Storm of Arranon

Tattered moonlight skimmed the sand. The crashing surf roared off to her left.
Icy air driven by the rising wind whistled into the gap, a cool embrace against her hot face. To the right, the outline of trees was perhaps thirty meters away. Ahead, the beach stretched as far as she could see. Gathering clouds wrapped the moons, trying to extinguish their comforting glow. There were no rocks, cliffs, or snarling, snuffling beasts. Surf foamed and bubbled on the beach. The play of light and dark skated across a sandy illusion of ice.
Erynn licked her lips and tasted salt in the moisture collecting there. She stepped out of the fissure and glanced back. Nothing but the dark met her gaze.
“Birk is coming.”
The storm collected around her. Gusting winds chilled her. She reached up and back, unbraiding her long hair. The dark auburn color transformed to silver in the waning light. The freed length fell in crimped curls around her face and down her back.
Warmer.
“Get off the shoreline, too visible,” she said through chattering teeth, scanning the incoming storm. She ran up the gradual slope of the beach. Loose sand slid under her boots. The ground firmed inside the cover of the woods. Wind compelled the smaller branches of the trees to flutter and jump. Frantic hands of twigs and leaves grasped out for her in the broken shards of moonlight.
Erynn stayed hidden inside the shadow-filled cover of the trees and made her way back to where Birk’s ship had plunged over the cliff. The fiery remains would act as a beacon for her rescue. She needed to get back to Korin. Her dad needed her. There would be nothing she could do from Arranon to stop this invasion.

Storm of Arranon