Work In Progress: Screechers, Chapter 3

Empress Sun arrives

Sun’s bare feet bounded down the garden’s packed dirt path. Palm trees and willows watched her fly by, and Sun gave each of them a cursory greeting—the hibiscus and azalea bushes too. She didn’t want to offend them. Especially not when they had been so patient for so many years with all her climbing and punching and daydreaming.

The wind off the nearby River Sie pushed against Sun, shooting up her nose and down her throat. It tasted as brackish as it smelled, and if the tide had been going in instead of out, then salt would have crusted her face too.

She wiped sweat on her gray shirt. It was untucked and billowing behind. Hand Clara would disapprove. She wouldn’t like how Sun had rolled up her pants either, not to mention all the leaves that had snagged in her hair.

The scent of honeysuckle burst in Sun’s nose, and when the white blossoms came into view, Sun skidded to the right, diving directly behind the bush and then weaving through the palm trees. Her heels sank into the dark soil, s…