These stories are my old friends... or, more accurately, frenemies. They were my first attempts at writing a full-length story, and...well. They didn't entirely fail. I did finish three of them. I just couldn't seem to make them good (though, believe me, I tried). Once in awhile I still work on them...but usually I give up after a few paragraphs because they plunge me into a state of despair over how bad my writing was four years ago.
Update: I am now working on an overhaul of this series, renaming it the Knight-Errant series and giving Leo Galaway (formerly named Kyle) the spotlight as the main character. You can see the new Knight-Errant page of this website for more info.
This story, which has had more reincarnations than I can count, narrates the adventures of one Queen Miranda of Trilia. An evil sorcerer, Zeranath, has taken over the neighboring kingdom of Theria; now he wants hers, so he zaps her to his fortress with a giant lightning bolt. Instead of treating her as a prisoner, he is nice to her and treats her with respect. Then, just as he's proposing marriage (which will give him access to everything she owns), Miranda's loyal counselor Lord Colin rushes in with his band of rescuers and distracts Zeranath long enough to sneak Miranda out of the fortress.
The adventure isn't over; Zeranath immediately declares war on Trilia, and he and his evil troops begin traveling toward Miranda's kingdom. In order to beat him there and warn the Trilian knights, Miranda and Colin and their little team of rescuers (a clumsy knight, Kyle; a stuck-up fairy, Atalanta; and a mute fencing master, Cougar) must journey through the Whisperwood forest, a place of danger where many lose their way...and more still lose their lives. Luckily, Miranda meets a hot elf prince who's willing to help her out. Too bad his whole village gets torched in the process.
Meanwhile, she keeps getting contacted by the Goddess, a mysterious figure who gives her a ton of magical powers, with one condition: she has to use them to kill Zeranath and cast the rest of the sorcerers out of the Dreamlands.
Once they return to Castle Trilia, Miranda's back in her role as figurehead queen, and isn't allowed to fight in the battle. But Zeranath has different ideas - he attacks her on a balcony. She uses her magic to fight him, but then elf prince Derek comes rushing in to save her and gets hurt. One of them slays Zeranath (who has just turned into a dragon, Maleficent-style). Derek almost dies, but then he recovers and he and Miranda get married (even though they're only like fifteen) and Kyle randomly becomes King of Theria.
Sarai's dad is (surprise) the Spymaster of Siriya. She really loves him, but he's hardly ever around - he's too busy managing a network of spies all across the Dreamlands and training his complete jerk of an apprentice, Jared. Anyway, one day he gets a SUPER IMPORTANT task: to find and save the kidnapped Prince of Siriya, Martin. He's riding out to start his search when he gets a heart attack (like the dad in Ever After) and falls off his horse and dies. So Sarai decides to take on his mission herself, to prove she's just as good a spy as Jared. Only Jared has the same idea. So they end up banding together.
The Goddess starts showing up in Sarai's dreams right about this time and tells her the same thing as Miranda (above): you can be my disciple and have a ton of magic if you get rid of the sorcerers. Sarai's like, okay, whatever, but first I need to rescue Martin.
Then it turns out Jared's dad is tangled up with some sorcerers, and he kidnaps Sarai, and Sarai thinks Jared was in on it, so she goes off without him. She finds Martin (the sorcerers have him in their creepy haunted house on a desolate moor) and saves him. But she isn't very subtle about it, so the sorceress Zenia starts chasing her. She tries super-hard to get away but eventually she has to stand and fight. They have a big duel of magical talent, and then Zenia sees Sarai's pet spider Genesis and freaks out. But Sarai hesitates in killing her. Then Genesis, who is poisonous, bites Zenia and does the job for her - but not before Zenia squishes her, which makes Sarai really sad. (Actually, I think she's sadder about Gen dying than she is about her dad.)
She returns to her dad's house and makes amends with Jared, who wasn't involved with his dad's plot after all, and gets elected as the next Spymaster of Siriya (I'm not entirely sure why, because she kind of sucked at spying but whatever).
Lia (or Leah, I never really did decide) is a middle-class merchant's daughter in the kingdom of Ashelon. Her parents want her to become a priestess, or at least marry well; but what Lia wants is to become an actress. When her family's pressure becomes too much, she runs away and joins the Laughing Masks, a traveling company of actors. She quickly makes friends among the younger actors: Energetic Ben, optimistic Jahnna, quiet Vanessa, and shy Ridan.
When they arrive in the capital city of Ashton, the whispers of political unrest suddenly become shouts: the king is dying, and his two sons Devon and Damon are under the control of sorcerers. The only hope for the kingdom is Prince Darin, the king's youngest son - but he disappeared without a trace almost ten years ago. The Laughing Masks get caught up in the intrigue when it becomes apparent that there's a sorcerer spy in their midst - and it could be anyone, even one of Lia's friends. The Goddess gives Lia the task of finding the spy and protecting the lost prince, but can she discover the sorcerers' plot before someone gets hurt?
I never finished this story, despite my best of intentions...
It was going to be about Amy, a waitress in a seaside bar/restaurant in Ashelon. The Goddess sends her dreams about this island of fairies being destroyed, and for some reason she feels compelled to go save them. She meets Prince, the son of the Pirate King, and they hijack his dad's ship (the Dark Fairy) and go off to find the mythical fairy island (which, inconveniently, can only be seen by fairies). My plans get a little hazy after that because I never wrote them down... I think the Pirate King was going to be a sorcerer, and he planned to have Amy lead him to the fairy island so that he could kill them, so it turns out that Amy accidentally fulfills the prophetic dream rather than stopping it. Oh, and Amy is half fairy on her dad's side. That's all I remember.
So this never got written because I was waiting until I finished Captainess. Ha. Anyway...
In this one, all four disciples - Lia, Sarai, Miranda, and Amy - come together to defeat the growing threat of the Shadow (the deity the sorcerers worship), which is so powerful that even the Goddess can't face it alone. They travel to the sorcerers' frozen wasteland city in the mountains, having many arguments along the way because they're such drastically different people. Meanwhile, back at home, their friends and allies have to band together to stop the sorcerers from taking over the Dreamlands.
When they get to the sorcerers' city, they come face to face with the Shadow, which reveals it is the second daughter of the Goddess (the first was Persis, explained in more detail in Laughing Mask). Sydra was the elder, but the Goddess thought she died back in the dawn of time. Instead she survived through the sorcerers, who made her more powerful with their worship.
Then it is revealed that Lia is a reincarnation of Persis, and she becomes the conduit for all the Goddess's power to defeat the Shadow once and for all. But Lia dies in the process. The other three disciples return to the Dreamlands and help their allies win the battle, killing the weakened sorcerers. Then Miranda decides to sit down and write their story into a history book, entitled "The Dreamland Scrolls." The end.