Forest #1-Calick

The wars swept through Calick's small village when he was seven. His father fought bravely, but was slaughtered mercilessly while the young children watched. His mother fled with the children into the forest. Carrying a baby on her back, she screamed for Calick and his sister to keep running and never look back. And so they did. They left their village behind. They ran blindly until they couldn't run anymore, and then collapsed. They waited for their mother to show up. A day later and they were getting hungry, and she was nowhere to be seen. They called for her, but heard no response. So Aerelle, the eldest, took Calick by the hand and they wandered.

Luckily they came from a strong family. They were used to nature, and knew how to take care of themselves. Dirty and covered in scratches, they discovered another village. One that had also been ravaged by war. Some of the homes still smoldered. But it was here that they found Eloise. An older woman, grey hair, strong back, a working woman. She took them onto her lap. She fed them, bathed them, and together they started off for a new hope. Calick, now seventeen, lives in his treetop home in the Forest of Moonsong. His sister, Aerelle, lives in the Glade with her husband. It has been ten years since their lives were ripped apart. Aerelle has been able to move on. Calick, on the other hand, has not.

The boy is always searching for a way to help. He knows he is cut out for something bigger. Every small, wide-eyed child that wanders into Moonsong, dirty and exhausted from months or years of the nomad life tugs at Calick's heartstrings. He was once that child. Ten years have passed and still they come. Nothing has changed. And unless something is done, nothing will change. It was the day the Dragons came that Calick had an epiphany.

A child had come running into the Glade, jabbering excitedly about a real live dragon. Of course they all knew the stories. Eloise even claimed to have touched one nearly a lifetime ago. In the big cities where there were portals to other worlds, Dragons were not unheard of. They just hadn't been spotted much since the wars. And nobody hiding out in Moonsong had seen one all the way out there.

So when this nameless child came tearing through the Glade, trampling Eloise's roses and leaping into Miss Verilee's arms, the village came to a stir. Had they been discovered? Had the war finally found them all the way out here? Eloise was the only one smiling, silently, as if she knew a secret. She caught Calick's eye and dropped a huge wink at him.

It wasn't hard to follow the child's path. Shrubs smashed, branches broken, muddy footprints lead the way as clear as the pathways in the town. It wasn't long before Calick was hiding in the shrubs, his blue eyes watching the two Dragons intently. It was the riders that he was worried about- were they friend or foe? But the Dragons were something he had never before seen or ever could have dreamt of seeing, and his eyes kept flitting back to their majestic necks and powerful legs.

And amazing how quietly these huge beasts could move through the forest- he jumped as a third dragon poked him between the shoulder blades with a huge blue nose.

He stodd and emerged from the bushes then, standing upright and brave. He faced the riders, looking silly with leaves stuck in his sandy-blonde hair, but not caring.

"I will fight you and these Dragon-beasts of yours with my bare hands to protect my family," he stated. One of the dragons snorted at the word beast. A black haired man with stone grey eyes laughed, which caused Calick's expression to harden.

"We have not come to hurt you," said a soft voice. A woman's voice. She wasn't much older than Calick, and for some reason he believed her. Something in her eyes was different, and he let his guard down.

After talking to the three individuals for quite some time out in the woods, Calick led them back to the town. Children scampered all over themselves to get a good look, and Eloise grinned a gap-toothed grin and gave the lady-rider a rose. Grabbing his sister by the arm, Calick pulled Aerelle to the side.

"They want me to go with them. Back to where they come from. Ryslen," he whispered. Her eyes were huge. He felt it too, the underlying terror at the possibility of not seeing each other again. Afterall, while the village was their family now, Aerelle was his sister, and the only one he had left.

A plan was forming in his head. It was jumbled and unclear, but deep in his heart he knew that the Dragons would change everything. If he were able to impress himself upon a dragon and form a bond, if he were able to bring a dragon to Moonsong, to Sahryn, things would change. Wars would end. Things would go back to normal. Maybe not in his lifetime, but it would be the start. The beginning. His thoughts raced. Here it was. His chance. His change to make a difference in his world. To stop those runny-nosed children from wandering to Moonsong, alone and hurting and without a family. He could stop he cycle. He just knew he could.

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