This is the front cover of my book, Mara's Flame. Check it out at http://www.lulu.com/hamishclarkok or here at http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/libr/k/i/kilter/maras_flame1_3.htm.html

Mara is a golden dragon- let me introduce you...

Mara looked up with her soft golden eyes and said: “Yes Mother,” and then she turned and walked into a side-tunnel that led to the other side of the mountain. Her mother could not fit in here anymore, and so she had this tunnel all to herself. The sound of her mother muttering about humans, and friends, and what will young dragons think of next echoed along the tunnel until it widened again and opened to the outside world.
The entrance was high up on a cliff face and she could see for miles. There was jumbled forest spread out across hills and valleys; there were crystal lakes that glinted like blue eyes hidden behind a young girl’s unruly hair, and above it all the afternoon clouds glowed pink as they cushioned the setting sun. An eagle drifted up on a warm current of air, turned its sharp head and cried out: “Dragon! Dragon!” and soon birds everywhere in the forest below were calling in alarm: “Dragon! Dragon!”
“Some dragon I turned out to be,” said Mara.


And here's her father-

Her father was sleeping, curled up like a gigantic cat, and the sound of his snoring was so loud that little bits of rock fell from the ceiling in a rhythmic shower of dust. The dust tickled her nose and she sneezed loudly.
“What’s that? Who’s there? Eh?” said her father, and then he turned a bleary eye in her direction and said: “Oh, it’s only you dear.” He sounded a little disappointed, as if he had been hoping a thief had arrived for breakfast.
Her father was even bigger than her mother was, and his giant belly nearly touched the ground when he walked, which was not very often. Thousands of gold and silver coins had been stuck to his sides, pressed there over the years by the weight of him sleeping on his bed of treasure. “How’s my little girl today then -Eh?” he said, shaking the dust off his scales and into the air so that she sneezed again.

Her mother-

“Mara,” her mother said; “what’s all this talk of humans? Don’t you have better things to do?” A stream of smoke jetted from her nostrils and her tail snaked around in annoyance, scattering gold and silver coins about the cave. She was positively huge, and towered above her daughter (who was still a little small for her age).

Mara's side-kick, Eagle-beak-

“Just great,” said a ragged voice.
She looked around in alarm.
“Here I am thinking things couldn’t get no worse…” A stream of choking coughs interrupted the voice before it went on: “And hey, a dragon!” A bedraggled bird lay in a puddle by the entrance to the tunnel, with one wing bent up unnaturally past its head. A beady eye glared up at her. “Well don’t just stand there ya oversized bat. Come on! Get it over and done with! Put me outa my misery… I’m done for anyway,” he said. The bird shivered and closed his eyes. Every breath he took ended in a rattling gasp. “Done for,” he said, whispering.


And Prince Cameron-

The fire was still burning, but the prince was nowhere to be seen. She found him sitting on the rocky outcrop outside the cave, watching with sad eyes as the city continued to burn. He turned as she approached.
“I still can’t believe it. Everything is gone, everything is lost,” he said, and then he stared out again. The light of the distant fires reflected in the corner of his eye.
There was a short silence and then she said: “I spoke to the Old One in my dreams. He told me we must get the shield, and that your parents are still alive. We can save them. Cameron, there is still hope.”
Tears welled from his eyes, glistening as they ran down his face. Finally he turned and smiled. “Well, what are we waiting for then? We’ll get the shield, and then… and then we’ll get the wizard,” he said.

The Old One-

Slowly Mara’s eyes adjusted to the bright light. In front of her a massive dragon lay on a blanket of gold, silver, and precious jewels. The treasure sparkled and danced in a rainbow of colours. However, it was not the treasure that took the young dragon’s breath away, but the Old One himself. It was as if all the stars in the night sky had been brought together and sculpted into the shape of a dragon. He was filled with the hot flame of the sun and the cold brilliance of the stars. His skin looked almost transparent, much too thin to hold in such a brilliant light. Great waves of heat and light swept out from him with every heartbeat, filling this section of the cave and spilling out into the clouds outside.
“Who are you child? It has been so long… since I had a visitor.”

The Wizard-

“So,” said the wizard. The sound of his footsteps grew closer as he spoke. “So now the time has come,” he said. He seemed almost regretful, as if he were reluctant to take the last mouthful of a tasty dish. The magician strolled up to the circle of flame, and the strand of darkness coming from his hand grew short and thick. “This has gone on… long enough,” he said, and then he smiled almost tenderly. “The pain will be over now. Sleep my children…” His voice grew louder: “Sleep in the darkness, free from the burning and the flame!” The wizard snarled and another pool of darkness formed in his other hand. In the centre of the chamber the dark mass began to writhe and boil behind him. “But what…?” he said softly, peering at Mara.
She was staring at the darkness in the centre of the cavern.
“She can see it now,” crooned the wizard.


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