instead, she momentarily lost her train of thought in breathless wonder.
This specimen was beautiful. Gleaming ebony in the sunlight, each scale was as large as the palm of her hand. A twenty-foot tail whipped through the air like a rudder, slicing leaves from the crown of a towering sycamore as he relentlessly honed in on his prey. Meanwhile, his slitted eyes gleamed with intelligence.
“Come and get me, you bastard,” Amber muttered under her breath. Not that she thought her words would carry above the roar of manufactured wind, but she had a hard time keeping the sentiment to herself.
Then, to her dismay, a second dragon appeared, golden-scaled and even more awe-inspiring than the first. This beast was nearly twice as large as the leader, and he seemed to vibrate with a barely repressed power that clutched at Amber’s chest with fiery claws.
Shaking her head to dismiss the strange sensation, Amber reminded herself that she had a job to do. She was the Watcher. And whether the invaders consisted of one dragon or a dozen, she was bound and determined to keep the predators away from Greenwich. Like her parents, she would protect the hidden village until her dying breath.
***
Zane had never felt so constrained by the shape of a dragon. Held aloft on fiery wings, he could chase and hunt the lost twin who stubbornly refused to recognize their bond. But his lungs could only roar wordless complaints as he flew. His usual weapon of choice — a silver tongue — was grounded by the same shape that carried him so effortlessly on his way.
All told, the golden dragon felt like he’d spent an eon tracking this brother who thought him an enemy rather than a friend. Years ago, he’d hunted lackadaisically, flying out on short jaunts that never turned up a sign of his absent twin….
Well, that wasn’t quite true. Once, Zane thought he saw a black speck of fleeing dragon off in the distance. But warm bed and welcoming foster family had beckoned after he swooped up over the top of the mountain and found nothing but blue sky waiting on the other side. He’d chosen to assume that his twin, if living, didn’t want to be found.
Then, last winter, everything had changed.
“Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.”
Jerking away from the painful memory, Zane eyed the snake-like body of the beast cutting through the air before him. His twin’s scales were rough around the edges, the ebony coloration a bit dusky and dingy with wear. Was scuffing a normal reaction to substandard food and shelter, or was his brother already succumbing to the first symptoms of the much-feared Fade?
“Dragons rise from ashes. And unto ash they all return.” Sarah’s voice quavered in Zane’s memory, his foster mother’s grief painfully apparent as she stepped across the gray line that marked the passing of a twinless dragon very much like Zane himself.
Then, later: “Promise me you won’t sit idly by, waiting for the Fade to hit.”
“There’s nothing I can do,” Zane had protested.
“Promise me.”
I promise, Zane repeated now, pushing an extra iota of fire out of his belly and into his wings. The warmth flooded through his system, expanding his torso and broadening the sail-like membranes that stretched out on either side of his sinuous length. Above his head, sun struck the larger surface, replacing the fire he’d consumed and providing an extra burst of solar-powered speed. Then, taking full advantage of the boost, Zane soared above his brother’s head and swiped one long-clawed hand toward his sibling’s throat.
It could have been a killing stroke. But the gesture was only intended to delay his twin’s headlong flight, not to end his life. Well, that…and to give the golden dragon a chance to deploy the ace in the hole clenched in his other draconic fist.
Unfortunately, his twin’s reaction times were better than his own. Twisting almost faster than the eye could follow, the black dragon turned belly-up, claws raking across Zane’s scaly skin until the golden dragon heard himself roar out a protest.
Icy agony ran down Zane’s neck as life-giving fire oozed out of the open wound. But for a dragon, no injury lasted long. Now, as always, magical fire healed as it fled.
Skin melded back onto skin and scales popped forth to replace the ones so recently sent plummeting to the ground. Within seconds the heartening burn of inner fire had replaced the searing agony of claw tracks.
Zane was now a few inches shorter than he had been a moment before, his body contracting as energy was lost through the rent of the open wound. But he was still more than a match for his scrawny sibling, who’d likely grown up eating rabbits and field mice instead of the five-course dinners that Sarah liked to whip up for her six little dragonets.
Well, four dragonets now. And we’re certainly no longer little.
Once again, ashes floated out of recent memories, clogging Zane’s nostrils and making it difficult to breathe. His quest had begun with ashes. And if he didn’t pick up the pace, it would end with ashes as well…for him and his brother both.
Worse, if the Fade struck many more times, the Green would overcome the towers that he and his foster siblings — and hundreds of defenseless humans — called home. I won’t let the Aerie succumb, Zane resolved. I’ll find a way to beat this disease if it’s the last thing I do.
No, he couldn’t risk falling to the Fade. And that meant his blood brother was going to have to toe the line and bloody well listen to what he had to say.
Still, it was hard to even consider shifting and speaking when locked into a twisting, plummeting mass of fire, scales, and claws with his brother. They were falling quickly now, neither able to beat his wings properly while latched onto his opponent’s skin. Soon, the grasping trees would stretch up onto their tiptoes and reach for the most hated enemy most of all — dragons, the sworn adversary of the Green.
But despite the approaching danger, Zane wasn’t willing to relinquish his grip. He had to force his brother to shift. He had to make him listen. There were hundreds of people depending on dragon-kind back at the Aerie. And without his twin, Zane would Fade away until he was no use to anyone.
Like his recently Faded foster brother, Zane might soon become nothing more than a puddle of ash.
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February 18, 2017
Why did you put a goat in a fantasy novel?
There are cat people and dog people…and then there are goat people. Despite having and loving both cats and dogs, I’m afraid I’m in the last camp. Which is why Amber has a very unconventional sidekick in the upcoming Verdant Magic.
And since my favorite goat is a mini-Nubian…well, Thea turned into a Mini-Nubian as well. At least I shortened my goat’s name from Artemesia to the more manageable Thea, although I changed very little else about her loving personality in the process.
It just seemed to make sense to add ever-voracious goats into a world that’s been overrun by sentient vines. But I did change a few facts for the sake of streamlined plotting.
The astute reader will notice that Amber is an ovo lacto vegetarian…which seems to contradict her unwillingness to harm any living thing. After all, we dairy goatkeepers end up having to slaughter bucklings for meat all the time in exchange for that delicious milk.
Don’t despair — that’s not a plot hole. As an earth mage, Amber is quite capable of determining the sex of her goat’s unborn babies with a twitch of her magical fingers. So they all turned into girls to be sold as high-class milkers.
If you want to read more about the unmagical side of goatkeeping, you can find out far more than you’ll ever want to know on my homesteading blog. If not, stay tuned for adorable goat antics in Verdant Magic, coming your way very soon!