Chapter III, part 2:

The two hooded figures were running in the darkness protected underneath the night’s veil and their dark cloaks.

Tears were running freely from Liriel’s eyes as she remembered Raymond’s parting words.

“You will leave when the moon starts to rise today, this is an order.”

“But this is unfair. I am one of the best soldiers for my age. I will fight and honor the name of Charoden.”

“There is no honor in dying child.”

“How dare you say those words? You sound like a traitor. That is our way. We fight; we don’t run away like children and cowards.”

“NO ONE IS ASKING YOU TO COWER, FOOL. What we demand of you is to honor your blood. Fight the most difficult battle you can give. We ask of you to manage to stay alive, so as to rebuild what we will lose. We ask of you to create wonders through dirt, to light up fires with wet wood.”

“You are asking me too much. You are asking me to turn my back in the perishing of our ways. I will have it not. I will fight, and if the gods wish it, I shall remain alive.”

“Forget the gods. Seven thousand years ago, it was not them that preserved what we have now.”

“Seven…?”

“Yes, seven. Not all history is taught in the schools. We have faced extinction again. It was the elder then that cultivated this plan. Then it worked. Then over one hundred of the most promising children were sent away in hiding. It took them hundred of years to rebuild the clan. It took them hundred of years to reunite. But they fought this battle. Many generations fought with their extinction, fought in the darkness of being clanless to the outside world. But they preserved. And when they were stronger, they came here and rebuild what was rightfully theirs.”

“So… I’m not the only one?”

“Of course not. Our youngest mages have already left with all our books. All of our history is being sent away in unknown, even to me, towers. From you, we ask the most serious duty of all. Protect Jacob. I can only trust you, to have enough strength to protect such a weak man.”

“Jacob?”

“Yes, he is being tasked with carrying the sword to its haven. Towards the village of Elemir where many of our children are already traveling to.”

“JACOB CARRIES THE SWORD? This is an insult on its own.”

“Foolish child… Who will ever suspect that such a weakling is a Charodian? It is cruel of us to ask him to use his weakness, but we know, that regardless of his physic, his heart belongs to Charoden.”

“Father… Please let me fight alongside you, under the banner of Charoden. It’s the only thing that I wished…”

“Go my daughter. As long as this banner you speak of stays in your heart, I shall always fight alongside you …”

It was the tear filled eyes of her father that have convinced her to go. General Raymond. She had to let the world know that her father could weep.

“Liriel!” The anxious voice behind her brought her back to reality.

As she turned she saw that Jacob was almost exhausted by their running. Regardless, he had never complained about their pace. Three days since they left and he had never asked to rest. Liriel agreed with her father on this. Yes, he may be weak, but his heart was pure Charodian.

Jacob was pointing somewhere in the sky, towards the darkness behind them.

“Oh gods… Run Jacob, run, he has already seen us…” Liriel cried.

The dragon was racing fast towards them. They couldn’t hope to outrun him. But maybe they could make it till the mountains that were just visible in the distance. They were caves there, they could hide, caves that this small dragon couldn’t enter.

It was hopeless, but it was their best shot. She had a slender sword with her, a weapon much less intimidating than her usual, but no armor or shield with her. The elder was adamant that she carried a more feminine weapon, so as not to betray her origin. The armor and shield were out of the question of course…

Liriel stumbled in the darkness. She felt like she was flying for a second, but in the end, she landed hard on the ground. As she turned, she saw the massive jaws of the dragon open, ready to spew out their deadly fires.

Her gaze drifted to Jacob. He was standing, out of breath, next to her. He looked too beat up to summon enough strength to continue his running.

A whisper escaped her mouth. “Sorry father… I have failed.” And with that she raised her hands in a vain attempt to protect her face, much like Jacob was doing, as the deadly flames were coming towards them.

The moment the first flicks of fire reached her arms, she felt the ground beneath her body give way. It was like she was falling from a well. In the distance above her, she could she the hole that she had fallen through continuously becoming smaller and smaller, until the faint light of the night sky was barely visible.

Liriel closed her eyes as she though ‘So this is what death feels like…’ The sudden stop shook her so badly that she stopped breathing, and then she fainted.

When she woke up, she was feeling like hell. Her whole body was aching. Her back was like someone had beaten it with a club. But all those were faint in comparison to the searing pain of her arm.

“This burning looks awful. It would probably take more than a month to fully heal” She heard a gentle voice besides her, speaking.

Sharply she turned her head. She was blinded for a moment as she faced the bright sun, but it was nothing compared to her shock as she was watching Jacob brewing an, awfully smelling, paste.

Slowly she looked around her in disbelief. She was lying on some rich, green fields, some mountains were just visible in the distance, but their shape was nothing like she knew. The sun was raised already towards the middle sky.

“Jacob?” She asked uncertainly. “Where are we?”

Jacob smiled tired. “How should I know… I’m just glad that we survived that dragon.”

“Wha… What happened?”

Now it was Jacob’s eyes to open wide. “What do you mean? I thought that you would know… the elders hardly told me anything before this journey.”

After a while, they concluded that for some reason the ground beneath their feet gave way. Jacob was not too sure of what happened next, except that they seemed to come out the other way of the hole they fell in, and appeared here. But the hole that they came out seemed to have vanished…

Jacob continued to brew a crude salve for Liriel’s burning as he ended his explanations.

“Maybe it is an unknown ability of the sword…” He sighted.

“Then we need to find someone that can tell us what those abilities are.” Liriel said as she silently blessed Jacob for his salve. It was already feeling at least refreshing on her skin.

“Well, I guess we first have to find out where we are and how we can get to Elemir.” Jacob held inside his fears. After all, he wasn’t going to be the one to tell Liriel that her hood had fallen from her face before they fell through the hole. He just wished that the Dragonrider didn’t have the chance to see her face, else they were almost certainly doomed…