The Dark Dragon King Author's Note: This is an old fan fiction #poem I wrote a while back based on the shapeshifters and dragons in L.J. Smith's Night World books V1) Eyes at night in the dark Eyes that glow, eyes that spark Panther, bear, wolf or hawk All come out at night to prowl, hunt and stalk V2) In the moonlight they hunt their prey And walk among mortals in human form the following day If you discover them, do not stop and stare Or in their eyes you will find danger lurking there V3) Their predatory grace and beauty will pull you in You'll try to fight it though you won't win But something, I should make very clear It's the dark dragon king, you should really fear V4) His eyes are black, black as coal They'll drag you in and swallow you whole Deadly claws scrape across the ground You'll scream but your voice won't make a sound V5) His dark leathery wings blot out the sun And strike terror in the hearts of everyone His mask of beauty will make you think you're not his prey But dare you run or dare you stay

The Knights Of Eirelaian: Halfling Chapter Fifteen Over half of the greichon lay mortally wounded or dead around the feet of Egan-Rahn and the mysterious silver haired girl. Both looked at the remaining greichon slowly surrounding them poised to attack and then looked at each other and grinned. "After the count of three" One Two THREE! The little maiden hid in a nearby tree out of harm's way and watched the chaotic battle below her. Only she knew who the farm boy really was and only he knew what she'd become. She wouldn't be able to explain it to anyone later if they asked, but it felt like someone else was watching what she could see through her eyes. Someone not quite right. Even if she'd tried she couldn't help feel her eyes moving and watching everything that was happening, but not really watching any of it herself. Suddenly a dark vapour like winged creature burst into the melee, disintegrating greichon left right and centre, leaving grey dust and smoke in its wake. Before she could even block it out of her mind the maiden heard a loud hiss followed by an angry screech finished off with arrogant laughter which sent everything into pitch blackness ~*~*~*~ "Praivin Alistella! Lady Emma spoke sternly to the princess, looking somewhat like a strange floating head as she changed back to her more visual form, "How many times do I have to tell you not to leave the safety of the campsite!" "Your name's Alistella?" the farm boy interrupted before Ali could speak, "Not the...? His voice trailed off and his eyes looked strangely sad as if realised something that he didn't want to admit." "No, I'm just a normal girl" Ali answered him, partially telling the truth, "My mother and father named me after Alistella Starsinger the first magic wielder in Eirelaian, just like a lot of other girls born during my birth year, including the princess." Of course the full truth on that part was that all those other girls had been named after the princess herself, but the boy seemed to accept this for now. "And what is your name?" Lady Emma calmly asked the boy, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion. "My name is Rellan, m'am" the boy answered her whilst looking almost mesmerized at Ali, "Everyone calls me Rel though" "Rel?" "Yeah" "Nice name" "Thanks, I'm quite attached to it" "Alright! That's enough of that" Lady Emma interrupted the flirt session just as Alistella turned her face away to hide her blush and smile, "You'll have to come with us I'm afraid, Master Rellan. We need you to tell us how you found Miss Shinlai" ~*~*~*~ "Ouch! That hurt!" "If you'd just stop squirming I'd be finished sooner" Leilani turned and pouted at her soul guardian. "You know" Soojejia said calmly, ignoring the moody look on the halfling's face as she continued magically styling her hair, "this wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't let them cut off all your hair in the first place" "Have you tried going around with stupidly long hair in the human world?" Leilani asked in response, nonchalantly grabbing a fruit roll from a nearby tray and taking a huge bite out of it, "If's nof praficle efan here you know" "Really? And what do you call these?" the ginji held up a pair of scruffy old hair bobbles. "Wait!" the halfling was aghast and puzzled, "You're not holding my hair back with those things, are you?" "No, don't be silly" "Oh good" "I'm using these" Soojejia beamed as she held up what looked like a pair of thin sharp looking blades almost the length of her forearm and half wrapped in what seemed to be silk ribbon, "Now hold still while I fix your hair braids in place"

Finally! I have finished writing Chapter 16 of my story Took me a while but I do believe it's getting the point in the book where things really start move along Secrets will gradually be revealed from Chapter 17 and onwards and new characters will join the cast, even if some of them are there for just fleeting visit. Also I promise you guys that I will reveal what the connection between Leilani Hanlin and Mara Trista is soon enough Hugz Andie

The Knights Of Eirelaian: Halfling Chapter Fourteen Running after Alistella, making sure the princess never left her sight, Emma allowed herself to melt into the dark vapoured winged form of her hunter fey persona and ploughed through the path of the storming greichon, leaving a trail of torn bodies behind her for her twin Danwin to finish off. What ever happened, it was her duty to protect the princess even if it meant that sometimes she had to rely on someone else to help pick up the pieces. 'She's too fast!' she shouted to her brother's mind, 'Why does she always have to be too fast' 'You trained her that way' came the amused laughing reply, 'Only person to blame is yourself' 'Remind me to tell Pria that she's marrying a big boring know-it-all' ~*~*~*~ "Back away from the girl or I'll make sure this'll be your last day in the world of the living!" Ali shook her head in disbelief as the farm boy feebly attempted to scare away the greichon from around him and the young girl with him. "If you're trying to ask them to a tea party then you're doing brilliantly" she spoke calmly, getting everyone's attention for the first time since she had arrived at the clearing, "However, if you're trying to strike fear into their minds then you're really rubbish at it" The farm boy gave her a mixed look of confusion, bewilderment, and frustration. He began to open his mouth to speak to her, but instead was interrupted by the choked screams of two greichon falling dead to the ground. "I'm sorry" Ali said nonchalantly as she casually uncrossed her arms and gripped the dagger swords in her hands, "What were you trying to say?" "Nothing" came the sighed response, "just nothing. It's not important anyway" Ali nodded and handed him one of the swords, not once missing the almost sinister glint in his eye, "Less talk, more fight. Got that?" "Got it" ~*~*~*~ One thing Leilani definitely learned about living in a different world was that she always seemed to be getting herself in trouble in some form or other. "So much for Dad being a boring business man" she sighed, fidgeting with the bandages around her hands, "I wonder what my classmates back home would think of all this." A newly familiar and gradually frustrating voice interrupted her reverie, "Stop scratching them: you'll make them worse if you do" Leilani frowned as the rusty haired high councillor sat down on the wobbly little foot stool beside her travel bed. "Oh, it's you" she pouted. How dare he look so innocent and lost and scared and annoyingly beautiful and make her start to fall... "What do you want?" "For you to stop being silly and hold still" "What the? Hey! That's cold!" Arnell had gently unwrapped the bandages and was rubbing some kind of strange looking lotion into the palms of her hands. "Thank the Goddess you were asleep last time I helped to heal you" he muttered, carefully looking for burn marks and scars, "If I knew you were this annoying." Leilani whipped her hands away, "I AM NOT..." The others in the healing tent were giving her funny looks. "I am not annoying" she said, lowering her voice to a hiss, "It's just that you... You... You" Her words were lost as he stared deep into her eyes. He really genuinely looked scared he might lose her. "I know what you think of me" he sighed, not realising he was still holding her hand, "and I wouldn't blame you. The world you come from is so much different from mine. I would chance a guess that someone like me with my attitude would not be accepted so gracefully." "Well, not totally" Leilani's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed pink. Where had that come from? She didn't want to like him. In fact a very tempermental part of her soul refused to like him, but that was now slowly being taken over by the part that did. "Your father informed me of the different courting customs you're used to" Arnell went on, ignoring Leilani's blank expression, "Apparently you honour friendship first. If you will be my friend you may get to understand me more and how I see my way through this world better." "And what if I don't like following your way through this world?" "I'll give up and follow your way instead" Screwing up her eyes Leilani fought back the stubborn little side that threw walls against things and people she couldn't figure out. "Fine," she answered with an annoyed gasp, "I'll be your friend. However if you so much as..." "You have my word, I promise" "Good" "Oh and Hanlin?" "What now?" Leilani sighed, starting to get annoyed again. "You really should fix your hair" Arnell answered her calmly, "It's very unladylike" And with a wave of his hand he threw an enchantment at Leilani's short messy lopsided bob, making it grow long again. Even as he left the infirmary the halfling was fiercly trying and failing to make her hair stop growing. Neither of them realized which whispered secret they'd unveiled to a nearby lowly healer maid. "Mara Trista still lives"

The Knights Of Eirelaian: Halfling Chapter Thirteen "You're late" Egan-Rahn ignored the comment and set the girl he was carrying on the ground. "I believe you'll find that you are early, Norcadius" he said bluntly, "Entirely not my fault that you and your men couldn't wait and caused the whole camp to be alerted in the process." "Still" he went on as the greichon messenger sneered angrily at him, "This may just work to my advantage. Call all your men here" "So you can use the dark fey queen to your advanta... Ack!" "I work for Queen Morgada and only her" Egan-Rahn spoke coldly as he drained the energy from the grey man, "Have you got that." A wheezing gasp and an unsteady nod was the response. "Hmmph! You're not worth wasting my powers on" the dark dragon fey said, throwing the greichon to the ground, "Now call all your men here or I'll call Queen Morgada and inform her of your disrespect of her plans" ~*~*~*~ Feeling the pull of the tree spirit trying to devour her soul Kirky shot an arrow at the creature below her, leaving it to scream into vanishing dust, before falling back into unconsciousness herself. As the waking world around her faded away, long forgotten memories began playing about her mind. One particular memory had the young archer trying to figure out where she could possibly have remembered it from. In it she seemed to be small and had a child's prospective of the world and the people there felt familiar even though she did not recognise them. Also she was hiding behind a curtain in a small cove in a great hall watching a man and four women talking among themselves: The two tall women each had dark hair and silver blue hair respectively while the slightly shorter woman had silver hair and the smallest one also had silver blue hair. "You need to stop running away to the Tariski Caves, Malinna" the tall dark haired woman was saying to the smallest woman, her rusted green-black and silver guard soldier's uniform stark in contrast to the smallest's long purple dress and head veil, "That place is evil and could badly affect your right as one of the ruling queens of..." "But Trista, I don't want to sha..." "That's enough, small princess!" the cloaked councillor-like man said to Malinna as he held Trista's hand in his, "You know full well that the prophecies state that three cousins will rule all when the sky fire and the storm cloud unite. One part of those prophecies is almost fulfilled," he indicated the twisted ribbons of forest green and midnight blue each wrapped around his own wrist and Trista's, "It'll be up to you to help Rayma and Kalikai to fulfil the rest." "The shadowed man says the prophecies are just fairytales" "What shadowed man?" "Shadowed man?" Malinna replied innocently, "Did I say that, Ray? I was just playing" "That, is not funny, Lin" Kalikai spoke sternly beside her, looking like a taller more elegant twin of her cousin except with slightly darker silver blue hair and sky coloured eyes, "Talking to strangers without following Royal protocol and having your guardian present or even joking about it is against..." Before Kirkia could even hear the lady finish, the memory went pitch black followed by screaming and shouting and what seemed like endless flashes of green lightening illuminating three fallen figures crumpled in the middle of the hall and crackling towards her. Brighter and brighter: Spark flash crackle spark flash crackle until..." "Kirkia!" Strong arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her close: her love's heart beat thumping in her ear. "I'm sorry, Arryn" she said weakly, burying her face in the front of his apprentice knight's tunic, "I know it was stupid, but I had to, you know I had to" "I know you did," Arryn said gently as he kissed her forehead, "but next time please promise me you'll let me fight alongside you." He looked deep into her eyes as he said this. "I promise" Kirky answered him solemnly before glancing at what looked like a wooden sword carved into the side of the tree, "Arryn? Did you? Your sword. What did you do." "It wasn't all me" Kirkia frowned and then glanced over to where Rubi-Ahn was glaring fiercely at Leilani who was seemingly trying everything from sitting on her hands to shaking and waving them to get rid of the tiny green sparks dancing around and over them, then shook her head. It couldn't possibly be: Whatever it was. ~*~*~*~ "We have to tell them" "We can't" "But we have to at least tell her or it'll just be the same as the last time" "You're right, Sooj" Charralain answered the ginji soul guardian who in turn smiled triumphantly in response, "However not until we find the missing princesses." "Alright, fine" Soojejia sighed, looking at the painting of the two silver blue ladies hidden under silk cloth bundles in the Royal carriage tent, "I will look after the young lady knight while Lady Emma protects the crown princess until we find Princesa Kalikai and Small Princess Malinna, but we'll have to travel through the dangers of the white dust lake and reach Oakansglade before the next midnight if we are to have any chance" "Trust me" Lady Councillor Cloudthorn sighed, half laughing and shaking her head, "My ever so clever brother has that one planned already"