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SNEAK PEAK Chapter One

**The caged village of the Celestari sits on the top of a massive tower centered in the Great Lake**

Chapter One

Written by Neasha Hill (started project this in 2016 and it is finally done!)

Through the thinning line of trees, a long yellow coat brushed the branches like a streak of sunlight. The forest near the village border had always seemed stranger than the rest, the trunks of the trees packed close together like tall guards keeping the worst of the wind from barging in. Rain had battered the village for days, hard enough to turn every path to brown soup, but the wind that followed had been fiercer still, scouring the ground and now cracked beneath Tia’s boots and stirred dust.

Sharp cracks of wooden swords striking one another snapped her out of her focus. She slowed, slipping between two narrow trunks until the clearing opened before her. A group of boys and girls were grouped in the open space in a pretend battle. They stood scattered across the dry ground, brandishing wooden swords as if the fate of Tanoria was left up to them. Dust puffed around them. One boy had a leaf stuck in his hair and appeared far too proud of it.

“One more strike and you’re finished!” a boy shouted with a lisp, lunging forward with all the confidence of a seasoned warrior and none of the skill.

Another girl ducked, spinning away with a grin. “You missed. Again!”

Tia folded her arms, watching for a moment as they clashed and stumbled over one another, their boots kicking up dust from the dry ground.

“Finished?” She asked and then teased, “that was terrifying. I’m sure every dragon in Tanoria is trembling.” She picked up a fake sword and crouched down swinging her sword in a wide circle and said, “You wouldn’t last five seconds if a real fight finds you out here.”

A few of them turned slowly, their expressions shifting from excitement to something closer to guilt. One of the younger boys lowered his stick, though he didn’t drop it completely. A few lowered their wooden swords, others tried to hide them behind their backs, which might have worked better if the swords had not been longer than their legs.

“We’re practicing,” he said, lifting his chin.

“Practicing what?” Tia asked, stepping into the clearing. “How to get bruises and how to get lost?”

A few snickers slipped through the group.

“It’s not that far,” A girl with tangled braids wrinkled her nose, pointing vaguely toward the trees to the village.

Tia glanced past them, to the barely visible line where the trees thinned.

“It’s far enough,” she said. “You know better than to be this close to the border of the cage.”

The youngest among them shifted from foot to foot. “We didn’t go past all the trees.”

“Not yet,” Tia replied. As if the cage itself had been listening, the wind stirred. A faint metallic hum trembled through the bars circling the village. The children’s eyes widened and some of the younger ones stepped closer to the older kids. 

The sound they heard was a sound that carried through the village several times a day, but here in the fading light, in the trees, the sound stirred a discord within each of the children. It made the smallest children edge toward the older ones; wooden swords clutched to their chests.

Tia stepped closer to the group, lowering her voice just enough to sound eerie, “When the light fades, things move differently out here. Sensible warriors would not want to stay and find out what those things are.”

One of the older boys glanced toward the sky through a section of the bars of the cage and said, “I think you are wrong, warriors would stay and find out. We still have time.”

Tia followed his gaze beyond the black lace of branches. The light was already thinning, the first hint of the five moons began to rise.

“Not as much time as you think,” Tia said in a whisper. Any bravado that had remained on their faces faded fast.

Finally, a girl let out a breath and nudged one of the boys with her stick. “Come on. Before she drags us back herself.”

The young girl with braids hugged her wooden sword to her chest. “Is it true a white dragon can melt the bars of the village?”

An older boy whipped toward her. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone we said that!”

“I didn’t tell anyone,” the girl snapped. “I asked Tia.”

“That is telling!”

“That is asking!”

Tia lifted one hand before the argument could grow. The children looked at her wide-eyed. Even the boy with the proud chin had lowered his wooden sword until its tip scraped the dirt.

Tia knew that look on their faces. She had it herself, years ago, when she had asked the same question and the adults around her had begun tripping over their own words. They had smiled too wide and lied so badly that even she as a child could hear the fear beneath it. She did not want to become one of those adults. But she did not want to give these children nightmares either.

“I’ve heard that story too,” she said. “And I’ve read what records we have. White dragons are dangerous, yes. Dangerous enough that the kingdoms of Tanoria hunt their eggs before they hatch and kill them all.”

The girl with the braided hair stared, her eyes going round as buttons. “All of them?”

“That is what we think.” Tia glanced toward the iron ribs of the cage above the trees. “And even if one hatched, it would still have to reach us. There is more than iron guarding this village. The barrier below the tower would zap them out of the air.”

The older boy gave a sharp little snort. “That’s not true.” He swallowed, but pride shoved him onward. “The hole you use for the dome inspections. A dragon tore that apart.”

A few of the children gasped. Someone muttered, “I knew it.”

Tia’s mouth tightened.

“That happened many years ago,” she said. “Before I was born.”

“But it happened,” the boy said.

She handed the sword she was holding to him and said, “I think you all need to head back before your parents gather a search party.”

As they began gathering themselves, one of the younger boys lingered, looking up at her coat. “If it’s scary out here, why are you wearing such a bright coat?”

Tia glanced down at the yellow fabric, brushing a bit of dust from the sleeve.

“So, I can be found,” she smiled.

His forehead wrinkled but the others were already calling, so he hurried after them. They started back toward the village in a messy cluster of chatter, wooden swords and dusty boots.

“Hey,” Tia called after them. When you get back,” she said nodding toward the center of the village, “look up to the top of the cage.”

“Why?” a boy asked.

The corner of her mouth twitched, “I’ll be waving.”

A few of them brightened at that, running ahead and their voices rising rowdily again.

Tia watched until they disappeared through the trees, the quiet settling back into place around her. She then turned her focus towards her original objective.

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