The Desiderium Series

[Snack Addict]

This is my new book, but even though I haved named it individually, I have named the whole series. *pokes title* Anyways... Like I said in my siggy, this is about 75 pages in Word, so it's long. Not as long as Dragons though. =3

This is the prologue:

As the frightened girl looked at the traitor, she felt a painful throb in her chest, forcing her heart to skip a beat. “It’s almost here!” She cried out, her voice carrying on the wide empty plains.

Her faithful companions turned towards their friend turned foe, their weapons at the ready. As they prepared to rush him in their newfound hatred, he raised a single hand, beckoning them on as his allies gathered behind his back.

“It will be an even fight,” Whispered one of the fallen girl’s friends, his voice barely controlled and vibrating in his anger. “I will avenge her death. Leave him to me! Fight!” And they charged into battle, the result of which would mean either life or death for people all over the world fought by one small group of children.

[Snack Addict]

Chapter One
Away from Home

Standing out in the final rays of the setting sun, Karena thought hard about the decision that she had to make. ”You have until the sun sets.” Her father’s words rang in her ears ominously. Which one, her freedom or her family?

Glancing back to her house, a gigantic mansion obviously belonging to royalty or something close to it, she wondered if this was the right choice. “It can’t be any other way,” She whispered softly, fingering her staff, the symbol of her individuality and her fight for freedom. The black wood twisted near the top, then stopped abruptly. Eleven short spikes were on the top, a symbol etched onto the wood in front of them. Many sleepless nights she had pondered this, but like all the philosophers trying to figure it out, it had come to nothing. They were on every Spellcaster’s staff, and she had never seen the symbols anywhere else before.

Karena’s dark auburn red hair fell lightly around her, stopping a little past her shoulders. Her brilliant green eyes were by far her most impressive feature; they stood out on her pale skin like a bright green leaf would in the midst of winter, so unlike her mother’s dark green or her father’s dark red.

Interrupting her musings, a soft but piercing voice carried out over the field, “Karena?” Opening the back door, Karena’s mother Ilari stood there, a hand held lazily over her eyes to shield them from the bright intensity of the sun. “Your father and I would like to speak with you.” Her light green and tan dress flowed over her thin figure. The grass seemed to bow to the newcomer, the trees shaking their branches in welcome.

Karena bowed to her mother, her eyes on the grass, before walking over to her. ‘If there was one thing I won’t miss,’ She thought viciously as Ilari walked in before her, a sign of Karena’s insubordination, ‘It’s this being forced to respect people who don’t deserve it.’

“Karena, my darling!” Karena’s father, a handsome fire lord, greeted her as they walked in the sitting room, “Have you decided yet?” He inclined his head to her after standing up; at least one person in the room seemed to respect Karena enough to admit she should be respected as an adult, though apparently not as a Spellcaster.

Thinking of a few choice words she would like to say to both her parents, she held her tongue, bowing to her father. When she stood, she did not avert her eyes from her father’s dark maroon ones, a clear sign of rebellion. Her mother’s back stiffened, and her father’s mouth thinned, a warning.

Pretending to not notice this, Karena sat down in the chair next to the fire, her eyes still not off her fathers. Her mother opened her mouth, about to reprimand her daughter for her rudeness in sitting before her betters, but the Fire Lord put his hand on his wife’s shoulder, stopping her before she even started.

“Not yet,” He whispered to her, almost inaudibly, but being a Spellcaster gave Karena extraordinary senses, including improved hearing which her father and mother both knew. They were underestimating her before she even became their enemy. ‘How depressing,’ She thought without emotion, ‘I can use this to my advantage.’

Her father sat down, his hand absently waving at the fire, making it dance around his fingertips. But he only had eyes for his daughter, who stared without blinking at the intimidating figure of her father.

Her mother, a simple but elegant Earth Maiden, was not by courtesy allowed to sit in the presence of a Fire Lord, nor of a Spellcaster, even if the Spellcaster was her daughter. She would have ignored this last fact, but as Karena’s father did not indicate she could sit down, she resumed her normal position beside his chair, standing with her head erect but looking down her sharp nose at her daughter with a disapproving glare.

Karena waved her staff in a circle, asking them, “Would you like a cup of tea? I think I would appreciate some.” And, without giving her parents a chance to refuse or accept, she flicked her staff at the table in between them, and a tea set appeared. Waving her forefinger, the teapot poured steaming hot tea into a cup. She picked up her cup, bringing it to her lips, sighing in bliss.

“It is really quite delicious; I insist you have some before we talk.” She acted as though they were merely friendly acquaintances rather than parents and child. Waving her finger again, the teapot poured the hot tea into two more cups, which, with encouragement from Karena’s staff, proceeded to drift to the Fire Lord and Earth Maiden, both of whom glanced at each other before slowly taking the tea offered them.

“Karena,” Her father began after sipping the tea, his eyebrows contracting and his eyes narrowing, “I must warn you, if you choose wrong we will not welcome you back into this house as our daughter.”

Karena smiled gently and knew that her parents already knew her answer the moment she chose to insult her father. “Of course,” She crossed her legs, bobbing one up and down after setting down her tea. “I would expect nothing else. In fact, I would be surprised to be welcomed back at all. Courtesy dictates you should always greet your children with happiness and respect their decisions after they have come of age and found their notch in society. But mother seems to do neither, and you, father, show all signs of disagreeing with my choice as well.”

Picking up her tea and taking another sip, Karena watched with careful amusement as her mother’s face went from simple disapproval to outrage, and her father to look as though there was tea boiling in him; he slowly grew redder and redder, threatening to use his powers with every syllable he spoke, his eyes turning bright red in his fury. “Daughter, when you had your first lesson in courtesy I was on my way to the most powerful position in the country. When you began studying for your first exam, I was head of the Fire Lords. I have no need to be told by my own daughter-“

Karena started to interrupt, causing her mother’s eyes to turn a dark shade of green, a warning from Earth Maidens that they were about to unleash their wrath. But Karena ignored both warnings from her parents as she continued, “I’m afraid that you do, Lord Arenn. You see, I have decided to go into the Forbidden Lands. I am going to do what no Spellcaster has ever done before. I am going to go into the Land of the Alkalye and come back with the Sica Aronoru and save my people, as you have saved yours.” At the end of this short speech, Karena waved her staff, and the tea set she had conjured vanished, along with the cups her parents were holding. She stood up, with the air of departing forever.

Lord Arenn stood up as well, an incredible figure. Seven feet of pure muscle and power and cunning, backed with his amazing intelligence and frightening skills, he could make even a seasoned Dragon Hunter step down. His red eyes betrayed his true heart, and while many were deluded by his sophisticated manner and charming personality, only a few know of his true nature. He is an incredibly cruel and powerful Fire Lord who killed hundreds in his search for the Aronoru, which resulted in his brother’s death and nearly his own. But his brother’s sacrifice led to the healing of all Fire Fiends, including Lord Arenn.

All this flashed through Karena’s mind as he spoke. “You know as well as I do the Feron Aronoru is far easier to find than the Sica Aronoru. No Spellcaster has ever succeeded because it is impossible! If it was possible it would have been done long before now, and stopped the Caytas Death from killing thousands of Spellcasters, along with the Shadow Thieves, Ice Lancers, Dragons, Air Masters, and Moon Elves. But only the Fire Fiends, Earth Maidens, Water Demons, Dragon Hunters, Knight Stars, and though I detest to say it, the Vampyres have found the Aronoru that saved their races. So many of the Aronoru have never been found, it is said to be impossible, that the others were meant to die from the disease. You are only safe as long as you are our daughter and refuse to become a Spellcaster!”

Karena spat at her father’s feet, a mark of deep disgust. Her eyes blazed with hatred born and kindled over years of being forced to do things no sane Spellcaster would ever think of doing, as if she were one of those she hated most; those like her father. All this shone in her eyes and in her voice, and her mother closed her eyes in acceptance at hearing Karena’s anger and hatred towards her father and all Fire Fiends. “I was born a Spellcaster! I am what I am, and I will die if no one finds the Sica Aronoru before I am struck with the disease! It must be me! Nothing will ever be done unless you do it! You said that yourself, father! You swore when you returned with the Feron Aronoru that you would do your all to stop all others from finding any of the other Aronoru. That means you are going to try to kill your own daughter to stop her from saving her people! And anybody who is fine with that isn’t fine with me!” She sent a burning gaze at her mother and then her father, who still wore a look of barely contained fury. She waved her staff in anger, and the chair her father had been sitting in burst into flames. Her father immediately put it out with his power. When he looked back to Karena, she had vanished.

“There is only one thing we can do now,” The corrupted Earth Maiden who once called herself a mother said to the Fire Lord.

“Yes. Karena has challenged me, and there is only one way to deal with challengers.” He burst into flame, vanishing, leaving not even the threadbare carpet he had been standing on scorched. Ilari began to follow, thinking how much she wanted to capture her daughter and wondered, if the time came, she could kill her own flesh and blood.

Karena smiled, though no one could see it. ‘If a challenge is what he wants, it’s a challenge he’s going to get.’ She waved her invisible staff, vanishing from the nearly empty room, hearing as she went a laugh that chilled her blood to the bone.

[Snack Addict]

“Please, Mister Water Fiend! All I want is one loaf of bread! I’m willing to pay!” The small Air Demon pleaded. He was a pitiful sight. The boy was barely twelve, small for his age and wearing filthy rags. His muscles were hard and the scars all over him proved that he had lived rough in order to live on the streets of Fire Lord Arenn’s domain. His eyes were a brilliant blue, his light blonde hair scraggly and unkept, his eyes shining brightly as he looked up hopefully at the merchant.

“Not enough! Now get out of my way, scum!” He pushed the boy out of the path of his cart. The boy teetered on the edge of the water bank, and with a hearty laugh, the Water Master pushed the Air Child over the edge, sending him toppling into the water.

All those in the vicinity laughed at the boy as he swam to the edge, attempting to pull himself out with his powers. The Water Merchant, however, had other plans. He flicked his wrist, his hand pulled into a fist, and the boy flew high into the air, water gushing all around him, supporting him high above the water’s surface.

The merchant laughed again, and brought his fist in a downward motion, the water vanishing from underneath the boy.

Everyone prepared to laugh when he landed, but he never did. At the same level as the street, the boy simply stopped. Realizing he wasn’t treading water, the boy slowly peeked out of his hands, uncovering his face.

People looked around, wondering who ruined their fun. “It was the boy! He’s using air powers!” Somebody yelled form the crowd.

“Don’t be stupid!” Another yelled back, “You would be able to see it if he were using air!”

“It’s a spell, you idiots!” A voice said with a commanding tone. A girl, looking barely out of childhood, stepped out of the crowd and stepped off the street. But instead of plunging into the water below, she merely walked out on what seemed to be thin air to the boy.

Thinking that he was about to be made fun of some more, the boy crawled sideways, attempting to circle around the Spellcaster girl back to the street.

“Don’t be stupid.” She said, snapping her fingers. The boy went rigid, unable to move. “If you wanted to fight me or escape, I could simply let my spell go and you would fall to the water below. I doubt anyone in this crowd would save you.” She glared at the crowd, her disgust evident in her brilliant green eyes. As she spoke, she and the boy raised high above the street and all the people on it.

The boy looked as though he would like very much to run, but as he looked around them, his eyes the only thing able to move, he realized they were so high up if she let her spell go he would fall to his death below.

He slowly brought his eyes up to hers, and received the shock of his life. Her eyes were kind and concerned, not at all what he expected to see of someone who cast a spell to make him unable to move.

As if she read his mind, she told him in a low voice, so that the hoard of people far below could not hear her, “The last time I tried to save a girl from humiliation she hurt me badly. I’ve learned caution since then,” She sized him up, the concern still in her eyes but deeper and if he was not looking for it he could not have seen it. “Can I trust you not to try to harm me and fly away?”

Not able to shake or nod his head, he smiled with his eyes and blinked once.

A smile stretching on her pale face, the girl snapped her fingers and the spell was broken.

Smiling with his whole face, the boy put out a hand for her to shake, saying, “My name’s Reron, and I’m an Air Apprentice. What’s your name?”

She smiled even wider, shaking his dirty hand with her own impeccably clean hand. “I’m Karena, and as you can see, a Spellcaster. What did you do that made the Water Master get mad?”

He averted his eyes, looking down to the people below them, who had lost interest and gone about their normal duties. He spotted the Water Demon, who was selling a loaf of bread to a Dragon Hunter. “I was trying to buy a loaf of bread for cheaper than what he wanted to sell it for.”

He looked at her, expecting her to look stern or angry at him for trying such a foolish thing but once again he was surprised. There was pity in her eyes, not anger or anything he would expect from such an obviously high-born girl. She waved her staff, and a plate of sausage and eggs appeared in front of Reron, who gaped at the food.

“For me?” He asked, his voice a pitch higher out of surprise. She nodded, smiling, and he dug into the food with enthusiasm.

“So, what brings you to this part of town? A high-born girl like you must know that only ruffians are down here.” He said as he swallowed some sausage.

Her smile faltered, and an angry glint in her eyes appeared for the first time since Reron met her. “I was running away from my parents. They don’t want me to seek the Sica Aronoru.”

He coughed, splattering bits of egg and sausage down into the crowd, landing on a Spellcasters head. Waving his staff irritably, the remains of food on him vanished, as he looked up to the floating pair with distaste.

After checking to make sure the man wasn’t going to get mad and use a spell, Reron said, “But the Sica Aronoru is incredibly dangerous to try and find, let alone return to the Aronoru Temple! Only a few have ever done it! How can just one girl hope to achieve the impossible?” He had obviously meant it to be a rhetorical question, and returning to his food, thought she would give it up and pretend it was a joke.

“My father is Lord Arenn.” Karena said quietly, her eyes showing the same hatred they had shown as she left her father’s house for good.

Reron, predictably and immediately, dropped his food and raised his hands as if prepared for battle. “Lord Arenn’s daughter! You’re the child of that despicable fire lord!”

Rolling her eyes, Karena answered, “If I wanted to harm you I would’ve let you drown. If I wanted to hurt you I could just put another spell on you and you wouldn’t be able to move and then you’d drown. Why would I feed prey?” She waved her staff at the plate of food, and Reron jumped, as if thinking he dodged a spell of hers. But the food replenished itself which, considering Reron had just dropped the last of his food when he jumped, was a good thing.

Not totally satisfied, he cautiously sat down, this time not eating. Karena rolled her eyes, saying, “If I wanted to poison you wouldn’t I have already done it and succeeded?”

Reron stuck his chin out in defiance, taking hungry glances every few seconds at the food, Karena just sitting there quietly, knowing she already won and he’d break soon. Reron tucked into the food again, obviously not caring if she’d poisoned it.

“If you don’t want to kill me, why save me? And why did Lord Arenn’s daughter run away? You’re like a princess! You’ve got the best of the best of everything!”

Karena attempted to smile, but failed miserably. “Except my freedom and a loving family. I’m a Spellcaster, not a Fire Fiend like my dad or an Earth Maiden like my mom. I’m a Spellcaster like my grandfather. I’m not immune to the Caytas Disease like my parents are. If I want to live long enough to prove my father wrong, I’ve got to find the Sica Aronoru.”

Reron stared at Karena as he ate. After he swallowed a particularly big mouthful, he asked, “Do you mean to say you’re going to go out and fine the Sica Aronoru alone? The reason no Spellcaster has succeeded before is because all the obstacles in their path are made to combat Spellcasters! My mom told me about it before she went off to find the Aero Aronoru… My dad was sick with the Caytas Death. He died, and she died on the journey. You can’t do it alone,” He finished, somehow not even slightly touched by mentioning his parents’ deaths.

As tears began to form in her eyes, Karena asked, “How did she die?”

Reron sat up straight, finished eating. The food was gone, and while rubbing his belly, which was still grumbling, replied, “They think a Vampyr got her. A defenseless Air Master traveling alone… Well, it must’ve seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

Karena sat still and silent, not speaking, but obviously thinking hard. Reron had just begun to doze when Karena said in a soft voice, “Do you have any reason to stay here?”

Reron looked at her, wondering what this was leading too. “No, of course not! I live here because this is where your father forced me to live after my parents died. If I could, I would leave this place forever,” Looking down at the crowd below, he clenched his fists. “If I only I could do something about how the higher-class people treat us! If only we got the respect those with the Aronoru have… Then I would never have been reduced to feeding off of scraps!”

Looking at him closely, she asked, “And even if you had to face a lot of dangers, would you still want to leave this place?”

Without hesitation, he answered, “Yes, any place is better than here. But I don’t have the power to support myself anywhere else… I’m stuck here.”

“No, you’re not.” She said, whispering so low he had to bend in to hear her, “You can come with me to find the Sica Aronoru and then the Aero Aronoru. We can succeed if we work together. You use your air powers to help me get the Sica Aronoru, and then I use my spells to help you find the Aero Aronoru. Plus, I’m the daughter of Lord Arenn, and at the very least when they find out who I am, many will not attack us.”

Reron’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. “You want- you want me to–“Stuttering, he couldn’t get the words out, “You want me to come with you? You want me to help you?”

Smiling gently at his surprise, she nodded. Fingering the runes on her black staff, she asked, “Will you come with me and help me to find my Aronoru and then yours? Then many will never have to deal with the repercussions of the Caytas Death, like you have.”

Reron, for the first time since Karena saw him, smiled. “Yes! We’ll find the Sica Aronoru and the Aero Aronoru!” He put his hand out for her to shake, and she took it, smiling herself.

“Now, let’s get down from here.” She said, about to wave her staff to lower them to the concrete street below.

Grabbing her staff to stop her, Reron said, “Why don’t we land outside of town? I’m known around here, and everyone seems to think that I’m ‘scum’ and ‘filth’. I don’t want to talk to them again… Please, let’s just go.”

Karena shook her head sadly, but didn’t make him release her staff. “We need to get you proper clothes, and to stock up on supplies. I can only summon food and multiply it if I have it. But if I multiply it too much it becomes unhealthy, and even poisonous. We need food, clothes for you, and other supplies. We have to get it all in the city. But I understand what you mean; we’ll go to another part of the city, somewhere like the downtown area. Once you have good clothes and wash your face and hair, you won’t attract attention if we come across other travelers. Now, please let go of my staff.”

Reluctantly letting it go, Reron sat down, defeated. “Okay, but promise me you won’t give me lessons in courtesy. I hate that stuff, it’s so girly.”

Laughing as their invisible magic carpet flew through the air towards a bustling part of the city, barely a few blocks from where Reron’s home had been, she said, “It’s not girly at all. Lord Arenn is so powerful because he knew how to charm people and show them respect, with his courtesy. Do you imagine such a horrible and powerful person being girly?”

Reron stuck out his tongue in disgust, saying, “I don’t care. It’s so stupid!”

Rolling her eyes, Karena said, “All you have to remember is to not sit down in front of your elders, do not speak unless spoken to, and don’t make any disgusting noises.” Reron groaned, asking, “So I can’t burp?”

“No,” She said firmly, and with that, the conversation ended, Reron grumbling nonsense words under his breath in false anger.

A few minutes later, Reron came out of his sulk to find himself on the ground in a bustling marketplace. He was awed by the power that emanated from these powerful fiends, and one single fact; every person in that crowd was smiling. Not a single person seemed down or angry, except a water fiend or two.

Reron, looking around with something close to wonder at all the people around him, barely felt it when Karena kicked him in the shin. Realizing he wasn’t about to stop gaping at the weirded-out people, Karena grabbed him by the ear and pulled him away from the crowd, into a nearby alley.

“Get a hold of yourself!” She hissed at him, not wanting the slightly curious passerby’s to hear them. “It’s just a marketplace! Now, I need you to find us some food, while I get other supplies. I’ll meet you back here, alright?” Reron, who had finally stopped staring, nodded, but there was a blank look in his eyes while she talked.

Rolling her eyes, Karena said, “Find us some food, and meet me back here when you’re done. Be here by sunset, and here’s some money. Buy nothing but food! Anything else we need I’m going to buy! Promise me!” Giving him a stern look, she passed him a few gold coins. He looked at it, but didn’t seem very amazed.

“I promise, okay?” She nodded, and then looked confused.

“You’re amazed by some people and aren’t gaping at gold?” Karena noted as they joined the crowd before going their separate ways.

“My mom and dad often gave me money to go haggle in the market- money isn’t new to me, but this kind of happiness…” He broke off, unable to continue as he gestured at the people.

Smiling, Karena slipped away into the crowd as Reron turned to a food stand, beginning to haggle before they turned him away. Realizing they hadn’t yet bought him new clothes, Reron turned to tell Karena before she had gone too far, but she was nowhere in sight. Reron sighed, realizing he would have to break his promise before five minutes were up. ‘A beautiful start to a long and happy friendship,’ He said sarcastically to himself as he stepped into a shop.



As Karena walked away from Reron, she wondered if he even heard a word she had said. ‘Oh well,’ she said to herself, looking around for a stall or a shop that sold tents.

As she was bartering for a tent with a stall owner, she heard a scream from behind her. Turning around, she saw a pink Dragon running through the crowd, a Dragon Hunter right on her tail. All Karena could see before the pair vanished amongst the crowd was that the Dragon was very tiny while in human form, and her pink hair was very unruly and her pink eyes wide with fear. Her features were different from most Dragons- they typically only had the fangs and claws of their Dragon form while in their human form. This little girl was the first Karena had ever seen that had pink Dragon ears on her head, rather like a cats. The rarest ones had the scales of a Dragon when in human form, some had the narrow pupils of their Dragon form, but this little girl was the first Karena had seen that had the ears of a Dragon. On a little girl like her, they would have been cute if they hadn’t been pressed on her head as she tried to outrace the Dragon Hunter. The Dragon Hunter behind her, on the other hand, was tall and handsome, a spear in each hand, a sword sheathed on his belt. His dark green eyes shone with anger and determination, traits Karena had never seen in a Dragon Hunter before- they usually were greedy thugs. ‘I wonder how much bounty is on that girl for the Dragon Hunter to be so passionate,’ Karena wondered silently, seeing them disappear into the crowd.

After a moment or two, the rest of the crowd went about their business. But Karena, after buying the tent and stowing it in her bag, ran after them, using her staff to cast a spell to make her faster. When the spell failed, Karena cursed as she zipped through the crowd as fast as she could. ‘I’ll never get to the Dragon first at this rate!” She whispered to herself. A second later, she ran right into the Dragon Hunter, who was frozen, looking around intently.

The Dragon Hunter, who Karena noticed was only a teenager, at least a year younger than her, merely gave her an angry glance before resuming his scan upon the crowd. “Come out, little Dragon,” He said, pointing one spear in front of him and the other to the crowd.

Just as Karena was about to cast a spell to find the Dragon she saw Reron walk into a shop, probably to get away from the Dragon Hunter. Fighting mentally with herself for a second, Karena ran into the shop, hoping to get Reron before the Dragon or Dragon Hunter did.

There was little light in the room, and bookshelves lined the walls with jars full of disgusting things. There was a woman there, but her race seemed unidentifiable. She said from beneath a thick black veil, waving at a door behind her, Please follow me, my children,” Her accent was thick and also couldn’t define who she was, though she sounded more like a Dragon than an elemental. ‘She could be a Vampyr!’ Karena thought, wishing that there was a Moon Elf with them. Only Moon Elves can see the differences between Dragons in human form and Vampyres. Vampyres pretend to be Dragons in human form, and lure unsuspecting people away from others and then suck out their souls.

“Are you a Dragon?” Karena asked, wanting verification. If she said yes, they were out of there. The Dragon Hunter outside could come along and decide Karena and Reron got too close to a Dragon, and hurt them.

Reron, unlike his paranoid partner, found the place mysterious and inviting. The crystal ball held by the veiled woman was filled with amazing transparent smoke and, though there was no light source in it, seemed to glow.

“Of course not, my dears. What would a Dragon be doing in Sylas? Dragons live only in Minaex or Nemaex. And do I look like I have fangs or claws? I am a humble Earth Maiden, now; please follow me to the back room.” Her accent made it very hard for Karena to understand what she was saying, but Reron, who dealt with foreigners all the time and understood many accents, heard what she said clearly.

Rubbing his head, Reron asked with curiosity, “But your accent is from one of the most remote parts of the Minaex Nation. You must have spent a very, very long time there to get such a harsh accent. And I’ve never heard of an Earth Maiden with purple eyes. You’re a Dragon, or a Vampyr.” Suddenly, understanding what he just said, Reron gasped, “A Vampyr! You’re a Vampyr! Run, Karena!” He jumped away from the woman just as she sprouted black wings, and her eyes turned the deepest shade of black, whose unfathomable depths lured in Karena, who as if in a trance, started walking towards her dazedly.

Grabbing Karena’s hand, Reron pulled them both into the street; he knew how to deal with Vampyr’s.

“A Vampyr! Help, somebody, help!” He pointed back into from where they came, and just as the Dragon Hunter turned towards the doorway with a spear ready, the woman came out. Her veil covering her mouth had fallen off, to reveal sharp teeth, white as snow. Her eyes were black, and many people started walking towards her, entranced.

“Snap out of it!” A Dragon came forward through the crowd. She was a small girl, with pink hair and shining pink eyes. She had sharp teeth and claws on her hands along with the cat-like pink ears on her head, and she was barely taller than the Vampyr’s waist.

Recognizing her from the chase earlier, she wondered how the Dragon girl dared to come into the open with the Dragon Hunter chasing her.

The tiny girl Dragon closed her eyes, and everybody knew what was going to happen a second before it did. Anybody close to her jumped back, and all the entranced people, who had snapped out of it the moment the Dragon had yelled, ran away from her too.

The woman had taken off, her taunt black wings lifting her higher and higher into the sky, obviously preparing to dive.

The Dragon transformed, and just in time, for the Vampyr had begun her dive. The Dragon’s head grew bigger and narrower, and her hair seemed to turn into bright pink scales, the rest of her body following. Her clothes shrunk into her, transforming into pink scales as she grew bigger and bigger. Her shoes snapped, breaking as she grew and grew.

Now about seven feet tall and twenty feet long, the puny pink Dragon took to the air, roaring, “Come and get me!”

The Vampyr headed straight for her, hands extended, eager to latch onto the Dragon’s head, and force her to look into her eyes to entrance her and bring her to a secluded spot.

But the Dragon had other ideas. She swerved out of the way a moment before the Vampyres outstretched hands grabbed her head.

The Vampyr shrieked, a horrible sound splitting the air. She swerved to avoid a lunge the Dragon made. The Vampyr grabbed her head, and for a moment, the spectators below thought the battle was over. But the Dragon, before the Vampyr could entrance her, swung her tail which made solid contact with the Vampyr’s head.

A spear, thrown by the Dragon Hunter, landed squarely in the Vampyr’s heart.

Shrieking again, the Vampyr attempted to make a break for it, but the spear in her heart and the spiked tail in her head, she became limp, defeated.

The horrible black wings shrank into her back, her eyes closed for the last time. The only reason she didn’t fall to the ground below and possibly injure somebody was because the Dragon had a firm grip on her with her claws.

Flying slowly to the ground, the Dragon began to get smaller and smaller as she descended, until only a small girl landed on the ground, pink wings stretched out behind her back, as big as they had been when she was in her true form. She dropped the Vampyr, and vomited on the ground. The wings slowly shrank into her back as the girl collapsed.

Running over to her, Karena sank to her knees, flipping over the girl. She put a hand on her chest, and then lifted her head up, waving her staff over her.

A moment later, the teenaged Dragon Hunter stepped out of the crowd, holding a spear and his other hand on a sword-hilt.

The girl opened her eyes, blinking several times to get adjusted to the light when Karena stopped using her spells. “You’re awake,” Karena said with happiness, then hugged the astounded girl, “You saved me.”

“It does not matter that she killed a Vampyr!” The Dragon Hunter said viciously, pointing his spear at the girl, “She is a Dragon! You saw her transform! She is a monster!” He threw the spear with lightning speed and perfect aim.

Karena flicked her staff, and the spear turned into a flower just as it hit the Dragon’s neck.

The Dragon sat up, picking up the flower and staring at the teenager.

“You tried to kill me!” She said with shock, staring at the Dragon Hunter.

Sneering, he said, “Of course. You think I wouldn’t kill you just because you’re my-“

“Don’t say it!” She said, throwing the flower away and putting her face into Karena’s chest. Though nobody could see it, Karena could feel her shirt getting wetter with tears.

Reron stepped forward, saying in his anger at this injustice so close to how others treated him, “You have no thought for others! You’re a Dragon Hunter; all you care about is the bounty you’ll get off this girl’s head!”

The Dragon girl looked up at the Dragon Hunter, her eyes wide in hope, though neither Karena nor Reron could begin to guess what she could be hopeful about, the Dragon Hunter’s expression turned from a sneer to real anger.

“I am not like most of my kind! I could not care less if she truly did have a bounty on her head! I want her dead because of what she did!” And before Reron could retaliate, he ran at the Dragon girl just as Karena cast a spell, muttering quickly and waving her staff in an odd way simultaneously, and a shield came around them as the Dragon Hunter brought his sword down with all his horribly powerful strength that comes from being a Dragon Hunter.

But the invisible barrier held, sparks going off at the point of contact. Yelling in his outrage, the Dragon Hunter brought his sword down twice in quick succession. Once again, the barrier held, more sparks letting loose at the spot he struck.

Suddenly, the Dragon girl stood up, yelling at him, “What are you doing? Do you really think Mommy would have wanted this?”

Though he looked sad about something for a moment, Reron thought twice about his past words; just by his look it was obvious he cared deeply for the one the girl called ‘mommy’.

But as if in contradiction to Reron’s thought his expression turned from sadness to anger once again, saying, “I am getting revenge for the murder you committed. Not all Dragons are evil, but you are so cruel and evil I can’t believe I once called you-” But he abruptly stopped talking, as if suddenly aware of all the eyes trained on them, he looked around them.

He glared at her, and took something from a pack he had on his back, a small wooden beaker. He opened it and spilled the contents of the potion over his sword. It suddenly began glowing blood red as he brought it high over his head. He swung it with such speed that a loud noise erupted from the sound, as if he cut the air itself. The moment the sword hit the barrier, everybody expected it to bounce off, but it broke the barrier in that single strike. The sword plunged towards the Dragon with such speed that when the sword flew out of the Dragon Hunter’s grasp to land several feet away, it took Karena and the Dragon girl a moment to see Reron with his hand out and pointed towards the Dragon Hunter.

Before the Dragon Hunter could react, a strong force of bright blue air flew towards the sword, lifting it high into the air.

But the Dragon Hunter didn’t even bother to retrieve his sword- he took out a hidden dagger from underneath his leggings, and ran forward, his hand and the dagger poised to strike.

However, Karena was faster than he. Quickly grabbing onto the Dragon girl’s hand, she waved her staff and before anybody could blink, the pair vanished just as the Dragon Hunter’s dagger hit the ground where they had stood seconds before.

Not wasting even a second, the Dragon Hunter turned to Reron, his dagger over his shoulder, ready to throw at a seconds notice and said, “Release my sword or I shall strike you dead here and now.”

Reron replied simply, “No,” and he raised high into the air, light blue air circulating about him, keeping him afloat.

Reron glared into the Dragon Hunter’s cold, calculating eyes, and Reron was immensely surprised to hear the Dragon Hunter say, “Was that Spellcaster a friend of yours, or perhaps your sister?”

Gulping, Reron wondered what the teenager would reply as he said, “Yes, she’s a friend of mine that I will protect from you.”

“I will lead you to your friend, and in the process, to the Dragon I’m hunting, if you give me back my sword.”

After a moment of surprise, Reron’s eyes narrowed in distrust as he said, “How do I know you’ll do that?”

The Dragon Hunter replied, as he walked over to the point where the sword would drop to, “I swear on the grave of my mother, my father, and all of those who have died at the hands of my kind that I will hurt neither you nor your friend and that I shall lead you to your friend if you give me my sword back and promise not to interfere when I battle with the Dragon.”

Shocked that a Dragon Hunter would go to such length’s just to get a sword back, when he could try and take it by brute force, Reron hesitated before thinking of his own extremely poor tracking skills, and saying, “I agree on the condition that I have the choice to interfere or not when the time comes that we’ve found them.”

Looking hard at Reron, and still feeling the eyes of the crowd at his back, and then looking to the sword, which still glowed red, he slowly said, “Agreed.”

Reron let both his incantations go, and as he dropped slowly to the ground below, he thought for a brief moment as the Dragon Hunter picked up his sword, ‘Now he’s going to kill me!’

But the Dragon Hunter merely sheathed the sword, and surprised Reron by picking up the rose that had once been his spear and putting it in a pocket on his jacket. Without looking to Reron, he jumped and landed with supreme accuracy on the roof of the building that had previously belonged to the Vampyr, and motioned for Reron to follow.

For a second, Reron was puzzled, wondering how he was going to get up there without a Dragon Hunter’s strength, and then almost slapped himself for his stupidity as he waved his hands. Wind circulated about him as he flew up towards the Dragon Hunter.

Without giving any indication he knew the Air Apprentice was there, the Dragon Hunter ran forwards, jumping off the rooftop and landing with the same unerring accuracy he had already displayed and continued running. Reron flicked his hands, and air circled around his feet as he ran forward at speeds that most Air Fiends could not accomplish even with the aid of the air. He jumped to the next building, air pushing him off of the building and softening his landing as he ran off after the Dragon Hunter.

[Snack Addict]

Chapter Two
Memories

For the first moment after her transportation spell, Karena was very confused about where they were. The darkness around them took her eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did, she, along with the Dragon girl, gasped in shock and surprise.

They were in a forest, a dark forest whose trees were so tall the canopies were hidden in the darkness, with pines and needles on the ground, and Karena even spotted a rabbit’s skeleton, making the already eerie forest even creepier.

“Where did you send us?” The Dragon girl asked, her pink eyes almost glowing with some internal light, as bright as ever.

Looking around her again, pretending to examine their surroundings, and said, “The Forest of Arenn.”

The Dragon girl looked a little downhearted at this news, and said hopefully, “Maybe my brother will find us and save us,”

Looking curiously over her shoulder, she asked, “Who’s your brother?”

Without blinking, she turned around and, looking straight into Karena’s eyes, said, “The Dragon Hunter who was hunting me.”

Her mouth fell open in shock, but it still didn’t register. “You’re brother… A Dragon Hunter... He tried to kill you!” She said loudly, her voice rising and some birds flew away at the noise.

She nodded, then gazed again at their surroundings, “It won’t take him long to find me, he has my scent on his sword, it’ll lead him to me.”

Closing her mouth after the initial shock, Karena asked hesitantly, “And do you know why he wants to kill you, his sister, so badly?”

Nodding, and looking away, she said, “It’s a long story, we better find somewhere comfortable to sit.” Despite her previous attitude about not caring for her brother or his quest to murder her, Karena knew she heard the girl’s voice crack as she spoke.

Karena smiled softly before she stood up and walked off, past the clump of trees they were in, dodging spikes from vines that grew on the close knit trees, and having to clamber over several poisonous looking flowers.

Moving quickly, she found the tree line ended and saw a wide river cutting through the dank forest. High above, higher than anything Karena had ever seen, even her old home the palace, was the pale indigo and pink sky. Karena realized that it was sunset, and that they had little time to find shelter before night fell and the monsters of the night came.

Karena shrugged, trying to rid herself of the sleepiness her spells gave her; only very strong, and usually old and experienced, Spellcasters can escape the tired that followed the casting of their spells. She knew if she cast too many more spells, she’d be as vulnerable as a mouse under a hawk’s gaze.

Karena yelled for the Dragon girl, adding, “I’ve found a river!” As she looked into the ever-changing current of the river, she wondered silently, ‘But who is the hawk?’ As she heard the Dragon start towards her, using her strong sense of hearing she could hear the Dragon talking to herself.

“But if he knew the girl was a Spellcaster, he just threw the spear knowing she’d stop it. But...” Then she trailed off, and Karena could just imagine her tilting her head, as if listening for something. ‘The Dragon Hunter?’ Karena wondered for a second before the Dragon suddenly appeared by her side.

Smiling at her, Karena asked as she sat down by the river’s edge, “So, what’s your name? I keep thinking of you as ‘the Dragon girl’ but somehow I doubt that’s your real name.”

She looked as if she tried to smile, but instead looked like she was smirking at Karena as she replied, “My name is Synfera Direi of the Direi clan of the Terri nation. I am a Dragon, daughter to Lira Direi and Viroth Naenn. Adrius, my brother the Dragon Hunter, has, as of a week and two days from now, been chasing me for two weeks. Before I start my story, could you get us some food and make this water safe to drink?” She seemed to be trying to act older than she was, but Karena could easily see that she was a scared and frightened little girl.

Karena smiled gently at her, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I have food and water, but after all the spells I’ve done already today I can’t cast anymore spells- we Spellcasters do have our limits.” She took off the bag that was slung over her shoulder, and after a second or two of rummaging around in it, she pulled out a tightly shut container with food in it.

“I’m not hungry- dig in.” Karena said to Synfera’s look, just before Synfera opened her mouth to ask the obvious question.

“I’ll start a fire while you eat, and then we can both tell our stories, though mine is pretty short and simple.” She said as she stood and walked into the dark forest- twilight was almost over and the stars were slowly appearing.

Karena went through her bag again as Synfera ate. While she was searching, she felt Synfera’s gaze on her back.

“What are you looking for?” Synfera asked curiously. Karena suddenly smiled; taking out the tinder she was looking for and setting it on the ground.

“Just getting a little help for my spell,” She answered as she turned around. Taking her staff in both hands, she whispered something inaudible and branches and sticks flew out of the woods and into a neat pile between the two girls.

Winking at the shocked look on Synfera’s face, she took the tinder and put it on the pile, and waved her staff over the pile. The small wood chips burst into flame, and, waving her staff again, the tinder burrowed through the wood until the chips were deep in the pile.

Soon, the rest of the wood was on fire, making Synfera and Karena scoot a little ways away from the heat.

“What about the grass around it? Won’t it catch the flames?” Synfera asked her high-pitched voice turning into a squeak in her fear.

“Of course, I forgot,” Karena said, waving her staff again. Large rocks burst from the river and settled around the fire.

“Now, time for some storytelling!” Karena said enthusiastically, grabbing the two sleeping bags she had purchased earlier, handing one to Synfera.

Smiling through her shock, Synfera put the half-empty bowl of food aside and stood to put the sleeping bag under her.

After putting the water bottle and the food away, Karena turned to Synfera and smiled at her, encouraging her to start.

Gulping, Synfera asked, “Before I start, I want to know something. How’d you do that magic? I thought you said you were too tired to do anymore,” She accused, picking up a stick and poking the fire.

Smiling again, Karena answered, “I’m not so tired yet that I can’t cast a few simple spells.” She refrained from saying anything further; thinking about what she had done to get a bounty on her, or why her brother was trying to kill her. ‘I better not tell her too much about my weaknesses, or my strength’s,’ Karena thought as Synfera bowed her head.

There was complete silence, save for the river rushing by and the flames crackling. After several minutes, Karena wondered if Synfera had fallen asleep. On the verge to check if she was, or say something, Synfera broke the silence.

“My mother was a Dragon. She was a gold Dragon, one of the noblest colors. She-“

But, interrupting her, Karena asked, “What do you mean, ‘noblest colors’?”

Sighing, Synfera gazed deep into the fire as she answered, “The color of a Dragon, such as mine is pink, and defines their true nature, their personality. The color of a Dragon’s scales, or hair and eyes in our human forms, are always the same color. The color can only change if something drastic happens in their life, and then the color will almost never change again. Many Dragons have their colors turned dark if they are corrupted or are driven by grief into insanity. The color gold indicates that my mother was a noble, selfless, and kind Dragon. Her color could never change, because gold means that she is strong enough to get through anything. Or so my brother and I had thought.” She looked away from the fire and into the river, and plowed on with her tale.

“My mother was a gold Dragon, as I said, and one day, a Dragon Hunter began tracking her. She faced him in battle, and asked why there was a bounty on her. The Dragon Hunter replied that Lord Arenn, the evil and powerful Fire Lord, had wanted her dead. He put a bounty on all gold and silver Dragons; silver is the most pure of all colors, just as equal to or maybe even greater than gold. He wanted them all dead, the reason of which I have never found out.

“My mother defeated the Dragon Hunter and took him prisoner. Every day, he asked her to kill him rather than let him live and suffer greatly at the hands of Lord Arenn when he returned, but she did not. She talked with him, and he talked back. Eventually, he saw the error of the ways of Dragon Hunters, and fell in love with her. A year later, they were married, and a year after that my brother Adrius was born.

“In this time, the Dragon Hunter Rynzai, who is now the leader of the Dragon Hunters, found the Hinorthai Aronoru, and the Dragon Hunters were free from the Caytas Death. Once, my mother told me that she feared my father would turn on her, sure that this news would make his darker side come out, the side she had fought against the day they first met, the side she had to always fight to keep my father who he truly was. But he didn’t. She always said that if he were a Dragon, his scale color would be gold too.

“When I was born, it was immediately obvious that I was a Dragon, and by now my brother had found out he was a Dragon Hunter. It is in the nature of Dragon Hunters to kill Dragons, but my dad was living proof that not all Dragon Hunter’s were evil. My brother loved my father and mother very much, and when I was born, he loved me too. We were always playing together, and we became the best of friends, but neither of us had any other friends because of how strange our family was. It’s natural for Dragons to marry other Dragons, and Dragon Hunters to fight and kill Dragons, and mate with other Dragon Hunters.”

Interrupting again, Karena asked, “What do you mean, ‘mate’? I thought only Vampyres took mates and didn’t have marriages.”

Shaking her head, and now looking at the woods, Synfera said, “No, Dragon Hunters are natural nomads, and loners. They don’t marry because then they would be bonded with another person for life. They take short-term mates that usually only last for a year. When a man and woman Dragon Hunter meet, and are alone, they spend some time together, usually a week or so. If they like the qualities of the other, they become mates. Until that day the next year, they are bonded. They have a child, and raise the baby for the next few months until their bond is about to be over. Then they name the child and one of them takes it with them.”

“Do the mothers usually take the baby?” Karena asked.

Looking curiously at her, Synfera asked, “You know very little of other peoples, don’t you? And it usually doesn’t matter; whichever of the parents has a less difficult bounty to fetch takes the kid. Dragon Hunters don’t usually have affection for anyone, kind’ve like Fire Fiends." She paused, and then asked, "You made me babble on about Dragon Hunters, where was I?”

Karena answered, “You were talking about how you and your brother didn’t have other friends.”

Nodding, Synfera went on, “Oh yeah, right. Well, neither of us had friends because any Dragon Hunters who might’ve become friends with Adrius didn’t when they found out his parents were a Dragon and a Dragon Hunter, and his sister was a Dragon who he never even thought of hurting. Same went for me, except other Dragons just thought I was crazy living with two Dragon Hunters.

“In all this time, rumors spread about our family, and other Dragon Hunters came after us. My dad protected us, but one day we had to split up. He said they were too close, and that he’d lead them off our track. We found his dead body a few days later. My mom pulled through and protected us, and my brother pretended to be an Air Apprentice so nobody would suspect us. We were happy for a long while, and the Dragon Hunters never found us, as they were only ever able to track my dad.

“My brother became friends with a Dragon, Luhae. Soon, he began to love her. He told me all about her, but then our mother died. Driven by grief, my color almost changed to black, but when Adrius found out what might happen, he calmed me down, talked to me, consoled me, and kept me from going mad with grief. Soon after, a Vampyr kidnapped Luhae in front of my eyes. I knew how much Luhae meant to Adrius, and what lengths he had gone through to protect me, and I went after them. I found them just as the Vampyr was eating Luhae’s soul.” Shuddering, it took Synfera a second before she could continue, “I fought the Vampyr, but it got away. Having tracked Luhae, Adrius had followed us when he realized we were missing and found me standing over Luhae’s dead body. He almost went mad with grief himself, and fought me, wanting to blame somebody he could fight. I couldn’t convince him it wasn’t me, and I fled. But in the fight, he had cut me at some point with his sword. He had a special sword that our dad had given him, and it can track a person no matter where they go or any spells that might be cast on them if the sword has cut them, and for the past two weeks I’ve been running from him, trying on every encounter to reason with him.

“But none of it has worked, and soon enough he’ll find us and try to kill me again. I don’t think I can stand this much longer… I love my brother, and I could never hurt him, but I know he’ll chase me until he kills me, because Luhae’s death and our mother’s death brought out his dark side, and I don’t know how to get my brother back. My mom never told me exactly how she brought our dad’s good side… But I hope I can do the same, because if I can’t my brother will turn into a horrible monster, just like them.”

Her knees huddled against her chest; Synfera looked directly into Karena’s eyes, fear plain in her eyes, as if thinking Karena might agree with her brother and kill her then and there.

Smiling, Karena stood up and walked around the fire to sit beside the small girl. Putting an arm around her, still smiling softly, she said, “You will earn your brother’s trust back, and I’m going to help. Next time he catches up with you, we’ll stand our ground. I’ll stop him from hurting you, and you talk to him. Luhae will be avenged, that I promise you. I’ll hunt down her killer myself! You don’t need to blame yourself for her death; there was nothing you could do. But now, there is something you can do. Help your brother to understand the truth.”

The fear gone from her eyes, all Synfera could do was smile and look down, letting her short pink hair cover her face. When she looked up, Karena could see evidence of tears, and after wiping her eyes while stifling a sob, she choked out the words, “Thank you.”

Karena hugged her tightly, and said, “You’re welcome. Now, time for my story,” Taking her arm down and putting both her hands calmly in her lap, Karena closed her eyes and sighed before opening them and looking at Synfera.

“I’m the daughter of Lord Arenn and Lady Ilari. My parents thought I was an Earth Maiden, and using spells to manipulate the earth, I could play the part, though I was very bad at it. I confided in one of my friends, whose cousin was a Spellcaster. My friend secretly passed scrolls between her cousin and I, and I managed to learn how to be a Spellcaster in secret, though very clumsily without a proper teacher.

“When I finally met my teacher in person, she used a spell and found out that I would become one of the greatest Spellcasters of all time. But my father found out about our meeting and its purpose, and he ordered me to be tortured until I couldn’t use my powers. My friend—“Here Karena choked up, and bowed her head, trying to stop her own tears just as Synfera had, but with more success. Wiping a hand over her eyes, she looked at the fire as she continued her story,” —was killed, and my teacher escaped. The torture worked, but only halfway. I could use all the power I had learned up until that point, but I can’t learn any new spells. I think that whoever tortured me didn’t want me to be helpless, but still had to do what my father ordered.

“I had learned a lot, more than my parents guessed- enough to assert my independence. I fought my father, and his rules, all the way until yesterday. It was my birthday yesterday, the day I turned sixteen. Since I came of age, I had a choice. Follow the path my parents wanted for me, or to forge my own path. Obviously, I chose to leave them. They murdered my best friend, tried to torture me into subservience, and will hunt me down to put me in a cell until I die of the Caytas Death. I will not stand for that, and if I don’t stop them and those like them, who will?” She demanded of nothing, waving her hand through the air as if slapping someone. A stone flew through the air and landed in the river, making a big splash that caused frightened birds to fly over the moon.

After a few seconds of silence, Synfera asked, “But what are you going to do now? Find your teacher?”

“No; I can’t learn any new spells, remember? I’m going to find the Sica Aronoru. Reron, the boy who was with me earlier, is going to help me, and afterwards we’ll find the Aero Aronoru.”

Another few moments of quiet followed, and Karena looked at Synfera, wondering why she wasn’t saying anything.

She was just staring at the fire, and glanced at Karena before looking up at the stars.

Just to break the silence, Karena said, “We both seemed to have had interesting lives.” Her voice was filled with bitterness, and up until now she hadn’t even noticed it. ‘I wonder what that makes others like Synfera and Reron think of me.’

“Yes, we have. Now it’s just what’s going to happen to us for the rest of them. Neither of our lives looks like it’s going to last long, but for some reason I feel like mine is going to be shorter than yours…. I wish that I knew how to calm my brother, or even had the courage to face him, like you. You faced your father, the most powerful Fire Fiend in all the kingdoms, and I don’t have the courage to face one Dragon Hunter…” Synfera gazed into the fire again, her head on her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs. Her short pink hair covered her face as she looked down, while Karena still gazed with anger at the flames.

Karena looked at Synfera, then seeing how defeated she looked. Putting an arm around her again, Karena said softly, “You know, I wasn’t that brave. I knew my father wouldn’t, and couldn’t, do anything to harm me. I was protected; you however had the courage to stay with your brother all those years, when any other Dragon would have fled. You believe in your brother more than I could ever believe in anyone. Don’t underestimate yourself, Synfera. The fact you’re still alive and sitting next to me shows that you have courage! You can do anything, and no puny obstacle like getting your brother to believe in you will stop you! Have faith in yourself, and you can accomplish anything!”

Synfera looked up with hope, her bright pink eyes shining with tears. “You really think so?” her voice cracked, and she bit her lip to stop herself from crying more.

“Yes, yes I do.” Karena said bringing her into a hug, looking up at the moon, wondering where Synfera’s brother Adrius was right now, and what her father was planning.

“I’ll take the first watch,” she stated unconsciously, and continued to watch the moon as Synfera fell asleep.

[Snack Addict]

Puffing, chest heaving with exhaustion, Reron stopped to gasp for breath, his hands on his knees, his dirty blonde hair dripping sweat. He spared a glance upward, to see the tall and handsome Dragon Hunter gazing at him with dislike.

“If you can’t keep up, I will leave you behind.” the Dragon Hunter warned, blocking the rising sun from Reron’s view.

Still struggling for breath, Reron said, “But we’ve been running all night and half the day! Don’t you Dragon Hunters ever need some rest?” starting to regain control of himself, but feeling his heart hammering wildly at his chest, Reron stood up, his head only coming to the Dragon Hunter’s shoulder.

“We can run for weeks without rest of any kind,” he said passionlessly, “And go for even longer without food or water, as can Dragons. But you elementals need a lot of rest, and if Synfera is traveling with your Spellcaster friend then she will be held up as well. Especially since the Spellcaster will need more rest than usual from casting a transportation spell. Alright, we can take a break.”

Reron sighed with relief, collapsing on the ground, feeling the morning dew on the tips of the grass, before hearing, “But not here. At the very least you will rest in shade.”

Sighing again, but this time out of exasperation, Reron pulled himself up and walked slowly after the Dragon Hunter. “What’s your name anyway?” he asked as they walked towards the trees, looking with longing back at the open prairie, feeling a breeze circle him before moving on.

“Adrius Direi Naenn,” He said, stopping when he got to the shade of the trees and leaned against a tree, completely at ease. He folded his arms, looking at Reron and asked, “And yours?”

“I’m Reron,” he said tersely. He thought for a moment, wondering if he should try to be friends with Adrius, but had almost decided against it when Adrius spoke.

“Synfera is my little sister. She was the Dragon back there.” he said bluntly, his long dark hair suddenly whipping around his head as Reron’s shock caused the wind to grow.

Getting in control of his emotions, the wind settled and, making sure his voice was steady, Reron asked, “Why try to kill her then? And how do a Dragon Hunter and a Dragon get to be brother and sister?”

Sighing, as if explaining something extraordinarily easy, Adrius said, “My mother was a gold Dragon and my father a Dragon Hunter… They fell in love and married, and had me and later my sister. Lord Arenn wanted all gold and silver Dragons dead, and Dragon Hunters followed my family. They killed my father. I made a friend who was a Dragon, Luhae. My mother soon died of the Caytas Death, and Synfera was almost driven insane, but I saved her. Now I wish I had let her turn black.” He said vehemently, taking out a knife and throwing it. It landed in a tree, a hawk’s wing pinned by the knife. The poor bird tried to fly, but the knife kept it there.

Ignoring it, Adrius continued. “She killed Luhae, I think because she wanted me to let her live with her grief. Now I’m hunting her for revenge.” He threw another knife, and it landed just above the hawk’s, making it squeeze closer to the branch it stood on, it’s wing pinned awkwardly above it.

Reron quickly stood up and flew to the branch, using more wind than necessary to land quietly so as not to frighten the bird. He reached out for the knife to free the bleeding bird, but suddenly he saw something move in his peripheral vision and Adrius sat on the branch in front of him, his hand on Reron’s wrist.

“Nobody touches my weapons.” He growled, gripping Reron’s wrist tighter.

Wincing at the pain, Reron said, “Then free the hawk yourself.” Adrius slowly let Reron go, but gave him a long, searching look.

“It doesn’t matter; the bird will bleed to death anyway. It’s only an animal,” Adrius pulled out the two knives and jumped back down to the forest floor beneath them.

The branch swayed from the force of his jump, and Reron quickly used wind to support the hawk before it could fall. Taking the hawk in his arms, Reron realized it was very small. ‘It’s only a baby!’
Floating gently down, Reron made the hawk comfortable in his arms, using a soft breeze to go through its feathers to calm it.

Glancing briefly at what Reron held before leaning against another tree, the knives already put away into their hidden sheaths, Adrius said, “There’s no point. We can’t bring it with us and if we leave it here it’ll die. Just kill it and we can go.”

Glaring at him, Reron said stoically, “I won’t leave it to die because of your anger. And have you ever considered the fact that your sister didn’t kill Luhae? It sounds like that you had saved her life; why would a loving sister kill her brother’s friend? Not that it matters, but what was Luahe's color?” He wasn’t intending to talk with Adrius for a while after that display, but his curiosity wouldn’t let him leave it alone.

As he spoke, Reron made another breeze press the blood back into the wound on both sides of the wing, and wiped off the rest of the blood with his hand. Some of it had already dried, and made the feathers sticky, especially around where the knife hit. Reron suddenly remembered helping his mom as she helped to heal a cat that had been wounded. What he had seen then came back to Reron as he worked on helping the hawk.

As Reron worked, Adrius answered, "She was silver. Maybe Luhae had told Synfera what I was, and Synfera had killed her to protect me. But whatever happened, Synfera killed Luhae and I will never forgive her for it.”

“How do you know Synfera was the one who killed Luhae?” Reron asked as he used more wind to hold the blood in until it could clot.

Answering slowly while watching Reron heal the bird, Adrius replied, “I saw her standing in her Dragon form over Luhae’s dead body. There were a lot of wounds on Luhae, made of claws and fangs. The Synfera I knew before our mother’s death would have been crying, but she hadn’t been. Whoever my sister once was she is no more,” A scowl on his face, Adrius looked to the sky, watching vultures circle something on the plains.

“Dragons can’t cry when they’re in their natural form, and Luhae could have been attacked by another Dragon, or a Vampyr that Synfera had been fighting. What did Luhae look like? I mean, what expression did she have when she died? And what was her color?”

Not looking at him, Adrius answered, “She was a silver Dragon, and she didn’t have an expression. Her face was blank of emotion. She always told me that if death ever came for her, she would not fear it because she wasn’t afraid of dying.” His own face was blank of emotion, though he must still grieve for his lost friend.

Frowning, Reron stood up with the hawk in his arms, still keeping the wind by the wound to keep it from bleeding, though the wound was already beginning to heal. “What if a Vampyr had got her? They take the souls out of their victims before the actual body dies, so she wouldn’t have had any expression at all if her soul was sucked out. Even if she wasn’t afraid of death, don’t you think she would have been sad to see it end so quickly? You said yourself Lord Arenn was hunting down silver and gold Dragons; what if the Vampyr killed her under his orders? You’re very quick to blame your sister; Synfera could well have been trying to save Luhae!”

Suddenly, Adrius grew angry as he glared at Reron, flicking his hair out of his face with a fist. Trapped by the intensity of Adrius’s gaze, Reron realized as Adrius flicked his hair that he was holding a knife, but not just any knife, his black dagger.

Before Reron could even blink, Adrius was right behind him, putting his dagger to the defenseless Air Apprentice’s throat. “Do you know what this dagger is?” Adrius asked, his voice shaking with the effort to control himself. A drop of blood slid down the blade from Reron as he pressed it against Reron’s skin.

Without waiting for a response, he continued vehemently. “It is the symbol of my clan. Dragon Hunters are born to a certain clan, one of the eleven. Each clan is represented by a weapon and a familiar. Mine is the clan of the red wolf, and the black dagger. The weapon of a clan is more than just a weapon, it is an ancient artifact. It only works for the ones of its own clan, and it is filled with magical venom. If it touched more than a drop of your blood, you would die a slow and painful death. It is what we use to torture our prey of information before they die. Do you really want to continue challenging me to die like a mouse? Say another word about Luhae and I will prick you with my black dagger. The less poison that gets into you, the longer and more painful it is for you to die. There is no cure.” Once again, without a warning Adrius backed off, slipping his knife into a sheath somewhere on him and leaned against the tree once more.

Belatedly, Reron remembered something his mother mentioned to him once, ‘Never argue with a Dragon Hunter if you value your life. Even the strongest of Air Fiends cannot challenge a Dragon Hunter and live.’

Thinking distinctly of his luck at not being killed, Reron dared to ask, “You mentioned a familiar earlier, and I remember that most Dragon Hunters have some sort of animal with them. Why don’t you have a familiar?”

Adrius did not look at him as he replied, “You are pushing the boundaries of our agreement far.”

After several uncomfortable moments, Reron felt the hawk twist in his arms and loosened his grip. The hawk tried to stir and fly out of his arms, but failed and merely glared up at the boy, as if blaming him for his hurt wing. ‘Which it is,’ Reron reflected as he set the bird on his shoulder, using his air to keep the hawk from falling over, and to protect his shoulder from being hurt.

“Why don’t we move on?” Reron suggested hopefully, not raising his gaze to meet the now-calm Dragon Hunter’s eyes.

Looking up, Reron saw the Dragon Hunter nod and run off into the forest, not looking back as Reron ran after him. He made a shield of air around the hawk to keep the wind and bugs from buffeting it, while using air bursts on the ground to make him run faster. ‘I can’t keep this pace up much longer,’ He thought grimly as he chased Adrius through the forest.


Packing up their sleeping bags, Karena put a hand over her eyes and looked around them again, checking to make sure Adrius hadn’t found them yet, though even if she saw him it would be far too late to negotiate. ‘We can’t hide forever,’ she thought as they prepared to set off.

“Karena?” Synfera asked tentatively as Karena shouldered the only pack. “Why are you helping me? I can understand rescuing me, because you got in the middle of the fight, but why stay? Hearing my story you know my brother, being a Dragon Hunter, will hunt me to the end of his days.”

Before answering, she dodged the question by saying, “Let’s get a move on, its sunrise and likely your brother would have been up all night trying to catch up with us. I won’t be able to cast another transportation spell for at least another day, so if he catches up we have to fight or convince him to not to hurt you.”

Starting what promised to be a long walk, Karena went through the brush as Synfera struggled to keep up, using the time to think about her answer.

Finally, she answered, “Because I hate to let innocent people die, and you will most certainly die soon if I left you. Adrius would have killed you back there if Reron and I hadn’t stopped him. And also because I feel like we’re alike. Our families have turned on us, and we’re both alone. People like us need to stick together.”

Karena turned around for a second, and saw Synfera hide a smile.

Turning back around again, Karena asked, “And what will you do if you can convince him you’re innocent?” She suddenly felt she struck a nerve when Synfera answered clinically.

“Adrius is a Dragon Hunter. Now that he knows the thrill of the chase, he’ll probably become a bounty hunter like all the rest.”

“You’re avoiding the question,” Karena pointed out, glancing over her shoulder again.

Synfera was looking at the ground as if her life depended on it as she answered, “I don’t know.”

Karena looked forward again, thinking how depressed Synfera looked as she said it. Her memory flickered back to when Reron had spluttered, ‘You- you want me to help you?’ And how just after was when she saw him smile for the first time.

“Would you like to come with me to find the Aronoru?” Karena asked, briefly wondering what would happen if she kept giving out invitations to loners to meet their deaths.

The sound of feet crunching pine needles and leaves behind her suddenly stopped, and Karena stopped and turned around to see Synfera staring at her with her mouth open.

“What?” Synfera asked, amazed, her mouth still open in shock, her eyes wide and filled with some indefinable emotion.

“I want you to join me on my quest once Adrius stops hunting you. On the way we can find Luhae’s killer, together.”

And before Synfera could do more than nod, all hell broke loose.

[Snack Addict]

Chapter Three
Vampyr and Dragons

As Reron and Adrius sped through the forest, Reron started to grow uneasy. ‘Adrius looks tense, we must be getting close,’ Reron thought grimly as he slugged along. He was going slowly compared to the speedy Dragon Hunter, and the hawk was still fluttering around and making it harder than ever for Reron to keep up.

“We’re almost there. Have you decided what you’re going to do?” Adrius asked formally, stopping by a gigantic tree.

Reron, able to stop and breathe for the first time since the beginning of the day, looked up to see the sky so far above him that he felt like an ant.

“Where are we?” He asked after catching his breath, awed by the sight.

“We’re in the Forest of Arenn. Be careful, there are many creatures in here that you wouldn’t want to mess with, and a few even I have to worry about.” Adrius answered tensely, his eyes glaring into the distance as if hoping to spot his sister.

“What sort of creatures?” Reron asked as he thought to himself, ‘You just can’t let your silly questions stay bottled up, can you?’

“Phoenixes and Ducons and Moon Elves are some of the good ones, wild Forest Dragons and Tentas and Linera being some of the bad ones. You don’t want to meet a Linera out here, especially during the day. And a wild Forest Dragon isn’t a pixie either. Now, answer my question.” He turned his head as fast as lightning to trap Reron’s gaze while still glaring.

“I told you, I won’t act until the time comes and then make my decision. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Reron almost grinned at his cleverness, but stopped it just in time. ‘Phrasing it the one way he can’t complain or do anything about,’ Reron thought, ‘I’m an evil little Air Fiend.’

“Decide now before we take another step.” He said apathetically.

‘So much for him not being able to complain,’ Reron thought before saying, “I really don’t know. And does it really matter? You can probably take me out with one prick of your dagger, remember? What difference would my choice make?”

Adrius just kept Reron’s challenging gaze for a moment before looking back into the trees. “You’re right. I can sense them; they’re only a little ways away now. You should leave the hawk here; whoever you’re siding with you will still battle, and the hawk could get hurt.”

“No, because then one of those animals you mentioned or something else will come along and take him.”

Adrius merely shrugged, saying, “It’s your hawk’s life, I couldn’t care less. Now let’s go.”

[Snack Addict]

Karena heard Synfera stop walking behind her, and then she whispered fiercely to Karena, “Stop! Somebody’s coming!”

Karena immediately took off the backpack and put her back to Synfera’s back, and they both scanned the trees, waiting for Adrius to get there.

But the man who stepped out from one of the gigantic branches wasn’t a Dragon Hunter, not even an Air Fiend. It was a Vampyr.

“A Vampyr!” Synfera cried, and her fangs and claws grew longer in her fear.

“How do you know I’m a Vampyr?” He asked his voice almost as high as a girl’s and nearly singing in his euphoria, leaning down on his branch as he looked at the duo far beneath, “I could be one of your kin little Dragon.”

Synfera raised her lip and a fierce growl came from her as she answered, “Because you have Lord Arenn’s crest, dimwit! No Dragon save a Black would work with that monster!”

He laughed, his light blue eyes twinkling in his merriment. “WE have us a clever little one! Maybe Master Arenn will let me keep you as a pet when I return his runaway daughter to where she belongs.”

“Master Arenn? He’s your Master?” Karena asked, astounded by this shocking news. Nobody called another ‘Master’ unless they were a slave or a servant, which no Vampyr would consent to be to any fiend.

The laughter gone from his eyes and a frown upon his face, the Vampyr fingered the medallion on his neck that bore Lord Arenn’s crest saying, “Of course. No Vampyr would ever work alongside prey, even one as powerful as Master Arenn. Long ago one of your descendants Lady Tira Arenn captured two Vampyrs and gathered Spellcasters and bound the two to slavery to the Arenn’s forever. All the descendants of those two are the slaves of the ruler of the Sylas, which is your father Lord Arenn. I am one of those. Now, enough of the chitchat, I wasn’t ordered to talk you into coming with me.” He jumped from the high branch he had been talking from and landed right in front of Karena, his hand raised to grab her head, his eyes already the same fathomless black.

Synfera roared, her high-pitched voice the deepest and most terrifying sound Karena had ever heard, for a moment seeing exactly why
Dragon Hunters called Dragons monsters. But immediately after that she felt glad that she had a Dragon companion. The Vampyr clutched at his ears, responding to the roar with a screech of his own, hurting Karena’s ear and making Synfera clutch at her own head.

And the worst possible thing that could happen at that moment flew from the trees, ramming into Synfera. Reron and Synfera tumbled on the ground, Synfera momentarily dazed.

Adrius sank into a half-crouch, raising his blood-red sword with one hand and picking up the black dagger that had barely missed her, stalking forward slowly and with ease.

Karena, whose eyes were still on the Vampyr, yelled at him, “What are you doing?! Is now really the time to attack your sister? We have a Vampyr here! He’s going to recover and attack at any second! Stop, Adrius!” His name shocked him out of the attack, making him pause as he prepared to throw the dagger. Reron stood up protectively in front of Synfera, his arms stretched out to shield her as much as could be.

The Vampyr, meanwhile, recovered and hissed through his sharp fangs. He ran at Karena, who didn’t even have time to scream as he attacked.

The Vampyr flew back from her, and for a moment Karena was too surprised to even comprehend what had happened. Adrius…. had chosen to save her over killing his sister? But why? He was a Dragon Hunter; their motto was survival of the fittest.

This all flew through her head in a flash, barely registering in her mind as the Vampyr attacked again as quick as lightning. Adrius met his challenge head on, the Vampyr hissing again as the Dragon Hunter stopped his advancement again and again.

Reron ran forward, grabbing the air in his fist and bringing it back, letting it gather force for a split second before flinging it forward with all of his strength. The Vampyr flew backwards, ramming hard into one of the gigantic trees.

The hawk flew in fright away from Reron’s shoulder before the Air Fiend could stop it. It rose into the sky, and for a moment all the ones in the clearing watched it fly, expecting to see it fly away in its bid for freedom.

Karena saw a drop of blood fall to the ground below the hawk, and suddenly saw what about to happen. “Reron, stop it!” She cried, just as the bird went into a dive straight for the Vampyr.

The Vampyr stood up and looked at it, his lips curling into a sneer. He raised a single hand and swatted the hawk away, making it fly and land into a tree. It fell to the ground for the last time, its last breath used to protect its friend.

Reron stared at it, perplexed. He had never seen any wild animal do anything to show loyalty to someone it had just met. ‘There’s something different about this forest,’ He thought.

Adrius didn’t waste any time thinking about the hawk, merely went to fight the Vampyr again.

“No, Adrius! This is my fight!” Karena yelled, flinging her staff and making Adrius fly off to the side, and waved it again and making the Vampyr fly high into the air before hitting his head on a branch, and he fell to the ground dazed.

But he recovered quicker than Karena would have believed possible, his lips now wide in a mocking grin. “The little girl is going to fight the big bad Vampyr? Oh, how touching. It really is too bad I have orders to bring you back alive.”

Karena merely grimaced in responded, grabbing her staff in both hands and turning it horizontal, and saying a spell under her breath, and her staff began to glow.

The Vampyr recognized the danger, even over-confident as he was. He dodged out of the way and barely in time; a blast of light burned straight through the tree where he had been seconds before.

“That’s as hard of wood as you can ever find. Imagine what such an attack will do to something as vulnerable as you.” Karena said, twisting her staff vertical again, the top of her staff facing the ground.

“I would jump if I were you.” Karena stated, flicking her head, making all but the Vampyr float a foot into the air. She smiled briefly before bringing her staff into the ground; the Vampyr never had a chance. The same strange light burst into the ground and spreading out in all directions, making the ground shine from the force of the blast but not damaging even one blade of grass. For a moment, they all watched the Vampyr and saw no physical evidence of the attack. But then the moment passed and the Vampyr stood there, no evidence he was hurt at all.

The others waited for his attack, sure that her spell’s failure meant he would kill her. But he just stood there, not even breathing, his eyes still fixed on Karena.

The Spellcaster flicked her staff and they all floated to the ground, landing silently.

Karena smiled at Synfera and Reron before turning her head to Adrius and smiling even brighter. “Don’t worry, my spell didn’t fail. He’s frozen, as he will be forever if we leave him here. That was an irreversible spell I put on him. Now Adrius, I believe you have some business to finish. If you attack, be warned, I will not hesitate to use such a spell on you. I grew up Lord Arenn’s daughter; I’m not used to giving mercy.” as Karena gave the speech, her mouth was in a tight line, trying to stop from saying the words that would stop him then and there. ‘I am not my father,’ Karena thought with venom, knowing she couldn’t hurt Adrius. He meant too much to Synfera, and she was surprised to know that even if he didn’t mean anything to Synfera she still couldn’t hurt him. ‘And Dragon Hunter that would rather protect than kill can’t be all bad,’ She thought to herself.

She backed up to protect her newfound friends, raising her staff in defense against Adrius.

But suddenly, before anybody could react, Synfera ran around her protectors and straight into Adrius, who raised his dagger and was about to bring it down into her when her sobs filled the clearing. “Adrius don’t do this!” she begged, hugging her brother tightly and shaking her head even as she squeezed him. “I’m your sister! Your sister! I love you! I could never and would never have hurt Luhae and I can’t hurt you now, and I can’t let you fight us, I don’t think I could stand it again! Kill me now if you want, but I can’t fight you anymore! I can’t run anymore! You’re my brother, and if you can’t forgive me there’s no way I can live. I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to fight…” she trailed off, hugging him even more tightly, her tears soaking his shirt.

Adrius paused, unsure of what to do. Karena lowered her staff, and Reron was about to step forward when Karena put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at her, and she just shook her head.

“This is Synfera’s battle. We can’t interfere.” she said softly, and Reron understood, stepping back to his friend’s side, both of them waiting.

Adrius still just stood there, not knowing what to do. “Synfera… What were doing there then?” he asked gruffly as if trying to hold back his tears.

“I was trying to protect her… A Vampyr dragged her off, and I followed. She had that same medallion.” she looked up at Adrius and said, “She was working for Lord Arenn. She killed Luhae on his orders, she told Luhae while they fought. I attacked and we fought her together, but she got to Luhae. Right in front of me, in front of my eyes I saw her die! I saw my own death coming at me, but she only had orders to kill her, no one else, she told me as much before she ran away. Then seconds later you came, and I couldn’t speak and tell you the truth; I was still in shock. And then you attacked, and I ran…” she trailed off; they both knew what had happened after.

“Do you remember what the Vampyr looks like?” Adrius asked, putting his dagger away. Synfera stepped back, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

“Yes. I could never forget her face.” and she shuddered, obviously remembering the Vampyr woman with fear.

“Can you help me hunt her?” Adrius asked, looking at Synfera for the first time without hatred.

Synfera paused a moment, and glanced back at Karena. Karena slowly smiled; it was the sort of smile that said “Do what you have to do.”

Synfera turned back to her brother, and smiled softly before saying, “I can’t. I already promised someone else I would help her. We were going to hunt down Luhae’s killer,” she paused, not finishing her sentence.

Adrius looked up and at Karena and their eyes met. Karena paused, but only briefly as she said, “If you want to, Adrius, you can come with us. We three are going to find the Sica Aronoru, and then hopefully the Aero Aronoru, and if we’re still alive the Draegr Aronoru after that.”

“You’re crazy,” He said without preamble, still looking at Karena, but he glanced at Reron briefly before going back to her. “Finding one Aronoru is nearly impossible, but three! You’ll all die.”

Reron grinned, his whole face lighting up. “But on the way we may just save thousands upon thousands of innocent people. And that’s a worthwhile goal if you ask me.”

Adrius smiled too, and said, “Well, if you’re going to die noble deaths, there’s no way you’re keeping me out of it. I’ll protect you,” then my father or mother, and I could never hurt anyone who had even an ounce of good in them. I have nothing more to do with my so-called family. I left them without a second glance. I know what my father is, and I will stop him.”

“So this search for the Aronoru isn’t about saving people. It’s a personal thing. You just want to save yourself and prove to your father he’s wrong.”

Karena’s teeth ground together and she lifted her staff up as if prepared to fight, her voice sharp as she answered, “You’re right on the second account, but on the first you’re dead wrong. That may be a factor but I want to save everybody, not just the Spellcasters even. I want to save all the people in the world from the Caytas death, Air Fiends and Dragons and Moon Elves and Spellcasters.”

Smiling a little bit, Reron added, “You forgot Ice Lancers,” Karena nodded and smiled back.

Adrius did not seem amused and he answered darkly, “How do we know we can trust you? You could be leading us on and kill us once we’ve served your purpose, just like your ancestor. The Earth Maiden who killed nearly all of the Spellcasters when they cast the spell to seal the Caytas Death inside the Aronoru Temple; your mother Ilari is descended from her. You could be like your mother or father and either likeness would betray us. Give us one reason we should listen to you.”

Karena waited for him to finish silently. When he did, she stated, “Because I am a Spellcaster. We have proved throughout the ages our loyalty to our friends and partners; even the evil Spellcasters didn’t betray their allies. Dragon Hunters could not say the same.”

Karena and Adrius stared each other down, neither willing to give ground and admit they were wrong.

Synfera quickly intervened, putting a hand on Adrius’s chest to stop him advancing while Reron put a hand on Karena’s wrist.

“We don’t need to settle this right now. Reron and I have already decided to travel with Karena, and as you’re traveling with me, that means we’re a group and we stick together. No fighting, okay? Adrius, you’re a Dragon Hunter. You have your code of honor that you would never break your word, and didn’t you promise just a moment ago you’d protect us and come with us? You can’t honor your promise if you attack Karena.” Synfera said no hope of holding Adrius back if he attacked, but prepared to try anyway.

Reron quickly followed it up, talking to Karena, “And think: what would you father do in this situation? Attack and kill Adrius. Now, what should you do; follow your dad, or take your own route in life?”

Karena glared at Reron, but put her staff back on the ground. Synfera and Reron both turned to Adrius, who put away the knife he had silently removed and gave Synfera dark look.

“She’ll be the death of us,” Adrius said at the same moment Karena said, “He’ll be the death of us,” Both of them looked furious at their unison statement, and they both turned away from one another at the same time.

Synfera held back a giggle just as Reron put a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter. They gave each other a humorous look before they got straight faces. Reron tapped Karena on the shoulder as Synfera tugged on Adrius’s sleeve.

“We should get going,” Synfera said, and Reron added, “We want to cover a lot of ground before the sun sets. We need to get ahead of Lord Arenn’s goons before they catch up, even if we don’t know where we’re going.”

“I know where we can go first.” Karena said her face a mask as she turned to face the others, “We can go to my grandfather’s. He’s a Spellcaster too, and I know at one point he went searching for the Sica Aronoru, but returned home when he nearly got my grandma killed. He can tell us where to begin. Once we get into the Forbidden Lands it’ll be incredibly difficult to return, so some advice would be great to start with.”

Adrius stayed silent while Synfera and Reron nodded in response. As they went into the trees and left the frozen Vampyr behind, Synfera suddenly asked, “Who is your grandfather anyway?”

“Doctor Arenn,” She said, and Reron tripped over his own feet in shock. “All of my line has the same last name, and the boys are always called by our surname. He’s a philosopher and a doctor, and he lives on the border of Lyorensti and Minaex.”

It was Synfera this time who gaped in shock as she stuttered, “But that’s so far away!”

Karena winked at her, saying, “Not if you know the right people.” By her expression, Karena knew that her words did nothing to dispel her worry. She sighed, and said, “One day you’ll know that when I say something, I mean it. I have my own code of honor.” She met Adrius’s gaze before quickly turning away. “Now, let’s go find a Linera.”

[Snack Addict]

Reron woke up and stretched, wondering what woke him up, and immediately found the source.

The pinecone seemed to be glaring at him from between his eyes. Reron glared right back, and had a staring match with the pinecone. Reron gave up and pulled it out, sighing as he did. ‘You can’t get much lower than a staring match with a pinecone,’ He thought as he chunked it into the brush, making a crack that immediately woke Adrius.

Adrius looked around quickly, a knife already in his hands. He glanced at Reron and sighed. “Reron, what are you doing?” He asked quietly, “Why are you throwing pinecones into the bushes?”

Reron gave him an alarmed look. “How do you know it was a pinecone?” He asked suspiciously.

A corner of Adrius’s mouth pulled up into a small smile, and he said, “I can smell it in the air. Nothing gets past a Dragon Hunter, or a Dragon for that matter. That’s one of the reasons we hunt them, because it’s a challenge. We only take bounties like silly Air Apprentices,” he flicked a pinecone at Reron, who caught it and saw it was the same one he had flung into the bushes, “because we need the money for the weapons the Dragons relieve us of. Seriously though, you should get some rest. Tomorrow you’re going to need to be at your best. Karena said we’re going to hunt for a Linera, and though we couldn’t find one today doesn’t mean we won’t tomorrow, and if we do we may have to fight.” The smiled vanished as he spoke, and he looked very downcast by the end.

Reron gave him a quizzical look, asking curiously, “Why do you look downhearted? It’s only an animal, how much harm can it do?”

Adrius gave Reron a look that plainly said, ‘How stupid can you get?’ He sighed and explained, “A Linera isn’t an animal; it’s a white Dragon. White Dragons are born once every ten years, and they are only born to the wild Forest Dragons. Occasionally a Linera dies when another one is born, but nobody knows why or how they die; Linera aren’t affected by the Caytas Death. All Forest Dragons are born green, until that tenth year when a white Dragon baby is born. White Dragons are devoid of emotion. They are incredibly powerful creatures. Whenever this white Dragon, this Linera is born the parents take it to a cave where they leave it. An adult Linera comes and takes it away to be raised with the other white Dragons. What makes Linera so powerful is their pure energy, untainted by anything. They’re immortal, and they can’t have babies. They also have no mercy or compassion, so if you run into one it’ll kill you. I’ve only heard of the Forest Dragons surviving an encounter with a Linera; no one else has ever seen one and survived, period. If we find one we better hope Synfera has some Forest Dragon blood in her or they’ll kill us before we can even get a glimpse of them, and then Karena better have something up her sleeve. Even with all four of us at our best there’s no hope we can defeat a Linera, or even scratch it. Magic doesn’t affect them, Synfera can’t attack them just like Dragon Hunters can’t attack other Dragon Hunters, and my weapons will be useless. A twelve-year Air Apprentice hardly is an equal.” He rolled his eyes and laughed quietly at the thought of Reron standing a chance, and added, “Go to sleep Reron.” He went back to bed himself, and left Reron all alone to his thoughts.

‘An immortal all-powerful white Dragon that has no emotions and can’t be affected by Karena’s magic or Adrius’s weapons has to be powerful, and Dragons can’t attack other Dragons so Synfera can’t do anything either so I’ll be alone. I have to fight a Linera? No wonder Adrius laughed! We’ll all die. But if we made friends with the Forest Dragons and had one with us while we searched, the Linera wouldn’t attack us and Karena could ask or say whatever she wants! But Adrius would never agree to ask for help. Karena might, just because Adrius wouldn’t, but what about Synfera? She’d probably side with her brother and we’d get into another fight.’ Reron glanced around at his companions, Adrius sleeping on the hard ground and Synfera and Karena snug inside their sleeping bags. ‘Can we really risk it though? Linera are hard enough to deal with, do I really need to add unstable wild Dragons to the burden? They’ll try to kill Adrius the moment they see him. Karena and I wouldn’t be too welcome either, though they may accept Synfera, because even if she isn’t a Forest Dragon she is a Dragon. If I’m going to find one I need Synfera, but I can’t risk Karena and certainly not Adrius. I need to do it now, while Adrius and Karena are asleep. They’ll both insist on going if we tell them.’ So Reron stood up slowly and gently flew above the ground, so he wouldn’t wake Adrius by stepping on something.

He hovered over to where Synfera was sleeping, and gently shook her shoulder. Her eyes opened wide, and she took a deep breath like she was about to scream. He put a hand over her mouth quickly, before she could do or say anything.

He mimed being quiet and pointed at Adrius and Karena and put a finger to his lips. He put out a hand for her to grab, and mimed flying. Synfera quickly got the message, and grabbed his hand.

They quickly took flight, soaring up through the trees. Reron swerved in between tree trunks as they increased the distance between them and the camp.

Reron was about to say something when Synfera put a hand over his mouth, shaking her head. She pointed back to camp and mimed fighting with a sword and then pointed to her ear. Adrius would be able to hear them, even with the distance they already covered.

He nodded, and they flew on in silence, only owls breaking the silence every now and then.

Finally, after about a minute of flying Synfera said, “You can land now, I can’t hear Adrius’s breathing anymore, which means he can’t hear us.”

With a loud and grateful sigh Reron flew to the ground and landed softly on the leaves and twigs. He looked around them and, not seeing anything looking at them from the shadows, turned around and smiled sheepishly at Synfera.

“We probably shouldn’t be doing this,” He said while frowning, looking around them again, as if expecting Adrius or Karena to run out at them from the trees.

“Why not?” Synfera asked curiously, “What is it?” Her pink eyes wide, she smiled, trying to convince him of her trustworthiness.

This time he grinned, “I want to lower the danger tomorrow of actually finding a Linera.”

Her curiosity truly spiked now, Synfera asked, “And how are you going to do that with me but not Adrius or Karena?”

“We’re going to find a Forest Dragon. With one of them with us, a Linera would at least confront us and ask the Forest Dragon or you why you’re with us and Karena could do her magic, not literally.”

Synfera rolled her eyes, saying, “But how are we going to find a Forest Dragon? It’s not exactly ‘Take a right at the next stump to Forest Dragon City.’ They’ll be just as hard to find as a Linera.”

“But much less dangerous,” Reron pointed out, “And you’re a Dragon too, surely there’s some place that all Dragons like? Water? The sky? A valley? You name it, we’ll find it!” He was excited, already picturing them easily finding a lake and a Forest Dragon, his imagination already taking them to the Linera with the mysterious Dragon and Karena exclaiming she knew where all the Aronoru were and seeing the orbs as they place them in the Aronoru temple and know that all over the world nobody would ever die of the Caytas Death again…

“No,” Synfera said, breaking into Reron’s daydreams, “All types of Dragons have their own preferences. The only thing we all have in common is we don’t like to change form often; its makes us sick and is really painful. You saw me back there when I fought the Vampyr. I wouldn’t have changed at all if our lives weren’t in danger, and I wouldn’t have changed back unless it was the only way I knew to convince Adrius to give up the chase. So if we find one in Dragon form it’ll be dangerous; I won’t deny Dragon Hunters have some reason for thinking we’re beasts when we’re in our true form. The only way to find one is to wander deeper into the forest until we find one, but then we may lose Adrius and Karena.”

“But Karena could use a spell to find us and Adrius could use his sword,” Reron waved away the getting-lost-worries, and said, “So, oh-Dragon-who-is-in-tune-with-nature, which way is deeper into the forest? I can’t tell at all.”

Synfera gave him a look, saying with her expression, How simple can you be?, while saying out loud, “It’s that way,” She pointed the direction they had been heading in earlier, adding, “You know, just because I’m a Dragon doesn’t mean the Forest Dragons will hesitate in attacking us. Likely they’ll capture us and drag us back to their camp, where their leader will talk to us. Actually, he’ll condemn you and I hope I could talk him out of it, but let’s just pray that doesn’t happen. Come on, oh-speedy-ruler-of-the-airways,” She bowed to him while gesturing magnanimously for him to precede her.

He bowed to her as well and made a show of acting royal as he walked past her, then laughed as she straightened. They walked deeper into the forest together, not concerned at all of the peril that lay before them.

[Snack Addict]

Karena woke up early, before Adrius got up. The sun hadn’t yet risen to the part of the trees where the sunlight could filter through, so it was still fairly dark. But the moment she sat up and yawned, Adrius sat up too. ‘Stupid strong senses,’ She thought as she stretched her arms.

“Where’s Synfera?” Adrius asked suddenly, standing up and getting his blood-red sword out before Karena had time to blink.

Half a second later Karena was on her feet and ready to fight too, and after glancing around she exclaimed, “Where’s Reron?”

They both looked at each other, and Karena could see the worry in Adrius’s eyes. ‘Why is he worried about Synfera? She’s a Dragon; she can take care of herself! But she is only eight, and Reron is even worse off than she is. He doesn’t have the ability to fend off Forest Dragons, and neither of them have the ability to stave off Linera.’

“Do you think they’re together?” Karena asked, glancing around again. There wasn’t any sign of a struggle, only a pinecone lying in Reron’s bed.

“Yes, because Synfera would have at least broken a twig by getting away which I would’ve heard, and unless these Forest Dragons have suddenly got owl’s wings, Reron must have flown them out. But why?” Adrius asked of no one in particular, looking above them at the trees, as if expecting to see Reron and Synfera perched there.

Karena paled as she realized what Reron must have been thinking. “Reron would’ve thought it was too dangerous for you or me to look for the Linera, so he and Synfera left to find one on their own.”

Adrius shook his head, still looking at the trees, “No, that’s not it. Synfera knows it would be too dangerous to look for a Linera with only two people, even if she is a Dragon. They must be looking for a Forest Dragon so that a Linera wouldn’t attack.”

Karena nodded, and said, “But then how are we going to find them? Should I use a spell, or do you want to use your sword?”

Adrius looked down at her, “Use your spell, if I used my sword I couldn’t fight with it if we were attacked.” He picked up Reron and Synfera’s blanket and sleeping bag, putting them in the backpack. Within seconds the camp was empty, everything packed away.

Karena barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes as he showed off his speed, then thought, ‘Like that’s the only weapon you have,’ before nodding again. She took her staff in both hands and concentrated for half a second. The staff started vibrating in her hands, and suddenly left her hands and pointed to their left while hovering at waist-height.

“They went that way,” Karena said needlessly, grabbing her staff as Adrius went before her.

They walked along the undergrowth, Karena feeling uneasy. “Why couldn’t they wait?” She whispered ferociously, a branch swinging out of her way with only a glare. It hit Adrius in the back of the head, and he hissed at her.

“Why can’t you control yourself?” He demanded, angrily glancing over his shoulder at her, half turning to her as he walked.

“Why can’t you protect your sister?” She snapped back, a reflex reaction to his accusation.

He looked ahead and didn’t face her as he answered, “Why can’t you keep the people around you from being hurt? If you had explained how you planned to tame a Linera yesterday, Reron and Synfera would never have been driven to this.”

She ground her teeth, her back straight and her arms stiff as she walked. Instead of moving the next branch out of her way, she snapped it in half. “Well, you haven’t been any help either. Look at this mess. I thought you were a Dragon Hunter. Isn’t it your job to make sure things like this don’t happen? An enemy could have snuck up on us and we wouldn’t have known until the gags were in our mouths or the knives in our hearts.”

Adrius continued walking still, but his pace increased, making Karena have to jog to keep up, flinging the branches out of her way with a glare, while Adrius just ducked around them. “I wouldn’t need to do that if you Spellcasters weren’t so pathetically weak.”

Karena was the one who hissed this time, and she waved her staff at his back, making him fly off the makeshift path into the brush, Karena bypassing him with fury. He walked behind her, her setting the pace now, which was still extremely fast by her standards. “Well, I prefer to use my spells than being a barbarian like you. Actually, I take that back. The other Dragon Hunters are barbarians. You aren’t worth that much. You’re a failure, worse than worms. You’re dirt,” She insulted him, flicking her long hair over her shoulder to free her face. With a flick of her head instead of the branch just swinging out of her way, the entire tree jumped backwards roots and all, and then jumping in front of Adrius, who was caught off guard and flung into the trees again.

A moment later, Karena heard a crashing sound in the trees above her and looked up, expecting to see some forest creature, or their missing friends. But it was Adrius who jumped down from branch to branch, and the Dragon Hunter landed in front of her, not two inches from her face. He had jumped into the trees and then dropped in front of her, trying to put her off her guard like she did to him with her spells.

“You’re a disgrace for the name of Spellcasters. You’re the burden of them all, the burden of the world. But you chose to follow after Reron and I and Synfera instead of just shutting yourself up like you deserve. I don’t see how you live with yourself. If we find Synfera and Reron hurt, you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself. You were raised to enjoy the pain of others, but you said you didn’t think how your parents did. The others might believe you, but I never will. You’ll always be the scumbag of the group, the liability. You’ll never be worth anything.”

Karena just stood in numbed silence as Adrius backed away quicker than she could blink and silently jumped into the tree behind him, halfway kneeling in a huge tree branch, looking down on her with disgust.

She shook her head to relieve herself of the rage of emotions swirling in her at his unexpected closeness, the most prevalent being her anger. She raised her eyes to him, and said in a forcibly calm voice, “I think we should go our separate ways. At sunset, meet back at where we had camp. If one of us doesn’t show up, assume the worst and do your best to find them. Got it, dirt boy?”

He sneered at her as he answered, “Of course I do, scumbag.” And in another second he vanished into the trees. The sunlight came through the tops of the trees, lighting up Karena’s face and warming it, giving her a clear head.

‘He thinks he’ll find them before I do,’ Karena thought with a grin before casting another spell. She ran through the forest as fast as, if not faster than, Adrius did as her spell giving her the gift of speed. ‘But I need to be careful, too many spells for something silly like this could mean death if they found a Forest Dragon and it came to a fight.’ She warned herself as she sped towards Reron and Synfera, not knowing she was already too late.

[Snack Addict]

While Reron and Synfera walked through the forest, they laughed and talked, not bothering to be quiet- it might even make their job easier if a Forest Dragon found them.

Suddenly, a loud screech filled the silence, echoing around them. Reron and Synfera stood back to back, prepared to fight. “What was that?” Synfera asked in fright, glancing around.

“I don’t know. Can you sense it?” Reron asked, wishing for the first time that he wasn’t an Air Demon, that he was a Dragon Hunter or a Dragon.

“No. It’s almost as if-“But she stopped in mid-sentence. He heard a swish behind him. Reron turned his head around to see why she had stopped talking, and, turning all the way around, found himself face to face with a breathtaking woman.

She was not a foot away from him, but Synfera was nowhere in sight. This barely registered in his mind, though, fascinated as he was by her beauty. She had waist-length silky light green hair, the color of the leaves, perfectly matching her brown skin. There was a beautiful white and red flower holding her hair behind her ear, her eyes the same bright green as her hair, her eyes more beautiful than anyone else’s he had ever seen. She was tall and skinny, wearing a light green dress that matched the grass. She looked like the epitome of nature, the goddess of the forest.

Reron immediately knew who she was. She was either an Earth Maiden, though he had never met an Earth Maiden who was so radiantly beautiful, or what they had been searching for- a Forest Dragon.

“Ist neir’e rinae Lavogoek?” Her voice was ethereal, lilting and velvety, but with a sharp edge, as though she was saying something that he would need to answer rightly or else. “Neir’e ie hinorthai?”

The word reminded Reron of something, and its meaning suddenly popped into Reron’s head. The Hinorthai Aronoru! The Dragon Hunter’s Aronoru! Whatever language she was speaking, it was something to do with Dragon Hunters. “I’m not a Hinorthai!” With sudden inspiration, he pointed at himself and said, “Aero. I’m an Aero!” He didn’t want to use his air abilities- she might think he was attacking her. But he was sure he was right in calling himself an Aero- that was what the Air Master’s Aronoru was called, the Aero Aronoru. If she spoke a language where Hinorthai meant Dragon Hunter, Aero would mean Air Master.

“Where’s my friend, the Draegr?” Reron asked, using the word for the Dragon’s Aronoru.

She smiled and put out a hand to him, saying in her strange language with her lilting voice, “Tinre eo olaèi. Kiklana ie olaìa erani waes Draegr è Gitya.”

Still a little stunned by her beauty, only a little rational part of him was screaming at him Synfera’s words of how they were going to kill him. He didn’t pay it any heed, however, and took her hand, not imagining the consequences. As he put his small hand in hers, the sunlight came down through the tops of the trees, lighting up the Forest Dragon’s face. She was smiling at him in a way that made his skin crawl, and somehow the trance her beauty had cast upon him was broken, and the part of him that was screaming at him to get out of there kicked into gear.

“Let go of me!” Reron yelled, for when he tried to tear his hand out of hers she held on tight, still smiling at him with an eagerness Reron couldn’t place.

She shook her head in answer, not taking her eyes off of his, flipping her hair behind her back as she let his hand go. Reron tried to run, but she grabbed him and flung him over her shoulder so easily and quickly the breath was knocked out of him. Before Reron could blink they were off the ground and up in the trees, almost flying through the branches, not a single one snagging on her simple dress or on Reron. Reron let out a scream, hoping against hope that Karena or Adrius were on their way to save him. And after seeing how the Forest Dragon acted, he suddenly knew that there was no way Synfera could talk these ferocious Dragons out of killing him. All their plans, which worked out perfectly in his mind, were burned into ash. He understood now that it was his stupid childish daydreams that led them into this mess, and only Karena and Adrius could save them. ‘Please hurry,’ He thought imploringly, ‘We only have so much time left,’

[Snack Addict]

Chapter Four
Captivity

Opening his eyes, the Air Apprentice screamed loudly in shock at seeing the face of a young, and beautiful, Forest Dragon. His perfect face seemed confused by Reron’s outburst, and suddenly grinned wildly at him.

“Eskiv alisf kinoshisk?” It was odd, his grin, and strange somehow. Something was misplaced about such a grin, and it took him a second to realize it was because the grin was upside down.

“Ahhhhh!” Reron yelled again, but considerably louder this time.

“Be quiet! They won’t like you yelling!” Synfera hissed at him as the frightened little Dragon boy ran off.

He shut his mouth and looked below him, attempting to ignore the feeling of rope burning into his ankles and making his wrists hurt as he swung upside down. He tried to gulp but finding he was dehydrated and only managing to scare himself more. The dark pit of spikes was bad enough, but the fall alone to them would be terrifying, as they were almost four dozen feet down into the ground. And to add on to that fire swirled around the spikes, illuminating the poison on top of the spikes and making Reron’s stomach clench with fear. The fire burned at the edges of the pit, almost begging for something soft like an Air Apprentice to turn to ash. HE wondered why the wooden stakes didn’t burn, and supposed the poison must protect them, which meant he would be safe from the fire if he could just coat every inch of his quite flammable clothes in it without getting pierced on a spike and having the poison enter his bloodstream and… He stopped his imagination from getting out of control; he had to assume if he fell he’d die, so he had to make sure they didn’t drop him.

He tried to get away from the pit, but only swung around faster, making his stomach more upset and barely managing to hold onto his food. He stomach growled loudly, reminding him horribly that he would never get to eat another meal.

‘Don’t think that! Synfera may save us!’ He hoped fervently that it could be true, but if the pink Dragon could, what if the Forest Dragons refused to help them find a Linera? Then they would die in an encounter with it, and all their efforts would be fruitless. ‘You’re not giving up yet!’ He thought optimistically, ‘Have faith in Synfera and Karena!’

Suddenly realizing Synfera wasn’t swinging by a rope beside him, Reron looked around, trying to see despite his dizziness, but he stopped trying almost immediately; his stomach was attempting to spill its contents and looking around only helped it. He instead just focused on keeping it down and not thinking about their situation.

“Be careful, I’m right here.” Synfera’s high-pitched voice whispered from behind him.

“Are you tied up?” Reron asked quietly, doing his best to not attract the attention of any Forest Dragons. “I can’t see around us, I’m too dizzy. Where are they, and who was the boy?”

“I’m tied up too, but I’m okay. The little boy ran off, he asked if you were alive, but when you screamed he screamed too. He’s with his mom now. All the Forest Dragons of this tribe are congregated in the meeting deciding our punishment, well mine actually. You’re no more than a scrap of trash they need to throw away, but as I’m a Dragon they need to discuss what my penalty for trespassing will be. I can speak their language, but what can I say? Can you speak it? Any ideas?” Synfera asked hopefully; from her tone their meeting wouldn’t last long and they had to figure out what to do soon.

He whispered back, “I can’t speak it, are you crazy? But I do have one idea. You tell them the truth.”

She laughed quietly, saying, “Yea, like that’d ever make them let us go. The truth, now why didn’t I think of that? Oh, because it’ll get us killed. Dragons, remember? We don’t typically get along with Dragon Hunters. And I doubt they would be kind to us if they found out we were allies of Lord Arenn’s daughter.”

Reron was about to snap back with his own opinions of truth-speaking when suddenly a small light-green haired Forest Dragon came up to the side of the pit he was hanging over. She cocked her head, and smiled with all her tiny little fangs. She clapped together, her claws clicking as they hit each other. She turned to Synfera, and gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in horror. She slowly moved her hands to her cheeks so she could freely speak.

“Aola hir yevosh minwe Draegr? Neir’a astel ne daeshi! Aola hir neir yita jun guna higarte neir?” She shrieked her hands on her cheeks still.

Synfera shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Olaè goro kiker, unret neir werite minka jun. Junosh’e yoatske è urina Reinske lierne, yu unret olaèi eri. Lieri seron tineshe! Huguste jun treì’o Reins tineshe!”

The Forest Dragon girl looked downhearted, and shook her head so her light green hair fell in front of her face. It looked like she only did it out of confusion, but with this Dragon Reron couldn’t tell; it could be a sign for ‘I’m going to kill you’ for all he knew.

Before he could ask Synfera to translate, the girl looked out of her hair and stared at Reron with shockingly bright green eyes that reminded the Air Apprentice forcibly of Karena’s own spectacular green eyes.

“I will try.” She said with a thick accent in their language. Had Reron not grown up listening to the roughest speakers with accents far stronger than the girls’, it would have been nigh impossible to understand.

As it is, he did, and smiled brightly at her. In case she couldn’t tell he was smiling upside down with his blonde hair covering half his face, he said, “Thank you, Venu.”

She smiled back, and turned around and pranced off, skipping lightly, her small brown moccasins not making a noise on the grass.

Synfera turned to him and raised an eyebrow, and since Reron could barely see her through the hair that blocked his peripheral vision, plus the barrier of her own pink hair, she sound out loud, “Hmm.”

He turned to her, trying his best not to make himself swing in a circle in the process, a hard feat when Reron had enough energy in him to bounce to the ends of the vast Weritan Desert and back in two jumps.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“You little liar,” She accused, “you can speak the ancient language, kìlasi.”

Reron shook his head, which only increased the dizziness he was starting to feel from the blood rushing to his brain, saying, “No, only little things like what the names of famous people, like how Venuvian meant green-haired lady, Arenn, and some other basic stuff. But I couldn’t understand any of what you said to her, except for something you said about asking. Translation please?”

She answered quickly, seeing the Forest Dragon elders coming their way. “She asked why a Dragon was tied up, noted I was pink, and why I let them capture us. Then I told her I didn’t know, but she should ask them, and how they were about to order us killed. I asked for her to please convince them not to murder us. That’s all.”

Reron quickly pointed out, “But you called me ‘kilasi’ too. What’s that mean?”

Stifling a quick smile, Synfera replied, “It means traitor to the family. Anybody who lies is a traitor to the Dragons, so it basically meant you were a liar. Lying is a grave sin to all Dragons. The penalty for lying is great, and if you lie twice or more after you’re ten years old, they kill you. Kilasi is a funny word, actually. It has a wide variety of meanings, depending on how you say it. The way I said it, it meant liar. It could also mean ‘traitor’, ‘one who is doomed to die’, just plain old ‘die’, ‘fear’, ‘sadness’, and a whole bunch of other things.”

He nodded, pretending to understand as he spoke. “Well then,” Reron said as the Forest Dragons made a circle around their pit, giving the pit itself a wide berth, “we better not lie.”

One of the Forest Dragons spoke with an accent, though not with one quite as pronounced as the girl’s, “You cannot lie to us.” He walked forward, and his color, too, was light green. Looking around, Reron saw that all the hair colors were shades of green- not another color among them.

Reron was about to reply to the imposing Forest Dragon when Synfera hissed at him too quiet for them to hear, “Don’t say a word! They’re only looking for an excuse to kill you! “

He clamped his mouth shut, hoping against hope that Synfera could talk their way out of this mess. After his initial hope that Adrius and Karena would find and save them, he hadn’t given a thought to them. Now, however, when the only thing that stood between him and those fire stakes below was Synfera’s speaking ability or Adrius and Karena’s fighting ability. It looked like he was totally powerless, forced to let his life lay in the hands of a small pink Dragon girl, a crazed but dangerous Dragon Hunter, and a powerful Spellcaster whom he had just met. ‘The only one I feel I can really trust is Synfera, but given the choice between saving her own life or trying to help a hopeless case like me, which would she choose? And do I really want Adrius to try and help at all? He’ll do his best to kill this entire village, even the little kids like that boy and girl. And what about Karena? These people are standing in the way of her dream to find the Aronoru and get revenge on her father. Will she help Adrius murder them all?’

As Reron was thinking, Synfera spoke to the Forest Dragon in the ancient tongue, so even if Reron was paying attention he could only have understood a word or two of what they said.

Reron glanced around at all the Forest Dragons, trying to find a way out. The little boy who Reron had scared earlier was hiding behind his mother’s leg, looking at the Air Apprentice fearfully. ‘Why be afraid of me? The worst I could do is hit him with some air.’

The idea hit him suddenly, and Reron quickly looked at Synfera, trying to catch her eye and hopefully silently communicate his plan. But she was in a furious debate with the Forest Dragon leader and seemed to be ignoring him. Reron looked around at the surrounding Forest Dragons again, this time checking to make sure none of them suspected him. The only one who was looking at him and not Synfera besides the boy, who by now had hidden his face behind his mother entirely, was the girl Reron had dubbed Venu earlier. She was smiling at him, but something was wrong. After staring at the girl for half a second, he realized what it was. She had grown the wings of her Dragon form, and seemed to be pretending she was always that way.

Just as suddenly as his idea had hit him, Reron realized why the girl had grown her wings. He quickly shifted his gaze back to Synfera, and saw with horror that now instead of arguing fiercely as before, she seemed to be pleading. Reron felt himself go pale despite the blood rushing in his head, and looked back at the girl. She was no longer smiling, and looked only frightful. As he watched, her eyes turned to slits and her fangs grew longer- she was preparing to shift into her Dragon form.

‘They’re going to kill us! The girl is going to try and save Synfera or me but she can’t help us both! Karena, Adrius, now would be a good time!’ Reron looked to the trees, as if his silent prayer would be answered by his friends’ appearance.

“Why kill those who never did you harm! My friend and I are innocent! We are escaping Lord Arenn! You would only be doing him a favor by killing us!” Synfera cried out, in her exasperation turning back to, for Reron, an understandable language.

The leader looked equally red-faced as he replied in the same language, “And what proof do we have you are running from the kilasi Lord Arenn?! Only the word of a child!”

Reron interjected in the conversation, hoping his words would help them and not harm them, “And what proof do you have we have done anything bad? My friend is a Dragon, and eight years old to boot! I’m ten! You’re going to murder us, mere children who had the bad luck of running into those who should be our allies in our escape, but who instead hang us above death pits for daring to go on the land of people we thought friends?”

The Forest Dragon looked outraged to be addressed to by an Air Apprentice, especially one who talked as though he was an equal with the Dragons.

Before the leader could retaliate with words or action, the small half-Dragon half-human girl stepped in front of him, her arms and wings spread to try and block his view of Reron and Synfera. “Goro vishiti jun! Junosh’e rein lierne! Lieri! Grai chuiste olaèi Venu.” She whispered the last part and smiled, her sharp fangs not bared in a snarl but in happiness.

“Borai sran chuiste neir Venu? Wiras grai kiker ist barai creina?” The Forest Dragon leader asked in shock.

Synfera quickly answered for him, still leaving Reron out of the conversation by talking in the ancient language, “Yuri, grai wiras. Ven greis, ven tineshe. Nin ol neir’a plinsa ne cvem tyorais reti quieshe isalikve. Sic tineshe, lieri.”

Now the leader looked confused and haughty, as if what he was hearing was below him. He glanced at Reron’s face underneath the girl’s wing, and said, “But why would he tell her that? He had just met her, but still called her Venu, even knowing what it means. Why, little air apprentice? Can you answer me that?”

Meeting his hostile gaze, Reron, having no clue what the Forest Dragon meant or what they just said, only understanding two words out of what they said -he and trust- replied simply, not knowing enough about their conversation to say more, “Because I am an Air Apprentice.”

This definitely made the Forest Dragon leader backtrack. He paused, and sighed, putting one clawed hand to his forehead and closing his eyes. He brushed some of his hair out of his eyes and turned around as he said, “Sic jun yu yinore jun iurn ol heta Zuirei.”

Synfera paled as he said this, and Reron was sure that meant he had ordered them killed. But the next second Reron found himself on the ground, the rope around his wrists and ankles cut off. He looked up; expecting to see a Forest Dragon, and lost all bravado he might have felt when facing the leader.

In front of him was, indeed, a Forest Dragon, but not in human form. Reron had never seen a fully grown Dragon before except when they were human form; the drawings he had seen of a grown Dragon in their natural form could never have prepared him for meeting one.

Its triangular-shaped head was far bigger than Reron’s whole body, and its fangs especially were what gave Reron much of his fear. The smallest of them were the size of his arms, and the fact it was licking its lips didn’t give him much hope they would still survive. The next thing Reron noticed was the bright gleam in its dark green eyes, as if it would like nothing more than to kill them both. The shining black spikes along its long neck made shivers run down Reron’s spine, and the feeling didn’t go away when he saw the size of the spikes had doubled by the time they reached its back. The light shone on its dark green scales, giving Reron the strange feeling of awe and admiration mixed with fright and terror. Its strong legs ended in claws nearly tripled the size of its fangs, giving Reron no doubt why the claws and fangs remained with the Dragons even while in human form. Its wings were tucked into the sides of its back, but Reron could see they would stretch to be nearly three times as wide as the Dragon was long. Its back legs were even bigger than the front legs, and the back claws bigger than the front claws as well. The spikes started to grow smaller from the back of its spine as they reached the tip of the Dragon’s tail, ending in the largest spike of them all, huge enough to spear five grown Fire Fiends and have room enough left to spear an Air Apprentice and a Dragon girl in human form. It was so monstrously gigantic Reron couldn’t even think of something the same size as it; a house, maybe? Four or five of these brutes could tear down a palace with ease.

Now that he came to think of it, he hadn’t seen any Dragons in their natural form out of the crowd that had been watching them, and when he looked past the first Forest Dragon he saw maybe a dozen more behind it. Altogether, that made about thirty or forty full-grown Forest Dragons in this village. Enough to completely obliterate the city that hovered on the borders of the Forest of Arenn. If they had wanted to, they could have killed everyone Reron had ever known and destroyed the place he had once called home. ‘That place isn’t your home anymore,’ He reminded himself, and then made a mental note to ask Synfera how many Forest Dragons there was here- another few villages this size could turn the entire kingdom to ash.

“Wait!” Synfera called out to the leader behind them. Reron had nearly forgotten about the other human-shaped Forest Dragons.

The man turned around just as Reron looked back at him. If the Dragon behind them was just an average-sized man, then the leader would be nearly twice that size. He hadn’t paid attention to the fact before, but the leader was almost as big as a Fire Fiend- seven feet tall. In his Dragon from, this one would be a very formidable opponent. Now Reron saw why Dragon Hunters had to be so strong and fast, but he couldn’t understand how the Dragon Hunters were so efficient in murdering Dragons the size of a large house. Even with their strength and endurance and speed and weapons, it was hard to imagine anything able to take out a Dragon the size this leader would turn into.

“Why should I? I freed you, did I not? Do you want to die in the pit?” He snarled at her.

“You can’t send us to the edge of the forest,” Synfera said as she stood, turning into her half form just as the Forest Dragon girl did. The pink wings grew from her back, her eyes contracted to slits, her fangs and claws grew, and the cat-like ears on top of her head flattened on her head as she snarled back with bared fangs, “Didn’t you hear me at all? Lord Arenn is chasing us! He’ll be patrolling the border! He sent a Vampyr after us, and it followed us into the forest- he’ll have them in the skies to look for us! The moment you’re carrying us to the edge of the forest while flying they’ll kill you, and if we go on the ground they’ll still kill us all! We can escape on our own! If you help and are captured, how long will this village survive? A week, maybe? You’ve only survived this long because he can’t find your village, but if he has bait it’ll only be a matter of time! If he captures us, we won’t be able to give you away, we don’t even know where we are and couldn’t find our way back, but a Vampyr could possess any of you and you would lead back here. We couldn’t do that, even if we were possessed. Let us leave in peace.”

The leader turned his back to them again and said, “You have proved your point. Knock them out and put them in the center of the forest, they can escape from there.”

“Thank you, Venu kiklana.” Synfera said. She stood and bowed to him when he turned and surveyed her with polite astonishment.

“Your friend calls my daughter Venu, and then you call me Venu.” the leader of the Forest Dragons stated, “You are certainly an odd pair.” the next thing Reron knew was blackness as he felt something hit the back of his head, hard.

The last thing he saw was the little Forest Dragon girl calling out to them, “Goodbye!”

He watched Synfera fall to the ground a few feet away as well, and then he knew no more.

[Snack Addict]

Karena raced through the brush, her heart beating fast as she thought about what she would be facing if she found the Forest Dragon village with Reron and Synfera held captive. Or worse… ‘What if they had found a Linera?’

The thought had been bugging her for the last half-hour, ever since she and Adrius had parted. If they really had met a Linera, unless they mentioned they were traveling with Lord Arenn’s daughter or the Linera was in a merciful mood, at best they would be held hostage until Karena found them. ‘Reron and Synfera would never mention they were traveling with anyone they think is the Linera’s enemy, and there has never been a merciful Linera in history. Linera don’t have emotions, especially pity or mercy. Please let them be wandering around and not have met anything!’

But this thought wasn’t encouraging, and since her spell was only leading her in the direction she’d been heading in for thirty minutes, it wasn’t likely they were searching for anything. If they had been, going in a straight line wouldn’t have done much good. The spell wouldn’t be working if they were dead, so at least one of them had to be alive still. Which meant they were either unconscious, in a Linera’s lair about to be killed, or trying to talk their way out of being murdered by Forest Dragons. ‘None of those are good options,’ Karena thought gloomily as she dodged a particularly gruesome-looking red berry bush with thorns the size of her fingers.

While running along, the Spellcaster suddenly stopped as she reached the edge of a meadow; clearings were the perfect place for an ambush. She skirted the edge until she saw a place in the middle with a figure crouched over the grass. ‘A Forest Dragon!’ She thought.

She walked quietly out with her staff held in front of her, ready to fight the moment it noticed her. But it continued to crouch over the grass, until Karena was barely a foot away.

“Hey Karena,” The figure said, smoothly standing up without looking at her. She realized who it was just before he turned around, his glare burning her.

“Hello, Adrius.” She replied, relaxing from her battle stance but still tense.

“So, you tracked them here too, then?” Adrius asked calmly, his glare subsiding into a distasteful look. He looked calm, but Karena could see a muscle throbbing in his neck; it was obvious he longed to fight her. ‘Only his promise keeps him from trying to kill me.’ Karena thought angrily.

“Yeah, and? Why were you leaning over?” She asked, her own voice betraying none of the anger she felt.

“I was looking at the footprints. It looks like both of them were here, and then a set of footprints comes for a moment. Whatever it was probably jumped down from a tree. Synfera’s prints get a little muddled and then vanish, so it looks like the unknown prints took her away. Then Reron turns around to face whoever those prints belong too,” He gestured at a set of tiny footprints, either from a teenager or a woman with small feet. “After that, their prints get closer together and then Reron’s back up and he runs, but he only takes a step or two and then he’s gone. It looks like Forest Dragons took them. A Linera wouldn’t have bothered taking them away, it would’ve just killed them immediately, and Linera are solitary anyway.”

Karena considered it for a moment, looking at the footprints that told of the scene and then said, “So, what are you going to do? Go chase them down and attack a Forest Dragon village where there are dozens of full grown Dragons in their natural form? They wouldn’t even pause to kill you,”

Adrius shook his head saying, as he unsheathed and sheathed his black dagger, “I’m not that stupid. I’m going to follow them and get close enough to see. I can understand their language, all Dragon Hunters can speak the ancient language of the Dragons, and if they look like they’re going to kill Synfera and Reron, I’ll step in and distract them while you help them escape. If they set them free, then we wait and meet up with them.”

Karena scowled. ‘It is a good idea, the dunderhead,’ She thought gloomily as she nodded. “Fine, lets get a move on then.”

Adrius also nodded, and then they walked out of the meadow together.

But the moment Adrius took one foot out of the sunlit meadow he stopped and pricked an ear, listening.

“Do you hear some-“Karena began to ask, eyeing the forest around them cautiously, but Adrius held out a hand to stop her, cupping the other around his ear to hear easier.

“Bend down,” the Dragon Hunter whispered as he slowly sank to the ground, halfway kneeling as he had done in the tree earlier, his other hand resting on his knee.

Karena went down to one knee as well, looking around them with alert caution, but no longer afraid. She could sense what was coming, though she had never known anything to have such power. For her to sense it, they had to be so powerful the magic would be visible to the naked eye. The only thing that could compare was her grandfather, the greatest Spellcaster alive. She had never actually met her grandfather, as he and Lord Arenn did not exactly get along, but from his letters and how he had been described to her, he and the Linera were nearly equals in magic-wielding. That reminded Karena why she was here, but even at the prospect of meeting one the legendary Linera whom she had only seen once before in her life could not frighten her; no Linera would dare to harm her.

A child jumped cat-like from a tree hidden in darkness to another covered in sunlight, both hands and feet on the branch, looking not as if he did so to gain his balance, but merely because that’s how he always was. The child looked to be less than fifteen, but by white Dragon standards he could be anything from five to five hundred; Linera are not bound by mortal laws. They bent the laws of science to their will, born of magic and the only true masters of it. They could be sensed miles away by those with the skill to, such as Karena had because of her training and Adrius by instinct, just because of the radiance of their power. He looked incredibly wild-like, his pointed ears sharp at the tips, his white eyes looking extremely odd with his black pupils in the center with a ring of gray around the white irises. He had scraggly pure white hair that was kept out of his face by a white headband that had somehow escaped stains, just as his loose white shirt had and his white pants. He had the normal fangs and claws of a Dragon, but it was obvious from his unblinking gaze and aura of power that he could have cast an illusion so strong he could make them think he was Lord Arenn. He had no crease between his brows like Karena had never seen exempt from a face before, but neither did he seem capable of smiling. His wide-eyed, wild face was the face of someone who could and would do anything, and had never felt strain or suffering or pain or happiness, nor anger or nervousness or fury or passion. He was the prime example of pure apathy, just as all his kind was.

Despite how she knew this powerful creature would not harm her, she felt a tingle go down her spine and goose bumps cover her skin. She rubbed her arm, trying to bring feeling back into it, and spared a glance to Adrius, thinking, ‘I know it would not harm me or Adrius since I’m with him, but Adrius doesn’t know that. This must be ten times worse for him.’ She couldn’t see any sign of fear in his calm expression, only a grim look in his eye. ‘He thinks he was staring death in the face, and the only emotion he’ll let show is acceptance in his demise?’ She thought, her respect for him growing.

The wild Linera stood up on the branch and jumped in front of the unsuspecting Karena, who flinched away and, again despite her knowledge he wouldn’t kill them, let her fear show in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, young Venu. I won’t harm you. Our new leader will be the one to sentence you and your little Dragon Hunter friend. Your friend is quite amazing, actually. His sister is a pink Dragon. He loves her more than I thought possible for a Dragon Hunter, and the memories of his mother and his lover… No wonder he blamed his sister for their deaths. It must have been a terrible thing to accept he would never be able to get revenge for them. And my, my, his mind is interesting. He actually has respect and some other emotion he isn’t aware of yet for a Spellcaster, how odd.” All this intrusion of minds and casual sprouting of secrets Adrius would probably have wanted to be left unsaid were so quick and unexpected that the duo just stared at the Linera, who throughout his speech hadn’t had a single emotion play across his face, not even amazement when he said Adrius’s mind was amazing.

“Now, you two follow me. The Forest Dragons had left the Dragon and the Air Child right at the foot of my lair. How convenient. I brought them to our meeting place before coming to fetch you. The leader will want to see you.”

“Wait!” Karena cried out as his magic made her unwillingly walk forward to follow the Linera as he turned his back and went back to the safety of the shadows. “What did you mean your new leader? I saved your former leader’s life! What happened to him?”

He spared her a glance over his shoulder as he replied, “He is alive,” He answered her thought before the questions, “Our new leader is chosen by the magic every ten years when the Forest Dragons bring to us the next Linera. You just missed it. It was only two years ago when the magic chose the next leader. He will decide to let you live and transport you to your grandfather’s home or kill you. Though you do have the power to transport your little group on your own, you hardly need our help.”

Her jaw dropped as his magic forced them to follow him, and Adrius cursed as he tried to move on his own and failed.

“What do you mean? Its one of the hardest spells there are! I was barely able to transport two of us a few miles away.

He didn’t answer, and both Adrius and Karena felt his magic force them into silence. Karena, though she had heard of such things before, was astonished that he need not say the spell aloud or use a staff, or even a wand, for his spells. Magic seemed to just obey his will, something Karena thought not even the great Spellcaster that had created the Aronoru could have done.

Even while being controlled by his magic, even though he was forcibly silencing her, Karena still found in her heart that she respected this boy while at the same time fearing him and even pitying him. He was born into a world that didn’t care about him, born to parents who gave him up out of fear and greed and given to people who care only for his power. But would she, Karena, have dared to keep a Linera child if it was her kid? How could she fault someone else for not having the courage she herself couldn’t conjure up? ‘Courage isn’t something that just appears out of thin air, it’s earned. Only Knight Stars are lucky enough to be born with it, and even Vampyrs have to earn their courage. As do most Dragons. But what about Linera? And do they really have no emotions? If it came down to it, could I walk into a Vampyr gladiator arena with my head held high, or would I be on my knees begging? And if Linera didn’t have all their power and were mortal like the rest of us, would they have courage too?’

“I can hear your thoughts,” The Linera said tonelessly, “All Linera can. And I don’t feel anything, but perhaps if the Forest Dragons had kept me I might have learned some emotions. And there is not a Dragon Hunter alive that can defeat a Linera, especially not one as experienced as me, Adrius. And yes, I’m quite old; it was about fifteen centuries ago that I was born. Knights Stars are not the only ones born with courage, Spellcaster. I seem to recall Dragon Hunters also inherit that trait.” Adrius glared so ferociously at the Linera’s back it could have put his hair on fire. Karena had absolutely no doubt Adrius wasn’t being very kind in his thoughts. Dragon Hunters and Knight Stars don’t like even their names in the same sentence with each other, let alone being compared. It comes with being mortal enemies. Only a Linera could get away with such a statement unscathed. That passing thought made Karena consider. Could Synfera get away with it if she was talking to Adrius?

The Linera made no more comment in their journey, not even slowing his pace a whit when they passed by a Jagui, a tiger-like creature with fur as black as midnight and fur on the tips of its ears like a lynx’s. Its kind had been created by an Alkalye near the beginning of time, before all Alkalye had been banished to Alkalye Island. It was a ferocious creature, and even Dragon Hunters went out of their way to avoid it. Its eyes gleamed red as they passed, and had they been without an escort Karena was sure it would not have let them pass without at least one bloody mark in warning to get off its land. Apparently, even the Jagui had respect for one of the rulers of the forest.

“We’re here.” The Linera tonelessly announced. For a moment the undergrowth was so thick Karena couldn’t see Adrius or the Linera. There was total silence for a moment, and Karena had the absurd notion that she was only one there. Everyone else had vanished. Time slowed down, and she could have been walking through the grass for seconds or years. But then place and time returned, and Karena stepped into a clearing. The grass was oddly short, as if the Linera had used magic to trim it.

Seconds after that Karena saw what was in the middle of the clearing. Reron was hunched over something, his back shaking with what could only be sobs. Just in front of him was Synfera, her pink hair spread around her, her face frozen forever in horrifying agony. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were lifeless, looking up at the sky. Tears were dried on her face, her mouth open as if in her last moment she was screaming.

Karena looked at Adrius out of the corners of her eyes, wishing fervently now more than ever that she was powerful enough to cast a spell to free them so at least they could fight the Linera that hurt Synfera. Adrius looked the same as ever, and for a dreadful moment Karena thought Adrius hadn’t changed after all and didn’t care that his younger sister was lying dead. But then Karena remembered the spell, and that Adrius couldn’t move anymore than she could. Two tears slid slowly down his cheeks, his eyes revealing the true inner turmoil of his soul. The pain unveiled in his eyes, his emotions for once not concealed beneath the angry barrier he normally hid behind, was so great Karena looked away. She knew he wouldn’t want her to see how terribly this affected him.

The picture of Synfera’s pain beside the campfire the night they had first met, when she spoke of not being able to kill Adrius, came unbidden to the front of Karena’s mind, reflecting Adrius’s pain now. Never-ending tears fell down to the ground as she saw the picture of Synfera’s pain for her brother beside the fire in her mind. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine the happier Synfera. She saw Synfera after Adrius joined the group, glowing with joy at being reunited with her brother. Karena kept the image close to herself, trying to block out the sound of Reron’s weeping and the clear picture of Synfera’s face in death, cold and still, forever gone.

[Snack Addict]

“We’re here.” The Linera tonelessly announced. For a moment the undergrowth was so thick Adrius couldn’t see Karena or the Linera. There was total silence for a moment, and he had the absurd notion that he was only one there. Everyone else had vanished. Time slowed down, and he could have been walking through the grass for seconds or years. But then place and time returned, and Adrius stepped into a clearing. The grass was about as tall has halfway up his shins. It gave him an ominous feeling, hearing nothing, not even the others breathing in and out as he normally could, nor hearing the grass rustle even though the breeze moved it. The spell controlling his movement vanished.

“What’s going on?” Adrius asked, immediately noticing Linera surrounding the clearing. Their Dragon forms were humongous, so big Adrius knew that even without their magic he would have a hard time beating them. Considering his father, who taught Adrius everything he knew, had once been Rynzai’s right-hand man and the second strongest Dragon Hunter in all Aeslian, this was a terrifying prospect.

Adrius turned to give Karena a warning, just in case she underestimated them, when he found that she was gone. “What’s happening?” Adrius repeated while drawing his poisonous dagger, along with a light sword he had stolen from a Knight Star. He turned to face the Linera that had dragged them there, but he too was gone.

“Do not worry. We will not harm any of them.” Said one of the Linera, a tall, young-looking Linera with the largest Dragon form Adrius had ever seen. ‘What do they mean by “any of them”? Do they have my sister and Reron as well?’

“Yes, we do,” he answered, his apathetic voice sending a chill down Adrius’ spine, a clear warning. This Linera was lying, for whatever reason. Karena had spoken earlier as if she had been confident that they would not hurt her. She probably had done some sort of favor for them, though what that could be Adrius had no clue.

“You are a clever one,” the Linera noted. “Too bad we have to kill you.”

“Why?” Adrius growled, his eyes shifting around the clearing, looking for an escape. “How could my death benefit you?”

“Arenn made a deal with us. Our side of the bargain was to kill his daughter and anyone she may be traveling with. I’m pretty sure that Arenn wanted us to kill you quickly, erase all chance of escape, but that isn’t any fun. Just to give you a sporting chance, my sister Meneia will fight you. She is the most recent to be born, she is about eight years old, so it may be less of a challenge to pose any portion of a threat to her. Also, to up the stakes a little, we won’t kill your friends. If you scratch Meneia, we will let you all go and help you to Karena’s grandfather. The scratch doesn’t have to be bloody.”

Adrius only understood one in ten words the Linera said, but when he did get didn’t roll well with him. “You made a deal with that backstabbing, two-faced, malevolent dictator? Why? What could any mortal ever offer you that you don’t already have, or can get?”

The Linera only shook his head in answer, not bothering to voice it. He waved the tall woman next to him forward, patting her shoulder in encouragement.

“May you fight well, Dragon Hunter.” The woman, ‘Probably this Meneia,’ Adrius thought, said as she bowed from the waist.

Adrius, rightfully suspicious of her almost honorable act, gave her a bow, not letting his eyes leave her.

She drew a sword, long and narrow, made in the way of the Minaex Dragons. ‘Even as a Linera she must have gone through a lot of trouble to get one of those,’ Adrius thought with respect.

He drew his own red sword, grinning as he did so. He knew that another sword-lover would recognize a Vren sword, and what it meant. No magic, even a Linera’s, would work against a Vren creation.

“How did a mere Dragon Hunter get one of Vren’s masterpieces?” The Linera asked her voice and tone apathetic as she pointed her blade at his.

Still grinning lightly, Adrius answered while pointing at hers, “And how did a Linera get a sword from the Minaex, those racist cretins who would rather kill than give a sword over?” Instead of thinking about it, as he would have done in any other situation, he thought of ripping the Linera to shreds with his sword.

She nodded in response, “Very well. We each have our own secrets. And you are wise to not think of it, otherwise I would know. Enough of these pleasantries,” before Adrius could blink she stood inches away from him, thrusting her sword at his heart.

Adrius quickly blocked it and swung his blade at her throat, trying to chop her head off.

His sword encountered a barrier, and though it defeated the well-made protection, it slowed down a hair, enough time for her to block it.

She pushed against his sword so hard that, though Dragon Hunters were stronger than any other race, he was fast losing ground.

He was forced to his knees, fighting with all his strength against her. “How?” He gasped, jumping to the side and away from the deadlock.

She turned and swung her sword down on him, and Adrius dodged as it hit the ground. He cut at her shoulder, intending to slice her to pieces. But she dodged like he did, and he took a moment more to recover than she did.

She took advantage, swinging her sword down on him with surprising strength and speed. He blocked it just in time, falling to his knees again.

“Never,” Adrius growled, rolling away and throwing one of his many daggers at her heart.

It hit square, and she looked down on it, surprised. Adrius felt a moment of unease as he followed the dagger up by swinging his sword at her neck again.

But she blocked it, and before Adrius could understand what was going on his sword was lying in the dirt, hidden by the shin-high blades of grass.

She pulled the dagger out of her chest and dropped it. There was no blood staining her white skin-tight outfit.

Adrius drew his black dagger, swinging it at the Linera’s exposed right side. She dodged to the left, and swung her sword at his unprotected shoulder.

He brought his hidden knife up, moving the sword up and out of his way as he dropped to one knee and thrust his black dagger at the Linera’s heart.

This time, it did not hit dead center but hit the knife the Linera slipped down her sleeve. There was another deadlock, and before Adrius could dodge out of the way, she made a semi-circle with her blade, hitting him under the arm.

Adrius yelled his fury and forced her knife away, aiming for her heart again. But another barrier blocked it, and it glowed white-hot until he dropped it.

“You never stood a chance.” She said with apathy as he fell to the ground, not relinquishing his grip on his black dagger, even as the blood, his blood, flowed without stopping. Adrius knew he was dying, and he closed his eyes in defeat, thanking the Linera in his mind for giving him an honorable death.

“I’m afraid that’s not what we have in mind for you.” She said, reaching down to touch his wound briefly. Before his eyes the wound closed, and Adrius felt new blood flowing in his side.

“What is your plan?” He asked, sitting up. He knew that even if he attacked her with his blades she would only hurt him again, and then heal him. He could not escape.

“You are being given to a Vampyr arena. It puts us Linera on good terms with the Vampyr, just in case they conquer any place in this general area. They would respect our power if we gave them Lord Arenn’s daughter and the son of the former second-in-command Dragon Hunter. You will not have an honorable death. I believe they will make you fight your sister, the boy, and Karena. You will fight all at once, of course. You will win, and the others will be given to the Vampyrs for dinner. Then you will fight other young, promising fighters until you die of starvation and weakness, or fall to one of the others.”

Adrius cried out, “No! I will not die a weakling! I am a Dragon Hunter!” He stood and threw his knife at her. She brought her sword up to block it, as he knew she would. He ran to his sword, ducking to grab it as he felt something hit his head from behind.

Before he fell unconscious he heard her say, “You will die scum, just like your mother.”

“Synfera… forgive me…” He whispered, closing his eyes.

[Snack Addict]

When Reron woke up, he was very sure he was still dreaming. For one, he was sure that the vision in front of him couldn’t possibly be real life. For another, his mother and father had been dead for years, yet here they stood before him.

Reron was confused; his dreams were never this lucid, but the alternative meant his parents lived and stood in front of him, and the famous Srili Mountain was in the background. As this mountain had been leveled centuries ago in the great battle between the most famous Spellcaster of all time and the first Ice Lancer, which Reron had only seen in tapestries in the marketplace, he knew it couldn’t exist in the present day. This could only be a dream.

“Reron,” his mother said, her voice echoing as if from far away, “Reron, you must listen. Do not believe the Linera, even after this is over. They are giving you an illusion to break your spirit and see if you are strong enough to survive it. As we speak your other friends are under the curse. Synfera and Adrius have passed the test they set, but Karena looks like she will fail, and her illusion has hardly started. We have made them believe you passed the test, to give you time.”

“Do not ask us questions.” His father ordered him, his voice just as stern as Reron remembered it. Just like Reron’s mother, he spoke as if he was far away. “We have interfered; the Linera have no power over the dead. Do not seek us out after this. We will wait for you on the other side, but for now you must leave and save Karena. We are giving you protection so that the Linera will not hear your thoughts or see you. We are sending you into Karena’s dream, but you must remember it is not real. Because she is Lord Arenn’s daughter, the Linera’s expectation for her is higher. You must help her kill a Linera in her illusion, or all is lost. Her life, and the lives of the world, rest on you now. Your destinies are intertwined. There is no turning back. Goodbye, son.” They waved; his mother’s eyes filled with tears as they faded into the darkness, the mountain already gone.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Reron cried out, reaching to them, tears building up in his eyes. “Don’t leave me again!”

“We will never leave you, my darling,” His mother’s voice said. He felt a light pressure on his shoulder, and then it was all gone, faded into nothingness. Reron fell to his knees, crying, his head bent as he lost his heart all over again, just like before…

[Snack Addict]

The spell was removed, and Karena fell to her knees, her head in her hands. She was still sobbing when she heard Adrius gasp.

She looked up at him, expecting him to have his weapons out and charging the Linera, but instead he was falling to the ground, his expression that of shock and pain.

She crawled over to him, still crying, and flipped his body over. His breathing was ragged, and sweat glistened on his brow.

“Karena… I’m sorry for everything. Bury Synfera and I beside my mother and father… The graves are in a small village on Nemaex’s shoreline. Please…” His voice trailed off, and his head lolled to one side, his eyes closing in death.

“Karena? Adrius?” Reron asked, turning. He wiped his eyes, but they immediately filled up again as he took it in. Suddenly an arrow was in his side and he fell down, blood soaking his clothes. He reached one hand out to Karena, his fearful expression cutting her heart in two. “Help… me…” He choked out, coughing up blood. His head fell into the grass, the hand reaching for help already on the ground.

“Adrius… Synfera… Reron… No!!” She yelled while tilting her head to the bright blue sky. She grew so angry in that split second that she let unleash all of her power, casting all of the destruction and killing spells she knew. The cloudless sky was quickly invaded by dark gray clouds, and the sun was covered up as the rain fell down on the forest. Hail fell with the rain, some of them as big as Karena’s head. Fire spread around her in a path of death, burning everything it touched to ashes almost instantly. The magical fire spread further and further, finally creating a large circle around the clearing, containing the Linera. Small imp-like creatures made purely of pitch black shadows came out of her staff, nipping at the Linera’s legs, defying all the Linera’s attempts to destroy them. They dodged the spells with glee, cackling with ferocious delight. A strong wind gripped the clearing, circling gently around Karena and ripping at the Linera’s clothes. Mud and rocks and twigs hit the Linera with powerful force.

Karena raised the hand with her staff in hit, pointing it at the first Linera she saw, one of the many ringing the clearing. A lightning bolt struck it, and the figure toppled to the ground. Another Linera bent down to heal it and the healer and the injured one rose again as the spell was completed.

“You won’t survive!” Karena shouted, pointing her staff at another Linera. The lightning struck the ground where the Linera had been nanoseconds before, barely missing it.

They all hissed, transforming into their Dragon selves. It took them less time that Karena thought possible, and all of them were gigantic and dangerous when it was done. She had only seen one or two fully-grown Dragon in her lifetime, and none had been as monstrous as these. And before they hadn’t all been intended on her death.

“We won’t fall to a mortal.” The largest of them said, raising his wings while they closed in on her. One of them cast another spell, creating a barrier around them to stop the shadow imps

“You will to this mortal!” She screeched back, cutting the air with her staff. Lightning cut through the air, thunder echoing as the bolt hit the Linera’s barrier.

There was a loud boom, louder even than thunder. The explosion of magic on magic created a large gash in the land. The barrier held.

“You will all pay for what you did to my friends!” Karena shouted, casting another lightning bolt at the barrier. It held again, the explosion renting an even bigger dent in the land.

“I will fight her.” One of the Linera said as she stepped out of the barrier after the explosion and thunder faded, turning back into her human form. Her eyes and hair were, of course, pure white, but her expression defied Karena’s expectations. It was twisted in hatred, the first emotion Karena had ever seen on a Linera’s face.

“I am Meneia!” She shouted above the wind and hail. She pointed a finger at Karena and a lightning bolt blazed toward her from the sky, thunder booming from it.

Karena reacted with faster-than-lightning speed, bringing up her staff and stopping the bolt in its tracks.

“Meneia, you will be the first to die!” Karena said, raising her voice to be heard over the thunder. The other Linera turned back into humans as well, none of their apathetic faces showing any discomfort at the nearly instantaneous transformation. They turned around and disappeared, walking straight through the flames as if it wasn’t there.

“Not likely, kilasi!” Meneia shouted back, distracting her by causing an earthquake beneath her feet.

The shadow imps vanished when bolts of lightning hit them all, causing a raging fire around Meneia. The flames were black and colder than ice, freezing Meneia’s skin where it touched her and making it burn as the Linera’s healing spell brought the life back to it.

While the Linera was fighting the ice shadow flames, Karena looked back at her friends bodies, fighting back tears. ‘Now isn’t the time to mourn them! That can wait!’ She ordered herself silently.

Karena turned back to the battle, just in time to duck as Meneia threw a knife at her. It whizzed over her head as the last of the black flames vanished.