Chronicles of Owl Eye and Dragon Scale

(Author's Note: I don't own any of the books and I haven't read it in over a year, so please excuse any mistakes I've made. I'm writing this based solely on what I can remember from the book. Thank you. Hope you enjoy it!)

Part 1: Owl Eye and Suzanna


Ch.1: Taken

"Hurry up, girl!" shouted George Callahan as he trudged his way through the forest brush.

His younger sister, Suzanna, carefully climbed over a fallen log and ran to catch up with him. "Sorry, brother." she said sweetly.

"Come on now, Pa will be cross if we're late again. You know how he feels about you being out in these here woods after dark." George grumbled.

"Yes, George," Suzanna sighed. Pa was always worrying about her. Sometimes it really got on her nerves. She was, after all, nearly sixteen. She'd be married off soon enough.

As they walked on, an eerie "hoot, hoot" brought Suzanna out of her day dreams. She jumped at the sound and her golden brown eyes scanned the trees for it's source. Her gaze settled on a low tree branch in a pine to her left. A silver and white owl perched there, watching her with it's round yellow eyes. How odd, thought Suzanna to herself, what's an owl doing out so early in the afternoon? A shiver ran through the girl's body as her eyes locked with the owl's. There was just something about it that didn't feel right. The owl turned it's head completely around then screeched at her till Suzanna had to cover her ears. She picked up a stick and hurled it at the bird, "Shoo, you wretched thing!" she shouted. The bird flapped it's wings and flew off into the forest, still screeching. Another chill swept over Suzanna, for to her the screeching sounded oddly like laughter.

George and Suzanna arrived at their little cottage just as the sun began to set. Their father was not at all happy with them. "What have I told you two about rambles so late in the day? Have I not warned you enough of the dangers of this land?"

Suzanna sighed heavily, "I'm sorry father." Her ears still rang from that horrible owl's taunting. She was tired and her head ached. All she wanted to do was get to bed. She got up from the table and stretched with a wide yawn. "I think I'll go ahead to bed." She said.

"Oh, before you do, do you mind taking this left over stew to Mrs. Baker? She hasn't been feeling well as of late." Suzanna's mother requested, handing her a basket with the left over soup in a jar, a few pieces of bread, and some apple cider nestled lovingly within.

"Very well." She sighed and hastily went out the door, into the cool night air.

As she strolled down the darkly lit path, with only the moon do guide her, Suzanna hummed a song. It was the only way she could keep her mind from playing tricks on her in the dark. She often let her imagination run away with her. Silly stuff, being afraid of shadows and flying, wide eyed, creatures.

Right on cue, a silver and white owl swooped down and landed on the path before her.

"Not you again!" she groaned. She quickly picked up a heavy rock and pulled back her arm so she could launch it at the creepy bird, but just as she was about release it, she saw that the owl was gone. It was now replaced by a very tall man in a black hooded cloak.

"Suzanna." Said the shrouded man, in a very deep voice, "It's time to go home."

"Home?" She asked, "What do you mean? Who are you?"

The man said not a word, but stepped purposefully towards her. His steps were loud and confident, as if he were on some very important mission.

"S-stop. D-don't come any closer!" The girl stuttered.

Suddenly, the man raised his arms and his cloak billowed out with them, forming the shape of wings. He leapt up and swooped in over her, entrapping her in the endless darkness of his cloak.

His makeshift wings were the last things she saw, before collapsing into his arms from the terrible fear that crushed her pulsing heart.

She awoke the next morning with a throbbing head, in a strange room she did not recognize. Her thoughts were all mixed up and she couldn't remember how she'd gotten to this room. She prodded her memory for answers.

The happenings of the night before came in a blur: A man with unnaturally large eyes in a cape that billowed around him like folded wings, feeling the weight of him as held her down to pour a horrid concoction down her throat, wanting to scream, but having no voice to do it, a rope of silver silk, a dress made of golden thread, shifting floors, ghoulish faces of things that were neither man nor beast, but something in-between, the gleam of sharp knives, fire, chains, multicolored smoke, pain, the glistening crimson of fresh blood, and a golden serpent hissing in her face, all of it jumbled together as a single memory.

She reached up to feel her head and found that her light brown hair was twisted into a spiral of braids. She pulled her hair free and shook out the curls. Her head ache instantly subsided. Then she looked down at her self and recognized the golden dress she wore as the one from her memory. It was old fashioned with a tight corset that showed too much of her breasts, for her taste and a flowing skirt made of a thin fabric that you could faintly see her legs through.

Still looking herself over, she let out a shriek of terror at the sight of a long scar on her wrist. Suddenly it all came rushing back. She remembered the strange looking man slicing her wrist open with a very sharp knife and then turning the blade on himself to make a similar gash on his own wrist.

Her breath coming out in gasps, Suzanna stumbled to the door and ran out of the room. Mumbling out the ramblings of a frightened child, she staggered onto a balcony of sorts. She leaned over the railing and gazed, wide eyed, over the town below. The twisted forms of the village people scuttled through the streets, unknowing of her tearful gaze.

"Finally awake. I see." said that deep echoing voice from her nightmares.

She twirled around and at the sight of the man before her, began to scream at the top of her lungs. His eyes, golden in color, were large and round, wide and unblinking. His skin was a pale grey and his face was angular in shape. His cheekbones were pronounced. He had long silver hair that he wore twisted in a long braid down his back. His ears were long and pointed. His lips were thin and when he spoke they revealed rows of sharp pointed teeth the color of tarnished silver. He was very tall, but he was not lanky. His body looked strong and sturdy. She doubted she could budge him from the spot where he stood, even if she shoved with all her might. The rest of him could be forgiven, but those eyes were what made her scream in terror. They were the eyes of a beast who wanted to eat you, eyes that could see strait into your inner being and point out all the flaws of your soul, eyes very similar to those of an owl. The more she looked into the them, the louder she wanted to scream.

The beast-man took hold of her wrists and twisted her around so that her back was pressed against his stomach. Holding both her wrists in one hand, he clasped the other over her mouth. "Enough of that. You're hurting my ears, dear one." He whispered in her ear. He held her like that until she'd calmed herself a bit and regained some of her composure. Then he slowly released her from his iron grip. She wobbled away from him and fell to her knees, sobs racking her chest.

"What's happening?" She croaked.

"I'm sorry about the suddenness of the situation, but I couldn't pass up a good opportunity when I saw it." He said, shrugging his broad shoulders nonchalantly. He went over to her and crouched down beside her. He reached out to lay a comforting had on her shoulder, but she shrugged it away the moment his hand touched her pink skin. He went on, as if her coldness towards him was expected. "My name is Marak, Marak Owl Eye. I'm a goblin, king in fact. And you are now my wife. That is why I've brought you here."

"Wife!" Suzanna screeched.

"Yes, that's right. You catch on quick." He replied, rolling his head to the side.

"I-I can't marry you!" She protested, jumping to her feet and scuttling farther away from him.

"You already have, my dear. Don't you remember our wedding?" He asked, rising silently. His movements were fluid and effortless, more like an animal's that a person's.

The realization of where those strange memories had come from hit Suzanna at once. "I-I-I can't. I-I have to go home." She stuttered, her body quivering violently as tears fell from her eyes.

"You can never go home." Marak Owl Eye said, coldly. "You are forever mine."

He turned on his heel and in one quick leap, he shifted from man to bird in the blink of an eye. His owl's wings beat silently against the gentle breeze as he swooped through the air. As he circled the balcony, one golden owl eye studied his young bride and the golden serpent that coiled around her neck and rested it's head on her cheek. You will make a great king's wife, Suzanna. In time, you will see me in a different light. Time. That's all you need. Owl Eye thought pleasantly, as he dove towards the window of his study.