When Lions Dance Series

The continent of Lapuslandee always had skirmishes within her borders, but add a sudden find of gold, and almost nothing remains the same. Rumors of a small gift run wild, and kings die, kingdoms fall, and many lives are changed forever. Some wind up where they never dreamed, and others in a place they could have only dreamed. Royals, Journey, Adventure, Young Adult

A few generations had passed since the Towten, and Hummy had found peace and prosperity in the Inland. Most of the Misch slowly followed and joined the Hummy. It should have been enough to live in such serene tranquility. Even better, the Hummy found a cave full of the largest most brilliant gemstones ever. The Towten thought, how nice and went about their way. The wealth didn’t have much value when there was no one to buy or trade with. The Towten found a nice gold vein of their own, so they bargained with each other. But when building the third dam, the Towten found a wall of gold and the Hummy just couldn’t sit still for it. Around about the same time the forest Misch discovered a way to navigate the Mellows or Losmen Forest. They became the first merchants. It was as if the later generation had all but forgotten the reason for being in the Inland was to live in harmony. The Hummy claimed the land belonged to them because the Misch had been there first. The Towten claimed they sent scouts years before and when they arrived no one was living there and considered themselves gracious for allowing the Hummy to stay. That started the ongoing TowHummy wars that lasted for years. Finally, they reached the point of exhaustion. No more massive armies, with huge battles. Being so isolated it took a long time to replace their losses. And at just the right moment and right under their noses, they discovered evil eyes had been watching.

The plan was that the royal family would return to Towten Palace within two years. But the burning of the Losmen Forest and the braking of the dams had a catastrophic effect. The forest grew back darker and taller than ever and the weather changed with storms that could only be compared to fables in old books. The sun would hardly shine on that side of TowHummy. But Exiland was blessed and had no idea TowHummy suffered such trials. That is until Von’s young son ran off to see the wonder he had heard about all his life. This gave Von the perfect excuse to for fill his deep down heart's desire. He wasn’t coming to stay or rule or disrupt, he just wanted to visit and check on their well being, then return to his, oh so happy life in the sun. He found the land no longer bewitched by mortal men but nature, ghost, poverty, mystery, and fear. The moment his brother set eyes on him he breathed a sigh of relief. But even Von had no weapons for this kind of war.

Some time had passed since Von brought the rest of the family out of TowHummy and into Exiland. Donna gave birth to another son, Hunter. She wasn’t alone as the population had tripled in size. Although not needed Von and his now teen son Rory, helped build a small army, just in case. The Lossmen stayed an intimidating barrier to outsiders. The TowHummy and all their gold itched in the back of their minds as kings came and fell in Sawtee. On the other side, the Cods lived well and had commerce with the Misch. Elleyn worked as expected with his grandfathers in the laboratory. Michael loved medicine and was also often found in the laboratory or the library. Hunter was still young and could be found anywhere and everywhere. Blair’s sons were architects and were responsible for the expansion of the palace grounds, roadways and were in the midst of carving a massive fortress wall from a mountain. Then there was Gabe. He was at the center of everything, he handled the kingdom purse strings. But no matter how content, comfortable and secure you are, tucked away in your warm corner, eventually you have to come out for some reason.

Evil was invited with open arms. Like lightning sparks fires, death traps were set. Then murder shook the kingdom and all senses stayed sharpened, even after a swift and bloody justice was served.