The neutral rider (Open)

[Silver]

Stiarna walked calmly through The Spine, humming a calm song, she liked these forests, but wasn’t stupid enough to venture too deep in them without any protection. She had a couple of hunting daggers and a sword on her belt, all of them weapons that his father gathered before that mysterious attack two years ago that took away his life, she always carries them with her since then, though she rarely used them at all out of hunting.
In a black backpack she carried all her valuable stuff, the contents of it was a camping tent, some flints, three pencils, some colors and two sketchbooks, plus the material needed to keep her daggers and sword in good conditions. Sometimes she carried some dried meat, medicinal herbs or food bought on a town while she was passing by, but she had nothing of that in that exact moment.
Myrkr was at her side; his size had obviously increased since he hatched. Stiarna still could remember hoe only two weeks ago, when he was a newborn, he liked to ride on her shoulder while she absentmindedly talked to him about anything she knew, happy to have someone she could talk to after almost a year of solitude. But now he had the size of a big dog, making her unable to carry him anymore. More of once she had felt an odd feeling, but when the Myrkr finally said her name on her mind, only one day ago, she discovered that the odd feeling was his presence, yet it was really hard to get used to it.
Myrkr was learning really fast, to Stiarna’s amazement, and his hunting skills were getting better each time. His wings still couldn’t lift his weight, but that didn’t stopped him from flapping them often, trying to fly. Also, it wasn’t odd that, each time he could, he climbed to a high place and opened his wings, gliding elegantly, always under Stiarna’s supervision.

[Aelodil]

Hatred. Nelfarion roared and slammed down some trees with his massive claws. Rage. He opened his large wings, releasing fire from them and flapped, dispersing the fire onto the Spine. Anger. He flew high up, burning the forest down. Vengeance. The day the wretched Dragon Spirits had turned him into this. He roared once again, and looked down. His dragon eyes making out his first prey for the day. An Empire squadron. He landed, causing a tremor so large it shook the very foundations of the ground. Seething with rage, he quickly swung his massive neck, devouring all 40 soldiers, their armor melting in the lava hidden underneath his patched and peppered skin. He swallowed them whole and began moving. Eager to destroy, eager to please his anger, eager to extract vengeance. Heedless, he walked, crushing underneath him anything in his path, all he touched burned and
incinerated to dust.

Nearby, a village was seen in the distance. Soon, as Nelfarion became closer, tremors broke out and the villagers feared for their lives, running to their houses for shelter. Nelfarion bathed the ground with fire and slammed the houses. One brave or foolish man threw a pike at him. Roaring with anger, Nelfarion swung his massive neck, cracking the man's ribs and putting him to sleep for good. An elderly man, apparently the father of the man he had just murdered cursed at Nelfarion and threw rocks at him. A weird throttling noise that shook the trees and the ground emanated from Nelfarion as he laughed at the futile attempt. He lowered his neck to the ground and with one huge bite, swallowed the man and a large proportion of the ground around him.

Levelling the village, Nelfarion observed the earth. It was scorched, incinerated and turned to glass due to the intense heat. He turned his attention back to the forest and continued burning it down. His objective was to demolish this area. After that he'd turn his attention back to the Elves' forest. He knew he would normally be doing this with his comrade Shaelren but he wasn't here at the time and so he made due by using more power than he normally would. As he demolished a tree he saw a small little hatching and his Rider. He roared again at them and assaulted their minds with questions,"Who dares stand in my way!? Speak puny human lest I crush you right now."[/b].

* By the way, before you post, you prolly wanna read Nelfarion's app as he's a rather complicated fella. Here it is argetlamrpg.proboards.com/thread/1908/ *

[Silver]

Ooc: Wow, that’s a really complicated dragon, and interesting too. I really hope to not mess up with him; I wouldn’t like him as an enemy.

Stiarna kept walking calmly with Myrkr, not knowing about the terrible dragon that was around. After some time she found some useful medicinal plants on the forest, put down her backpack at their side and opened one of the zippers. That specific compartment of the backpack was empty at the moment and smelled like fresh herbs, since was the place where she liked to keep any useful herb she could find in her travels. She started to pick up the herbs, trying to not harm the herbs while doing so, but was careful to not take too much, so the herb could heal and keep growing. She closed that compartment and opened the one where she kept her maps, all of them made completely by herself with special reference points, until she found the one of the place where she was and marked the place with a circle, writing the name of the herb that she found in case that she would need more later, so she knew exactly where to find it in the future.
She was too focused on that to notice the growing anxiety of Myrkr, who was looking around madly with a really bad feeling. He tried to attract Stiarna’s attention, but with his newly found mental link still in training mixed with his anxiety made him unable to drag her attention of those herbs. In a desperate move, he bit her arm lightly, successfully dragging her attention this time, making her drop the map, which fell wide open on the floor with a couple of the plant’s leafs on it.
“Myrkr! Why you did that?!” Stiarna glared at him, but her anger soon was forgotten when she saw his odd behavior “What’s wrong?” Just as she finished the question the strong smell of smoke made its presence in the place. Stiarna immediately grabbed the map and the leafs that fell, but didn’t even had time to roll it to put it back on the backpack with the leafs before a shadow fell over them only a couple of second before a tree got turned into a pile of burning woodchips, making her turn around and face a monumental dragon.
Almost immediately she felt an overwhelming presence on her untrained mind. The sudden intrusion made her feel slightly dizzy. The threatening voice of the dragon echoed in her mind, making her feel some shivers and take a couple of steps backwards. Myrkr growled a little, just as scared as Stiarna, but now willing to show it, feeling the intrusion too “We didn’t meant to stand on anyone’s way or anything, we were just passing by” Stiarna said, almost in a whisper, her voice trembling lightly with fear, already searching for the fastest and safer escape route.

[Aelodil]

((Yeah, he's a pretty um.. mad..? Nah, crazy fella. He kinda just like.. does his thing around the world killing/destroying anything he sees. I don't think your character at this point should really meet him so I'll intervene with my Rider, Anurin, and Vanilor, not much to them, just that they're I believe the oldest to survive the Fall second to only Oromis who's dead and Glaedr who's an Eldunari))

Roaring at the young pair, Nelfarion lowered his head and placed his eye in front of the Rider. Due to the experiments, he had grown larger than any normal dragon should have. At the age of near 900, he was larger than even a century old dragon. His eye, about 5 times larger than the Rider opened, watching the two. Insects. Yet these insects had a certain aura to them. The Rider was an oblivious person, not even paying attention to her hatching while the hatching was sharp and vigilant. He eyed them both with the savagery and madness even far beyond that of Galbatorix's madness. Violence raged through his eyes. He reached out with his mind once again and showed them scenes of men burning alive as he slaughtered them and burned them. He incinerated their cities and towns, creating volcanoes instead. The Sundering, a huge fissure caused by him, he showed them this and then continued to bathe them with fire.

However, that went wrong when the fire suddenly re-directed to him. Anurin's wards had deflected the fire and soon, a huge mass of white scales slammed into Nelfarion. Vanilor was huge, but next to Nelfarion he was about 75% of his size. However, with the element of surprise, Vanilor rammed into Nelfarion again and again, slamming him into the side of the mountain, rocks raining down on the hatching and his new Rider. Swiftly, Anurin grabbed the hatching with a heaving effort and grabbed the Rider's hand and ran a little farther away and informed Vanilor to go ahead. Roaring with anger, he bathed Nelfarion with fire and batted him side-ways with his claws. Knocked out cold for a few minutes, Anurin quickly came closer and channeled the energy of the whole Spine, or what was left of it, and his and Vanilor's energy to teleport Nelfarion far away. Distance didn't matter, size did, and in this case, the energy was huge, and one small mistake could cause an explosion that would blow this surface of the earth.

With all the energy he could muster, Anurin casted the spell, and suddenly Nelfarion was somewhere else, far far away, in a magically sealed prison designed for him. Of course, with time Nelfarion would soon be out, however they had managed to save a few lives. The cost, however, had been most of the life in the Spine. Worn out, Anurin turned to the Rider and smiled. Without saying much, he hoisted her up, helping her climb Vanilor to the mountain as some of it had been destroyed from the battle. As they reached the top, Anurin beckoned the Rider and her hatching to his small hut. As he sat down, brought out some fruits and bread and tea, Anurin threw a dead Rabbit at the ground near the hatching. It sickened him that he had resulted in the deaths of all these animals but it was necessary. Finally, he spoke,"Hello. I am Anurin, and my dragon is Vanilor. What is your name and why were you near a beast such as Nelfarion?", his voice rasping slightly.

[Brenton]

Lights flickered and dimmed as a shadow passed through the forest and mountains that had just been ravaged by some creature who had been on a rampage. Anger filled the shadowy figure until flashes of molten lava red light began to emanate from a black blade that was strapped to the man's thigh over his armored leg while he glared at the world with his brown eyes. Pain. No one knew pain until they met this man since he was the main reason pain spread through the Spine and Northern fringe of the elven forest. Yet he was also the one who felt the most pain. At being treated like a tool. At being told to follow like a fool would. Anger. Many days were spent filled with anger as the tall and broad shouldered man stormed through the area slaughtering people who got in his way. While it was true that he had been calm and well mannered when younger, Ashendale had changed for the worse when he had joined the New Forsworn. Now he was malevolent and willing to kill even those closest to him like his own parents who had tried to force servitude upon him.

Roars echoed from further ahead and then flashes of blinding fire shot across the sky as two dragons began to fight. One of the dragons was large enough to be seen easily, Nelfarion! Ashendale shot forward and into a dead sprint as he drew the blade on his leg and ran at full speed to aid the dragon. Yet it was too late when he got there for the dragon was gone, sent by the elven rider and his dragon. In a blind rage, Ashendale swung his sword and the blade cut down three men who had appeared next to him to watch the show. Then another two fell when they ran forward to help. More men started to come from the wood work and Ashendale cut them down with no second thought as his anger coursed through his veins and adrenaline fueled the strength he needed. He cut a path along to follow the rider until suddenly soldiers were in his way. Ashendale swung his blade out and killed the first five soldiers easily but the last five surrounded him. As his anger grew and he gained more strength, Ashendale bellowed in anguish and bolts of molten red lightning shot out and disintegrated the five men where they stood. Ashendale fell forward but gained his strength within two minutes. Quickly he ran forward and saw the rider's hut just ahead. He crouched down and started watching the captors of his dragon ally.

[Silver]

Stiarna and Myrkr stayed completely still and almost holding their breath, both because of fear and the powerful presence of the colossal dragon on their mind. When the dragon roared the reaction was immediate; Stiarna covered her ears with both hands, feeling like if her ears were about to explode with the terrifying sound, and Myrkr lowered his head, trying to cover his own ears with his claws. When the eye of the dragon was at their height Stiarna looked at it with a mix of amazement and terror. Myrkr growled again and started to swing his tail back and forth, showing the two sets of long and deadly spines on the tip of his tail in a threatening was, as he got in front of Stiarna in a protective way, a little of smoke coming out of his nostrils.

Stiarna immediately tried to push away Myrkr, worried for his safety more than her own, in the exact moment that her mind started to flood with the horrible scenes that the dragon decided to show her. It only took a few seconds to her to start feeling even more dizzy, barely able to stand up, and felt like if she was about to throw up, Myrkr started to see the terrible scenes too and started to shake his head, trying to push the mind of the bigger dragon out of his own and Stiarna’s mind with all his strength, but his limited hatchling power could do nothing against the dragon in front of them. Each time a new scene crossed their minds they only felt worse, the scenes had too much blood, too much violence, too much death……

When the dragon spit fire to them both shared an intense terror, soon followed by surprise as the fire changed its curse, attacking the one who was meant to originally control it, and a flash of white slammed against the dragon that almost killed them. It took them several minutes to see with clarity, and they couldn’t believe their own eyes. They reacted quickly to the rain of rocks falling on them, covering each other immediately, Stiarna with the backpack and the rolled map that she forgot that she still had in her hand and Myrkr with his wings and tail.

When someone picked up Myrkr he immediately roared and struggled furiously, showing his teeth in a threatening way, but he was worn out and it almost did nothing. Stiarna was too tired to resist the pulling and just ran with the unknown man, sometimes looking behind to see the battle between the two huge dragons until, somehow, the bigger one was gone. It took her a little to notice the smile of the man, immediately smiling back, obviously grateful. When he hoisted her up to climb the mountain she stayed silent, in other circumstances she would had rejected the help and tried to climb by herself, but she was too tired to argue in that moment.

They looked around the hut when they entered. Myrkr started to search for anything suspicious or traps immediately. He was grateful too, but he wouldn’t trust anyone, especially after the attack of that mad dragon. Stiarna just looked around with curiosity shinning in her eyes; the most permanent living place she had even been in was in his father’s tent when they stopped in a city or something, but nothing like that at all. When the man sat Stiarna did the same immediately. Myrkr decided to lie down at her side, curling up his tail around her in a protective way and looking at the man straight to his eyes with a threatening glare.

When the man throwed a rabbit at him, Myrkr immediately tensed and started to sniff it very carefully before taking a small bite. Once he was sure it was safe he started to eat it, but without letting his guard down, shooting glances at the man each few seconds before he talked.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Stiarna, and he’s Myrkr” Myrkr snorted lightly to confirm Stiarna’s words “I guess Nelfarion is the name of the huge dragon. We actually just found him by accident while walking around the spine” She said, her voice still was trembling lightly.

[Aelodil]

Anurin nodded as Stiarna guessed who Nelfarion was."Well met Stiarna, Myrkr. I know you will find it hard to trust me and Vanilor, but understand, this hut is the only safe place you can find in the Spine at the moment. Usually when Nelfarion is near, so is his partner, Ashendale. They are both very dangerous and if you see any, run. That is the only thing you could do. Do not stand to buy your friends minutes, you wouldn't last seconds. No one could, not even Vanilor, who is by-far the oldest dragon I have heard of. Nelfarion is even younger than Vanilor, yet by means unknown, he is larger than anything you could imagine of. Ashendale... well, not much is known about him, except that he is just as dangerous, if not even more-so, than Nelfarion." he said, wary and tired. He was glad for the gem in Andlat's hilt as he used that energy to rejuvenate himself as he stood up.

"I fear I know what is about to happen, and I do not want you to be part of it. Stay inside this hut, it is protected by wards and so long as you are inside, nothing will happen. No matter what you see from the window, do not step a single foot out of this hut." said Anurin as he stood and opened the door, then left. As he stepped outside, he called out,"Come Ashendale. You seek vengeance against me? Come now and fight me, do not sulk in the shadows such as a coward would. Come, face the might of the man who used Nelfarion's immense power against him." as he gloated Ashendale, hand rested upon Andlat's pommel. Vanilor looked at Anurin who nodded. Vanilor proceeded to bathe the area with flames, and Anurin felt the gem in Andlat's pommel weaken as the wards took their toll.

[Brenton]

Ashendale, having expected nothing less from the weak of heart and mind riders and his dragon, had put up wards as strong as the most valuable metals. He jumped into the trees and then scaled high enough to where he was out of the fire before the man shot forward with his wicked looking black blade in hand and his eyes trained upon Anurin. "Whoever said I was hiding? I may not have you in particular figured out but every rider is scared of what I can do and so you have wards on that hut." With that the sky seemed to darken and Ashendale took off again just to jump in a high flip over Anurin who he slashed at with his sword while he shot a bolt of molten red lightning straight at Vanilor. This was the same type of lightning that had taken out so many soldiers and while it may not kill Vanilor, it would certainly maim the dragon.

His body was large but Ashendale was very agile and able to use all of his opponent's skills against them in a fight, especially when they angered him. Just look at the multitudes of freshly slaughtered men along the way for proof of his anger toward the dragon and rider who were both in front of him as he continued his barrage of attacks with his deadly precise blade that could match a rider's blade stroke for stroke and still have energy to continue. This was a blade that had been enchanted with dark magic and so while the blades of riders were imbued with wards to protect, Ashendale's unnamed blade was imbued with magic meant for chaos and destruction.

[Silver]

Stiarna stayed respectfully silent as Anurin talked. Myrkr did the same while eating, and once he finished his gaze landed on Anurin again immediately, he still didn’t fully trusted him yet, but he agreed with him after hearing his words, he wanted to face that dragon again, and neither anyone related to him, especially if that someone was as powerful as Anurin said. He looked at Stiarna, knowing immediately that she had the same feeling, but she also had curiosity mixed with those feelings, that curiosity that Myrkr was so worried about, since it had given several troubles to them, yet at the same time he liked, since otherwise Stiarna would had never found his egg and wouldn’t be the one she was in that exact moment.

They both nodded when Anurin stopped talking and saw how he walked out of the hut. Stiarna immediately ran towards the window and looked outside. Myrkr polled her a little away from the window, but not fully, since he was interested too in what was happening. When they saw Ashendale climbing up a tree to avoid Vanilor’s fire both got tense and even walked further from the window. Stiarna took a quick glance to her daggers and sword; she took them from her dad’s collection after the attack, just before the caravan had to break because of fear, that weren’t stolen thanks to her father’s precautions when hiding them, since they were some of his most valuable possessions thanks to their origins and their perfection. Finally she looked at her bow and arrows; those weren’t as fine as the sword and daggers, she didn’t cared much though, since the combat at long range wasn’t one of her strengths, consequently she only knew the basics of using the bow and her skill with it was extremely limited.

Stiarna took a deep breath and looked at the battle from her safe spot in the hut. She really wanted to help with the fight to return the favor, but she would need to be close to use her daggers and swords against Ashendale and it was more likely that if she tried to use her bow she would fail, and she didn’t wanted to hurt any of her two rescuers by accident, since they were too close to him, plush, they used magic, and she couldn’t, she didn’t knew how. She looked down, feeling really bad for not being able to help at all.

Myrkr looked at her, he was frustrated too and understood perfectly her feelings, so he gently licked her hand and started to communicate with her through her mind with her name and very few words he learned to use in an attempt to help her to feel better. Stiarna looked at him and smiled lightly before looking sitting, still looking at the battle through the window. Myrkr did the same, looking carefully to the battle outside and ready to flee with Stiarna if needed.

[Emiryal ♕]

rider of Sephora | varden rider

"Are you alright?" a male voice asked. A young man was standing inside of the hut where Myrkr and Stiarna were. A golden sword at his side was of such fine make it could only be a rider's blade. But whether Caspian was a rider or just someone with a rider's sword not was not apparent. He was dressed for travel and wore leather gloves at the moment. He walked over to them, his stance non-threatening. He glanced at her weapons which she'd seemed to have considered for a moment. "I wouldn't go out there if I were you. I'm Caspian by the way, I guess you could say I'm Anurin's apprentice," he said. He had only been able to train with the elf for a short time but had come here hoping to work on continuing his training. Unfortunately this whole incident hadn't given him much time to talk to the elf let alone train.

Sephora was much to big to fit into the hut. She had taken shelter behind it as she didn't want to leave Caspian in case he needed her help. She growled in frustration as the large white dragon set fire to the forest and she was forced to jump onto the hut to avoid the flames. She didn't want to tax the wards Caspian had placed on her unless she really had to. The hut groaned from her sudden weight and the roof sagged some but it held. "Vanilor?" she thought to herself wishing she could speak with him but knowing his mental barriers would be up in full and not allow her in.

Caspian inhaled sharply when Sephora jumped onto the roof causing it to sag and a painting to fall off the wall. He was relieved that the roof was holding her otherwise she would've crushed them! "Sephora! You have to be more careful, if the roof didn't hold you would've crushed me!" he complained. "Sorry but the whole forest is burning out here I didn't want to tax your wards you put on me,"[/b] she explained. Caspian couldn't argue with that. He wanted to tell her it was okay but he knew he wasn't strong enough yet to maintain her wards for long enough once something threatened them like fire or a sword blow.

[Silver]

Stiarna jumped with surprise and looked at Caspian; she thought she was completely alone inside the hut, so he took her with her guard down. Myrkr turned around and some smoke came out of his nostrils, looking at Caspian too, just as surprised as Stiarna of finding him there. When Stiarna found out that he was non-threatening she relaxed and listened to his words calmly “I thought of going outside, but I’m not fool enough to get out just like this, my knowledge of battling is limited and I don’t know how to use magic, I wouldn’t be able to last a minute against one of them” She said before smiling at him in a friendly way

“I didn’t know that Anurin had an apprentice…..well, actually I know almost nothing about him” She looked down for a couple of seconds. Myrkr was looking at Caspian carefully, he didn’t felt threatened by his presence, but he neither trusted him at all. He snorted lightly before sitting at Stiarna’s side, his purple eyes locked in Caspian’s, like if he were trying to find if he had any harmful intention or dark secrets that he could use against him and his rider.

Myrkr looked around the hut once more, this time carefully searching for anyone else that may be hidden or that he simply didn’t noticed before looking back at Caspian. They both looked at the roof when something big fell on it, a little surprised.

[Aelodil]

Anurin's wards kept the bolt from harming Vanilor, but Anurin felt a significant decrease in the energy in the gem rested upon Andlat's pommel. He parried the slash, twirling around him, placing himself protectively in front of the hut. He hadn't realized that Caspian was there until he saw Sephora jump above the hut. He thanked goodness that he had placed many wards on the hut that had sagged under Sephora's weight. Anurin was now angry. This man.. no, he did not deserve to be named a man, nor an elf. An abomination. He could not let him roam and consume more peoples' lives. Innocent or not. Anurin probably could have teleported all of them away but that meant allowing Ashendale to walk again, preying on the weak as he pleased.

Vanilor's wards, though protecting him from the bolt, didn't prevent him from feeling the magnitude of the bolt. The raw energy in which the bolt had possessed was enough to render five Riders that had constitutions less than Anurin to barely live. He roared and lunged with his head towards Ashendale, not hoping to harm him, as that would not have worked, but to have him fall down the mountain so that he could not climb up again without a dragon. He managed to do so without hitting Anurin who was near Ashendale. Anurin quickly took the small respite gained from Vanilor to run inside the hut with a warning.

As he entered, he said to Caspian and Stiarna,"Run. Both of you must fly with Vanilor away from here. This battle is not one you should witness or be near. Make sure Sephora is close behind. Even if I manage to hold Ashendale off, Nelfarion would by that time be out and roaming again, and he would definitely seek vengeance upon me and anyone with me. Do not consider this as an act of cowardice, flee to the Elven city, alert Brenton. Give him this message, "In the name of the one who never dies." Now run! Make haste to the Elven city." his voice urgent and not allowing any more negotiation.

[Emiryal ♕]

rider of Sephora | varden rider

"I wouldn't last more than a moment either," Caspian said. He and Sephora had trained more than the new rider but it wasn't worth anything against an opponent like that. He smiled at the newly hatched dragon. "We'll I've only trained with Anurin once, he taught me quite a bit in just that one lesson," he added.

"That's my dragon, Sephora," he said following their gaze to the slightly sagging roof. He was surprised when Anurin entered, he wanted to hear good news but instead it was only bad if not worse. He looked frightened and glanced at the older rider uncertainly. Ellesmera was more than a good week journey away by dragon back from the spine. Surely the battle wouldn't last that long and suddenly he wondered if Anurin would actually survive this. "Please be careful," Caspian said worry evident in his voice. He reached for Stiarna's hand to pull her out the door, his left hand rested on Naegling's hilt ready to pull it out should he need it. He wouldn't stand much of a chance but it made him feel safer. Sephora watched with golden eyes as they came out and jumped to the ground flattening herself to make it easier for them to get on. "Get on," he said to Stiarna offering to help her onto the golden dragon's back. Sephora was much much smaller than Vanilor but Caspian figured being small would be an advantage for once. If they were attacked Vanilor was more likely to get attacked. Plus he knew Sephora better than the large dragon and would be able to anticipate what she was going to do.

[Aelodil]

(( OOC: I'm thinking seeing as Anurin alone would be murdered by Ashendale within a couple of hours, that we could have Anurin use some excessive energy to teleport Caspian and Stiarna though the dragon's would have to stay back. Then they could alert Brenton who could come save the day. ))

[Silver]

Ooc: I think it’s a good idea, though Caspian would have to lead Stiarna, since she never met an elf before Anurin, so it’s obvious that she won’t even know who Brenton is. (If Myrkr have to stay back he will be so mad at you )


Stiarna felt some relief, knowing that she wasn’t the only one of them without the enough strength to face Ashendale, but was still worried for Anurin’s safety. Myrkr relaxed lightly and looked at the roof for a couple of seconds before Anurin entered in the hut, making both dragon and rider look at him immediately, waiting his words impatiently.

When Myrkr listened about Anurin’s word he immediately nodded, agreeing with him, even though he wasn’t exactly sure where they were going or who would they met. Stiarna listened to his words, not sure of her own feelings towards them, she didn’t wanted to leave her savior to fight against Ashendale and Nelfarion all by himself, but she knew perfectly that he was right. Myrkr and Stiarna looked at each other, confused, when he mentioned the Elven City and someone named Brenton. Stiarna knew that said city was hidden deep in Du Weldenvarden, but she never went further than the forest’s limits, so she didn’t even knew the city’s location, and even less who was Brenton. Myrkr and Stiarna looked at Caspian, hoping that he knew what they ignored.

They saw the worry and resignation in his face, what only made them feel worse, even though it was obvious that he knew where to go and who he had to find, what solved said troubles. Stiarna left Caspian drag her out of the hut, with Myrkr at her side, who was ready to attack Ashendale if he tried to get too close, he might be only a couple of weeks old, but he was ready to fight with his teeth and claws if necessary. Accepting Caspian’s help, Stiarna got on Sephora’s back; looking around with amazement and wondering if it would feel the same to ride Myrkr when he reached the needed size.

Myrkr jumped on Sephora’s back as well, using her front leg to give him some support while doing so and flapping his wings lightly, what helped him to lift himself really lightly of the ground, but no more at that age. He wasn’t willing to leave Stiarna’s side under any circumstance. Once he reached the place where Stiarna was sitting he got as comfortable as possible, trying to not invade Caspian’s place, or at least not too much.

[Emiryal ♕]

rider of Sephora | varden rider

[yeah we could do that. Sephora would be pretty ticked too about it.

Another option is Rakaio. He would answer a call for help from Aunrin and he's old enough and powerful enough he could turn the tide. I could come up with a reason why he's in the spine or he could teleport here.]

Caspian did notice the confusion Anurin's words had stirred in the new rider and dragon but now really wasn't the time to explain. He had never been to Du Weldenvarden but he did know who the elven king was, hopefully by some miracle Anurin would not die. Once Stiarna and her dragon were on Sephora he climbed onto her back as well. "Hold on to me and Myrkr," he said. He didn't have time to tighten the saddle straps onto them as time was crucial. He would have to rely on his connection to Sephora to know when she was going to bank and lean the other way so as not to fall off. Sephora spread her golden wings and took off quickly with a few beats of her wings. She flew low along the tree tops so as to be as hard to spot as possible, plus if a large dragon came after her there was a good chance it would crash. Caspian was holding onto the saddle and murmured some words in the ancient language rendering them invisible. He felt the toll from it and clung tighter to the saddle his knuckles turning white. He wasn't sure how long he could hold the spell but he would do it as long as he could. "Caspian use Naegling!" Sephora said. The young rider glanced down at his sword. Of course...Oromis had stored massive amounts of energy in the gem on the hilt. He had tried not to use any of it but now he needed to for their lives might depend on it. He reached out to it and felt the immense power and directed it to his spell. It easily held the spell and he knew it would last until they were safe.

[Brenton]

Ashendale, who had been fighting well, flew backward and fell over what would've been a terrible cliff. Yet he was smart and that was what made the twisted rider so formidable. He fell a few feet and the tried to catch a stone but slipped. another ten feet passed before Ashendale gained purchase and began his climb up. As soon as he slipped over the edge, the man sprung to his feet and scooped up his sword as well as a handful of stones. When he saw his enemy was inside, Ashendale sent all of the stones flying at the windows and the launched two more bolts of lightning at the large dragon.

[yeah that's fine...sorry for my crappy post but typing on a 3DS has its drawbacks]

[Aelodil]

(( No worries, I'm probably gonna have a bad post. Really sick. Also, seeing as Brenton's busy being dead, I guess we'll go for the Raikao idea. ))

Anurin watched them fly away and nodded sadly. It was the only way. For he had to lie to them. He knew Brenton had died earlier. But his current idea was crazy. He would send a message onto Raikao in hopes that the old formidable Rider would come and help him. Together, they probably couldn't kill Ashendale, but they surely could drive him back from the Spine. Anurin closed his eyes for a moment and reached out with his being towards Raikao who was far away. He sent him a distress signal and then went back to the present.

Vanilor had had enough of Ashendale's bolts and he returned the favor. He moved surprisingly quickly for a dragon his size, dodging the bolts then returned fire towards Ashendale. He stopped abruptly as Anurin jumped forward and attacked Ashendale. He swung Andlat with such ferocity as he never would before. But his main purpose was to delay, not to fight. He would attack, swing, then retreat. He was delaying. Just until Raikao arrived... if he did at all.

[Silver]

Stiarna looked the quick movements that Caspian used to get on Sephora’s back, trying to memorize them for when Myrkr would be big enough to carry her. After Caspian’s words she grabbed Myrkr and Caspian tightly, Myrkr grabbing her too just in case and, accidentally, almost digging his claws on the saddle and Sephora’s scales to not fall. They looked at Anurin, worry obvious on their faces; they really didn’t want to leave him all alone against such a powerful enemy. They knew they couldn’t do anything to help him on the battle, but they still felt guilty.

Suddenly the world apparently got in slow motion for them as they looked how Sephora spread her wings, which looked like if it was made of the most pure sunrays, carefully refined and turned into scales and membrane. Myrkr felt such admiration too, but also felt a little jealous, flapping his wings lightly. Stiarna just chuckled a little when she felt Myrkr’s jealously, making him look at her and snorted “I can be as magnificent as her” Stiarna was shocked; it was the first time that Myrkr said a full phrase to her. Myrkr raised his head with dignity and pride. In that exact moment when Sephora started to flap her wings, quickly going higher, making Stiarna’s stomach do a back-flip, it was her very first time flying.

After a couple of seconds she looked down, she always wished to fly. She looked how Ashendale climbed the cliff and got ready to attack, throwing rocks at it, but they soon were left behind as the dragoness flew towards Du Weldernvarden, really near of the tree tops. She didn’t felt any kind of nervousness or fear when looking down or around, only amazement and happiness. As they became invisible she was able to look under them directly, the higher she had ever been was at a few branches from the floor, and now she could see the tree tops. Her amazement was shared with Myrkr’s, who involuntarily half opened his wings sometimes before folding them again, impatient to be able to fly on his own.

[Emiryal ♕]

[I'll have Rakaio arrive in one or two more posts. I'd assume he wouldn't arrive immediately when the distress was sent. Besides we need drama of almost doom right?]

rider of Sephora | varden rider

Caspian watched over his shoulder trying to see what was going on. He saw some lightening but with Sephora flying so low he couldn't see much from the vantage point. He hoped Anurin would be alright... He had never flown with anyone else on Sephora, before it had always been solo. Sephora was strong enough to handle the extra weight from additional passengers as it didn't seem to bother her. "Sephora there," he said. "I see it," Sephora replied. A river cut through the spine granting a path to follow down the mountain which would provide cover as it appeared to be a canyon. Caspian almost instinctively placed his hand on Stiarna's which was wrapped around him to hang on, as Sephora abruptly dove as the river fell into a water fall. The spray of it struck them like hard pellets as she flew dangerously close to it. She leveled out at the bottom of the falls and using the speed was moving fast and soon they were on the fringes of the spine and Caspian allowed the invisibility spell to dissipate. It wasn't until then that he seemed to pay attention to the baby dragon. He smiled seeing the amazement in it's eyes. "Dragons are born with a heart ready to fly," he said. "They just lack the ability to go with that...I hope Anurin will be alright," he said he couldn't help but let that topic sneak in.