Borderline - a Romantic Cloud Lands Short Story - Hannah SteenbockHannah Steenbock

Borderline – a Romantic Cloud Lands Short Story

Even if I say so myself, “Borderline” is one of my best stories. It’s short, granted, but it flows nicely, and I love the characters. And it has a good ending, even if it is a little bitter-sweet.

But what is it all about?

I wrote the tale for a project which had two basic topics: Winter and Romance.

In addition, I wanted to create a short story set in my Cloud Lands world, simply so I could gain more readers through it.

Yes, that’s writing to market, in a way, and I’m not ashamed of that. Because I hope it’s still something you, my dear readers, will enjoy.

And I quickly decided that this would be a story about Ylanda, a dragonrider I discovered while writing “Dragon Court” (which is Book Three of the Cloud Lands Saga). She dropped a hint about her and her dragon Rakild knowing how to live rough, and that got me thinking.

What if she had been a scout, guarding the border between the Western Kingdom and the Carmine Empire? That’s a region with a huge series of mountain ranges, very hard to control, very hard to even survive in. Only dragonrider scouts have a chance, the area is too rough for armies.

And of course, the Carmine Empire would have its guards on the prowl, as well.

Which made for an interesting idea:

What would happen if Ylanda and a Carmine were thrown together in dire circumstances?

Now, if you have read my stories, I’m a firm believer in human goodness and good, win-win solutions. Not all of my characters can do that, obviously.

But I knew Ylanda could. And then I met Kerrin, and knew he could, as well.

Which made it huge fun to throw both together and watch them make it work. How far would they go? Well, that’s something you’ll have to find out yourself. *grins*

And once I finished the story, I had come to love Kerrin, as well. I couldn’t stand using him as a throw-away character, and I really wanted to find out what became of him.

Which is why I wrote him into “Betrayal”. And while I couldn’t reveal everything Kerrin has become since it’s mad, angry, delusional Ferren who sees him, you can certainly guess.