Journey to the Land of Dragons

By: Emily Crisp

If maiden comes

From land afar

With heart more brilliant

Than brightest star

If body strong

And mind is keen

The full whole truth

Will then be seen

For the true king

She will provide

A way to rule

This she will find

When with the fraud

She does contend

The evil time

Will find its end

Then clothed in wings

Of royal hue

Will be the queen

Of dragons

True

Chapter 1:

The Arrival

Lilawyne ran out of the house and slammed the door. She just had to get away from all the fighting. Even in her pony tail her long, thick, wavy brown-red hair was in her face. It was so long it almost fell to the floor unbound. She pushed her long legs into action, but sometimes not even running would take he away from all her problems. She pushe herself even harder, hoping that the silence and solotude of the library would let her forget her troubles, at least for a while.

Many times, Lilawyne had wished she wasn't such a light sleeper. Her parents arguments could last way into the night. "Why don't they just get a divorce and move away from each other already," Lilawyne sobbed. "It would make life so much easier for everyone!"

Something was different. It was almost time. She's coming.

He frowned. "Put more guards on the borders and around the castle. Especially the dungeon," he said. Something is happening, and it's not good," said the king.

Dark

Crack

Light

Blind

Blink

Sight

Wait

Lilawyne ran to the library. It was her favorite place in town and it was close enough to walk to. That was good, because only being 15 she couldn't drive and she didn't want to have to depend on her parents to get there. The library was very traditional with columns holding up the front porch and 2 marble lions flanking the walk. It's grounds and building were more maculate than the town hall's, thanks to many donations and a very devoted groundskeeper.

The inside was as beautiful as the outside with a wrap-around balcony for the second floor that was held up by more columns. There were wings with floor to ceiling windows on the east and west to make the most of the natural light. There were also small nooks with leather arm chairs, small tables, and old-world-looking brass floor lamps with stained glass shades. The checkout desk was situated in the center of the lower floor and had a spiral stair case with an iron railing on each side. The shelves and desks were made of a elegant red-brown wood, as were the tables and moldings. The floors were covered in a thick plush carpet with a swirling of color in tans, reds, and browns.

On one of the shelves on the balcony, Lilawyne found a book. It was on the bottom row on the last shelf by the east wing. Lilawyne had learned from experience not to over look the bottom shelves, as many people did, just as she had learned not to judge a book by it's cover. But even she could not see why this particular book had drawn her attention, as no other object, book or otherwise, had. It was extremely plain, except for its title, which was in gold gilt. It was covered in a plain brown material that looked and felt like leather, but Lilawyne had a feeling it wasn't. The title was The Land Of Dragons. Lilawyne looked for the author's name, but couldn't find one, either on the cover or any of the pages. She opened it up and started to read.

Once upon a time there was a sad young girl named Lilawyne.

"That's cool", she thought. "The character has the same name as me!" Then she continued to read.

Suddenly the words stopped. Lilawyne flipped through the pages, but there were no more words She thought, "That's odd," then gave a mental shrug and forgot about it. Lilawyne decided to check it out and walked towards the stairs.

He lifted his head from the floor were he had been taking a nap. "She has found what has been her birthright for all time. She has started her story."

The king looked up from the records of his reign. There was that feeling again, the one that he felt that morning, the one of impending doom. He knew the cause. It was the warning of the start of the hardest battle he had ever thought. But, this battle would not be fought with armies and weapons. This battle would be one of the mind, and in the end King Simkin knew there would only be one left to claim the throne.

Forest

Hunger

Prey

Kill

Feed

Pulling

Travel

Climb

Top

Wait

Lilawyne took the book to the checkout desk and stood in front waiting for the librarian to notice her. He was deeply absorbed in his book of nineteenth century romance. Lilawyne waited a few moments, and when he didn't seem to notice her, she cleared her throught to get his attention. The librarian jumped about a foot in the air, and when he landed he said in an extremely cross tone, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to check out this book, so I would thank you not to be sour with me!" exclaimed Lilawyne.

The librarian had the mind to blush then mumbled, "Well, do you have your library card?"

"Of course! Would I bother you if I didn't? It's the only thing I always carry with me!"

"Well then, give me the book!" the librarian said in a harassed manner. Lilawyne handed the book over and when he saw the title, the librarian gave her and odd look.

"Why are you looking at me like that! I didn't do anything wrong and I don't have any late books! Just check it out for me already!" Lilawyne said.

The librarian dropped his gaze hurriedly and typed something on the computer. "I think you will like this one Lilawyne," he said.

"I think I will to thank you, so please let me have it!" She was turning away to find a place to settle down with her new find when something stopped her. "Wait a minute! How do you know my name?" she called back. But when she turned around the elderly librarian was gone. Lilawyne just gave a mental shrug and told herself, "He probably saw it on the computer when he scanned my card." Then she walked off to search for a place to settle down with her new book.

Wind rider tried to pace, but his shackles hindered his progress. He was wondering about the new feelings inside him and was pondering the fate of his only egg. It had been five long years since his capture, which was right after his mate had laid the egg. Then the troops had ridden over the ridge to the nesting ground and enslaved all of Windrider's people they could capture and slayed the ones they could not. Windrider's mate had still been in the trance of egg-laying and did not get out of the way fast enough. They had captured her,decided she was to weak to bother feeding, and slain her before Windrider's eyes.

He had mustered his forces to protect his people, but the sight of his mate bleeding to death over their newly laid egg, had caused him to go into a frenzy for revenge. He burst out of the bushes were he had concealed himself, and in his blind rage had not noticed that he had just blundered into a trap. As soon as the soldiers had seen the flash of his scales they threw the net they had prepared over him. Windrider paused a moment to reflect. That seemed like it had happened only yesterday. Then he once again thought of the egg. Had it survived the attack? If it did, had it hatched yet? If it survived, it had probably hatched by now, or it likely ever would.

Lilawyne found one of the nooks that was out of the way were she would not be disturbed. As she sank into the over-stuffed leather arm chair, she opened the book to the place she left off. The were more words on the page! "Wait a minute! I thought the words ended suddenly!" she thought. Hen she resigned herself to the pull of the book and kept reading.

Then, just as Lilawyne read the last word on the last page, there was a loud rushing noise, then a pop, and when she opened her eyes she saw she was falling. She started to scream. The air rushing past her face forced her to close her eyes. In the peace and darkness inside her mind, she noticed something. She wasn't falling, she was floating!

Wind rider raised his head from the pile of hay he had as a bed. He focused on the feeling that had awoken him from his nap. It was stronger than before. Sudenly, he felt companionship. Sudenly, he did not feel so alone.

King Simkin first felt the disturbance in the throne room. He had been listening to the pleas for supplies for the people of his kingdom. It was the same complaints every month, so the king was not really listening. "The farmers and villagers have plenty," he thought to himself. "Why, just last week I saw the square market in the town that mostly provides for the castle. There may have been a shortage of a few supplies, but they are needed for the soldiers that protected this land. They should be grateful that I let them have what they do," he thought. Then, interrupting his train on thought came the disturbance again, only much stronger this time. The king waved away the mayor, or baron, or whoever was kneeling before him and then motioned the captain of his guard forward. "Send troops to patrol the villages and tell them to bring any one that is causing uproar here to the dungeons."

There was a force holding her up and it was slowing her fall to the cave floor. The rush of wind flowing past her face slowed and she was able to comfortably open her eyes. The sides of the tunnel were made of gray rock and were as smooth as silk, except for niches at equal intervals around the sides and up and down. The small spaces all had a small object in them. In one she saw a tiny statue. In another , a jewled neclace. The one that caught her attention the most was a cloak. It looked like in was made of scales!

There was a mist around the bottom of the cave, but as Lilawyne moved down the mist melted into nothing.When she was just a few feet from the floor, the force that was holding her up gave way and she fell to the bottom. Luckily, the force was not enough to hurt her, but she curled into a ball on impact and the force of the drop rolled her into the sunlight. She got up and brushed herself off , then let her eyes adjust themselves to the light. Then something caught her eye. Lilawyne took a better look at what had made the sun glint strait into her face, then she didn't believe her eyes. "No! that can't be!" she exclaimed. What she saw were dragons.

Chapter 2: Sunchaser

Windrider felt the presence like an electric shock through the air. Even though he heard the girl with his food coming, he didn't care about anything but the tumble of emotions running through him. He raised his head and roared his triumph and joy to the world.

Simkin wasn't paying atention during the public hour, as usual, and was wondering what was for lunch when he heard it. The bellow was louder than anything he had ever heard, and he could fell the vibrations shake the floor. The dragon had been more active latley, ane Simkin knew what that had ment.as some nobles around him fell to the floor in prayer, and others with cooler heads ordered thier personal gaurds-men to subdue the beast, Simkin didn't move a muscle. He had taken procautions for this day. He was ready to face his most troublesome adversary yet. he didn't even know who it was.

Sound

Distubance

Dust

Clears

Human

Stares

Falls

Quiet

Lilawyne came to slowly. Her head felt fuzzy and dioriented. What a weird dream I had he though to herself.