Story

this is a story that I have been working on for a while. Please tell me what you think.

Chapter 1

Lynn shivered. Her clothes were in a horrible state, no one would recognize her; probably not even her own clan. Her platinum, blonde hair fell past her shoulders, Her pale skin seemed to glow in the darkness of night and her black dress was torn and mudded. She felt so alone, but it wasn’t like any one would care. Lynn’s eyes were not exactly gray; sometimes they were greener and sometimes bluer. To tell the truth, they change like the ocean. Well whatever color they were, right now they were filled with tears. She hugged a small bag. Nothing of much importance was in this bag. There was a whole bunch of papers, a few shale slates, charcoal sticks, pencils, paints, some chalk, and a golden locket.

A stick snapped in the background Lynn broke into a run. “Run, yes. Try to at least!” the voice echoed in her mind. Her feet seemed to be filled with lead, a teardrop streaked down her face, her hair streamed out behind her. Gasping for air Lynn fell on a tree root -another branch broke- she struggled to get up, but her sweaty brow blinded her so she stumbled as she tried to run. Suddenly, something grabbed Lynn, and yanked her toward the treetops. Everything around Lynn went black as she screamed in terror.

Waking up was extremely painful for Lynn. Her head was bloody and the rest of her body was bruised and scratched. Slowly she stood up to get her bearings. Stone surrounded her. The only light the room had came from a window. Walking slowly over to the window she leaned out. She was in a tower!

High above the ground she saw at least who had captured lived. It was a magnificent castle. It was a dark gloomy place. All the stone was a harsh gray. The few windows there were had iron bars across them just like hers. There weren’t any flower gardens, just vegetable ones. The few trees were dark looking oaks. Their branches reached for the sky in their own mutated way. The whole place looked like it was died. Like it had been died for quite a long time. No one stirred the grounds. It seemed like the only living thing was Lynn.

Lynn slow started to study her own room. The room was circular with no fireplace or homely object. The room’s walls were completely bare. There was straw all over the floor and there was nothing else. The room held an emptiness that seemed to fill the whole castle. The door stood opposite to the window, daring her to even try to open it. Lynn wanted to give up. She wanted just to lie down and die, but then who would stop the king and his so called friends? A single tear rolled gently down her cheek. Quickly brushing it off she started to make a bed for herself. Moving all the straw into a small heap made the room look even smaller them it actually was. Snuggling down she tried to stay warm as the late winter wind soared in through the window. The world held emptiness, just like the castle for Lynn.

Run, if you dare. I will hunt you down. I will kill you. You cannot escape your fate Facemaker.

Lynn woke sweating, the nightmare still hung over her like a cloud. The moon shone full though window, casting a pure shaft of light upon her, the cold night air was crisp and cool on her face. In the courtyard below dark shadows drifted on the pathways.

Something moved across the grounds. Peering closely at it, it took Lynn a couple seconds to identify what it was. Moving out of the light as quickly as she could, she sank down to the ground. Not only was she captured, but also she was captured by demons. The smell of it reached her from there, the smell of rotting flesh. It was said that not many people live to see a demon, but you can always tell he’s near by the smell.

The morning brought fresh courage to Lynn. Everything magical that happened in history happened in the morning. Everything good that was. Demons were afraid of light, as were other evil creatures. The Creator made the world in the space of seven mornings. His son who had died a by demon hands had resin again in the morning. (Not even the most powerful wizard in the world could do that.)

A knock at the door brought her back. The door swung open revealing several guards pointing arrows at her. “Come,” Said the obvious leader. “It is time.”

“For what?” she asked hoping to find out something of her captures. “For what cause have I been brought here? I have done nothing wrong.”

The man smirked. His face looked like he had been in many a battle. “Nothing wrong, I beg to differ. You are in possession of magical objects. That means one thing.”

Lynn sat down glaring at him. “What? That I’m healer or something like that? Don’t be silly. There’s no such thing as healers. Their something thing someone made it up as a joke.”

A man next to him with tattoos all over him grinned, revealing several rotting teeth. “Don’t believe her sir. Marko saw looking out the window last night. She saw him most definitely.”

Lynn heart went down to her knees. Marko must have been the demon she saw. One of the soldiers tied her arms and the group led her off down a flight of stairs. They stopping at two huge oaken doors, the man with tattoos knocked once and the door swung open slowly. Inside was a group of people that looked like the place itself. Dead. They’re skin pulled tight around their bones. There skinny body’s showed that most of them hadn’t eaten in quite a while. A man sat on a throne in lordly garments. He looked young to be in command, but no one else had looked the part. He also looked starved. An unwelcome pity swelled up in Lynn’s heart. Whoever these people were they were starving.

Sanding up the man in the lordly garments walked down some steps to circle around her. Feeling like she was being inspected she didn’t dare look into his eyes. “Do you know why you’re here?” He said as he started to pace back and forth.

Lynn forced herself to look brave. If she couldn’t be it she could at least act like she was. “I was told that it was because I had magical objects in my bag.”

Twirling around he faced her; “You saying you didn’t have anything magical with you?”

Lynn shrugged, keeping up her brave mood she contoured. “You mean that you just think that I have something? You haven’t really found something have you?”

A slow smile crossed his face. “Bring me the locket, Willin, and be quick about it.”

A small man bent with age scurried across the floor toward them. He had a strange sort of walk that Lynn recognized at once. He was small and dumpy with happy black shining eyes. “The locket sir.” He said while he pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

“Sir?” Willin said meekly.

“What is it?” The man said, bad temperedly, “I have a lot to do today. This is one of them so make it quick.”

“Never mind.” Willin said in a little voice. “I think that it can wait.”

“Very well. Now for you.” The man said ‘you’ like it was a word made out of dirt. “As you see this locket appears to be nothing special, but look at when it’s open.”

Opening it slowly a small glow came from the locket. Soon a small blue magical ball clothed in a white light, in side it showed a small griffin being shown how to fly.

The man turned to the crowd. “See, it is clearly a magical object. What do we do with magical beings?”

The crowd roared out in one voice. “Kill them!”

Lynn was shoved toward the crowd. People pushed and pulled her out of the castle and into the dark wooded area that surrounded it. Breathing heavy, Lynn wondered how they planned to kill her, hoping it would not be anything painful or slow, like the voice said.

Soon a roar fill Lynn’s ears, the sound was almost deafening. In front of her stood the biggest waterfall in the world. At least a hundred feet to the bottom, she was pushed near the front were that man stood grimly. “My people!” He yelled. “Let it be known today that James, Duke of the Dark Wood is acting on the kings orders. All of you know that anyone or thing that has to do with magic is to be destroyed without delay or hesitation. Today we will give one magical thing and it’s owner to another magical thing. As many of you know a great dragon lives at the bottom of this waterfall. We will cast the girl, her bag, and this locket to the bottom. If she doesn’t endure the fall, we know that there will be an even worse death a waiting her. Bring her to the edge!”

Lynn felt millions of hands push to the very edge; the locket was soon around her neck, and her bag in her hands. The guards that had brought her down from the tower made her move forward with the spears. Felling helpless, she turned to find away out. There was no hope. Every face, young and old, held an abhorrence that could only mean one thing, and that meaning was death. Some one magical had done something to these people. Wishing that she could at least her mother again, she squeezed her eyes shut at the guards pushed her over the edge.

Lynn never reached the bottom; a huge dragon pulled up out of the water, catching her in its mouth. Lynn screamed in pain as the massive jaws almost took her arms off. The dragon dived into the water with a horrendous splash. Lynn saw her own blood turn the water red as the water dragon pulled her along through the mass of water plants, trying to grab her and pull her down. Lynn prayed fanatically to the Creator as she began to get lost into the darkness, knowing that if she slipped away, she would never be able to return.

Lynn gasped for breath as she was pulled to shore, that is if it was a shore, instead of sand she felt rock underneath her, instead of the sun beating down on her she felt a foreign coldness. Her arm burned felt as if a million bee’s decided to sting her in the same spot all at once. When she opened her eyes the dragon hissed with pleasure. With all her might Lynn forced herself to get up. Moving faster then she had ever in her life, Lynn ran to hide among the many rocks that adorned one wall of the cavern.

“You can run. I don’t care.” Came the sound of the dragon’s voice booming up to her, it was a female by the sound of her voice. “I like to play hide and seek, but first let me tell you a little story I think you will like it, most humans do. You see after I tell it to them then I eat them, I tell them the story so they know why. You see most dragons don’t even eat humans. I am one of the few that do, I use not to, but since you have caused me so much pain I have decided to put my full of pain into your own race. For you have caused mine many troubles.”

Lynn found a searched for a small place to hind, while the dragon continued her story. Cradling her arm she sank down behind some large rocks. Chills rain up Lynn’s back at the sad tail. Blood was soaking her dress. “Me and my mate stayed in this very same cave when we first we’re united. Were where happy here. We lived off the forest creatures, and stayed away from humans at all costs. Soon I bore an egg. One day I went out hunting while my mate stayed at home watching over it, incase it should hatch. When I returned treasure was gone my mate slain, his scales taken and the egg broke. If you are dumb like the rest of your kind then you will not know that to break a dragon egg is the most horrible thing you could do to a dragon.”

Lynn felt her heart beat speed up with terror as she looked down to see the dragon sitting at the foot of the mound of rocks. “Yes, little one I have found you all ready, you need to work on your skills at hiding.”

Lynn squeezed her eyes shut as the dragon flew up toward her breathing blue fire. “Wait!” Lynn said as an idea came to her mind. “I can restore your egg. I just need you to describe it to me in detail.”

The dragon was a beautiful creature, with indigo scales, sky blue wings, and a soft blue under belly. She seemed startled at Lynn’s statement, but quick to suspect trickery. “How can I trust you? You most likely are lying.”

Lynn felt herself shaking as she looked up at the magnificent beast. “You will never know until you test me yourself. I could be lying, but you will never know if you e-eat me.” Lynn heard her voice shake. She hugged herself as the to massive claws reached down and picked her up.

When Lynn opened her eyes again she was in a different cave. It was smaller with a huge mound of gold in the center. Lynn felt extremely small in between the dragon and the mound of gold. “Well, get start.”

Lynn sat down and inspected the contents in her bag, the paper was ruined but everything else looked like she could use it. Thankfully all the paint was inside little stone jars. Selecting a big piece of shale she looked directly into the dragon’s eyes. For the first time she noticed that even her eyes were even blue. “Would you please tell me about your egg? Start with the shape.”

The dragon looked mildly surprised, and then began. “It was like any other egg, only bigger. It was a sea colored with a design like a net over it, the design was white.”

The dragon seemed to be able to talk about her egg for hours, which was good for Lynn. Her arm still hurt while she painted, but at least it was her left not her right. She soon had it painted and finished. The dragon looked angry. “You told me that you could bring it back. All you’ve done is painted it!”

Lynn felt a slow sure smile cross across her face. Turning the painting back toward her, she placed her hand on the egg and closed her eyes slowly the egg began to drift off the paper. The dragon drew in a quick breath. “Well, done Facemaker, but does it really have a hatchling in it?”

Lynn smiled. “Yes it does, I don’t know how long it will take to catch or anything, but please stop killing humans. Not all of us are bad.”

The dragon stretched lazily. “Very well. Shall we be friends little one?”

Lynn stood up and shivered, it was cold in the cave and she hadn’t exactly been warm before hand outside, but she managed another smile, even though it was weak. “Thanks, I would like that a lot. I haven’t had friends in quite a while.”

The dragon looked surprised, but then her expression softened. “You look cold little one. Why don’t we find you something better to wear, and you can ask all the questions you want and I wouldn’t mind you telling me your story. For you most likely have a quite lonely tale from the way you talked about friends.”

Lynn managed a nodded. “I would like to ask a few questions. I thought you said that they took your treasure, but there is still a lot here.”

The dragon cradled her egg while she led Lynn off through a maze of huge corridors. “The humans only took what they could carry, which isn’t a lot you know. Right this way dear. Go over there and pick out any dress you want. I’m giving it to you as a gift.”

Lynn walked into a small cavern, that is, compared to the others ones. It was a cozy room with a huge king-sized bed, a fireplace, and a magnificent wardrobe. When Lynn walked over to the wardrobe were there was a hundreds of beautiful dress, many of them inset with jewels. Lynn fingered the expensive fabric. “I couldn’t take any of theses, there far to nice. I would ruin them in weeks!”

The dragon lay down on the floor and curled up. “Don’t worry dear, not all of them are not so nice. I think I know one that would look very good on you and wouldn’t be so nice that you would never be able to wear it.”

The dragon slowly went through the dress, while Lynn tended to her hurt arm by wrapping it in the tatters of her old cloak about it. “What is your name Facemaker?”

“My name is Lynn Facemaker, but you already knew that last part. What is your name?”

“Sea Fire, after the first sea dragon ever. I can tell you about her later. Ah! Here it is.” Pulling out a dress Sea Fire smiled happily. “Here it is. I think you will find it very appealing. I think my mother was given it by the elves to give to a lady warrior, but she was killed before my mother could give it to her.”

The dress was a dark forest green with silts in the skirt and sleeves for the white under skirts could peep through. The skirt was long with many other skirts underneath that were white. Lynn felt the fabric it was soft and warm.

Sea Fire brought out a bag and dumped it on the ground, inside had been a pair of boots and a black travelers cloak. “Here why don’t you try all of these on while I’m go find a nice place for my egg? I think in the kitchen would be the best place by the stove, but any way. I’ll be back soon. If you don’t mind I thought this could be your room. When I come back I’ll bring something for you to eat.”

As Lynn took of her rags she noticed how shabby they really were. She tried to remember the last time she had changed clothes and winced. ‘I really would like a bath some time soon.’ Lynn thought to herself as she tried the dress on, it fit perfect. Putting her foot in on the boots she was pleasantly surprised to find out that they fit, almost perfectly. The cloak was a little long but other wise it was fine. Lying down on the bed Lynn fumbled the locket with her fingers. She had forgotten about it on her run through the forest.

“Well, here is all I could find in the store rooms.” Sea Fire said as she held out a tablecloth with food in the center. “I’m not even sure that it will be enough for us. I don’t know how much humans eat.”

Lynn looked at the over whelming amount of food on the tablecloth and coughed politely. “Oh, I think that will be enough.”

While they ate Sea Fire asked Lynn, “I have told you my story little one. Now it is your turn.”

Lynn swallowed the bit of ham she was chewing. “I grew up the middle of a wood with my Mother and Father. We had always lived alone and never bothered with anyone or thing else. One day some soldiers came and took Dad way when I was about nine years old, I was told that he was a traitor to the crown and he executed the next day. Or at least that’s what they told my mother. It wasn’t until I was twelve when Mom told me about our gifts. Mom was a healer and could fix any wound and make plants grow with her mind; Dad had an eagle sprit, I have no idea what he could do. When I found out that I was a Facemaker at first I was scared, I didn’t want to face to fate that my father did.

“Mom had us move into a town in some mountains when I was fifteen. We were with other people that were gifted; it was the happiest time in my life. When we lived in the forest my playmates were birds and foxes, wild life. I loved playing with the younger children, even though some of the other girls teased me about playing with the younger ones, but it was so fun. Soon I became like a Nanny to all of them. It was a day like that when we got attacked.

“It was only about a month ago when it happened. I was out looking for an herb for my mother, one of the ladies was pregnant and a need special attention. When I got back the whole lace of ravaged, everyone was died. I saw some vampires and werewolves going away on some dragons, but they weren’t like you. They were black I think a dragon was hunting me in the forest, and saw me, I think that’ how I was captures.”

Sea Fire slammed her fist down on the floor causing the floor to shake. “Those weren’t my type of dragon.” She said in a low growl. “Those were dragons who turned away from the dragon morals. That’s why there scales turned black.”

Lynn shuddered as Sea Star raised her head to the ceiling and roared in anger, flames snaking there way up the high walls of the cavern room.

­­­ You’re alive and I know it, I sense the blood running through your veins calling me to drink. Are you scared? Funny, you always seemed to be brave when I was in the village. Oh, yes. I was there, and I will find you like I found your mother. Poor Mommy, it was a shame to kill something of such beauty. But she wouldn’t be quiet, and she wouldn’t listen, she just kept fighting. Just like in the old days you will be persecuted for your faith. I can count the ones that have died foolishly for not turning to my side. I suppose you are going to be just as foolish, what a shame.

Lynn woke up as she fell out of bed, she could feel her heart beating fast as she pulled the cloak around her shoulders, clutching the locket as she prayed to the Creator. The voice was back and it was worse then ever.