Dragon Revived, Chapter 2- Soaring on wings of pain

[/)eathKiller]

Gus aquired the vissage of a shadow causing the arrows to slip from him, he stook a few steps back and oepned a worm hole to the camp on the rooftop, stepping back through it he ordered the Drow warrior that had been apoitned to him to rush in with some accompanying troops and gather a heart of one of the creatures, after doing so he stepped back through and created another strong gust which blew the gas away from some of the bodies.

[Lady Blue03]

Zennenn shook his head and stood his ground,
"The twins are not with the Matron yet. We have strict orders not to act until they are."

Zachana stopped them, "Wait a moment. What are these things on your necks? It must be what's blocking your draconic powers." She drew a dagger from her belt and slid it under Alae's collar. A moment later the mithril melted off. Zachana used the same procedure on Alaerth (the dagger channels Zachana's dragon powers). Happy at feeling the raw power again, the twins took back and put on their things, and gave Zachana the rod and mithril. The mithril went into a bag, and Zachana bid them wait while she went and resurrected the 5 fallen warriors. She came back with them, and nodded.

Alaerth drew Isak and pulled his shield forward, "Lead the way."
Alae nodded and drew Isan, holding the elf girl with her other arm, she followed the directions given until they stood before the door that led to the roof. The air was tense, the drow fully anticipating the blood about to be shed, and the dragons ready to spring into draconic form if need be. Alae set the girl down and told her to stay. Zachana gestured to a drow and he opened the door. The 10 warriors screamed and charged up the stairs, the twins and Zachana following.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

The ten drow rushed out, and fell to the ground. Almost as if they'd hit a barrier...

~~~At the same moment in time...~~~

The drow were stood in their circle around the priestess and Arlyth looked up. His eyes widened as the priestess and the two elves began casting something, and a portal opened up in front of them. Then a loud crash was heard, and he turned to see ten drow rush headlong into an invisible wall... Arlyth turned and saw Alae...

~~~A moment later...~~~

Alae having spotted her cousin, set her ward down and the girl moved to a wall out of the way, staying hidden. Alae and Alaerth focused their wills and brought the wall down as they charged through... Alae felt her cousin's voice in her head sharply, "Alae! Thank the gods your alive... I... don't follow me... I... will rejoin you... I am fetching my father's sword..." his mind sharply cut off from contact with her, and Alae saw the priestess give him a sharp shove propelling him through the portal.

~~~At the same time...~~~

"What are you doing?" hissed the drow priestess, "Now is not the time for telepathy!" and shoved Arlyth through the portal, and now it was up, sent a wave of air towards Alaerth, Alae and Zach knocking them back, and the elven priestess's collasped the doorway; the wave of air keeping the three from being harmed. The ten knocked out drow were not affected by this, as they were too far back.

~~~At the same time...~~~

Just before they felt the rush of air, Zach charged right for the elves casting the portals and Alae went to get to Arlyth, while Alaerth went beserk and tried to hack down the elven priestesses; as they were pushed back, Alaerth screamed in fury and actually fought against it, just as the roof collasped, sealing the doorway for a few seconds.

~~~At the same time...~~~

A moment later, the drow Priestess stepped through the portal after Arlyth, the elves stepping through and then the five drow filed out. The portal winked out of existance as a void genasi by the name of Gus landed on the roof. Just as that happened, Zach had gotten the rubble cleared, blasting it out of existance, and the dazed ten drow guards stood up... everyone rushed to the roof...

[Lady Blue03]

Alaerth snarled and started smashing stones with his fist until Alae soothed him with her hand on his shoulder. Zachana shook her head, "A waste of effort I see." Alae told Zachana about what Arlyth had told her. The dragon blanched, "That won't make my lady very happy. I suppose it can't be helped though." She saw the mage and frowned, "What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay with my lady. Never mind, lets go now." Zachana pulled a mirror from her pocket and tossed it on the ground, where it landed erect, then grew in size until it was as tall as Alaerth. Alliene could be seen on the other side. Zachana motioned for them to step through and they did so, Alae holding the elf girl's hand.

Alliene felt relief flood her at the sight of the twins. At least they were unharmed! Zachana shifted back to her mini form and flitted to Alliene's shoulder, while Alae flung herself at Avalon with a loud 'daddy!'. Alliene scowled at Gus and motioned for one of her priestesses to heal him before turning to Zennenn, "The city is yours. Go fetch a heart"
The handsome drow grinned and melted away into the shadows.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

As Alae stepped through the portal, the rest of the drow and Zach followed. The elven girl hung shyly back, when Alae let out her cry of 'daddy!', and slowly began edging towards Alae somewhat, afraid of the imposing drow Matron. Gus was healed by a priestess... and Zennenn disappeared off to do his mistress's bidding...

~~~Moment's earlier, the other side of the portal...~~~

Arlyth stood on a grassy plain. He looked around and saw rolling hills, and to the left and down, a village. He felt an arm gently guide him out of the way of the portal and then the rest of the drow stepped through, still in formation. A circle of five drow surrounding them again. The two elves were behind the priestess, and Arlyth heard her voice in his ear, "Come child, we have much distance to cover. Those mountains in the distance are our destination. This is the furtherest I could transport us. We are several months journey from the castle, and no-one can follow us." she sighed and gave the boy a brief hug, and set off towards the village with her arm around his shoulders, the others in tow. The two elven maidens merely smiled at the priestess's guesture. The drow were as blank faced as ever.

~~~One hour later back at Alliene's camp...~~~

After everyone had calmed down, and had explained what was going on (which no doubt would make Alliene fume, or go into an icy state, or some other 'Alliene-ish' mood, "son of the golden one is the same as his father, curse them both" attitude or some such...), Zennenn returned with the heart, and dire news. "Mistress," he reported, and explained the elves of the castle were massing their forces, under the command of several Yuan'ti in the throne room, along with the demonblood leader... he also explained many of the servants were being held by some sort of magical crystal, along with many of the soldiers deep down in the dungeons at the heart of the castle; if they could destroy the crystal, the elves may well side with them, despite the fact they were drow and help retake the city. If they split into two groups, one could go after the crystal, the other after the Yuan'ti who had begun summoning rituals... and of course, the main army would have to fight the elves.

[Morgeruat]

"click click POP Whistle Yu-anti?" the kreen continued in it's own language which it was more comfortable with, "The snakes that walk as men? I would greatly enjoy the chance to spill the blood of these creatures, they ignore the delicate balance between hunter and prey, they use guile and trickery to corrupt rather than to hunt for their food, they are a curse to all they meet, and deserve death, allow me to join this hunt, noble dracons."

[ 10-17-2003, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

At the sight of the Thri-kreen, the young elven girl Alae had brought through with her, screamed. Then bolted over to the princess. The Drow jumped, half of them drawing weapons, and then at seeing the young girl just gave her several dark looks and sheathed their weapons.

[Lady Blue03]

Alae chuckled and patted the girl's head, "It's ok dear, she won't hurt you."

Alliene, still boiling from the most recent news of Arlyth, nodded to the kreen, "Your aid would be most welcome, Xvim. I'll make sure you are in the faction that fights the snakes."
Avalon turned to his children "I am not well enough to aid you in this battle. I need to return home and recover." He gripped Alaerth's arm, "Kill plenty of them for me."
Alaerth grinned and nodded, returning the grip to his father's forearm. Avalon leaned down and kissed the top of Alae's head, then turned and walked away from the army. Several minutes later, his huge silver dragon form could be seen flapping its way up and back to his mountain.

"Alright. Alae and Alaerth, I want you and part of my forces to get into the city and destroy this crystal. I will send one of my priestesses with you." She snapped her fingers and a cruel looking priestess with a wicked looking mace hurried forward, bowed to Alliene, then stood behind Alaerth, "Xvim, you go with them. That is most likely where you will find the yuan-ti." She motioned for Zennenn to give the heart to Gus so he could start his spell, "The rest of my forces will be here to fight the elves." Vicious grins appeared on every drow withing hearing range.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Before they divided, the elven girl looked up at Alae, complete trust in her eyes and asked "Do you want me to guide you, my lady?" her eyes flickered towards Xvim and she shuddered and looked back at Alae. It would be dangerous for the child, but the chances were she could guide them a lot faster and show them alternate routes. Besides, she shouldn't be in too much danger surrounded by warriors, would she? The girl paused and looked up and whispered, "Oh... excuse me, my name's Myrdaelth or Myri for short.." she blushed slightly and looked up at the half dragon, hanging on her words. The Mithril shirt they brought back might be light enough for the girl, but would probably act more as a dress then a shirt.

~~~Several hours later, over in the ruined village...~~~

Arlyth stood, looking around. The village he had spotted was just a wreck. It looked like an army had gone through it several years back. It was just a ruin. He sighed. They had been walking for hours and he was tired. The priestess had finally stopped and Arlyth still didn't know what her name was. He had found out the names of the two elves, Aydriena and Naeshra. As for the drow, they were all veterans, though one was only slightly older then he was. He sighed. They'd set up camp and one of the elves, Aydriena had been looking after him. He sighed. Tommorow they would set out for the mountain... and the cave where the sword was. The priestess seemed to be tending to each of her warriors, kissing each on the forehead and spending personal time with them. Odd drow. But then, nothing about her was normal.

~~~Several hours earlier, during the assault...~~~

The main drow army had engaged the elves in the city, laying waste to several houses, as Gus began his spell, and had successfully pushed the elves back to the keep and were laying seige to it... Alae and her group were ready to penatrate the keep, infiltrating it... they could hold the siege for as long as they wished. Somehow, it had been almost too easy. They had taken little casulaties... and the elves had just fallen back. Almost to buy time...

[/)eathKiller]

Gus, despite being a little disorganized, was still fueled by the thrill of large scale combat. He had a taste of it and felt the potential of his powers beating in the dried heart of his oponent. He pocketed the item close to his own heart, and began to pace about, thinking about what possible strategies the enemy would come up with next. They had accomplished their rescue mission, but was it really a victory? As long as the enemy still existed that posed a threat. . .