The Legend of the Seven

Dragon rescue

Arcaena always blunt said "We should tell the others, I'm not totally sure about your brother yet, but I trust the other four with my life." she finished. Ailwin sighed "We would need to keep my brother out of it, he agrees with our mother." he said looking down. Arcaena took his hand "It's okay, bringing the others in will work. We will take her when we're leaving for our first mission, we can have Theoden and Wyn distract your brother, Celaena and Shael can keep watch, while you and I grab Elzae and bring her with us." she said in the most reassuring tone she could. Ailwin nodded "That's better than any plan I've ever come up with." he said shrugging his shoulders. The two weeks until the mission were a blur of planning, Arcaena took the job of informing the other four elves of their secret secondary mission, with the day soon approaching everything was falling into place.

The summer night was a warm one as the seven prepared to leave Naellin for the first time in months. Theoden and Wyn set to distracting Ayred as Ailwin, Arcaena, Celaena, and Shael slipped away one by one. They met outside the dungeons, and slipped inside once the guards had made their rounds. Shael and Celaena stood just away from the secret door as Ailwin and Arcaena went to get Elzae. The hatchling was still small enough to fit inside Arcaena's bag comfortably, they set back up the stairs and down the short hallway to the door, but as Ailwin pushed against it, it would not give. He tried twice more before turning to Arcaena "I don't know what's going on, the door-" he started to say as the door burst open Celaena was on the other side looking worried. She waved them on "Hurry, come on! We were almost caught." she said. The four quickly met back up with Ayred, Theoden, and Wyn having been completely successful in the first part of their mission. Ayred hadn't even noticed the others were gone.

The next stop for the seven was the royal stables, Ailwin and Ayred already had unicorn mounts. Elves and unicorns had lived together since the dawn of creation, and in that time the two species had developed an incredibly special bond. Unicorns would only take one elvish rider as long as that rider lived, the other species in the world would always be rejected by the unicorns. Ailwin's trusted mount was named Alaewar who was the stallion of the royal herd, he stood taller than the other unicorns, his fur was as black as night, his horn was a shade lighter than his fur. Ayred's mount was a beautiful male named Eos whose fur was as white as snow with a grey horn. Ailwin looked at the others "You know the rules of unicorns, yes? he asked. The others nodded "Good, take some time, get to know the herd. When we leave in the morning you'll make your choice and bond with your mounts." Ailwin said. The five dispersed inside the stables, spending time with each unicorn.

Just as the sun began to rise the two princes returned to the stables "Have you made your choices?" Ailwin asked the five. Each of them nodded, Theoden went first "I have chosen Aelios." he said. Aelios was a beautiful male with royal blue fur and a white horn. Arcaena chose next "Mae is mine." she stated. Mae was a small, but powerful female with soft purple fur and a black horn. Wyn choose the lovely bright white female named Maera whose horn was pur white. That left Shael with Alphae a very handsome green male with a silver horn, and Celaena with Inara a blood red female with a black horn. With that the entire royal herd had been bonded with. The seven saddled their individual mounts, while inside Mae's stall Arcaena took a moment to feed little Elzae a small piece of cooked beef. After closing her bag again she thought to herself she hoped the little hatchling would stay quiet, inside her mind she heard a small gentle voice say "Don't worry mother, I will." Arcaena shook her head and looked around. As she mounted Mae she tried to put the incident from her mind.

Sunrise was in full swing as the seven rode out of Naellin and into Ancestor wood, the forest just outside the city. Their sanctioned mission was to go to the human capital Cresa and spy on their numbers and defenses, their secret primary mission was to take the hatchling Elzae to Agocaster the mountain home of the dragons. The seven rode through the day heading deeper and deeper into the forest. Suddenly Arcaena's bag squeaked drawing everyone's attention to her for a moment before from behind some trees three human men appeared with swords drawn. The first man was taller than the other two, his dark black eyes had a cruelness and hatred about them the seven had never seen before. As the seven dismounted their unicorns the other two men began shouting spells and throwing magical attacks at them, Arcaena just managed to dodge a fire spell as she was hooking her bag to Mae.

As magic flew around them the seven regrouped behind a very large boulder, "What do we do?" Shael asked. Ailwin began to speak but was cut off by Arcaena "We need to take out the two magic users first." she said. Again Ailwin tried to speak but Theoden jumped in "I agree, I say you and I go for them as Ailwin and Ayred go for the big one, Wyn will back them up with his bow, and Celaena and Shael will hang back and support where needed." he said. Ailwin finally got his chance to speak "It's a good plan, but you two do realize I'm supposed to be the leader of this unit." he said in a questioning tone. "Sorry!" both elves said in unison causing the others to laugh. With a plan the seven moved in Celaena and Shael stayed behind the boulder, Theoden and Arcaena moved in first each going for one of the magic users, as Ailwin, Ayred, and Wyn moved behind them waiting for an opportunity to go for the leader. Arcaena went for what appeared to be the younger of the two magic users, he had green eyes and hair so blond it was almost white. He through fire magic like it was second nature to him, burning the beautiful forest around them. Arcaena was struggling to find an opening for a sneak attack when suddenly it was as if the world, and everyone around her was moving in slow motion. As she reached the young fire mage she couldn't help but take pity on his helplessness in that moment, for that reason she took her sword and hit him over the head with the hilt knocking him out.

As he fell time seemed to move with it's normal flow again, the other two men snapped to attention as the blond man's body hit the ground. Suddenly a dark black mist enveloped the three men and they disappeared leaving the seven in stunned silence. The seven collected themselves and their mounts, not a word was spoken as they moved off. The sun was beginning to set as the seven young elves reached the edge of Ancestor wood, before them laid nothing but open plains as far as the eye could see. The grass was almost as green as the Emerald Sea, wildflowers of blue, yellow, white, and pink dotted the landscape. The seven made their way into the knee high grass, Ayred expected that they would turn and head north to the human city Cresa, but to his surprise the others continued east. Confusion washed over him "Sh-shouldn't we be heading north?" he asked stuttering in confusion. Ailwin answered "Yes, but it's getting dark, we need to find a safe place to make camp for the night." he tried to sound as confident as possible. Ayred knowing his brother, was now suspicious he raised an eyebrow "Alright." he said in a questioning tone.