Tuesday Teaser: On the Beach

So, it’s April, Camp NaNo got underway yesterday – and I’m having my work cut out for me. Healing Glass, the story of glass master Minel, warrior captain Falcon, and a floating glass city, is due to go on pre-order shortly, ready for a May 13th release. I’m going through the final edits, and planning promo… and I’d love to find the time for some new words, too.

Whether that will work out or not remains to be seen.

But meanwhile, I’m going to use the Tuesday Teaser spots on the blog to introduce you to my two dashing heroes and the world they inhabit. Imagine a stretch of coastline where a wide expanse of forest almost touches the sea. And where the two join, there stands a gate guarding the access to the floating city.

Scroll past the image and you can meet Falcon, sitting on right on that beach.

And if you’d like to find out a little more about the problems in the floating city first, then why not read this earlier post?

I promise to be back next week with another Tuesday Teaser. For now, I’m hitting the day job, before getting lost in some more edits. 🙂

Captain Falcon of the Warriors Guild settled into his favourite place, an oak tree right on the edge of his guild’s realm, with an indentation in its trunk large enough to shelter him from sight and stray gusts of wind. He leaned into the crook of the roots as he’d done countless times before, laid his sword across his lap and sighed in relief when his back met the wood.

Behind him, the forest stretched into the distance, many days’ worth of travel under a thick canopy of trees, with villages and small market towns along the route, until it washed up against the mountains like a giant wave. Falcon had seen the jagged peaks up close, but from his home the mountains were just a line of blue mist visible from the tallest tree…or the floating city.

A broad beach spread before him, the wide expanse of glittering sand dotted with blue and purple shells. Beyond the beach lay the ocean where the traders, fishermen, and the seafarers of the Merchant Guild plied their trade. And on the border between land and sea stood the gateway. Two tall columns, wreathed with hide and ribbon and decorated with small golden bells, supported a roof curved like a gull’s wing.

The elegant structure, standing like a solitary sentry on the beach, seemed to have no function. Falcon knew better. He’d stood under that roof more than once, expectation in his heart and fear in his belly, eager to set foot on the invisible stairs that led into the sky.

To anyone who couldn’t read the signs, the gate appeared undefended. Falcon knew where to find the gate’s guards on that seemingly empty beach and lifted a hand in greeting while he regarded the floating city with longing.

The rising sun gilded the tops of the tallest buildings and painted the lower ones in shades of rose and peach. An occasional flash of green teased his vision, reminding him of the roof gardens dotting all levels of the city. He hadn’t seen Minel in months and if he’d only been given permission, he would have started climbing the stairs without a moment’s hesitation. As things stood, though, even a few short hours quietly gazing at the place might be too much to ask for.