Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Skye Chronicles ❯ The Dark Elves Return ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter 8: The Dark Elves Return

“Everybody, come quickly,” Adam yelled.
“It’s no use, it’s too late,” Ben said. And it was too late indeed, they saw rocks near the middle of the mountain begin to slide down, and about ten or twenty figures sliding down the mountain. They were standing on their feet, an odd maneuver, as Jake, Eric, Aaron, and Sara ran over quickly. Everyone else gathered behind them, and Ben pulled out his sword, but no one else did. When the Dark Elves got to the bottom, they looked toward ben. The leader cast a spell, and then walked forward. Lyane, Betsy, and Anna looked at Ben angrily.
“Sorry, a spell is not their way of doing things, usually,” Ben said.
“Ben,” the leader said. “How’s life traitor?” she asked.
“What are you talking about Selica? You guys deserted me,” Ben said, walking forward. Selica drew a trident, and walked toward Ben. When they were just feet away from each other, she tried to stab him in the heart. He moved to the side, and hit the trident down with his sword.
“You went up, and never came down,” Selica told him, pulling her trident back.
“I came back down, and you were all gone,” he told them
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time,” Selica said. She swung her trident, and Ben ducked under it. She pulled on the edge, extending the trident about half of a foot.
“What did that do?” Adam whispered to Lyane.
“If you were to put your finger between the blades, you’ll get shocked so badly, you’ll be just about dust,” Lyane said.
“Oh, thanks,” Adam said.
“Betsy, a little help,” Ben said, looking over at her.
“Oh, okay,” she said, and then she started whispering quietly. Ben ducked down, then rolled around her, and came up with a backslash. She blocked it, and tried to stab him. He blocked her, and then he turned around to see that she was already attacking again. He leapt into the air, and then landed on the shaft of the trident. She couldn’t hold on to it anymore, and let it go. It fell to the ground, and the blades dug into the ground. The handle swung up, and Ben grabbed onto it with his left hand. The Dark Elves all drew their weapons, most of them had swords though.
“Attack,” Selica said. “I hate to do this to a fellow Dark Elf... so I’ll have no problem doing it do you, after all, you’re the reason that my sister is not here,” Selica said. The Dark Elves started attacking, a pure standoff, neither side having even the slightest advantage. Then Selica drew a knife, and stuck it up near Ben’s neck.
“What do you mean?” he asked, struggling against the knife.
“You were the only one who really could teach her magic, she wouldn’t listen to anyone else, that is until you left us, then she realized your true intentions,” Selica said.
“Where is she?” he asked.
“Fighting the disease that your friend’s ancestor’s fought us with,” Selica said.
“Why is it my fault?” Ben asked, struggling less.
“You were the only one who had the potion to cure it, you didn’t leave any with us, so she’s been fighting for almost one hundred and fifty years,” she said. He kicked her in the stomach, and she fell to the ground, the knife landed a few feet away. Ben turned around, and threw the trident to the ground. He brought his sword up like he was going to strike, and then stabbed it into the ground. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a vial filled with a dark blue liquid, and threw it to Selica.
“That’s for your sister, you could learn a thing or two from her,” Ben told her. He walked away, and saw Adam fighting against a Dark Elf with twin sais. “Now I know there’s a problem here,” ben said, pulling the Dark Elf’s shoulder back. His ears were pumping so hard now, he could barely hear the swords clashing around him. “Tony, why pick on people who aren’t as magical as you?” Ben asked, trying to set him off. Tony drew up his twin sais, and dove at Ben. He turned to the side, and Tony fell to the ground. Suddenly, his ears stopped pumping, he felt confident.
“Sara and Cory had to pull back,” Adam told him. Tony fell to the ground. Tony dove at Adam’s leg, Ben leapt up, and landed on Tony’s back, and Tony hit the ground.
“Nehra’hull,” Ben said. Tony and Selica became enshrouded by black orbs. The two orbs came together, and formed one, like a prison, that could not be escaped. Adam watched as Ben walked back, and closed his eyes. Jake ran over to them, and looked at Ben.
“What’s he doing?” Jake asked.
“No idea,” Adam said shrugging his shoulders. Suddenly, Jake heard a voice inside his head.
“Push the Dark Elves toward the cell,” the voice said.
“Who said that?” Jake asked out loud.
“What?” Adam asked.
“I heard a voice in my head,” Jake told him.
“You mean besides the ones that you normally hear?” Adam asked.
“Yeah... wait a minute,” Jake said. Then the voice came to Adam’s head.
“Push the Dark Elves toward the cell,” the voice told him.
Jake was almost ready to punch him, when he said, “ Hold on a minute, I heard it too,” Adam said. One by one, the others fighting the Dark Elves heard the voice, and they all began to push the Dark Elves back. Ben opened his eyes, and then started fighting. The fight was very even, and after about ten minutes, only three more Dark Elves had been captured.
“Adam,” Ben called out. They both fell back, and Erik and Aaron took their places.
“I know this sounds stupid, but I’m going to have to make a sacrifice,” Ben said.
“Yeah, you’re right, that is stupid, and no you’re not, now let’s go fight,” Adam said.
“Listen, if I can get King Vincent and Selica inside the cell, the rest of them will get pulled in, when that happens, just attack the cell, full force, okay?” Ben asked quickly.
“Okay, fine,” Adam said. Ben walked back, and bent his head down.
“Watch out,” Ben yelled. Everyone looked back, and saw Ben charging at them. They all jumped out of the way, and Ben saw his targets, Selica and King Vincent. He dove at them. Selica lifted her trident up, but King Vincent was looking at Jake’s bow, which was lying on the ground. All three of them fell into the cell. Suddenly, all of the Dark Elf warriors were pulled toward the cell.
“Everyone, attack the cell,” Adam yelled.
“Wait, that’ll break it open,” Lyane said.
“Listen, Ben told me to attack it, you guys can do what you want, but he jumped in to give us a break from fighting, so if we break it open something might happen, are you just going to leave him in there?” Adam asked.
“Well he is a Dark Elf, maybe we should just leave them all together,” Dan said.
“They’ll kill him,” Adam said.
“Even better, another evil being destroyed,” Dan said.
“You sicken me,” Adam said, and then began attacking the cell. For about a minute, no one else moved, as Adam hacked, and slashed away at the magical cell. Through the cell, they could see that Dark Elves begin attacking Ben, he was trying to block them, but was having a bit of trouble. Then above Adam, a lightning bolt hit the cell, followed by multiple fireballs. Adam looked back, and saw Lyane and Betsy casting spells at the cell. Anna and Dan charged forward, and attacked with Adam. Erik and Aaron went over to the trapdoor, and Sara and Cory came out. Erik, and Aaron took out bows, and they started following arrows, and so did Jake. Cory charged forward also, and Sara casted spells with Betsy and Lyane. They were attacking the cell with a full on assault. Finally, the prison broke open, and Ben jumped out.
“Dracon de snare,” he said, and the Dark Elves were blasted back to the foot of the mountain, and Ben lifted his left hand. Everyone guessed that the invisible door had been closed, and Ben said, “They should be locked in there for about a month, but there are about ten counter-spells, and even I don’t know what one will work, it all depends on the luck of the draw, so they’ll look in their books, and probably escape sooner.” He fell onto the ground, and just laid there. “Hey, where was Jake? I saw his bow lying on the ground,” Ben said.
“The king tried to cut off my head, so I dropped my bow, and hid behind Erik, that’s why he was distracted,” Jake told him.
“Ben, why are you lying on the ground?” Lyane asked.
“I got a little beat up while you guys were bashing the thing up,” Ben said.
“We’d betted get to Alexandria, I’m sure you can get healed there,” Betsy said.
“How are we going to get across this lake?” Lyane asked.
“I just realized this, how do you think they lived?” Ben said, and then started kicking at the ground.
“Couldn’t we just use a summon?” Erik asked.
“No, they put a summon shield here,” Ben said. “Here they are,” Ben told them. He reached down, and picked up a bunch of things that looked like small layers of rock. “Here, everyone take a board,” Ben said. Everyone grabbed a board, and then Ben jumped onto the water, and started surfing across the water. Everyone followed cautiously.
“Hey, why are we floating?” Erik asked.
“The Dark Elves couldn’t ride across a lake without waves, so they used a spell on these,’ Ben said.
“Hey, did anyone else hear that voice back there?” Adam asked.
“Yeah,” Jake said. Everyone else nodded their head... except Ben.
“Ben, didn’t you hear it?” Adam asked.
“No,” he said plainly. When they were a few yards away, there was a splash in the water, as a blue orb rose up above them. Everyone pulled to a stop, Ben almost had to jump over it, but managed to swerve around it, and stopped.
“What is it?” Adam asked.
“I don’t know,” Ben said, he slowly steered himself over to it. He stuck his hand up to it, and was about to touch it when suddenly a voice cried out.
“Don’t touch it,” the voice yelled. Ben froze.
“Who said that?” Ben asked. Everybody looked around.
“It was me,” the voice yelled out. Ben turned around and was about to say who, when there, staring him right in the face, was a Water Fairy.
“What is that?” Jake asked, looking around.
“A water fairy,” Ben said. It was about two inches tall, and wearing pink clothes. It was flying with it’s small wings on it’s back.
“The orb rises when evil is near,” the Water Fairy said.
“Well, it’s a little late,” Ben said. “We already won,” he told it. Just as he said it, a loud buzz rose through the valley, and above them, they saw an airship fly over.
“The skyhopper,” Jake said.
“They must have been going to Port Demongate, picking up recruits,” Aaron said. “We’d better go,” he added.
“Well, we’re going to Alexandria, that was the trouble, goodbye,” Ben said, and then started riding toward shore.
“I just saved your life you know,” she said, flying around, in front of Ben. “So can I come with?” she asked.
“Whatever, what’s your name?” Ben asked.
“Kelly,” she said.
“Okay, come on,” Ben said. He turned around, and started riding again. “So, how did you save us,” he asked in a bored tone, without turning his head back.
“I was talking to you telepathically,” Kelly told him.
“Then you mean, you helped them,” Ben said, nodding his head back.
“Sorry, but you were blocking me out,” Kelly said. Ben was about a foot from the shore, flipped his board up, and landed on shore with his board in his hand.
“I don’t need help,” he said, and he pulled out his sword. “Hurry up,” he called out. Once everyone was on land, they started to walk into the forest in front of them, but Jake stopped.
“I don’t think we want to go this way,” he said slowly. “I sense something that way,” he told them.
“I don’t, let’s keep going,” Ben said. Everyone drew their weapons, and then continued to walk. After about five minutes, they saw the great city of Alexandria rise above the treetops.
“We’ll be there soon,” Jake said. Up ahead, Adam saw a black flash in a tree beside him. It appeared, and then immediately disappeared in less than a second.
“Did anyone else see that?” Adam asked.
“No, what was it?” Jake asked. Suddenly, Adam saw it in a tree right next to him, and it stopped.
“Ah!” Adam shouted, and then it jumped forward toward Jake. Jake turned around just in time to see the black thing flying straight at him, and he fell to the ground. It leapt up off of him, and landed with it’s back to the group. Jake scrambled to his feet, but Kelly was the first one to speak.
“That wasn’t very nice,” she said.
“I am the master assassin, Black Ninja, and you shall all die now,” the ninja told them. He drew out two swords, and then began spinning with both swords extended. The battle had begun. Soon, he was spinning so fast that he was just a tornado of death. He charged toward them, while still spinning, and everyone leapt out of the way. Jake took out an arrow, and fired it at the ninja. It hit one of the arrows, and ricocheted back at him. He ducked, and fired again, in blind rage. Black Ninja jumped up, and came back down, he had cut a small tree branch that was now falling to the ground. It collided with the arrow, and the arrow lost course. It spun around, but the arrow would still not stop. It was flying backwards, straight at Black Ninja. When the arrow was near him, he stopped spinning for about a second, and that was all it took. The arrow flew straight at his sword, and split in half, falling to the ground. Jake took out another arrow, but when he pulled it back, Adam pulled it off of the string, and charged. Once he was just a few feet away, he leapt into the air, threw the arrow down, and then flipped. The arrow narrowly missed the ninja’s face, but he turned around. His foot moved forward though, and dug into his shin. He put his swords away, as Adam landed on the ground. Black Ninja leapt into a tree, and darted away, but not before yelling, “You haven’t seen the last of me.” Everyone looked around, but remained silent.
“This is weird, I’ve seen more stuff in the past ten hours or so, then I’ve seen in my entire life,” Adam said.
“Yeah, I’m so confused, I don’t think I even know what’s going on anymore, who would pay to assassinate us?” Erik asked.
“Yeah, let’s get to Alexandria before something else happens,” Jake said. They all started running, as fast as they could, and after about ten minutes, they finally emerged out of the forest, and saw the giant white wall of Alexandria. The wall had protected the citizens of Alexandria for seven hundred and twenty years. Spears and arrows stuck out of the wall, and guards stood watch on the top of the wall. There were twelve gateposts around the wall, only one was in their view, the main entry point. They walked forward to the gatekeeper, and stood there, waiting. He didn’t look up from a letter he was holding in his hand, which was trembling a little. Ben coughed loudly.
The gatekeeper looked up, his eyes looked teary, but he held it in.
“What’s your business in Alexandria?” the guard asked hoarsely.
“A meeting in the inn, what’s wrong?” Ben asked.
“All of the soldiers are being called to fight,” he said worriedly. “The other guards and I were only taught to fire an arrow or two, and then close our gates, we’ll be killed without even a glimpse of our attackers,” he told them.
“How many of you are there?” Adam asked.
“Twelve,” the man said sadly
“Great, we will replace you,” Adam said.
“There are only eleven of us,” Ben told him. Kelly coughed loudly, trying to tell him that there were twelve including her.
“Eleven and one-eighth, the king won’t agree,” Ben said. Adam started scratching his chin.
“Okay, I figured it out, Ben, you can guard them if they get forced to the front line, I highly doubt that will happen, the king isn’t stupid. Odds are they’ll have to guard the camp, then you’ll all be safe, after all, Ben is like the best fighter I can think of,” Adam said.
“Mr. Smith, Mr. James, you, Lyane’s father, there are a lot of people better than me,” Ben told him.
“Yeah, but you’re also okay at magic, something that I can’t achieve myself,” Adam said.
“Ben, just do it, it’s not that hard,” Jake said.
“Let’s see how good he is,” the gatekeeper said. Adam and Ben both drew their swords, and were about to duel, but the gatekeeper pulled a bow from his tower, and shot an arrow at Ben. Ben spun around, and blocked it, and then looked at the gatekeeper.
“What was that for? We were about to fight each other to answer you question, and then you just shoot an arrow at me?” Ben said.
“Hey, he’s your best friend, you never really know how good someone is until you attack them yourself,” the gatekeeper said.
“Okay...” Ben said.
“That’s a good plan, I’ll tell the other gatekeepers, we’ll be waiting near the castle when the army leaves, so you can come find us,” the gatekeeper told them.
“Okay, when are you leaving?” Adam asked.
“Day after tomorrow at dawn,” the gatekeeper told him.
“See you then,” Adam said. The gatekeeper let them into the town, and they saw the streets filled with children. They walked forward, and looked through the waves of children, there were no adults in sight. “Wow, we haven’t even rested for almost twelve hours, fight after fight, and I’m just realizing that I’m tired,” Adam told them
“Correction, you and Ben got no sleep, the rest of us got a whole three minutes in the Fairy Realm,” Dan said, glaring at Betsy and Anna.
“Yeah, and you got a whole five minutes,” Betsy said. Everyone began to laugh as they walked through the streets.
“Can we just get to the Inn?” Lyane asked.
“As soon as we find it,” Adam said, “there are no adults to tell us where to go.” Ben flung his arm out, and a young child ran into it.
“Where are all of the adults, and why aren’t you in school?” he asked.
“We don’t have school, because of the war, all of the adults are preparing to leave mister,” the little kid said in a squeaky voice. “ But my daddy doesn’t have to go, because he hurted his leg,” kid added, before pushing Ben’s arm away, and running back to play with his friends. They ran down the street, and came across the castle.
“Let’s stop in, and tell the king that we’ve arrived,” Adam said.
“He doesn’t know us, why would he care if a group of teenagers came into his kingdom?” Ben asked.
“Oh, kings always care if a group of adventurers come into their town,” Adam said.
“At least in Tral,” Ben said.
“Hey,” Lyane said. They walked forward to the fancy stone door, and then were greeted immediately by a servant of the king.
“We would like to speak to the king,” Adam said.
“Please remove all of your weapons, and armor, and put them on the rack over there on the wall,” the servant said. They did what he said, and then another servant came over to remove it to a less fancy weapon rack.
“Don’t... touch anything,” Adam said, “they won’t hurt anything.” The first servant began walking forward, and they followed him. He opened a door, and they saw that there were
twenty guards stationed all around the room. The king was sitting directly in front of them about thirty-five feet away. Adam and Ben both bowed down, and everyone else slowly did the same.
“Sir, we’ve heard stories of you great rule as king here, you’ve been our role-model for years now,” Ben told him. “We’re spies from Tral,” he said.
“Thank you,” the king said, in a grumpy voice. “Now what do you want?” he asked.
“We’ve been watching Van Adren, we heard of a trap they’re setting, have you sent word to Tral that you would like their help yet?” Adam asked.
“Yes, how did you know about that?” the king asked.
“Besides the point, have you sent word to Terra?” Adam asked.
“Yes, they’ve rejected, they don’t want anyone dead from their city, but they’re not on Van Adren’s side either,” the king said. “Where did you learn this information? You must be very good spies,” he told them. Betsy tried to hold in her laughter, but it was too hard. The king just ignored her. “Eleven people, that’s quite a group of adventurers or spies alike,” the king told them.
“Twelve,” Kelly shouted. The king removed his hood, because he thought it was impairing his vision, but he still only counted eleven.
“Who said that?” the king asked.
“Me,” Kelly said. The king looked around, now scared.
“We’ll be around the town, we’ll be coming with your troops to war, Tral is our home city, if that’s okay,” Ben said.
“Of course,” the king said. They bowed again, and then all left, taking their weapons before exiting the front door.
“Kelly, we need to find a way to make sure people see you, he thought we were like ventriloquists or something,’ Ben said, as they walked out, back into the sunlight.
“I know, some people are just so rude,” she told them. Everyone laughed, as they walked slowly through the streets. Adam stuck out his hand to catch a child, and ask him where the Inn was, but there were no kids near him. Everyone laughed again, as Ben did the same thing, and caught another child by the arm.
“Excuse me, where is the Inn?” Ben asked.
“Down there, and to the left,” the kid said.
“Thanks,” Ben told him, and then let go of his arm. They walked forward, and then around a curve, and saw a big sign on a big building that said ‘Inn.’
“Wow, we could have figured that out,”Adam said.
“You kidding? You’d have gone the other way,” Ben said. They walked through the front door of the Inn, and bought four rooms.
“Okay, the girls can sleep in these two rooms, and the guys can sleep in these two rooms, they’re the worst,” Adam said. Everyone walked into a room, and then flopped onto a bed, and slept. By now, it was almost seven o’clock A.M. Everyone else was just waking up, but they went to sleep. After everyone was asleep for almost an hour, Adam woke up, and snuck around Dan’s Bed, and stopped at Ben’s. “Ben, wake up,” Adam whispered.
“What?” Ben asked, still half asleep.
“Come on, we’re going back to Tral,” Adam said
“Why?” Ben asked.
“We were the ones who brought them into this, it’s our fault that some of them may even die,” Adam said.
“Fine, I guess you’re right,” Ben said. He got up, grabbed his stuff, and then walked out into the lobby, where Adam was waiting. “Shouldn’t we get Lyane?” he asked Adam.
“No, she’s been our friend for too long, I couldn’t stand watching anything happen to her, I wouldn’t want you to come with, but you’d find me, remember that time when you tracked that fox all of the way to Northern Tral last winter?” Adam asked.
“Yeah, we got in so much trouble,” Ben said.
“Let’s go, I’m sure we can borrow a few dragons,” Adam told him. They ran down the street, and got to the white door. They asked a servant to ask the king if they could borrow a few dragons, and then the servant walked away. He came out a few minutes later with keys to two dragon chains, and then the servant took them, and unlocked the dragons. They got on, and flew just over the heads of all of the children, they had forgotten something in the room. Ben ran in, and Adam waited in the lobby. Ben came out with two bows, and about thirty arrows that Jake had in his quiver. There were hundreds of them, so he didn’t think Jake would notice. Once they were outside the front door again, Lyane magically appeared right in front of them.
“How did you get out?” Ben asked.
“Have you forgotten our little practice tournament already?” Lyane asked.
“Get back inside, and please don’t follow us,” Adam said.
“Why are you two acting so crazy?” she asked.
“What... what happened?” Ben said, in a sort of dazed tone.
“Did you fall asleep?” Lyane asked. Ben nodded his head.
“I got you all into this, and now, I’m letting you out,” Adam said.
“You didn’t get anyone into this, but I understand your point. I heard you two talking in the lobby, and saw you through the keyhole. I’m coming with you, and we’re not going to discuss this anymore,” she said, and then she walked over, and jumped onto the silver dragon’s back. They dragons were only about seventy years old, young for a dragon, so they were only large enough to carry one passenger each... comfortably. Ben ran forward, and jumped on the other. Adam slowly walked over, and sat on the tail of the one Lyane was riding on. There were spikes running up the tail, so Adam was very uncomfortable. Once everyone was situated, the dragons rose up, until everything was about the size of an ant. They flew as fast as they could, which was about one hundred miles per hour, toward Tral. Once the mountain where the Dark Elves were hiding was in view, they could see the Dark Elves working on a potion. They saw who they recognized as Selica stand up, and then shoot a fireball out of her hand. It flew up at them, and singed the corner of Adam’s long black coat. Adam looked down, but in the time it took him to put the small fire out, they were almost entirely across the Fairy Realm. When they got to Van Adren, they saw only about one thousand people in the streets, all of whom were guards, a very small amount of people compared to the usual five thousand or so, that walked the streets normally at any one time. The civilians must had been hiding. Finally, they saw Mt. Tral, and landed just outside of the town. They tied up the dragons’ reins to trees, and gave them snacks from a bag around the dragon’s necks, so they wouldn’t tear the tree out of the ground.
“Meet at Ben’s house in five minutes,” Lyane said, and then she ran toward the palace, as Adam ran toward Mr. James’s house.
“Come on guys, that’s not fair,” Ben said. “Oh, whatever,” Ben said. He ran towards Mr. Smith's house. No one was at the palace or Mr. James's house, so Lyane and Adam ran to Mr. Smith's house, and arrived at the same time. They opened the door, and ran in. They saw Ben talking to Mr. Smith, Mr. James, and the king. Ben had already told them about everything. The soldiers were already waiting in Northern Tral, a town just north, along the river, of Tral.
"If any of you notice anything strange, tell me," the king told them.
"We will," the said. The king ushered Mr. James, Mr. Smith, and Lyane out of the room, and stopped Adam and Ben.
"If anything happens to my daughter, I will make your lives worse than you can even imagine, she is my entire world," the king told them.
"We promise," they both said.
“Were is Dan?” the king asked.
“In Alexandria, with the rest of the people we met,” Adam said.
“Good, we need to go there to get the war transports, ours can be taken out by arrows,” the king said. He walked out of the room, and Adam looked over to Ben.
“Crap, exactly what we wanted to not happen, is going to happen,” Adam told him. They walked out of the house, and then over to the palace. Lyane opened the gates, and then ran into the castle.
“Everyone wait here,” the king said, “ the airship is landing in just a few minutes.” A few moments later, they heard the roar of an engine, and saw a large shadow enshroud them. It slowly floated to the ground, and Mr. Smith, Mr. James, and the king climbed aboard. Adam was about to climb in, but Ben pulled his shoulder.
“The dragons,” Ben told him. They ran to the outskirts of the town, and then untied the dragons. They ran back, and then tied them to the airship. Then they climbed aboard, and saw everyone waiting for them. Apparently, Lyane had grabbed a few books to read over the short trip to Alexandria. They saw a man with goggles in the pilot’s seat whom they did not recognize. “Lyane, when will we need all of these books?” Adam asked.
“Hey, we need to be prepared,” she told them.
“Fifteenth stage magic?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, you’re not even on the seventh stage yet,” Adam told her.
“Yeah, but what if Sara or Betsy are?”Lyane asked.
“There are only levels in Green Magic, which has nothing to do with stages, no help to her,” Ben said.
“And Sara doesn’t look like a stage two magess,” Adam said.
“Oh well,” Lyane said. She began to read a book about white magic, and they finally took off.
“What happened?” the pilot asked, “I didn’t start the engines.” He looked out the front window, and saw the dragons flying in front of them. “I don’t even need to drive, the dragons do all of the work,” the pilot said, sitting back down, after grabbing a book about spears. Adam picked up a book about sword fights, and famous sword battles. Then Ben saw a book about the Dark Elves, and picked it up. After he read about a page, he picked up a feathered quill, and a bottle of ink.
“What are you doing?” Lyane asked.
“Just fixing some errors,” Ben said, starting at the book with an evil glare.
“Use this,” she said, tossing him a roll of parchment.
“Yay, wrong, wrong, definitely wrong, wrong,” Ben said, beginning to mutter to himself.
“Ben, in your head please,” Adam said. He continued to write, and then Lyane pulled out a large, heavy, dusty book.
“You can also figure out exactly what this heroes’ sword does,” Lyane told him.
“Yay for me,” Ben said sarcastically. After about five minutes of writing, he began to pass the roll of parchment around. Everyone read it, and then Lyane handed it back to Ben.
“Hey, I didn’t get to read it,” Adam said.
“You don’t want to,” Ben told him, “It’s boring.”
“Let me read it,” Adam told them.
“Alright, but you won’t understand it,” Lyane said. Ben handed Adam the parchment, and then Adam tried to read it.
“Wait a second, this isn’t even in common words,” Adam said.
“That’s why you won’t understand it, Ben wrote it in Dark Elvish,” Lyane said casting him a dark glance. Ben waved his hand, and then the words changed, and became common language.
“Okay, I still can’t make this out, it says something about unlocking it, but then it talks about locked secrets, and hidden memories in a world of peace and darkness, that makes no sense at all,” Adam said.
“It will in about ten years,” Ben told him. He stopped, and his ears moved a little. He walked into the cockpit, and looked at the pilot.
“Are we flying over Van Adren?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s the quickest way to Alexandria,” the pilot told him.
“Okay, not to make you sound stupid or anything, but did you not realize we were in a war, we’ve got a missile following us, so do exactly as I say,” Ben told him. “Everybody buckle up,” he shouted.
“Wait, the dragons should be able to outrun the missile,” the pilot said.
“Yeah, well they won’t, they can’t even tell, but when you turn, they’ll feel it, and turn too,” Ben said. “Okay, a sharp left,” Ben told him. He thrashed the wheel to the left, and everyone was thrown to the side. “Nosedive,” Ben told him. The ship began to speed toward the ground, and the dragons turned to look at the pilot worriedly. “Okay, now on three, pull up,” Ben said.“One.... three,” he shouted, the pilot pulled up, and they flew about a foot from the ground. “Okay, now up, out, and back to Alexandria,” Ben told him, walking back to the passenger’s area. “Over Van Adren?” he whispered quietly.
“He’s new,” the king said. Ben began to read another book about the Ancient War, and everyone was quiet.
“We have entered Alexandria,” the pilot said.
“Land this thing,” the king told him. The ship slowly descended to the ground, and everyone stood up.
“Hey, maybe if we get back in time, they won’t notice we left,” Adam said.
“Back in a second,” Lyane told her father. They ran back towards the Inn, and Adam and Ben ran in. There in the lobby, was all of their friends.
“Where were you two?” Jake asked.
“And where is Lyane?” Betsy asked.
“We were...” Adam started.
“And she was...” Ben said.
“We were training,” Adam told them.
“Hey, what did I miss?” Lyane asked, walking out of her room.
“Wait, I checked your room, you weren’t there,” Kelly said.
“How did you get in?” Lyane asked, thinking she had outsmarted Kelly.
“I flew through the lock,” Kelly said back.
“Oh well, we have to go now, the army has already started to gather,” Adam said.
“Let’s go,” Ben said. They all walked outside, and then, in front of them, they saw another group of teenagers, who looked like soldiers.
“Are you the warriors from Tral?” the leading one asked.
“Yeah,” Adam spoke up.
“We were sent by the king to bring you to the Landing Bay, we have a special assignment, this is Nicholas,” he said, pointing at a small one, with a big sword. “Jacob,” he said, pointing at a gnome with a large hammer. “Claire,” he said, pointing at a girl with about seven swords over her back. “Rebecca,” he said, pointing at a girl with two twin swords. “And I, am the Great Mage, Daniel,” the leader told them.
“Great mage, maybe in your dreams,” the one named Claire told him.
“Hey, quiet down,” Daniel told her. “Let’s go,” Daniel told them. He turned around, and began to run. They ran, until they were just outside of the castle. There, in a large town square, they saw about one hundred and fifty airships either landed, or flying up above, waiting to land, and about twenty thousand soldiers waiting to board.
“Wow,” Adam said, unable to hold in his excitement, he was going to be in one of the greatest wars in history, a fact that while astonishing, wasn’t a very fun thing to know.
“Come on,” Daniel shouted over the airships’ roar. He walked up the stairs, and through the white door of the palace, without even knocking.
“Buddy, this is the castle, shouldn’t we knock... or something?” Adam asked.
“Yeah, I know he’s the king, first of all, I live here you moronic soldier, second, he’s my uncle,” Daniel told him.
“Oh,” Adam said, shutting up. They walked in, and saw a person wearing a black ninja’s outfit, standing in front of them. He looked a year or so younger than the rest of them, and he had swords along his back, and at his sides. Adam began to pull out his sword, but then Nicholas put his hand over it, so he couldn’t take it out.
“Hello Dave,” Daniel said. Nicholas turned around to face them.
“This is Dave, Daniel’s younger brother, the end,” said Nicholas. Dave walked forward to join Daniel’s group and they all turned around.
“Ok this is Ben , Lyane, Dan, Erik, Aaron, Betsy, Anna, Jake, Cory, Sara, Kelly and I’m Adam,”Adam said, pointing at everyone.
“Who’s Kelly?” Daniel asked.
“Me,” Kelly said flying right next to Daniel.
“Oh,” Daniel said.
“Okay, the king will tell us our assignment, you will not speak, now let’s go,” Daniel told them. They walked into the throne room, and the king was sitting on his throne. He looked much more aware now, and he looked toward them, immediately when they walked in.
“You all are being sent on a special assignment, but you have to leave as soon as possible. You will be sneaking to the Van Adren camp, and raiding the camp at nightfall. We will attack, when we see the flames that you will set. No one will even see you exit this building, because you will leave through the back, into the forest. And I will tell everyone you are guarding the town, so now, go,” the king told them quickly. Daniel led them out a door to the left, and they ended up in another forest.
“Ow, I still have that cut,” Dan said. They heard something moving above them, but nobody said anything. In front of them, they saw a light, slowly getting brighter, like it was coming towards them.
“Hide,” Daniel said. Everyone jumped behind a tree near them, and then forward, darting behind trees.
“Why is it so important that nobody sees us?” Adam asked.
“Imagine if Van Adren found out about our plan, we might never see the things we love again,” Daniel said. They continued to dart behind trees, until they could see the source of the light. They saw two High Elven White Mages, practicing their magic. One was a girl, who wearing purely white robes. She had her staff in both hands, and she was reading a spellbook. An older man, about twenty or so by the looks of him, jumped down from a tree near her.
“Sorry, but I just can’t get these spells to work, fifteenth stage is just too far,” she told them man.
“It’s okay, keep practicing,” he told her.
“So what do you want?” he asked, obviously referring to Adam, and Daniel, and everyone else, but without even turning around.
“I knew you knew we were here,” Jake said.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” the man said.
“We’re going to Van Adren camp, what side are you on?” Adam asked.
“I foresaw you coming,” the man said. “And I foresaw myself, and my apprentice joining you,” he continued. “So I presume I will be on your side... I am Shaun, and this is my apprentice, Skye,” Shaun told them.
“Okay, welcome to our group, this is...” Adam started.
“Wait a minute, you guys are just going to let them join us? They could jeopardize our mission. Let them prove themselves. Every one of my soldiers has proved their life to me, they should do the same,” Daniel said. Shaun stuck his hand forward, and Dan’s wound healed. Everyone else felt a good aura engulf them, and they all felt good. Sadly, they should have stopped to cherish this moment, because it was the happiest they would feel for a long time.
“You can come with us, but whatever I say, you do,” Daniel said.
“We will,” Shaun said. Everyone bagan to walk again. Cory walked up, and began to walk to Shaun, and Dan, who had been staring at Skye for a very long time, walked up, and began to talk to her. Adam could see that Dan liked her.
“So, how much do you get paid?” Cory asked Shaun.
“Paid? I carry all of the money I have ever earned with me, what would I get paid for?” Shaun asked, laughing.
“Oh, nothing,” Cory said, smiling. Shaun continued to walk forward, and started talking with Adam, but Cory slowed down, and when he thought no one was looking, he carefully untied a sack hanging around Shaun’s waist filled with coins. Shaun didn’t even notice, but Adam saw Cory out of the corner of his eye. Adam slowed down too, and when he was about a foot in front of Cory, he stuck his foot forward, and Cory tripped. The sack fell out of his hand, and Adam walked forward, and grabbed it, hiding it behind his palm.
“I’m sorry,” Adam told Cory. He walked forward, and gave the sack to Shaun, saying “I think you may have dropped this a few seconds ago.”
“Thank you,” Shaun told him, tying it around his staff.
“I was just about to hand it back to him, he actually did drop it,” Cory said, trying to keep a straight face.
“Yeah, I saw you take it, so don’t even try it,” Adam told him.
“This is the forest of the tree people,” Daniel said once everyone was together in a group again.
“How can you tell?” Adam asked.
“First of all, and I’ll only say it one more time, I live in the town right back there, you moron,” he said pointing back toward Alexandria. “And number two, Nicholas,” he said, getting Nicholas’s attention. Nicholas took out a bow, and an arrow, and then fired it at a tree. Something jumped out of the tree, and caught the arrow out of mid-air.
“What do you think you’re doing, coming in to our lands, and hurting our trees?” she asked them.
“Sorry, we were teaching these weaklings about the power, and strength of your realm, and your people,” Daniel said.
“Daniel? Is that you?” she asked, as she ran over to him. “We haven’t seen you in Ages, my father would love to speak to you, you can rest in town for the night,” she told them.
“Thank you very much, but we can’t we have to sneak into the Van Adren camp at nightfall, by the way, we’d be honored to have a tree person fight on our side,” Daniel said.
“I’d be glad to,” she told them.
“So how did she prove herself?” Adam whispered.
“She’s saved us more than you would think,” Nicholas said, who had been listening to them. Daniel looked back, and smiled. He was about to continue walking, when she stopped him.
“Wait, are you sure you’re going the right way?” she asked.
“Yeah, straight ahead, until we can see the smoke,” Daniel said. She walked over to a tree, and put her hand on it.
“This tree can feel trees being cut down that way,” she said pointing to their left.
“Wow, that would have been a horrible mistake, thanks,” Daniel told her. Everyone walked in the direction that she pointed. “This is Alex by the way,” Daniel told them.
“Hello,” everyone said.
“Okay, when we get there, no one fires an arrow, no one slashes a sword, until we are slashed at or fired on. Until then, we will set fire to their camp,” Daniel told them. After an hour or so, they got the edge of the forest, and found that the were about fifty feet from the people cutting down trees who were only a few feet from the camp. Soon, the people cutting down the trees went back to the camp, and darkness began to spread. Stars became visible, and slowly, the many campfires died out. “Okay, let’s go,” Daniel said. “Fire,” he whispered, as his torch erupted in silent, flickering flames. He lit all of the torches, and then put his staff out. “Okay, stay together as much as possible, if your torch goes out, drop it to the ground, and draw your weapon, and prepare to attack after they attack us,” Daniel said. They all snuck toward the camp, hiding their torches so the fire was not visible.
“No turning back now,” Jacob said. They reached a short wall that surrounded the campsite, and then leaned against it, and dropped to the ground.
“Okay, there’s only one guard at each entrance, so, fire,” he whispered quietly, and his staff lit again, and he lit the grass on the other side of the wall, which spread to a tent close to them. Daniel put his staff out, and they heard the guard run over. They all snuck along the wall, until they reached the entrance. “Go!” Dan shouted, they lit the tents around them, after they were in the gate. A few men ran out of the tents, and mages who came out tried to put the fire out, but it was spreading to quickly. Shaun’s torch went out, and he dropped it to the ground, drawing his staff. He was slowly moving backward, his staff ready to strike, when a wave of flaming arrows landed at his feet.
“They’ve attacked, take them down,” Jake yelled. Shaun began casting thunder spells around the camp, taking out at least two people per bolt. Lyane’s torch burned out, and she threw it forward, and began to cast with Shaun. The army slowly moved forward, and into sword range. One of them walked forward, and raised his sword to attack Lyane. Adam saw this, and was about to throw his torch at the man, when Lyane blocked his sword, and then jabbed him in the stomach, knocking him into a fire. The man ran to a mage, and got the fire put out, as Adam gave his torch to Lyane, and began to attack, along with Shaun, and Lyane moved back toward the group. Everyone except Skye and Shaun’s clothes were getting full of dirt and ash. Their clothes remained pure white throughout the battle. Nicholas’s torch burned out, and he charged forward, and leapt into the crowd, and began to slash. He killed about twenty people, when finally someone stabbed him in the leg. He fell to the ground, and someone else stabbed him again, and his blood began to soak the ground. He was the first Alexandrian soldier killed in the battle.
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