Author's Note: Hi. Thanks for coming to my story. There are just a few things I'd like to say before I start. This is the first trilogy I've ever written so support and advice along the way would be greatly appreciated, but please try and be nice!

Anyway, as this is a trilogy it has three books in it. Not one, not two, not four, and definitely not five. This is the Broken Storm Trilogy by me. Yay. Um. The first book, the one you are about to read (if you're not scared away by the end of my note) is called the Silver Wasp. The second is called Blackened Dawn, and the third and final book is called Bloodlust. They're all mapped out, but writing them is a lengthy process because I've only got about 10½ pages of what's happening in all three books. So I'm improvising. Any ideas or opinions will be appreciated and credited where due.

So a little about the story. Well it's a fantasy set in a kingdom called Sialia under the reign of the cruel Kind Wisedon. However, there is also a Rebellion going on, led by various Lords and Ladies of the Kingdom. The key figure of this rebellion is Lord Loiesan Kelaqua, whose beautiful and strong-willed daughter is desired by the king's evil son the prince (evil bells ring). Many men in the story fall wildly in love with Lady Kelaqua but I'm not going to reveal that. Mwaha. You have to read on to find out about her and the other main characters. So in the meantime, enjoy . . .

THE

BROKEN STORM

TRILOGY

By Julie Danskin

CHARACTERS AND DEFINITIONS

(you may wish to print out this list to refer to as you meet them)

Carray Easarscrav Carr-ae Ee-zar-skrav- nurse of the Kelaqua household, an orphan

King Wisedon Wise-dawn- evil king of Salia Queen Allacutra Ah-la-coot-rah- his wife Prince Nucha-Naiés Nook-ah Nai-ees- his cruel son, in love with Lady Kelaqua Princess Lacqmara Lack-marr-ah - the king's daughter from a previous marriage

Lord Loiesan Kelaqua Lo-ae-zan Kel-ah-kwa- leader of the Sallian Rebellion Lady Raeka Kelaqua Ray-kah Kel-ah-kwa- his daughter

Captain Défan Giannas Day-fan Gee-ann-ee-ass- Lord Kelaqua's right hand man, in love with Raeka Kelaqua

Danichoz Hesekinés Dan-ee-chose Hez-eh-keen-ez- father of the clan of exiles Maurrisa Hesekinés Mor-ee-sa Hez-eh-keen-ez- his wife Tionan Hesekinés Tee-oh-nan Hez-eh-keen-ez- their eldest son Keoden Hesekinés Kee-oh-den Hez-eh-keen-ez - their younger son, in love with Raeka Liiga Hesekinés Lee-gah Hez-eh-keen-ez - their daughter

Irkan Grollis Irr-can Groll-iss- huntsman, master of swords Coleskia Call-ess-kee-ah- his friend the falcon

Kaierfala Dagon Kay-err-fal-ah Day-gon- a theologist of Salia

Cléis Ticosas Clay-ees Tee-co-sas- a clan of witches that trade for souls Alaiaés Moéngara Al-ae-ees Mo-en-garr-ah- a creature they captured centuries ago, also known as Ritkenshi Ritt-kenn-she

Sialia See-all-ee-ah

Siaé See-ae - small village close to Lord Kelaqua's castle

Jaéquai Jay-k-why - King Wisedon's legion of soldiers Riphsis Riff-siss - their long, curved swords

The War - a battle between King Wisedon's army and the Sialian rebels consisting of civilians and Lords.

Religion - many people worshipped the equivalent to God, KnimaNee-ma, who was said to deliver dead peoples' spirits to the gates of Utopian, which would open if you had obeyed the three laws of Knima: love, justice and comradeship.

BOOK I

The Silver Wasp

-THE BED OF CLOTHES-

FOR EVERY DAY there was a different nightmare. Some involved death, some pain and some misery. Occasionally all three were fused together in a tight package and sent into the girl's head for torment during alleged rest. The nightmares would make her cry, make her sweat; make her want to bash her head off a wall, even. Most frequently, however, the dreams made her sleepwalk; and not just around her room. She lived in the village of Siaé, a place of mainly peasants, but not far from the grand castle of Kelaqua, where the Lord of the castle lived with his seldom seen - but much spoken of - daughter.

Tonight, the nightmare took the physical Carray to the castle. But what she saw in her dream was a beautiful meadow filled with lush oil seed rape, the yellow of the plant almost blinding as it reflected the mighty colour of the sun. In the field stood a man up to waist height in the rape, but he was smiling, as if the harsh smell of the rape didn't bother him at all. Carray watched him intently as he struggled to walk through the rows and rows of the oil seed rape. He laughed at his own predicament and waved to her merrily. Carray did not know whether or not to wave back, but she decided that the man was harmless, and somehow familiar; so she waved back in reply.

With that, the man picked up pace and into a run as he tried to reach her, the yellow bouncing off his clothes and staining his garments, but the gentleman remained carefree. His eyes were closed with laughing and even from a distance Carray could imagine the laughter lines around his eyes. She unwittingly began to run towards him, and as his arms outstretched towards her as did hers, anticipating an embrace that would never happen.

All of a sudden, fifteen or so men jumped up from the field, revealing themselves to the man who stopped abruptly in shock. He looked around him, and then looked to Carray, whose eyes were wide with terror like his. She saw his face change from anticipation to apprehension as the soldiers began their advance. Carray noticed in horror that they bore the mark of King Wisedon and she too stopped, her arms swinging uselessly by her side. She began to shout encouragements to the man, and even for a while her desperate coaxings seemed to work as he picked up pace. But he was no match for the heavily trained, experienced and on the whole fitter Jaéquai unit as they gradually caught up with and surrounded him, leaving him with no chance in Hell to escape now.

Strangely, as though a greater power was controlling the soldiers and the man, they stopped simultaneously; the Jaéquai standing in a circle surrounding the man menacingly, while the civilian stood in the middle searching desperately for a way out with his terror-stricken eyes. Carray, not knowing entirely why, found herself still running towards the man, who noticed her again amongst the strong-smelling flowers, and sensed that she too could be in danger. That was when he called out her name.

"CARRAY!" rang through the field, but only Carray heard. The soldiers did not see her, not even when she started screaming and crying. She longed to yell the man's name but she did not know what it was, which frustrated her immensely. She did not find it awkward or unusual that the man she could not place knew her name; she had always presumed he had known. It was as if he had always been there, even if she did not know who he was. She felt as if he was an important person in her life, but she did not know who he was. She wanted to so strongly.

The only thing that could stop Carray running so fiercely was the one thing she was striving to prevent, which of course happened, because she did stop. She stopped because one of the Jaéquai pulled his long, curved sword from his sheath and imbedded it into the man's flesh. She could hear a groan - she could only have been fifty yards from them - emitting from the man's semi-closed lips as rose-coloured blood spurted from them. The man stood for a few seconds and tried to look his attacker in the face but his knees gave way and his head lolled backwards as he fell onto his back in the oil seed rape. As he fell, the Jaéquai allowed his Riphsis sword to slip out of the man's torso, and he sheathed it still covered in blood. The Jaéquai never wiped their swords until they were back to the castle of King Wisedon, when they would trap the liquid in jars to display in a trophy cabinet. There were, of course, many cabinets. Peasants in Carray's village thought, too many.

As Carray watched the display she felt as if her knees too would buckle under her, but instead her feet stopped working until the guards of the king had departed leaving the man in the field. This was when Carray realised she must move fast, and she bolted through the plants, the yellow buds beating off her and the pollen flying all around her, staining her ragged clothes. She reached the man in a matter of seconds and then fell to her knees to lean over him.

She grabbed his hand and stroked his forehead in despair, and his closed eyes opened wearily, blue eyes meeting hers. It was then that Carray realised that their eyes were identical, thus she knew who he was in that same second.

"Papa . . ." she sighed helplessly, kissing his cheeks. Her father gazed up at her and smiled fondly.

"Find me again, Carray . . ." he whispered in a choke, and Carray, who had seen many people die, knew that his time was merely seconds before he would be gone from her. "Find me again, but first you must . . . you will find her, and she will help you. Keep her safe, Carray. For she is the key to us."

Carray cocked her head in puzzlement. "Who is, Papa?" she asked soothingly, but his breath was gone and his eyes were closing for the last time, so she had only time to cry that she loved him, and that he would find 'her'. Whoever she may be.

Carray's head drooped and she stood slowly. She turned her head and gasped as she saw a huge, curved sword swinging at her head, while the man holding the sword's eyes glowed red with evil.

Carray's scream was not the only one echoing around the servants' quarters in Castle Kelaqua. As she bolted upright her eyes opened and the nightly scream started. She was not the only one to scream, however, for the maid that discovered the intruder in the laundry room was very frightened to see such a wild-looking girl shouting. She summoned the guards, for how was she to know that the girl before her had suffered the same dream about her father's death for the three hundredth and sixty-sixth day in a row. One year and a day of torment in trying to work out who 'she' was, a year and a day of wondering where to find her and a year and a day seeing her father and herself die at the hands of King Wisedon's footmen.

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading, please make sure you review!! I know this chapter was really short, and it won't normally be, but this is just the prologue. It gets into the story next chapter. So, stay tuned!