Author:
Alex McGilvery has been reading since before he can remember, and writing almost that long. He has published 18 books and is author and editor at his imprint Celticfrog Publishing. He lives in Kamloops with his dog and the stories clawing their way out of his head.

Ten year old Justine has lived with the loss of her mother for two years. Even while she misses her Mom, she is discovering the gifts they share. When bullying at school makes Justine’s life miserable, she befriends a tree she calls Drasil. It isn’t fair that life causes so much pain for Justine, so her father is happy when she makes a friend, even when that friend is a tree.

She tells stories of visiting a land where peace is valued above all else and hospitality is the primary virtue. Her father listens to her stories and marvels at how she changes, even as he wonders if her stories are true, or the fantasy of a lonely young girl. When the stories get darker and more dangerous, he worries that she is being hurt, even in this land of peace.

He has no idea how much they will both be changed as they get caught up in the struggle between a people who believe in peace, and those who trust in war.

Playing on Yggdrasil

Yet while their house grew full of light, the stories from the Pax grew darker. There were more people who had met the soldiers in white. Stone and the other young men still wanted to fight, and Justine was losing patience with them.


"I keep telling them, but they won't listen. These men in white are real soldiers, they aren't going to be stopped by a bunch of boys with sticks."


"I bet you Stone wasn't happy to hear that."


"No, he hardly talks to me anymore." Justine wiped her eyes and sniffled. "I want to help and I can't."


"Maybe you need to talk about what they can do instead of what they can't."


"I can't think of anything they can do except leave before the soldiers come to their village."


"Ask them what they did last time this happened."


The next night Justine came home and sat at the table.


Chapter 33