chapter 1 to my book

In the middle of a willow forest, a graceful Kirin pricks her ears up and listens intently.  The slender doe like animal turns it’s head towards a source of sound, it’s single long antler shining in the afternoon sun that leaked though the forest canopy.  Suddenly she jumps, her white oxlike tail flying in the air. She watches a woman run with her baby.  The woman had dark brown hair flowing in the wind as she ran. Her skin was very pale.  She wore a beautifully decorated black dress.  Her baby was tightly wrapped in a emerald green cloak.  It was the Queen!  Behind her was something chasing her.  It was shouting and gaining on her with a sword that shined in the Kirin’s eyes.  She darted after the queen, her sparkling snowy white mane flowing behind her.  Because she was the young princesses’ guardian she had to rescue her.
“Give me the baby. I’ll keep her safe,” the Kirin said to the queen, “Run to the edge of the forest where the guards are, there I suspect he’ll find out and do something to the forest to find or scare me, and you‘ll stay safe.”

“Oh thank you Karla.” the queen gasped in an exhausted, frightened voice, “Go quickly!  Please save my baby!”
The queen hung the baby on Karla‘s horn, by the hood of the cloak.  Karla virtually flew through the forest and charged up the slope of a tall dormant volcano.  About a third  of the way from the peak, she heard a scream, followed by angry, frustrated shouting.  She bowed her head, the queen was dead.
Karla then perked her ears up and listened closely to the area where she heard the scream.  The shouting she heard was overtaken by the crackling of fire that drove her to run faster with the princess.  The man had cast a fire spell!  The fire  spread like lightning through the forest and soon overtook them.  A small ball of fire hit the baby and she cried out in pain.  Karla touched her right cheek, and the crying stopped. But she had a flaming scar.
Karla, knowing the fire was cast to kill the princess, bleated to the sky.  She called the spirit dragon, begging it to bring heavy rain.  The dragon came as fast as possible, putting out the fire.  The charred trees were now as are, as they would be in winter.  Karla ran faster until she reached the rim of the volcano mountain.

Cresting the rim, Karla ran down the steep wooded slope to a thick, dark, little  forest to the edge of  a huge, deep crystal clear lake.
Karla walked by the lake, the  shimmering brown carp scales that covered her body creating a sparkling reflection  in the  clear water.  She looked at the lake and bleated.  

A boat came to her magically.  It was a small dugout canoe.  She stepped delicately in and the canoe took off,  slowly moving along the deep, smooth surface of the lake.  Fish jumped out of the water, their rainbow scales brilliantly flashing in the setting sun.   As the canoe glided closer to the middle of the lake Karla saw a lake house.  It  looked like a normal frontier log house and seemed to be floating above the smooth, shimmering water  And it was!

“Hello, welcome,” an old woman shouted.  She was pale wearing a white cloak, and a hood over her head.  She was smiling, and waving.  Her beauty showed through her mature, weathered face.
“Hello, Grandmother Lynda!  How are you?”  Karla cried.  The canoe glided closer to her. Lynda was more clearer to see now.  Her eyes were normal and white.  Her face was rough.
She pulled her hood down.  Her hair was white as snow.
“Fine. What are you doing here,” Lynda questioned.
“Bad news the Queen has been murdered, and one of the princesses has been burned,” she glanced at the baby, “What should we do?”
Lynda thought for a moment.  She walked into the floating lake house and brought out a staff.  It was long and curved at the top.  It had a shining, diamond shaped black gem.
“No, anything but that,” Karla begged.
“It’s their only hope,” Lynda lifted the staff into the air.  She whispered something and four babies lifted into the sky, including the princess.  A black portal appeared and the babies flew threw.  “Be safe, princes, and princesses.” she whispered.

Copyright April 09, 2009