The world jerks violently, snapping me out of my trance. At first, I’m too stunned to think.
The place I’ve woken in is dark. Enclosed. Unfamiliar.
Panic shoots through me, and I reach toward the walls shutting me in so tight I can barely move. The familiar fabric of my red sequined dress, tough and frilly, presses against my legs. But it’s a small relief.
Borgig strolled along the empty beach, his shaggy curls shading him from the sun, when a bomb exploded under his feet.
Under one of his feet, to be exact.
“Aaaagggh!”
Sand sprayed as he hopped backwards. Although the bomb couldn’t have been larger than a peanut, pain shot through his foot as if it had caught fire. He would have blisters by morning, no doubt.
The doorbell woke Margaret from her nap. She grabbed her cane and tapped to the front door. Gravel crunched as the grocery delivery truck reversed down the drive. She waited until she was sure he was gone. He was a nice man, but he talked too much.
She opened the door and struck the box with her cane.
“You wanted to see me?” I tried not to fidget, but anxiety hit every time I got called into the restaurant’s office.
“Where’s the silverware?” Mr. Jones glared at me, his already small eyes squinted.
“What silverware?” I smoothed the front of my uniform, an ankle-length black dress with a lace-edged white apron.
He was near.
I gripped my sword, sweat dripping from its hilt. I’d been tracking him for days, almost catching a glimpse, but always he eluded me.
No more. He was an enemy from the East; he could not be allowed to invade our territory and live. It was the Sage’s orders.
The captain ran a finger around the edge of the sugar bowl and ventured a covert glance into the face of the young girl sitting before him. He wasn’t used to such young, well-paying passengers, nor to having said tender-aged passengers pay him a call in his cabin.
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Other than the cramped quarters and questionable smell, the carriage ride was a welcome change from the dungeon I’d just spent nine months in. And even though my soldier escort refused to talk, I had plenty of practice making conversation with myself until we arrived at a half-hidden hut beyond the castle walls.
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They were arguing again. He could hear their voices rising, drowning out the sound of Johnny Carson on the TV. He pulled the covers over his head and tried to ignore them.
“Ugh, this stupid cabinet. I can never get this door open,” She said.
Riding a dragon is the best way to travel—most of the time. “Karr, what are you doing? This is not Adron city!” I lean over as the dragon touches down on a grassy hilltop. “I’m stopping for a nap.” Karr slurs the last word into a yawn and his purple tongue curls like a cat’s.
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The beat of war drums drives any notion of rest from my bones. I gird on my legendary sword, Jimmy Bob, and stride out of my tent to give my troops an inspiring speech before the battle. Across the torchlit river, the enemy army lurks, human troops intermixed with monstrous daemons summoned from the underworld.
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The barbarian exploded from the folding table launching dice, game pieces, and potato chips in every direction.
Tony, Piper, and Bart dove to the carpet for cover.
“What did you do?!” Piper screamed at Tony.
“What did I do?!?” Tony army crawled away from the disaster.
“Yeah, you butthead. You rolled!”
The burning orb far in the distance ignited the miles upon miles of golden clouds underneath the drones of fluttering creatures. Large, cyclopean towers rose from the billowy underbelly, looming over them like monolithic giants.
Their sinewy bodies shot in-between the crevices of the engraved structures, weaving past the steaming mist erupting from the trenches below the clouds.
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