Uprooted

No matter what tales the females from beyond our valley tell, our dragon does not devour them. Occasionally, passing by passengers will let us hear them. They speak as if he were a genuine dragon and we were offering human sacrifices. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. We are appreciative of his protection from the Wood, but not really.

Agnieszka adores her house in the valley, her little hamlet, the woods, and the sparkling river. However, the tainted Wood is on the edge, possessing evil force, and its shadow hangs over her existence.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

Agnieszka is terrified since the next choosing is coming up soon. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

However, Agnieszka has the incorrect anxieties. For he will not select Kasia when the Dragon arrives.