Beautiful music filled the castle. An elf with sleek black hair, streaked with silver, sat at a piano, hands gliding gracefully over the keys. He was completely relaxed by the music, until his semi-trance-like state was broken by a wail.
“Tavor!” came the voice of a young girl, “Luna won’t play with me!”
The Prince rose one eyebrow and sighed, turning to his sister. She had a bright orange dragon about the size of a cat in her arms, holding it just below its front legs, so that everything below that point hung limply and everything above it was squished up against the poor dragon’s head, its forelegs sticking straight out in front of it. The look on its face said ‘Help me, Tavor! This kid is killing me!’
“Don’t hold her like that, Leena! You’re going to hurt her!” the young man said, standing to take the dragon from his sister. He’d bought Luna’s egg as a gift for Leena on her fourth birthday, as a playmate, but really she belonged to the Prince, as he was the one who had raised her. Sometimes he even took her into battle with him, since she had the ability to drain magic and redirect it into her master, which was useful since Tavor was not a mage, and couldn’t cast spells otherwise. The girl whimpered as her brother took the orange creature from her. Luna scrambled for Tavor’s shoulder as soon as he laid hands on her, a priceless expression on her face, something suggesting ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you, oh Gods, thank you!’
The Princess looked at her brother, who smiled down at her, and gently said, “I know you don’t mean her any harm, but you have to be careful with Luna. She’s fragile.”
“What’s fragile mean?”
“Easy to break.”
“So Luna can get broken?”
Tavor sighed. Here came the chain of questions. He tried his best to answer his inquisitive sister’s questions. Meanwhile, Luna slipped out of his arms and slinked away, hopping out the window and flying a little ways away. She landed in a forest and began poking around. She knew the turtles had to be around there somewhere. She’d always gotten along well with turtles, for reasons unknown. But today, there were no turtles. Instead, an elf in black and crimson robes stood nearby. He was gaunt, with shoulder-length brown hair.
“Come here, little dragon…”
Luna cocked her head, blinking her bright blue eyes at him. He knelt and held out a palm-sized bowl with dark red liquid in it, about the consistency of syrup. After a moment she trotted over to him, flicking her tail. He moved the bowl a bit closer to her; she pulled back a bit, before sniffing it. It seemed okay… She lapped up the sweet, sticky substance. When the bowl was empty, the man smiled and stood. He turned and left.





Congratulations, Lunaya, not only are you cameoing as Tavor's beloved pet, you're also a plot hook. Be proud. =P

I kinda figured that when you said Luna got along well with turtles.

Heha! I know that look the dragon gave Tavor! I've been getting it alot lately with our new kitty and a five year old lil bro. The cats just like," thank you thank you!!!!" And I've had that fragile conversation recently also.

heheh

***

“Tavor, I think Luna’s sick…” the Princess said, looking at the dragon that lay on top the piano.
“She’s probably tired.”
“She’s been like this for a long time…”
Tavor sighed and walked over. “Hey, there, Luna,” he said, scratching the dragon’s head. She didn’t respond, and that concerned her owner. “Hrm. Well, let’s give her a day. If she’s this way tomorrow, I’ll see about taking her to a vet.”

***

The following day, Luna was still slow and lethargic. Tavor mounted his favorite white stallion, with his limp dragon in one arm. He rode down the path to the town.
Some girls squealed “Oh my gosh! So cute!”
The handsome Prince briefly wondered whether they meant him or his dragon, but nodded to the girls (he couldn’t wave with both hands busy). He dismounted and tied his horse to a post, carrying Luna into the veterinarian’s office.
“Something wrong with the royal pet, my Prince?” The vet asked. Tavor placed Luna on the table and began to explain her strangely lackluster behavior.

***

“Say, magician, how about we make a deal. I’ll sell it to you for half price!” the brown-haired elf in red and black said. He held up the crimson crystal. “It’s just what you need! Trust me, it’ll pay for itself in no time!”
The performing wizard thought for a moment, before handing the man some coins and taking the blood-red gem.
“Heh, many thanks,” the scrawny elf said, taking the coins.

***

Tavor leaned against the wall and looked out the window, waiting for the vet to bring Luna back out. A magician was performing outside, juggling fireballs and whatnot. The Prince watched with half-interest, until something strange caught his attention. The mage’s spells suddenly began to sputter out. Tavor frowned in confusion and focused his full attention on the clearly embarrassed wizard, who was no longer able to cast spells.
“That’s odd… even apprentices don’t run out of magic that fast, I thought… Huh.”
“My Prince,” said the veterinarian, “There’s nothing wrong with your dragon physically. She’s not ill.”
“That’s good.”
“Err, no… it’s worrying… you see… her magic is depleted.”
“What?!” Tavor turned and looked at the magician. Something was not right.

***

Tavor yawned and stretched. He blinked sleepily, got up, and changed into his normal clothes. He combed through his silky black hair with his fingers in a halfhearted attempt to make it look acceptable, and went down the stairs. His sister was playing a simple board game with a familiar red-haired elven woman in a blue and white dress.
“Allissya?” Tavor said, “You need to stop coming here so early.”
“On the contrary,” she replied, “I think it is you who must stop getting up so late!”
“Touché.” He hesitated. “Allissya, some strange things have been going on…”
“Not again.”
“No, not like that. Just… strange. I’d like to talk to you about them…”
“Why me?”
“Because I trust you. Leena, entertain yourself for a while, okay?”
“Aww, alright…” the girl whimpered. Tavor motioned for his red haired friend to follow him. They wandered outside.
“Allissya. Have you noticed anything strange going on with the magic around you? Luna, my dragon, recently lost all her magic. And then I saw a performing wizard whose magic fizzled out in the middle of a show.”
“Come to think of it, one of my friends is a mage in training, and she was complaining about how her spellcasting has become more difficult…”
A huge dark shadow passed over them, with a gust of wind. Tavor pushed his hair away from his face, looking up to the sky with an expression of shock. “What in the nine hells was that?!”
“There!” Allissya cried out, pointing. A massive, white, dragonlike creature was moving swiftly toward the nearby town. Tavor was on his feet immediately. He darted into the castle, up the stairs, and into his room. He changed into his armor as swifly as he could, took up his sword and an extra, and returned to his ally. He gave her the sword and grabbed his friend’s wrist and pulled her to the stables, where he mounted his stallion. Allissya hopped onto the chestnut mare next to it, and they were galloping to the village in an instant. It was already burning! A towering drakolich was terrorizing the citizens. Men were calling out for help, women were screaming, children crying! The undead dragon snapped its jaws down on a building, breaking the roof’s support beams like toothpicks.
“Oh my gods!” The Prince said, eyes wide.
“Help us, Prince!” the people screamed. Tavor stood there, helpless. He had no idea how to fight a drakolich! Would his sword harm its massive bones? No, he thought, I’ve no time to worry about tactics! The people need me! He tugged his reins and charged toward the skeletal beast. He yelled at it, trying to get its attention off the teenage boy it was about to kill.
“Hey, here, ugly! Pick on someone of your own ability! Come and get me!” he taunted, leaping from his horse. The dragon’s skull swung toward him. “Come on! Give me your best shot, brute!” He waved his arms, making as much of a fuss as he could. Cowering citizens stared at him, praying that his tactic would work, praying that he would be able to fight off this monster that was so much mightier than him.
The drakolich breathed a tongue of flame at him, which he narrowly dodged.
“Is that the best you can do?!” He backed away inconspicuously, trying to keep the undead monster’s attention on him and draw it away from the boy. It snapped its massive jaws at him, and he slammed his sword into the fragile bone in the roof of its mouth. It pulled back with a roar, sitting up on its hind legs, flapping the great wings which were the only parts of its body that still had flesh on them. It was furious! Tavor looked frantically for a weak spot. He knew there was no way to kill it but to break it into so many pieces that it could no longer function, and this was not an option. No, he had to strike only a few places. He could not kill it but he could force it to flee. Allissya backed him up.
“Unable to fight me alone, elf?” it hissed in a raspy, gravely, disembodied voice, “None shall stand to the might of Sephura and live! Foolish mortals, who dares defy me?”
“I, Prince Tavor of Gamlon, defy you, Sephura!” the knight retorted, making a slashing motion at her, not with the intention of actually harming her, but rather to just look defiant. That was his tactic; it was all a bluff to make him look like a formidable opponent, even though he was hardly better off than the peasants in such a fight.
“And I, Lady Knight Allissya, stand at his side!”
“Fools!” the great drakolich hissed, swiping at them with her claws. Tavor blocked the blow with his blade, slicing off one of her toes. Allissya came around from the side to attack the vulnerable wing, but the undead dragoness saw her coming! She snapped her bony tail around and sent the lady knight flying into a building. The fate of the town, and possibly of Gamlon, was in Tavor’s hands. He saw his crumpled companion, and lashed out at the dragoness. Sephura was forced back. Finally, the drakolich turned and took flight. She circled over the town a few times, calling down to the Prince.
“You’ve not seen the last of me! My Master will prevail!”

Dracolich!!!! Reminds me of a DnD game I played with my mom, dad, and uncle, when I was nine. They made me the stupid warrior cause I had no tact. I charged into a room and got us all killed by a dracolich we weren't supposed to find until the end of our little adventure. *sighs happily* goood tiimmess.

Dunno what you mean by no tack... you mean tact?


Anyway I'm debating on whether to reply with:
a.
SEPHURA WILL EAT YOUR SOUUUUULLLLL!!!!

or
b.
LEEEEEROOOOOYYYYY JENKIIIIIINNNSSS!

either or, but take this into consideration...I was nine And my uncle still tells me to be a warrior everytime I play with him. I have tact now! I must be a wizard!!! But no...why don't you be a drow warrior? You like Drizzt, you can be like him. /cry

Lol warriors are cool!

I can't ever decide whether I like being mages or paladins more. I like to RP mages but if I were to actually be one of them, I'd be a paladin.

But enough of this. Let's not derail the topic.

^^ Thanks, Dragon! I especially love the part about Luna getting along well with turtles.

Tavor watched as it flew away, then turned to the fallen Allissya. He knelt.
“Allissya! Are you alright?”
The girl moaned, then slowly sat up, rubbing her head. She suddenly blinked and exclaimed, “You did it! You chased it away!”
Slowly, the people were coming out and praising Tavor’s bravery, especially the LOFT members, who squealed over him. He let them all praise him for a while before leaving with Allissya.
“Friend, prepare for another adventure. Get your armor. I’m going to find Adelleh.”
“Right.”

***

Tavor waited, atop his stallion, with Adelleh at his side on her own black horse. Allissya returned, riding her mare, in a suit of armor and a blue cape, just like the other knights of Gamlon, except that her armor had been specially made for her more feminine form. She’d been properly trained as a warrior now, and more than just her impromptu instruction in the way of the sword with Tavor in the forest on their previous adventure. They spoke not a word to one another. They didn’t need to speak. They all had the same chilling thoughts. A drakolich was terrifying indeed, but this one was merely a servant. Its master was a powerful necromancer indeed, and surely he had many more minions if he was powerful enough to control Sephura. Most disturbingly, none of them had known such a thing existed so close. Clearly, if the drakolich had just revealed herself, it was the beginning of an invasion.
After a while of riding, they began to discuss tactics.
“What are we going to do, Tavor?”
“I don’t know… I was thinking we’d hunt down the drakolich and deal with her first.”
“But she’s probably the most powerful part of whatever force we’re facing!”
“Besides her master. She’s merely a pawn! Who knows what we’re up against? I tell you this much, the Army of Gamlon will get involved.”
“Then why don’t we go after the master first?”
“Think about that, Allissya. He would still have the drakolich backing him up. Do we really want to be fighting both at once? No, we have to strike at his strongest backup, weakening his reinforcements. Then we have to strike at him, to send his lower minions into a state of disarray. Then the Army can get involved.”
“Right…” Allissya nodded, then said, “Do you think the Highwayman had anything to do with this?”
“I haven’t any idea, friend. I haven’t any idea…”

huzzah! I believe that Adelleh should get props! Dragon= sky is falling

Lulz.
Srry, Adelleh doesn't get any funny lines yet. She really hasn't had the chance.

***

They stopped at every town they came across, asking the citizens if they’d seen or heard of the drakolich, and where it had gone. Following the directions of each town, they tracked their undead foe. Dusk came as they wandered through a forest, toward the Misty Gorge.
“This could be a bad idea,” Tavor muttered. Mild haze, in addition to fading light, made it harder to see. Strange sounds echoed around them.
“Adelleh no likeh.”
“Neither do I, friend…”
At last, they came to the ravine itself. A long bridge stretched across it, none too steady. Both elves gulped nervously.
“Dismount,” the Prince said, getting off his horse and leading it toward the bridge. The last sliver of sunlight vanished over the horizon, leaving the sky a thick indigo color. He walked carefully out on the precarious bridge that was no more than a series of ropes and wooden boards. Thankfully, there were no gaps in the boards, nor was there any wind to shake the terrifying path. Tavor glanced down by accident and froze in fear for a moment, before forcing himself to look up and keep going. The drop was a long one, and at the bottom was a thick fog through which the young Prince could barely see a river. He could feel his heart pounding. He glanced back over his shoulder; his friends were following him, and this gave him the slightest reassurance.
Suddenly Adelleh’s horse whinnied and started moving around, shaking the bridge. Tavor clung to the rope at the side. He gasped and held his breath, frozen by terror. Allissya turned to see what had spooked the horse, and screamed. The steeds bolted and ran to the other side of the bridge, causing it to swing violently. The elves and their undead friend clung to the ropes and tried not to fall. Tavor turned his head and gasped. Things had just gotten a whole lot scarier.
Three moaning, mindless zombies were advancing from behind them. The heroes had no choice but to fight on the swinging deathtrap that was the bridge.
“Weapons at the ready!” Tavor commanded, drawing his sword. Allissya mimicked his action, and Adelleh followed with her mace. The zombies were quickly upon them. Adelleh was the first to lunge, babbling nonsense as she beat frantically at her opponent. Allissya parried her zombie’s attacks with her sword, but it was moving too quickly for her to attempt any blows of her own. The leader of the zombies went straight for Tavor. Unlike its allies, it was armed with a sword of its own. It groaned as it swung the blade with surprising speed. Tavor took a step back, blocking the blow. He lunged a few times, forcing the zombie back the way it had come, before it took advantage of a pause when the Prince attempted a more powerful strike. It slammed its sword into his upper arm, but luckily his chain mail rendered the cutting edge of the weapon harmless, though the force of the blow was still powerful enough to cause him to hesitate. The zombie now had the upper hand. The bridge was swinging wildly. Tavor backed away quickly, unable to make any attacks while fending off the flurry of blows from the undead’s sword. It was trying to force him sideways, to where only a rope prevented him from falling to his death. He knew he must keep the ropes to his sides at all costs. The zombie saw that it was making no progress and started angling its attacks down, until Tavor fell backwards. He attempted to scoot backwards while still parrying the sword blows, until he ended up on his back. The zombie lifted its sword. Tavor suddenly rolled forward, between the bony legs, and leapt to his feet behind it. He put his hand on the rope for a moment to steady himself, before spinning around. The zombie had also turned, but now the knight had the upper hand! He beat the ghoul back until he had a chance to grab its neck. He swung it around and threw it over the cliff. A moan echoed from the canyon, getting softer rapidly. Tavor turned. His friends were still locked in combat.
He rushed forward to aid Allissya, but she didn’t need his help; she’d already sliced an arm off her foe. The zombie made feeble attempts to attack her with its remaining claw, which she dodged with able agility and impressive speed. She ducked under its second attack and cut into its stomach, all the way through. It fell into two halves. Allissya kicked them off the edge of the bridge.
Adelleh had given up on using her mace, and had put it back on her belt. She and the other zombie were crouched, going at each other with their claws. The warrior priestess caught the other zombie across the shoulder, spinning it around. She stood up to her full height as golden light swirled around her bony hands. With a gibberish battle cry, she called down a spear of radiance that impaled her foe. It disintegrated into black dust at her feet.





I may eventually have to draw that scene, Adelleh was so freakin AWESOME there! That was possibly her Crowning Moment of Epic. Tavor was pretty epic too. =D I had fun writing that.

***

“Here it is. Sephura’s cave…” Tavor muttered. Now that they were actually there, it dawned on him that he only had the vaguest idea of a strategy in mind, and no idea if it would work. He shook his head. He needed confidence. The Prince drew his sword and dismounted. He tied his horse to a tree and walked toward the cave. It was time to face the drakolich.
There she sat, fiery red eyes glaring out at them. “Fools!”
Tavor said nothing, he merely pointed his sword at her and gave a challenging glare. He was ready to fight.
Sephura lunged. “You’ll not get the better of me this time, mortal!” She roared as her skeletal jaws clamped shut inches from the Prince’s shoulder. He stabbed at her skull, but got the angle wrong. His sword slid off her snout. She turned to bite him when a blow to the shoulder blade from Allissya distracted her. She spun around, smacking Tavor with her tail in the process. He gasped for air and stood. He ran toward a wall, leapt up, and kicked off the wall, onto the drakolich’s back. He began slashing at the rotted wing membrane. Sephura screamed in rage, rearing back and trying to throw the knight to the ground. She was struck in the rib cage by a spear of light from Adelleh.
“Big skelly leave Tavvy ‘lone!”
The undead dragoness replied with a shriek and lunged forward, ignoring the Prince on her back. Tavor attempted to stand on her shoulders and stab her through the top of the head, but her neck was too long. Suddenly the skull whipped around to the side, and Tavor found himself looking Sephura in the eye sockets before a blast of fire hit him! He fell to the ground.
“Tavor!” Allissya screamed.
The Prince opened his eyes. Miraculously, he was unharmed! He looked at his undead ally. Light magic still swirled around her, revealing a deep power he’d never known she’d had! Adelleh was now angry, and making her angry was not an easy task. She now babbled furiously, flinging light magic this way and that, unleashing her full potential. The drakolich realized her opponents were more powerful than she had expected. Combined, the three of them were nearly a match for her. But not quite. She reared up, then lunged forward, breathing black fire at the priestess, consuming her. Adelleh gurgled something nonsensical and fell to the ground, stunned.
Tavor darted forward and tried to slam his sword up through Sephura’s mouth and into her skull. Attack the skull: that was all he knew to do. It was either that or slice the body up so badly the enchantment could no longer hold it together, and his sword wouldn’t do that. Sephura was too fast; she headbutted the elf, slamming him against a wall. He slumped to the ground as Adelleh had, in a daze. Allissya was the only one left standing, and now at a severe disadvantage. She had a sudden idea. She grabbed the drakolich’s hind leg and hung on while the beast spun around wildly in a futile attempt to get at her. The lady elf held on with one hand while using her sword in the other to attempt to saw the limb off. It was hard, with Sephura stamping and stomping, spinning and generally moving around violently. Finally the dragoness kicked the girl off and she, too, crashed to the ground. She rubbed her head, then opened her eyes. The drakolich was coming straight at her!
A sword flew through the air and narrowly missed Sephura’s head!
“Leave Allissya alone; I’m the one you want!” Tavor yelled. He was on his feet again, but now disarmed! Still, he looked heroic and defiant standing there. The drakolich turned and stalked toward him, her bones rattling against one another, her disembodied voice snarling. If she’d still had salivary glands, she would have been foaming at the mouth. Tavor suddenly realized that though he’d just saved his friend, he had no way of saving himself. He pressed himself up against a wall, grinning fearfully. He laughed nervously.
“Uh, w-wait, Sephura! Uh… Don’t dragons like riddles and logic games? Uh…”
Sephura stopped and turned her head slightly sideways, as if to get a better look at the elf. “Riddles? What are you getting at, mortal?”
“Uh… a deal!” Tavor said, then suddenly speaking fluently again, though nervously, “Yes, a deal! You tell me your best riddle! Your very hardest one! If I guess correctly, you let us go. If I guess wrong, you can… you can do to me what you please, and let only my companions go.” He gulped and grinned nervously, hoping against all hope the drakolich would accept his offer. There was a terrifying silence as Sephura pondered. It had been ages since a desperate would-be-dragonslayer had asked her to tell a riddle. She enjoyed watching mortals try to solve her riddles, some of which were not all that hard but quite imposing under pressure, and then killing them when they were wrong. None had asked her for a riddle since before her death. Finally, she pulled what was left of the flesh around the back of her mouth into a smirk.
“Very well then, Prince Tavor of Gamlon. Let’s play a game then, shall we? I will tell you a riddle, the answer to which is a color. I will bring you six of my potions. If you come to the correct conclusion to the riddle, and drink the correct potion, it will aid you on your quest, whatever that quest may be,” the drakolich said, sitting down, “and the others… will kill you!”
The Prince gulped nervously. “I agree under one condition.”
“And that is?”
“Regardless of my decision or fate, my friends will be let free. I’m willing to sacrifice myself for them, and I will if I have to.”
The drakolich hesitated. Finally, she spat, “Bah! Fine! Only because nobody has played a riddle game with me for centuries!”
“Let’s have your riddle then, Sephura.”
Sephura turned, but kept one eye on them as she retrieved six flasks, each a different color, then laid them out in front of him. “Six monster slayers lived in six houses (one red, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue, one purple) and slew six different beasts. The slayers were an Elf, a Human, a Centaur, a Dwarf, an Undead, and a Minotaur. None lived in the same color house or slew the same monster. The monsters that were killed were a harpy, a chimera, a dragon, a werewolf, a basilisk, and a cyclops.
Only the Elf and the Centaur use bows.
None of the slayers killed a monster whose name begins with the same letter as their own race.
The dwarf hates the color blue.
The harpy was killed by an arrow.
The elf did not kill the werewolf or the basilisk
The cyclops was slain by the man who lived in the purple house.
There are hoofprints leading to the dead dragon.
The elf prefers warm colors.
The basilisk's gaze will kill any living creature that looks directly into its eyes. No mirrors were used.
The creature the centaur killed had the same number of letters in its name as his race, minus one.
The human lives in a red house.
The man who slew the basilisk lives in the orange house.
The dragonslayer does not live in a green house.
The dwarf did not kill anything whose name starts with a C.
The human slew something that went upon four legs.
What is the color of the house of the man who killed the dragon? That is the color of the potion you must take. Do not speak, only choose.”
For a long time, there was silence. The undead dragoness was positively giddy at Tavor’s obvious distress. He was sweating and glancing around nervously. It was all very amusing to her. Finally, he regained his composure, gulped, and selected the blue flask. Allissya held her breath as Tavor uncorked the bottle. He glanced at her, then looked straight ahead. He gulped, then drank the contents of the flask. Immediately he fell to his knees, clutching his throat and choking violently as the liquid fire raged down his throat.

Yellow, I'm guessing. But I never was really good at these kinds of riddles.

I'm not even gonna guess. But it seems our friend Dragon here has quite a way with riddles just as her user name may imply. Remind me not to partake in a riddle game with you unless I have a ring in my pocket. (kudos if you get the reference)

Heh. ^^

Well I'm great with riddles in a way and horrible with them in a way.

I'm good at coming up with REALLY clever ones, but bad at doing so quickly. I need a lot of time to write them.

“Tavor?!” Allissya rushed to her friend’s side. He was choking violently, eyes unfocused.
The Prince was not aware of anything around him, or that he was choking. He was falling, falling into an endless black, and then there was a burst of light. He was not himself, he was a disembodied spirit. He saw a great tower, crumbling, ancient. An elf in black and crimson robes waved a hand over a dead body. Black fog surrounded the corpse, and it rose up, newly zombified. The elf was a necromancer, and judging by his features – harsher than the elves of Gamlon – he was of the Vulii. His vision suddenly changed with another flash of light. A dark-haired knight in spiked black armor was bowing his head before this Vulii necromancer. There was an aura of evil about them both. Another flash of light; an elf, – maybe two? The number was hard to discern in the darkness – locked in a dungeon.
Then Tavor snapped back to reality. Allissya was shaking him. He gasped for air, in a cold sweat. He panted.
“What a pity,” Sephura muttered, “you chose wisely. You are clever, very clever, Prince Tavor of Gamlon. I suppose I have to let you go now. What a pity. I would have enjoyed watching my poisons take effect. But a deal is a deal. Sadly.”
The elves turned to each other and smiled in disbelief and relief. The friends embraced for a moment and then stood.
“Tavvy dead?” Adelleh asked, clearly completely lost.
“Nope,” the Prince replied.
“Get gone, all of you,” the drakolich hissed, “before I change my mind and go back on my word!”
The three heroes fled quickly. After they were done celebrating that they were still alive, Allissya turned to Tavor. “Well done, Sir Valiant Idiot.”
“Alright,” the Prince said, “I made a huge mistake back there. I underestimated my foe and it nearly cost me my life – and more importantly it nearly cost you your life. I… I’m sorry…” He hung his head in shame.
“It’s alright, Tavor, I forgive you! I’m just glad we’re all alive!”
They all mounted up and wandered some ways away to set up camp. It was already dark. Adelleh made a fire while the elves discussed the events in the cave.
“You were completely unresponsive while you were choking.”
“I was choking?”
There was dead silence, before Allissya finally spoke. “You were…. Unconscious… yet not…”
“I guess so. I was having a… a… vision…”
“A vision?”
“Yeah… It was really strange. A crumbling tower, a Vulii necromancer, and a... black-haired knight in black armor. Bowing to him. Whoever this black knight is, I think we’ll be facing off against him at some point…”





By the way, this story will seem much shorter, regardless of whether it is.
Mostly because the posts are much longer.
*coughPOST16cough*

Oh darn...I guess I did guess wrong...huzzah! I would be dead if it was me. Heh. I shouldn't mess with riddles. I may be smart but it is in a blatantly obvious way (kinda like Richard) and I tend not to look were I leap. And I find it odd that a necromancer wears red, but he may be an adament follower of the Evil Overlord's List and follows the rule ," I will wear bright and cheerful colors to throw my enemies off guard"

I like the way this is going. And please more riddles so I will remain humble.

Next time she gives us a riddle like that, I'm opening Notepad and working it out instead of just trying to do it in my head.

I have been gone for far too long. You finished one story and started the next, geez. Anyway, nice story thus far Dragon, I really like the set up and flow of it.

X3 Hehehe.
I was wondering where Jowy had gone. I missed you!

Thank you.

Do you like my little dolly?! *huggles it* ^^


And I keep going through phases about the collab. Some days I'm like "I cant wait till the collab!" and others I'm like "Errrr I dun think I really wanna do this..."

Well with the Collab I vote you take the lead with the set up of it and making the bases for it with mine and Sal's input of course.

I sorta figured that would be my role and I have an idea for a plotline, oh yes.

Hey no way she taking complete lead. I already have how it starts. Much comedy but I can't say here....to many watching.
*glances over shoulder*

Then lay it on us via pm then Sal ^.^

But I can't...to many spoilers from my story...shatrath...grrrr

/facepalm, oh yeah, forgot your story wan't done yet, sorry. Get to work on it and get it done.

Hey, hey, didn't you guys already have me come up with the plot? back when we came up with the idea...
*mails you*


Edit: *works on Taken*

Edit 2: Uh... I seem to have... uh... misplaced my muse.... X.x *sigh* I have a point A and a point B and I don't wanna jump straight from A to B and I need to flesh out the middle and I have writer's block. 'Scuse me while I go seek my inspiration.

Edit 3: Finally got over the block. This song suits Tavor right about now.

Please click the above music link. It strengthens this entry greatly.
~~~~



“Did you see anything else?”
“An elf, maybe more than one, locked in a dungeon. Couldn’t see clearly and then you pulled me out of the trance before I could make sense of it…”

***

“Well, Tavor? What should we do?” Allissya asked the following morning. Tavor simply stared blankly.
“I… I don’t know!”
“You… don’t know…?” The girl was shocked that Tavor, of all people, was clueless. Whenever she needed someone who knew what he was doing, she turned to her Prince. And now, even he didn’t know what to do.
“All I can think of is to go after that necromancer in my vision… but that’s out of the question,” Tavor said, looking troubled. He put his face in his hands and sighed. “After what happened at Sephura’s cave… I’m not sure… With the failure back there, I doubt we’ll have any success against her master. If that even is her master! I… I just don’t know!”
His friends were silent. They had never seen Tavor crack under the pressure of leadership.
“T-Tavor…?” the female elf said, slowly.
“Just… Just leave me be! I need some time to think!” the Prince snapped, standing, with his head angled down. He walked away without once looking either of his friends in the eye. He trudged through the forest, not lifting his head. Finally, when he felt he was far enough away, he collapsed against a tree, folded his arms on his knees, and put his head down on his arms.
“What use am I? I’m only a hazard to my friends. What kind of Prince am I?” He muttered, “And now when they need me, I let them down… What use am I?”
He felt a hand on his shoulder. The despairing Prince lifted his head; a concerned, narrow, lightly freckled face was peering back at him, framed by red hair and accented by teal eyes.
“Tavor, what’s wrong? This isn’t like you at all! It isn’t like you to be emotional and easy to break! You’re usually so strong, such a leader… This isn’t like you!”
The disheartened elf did not reply for a moment. Finally he sat up into his usual, confident posture, and said, “You’re right… This isn’t like me at all… I… don’t know what got into me… This has just put so much stress on me…”
Allissya nodded understandingly. “I can understand that. You must be under a lot of stress all the time, being the heir to the throne… It must be stressful. Everyone expects so much from you, as their Prince. And then when you can’t live up to their expectations, it can be painful…”
“Yeah…” Tavor sighed.
“You don’t need to worry about that with Adelleh and me. We like you for who you are. We will always like you for who you are. We won’t think any less of you if you mess up a bit here and there. After all, you’re only an elf…”
Tavor nodded slowly. “Thanks...” After a moment he said, “Sometimes… it all kinda… gets to me… ‘See if you can talk to the Prince. He’ll know what to do’ at every political dilemma. All the people staring up at me expectantly on the battlefield or in the face of danger… ‘Help us, Prince’ after every disaster or attack. And sometimes I think… ‘What if I can’t?’”
“One or two mistakes or shortcomings here and there don’t make you a bad leader, Tavor.”
“But the thing about being the Prince is… When I screw up… I do it on a grand scale… It… It can take quite a toll on me, sometimes…” he said, his voice breaking for a split second. He blinked rapidly for a moment. Allissya knew that look. He’d emotionally weakened for a fraction of a second, and he was blinking back tears. “And I can’t talk about it either… I need to appear strong to my people… That’s part of why I write, to vent my feelings, because I can’t talk about them.”
“You can talk to me.”
“… Thanks… You are a gift from the gods, Allissya. I’m glad I have a friend like you!” he said, his voice once again breaking. This time he didn’t bother to blink back the tears and they welled up in his eyes. This time, they were tears of joy and thankfulness.
“You’re never alone, Tavor.”
He smiled at her and nodded. She hugged her best friend for a moment, and then stood. “I’m going back to camp, now. You can stay here if you like, or you can come back with me.”
Tavor nodded and stood, having pulled himself together again.

Poor Tavy. Awesome entry, not much I cAn say. You hit that feeling like hammer

Poor Tavy. Awesome entry, not much I cAn say. You hit that feeling like hammer

*sighofrelief* PHEW!
I was worried about that entry. I hoped I was able to pull it off without making Tavor seem... weak.
I did a good job then? =D

***

“Well… I think we should start heading toward the necromancer’s tower.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“Vaguely,” Tavor said, drawing a simple map in the dirt. He circled a tower he’d drawn. “I got a general sense of location while under the effects of the potion. Right here, is the tower. There’s Sephura’s lair, and here we are, at the X. It’s a few days journey, even mounted. Though I didn’t notice at the time, I did see many undead around the tower,” he said, placing several lines representing blocks of undead defenders around the turret, “except here.” The Prince pointed to a gap. “We need to travel along here, then veer off over here,” the elf continued, drawing a line in the dirt from the X toward the tower, changing directions with his words, “and go around here. We can strike from over here, where there is little to no defense, but of course, we’d have to scout the area first. The key to this mission is stealth. An all out raid would be sure to fail. We need to get in with as little fuss as possible, take care of the leader – by himself, he shouldn’t be much of a problem, especially if we catch him off guard – and get out again, without drawing attention. Without their leader, the undead armies will be severely weakened.”
Allissya nodded. “See, didn’t I tell you, you had it in you!”
Tavor smiled and nodded.
“Tavvy back to the normals!” Adelleh said gleefully.
“Heh, yeah.”
“Tavvy wants cookie?” the undead said, pulling a cookie out of seemingly nowhere.
“How long have you had that?!” The Prince exclaimed. The two elves looked at one another and started laughing hysterically.



Short entry, but funny. X3

That was great. Now what would have been really super funny was if Adelleh was a elf cuz everyone knows they make cookies in trees.... or so the box with moving pictures tells me

The sad thing is I had to read that three times before I got it.
Doh! *facepalm*

That's because I'm awesome like that. And enjoy referencing anything in sight.

***

The three heroes rode along a path for quite some time.
“Something’s wrong,” Tavor said, glancing around nervously. Almost as soon as he spoke, a bolt of dark magic flew past his head. The Prince swore as he tried to turn his horse back but it was too late. A wall of black fire flew up before him. His stallion reared up and whinnied, throwing its rider to the ground. Tavor was on his feet in an instant. Allissya and Adelleh joined him on the ground. The lich in gold and black robes raised its hand calmly; Allissya flew backwards and skidded along the ground. Tavor came around from the side and put his sword through the lich, but it merely turned to smoke and blew away. Tavor looked from side to side, then spun around. The lich had materialized behind him. He gasped. The lich groaned and the Prince was suddenly shackled with incorporeal purple chains. He felt his energy being drained, and then a blast of golden light erupted from the lock on his restraints. The chains fell away. Tavor’s sword was up in front of him instantly. He looked the lich in the eye socket challengingly. Allissya’s speech had given him confidence; he would not, could not lose! Golden fire engulfed his blade. He turned to Adelleh. She had light swirling around her again. The Prince spun around again. Allissya stood at his side, her sword also glowing. Tavor stabbed at the lich, this time inflicting a wound. A spear of light impaled the undead dark-mage, but the monster simply healed its wounds.
“My gods, it can regenerate!” the dark-haired elf cried out. He was stunned for a moment, and the lich took advantage of this. A blast of dark energy threw the knight against a tree. Black fire erupted around the undead, knocking Allissya to the ground as well. Tavor tried to stand, but his leg was injured, possibly broken. He could not get up!
“Adelleh! Give him your best shot!”
Allissya ran over to Tavor as her undead ally distracted their foe. She dragged him to the other side of the tree in a desperate attempt to get him out of harm’s way. The Prince leaned out and peered around the tree, as did his friend. Adelleh was throwing spears of light, using light shields to block the darkness bolts. It was awesome to watch, the shadow and the radiance clashing there as the two undead spellcasters flung their magic around. Adelleh took a shadowbolt to the arm. Babbling furiously, she responded in kind with a double-spear attack! The flaming spears of golden luminance pinned the lich to a tree. It was unable to teleport out with light magic holding it in place. Adelleh’s claws were glowing now, light swirled around them. She ran forward and, one talon at a time, swiped her dark counterpart across the chest. Her light-enforced, razor-sharp claws sliced right through the lich’s dark form, cutting it into pieces. With a nonsensical cry, the priestess raised her hands into the air; a massive lance of light formed in her hands. She thrust it right through the dark-mage’s skull. The lich let out a dying scream and Adelleh turned to her friends, victorious.
“My gods, Adelleh! You were awesome!” Tavor exclaimed, forgetting all about the pain in his leg.
“Adelleh is be priestess. Is for to blow up bad zombie,” the undead stated, as though it should be obvious. She grinned crazily, her green goggles glinting, her greenish hair hanging in front of her face.
There was much laughter.
“Uh… could you heal my leg please?”




*poof to eat dinner* There had better be comments wehn I get back! Adelleh was EPIC!

holy shatrath!!!!!! Okay now I really want to now more about our cookie eating friend.

Dragon is going to be a prophetess here:
She foresees characterization in the future.

But she will say this much before even writing it into the story:
Adelleh is much, much, much more powerful than you (or the characters!) think she is.

*blink*

... Are you posting in the right topic?

lmao... that's rich

I'll just shovel that post over to the correct topic...

And yes. Epic.

Ah it is nice to have a moderator around...except of course when they are busting me....thanks Devin.

***

The three of them continued riding along the path. The sun was starting to fall low in the sky, lighting the forest up with tones of gold.
“Adelleh,” Tavor said to his undead friend, who had a cookie in her mouth, “I had no idea you were so powerful!”
“Afewwa awfuf fur veen fawufoof,” she said around the cookie.
“What did she say?” Allissya asked.
“Uh, she lost me at ‘awfuf’.”
Adelleh took the cookie out of her mouth. “Adelleh always for been powerful.”
The red-haired elf turned to her royal companion. “I thought you knew all about Adelleh?”
“Well… we never really discussed her past. I never thought of it, to tell the truth,” Tavor said, “Adelleh, who were you? How did you die? More importantly, why are you undead now? After what you did back there, I suddenly want to know.”
“Adelleh was priestess. Old Gamlon. Long time go. Fight bad mage. Fire. Wake up.”
“Oh!” Tavor exclaimed, looking at her as though in a totally new light, “You’re much older than I thought! You were alive during the burning of Gamlon? That was…. Generations ago!”
“Whoa… She was around way back then? My great grandparents weren’t even born yet!”
“And she died in the fire that destroyed Old Gamlon… When the Vulii warlocks attacked… Back when they had just begun to act hostilely toward Gamlon… That’s… a bit chilling… I had no idea Adelleh was so ancient…”
“And she was cursed by the warlocks?”
“That’s what I got from what she said… Cursed, and then burned… And that probably damaged her brain, which explains quite a bit.”
“Well… I for one, have a newfound respect for our undead friend here.”
“As do I… Tell me, Adelleh. What was Old Gamlon like?”
“Prettyful. Lotta fountains. Prettyful fountains.”
Tavor laughed and shook his head, knowing better than to try to pry more information from her.

***

They camped for the night. They were near the edge of the forest. The air was faintly salty. Tavor and Allissya had their usual argument about who would take the night shift. Tavor, of course, wanted to do the noble thing and watch over his friends, but Allissya took her usual logical approach and argued that while Adelleh didn’t need sleep, the young Prince did. After almost half an hour of debate, the redhead gave in. Tavor took the night shift. He kept himself awake by pulling a piece of parchment out of his horse’s saddlebag, along with a quill and some ink, and he began writing a song.
When the sun is gone,
When it seems there will be no dawn,
Look into the sky where the dark begins its rule.
Life, forever cruel,
Needs our tears, its power to fuel.
Hides its truth inside, look above into the stars.
Let your heart fly free with the truth of the stars above!
Let your soul fly free with the truth.
For as long as the stars shine above in the sky,
Dawn will again come soon.
He sang his newly-written song softly under his breath. Allissya stirred quietly, then spoke, startling him.
“Your singing voice is wonderful, but your poetry sucks. And you lost the rhyme scheme about halfway through.”
Tavor blinked a few times. “I thought you were asleep…”
“Nope.”
“And yes, my poetry is horrible. There’s a reason I stick to prose. When I’m making a speech I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about. And I do, most of the time.”
Both elves had a good laugh.




There you go. In one post, I've provided characterization for both Tavor and Adelleh, and added depth to the history of Gamlon! HA!
I've always wanted someone to tell Tavor his poetry sucks. Dunno why. It's just a scene I've wanted to put in since like... the start of Tunnels.

Heh...why do we have such similar ideas..

Allissya: You lost the rhyme scheme about halfway through.

Richard to evil shadow person: Oh and you stopped rhyming towards the end there.

coincidence...I think not!

Fun fact of the day:
The kid Tavor rescues toward teh start of the story was originally going to be an additional protagonist.
Tavor's kid sidekick if you will.
(Remember the kid that hung out with Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom? Yeah. That kind of idea.)
The idea was scrapped.

Hm. Maybe he'll make an appearance in future stories about Tavor.



*gets to writing*

Awesome story so far, Dragon. I shall sit and eagerly await more.