The dark side of magic

[Lady Jenn]

"If they unlocked your powers then if they could tempt you to follow them it would make you too great a threat," Barkeley replied. "Our grandparents made the right decision, even if it took us this long to find each other."

"The Seer and Meren know this tower's library better than anyone," Tea said, "and Imrik needs scouts he can be sure can get in and out of the enemy camps unseen. No offence to you two but you aren't trained in the kind of stealth he requires."

"You're right Tea," Muroe said. "But I agree with Aurora, I feel helpless sat here doing nothing. Although considering we could easily have been there when that attack occurred we should probably be glad we're alive and well."

[albatross]

"I am glad we're alive and well. And thankful for it too," she said and stood and walked towards the window and looked out to see if she could see anything going on.

"I don't care if it's just helping someone or being a lookout. I just want to help, period," she sighed and leaned against the window as she looked over the land.

Aurora wrapped her arms around herself as she looked out over the plains and pursed her lips as she got lost in her thoughts.

[Lady Jenn]

Kara and Stormrider returned, four older men in tow. Stormrider had one last quiet conversation before the other men left.

"We have a plan," Stormrider said. "But we need to hear what the others have found before we make it a definite plan. How are our two injured friends?" he asked Tea.

"They will live," Tea replied. "She owes her life to her brother, his magic protected her from the worst of the blast." Stormrider had put the armour they had returned to him on. He looked even more formidable with the armour on, leaning on a sword which looked like it had been forged for him even though it had been created long before his birth. "How do I look?"

[albatross]

"Like someone you don't wanna mess with," Aurora said, having been pulled from her thoughts by the return of Kara and Stormrider.

She'd watched silently as he spoke with the four older men then stepped away from the window and looked at him.

"What kinda plan is it? Is it going to include us being locked up here again or will we be able to help?" She asked, her eyes locked on his.

[Lady Jenn]

"We will need all the help if Meren or Imrik find the information we fear they have," Stormrider replied. "Some of the elders have seen something like this before."

"We should wait till we're 100% sure what we're fighting before we start running out there to fight things," Kara said. "The biggest mistake we could make is charge in there if we don't know hat we're dealing with fully."

"There are other creatures aside from dragons and ogres who inhabit this mountain range," Stormrider said. "Would you like to see some while we wait for the Prince to return?"

[albatross]

Aurora looked at Kara. "I didn't mean just charge in all suicidal like," she said quietly, shaking her head. "I just meant I'd like to do something other than stay here and do nothing. Feel more than useless."

When Stormrider spoke again she nodded her head, curiosity getting the better of her. "Oh, I would love to see other creatures who live here," she said with a nod.

[Lady Jenn]

"Kara," Stormrider said, "You are best off taking them. If anything does happen I need to be here to deal with it." Kara nodded, leading Muroe, Barkeley and Aurora towards the gate.

"Sarath," she said to one of the ogres stood by the gate. "We need a guard for a trip to the foothills, I'd rather not have to take my dragon form unless its absolutely necessary." The ogre nodded, following them down the path as the gates closed behind them.

The further they got away from the wall the wilder their surroundings seemed to become. Kara stopped them suddenly, a few feet from them was a big cat like a tiger, but with brown and blue stripes and even fiercer looking teeth. Sat on the rock above it was an eagle who was watching them closely.

"A lot of the animals here are simply animals you are used to but changed by the magic that surrounds the mountain," Kara said, glad to see the animals making no move to attack.

[albatross]

Aurora walked passed the gates with the group and looked around, kind of just happy to be out of the room and under the sunlight again.

She slid her hands into her pockets and tilted her head up so the sun could shine on her face then bumped into Muroe when they stopped suddenly. "Sorry," she said quietly and peeked over his shoulder and stared at the tiger. "He's blue," she mumbled and raised a brow at his teeth. "And those teeth are just... unfriendly," she mumbled.

"Are they just scary looking or are they scary?" She asked quietly and glanced at the woman then looked to the tiger again.

[Lady Jenn]

"Sarath is probably putting off their attacks," Kara said. "There are ogres down here too, they aren't stupid enough to pick a fight against something like him."

There was a movement from just behind the creatures, at first it seemed something was moving in front of the trees, but it suddenly became clear it was one of the trees moving.

"Lower your weapon," Kara said to Sarath. "If that Dryad considers you a threat it will attack and its probably the one thing down here that could trouble even you." Sarath did as she said and the Dryad moved closer. It appeared to be a strange mix of a humanoid creature and a tree. "They are forest sprites," Kara said to the others. "It is said that wherever there is a forest you will find their kind there."

[albatross]

Aurora nodded her head slowly and continued to stare. "I wanna pet it. Can I pet it?" She asked and looked towards the eagle then back to the tiger.

Her eyes moved from the tiger to the movement behind the creatures and her eyes widened when she realized it was a tree. "Oh. Wow," she breathed out.

She took in a deep breath and listened to what Kara said and stood still as the Dryad came closer. "That is so amazing," she mumbled.

[Lady Jenn]

"There is something in the forest," the Dryad said to Kara, seemingly ignoring the others. "Something that shouldn't be here."

"What is it?" Kara asked, grasping her sword as a grim look crossed her face.

"It is not a threat," the Dryad replied. "You should follow me, I will show you."

"Stay here Sarath," Kara said. "You'll never be able to traverse this forest. We'll be safe I promise you." She led the others after the dryad, who found passage through the trees far easier than they did. They finally reached a clearing, at who's centre lay a strange horse-like creature but with wings sprouting from its back. It was evidently hurt, shown by a gash on its leg. "A juvenile unicorn..." Kara said with surprise evident in her voice, walking over to it slowly so as not to panic it. "How on earth did it get here? Their homeland is far to the south of here."

[albatross]

Aurora couldn't help but swear under her breath when she saw the unicorn and froze in her tracks. "A unicorn. They're real," she breathed out and took a few steps closer.

She eyed the horse, not meeting it's eyes since that was shown as a threat to some animals and walked closer to it, holding her hand out so it would catch her scent and know there was no threat from her.

"Hey there, I'm not going to hurt you," she said quietly and let her fingers brush against the horses nose when she was close enough then smiled at it. "What happened to it?" She asked and looked down at the horses leg, frowning at the gash.

[Lady Jenn]

"I do not know," the Dryad replied. "It arrived here three days ago, we knew it was here but we assumed it was resting. It was only when it allowed me to approach it that I realised it was injured."

"Don't worry," Kara said, smiling to the unicorn. "I won't harm you, I want to help." She turned to the Dryad. "Go back to Sarath, tell him he needs to bring Tea here urgently. I'm not sure I can heal this kind of wound." The Dryad vanished back into the woods.

"Do you know what did this?" Muroe asked, holding back slightly.

"Not for certain," Kara replied as she ran a hand over the wound. "It was caused by a magical creature of some sort though, I can still feel the magical remnants of the attack on its wound. At the very least I can calm the creature." She stared into the unicorn's eyes, saying something under breath which, although the others couldn't understand, was evidently effective.

All around small sets of eyes could be seen visible between blades of grass, although they were too well hidden to reveal who was observing them.

[albatross]

Aurora wished there was something she could do for the unicorn but as it was, she'd only tried her hand at magic and it wasn't even real per say. And it had been aggressive, not healing. She didn't even know if she was capable of healing anyone or anything.

When she noticed the eyes she perked up and patted Kara's shoulder as she stared forward into the grass. "There's eyes in the grass," she whispered and glanced at Kara. "What are they?"

She didn't know if they were a threat or not but there was a lot of them and she really hoped they were nice and on their side or else they'd be severely outnumbered.

[Lady Jenn]

"Kara," Muroe said as he saw the number of eyes around them increase. "I don't want to worry you but we appear to be surrounded."

"Show yourselves," Kara barked out without looking up. "Or I'll send a Dragon Ogre in after you." A small cat-like creature emerged from the grass, stopping a few paces from Kara and crouching down again. "They're harmless," she said with a smile, stroking the small creature. "They're called Panyar, they're normally harmless but if they think you're a threat to their young then you're well advised to get as far away from them as possible.

"They kind of remind me of a cat my sister had," Barkeley said, kneeling down and scratching the Panyar behind the ear. "I spose we should be glad only one of them wanted to say hello," he said with a laugh.

[albatross]

"Panyar," Aurora repeated slowly and looked at the small cat-like creature and tilted her head at it. "I don't like cats that much. I'm allergic to them," she commented to no-one in particular and watched Barkeley scratch the cat's ear and looked at the unicorn again and reached up to caress her neck gently.

"Where to unicorns usually live?" Aurora asked to Kara and looked at the horse's face as she continued to stroke the animal's powerful neck, scratching her gently through the short hairs and focused her eyes back on Kara.

[Lady Jenn]

"There's a small island chain off the coast of Africa which for some reason has never appeared on human maps," Kara replied. "That's where they're usually found, although they occasionally appear on the mainland too. Its rare for one to fly this far north though."

"Its a long time since I last treated a unicorn," Tea said as she landed in the clearing, the Dryad close behind her. "This is still a child," she said as she began to treat the wound. "I could believe an adult unicorn may come this far north but what is a baby unicorn doing here?"

"She may have been seperated from her parents when they were attacked," Kara said, keeping the unicorn calm as Tea worked. "If her leg was hurt she wouldn't be able to take off again, they need their legs to give themselves an initial launch into the air so if one is too painful to stand on they don't stand a chance."

[albatross]

"You think she felt the magic surrounding this place and came here thinking her parents may have come this way?" She asked and continued to pet the unicorn.

"Can they understand us? Or, can she understand us?" She asked, glancing towards the unicorn's face before looking back down at Tea.

Aurora left the animal's side and moved to stand next to Tea to watch how she healed the gash in her leg. "Or maybe she was coming here to warn us of something, maybe her parents were killed or something happened on the island."

[Lady Jenn]

"Dryad," Kara said, turning to the woodland figure. "There are Dryads on the island chain correct?" The Dryad nodded in response. "Contact them, find out what's happened and see if any young unicorns have gone missing." The Dryad nodded, vanishing into the treeline.

"I'm not sure I can do much else," Tea said, tying a bandage round the unicorn's leg covered in some of the herbs she had had in her pouch. "I've never seen a wound like that before, she must have flown a good distance before coming down if the Dryad didn't recognise the injuries."

"Her parents are safe," the Dryad said, catching them off guard by seeming to appear out of nowhere. "They returned to the island expecting her to return. Unicorn's have what...I suppose a human would call it a homing beacon, a way of finding the island again no matter how far away they've flown."

[albatross]

Aurora jumped when the Dryad came out of nowhere and looked back to the unicorn. "If she was close by when the town was attacked maybe she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Aurora asked.

"Maybe it wasn't even meant to hit her," she suggested. "You said the elementals were stronger than they should be, that could have something to do with that fact right?" she asked and looked down at Tea.

"If something is making them stronger, their magic could be different then what you're used to seeing."

[Lady Jenn]

"Its possible," Kara replied. "Elemental magic and Elementals aren't neccessarily easy to tell apart unless you really know the differences."

"We should let her go," Tea said. "As nice as seeing a unicorn is she's a long way from home." She stood back slightly as the unicorn slowly got to its feet. "Besides they must be starting to wonder where we are."

"You're right," Muroe said with a sigh. "Plus they must've found something by now, feels like we've been gone for hours."

[albatross]

Aurora stepped back as Tea did and watched the unicorn get to her feet and smiled as she saw her wings and body. "She's so beautiful," she whispered.

"Oh, yeah, we should be getting back," Aurora agreed, having forgot about why they'd left to only have a look around.

They'd been side-tracked because of the unicorn and lost track of time. "Are we ready to go back?"

[Lady Jenn]

"I think so," Kara said, making sure they hadn't dropped anything. "Thank you Dryad," she said to the sprite. "The unicorn probably owes you her life."

"I was merely doing my duty, the creature replied. "I will show you back to where the ogre is waiting." He led them back to the edge of the forest, where Sarath was stood waiting for them, but the animals that had been by the rock were long gone.

"Thank you for all..." Muroe started to say to the Dryad, only to realise it had vanished into the forest around them again. At that moment a huge winged shadow passed over their heads moving in the direction of the city. "What was that?" Muroe asked.

"There were rumoured to be other dragon cities besides Dragonblight," Kara replied. "By the looks of it one of them has sent Stormrider an envoy. We'd better get back and find out what's happening."

[albatross]

Aurora looked up when she saw the shadow and watched the receding envoy and nodded her head slowly as Kara spoke and began to head back to where they had been before.

"So this stuff, it's a lot bigger than what we thought," she said and looked at Kara as she walked along the grass and glanced around.

She wrapped her arms around herself and looked towards Barkeley. "I think you found that armour just in time."

[Lady Jenn]

They re-entered the city, dodging between the suddenly excited dragons and heading for the tower. Tea noticed fae scattered among them, but dressed more like soldiers than she was.

"I think you might get to meet Elena sooner than I thought," she said to the others under her breath. "Very few of those fae look like the kind of scouts Imrik would have, they look more like bodyguards."

When they finally reached the throne room again there was a noticeable air of excitement. Imrik, Meren and the Seer were looking at a map laid out on the table, Imrik ponting at something on it, while Stormrider was deep in conversation with a man only slightly shorter than him but dressed in similar armour, who had a small, regally dressed, but fierce looking fairy perched on his shoulder.

"Welcome back," Stormrider said with a smile. "Meet Marash, ruler of the long lost dragon city of Hanash." The other man bowed slightly, giving them a flash of his red eyes. "And his friend is none other than the Queen of all fairies, Queen Elena."