Excerpt: Grace of the Dragon

[This was my original prologue for this story, written back in 2002 or 2003. My writing this time around is awful! But if I can just hit the 50K this year, next year I'll plan a little better and maybe write a little better, too....]

"Why are we hiding, Mama?" The red-haired girl squinted through the darkness to look at her mother, who was clutching the hand of another woman in the cave. There were too many people; the heat was making her feel dizzy. "Where's Papa?" she asked, desperately trying to get her mother to answer her, but to no avail. Fear held half the town of Gaerlin in silent paralysis, huddling in a large cave hidden deep in the woods. Many people knelt in prayer, and young children slept or hid beneath their mothers' long skirts. The girl felt the strong urge to pull on her own mother’s skirt, to demand an answer, but a sudden sound called the people to rapt attention. A young man with a sword stood panting at the mouth of the cave.

"He comes." Gasps echoed in the cave. "The knights are ready, and I need help to seal the cave." The few men remaining in the cave – the elderly, the maimed, the sick – forced their ailing bodies into action, and soon the people of Gaerlin were plunged into pitch-blackness. Children began to scream, women began to weep openly, and the men masked their fear as they made vague attempts to calm everyone. No longer able to see, the little girl listened to the chaos that surrounded her, but she did not cry. The temperature seemed to rise even more, and she decided to lie down and sleep.

“Laene, wake up,” said a voice. The little girl looked up and saw her mother’s gentle face, streaked with tears. “It is safe now.”

“Is Papa coming?”

Laene’s mother picked her up, joining the somber line of people leaving the darkness of the cave. “No, darling. Papa is not coming back.”

“Why, Mama?” Laene asked, but her mother had stopped paying attention to her. Laene turned to see what had captured her attention and found herself unable to continue. The trees were gone. The village was gone. Everywhere they looked there was blackened, scorched earth. The air was thick with smoke, and many people began to cough. “Mama, who…what did this?’

“The dragons, love.”