RED HORIZON (Heliocite Saga #1)

𝕊𝔼𝕍𝔼ℕ

A gentle breeze cooled Seri's cheeks and blew her braid into whisps as she leaned on the rickety wooden fence. Smiling, she watched the children chase after one another, screaming in delight and kicking up sandstorms with their feet. The littlest ones scrambled to get away as the older ones masqueraded as monsters, puffing up their bodies and making gruesomely silly faces. Whenever a small child was caught in a monster's claws, the victim would be tickled until they cried mercy or tears rolled down their cheeks in laughter. Then another friend would come to their rescue and pick them up, dust them off, and then they'd both set off on another chase.

With the breeze, the midday air was cooled enough for Seri to give them a few extra minutes of play time. Their parents surely wouldn't mind. And she hated to break up the fun. It delighted her to watch them play with such uncomplicated joy, their hearts not yet weighted with the stones the world would throw at them. She remembered what it was like to feel that kind of freedom. When every monster was so easily placated and there was always a smiling face to pick up the fallen. If only the monsters didn't grow bigger along with you.

"Seri!"

A feminine voice calling from behind drew Seri from her thoughts. Lana, a beautiful girl from one of the southern desert settlements with chocolate skin and curly-cue hair, was headed toward her with a basket on her hip. She gave a cheerful wave, which Seri returned.

"What are you still doing out here?" she asked, her gaze sweeping out to the dunes where the children played. Seri shrugged.

"It's nice out today. I figured I'd let them play a little longer." Her gaze turned back to watch as some of the little children decided to fight back against the monsters, waving invisible swords and yelling nonsense war cries. The older children played along, dramatically dying with mutilated howls.

"You've got more patience than I do," Lana giggled, balancing her basket on the fence. "Probably why I don't get put on babysitting duty anymore, huh?"

Seri gave her friend a dubious look. "Have you seen yourself with a baby, Lana? I've seen people hold scorpions by the tail with more composure." Lana's patience aside, she was never very good at handling messy or unpredictable things. Seri sent a prayer up for the girl's future husband. For all of her kindness, child-rearing was not a strength she possessed. 

"I'm just afraid they'll throw up on me!" Lana whined, making a face of disgust. 

Seri laughed and shook her head. "What's in the basket?"

Looking relieved to change the subject, Lana pulled out a small bundle wrapped in white cloth. "The cooks wanted me to take some lunch out to the men fixing up the south wall. You're in luck, though, they packed extra. Hungry?"

Grateful, Seri took the offering and unwrapped the cloth, finding naan, some cured meats, and a few dates. She hadn't realized how hungry she had been until then. Popping a date in her mouth, she ripped off a piece of naan and offered it to her friend. 

"How is it going? Have they figured out what knocked it down yet?" she asked. Someone had found several yards of the southern wall blown apart this morning. The running theory was that nomads must have been in the area and had wanted to steal supplies. But as far as anyone could tell, nothing was stolen. Only the wall had been disturbed.

"No idea," Lana replied. "Maybe it was an animal."

"An animal took down fifteen feet of wall?" Seri folded some cured meat in naan with a rasied brow. Not likely. It would have taken a herd of elephants. And one would be hard-pressed to find any of those this far from the grasslands. "Maybe it was rebels. I still don't understand how no one heard it. An explosion that size would have woken up half the sanctuaries."