Chapter 1 - Breaking the rules... totally pointless title

Black, Red and Silver



Ariella flew as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding the Dark Beams shooting around her. As one hit the tip of her wing she could smell her burning feathers. She has to keep on flying. She has to save her daughter.

“Come on Skye, wake up! You can't be gone. The Dark One's priests couldn't have killed you,” she cried to the unconscious bundle in her arms.

Suddenly Skye's eyes flew open. Seeing her daughter's pale silver eyes, Ariella started to fly harder and faster than she ever had in he life. “It's going to be okay. Nothing bad will ever happen to you again.” She whispered into the bundle. A beam flew to close and hit Ariella's hair. One of her many golden braids fell into the little girl's fist. Abruptly Ariella dove towards a little village on the side of a gigantic mountain. A beam shot her in the back. She was now loosing the control over her wings. She did the only thing she could do. She curled up into a ball and protected her precious cargo.

She crash-landed in the center of the town. People from all around cautiously came up to see what was happening. Some one came running from behind the central fountain.

“Ariella, Ariella! Oh bright one, what were you thinking?” cried the woman.

“Take good care of Skye, Senneth. I'm going back there. I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. They can't take my daughter without losing a couple of their priests!” cried Ariella, already flying up in the direction of the Dark One's church.



“Ariella died protecting a child from the Dark One's knife. She was a great woman and a great leader. She has helped us all in one-way or another. She has made mistakes but always strived to fix them afterward. We will all miss this angel,” said Senneth, holding Skye in her arms.

Ariella's death had been a shock to almost everyone. She had been their leader for only three years and she had already made Ansalan a better place. The orders of the tree gods, The Bright One, The Dark One and the Wise One, had stopped butchering each other, or at least for a while. She had solved problems between the river merchants and the farmers and craftsmen. She had even built a school for magically gifted children. And it was here; at Cantallina that Ariella was being buried. The school had built a memorial honoring their founder. In the center was a marble block, which held Ariella's crystallized body. The school's top students had as a project found a way to preserve her for the future generations. Around her was a fountain with one of every kind of animal carved into its border.

Skye was too young to understand what had just happened but she new it was bad. She stayed silent throughout the entire funeral and the ride back to her new home. Her new guardian. Senneth, had a little log cabin containing two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen and an office. As soon as Skye was left alone in her new room she started to cry. Coming to this new place and being put in a new crib had just told her that her life would be much different now.



“Honey, come out from there. Come on my little Mukki, I need you to go into town and get me some bread,” said Senneth, using the Karri word for child.

“But the other children don't like me. They pick on me. They call me Nukpana, and Sucki Pawwau. It's all because of my Stone, I want to change it but I can't. Senneth, will I have to stay a Sucki forever?” asked Skye while toying with the ring of braided hair on her wrist.





“When the gem comes to year,

It is a time we all fear.

Either her blood will spill,

And unleash the Dark One's will.

Or she could struggle to stay,

And send the Dark One away.

With her friends she might

Have a chance at winning the fight.”

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