[PRP] Makenna's Past

[Rosalieart]

Makenna’s Past
1.

“Makenna, could you go and pick some fresh Spelfern? This just doesn’t seem to work well with the dried kind...” Makenna’s mother called, amidst the noise of the chopping knife and bubbling cauldron.
Makenna’s mother was a stout woman, but she never wasted time. You could always find her cheerily bustling around their home, singing some song or other. They were witches, most people called them ‘forest folk’ or ‘bramble faeries,’ but they were just witches all the same. Although their magic wasn’t very strong, many people came to them for medicinal spells and services.
Makenna had been trying to etch some runes into a hemlock staff when her mother cheerily called her. She looked up with a sigh, “Mom I just got you a sprig of that yesterday Surely you haven’t used it ALL up ”
Her mother’s head pokes out from around the corner, turning beet red, “Yes, well, um, Gwen and Shalan needed it, you know how they are ” Gwen and Shalan were the town’s Casters, supposedly chosen by the gods, their magic was much stronger than the average bramble faerie’s, and everyone knew that they were only chosen by how much power they had.
Makenna ground her teeth; she and most magic users hated the Casters because they never cared about anyone else who can use magic.
“OOOH I just can’t STAND them Why don’t they just ask someone else- or better yet, find it themselves They all know the spell ”
Her mother began to get flustered and a little reproachful, “Makenna Stop talking like that Just go find some more ” She raced out of the spell room and ushered makenna out the door.
“Hey stop it I’m not 3 anymore I can walk on my own; I’m sixteen ” Makenna was, and is, always a very independent slime, but when she gets irritated, she gets a bit rude.
“Oh stop it makenna- NO My potion ” she ran inside to the potion room, where a cauldron was frothing and smoking. She quickly ran around, picking things up off the shelves and throwing them into the potion with deft movements. There was a rancid smell for a moment, and the potion calmed. She let out a sigh of relief, and stirred the contents of it with a large wooden spoon, worn smooth with use. The potion shimmered like an opal once more.
She called back, “O Makenna Please just go ”
Makenna grumbled, but left, closing the white gate as she left through the garden. No flowers bloomed now, as it was early autumn, and her mother, despite Makenna’s persuasion, would only plant spring blooming flowers and herbs.
Her mood quickly lightened as she walked into the trees, moving at a brisk pace. She muttered good-naturedly to herself, “oh why do the darn things have t’ be so rare?” quickly entering the denser part of the forest, she kept a sharp eye out for the plant. The problem with Spelfern was that you couldn’t cultivate it; it has to grow wild.
“Yes There ” she made a beeline for a clearing surrounded by a thorny thicket, and, many scratches later, knelt to pick the blood-red plant.
“What's that?” something a little to the left, half hidden by a wild Goldenrose bush glittered darkly, entwined in the leafy vines. She leaned over cautiously and brushed away the now browning stalks which seemed to cling to the thing like they wanted to keep it. There, laying in the leaf litter was an intricately wrought necklace. Silver and gold were spun together, making almost a full circle of jewels. The way it was set made you think of an overgrown wood, and black gems, large and small, were placed ornately around the frames of golden and silver vines. At the center, hanging down just ever so slightly, was a large black gem. Shadows seemed to swirl within the large jewel, and something about it held Makenna’s attention.
The spelfern dropped from her hand and she reached eagerly for the beautiful piece. Reflecting, she thought how similar it was to Egyptian finery, yet completely different all at once. Remembering the small plant, she bent back and retrieved the plant, stuffing it into her satchel. She glanced back at the necklace, and a shiver of indecision went through her as she watched the Goldenrose slowly reclaim its prize.
Should I take it? She wondered, and her mother’s voice came back to her, ‘You shouldn’t touch things that seem magical Makenna; you never know what they really are. All the same she lurched forward and snatched the beautiful thing from the plant’s tendrils. Hooking the necklace around her neck, she wondered what her mother would say, and tucked it under her high-necked shirt, hiding it from view like a cat hides your glasses beneath it. She suddenly felt a rush of power spread from her breast, seeping through all parts of her body, she fought the urge to scream, the power seared like white fire, and even though she reached up and began to scrabble with her tunic’s buttons, she felt the power settle, like it was meant to be there. She reached to the necklace, but stayed her hand. The diamonds, for she could now tell they were diamonds, were pure white, and gleamed like stars. Fumbling with the clasp, she found that she couldn’t remove the necklace, and it had stuck itself against her lightly tanned skin.
She shrugged, unconcerned, and re-buttoned the shirt. The power she had received, she guessed from the necklace, felt good, very good. A warm sensation spread from her fingers as she reached for a tree branch to help herself over a particularly high vine. She jumped to the branch, which was a bit above her head, and pulled herself up, sitting against the rough bark of the tree. She guessed it was an old rowan, and looked at her fingers.
Nothing unusual looking.... She checked her magical vision, which, she thought, was pretty near useless, as all it did was let you see how much magic someone had.
A gasp escaped her lips. Her hands were glowing like beacons, and th rest of her was too. The only time she had seen magic look like that was when she had spotted a young shapeshifter watch her from the crown of a tree.
No, I couldn’t be... could I? She tried not to hope for too much, but she was bubbling over with excitement. Looking like this could only be good Luckily, her mother had not developed magical vision, and would not notice the change. An almost hysterical smile spread across her face, and she jumped down from the limb, rushing toward their small, but cozy home.
Her smile vanished and her face turned very white beneath the smattering of freckles, normally hard to see, that were spread across the tops of her cheeks and nose; now as visible as though someone had put ink on her. She had just heard a scream, her mother’s voice. She pounded up the worn path and threw open the door, just in time to see her mother being dragged down the road by the Casters.
She ran up to a young boy, Henrik by name, and asked what was going on, and what was happening to her mother. She stayed hidden in a bush behind him though.
“Run Makenna Get outta here They just passed an action. They’re sayin’ that all the forest folk and other magic users that ain’t casters is going to get killed They’re accusing them of ‘crimes against the gods and people’ sayin’ that,” Henrik hesitated, then continued in his country lilt, “ that they’re shades Makenna You gotta leave before thy catch you too We can’t deny the casters, or they’ll put us in purification camp My dad say he’s been there when he was a little kid, for stealing a spell book. They burn ya’ with blue dragonfire, and chant stuff behind you’re back, and you feel like you’re being roasted and stabbed with needles all over.”
Henrik shuddered, he was a close friend of Makenna. He began to say something else, but a hand shot out from the crowd, his father, a tall strong man, dragged him back to their smithy, not wanting him to see what happened to Makenna’s mother.
Makenna had frozen in shock, and was saying to herself, “oh nononono. Noononononononono ”
Gwen’s voice rang out, harsh and commanding, “Syanna You have been accused of using a Shade’s Sorcery The penalty is death ” The Caster dragged makenna’s mother to the executioner’s stall in an iron grip. Makenna’s mother was screaming and kicking and fighting for all she was worth until the Caster put a petrification spell on her.
Makenna shut her eyes as they set her mother on the executioner’s table and put her head through the notch. The other caster’s voice rang out, “WHO WILL PULL THIS ROPE AND FREE OUR TOWN?” Not one person stepped forward, and makenna’s mother’s eyes bulged, showing white all the way around. The second caster, Shalan, repeated the call... once.... twice.... three times... Each time, Makenna cringed and more tears flew from her tightly shut eyes. Her fisted hands were clenched, knuckles white, drawing blood from her own palm.
Finally, on the 5th repetition, the butcher, Cree, stepped forward. Cree was a suck up, but even so, his eyes were storming at the casters, and sorrow filled his stride. He took the rope in his wrinkled old hands, and whispered to makenna’s mother, “sorry.”
TWUMP Makenna opened her eyes, only to see her mother’s head fall, her look of terror forever imprinted upon her face. She ran. She crashed through the undergrowth, toward the forest once more. She heard a cry from a caster ring out, and saw from the corner of her eyes, a force spell being cast. The people involuntarily gave chase. The casters shot spells at her as she fled into the trees.
She tripped, rolled, and got up, keeping on running, but now sporting a large gash on her left arm where a spell hit her as she fell. Still she ran on, farther and faster than ever before, until she reached the place where the spelferns grew. An unearthly music rang out as she tripped again, this time landing on some moss, and the people’s voices died away.
She tried, three times to get the healing spell to work, tears streaming down her face, as she rubbed the leaf of the spelfern against the wound, finally saying the words correctly, but very shakily. Something went wrong though, and she fell unconscious as the wound closed up, but it left a thick white scar that ran the length of her arm.
She willingly drifted into the blackness as the world, and the strange music faded.







2.

Several hours later, in the heart of the night she began to wake. Visions of horrible things, torture, and death flitted through her unconscious mind, and she thrashed, involuntarily, like one having a nightmare feast on their mind’s fear. Slowly, her eyes reopened, things slid into focus. She blinked blearily, wondering sluggishly where she was.
Then the pain came back, the sorrow, her mother’s memory cutting like a knife. Then a burning pain, much more intense hit her. The spell wound. She looked at her arm, and bit back yet more tears, for herself, this time. She was disfigured. Somehow, she knew she’d have that horrible scar as an unwelcome reminder, always. Always. Always.
She turned, standing up; she looked around and realized she had come a good five miles into the forest, and had not been the least bit tired. She tried to think back to the chase, but her mind hadn’t been functioning then. She couldn’t remember barely anything. Just pain. And sadness, and loss.
She started, there was a girl standing before her, a girl with long raven colored locks that reached her waist. Her eyes were two different colors, moss green, and bark brown, both held flecks of amber. She stood there, like a tree, wind rippling through her hair, throwing it about like a cape. The only thing was, the air was dead. Completely still. Checking her magical vision, she found that this person- creature- had much power. The strange music rippled once more, and the creature’s power flared through it. There was nothing for it, she was not fit to fight. Whatever it was had saved her, she sat, suddenly very weak, and stared middle distance, waiting. Waiting. Waiting...
A musical voice spoke, holding a wild beauty all its own, “who are you, young hawk?” she lifted her fingers and a breeze whipped toward makenna, numbing her pain somewhat.
“I-I’m Makenna,” she said, snapping out of her reverie, entranced by the new arrival’s voice, “why... why did you call me young hawk? D-did you save me from the casters? Who are you, could I ret-turn the q-question?” She stuttered as the breeze thoroughly chilled her, and because of a fear of this new person.
Again, the voice held makenna, as it spoke, “I called you young hawk because that is what you are- were as you fled here, before the branch hit you and you fell, you probably think of it as tripping, do you not?” The voice was gentle, but flowed with power, “If you would consider cloaking us so they ran past saving, yes, I have saved you then. I am Elliryanna, if that is too much, you may speak to me as Elli, yet I am only but half Wood Spirit, partly real, partly not.”
Makenna looked stunned, not hearing the first half of the next sentence, her mouth unhinged, “W-w-what? H-how could.... I... be a hawk?” she glanced down at her arm once more, and realized that the necklace was no longer around her neck. She unbuttoned her tunic, and saw the largest of the gems right beneath her collarbone, and that too soon dissolved into her skin. She re-buttoned the top two buttons that she had undone, and gazed, open-mouthed, at her left hand, which now had a strange sheen, with magic swirling and collection in the center of a dark spot, just like the gem had been at first.
The wood spirit looked shocked, and drifted closer to makenna, “How can you not know that you are a shapeshifter? I know you may not be very powerful, perhaps, but how can you not know?”
“What? How can that be? I’m just a bramble faerie,” she said, using a common term for what she was, “There’s no way, no way, that I could be a shapeshift-” Makenna’s hand flew to her throat. “T-the necklace?” she asked tentatively.
Makenna looked awkward for a moment, and drew away from Elli, “I... suspected..... that something changed other than my power, when I... put the necklace on.”
Elli simply nodded and watched Makenna move away, saying nothing. The new revelation was too much for makenna at this point. She turned and fled toward her home, thoughts whirling every which way in her head. How could... I... be a shapeshifter? Why did they... what was my mother making that day? Spelfern is awfully potent, and now that I think about it, there are quite a few things... I never saw the Casters come, and I was there the whole time Maybe.... No. No. Definitely not.
But even so...
She became increasingly worried, so many things just didn’t add up under normal circumstances, and only lead to one thing. Her mother was hatching a wyvern, or some other magical creature that was born from an egg. What was going on? That still left many things unsolved though. What about the action? The wood spirit?
Makenna had no time left to think about this though, as she was nearing their home. It was a fair way into the wood, and they had a house in town for business and such. There was a good chance it hadn’t been burned down... yet.
She could have cried with releif as she saw that the house was still standing. Makenna rushed up to the little white gate and undid the small iron clasp with barely a break in stride. Now she became cautious, if it was something that her mother hadn’t known would hatch, or some sort of look alike, there could be some very nasty creature waiting for her.
She quieted her footfalls with a word, and stepped silently into the old spell room. The pot was now filles with myst, a magical subsstance that appeared right before a change happened. Makenna’s breath caught, there was a faint tapping audible, coming from within the pot. She glanced up at the shelves- and did a double take. There, all lined up, were all the ingredients for a Hatching, but that was not what caught her attention. Next to the jars and bottles of spices and liquids, was an egg. It was an amazing color, pure white, but flecked with color... just like an opal. She realized her mother must not have put the egg in, and now was the time.
Makenna picked up the egg, which was nearly as large as her head, but oval, and sort of flat, and placed it into the cauldron. Myst flared and shot out in all directions. She did not flinch, but waited, and watched.
Now two tapping noises came from within, one a higher pitch than the other. She cursed to herself, as she realized something. “Dragonspit There was already an egg in there ”
One egg shot out, a deep forest green, nearly taking her head with it at it crashed to the cluttered table, scattering all of Syanna’s meticulusly crafted bowls, poultices, potions, creams, dished, and potion making tools. The egg rocked violently to and fro, changing colors rapidly. Serveral deep cracks appeared in the surface, and a few chips flew, makenna barely dodged in time.
Light shot from the cracks, and the egg exploded, shattering. A large amount of densely packed myst surronded whatever was inside of the egg. The other egg, the opal one, shot out from the cauldron, repeating the emerald egg’s preformance. The first egg’s myst had begun to clear, and makenna sucked in her breath.
A baby wyvern sat in front of her, looking at her with eyes that were much too intelegent for their age. She turned slightly, and next to the first, was a second wyvern, but this one was pure white, as opposed to the dark red and brown coloration that was normal.
Both looked at her expectantly, and she reached forward to touch them, to let them both smell a hand. On contact, her skin bubbled and burned. There was no pain though, and sparks danced up her arm, vanishing into her eyes. She blinked, and contact came through, both wyverns asked the same question, Who are we?
Makenna yelped in surprise at the voices within her head. They were not her own. She warily looked them up and down, and, selecting the white one, said softly, “You are... Syanna, after... my mother...” She turned to the more normal wyvern, who was gazing at her intently, and said, “...Chealasa...”
Both wyverns nodded, and soared forward, each landing on one of her shoulders, like two red-tail hawks. There were about the right size, it seemed to makenna, to be mistaken for hawks. They folded their wings, looking smug, and Makenna cast a few illusions so that anyone else would see them as hawks. She gave a wan smile, and tried thought speech.
... ... ... Hello? ... ... ...Can you hear me? Cheal? ... Syanna?
Yes.
Yes. There is hesitation in your voice when you asy my name, is something troubling you?
... ... No, well, yes... I don’t want to talk about it.
Oh.
Cheal was not very talkative, but Syanna picked up on her feelings right away. She stopped talking, uncomfortable with the feeling that they shared their minds, to a degree.
Makenna walked out of the house, still in awe of what just happened. Now I have not ONE wyvern, but two... she thought in wonder as she reached up and stroked their leathery heads. Two wyverns... what was she to do? Soon, they would be much to large, much, much too large to keep around easily.
Sensing this, Cheal put in a thought. Hey, when we get big enough, You can fly on one of us, and we can see what’s beyond this continent, this realm.
Makenna stopped abruptly, accusing Cheal disbelievingly, You’ve been going through my memories?
Cheal just shuffled her wings and remained silent. Makenna glared at her, and felt around her memories, thinking how to block them out. Makenna had an idea quite suddenly, spoke a few words, and suddenly felt separate from the wyverns, yet was able to open her mind up again at will.
Satisfied that she hadn’t gone insane, she shook her head, thinking to herself, That wasn’t a bad idea, those wyverns... They just seem to know EVERYTHING, even though they are only a couple months old. The thought unnerved her and she shivered, walking back to where she had met the wood spirit.
Everything looked different at night time, and she took the wrong path several times, until Syanna became exasperated and yelled at makenna to make a light. At this, makenna had blushed.
Elli looked up, surprised, as she saw through the illusions, due to her wood spirit links, “where did you get those now? Hey, if you need a place to stay, I have a treehouse....” Elli looked curious, even... hopeful, at the thought she’d have a freind.
Makenna just grunted, “long story. Ask them” she jabbed a finger at the wyverns, who had soared up to the treehouse. “ And we’d love to stay with you f you’d have us.” She frowned slightly though, deep in thought about Elli’s claims that she was a shapeshifter.
Elli’s face lit up, and the ascended the tree. As soon as Elli showed makenna her room, though, makenna dissappeared into it, saying, “I.. need some time. I’ll come down when I’m ready. Keep those two little wyverns about you. They’re a bit too smart.” She put emphasis on the word ‘too’ and shut the door.


yep, still writing it, but hey.

ugh, the italics got messsed up. just pretend they're there.

points:43.2
HOLY MOLEY! did i really write THAT much?  

[Rosalieart]

oh, i just think i need to put this.
i am hoping to make this into a book (makenna will be human there of course), so i am putting a copyright here.

(C) Rosalieart @ 12/10 2006  

[Rosalieart]

Makenna looked around, her eyes taking in everything as she slowly turned in a small semi-circle. The room was large and airy, as well as spacious, the walls were made of the tree itself, as the entire tree house was actually a part of the tree. She noticed for the first time that there was a set of stairs set off to the side, going up. These she disregarded for now; she wanted to explore this part first.
Looking around she spotted the bed, which intrigued her. She went to it, and saw that it seemed to be made of gigantic leaves. Wondering how it would feel, she ran her fingers over them. Finding the leaves soft, she gazed at it in wonder, and sat down onto the strange bed. Almost immediately, she was extremely comfortable and was quickly becoming quite drowsy, cradled in the depression that had formed around her in the center of the lower leaf.
Next to the bed stood an ancient oaken stand, on which there sat a strange lamp. As she looked closer, she saw the light swirl, and realized it was magic, she watched it for a moment, her face reflecting on the surface. As she felt her eyelids slowly closing, she shook her head a few times, and forced herself to climb out of the leafy bed.
Looking about again, she noticed an open door on the other side of the room, and angrily walked over to it, and to the short hallway that led from the open door. She was about to yell and ask who opened her door, but stopped when she realized that the hallway actually went to another part of the room.
Intrigued, she went down the hall, feet softly echoing on the wood beneath her feet, and found herself in a small study. There were many shelves, and a beautiful desk, well stocked with paper, pencils, pens, ink, and numerous small lights that were set into a panel that extended from the desk, angled perfectly to light whatever you were working on. She began to wander past the bookshelves and stopped, seeing a well stocked spell area, complete with cauldron and tools. She went around it for a while, looking at how nice it was, compared to her mother’s dingy little room that was more of a closet than a real room. She picked up several tools, wondering what they were for, and stopped doing this rather quickly as a small ball with a clasp that was gold, inlaid with strange runes, electrocuted her sharply.
Seeing nothing more of interest, she left, and curiously ascended the staircase. After she reached the landing, she was amazed, and stood, open-mouthed, for several long minutes. There was a rather large den-type-room there, but it had a balcony, and a place to cook. She didn’t particularly want to try what she was about to do up here, where anyone could hear her- or see her, for that matter, from the forest floor by looking up at the balcony, so she went back down to the room with the bed.
She stood in the center of the room and breathed deeply, a pleasant cinnamon smell entering her nose. Ok, she thought, How to see if I really can shapeshift? Hmm... She ran through several idiotic ideas, and decided on an obvious one after thinking back to the young shapeshifter boy who had often watched her from the treetops as an exotic monkey.
She closed her eyes, and pictured a small Byrd, a type of small griffon, in her mind. Focusing all her will on that shape, she tried to make her body fit it. It was much harder than she had expected, and it took all her willpower to stop her mind from wandering as she tried to exclude all other thoughts and feelings. She felt no considerable change after many excruciatingly long minutes. Opening her eyes, she sighed, “ah well, can’t hope for too much-” she stopped. Her voice was raspy
like a Byrd’s. She ran over to the stand, aware that she wasn’t moving quite normally, and looked at her reflection on the lamp. She let out a little gasp. She had become a Byrd Yet, even as she looked, the form melted away, as she could hold it no longer, and appeared as her normal self.
The two wyverns raced down the stairs, having soared in through the window that led to the balcony. Makenna sighed, but even the pesky little things couldn’t dampen her elated mood.
What do you guys want? Makenna asked with pretended gruffness.
Syanna replied to her first, and Chealasa shot her a nasty glance as she didn’t say things quite right, Nothing. We just suddenly felt really, really happy, and we realized- ok, CHEAL realized, that it came from you- that it was your feeling bubbling over into US What happened just now??
There was an awkward pause, and Syanna said, um... I just realized something... we don’t know you’re name yet... ...
Makenna, she said hurriedly, and said aloud answering their question, “It’s true I AM a shapeshifter ” Just saying it feel good, like she was free to do whatever she wanted with no limitations, and made her fully realize that it was true. She began running around, and yelling exuberantly, even as the wyverns exchanged amused glances.
Cheal finally spoke, cutting in to her rush, WE already knew that Why didn’t you believe Elli? C’mon Lets go She’s made a whole lot of food
An absolute feast of the forest Agreed Syanna, and WE helped her make it
At this, both of the young wyverns crowed enthusiastically, arching their necks, and taking off, and soaring around the room before coming to land on either of Makenna’s shoulders.
Makenna was irritated at Cheal for putting a damper on her mood, but she quickly brightened at the thought of a meal, realizing how long it had been since she’d eaten last, then laughed at their exuberance, which earned short irritated and reproachful looks from the little creatures on her shoulders, followed by a bit of embarrassed shuffling.










3. Back at the house

The myst hadn’t yet cleared as makenna ran out, and now it frothed and bubbled, turning an ominous black color, streaked with veins of red. Suddenly, an egg much larger than that of the wyverns shot out, smashing into the wall, leaving a large plank missing. The egg was covered in spikes, the color of blood and ash.
The egg rebounded and crashed into the small boarded up window that hid Makenna’s mother’s most dangerous spell regents. Bottles of death seed and Malignance flew, splintering onto the egg, which absorbed them. The egg spun again, and this time peirced a lock of dark hair, as black as the night sky. Makenna’s father’s hair. The egg absorbed this as well, and kept flying.
Finally landing in a puddle of the rare substance, Demon’s Blood, huge cracks appeared in the surface, they shone with blood red light, and the spikes pulsed as a ball of flame enamated from the demon’s blood, engulfing the creature’s egg, going straight to the heart of the creature within.
A small portion of eggshell, as thick as a grown man’s arm, shot off, and shattered against the cauldron, which split in two, as two pairs of red eyes peered out from the darkness of the shell.
The Demon’s Blood that was still on the stone floor flew to the wall, and a Black Fire seared the wood, spelling out one word. Just one word. A name.

NOCTUAIN

The letters flared a shade of white as one hand grasped the edge of the egg, human, except for the fact that there were only four fingers, and each ended in a razor sharp talon the color of dried blood...
















4. Makenna/Cheal/Syanna

Makenna laughed at the wyverns’ reaction and went out through the door, idly chatting with them. They were very quickly finding their way into her heart. She constantly marveled at the size and how complex the house was, as it seemed very small from the exterior, belaying its true size.
It was quite some time until Makenna realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was going, and she abruptly stopped.
Why did you stop, Makenna?
Cheal, think about it. Do you have any idea where we are?
No, but I had guess-
Exactly
WHY YOU- This incited a large argument, which Makenna tolerated for a little while, but she soon found she couldn’t remember the way back with the two wyverns arguing like a couple of little kids.
CHEAL SYANNA STOP IT Both wyverns subsided, still shooting evil glances at one another. Makenna sighed, Look, I’ve forgotten how we got here with you two squabbling all the time Syanna, you don’t have to be so... so... so... you know And Cheal, you don’t have to react to her Ugh... Makenna was beginning to see how different their personalities really were.
Syanna tended to be smarter, and more delicate, but a bit stuck up, whereas Cheal was quite passionate, over-reacting sometimes, and fun loving, but just as smart if you could get her to stop and really think. She smiled to herself as she remembered Cheal going through her memories, A bit nosy too, she thought wryly, which set Cheal off again, this time arguing with makenna.
As the argument reached a fever-pitch, Syanna sighed, exasperated, and flew over, promptly slapping both Makenna and Cheal with her claws, just hard enough to make them stop, before going back to her perch on Makenna’s shoulder.
HEY Makenna complained.
SYANNA OH WHEN I GET MY CLAWS ON YOU Cheal unfolded her wings and prepared to take off.
Cheal Stop it
Cheal subsided, grumbling and folded her wings back up.
Makenna’s stomach complained loudly, and she sighed, running a hand through her hair. Do either of you have any idea how we got here?
Not really, I’d no idea it was this BIG in here
I know what you mean Syanna... Well, I see another door up ahead, maybe that’s where we need to go. Makenna went forward and tried the door, and found it locked. She sighed and sank against the wall, the wyverns jumping off her shoulders and gliding to the floor as she sat.
Suddenly makenna’s eyes lit up, the wyverns could travel much faster than she could. Syanna, Cheal, why don’t you two split up and see if you can find Elli?
You guys can fly much faster than I can walk. I’ll stay here and you can find your way back to me through this weird link thing.
Y’know? That just might work makenna
Yeah But do we have to split up?
Yes.
Syanna I didn’t ask you
GUYS STOP
Hmph
Makenna stood up and quickly told each wyvern to go in different directions. Cheal took off first, and wheeled up to the high ceiling to get her balance before soaring off to makenna’s left. Syanna did the same, but headed right.
Makenna sighed and prepared for a long wait.

Cheal soared along the corridor, randomly turning at places where two halls crossed, and she wondered if this had been such a good idea after all, she had no idea where she was flying from, let alone where to.
After several minutes of rather frantic turns, she found herself passing by an old wooden carving of a tiger for the fourth time. She stopped and muttered crossly to herself in dragon-tongue, a language that all wyverns and dragons knew instinctively.
She looked around at the intersection, and took a deep breath forcing herself to think. Okay, THIS would be the hall I just came out of... She gouged a mark on the wood beside the doorway, and THAT must be the turn I took last time... She gouged another of the four, and having done so, she turned, now hovering, and let a little growl of surprise ripple from her throat. Two creatures had appeared in front of the last two paths, and letters glowed on the wall behind them, reading:

ONE ALWAYS WILL TELL TRUTH;
THE OTHER SHALL ONLY LIE
ASK ONE QUESTION
AND ONE ONLY

Both of the creatures said in a weird language that, strangely, Cheal understood, “This is the way to the kitchen.”
Cheal grew thoroughly annoyed at this, Oh Dragonspit Syanna is the one who’s good at all this logic mumbo-jumbo Cheal hadn’t the faintest idea what to ask, but she knew that as soon as she realized the question to ask, it would be ridiculously obvious.
She lowered herself to the wooden floor, her scaly brow wrinkling in frustration as she mentally explored the outcome of several possible questions. It promised to be a long job.

Syanna, meanwhile, had planned ahead much farther than cheal had. Every time she took a turn, she had marked the door with a small piece of charcoal she had stolen from makenna, who used it for drawing runes. Even so, she still ended up hopelessly lost, and growled in frustration.
CRACK Syanna swiped at the wall in annoyance, and pain, as she had just over estimated her speed and hit the wall- hard. She rubbed her head gingerly with one paw, muttering something unintelligible under her breath. Grumbling, she got to her feet and recoiled in surprise.

Hi Cheal...
Huh? Oh, hi.... don’t bother me... trying to think this out....
Hm? Oh Syanna became a bit more cheerful as she saw the riddle. That’s EASY to solve
Cheal gave her an incredulous look, How d’ you figure?
Easy, look, see if one always lies, and the other always tells the truth, then we get a really easy yes or no question, and we see who’s lying.
OOOH I see now Cheal enthusiastically flapped over to the wooden tiger statue, and with a tremendous effort, pulled the thing into the air and dropped it in front of the two creatures, who looked at it curiously. Cheal landed next to Syanna, panting, the tiger was almost twice as big as she was. I’ve got a good question Let’s ask it ‘This is a wooden statue of a butterfly and is no bigger than one of my claws, is this true?’
EXACTLY Exactly what I was thinking, the two couldn’t possibly see eye to eye for that
One problem Syanna...
Yeah... Syanna replied half-heartedly, she had just realized the same, and the both said together:
How do we ask the question?
Might as well try dragon-tongue then.
Guess so cheal. I will, I suppose... Syanna gulped and stepped forward, making seemingly strange noises that were dragon-tongue.
To both the wyverns’ surprise, the creatures suddenly changed into dragons, and the one on the left said in perfect dragon-tongue, “It is most obviously a butterfly ”
The one on the right did the same, but replied, “That is most obviously a tiger.”

The two wyverns crowed in joy, and swiftly flew past the right hand creature, who smiled, and both creatures sank back into the floor. ELLI Cheal cried through mind speech to makenna, for Elli had just run from a door farther down the hall to see what all the noise was. Elli relaxed and smiled, but grew anxious when she did not see makenna.
“Where’s makenna? Oh... You can’t speak English... can you?” Elli quickly shut her eyes, winced and opened them again, now using thought speech. What happened?
Syanna answered first, cutting off cheal, who shot her a murderous look, We got lost looking for the kitchen, come on We can take you to makenna, but do you have a map of this place? Its HUGE
And what’s with those riddle creatures, any who? Cheal cut in, as they both landed.
Elli grimaced, you met the Twins, did you? They’re not a good pair to meet when you’re lost. I can’t seem to be able to rid this place of them. If you ever meet them again, just say ‘Garand’ to them in dragon-tongue, don’t ask me why, but the liar always runs at that name. Elli shrugged, then, watching the two wyverns take off again, ran after them, thinking about how fast the little creatures could cover ground.




@-@ i'll count these points up later.... much later.... sweatdrop

((edit by Dragon: I counted 137 sentences = 27 points))  

[Rosalieart]

Over here
Cheal, she can hear you just fine, you don’t have to shout.
OH BE QUIET SYANNA
Guys, stop it and lets find makenna. Elli shook her head, they were always fighting, they’d knocked over half the food in the kitchen before going up to makenna.
After several minutes of running and flying, along with plenty of backtracking, they found makenna, who turned bright red and stood up quickly, “Its about time ” she snapped at the wyverns, who hissed and stated yelling. Makenna mumbled an apology out loud to the wyverns, turned to Elli, and sheepishly asked, “... ... do you have a map of this place?”
Elli sniggered and grinned wolfishly, but not unkindly, “No, but if you tell me why you didn’t read the notes that I tacked up on every hallway and intersection,” she pointed to a paper on the wall behind makenna, “then you wouldn’t have gotten lost ” she watched makenna’s blush fade, and her features form into a scowl.
“Maybe if I had a guide I wouldn’t need to read signs, or if someone could give us a mental map, maybe at least telling us roughly where we are...” she retorted sharply, blushing all the same.
“You really are stubborn, aren’t you? ...Ah well.”
“Yes.” Makenna replied defiantly, “yes I am.”
Elli sighed and sent the mental map. “Is that enough for you? I hope so, because the food is getting cold,” Elli remarked sourly.


Waiting until the wyverns got their seats on her shoulders, she walked off, with Elli following her, grin still in place.









































5. Noctuian:

A deep crevice shot through the egg, splitting it as it rocked viciously to and fro. Suddenly, all the motion stopped, and very slowly, like a kettle coming to boil, an ear splitting shriek rang out from the egg, but it was the kind of shriek that plainly said, “Death,” and made your blood freeze. Angry shouts came within hearing from the mob, now thoroughly convinced that anything to do with makenna and her mother was evil. Fire cast flickering shadows on the cardboard that hid the window, night was coming on fast. Still the egg lay still. The mob passed...


Midnight:

Suddenly, another shriek rang from the egg, waking every person in the village nearby; all movement in the woods stopped. Not even a moth stirred as torches were lit again inside the village square. The people, led by the two casters, combed the woods, this time the casters found and disarmed the cloaking spell on the house. The egg shattered in a shock of bloody light and the word vanished, the fire zooming forward and being absorbed into the creature’s chest. A strange creature rolled forward from the egg, part human, but dark red with white pulsing veins covering its flesh; it looked strangely distorted, it lifted its arms, which explained a lot. Running from the edge of the wrists to the hip on either side there was a thin translucent membrane, resembling wings in a odd sort of way.
The smell of burning torches reached the thing’s slit-like nostrils, and it opened its snake like eyes, casting around for the smell. It stumble, clumsily toward the boarded up window, revealing a row of razor sharp spikes going down its spine. It made one quick slash at the cardboard blocking the window, which fell to shreds, partially burned. The thing, Noctuain, jumped out the window, and crawled to the crowd. Every person, even the casters, fell silent, paralyzed in fear of this thing that looked to be a half demon toddler. It opened its mouth, revealing razor sharp teeth and said in a crackling growl of a voice, “Noctuain ”
It lunged forward and caught one of the caster’s legs in its mouth, and began to tear it up and climb to her chest. It flourished a claw... and dug out her heart. She screamed once, and crumpled. Noctuain shoved the still twitching heart into is mouth, and swallowed it, blood running down its face. Its eyes, before just very scarey, now turned demonic, and acid green, with red pupils, which contracted. It now had magic in its blood.
The crowd came to its senses and ran. Noctuain, discovering it’s membranes could be used to glide, climbed a tree and swooped after the fleeing people, hungrily staring at the people, the caster’s blood still soaking into its skin, turning the white veins black.
With a jump, it landed on a lagging person’s head. Slicing through the neck, it quickly drained his blood, and went after the others. Something in its nature did not want them to escape. It hissed, and ran after them, now the size of an average eight year old, and capable of producing its own flight, not just gliding.

By morning, there was not a person left in the village. Noctuain now resembled a human more, as it had found that it could pull back its claws, spines, wings, and change enough to pass for a human child. The only things that betrayed the truth were his teeth, and the acid green eyes. He turned to the road leading away from the village and to the capital, thinking. It had become much more capable of thought after its feast, and started along the dirt path, wearing stolen garments, thirsty for the blood of royalty.







again, points will have to wait, razz


((edit by Dragon: I counted 47 sentences = 9 points))