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Shrinking Forward
        
          Prologue
FAIRMONT ISLAND

High at the top of a blackened hill, a tall dark wizard stood with his arms raised upward. The wind swirled, pulling at his cloak and whipping his long grey hair about. Amid the sounds of vicious screeching and terrified cries, his lips moved at a rapid speed, mouthing incantation after incantation. Only those who his words could reach and control could hear his evil spells. It was war, as no one had ever seen before. The wizard called forth hundreds of dragons to darken the sky with their fiery breath and brimstone to aid him in his dark war. Down and down they swooped, scorching the land and its creatures. Armed with swords and small circular shields the Mystical Flyers fought bravely, keeping the evil wizard and his minions at bay for as long as they could.

Alas, it was not enough.

The land was littered with smouldering ruins as far as the eye could see. The bodies of the dead lay on the ground and the cries of the wounded filled the air as the wizard commanded his minions to sort them into cages.

“No!” screamed Queen Marina, as she cautiously flew, weaving her way through tangles of skirmish. “This cannot be happening!”

Dragons descended, one after the other in a seemingly endless line from the sky to pursue her, until they created a tight V-shaped formation around her. Though her exhausted wings were caked with mud, Marina pushed herself as fast as she could.

The huge creatures flanked her on every side, closing in and finally forced her to fly into a small cage. Shrieking, the dragon to her left whipped its tail around, and knocked Marina between the wings, causing her to fall to the ground.

Stumbling as she landed, Marina heard the heavy door slam shut. Quickly, she got to her feet and raced to the side of the cage. She wrapped her hands around the sleek bars composed of solid silver. Strange symbols were inscribed on them, stretching from the top of the cage to the bottom. A quick check and a pull on the tips of her wings satisfied Marina that she was intact.

Frantically, she looked about, growing more afraid by the minute. Placed in rows, alongside her cage, were dozens of larger cages containing thousands of other Mystical Flyers. She looked up, beyond the cages and saw nothing but a scorched, war-stricken land. The countryside, once beautiful and filled with vibrant people, was now scarred from the mighty battle and forever painted with the taint of war. The cries of her people and the smell of her burning home were permanently imprinted into Marina’s memory.

Though the tears that started to blur her vision threatened to flow, she fought them back, telling herself that she must not break. Marina searched wildly for a way in which she could possibly free her people. They were in desperate need. She tried many times to escape by casting a spell but nothing seemed to work. All around her, hundreds of Mystical Flyers flew through the air as fast as they could, trying to flee from the wizard’s minions. They cried out to their queen, in fear and desperation.

The Mystical Flyers resembled small humans being. In elegant medieval-style clothing with light brown, butterfly-like wings made of varying sizes. The height of each individual ranged from two to four feet high, roughly the size of young human children. Their noses and ears pointed at the tips, much like elves in fairy tale stories. Imprisoned in silver cages larger than the one Marina stood in, thousands of Mystical Flyers were crammed into them with barely enough room to move. More dragons materialized, descending from the sky and setting everything ablaze with their jets of fire. Soon the whole island was in flames and all hope seemed lost to its inhabitants.

Rowlen grabbed the bars of the cage he stood in and craned his neck to speak to his queen in the neighbouring cage. “Many Mystical Flyers have died from these devastating tree fires, my Queen. They are chewing up thousands of acres and destroying hundreds of homes, our people are dying,” he reported dimly.

“Queen Marina! Queen Marina!” called Marafae, from another nearby cage. “We’ve got groves of trees coming down in flames. I’ve never seen anything like it!” She looked around her cage wildly. “It’s like a hurricane of destruction! What are we going to do?” she cried.

“It’s hot.” whispered Annabelle, somewhere behind Rowlen.

“I can’t breathe…” Emmelia gasped, in another cage. Annabelle and Emmelia both started to cough.

“Everyone,” Queen Marina yelled. “we must be strong! We must stand together as one!”

Queen Marina felt helpless in the enchanted cage. Normally, nothing impeded the movement of any of the Mystical Flyers. Each of them was accustomed to flying through the air and floating through solid objects. The evil wizard, Edgar, had put a trapping spell on the cages so strong that, even acting as one, they still could not escape.

All colour disappeared from the landscape, turning it grey and bleak. Only shouting and the crackling of the fire floated through the air. The smoke blocked the sun and for a moment, the day became night. Queen Marina bent her wings around her body and used them as a mask to help her breathe. All Marina wanted to do was break loose from this battlefield, with the rest of her Mystical Flyers unharmed.

“Can this really be happening?” thought Marina. Her beautifully coloured sandals and delicate dress were now black with soot and torn in several places. None of the other Mystical Flyers could help her, nor could she help any of them. Despair crept over Marina her face, once fair, was now pale and haggard as her wild, dark eyes filled with a hopeless terror. She paced the cage back and forth, her gaze fixed not on the other Mystical Flyers but on the creatures ripping apart the heart and soul of Fairmont Island. She then burst into a loud, frustrated cry and banged her fists on the bars.

“Who has done this to us?” she cried. “Who shall pay dearly for this uprising?”

As if in answer to her question, the clouds parted and a massive dragon descended from the sky, bearing the dark wizard on its back. It landed on the top of her cage, curled its terrible, enormous claws around the edges of the roof and took off again taking the small cage with it. Queen Marina was off to an unknown destination and an unknown future.

If you enjoyed the prologue you’ll love the novel!

By Nathalie M. Leblanc