Author of Family Friendly Science Fiction & Fantasy
“Hide!”
Klon’s voice rasped as he shouted to his wife. But she didn’t duck beneath the stone table or make for the cellar. Instead, Jini stepped next to him at the window, cradling their child in her arm. “They broke through the defenses, didn’t they?” she asked, emotionless.
High above, violet lightning flashed across the billowing fumes of poisonous clouds.
“Let’s go.”
by Esther Davis
“Hide!”
Klon’s voice rasped as he shouted to his wife. But she didn’t duck beneath the stone table or make for the cellar. Instead, Jini stepped next to him at the window, cradling their child in her arm. “They broke through the defenses, didn’t they?” she asked, emotionless.
High above, violet lightning flashed across the billowing fumes of poisonous clouds.
“Let’s go.” Continue reading “Drogg”
by Esther Davis
It must be another sign, just as Nana said. First the stars died, blackened and unseen. Then the birds died, their corpses filling the sea shores. The nations died too, somewhere in the mess. Great continents of empty homes covered the world, the elders said. If others besides our fellow islanders survived, we would never know.
Now the ocean had died… Continue reading “The Day the Ocean Died”
by Esther Davis
Chunks of scoria cascaded from the rising form. The ground trembled. Mina’s szajo reared, and she flung her arms around one of its curled horns to keep from falling.
“Calm, boy. Calm!” Mina’s lips trembled as she whispered in the ram’s ear.
The szajo didn’t calm. It bayed, a guttural sound that reverberated through Mina’s frame… Continue reading “Where the Dead Walk”
by Esther Davis
“I don’t think it’s a frog egg.” Dain raised the glass to eye level and turned it slowly. “You could’ve at least given him a bigger container.”
“The egg was smaller, I swear! By, like, a lot.” I didn’t like how Dain only clamped the glass’s rim from above. After three nights in the cupboard, the growing egg had pushed nearly all the water out. Some of the moisture still lingered on the side. What if the glass was too slick and my not-really-a-tadpole slipped from Dain’s fingertips? I resisted the urge to snatch the glass and cradle it against my chest.
The once penny-sized bubble now pressed against the glass walls. The confinement had warped the egg sac, making it more cylindrical than spherical. In the orange liquid floated not the pet tadpole I’d expected, but a dragon fetus. Continue reading “Not a Frog”
by Esther Davis
The Obelisks should have saved us.
Joshr perched on the boulder, waves crashing against the rocky shore at his back. The Obelisk rose from the volcanic rock like a charred tree from ash. Its protective enchantments still held. The runes running up its hundred-foot spine still glowed blue. Far to the west and east, other Obelisks shone, each holding their ancient vigil.
No enemy could breach the unseen wall spanning between the Obelisks. But the Builders never knew enemies could come from above… Continue reading “Men of Blades”