I've been working on a book since I was fourteen and different dreams and ideas have filtered in over the years. I've only posted one excerpt on the Internet and the rest I keep scattered from my laptop to various journals and pages. I plan on putting it together and making an epic novel.

Granted even this excerpt needs help and I hope you can forgive the length.

When I'm brave enough I'll post more.

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Farine Treacle (updates on other parts of the book)

The truck was definitely not a place to call home. This old converted semi smelled and the shocks were nonexistent. Mardij stood up from an old ratty mattress that did nothing to protect her back from the hard bouncy floor and she went to the “kitchen.” Fender was doing dishes with a dead bird and a scrap of paper at her feet. It’s so good to be alive and awake in the morning.

“Morning Fender, you feel the desperate need to kill things so early?”

“If you don’t watch out Mardij, it’ll be you and that flying midget.”

Mardij went and sat down at the dented steel table that had to be bolted to the floor. She put her head down and felt it as her head banged on the table with every bump.

“So where’d the bird come from anyway?” She asked this with a yawn and was about to go back to sleep when, “Your friend Sayo found some new friends and sent us a thought note. Being thought illiterate it’s only obvious to assume that Rathey tracked us.”

“How do you know it’s a thought note? And doesn’t it sound like you’re calling her retarded? ‘Thought illiterate.’ Grief.”

“She can’t write being illiterate illiterate and if she could she wouldn’t send me anything about enjoying that slave train though I know that’s what she wanted. She didn’t care much for me. So read it aloud to me so I can see if it is a thought note. It should be different for you if it was.”

Mardij picked up the note and the bird by the knife that was stuck in it and threw the bird in the trash.

Mardij didn’t know it but that bird had scared the crap out of Fender and given what Fender was, that’s hard to do. Not really scared but creeped her out pretty bad. Fender woke up to make breakfast and found the bird sitting on the table just staring at her. She thought it was something Mardij created and stabbed it. Storytellers can be dangerous making things like that and having a passerby ignorant of what the intentions of that being is. Fender found the note and knew it was a thousand times worse. She had to ditch Mardij fast. Not out of meanness or cruelty, just basic survival. She was not like her ancestors and neither was Jack. This was just a trip to find a place to hibernate. Not to protect Storytellers and freaky flying midgets.

Mardij started reading the letter.

“Dearest Queen Mardij,”

Dear Fender,

“Please do not respond I write this in haste.”

Don’t worry about me, I’m just sending this to say hi.

“If you can, it would be better to send Kareth instead of trying to rescue me yourself.”

Send Mardij my love.

“I’m sorry to bother you but I’ve been captured by the nastiest things.”

I ran off to join the circus. You know, Rathey Box deCirco, Inc.

“Take care of that bird that carried you this.”

Take care of that bird that carried you this.Mardij looked at the trash feeling a little bad.“Okay, never mind that.”

You didn’t have to kill it Fender.

“That awful leprechaun has tricked and betrayed me to Rathey. I can explain later.”

Mardij let me out for a bit last night to get some air and I made my escape.

“As you can see, things are not going so well with me.”

I’m fine and happy and things are picking up.

“Send Kareth and Jaro to the tracks as fast as you can.”

I hope to see Mardij soon. Maybe she can visit.

“Please, but please and I write again… Please help.”

I miss you all and I hope that you write back.

“Yours Ever,” Yours Ever, “Sayo Aero” Sayo AeroMardij handed the letter back to Fender and when Fender finished what she read, Mardij felt a rock hit the bottom of her stomach. This was her fault. She was that leprechaun.

“Drop me off at the nearest train station. I know he’ll run through there. And he’ll probably expect all of us thinking that you and Jack have any honor left.”

“No, no honor. It’s just survival for us now. And I can’t express how glad I am to see both of you gone.”

“You know he’ll use me to bring back Dante.”

“And you’re strong. Staying here when he knows where you are will bring all of us in danger. But if you’re gone then we’ll buy time to find a place to hibernate and disappear and then it won’t matter if Dante comes back.”

“You know, I’ll probably die in the process.”

“But we won’t. In fact, we’re five minutes to the nearest station.”

Mardij felt a pang in her throat. This was it. She went to her mattress and curled up. Of course it was selfish of her to think that Dragons had any honor left. She took Sayo under her wing when she was abandoned. Being a Storyteller opened up paths for them to hide from people like Rathey and Dante. She found out that the things she created where not hers, but borrowed from other places and it scared her when she found that she was not telling visual stories for entertainment, but capturing living beings for a freak circus. She ran away from Rathey. She never wanted to read his books again or see his face again.

Fender came up and stood next to her. “You didn’t think she really wanted to run away with you did you? She was abandoned and needs more than you to keep her safe. She needs a home. He won’t hurt her and I don’t even think he’ll hurt you. But I know for a fact he’ll kill Jack and I; and I won’t let that happen.”

“Of course.”The truck stopped outside an old station. The wood creaked as the desert wind blew through the cracks. Mardij was thrown out of the truck and it took off faster than it came; leaving Mardij covered in black dirt. She coughed and walked up to the stand and sat between the waiting poles with the rope decayed and gone. She looked around and saw a black hardbound book sitting on a rail. She recognized it as one of the Dragon Follower books. A wave of nausea came over her and she ran to what once was a bathroom.Simon Rathey looked at Sayo sleeping on one of the bunks. She was happy. She thought she had a place where she belonged. They were going to perform in Phoenix next and she had her act down cold. He marveled at how small and proportioned she was; like a small child. Of course he wasn’t interested in anything but how instead of bird wings, she had a butterfly wing spread but with orange and red feathers. He made his rounds making sure the things where comfortable and went to his own room.

He picked up his own recent Dragon Follower novel and stared into the cover. Mardij wasn’t feeling any better and after some curses at the toilet, she came outside and found the book gone. After five minutes trying to figure that one out, the train came up and stopped. Like clockwork, she thought. There was no sign of life from the train and the dust had settled five full minutes before Simon Rathey in the flesh stepped out with less grandeur than he wanted.

He still gave her a chill though.

“Hello Storyteller. Care to go some place?”

Mardij didn’t look at Rathey and stepped up past him as if he wasn’t there. She went straight back looking for Sayo and found her having breakfast with the rest of the act. Mardij felt hot tears in her eyes, but she didn’t let them go and inspected Sayo to see that she was alright. Sayo was frightened to see Mardij there; she had wanted to make her exit unknown and didn’t know anything about a bird or a letter.

Mardij pulled Sayo aside in the corner where no one could hear them. “You act as if you came here on your own.”

“I did.”

“Bull$1+. You don’t want to be here, you know what kind of person he is.”

“That’s your perception. I see this as a new beginning. There’s no other place in the world for me and I was cramped in that truck.”

“This isn’t your world. And he’s keeping you here instead of letting you go back with your kind.”

Sayo was hurt by this, “You don’t understand, do you? I was abandoned by my kind and you pulled me out so that you could take care of me. And instead of letting me be with the others that you saved from their worlds, you had me on a truck with Draggers or someth-“

Mardij interrupted, “Shhh… Rathey can’t know about them…” But as she was going to finish Rathey came up, “I see you found her. Got my note?”

Mardij couldn’t take it anymore, “Even for you that was cruel. Thought notes?”

“I saw that you weren’t the only one to read it. Who is Fender?”

Mardij mumbled, “Normal person, I hitchhiked.”

“Oh I doubt that seriously.”

“Rathey, Fender was a nice lady that took care of us when we were on the road, of course we hitchhiked,” Sayo tried to help.

“And why is there such an emphasis in normal and lady and all that? What was she really? A normal person would have stayed away,” looking at Sayo, “no offense, or turned in such a sprite as yourself,” looking at Mardij, “you did something bad, didn’t you?”

Mardij backed away from Rathey’s glare. How the hell does he know so much? Rathey kept finding eye contact and closed in on her, “Come on Mardij. Fender and Jack was a notorious Dragon couple in the books I’ve been reading. I was going to show them to you, but you seem to be reading them yourself.”

“You want Dante,” Mardij decided to cut to the chase, “Why?”

“You know why. It’s those damned Daemons.”

“What did you expect to do once you took them out of Dante’s control? Jump through fire hoops? Summersaults? How about some creepy voodoo vaudeville?”

“That’s just it; they won’t do anything, but you. If you’ve been traveling with Dragons, then….”

“Then what genius? They’re convinced that you’ll kill them.”

“And?”

Mardij spit at him. Noble creatures or not, they did not deserve to live a life of running. Rathey looked at her as if she had just come to him with a problem that she wanted help to solve.

“So bring Dante back.”

“No.”

“Must you go against me at every turn?”Somewhere outside Las Vegas in the barren existence of dirt and cacti there are three people hopelessly lost.

The man in the wheelchair has just about lost every bit of patience with the woman in his limited custody. His bodyguard handled most of the muscle work, but no man can hold a woman down for any length of time without charm.

The man in the wheelchair has no charm.

“You are going over there and you are going to bring us back water or transportation. You obviously don’t care about your life or else you wouldn’t have stranded yourself here as well.”

The woman looked at the train that looked as if it came from some old carnival movie. “Shove off. By your logic, I care about your lives even less-“

That’s when Paul the Homicidal Oak grabbed Cally Chalk by the throat and holds her up as if she were a suit he wanted to buy.

Dirk Partz, bound by wheelchair alone, tells his overreacting body guard to put her down in some choice terms not in her favor.

“But sir-“

“Let. Her. Go.”

Cally falls to the ground and nearly suffocates from coughing in the black dirt. Paul starts cussing and pacing and Dirk says, “Stop.” Paul doesn’t seem to hear him.

“I said stop! You can rant and rave all you want, but that won’t change the fact that yes this bitch got us stuck here and God knows how….”

At this point Paul joined in and there was no discerning what was said and Cally went to the train unnoticed. Almost.

Paul grabs her hair and drags her back to Dirk.

“What,” Dirk asks, “do you think you’re doing?”

“You wanted water…” started Cally lamely.

“No, I’m asking Paul.”

Then went one of those conversations you read/watch in hostage situations where the bad guy argues with another bad guy about the chick and this goes on like, “You’re going to trust her?” And, “I have no choice.” And it just boils down to Dirk recognizes the train as a danger and would rather stay far away from it until Cally “checks” it out and instead of losing Paul, he’d rather Paul stay with him. This would all matter if any of them went to the train.

Instead the train came to them.“So where are these Daemons?” Mardij asked Rathey in loathing, but figured she could do something to restore some order.

“Out and about. They seem interested in eating dream residue. At least I heard them arguing about it yesterday. And I use “arguing” as a loose term.”

Mardij shivered at this. A daemon arguing equals a daemon planning. Rathey stood up from the table that Mardij had acquired for their meeting. “I highly suggest you don’t fall asleep Ms. Storyteller.”Inque comes from nowhere where the three people were arguing. “Look! Sentient beings! How did they make it all the way out here?”

Ritique pops up from behind Inque to take a look, “They must need vittles!”

Havoque comes out from behind Inque sluggishly as if it had just got out of bed. “Inque, I’m hungry. Let’s eat them.”

Inque turns to Ritique, “Ritty, did you bring food for them?”

“Ritty” looks down at the ground, “No, but maybe Havvy did…”

“Havvy” most certainly did not, “I want to eat them and play sports with whatever I can rip off of their corpses.”

Inque considers this and, “Well I have some and I’m going to share.”

Ritty, “Yay!”

Havvy, “I’ll give them the trash I found on the way out.”

The stranded people that found themselves arguing with each other just five minutes before found that their fascination and disgust in common; except for Dirk. His feelings were of pure admiration.

The Daemons sat down and ignored the people in front of them and made themselves a picnic with full hot meals and cold drinks. Paul’s not the brightest in the box of crayons.

“So there’s none for us?” He was looking forward to something even with “Havvy’s” blatant taste for human flesh.

Inque looked at him as if for the first time, “Why should there be?”

Ritique offered, “Oh, but they need to eat too. More so than us.”

Havoque put a sullen look on its face, “They don’t need to eat. Waste. Those decaying monkey sacs.”

Before it is said what happens next, understand if you can Paul’s position. He was in a nightclub enjoying a drink with his boss and friend when they ended up in the middle of the desert for no reason with this chick. He was thirsty. And he doesn’t like to be insulted.

Paul hit Havoque in its furry six eyed face.

The Daemons took no time to devour the three people that had no idea why they were there to begin with.And Mardij went insane.