Hurry Scurry
"I've almost...got...it…" Marilyn muttered to herself, stretching her arm out to the piece of meat in front of her. She had to be careful, the mere sight of a guard would have her arrested on the spot. "Just...a little...closer…" she muttered, slowly dragging her hand across the counter. She gripped the plate, and slide it back toward her. Once it was in her arms, her eyes lit up. "Yes!" she muttered excitedly. "HEY!" shouted a deep voice in the distant. Marilyn jumped. "Aw, come on! Already?!" she yelled, turning around and running. Darting through the alleyway, she heard many things, yelling, screaming, even a little cheering. She didn't focus on that, though, she was too busy focusing on her surroundings. Her eyes darted around and around, taking in every sight, every obstacle, and she processed them in her brain, trying to figure out the best means of losing the guards behind her. She was no agilitist, and wasn't flexible enough to do anything ninja-like, but she could run fast enough to hold her own. After 16 years of living in this city, she knew it pretty well. She turned around a corner, and saw him. Her friend, Lupin, was standing in front of a building, with his arms out. Marilyn immediately knew what he was up to. She quickly tossed the meat towards him, and he ran around the other side of the building. With that out of the way, Marilyn thought to herself, time to lose these clowns. Marilyn ran around the building on her left, and through another alleyway. She knew an armory was nearby, and she had an idea. Quickly, she ducked around the corner, and hopped into an open window. There, the blacksmith, was sitting in his shop, bored as always. "Ya go more guards on yeh, don't ya Lyn?" he asked calmly, not even glimpsing at Marilyn. Marilyn's parents, for the time they were alive, knew , so Marilyn and had a small connection. As a result, would do small favors for her like give her small amounts of gold when he could, or in this case, let her hide in his shop. "You know me too well, …" said Marilyn, taking a crate, and hopping into it. There was a pound at the door. "Police! Open up!" shouted the guards. They entered the door, and yelled, "There was a girl, brown curly hair, black clothes, she had a piece of goat meat on her, where is she?!" They shouted. Marilyn kept her breathing as little as possible. Although she was in a box, even the slightest noise could give away her position. "I know not of eh girl, if ya not here to buy armory or weaponry, please leave." said , with his monotone voice. "But I-" attempted to argue the guard, but simply replied,. "Good day, gentlemen." The guards growled, and left. Marilyn pushed the lid off of the small box she was hiding in. "Thanks, ! I owe you one!" whispered Marilyn. "No problem, Lyn, have a nice day. And say hi to the wolf boy for me." said , who had retained his same pose, where he rested his head in his left hand, the entire time everything had gone down. "His name is Lupin, , you know that." laughed Marilyn, leaving out the window. "OK, good day, come again."
Marilyn raced down the town, attempting to stay out of the police's line of sight. She eventually made it. The lower class citizens had made a small village out of what they had. It didn't really have a name, but Marilyn had always thought of it as home. She saw Lupin nearby, with the meat. Lupin usually was a hunter, and was skilled with traps and bows and such. He also had an odd affiliation with wolves, which earned him the nickname "wolf boy" from . "Took ya long enough." said Lupin, picking apart the meat, and eating it. "Hey, losing the police isn't easy, you know. Especially because they caught me right off the bat." replied Marilyn, eating the meat as well. The two ate for a while, before Lupin got an expression on his face, like he had remembered something. "I just remembered," he said, reaching into his satchel. He pulled out a large book, with runic writing on it. "I found THIS while I was out in the woods. I have no idea what it means or does, but hey, it looks cool." he said, opening the book, and examining its contents. He turned to one page, which had many runes in it. It read,
Sentio peccatum ruat super te , et avaritiam , et pascit uteri tui, et consumat animas vestras .
Sentio spiritus orbem in nullo creari , et confirmabit vos
Pol vigiliam meam , et virtutem tuam , da mihi virtutem terribilium
"Yeah, I have absolutely no idea what any of this means." said Lupin simply. "But, I was hoping you would know. You're the smart one among the both of us." "That's a scary thought." replied Marilyn, taking the book. "Hmm, it appears to be a magical tomb." she said, flipping through the pages. "Here we go! Let's try this one." she said, pointing to one line.
"Scintilla!" she shouted, pointing at the ground. A small electric spark appeared from her hand, and blasted the ground, leaving a small, black dent. "Wooaah!" gasped Lupin. "You can do magic!" "Y-yeah, I just did magic...woah...I feel a bit tired from that...let's do another one!" said Marilyn eagerly. "Oh, here's one! Jinjambra!" she shouted, pointing at the ground again. A small flame shot from her hand, and lighting a fire at the ground. "That's so cool!" shouted Marilyn. Suddenly, she felt extremely tired. A wave of fatigue went over her, and she set the tomb down. "Hey, Lyn, what's wrong?" asked Lupin, wiping away his smile. "N-nothing...I just...feel a bit woozy, is all…" replied Marilyn, trying to keep herself awake. "Do you need help or something?" asked Lupin. "No...no...I just...I'm gonna take a nap...see you later, Lupin…" said Marilyn, getting up, and walking away.
The dragonkin and the King
Over the next few weeks, Marilyn honed her skills with this tome. She learned the more she used the tome, the less fatigue she would get. She began practicing on trees, rats, spiders, and on people, for the weaker spells. By the end of the week, she could shoot a short rod of electricity, and a small explosion of fire. One day, Marilyn was sitting on a log, shooting short rods of electricity at spiders, when Lupin came running after her. "Lyn! Lyn! Lyn, come quick!" he shouted. He looked very distressed, which was unlike Lupin. "Listen, something's attacking the town! I'm not sure what it is, but a lot of guards are dying! We need to help out!" he explained, having to take a deep breath at the end of the sentence. "O-of course, lets go!" shouted Marilyn, running towards the ground.
When they returned, Marilyn could see smoke coming from the town. "Albus is under attack!" shouted one of the residents. Albus was the name of the city. "Let's go!" shouted Lupin. When they got to the scene of the crime, many guards laid dead. A creature that had the figure of a human, but the scales, wings, face, and look of a dragon stood there, burning all who stood in his way. The creature roared at the guards, and hacked and slashed them all to death. "What do we do? That thing is on a completely different level from us!" shouted Marilyn. "You have magic! Look, I specialize on keeping things in one area while I quickly pick them off! But, if I could hold this thing down, you could use your magic to beat it, right?" shouted Lupin. "I-I guess!" replied Marilyn. The two split up. Marilyn got to higher ground, and pulled out her tome, flipping through the pages. "This'll do!" she said confidently, choosing her spell. She waited on the roof of a building. The creature hacked away at more guards, until a single arrow flew through the air, piercing the dragon's right arm. The creature roared, and turned to the side the arrow had come from, only to be shot again, this time, directly in the face. Somehow, though, the creature endured. Now's my chance! thought Marilyn. She stood up, and held her hand out. "Hikaribasuto!" she shouted loudly. A ball of electricity began to form in her hand, and released itself in a single stream of electricity. The electric beam pierced the dragon's back, knocking it over. However, the creature got back up, unfazed by the blast. "Y-you gotta be kidding me!" shouted Marilyn. The creature turned around, and growled. "Oh boy." muttered Marilyn, turning around, and jumping off the roof, onto the ground below. The creature didn't take long flying over to Marilyn, smashing the roof she was previously on. The creature jumped down, and growled. "I-I'm not scared of you! I have magic! Veoxflatu!" shouted Marilyn, pointing her finger at the beast. Several white beams appeared from her hand, all striking from several directions. However, the had little effect, bouncing off the dragon-man like it was nothing. The creature lunged forward, ripping Marilyn's tomb in half. "M-my book!" shouted Marilyn. She was knocked to the floor. She opened her eyes, and screamed. A dead soldier lied next to her. He was still holding his sword. Marilyn quickly took his sword, and held it up. "I-I'm warning you!" she shouted. The creature growled again, slowly approaching Marilyn, it's pose like it was trying to look as big and scary as possible. And it was working. Finally, the creature's patience had ran out, and it lunged at Marilyn. She gripped the sword, and slashed. The creature blocked it with it's sharp talons, but Marilyn spun around the beast, causing it to jump right past her. It swiftly turned around, using it's momentum to lung at her again. She closed her eyes, and brought the sword upward. She felt something heavy, and realized the creature had accidentally gotten the lower part of it's mouth on the blade. Marilyn couldn't lift the beast, but she dug the blade up the creature's head. It cried in agony, physically pulling the blade from it's head. It growled again, somehow still alive. "Is this thing immortal or something!?" shouted Marilyn. The creature lunged again. This time, Marilyn reacted more accurately, blocking each talon swipe with her blade. The creature lunged, it's mouth building up fire. Marilyn foresaw the attack, and ducked. However, at the same time, she spun around. The creature realized it's mistake, but was too late;the blade sliced into it's neck, fire spewing from it. The creature cried in agony one last time, before collapsing.
Marilyn was shaking. She stared at the corpse of the beast she had just slain. She jumped when she heard clapping behind her. "Well done, well done." compliment a deep voice. It was no one Marilyn heard before. She turned around, and was facing a tall man with dark skin, and a black trimmed beard. He was bald, and wore heavy army, and had an extremely large sword sheathed on his back. His amulet stood out, though, being very beautiful. It was white, with a gold trim, with a light blue diamond in the middle. It was humming with power. "You're quite impressive to have slain a dragonkin on your own. And with no armor, no backup, and with a mere sword? My, you ARE impressive, girl." he said, walking over to Marilyn. "What is your name?" he asked calmly. "M-Marilyn, sir…" she replied nervously. She was still shaken up by the whole ordeal. "My name is Marilyn." "Marilyn? A fine name. I am King Amura. I am the king of this city, and I'm damn proud of it too." said Amura proudly. "Y-YOU'RE the king?! Why are you here, of all places...I mean, why are you here, your majesty?" asked Marilyn. She was conflicted as to bow or stay standing, to not look weak. "I had gotten word of a terrifying beast that killed all in it's wake. It may not look it, but I'm a long time warrior, I'm considered the best of the best." laughed Amura. What do you mean you don't look like a warrior, he looks like he slays dragons for FUN! thought Marilyn in her head. "I-I see...well, I'm sorry for all this. I'll...be going now…" muttered Marilyn. "Hold up." said Amura, placing his hand on her shoulder. "See, I showed up a while ago, but I saw you fighting the beast. I wanted to see what you were capable of, and clearly, you proved yourself. I have a request, Marilyn." he explained. He took his hand off her shoulder, and held it out, as if he wanted her to take his hand. "Will you...join my army?" he asked calmly.
Marilyn was completely struck by this. Well, at least he's not asking me to marry him. I barely know the guy. thought Marilyn. "Y-your ARMY?" asked Marilyn. "Yes. I saw your skills, and to say I'm impressed would be an understatement. In my army, we'll get you a new place to live, a new magical tome, new swords, all that good stuff. So what do you say?" he asked calmly again. "I'll join...on one condition." explained Marilyn. "Oh? Is that so?" asked Amura, raising an eyebrow. Can I REALLY be saying stuff like that to him, of all people? thought Marilyn. "My friend, Lupin, can join too. He's really good at what he does, he's an excellent archer, and you'll-" explained Marilyn. "Sure, why not?" interrupted Amura. "This Lupin girl-" "He's a boy." "This Lupin boy may join my army. It's good to have you, Marilyn. You'll make a fine warrior." said Amura with a smile.
That's the sample of the book I'm writing, I hope you enjoyed! Please stay tuned for it's release! Also, if you have any tips for me, please do not hesitate to tell me. I would like to make this book as well as I can, so some constructive criticism wouldn't hurt. Thanks for reading!
