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Untitled Document
Dreamoth sighed as he and Krantalo looked ahead at the nearing
cliff face, which was Mythouny's den. Soon all of Lancoth's creatures would be
there to besiege the great red dragon of healing. Dreamoth looked ahead with a
tinge of fear showing through his blue eyes. It was the first time in all his
years since he was a hatchling that he was at a complete loss.
Krantalo saw this in his friend, and laid a
paw upon the dragon's shoulder. "I promise you that we will get through this."
"Wise words for one in as much trouble as I,"
Dreamoth said putting on a smile for the prince's benefit, which in return grinned
back.
***
Lajonah stood at the mouth of the cave, and watched with silent horror as
the army of Lancoth, for it could indeed be called an army, marched up to the
cliff face. "They have come, haven't they," Mythouny said from the shadows,
slowly walking foreword.
"Yes," Lajonah said with a sigh. Even in the
few days that she had been in the lair of the great red dragon, she had seen
the changes; Mythouny's scales were no longer such a vibrant red. They had dulled
down to a somewhat darker pink. Whatever it was that had made her weak, was
still in effect, and stronger then ever now.
The golden furred Aisha turned to face the dragon
of healing. "We will make it through this, " she said with false hope. "I will
not… cannot… let you pass on." And once again, she turned out to look at the
approaching army.
Mythouny came out to the edge of her lair, and
looked down at the creatures who were invading her territory. Then she looked
with sadness at the Aisha Lajonah. The dragon spirit within her was starting
to take its effects, already making her stronger at the approach of this immense
danger. The red dragon mistress let out a long deep sigh, and then slit her
eyes at the thieves. "I shall not stand here sulking as they seek me out to
destroy. I will take them on." And she held out her clawed hand for Lajonah
to embark upon.
"The last stand of the dragon," Mythouny whispered
to herself as she took flight. "At least I will take some down with me.
***
Teala saw the army in front of her, spread wide across the sands, and headed
for a cliff face. A smile lit her face as she looked ahead, she could finally
avenge her brother, or be destroyed trying. "Come on Windspeed! It is off to
the battle!" And with a snort, Windspeed the black whinny galloped off to meet
the enemy with Teala and the reptillior Krusk upon his back.
A sudden roar made Windspeed rear back on his
haunches, and a deep shadow passed over their heads. "By all the faeries, it's
a dragon!" Teala shouted as the big red form soared out form the cliff face.
"And look! It holds an Aisha in its forepaws."
"It isss the great red dragon of healing!" Krusk
hissed. "Hurry my lady, for her to be out to a battle isss a sign of ill omen."
Teala watched as the red dragon mistress landed
among the thieves, and slashed them down with her mighty claws. "Well, no matter
what the omens say, she seems to be on our side!" and with that, she pushed
Windspeed onwards, and they headed for the battle.
***
Krantalo and Dreamoth both looked up with wide eyes as Mythouny roared, and
each pulled out their swords, ready to do battle. Dreamoth looked around as
Lancoth and other officers of high rank called out orders to the other thieves.
He watched as the enemy fled out to Mythouny as she landed, swords withdrawn,
ready to end it for her. Snapping back to reality, he turned with a grim face
to Krantalo. "Go find that Aisha Boldheart!" he spat out. "Release him from
his bonds, he can help us in this battle! Go now!!!"
Krantalo nodded in agreement, and turned to
find Boldheart as Dreamoth rushed off to protect his mistress.
As this happened, Boldheart sat in the dark
of a tent wondering how much longer it would be until death claimed his body.
"He destroyed her. Ordered her to be destroyed," Merato whispered to himself
slowly. He did not know that Lajonah still lived, that she had escaped.
"Lancoth has destroyed all that I ever loved."
And a tear started to drip down his sand colored fur. Though just as despair
had its clutches upon his heart, Krantalo burst into the room, Sword aloft.
"So now one comes to end it all," he stated,
seeing the golden headband, Merato did not know that Krantalo was on his side.
Krantalo swung his sword down, and cut all of
Merato's bonds in one swift stroke. "We need your help Boldheart," Krantalo
said looking into the eyes of the stricken warrior.
"I'd rather die then join ranks with you, and
those other thieves!" Boldheart snapped, some of his warrior spirit returning
to him as he was freed.
Krantalo looked upon him, and then realized
that he still wore the golden headband. He reached a paw up, and threw it to
the ground, and then with a grin upon his face stomped it into the dust. "I
am not one of Lancoth's men, and I never will be," he exclaimed, golden eyes
gleaming. "I am Krantalo, the prince of Lazcorz, and I fight in the name of
my kingdom, and in the name of the king!"
Krantalo took an extra sword that he had picked
up, and tossed it to Merato. "Take up your weapon Boldheart, and fight beside
me."
Merato took up the sword in his paw, and then
the spirit of the warrior took over his limbs once more. "I will take you up
on that Prince Krantalo." And with a slight bow to Krantalo, he ran out into
the midst of the battle ready to fight to the end.
***
"Mythouny!" Dreamoth called as he ran with all his might towards his friend.
He took out any creature that stood in his way without even slowing down as
he desperately tried to get to the red dragons side. As he ran, he looked ahead
to Mythouny. He could tell that she was ill; her colors were pale, and her movements
weak. He knew that she could not last much longer, and so he began to run as
fast as his feet would take him towards her once again.
Dreamoth stopped, and looked ahead to Mythouny
as a Lupe shot an arrow, which made its mark between her large scales, and the
dragon let out a roar as she felt the pain. He sheathed his sword, and then
with grim determination, began to change.
His wings began to grow, and his ears shortened.
He grew in size until he was bigger then all the other creatures out there except
for the great red dragon herself. His snout was longer, and thinner in comparison
to his body, and his tail was much longer, and whipped around with his anger.
His eyes were slit with the cat-eye like pupil of a dragon, and his teeth were
much longer as were his claws. His scales were still their pure-white, and his
eyes were still a brilliant sky-blue. He had resumed his dragon shape.
Mythouny's eyes looked over to Dreamoth, and
a light smile appeared at the side of her mouth before she continued to try
and protect herself. Dreamoth spread his wings wide, but then feeling the pain
in his wing, he folded them back up. He had almost forgotten that his wing wound
would carry onto his dragon form.
With a deep sigh, Dreamoth started to run towards
his mistress. He had almost reached her side when the call of a whinny sounded.
He looked over and watched as a whinny galloped into the fray with a Kyrii archer
upon its back. Something struck him about the whinny as familiar, but he shook
off the notion, he had to save his lady.
***
There were many cries of disdain from Lancoth's thieves as the white dragon
ran up to Mythouny's side, and some of the thieves even ran. One dragon in bad
health was bad enough, but two. That was asking the impossible.
Malothsi looked out at the dragons from the
shadows with a strong contempt. He knew that there was the smell of dragon at
his camp, and he had seen the dragon shift from the white Draik who had been
in Lancoth's ranks. "Lancoth!" he shouted, and the desert Tuskaninny bowed to
him.
"Yes master?"
"Your creatures are deserting you! You had better
pull them together… Now!!!" and Lancoth quickly ran out to do his twisted masters
bidding.
***
As Merato ran into the midst of the battle he lost sight of the young Kougra
prince Krantalo, but he did not care. All that was on his mind was the form
of Lancoth who stood atop a dune. His golden eyes were practically red in color
his anger for the Tuskaninny was so deep. He was going to destroy Lancoth for
all the harm that he ever did to himself, or to others.
Thinking of his family; thinking of Lajonah
Merato stumbled up the dune with tearstains upon his cheeks. Some of the thieves
would challenge him on his pursuit of Lancoth, but those he quickly cut down
with his sword.
"Fools! You cannot give up now! We must fight
the dragons! We…" Lancoth turned, and looked with a deepening fear at Merato.
"Boldheart… How did you?"
"Surrender Lancoth," he said between clenched
teeth. "I should just destroy you, but I'm better then you. If you surrender
your weapon, I'll spare you."
Lancoth's eyes shifted to his sides, and seeing
no escape, he held out his sword. "There's no need to get violent." And he tossed
his curved sword over to Merato's feet.
"Merato looked down to the sword, and then back
up into Lancoth's eyes. "You just give me one reason to destroy you, and I won't
hesitate to do it…" and he slowly walked forward to Lancoth, holding a discarded
headband which could be used to tie the Tuskaninny's hands together. As Merato
walked closer, Lancoth held his hands behind his back. "Hold out your hands…"
"Okay Boldheart!" Lancoth said with an evil
voice, and he grabbed a dagger from behind his back, and flung it at Merato's
chest.
Only his quick reflexes prevented the dagger
from finding its mark, but even so, the dagger lodged itself in Merato's sword
arm, making him unable to fight with it, and drop his sword. "AHHGH!!!" he yelled
as he fell to his knees, and as Merato fell down, Lancoth picked up his sword,
and held it up to Merato's throat.
"I think the tables have turned Boldheart."
But before Lancoth could even move a muscle, an arrow flew into his sword, sending
it flying out of his grasp. He started to pull another concealed dagger out
of his belt, but before he could, there was a loud bay, and Windspeed flailed
his hooves in front of Lancoth, and Teala aimed another arrow at his throat.
"So we meet at last Lancoth," she spat as Windspeed
went back down onto all fours. "You abducted my brother," she said anger welling
up inside of her.
"Your brother?" Lancoth said with some smite.
"You took my brother a very long time ago."
And when Teala saw the stare of Lancoth she said quietly, "His name was Ishtolam."
Lancoth started to laugh. "You are a fool Kyrii
You should have stayed at home! What you will find will make you wish you had."
And he started laughing again.
"Tell me or I'll lay an arrow through your heart!"
"You wouldn't do that. You need me to say who
your brother is," he snickered. "But first I have some unfinished busyness."
And picking up Merato's own blade, he lifted it, and prepared to strike him
down. Merato put up a hand as if to shield him, but there was a twang of a bow,
and Lancoth let out a short gasp, and fell into the sand. His last words were,
"Now you'll never know…" and then his eyes clouded over. The thief Lancoth…
was gone.
***
Many of the thieves saw this, and then started running for their lives. They
would not go leaderless. Merato stood over Lancoth, and Teala let out a whoop
of joy. It was looking like they had won. "Windspeed, Krusk!" she said. "I think
we've…" but there was a sudden explosion of the sand around them, and Teala
was knocked unconscious.
Dreamoth looked as he heard the explosion, and
almost gasped at what he saw. There stood Malothsi at its source. He growled,
and then charged the master of Lancoth knowing that he could be to no good.
As this happened, the thieves stopped their
running away to look at this new terror who seemed to have taken Lancoth's position.
Malothsi saw this, and then as he saw Dreamoth start to charge him, he started
to mumble words under his breath. To his side Krusk hissed as he recognized
what Malothsi was saying. He tried to yell out to warn the dragon, but being
a reptillior, his voice was too weak to carry on to Dreamoth. "Dreamoth!" he
tried again. "Get out of here, hurry! He isss reciting wordsss of the magic
of dissstruction!" and Krusk let out a hiss of sorrow as Dreamoth yet again
did not here him.
Krusk looked to his sides. Teala was out cold,
and could not help, and Merato was not in sight. A whinny sounded, and he saw
Windspeed pick himself out of the sand. "Find Merato," Krusk ordered the whinny.
"I ssshall try and wake my laadyy. I don't think that we will be able to sssave
Dreamoth, the wordssss are about complete."
Even as Krusk said those words, and Windspeed
sped off to find Merato, Malothsi finished speaking his spell. He spoke one
more word, and then fired out a green fireball just as Dreamoth reared in the
air. As it plunged into him, he let out a roar, and fell with darkened scales
where the ball hit. Malothsi just laughed and watched as Dreamoth fell. "So
you see! The white dragon is gone, all of you go capture the red one now!" he
yelled out to the thieves who had once again regained their will to fight.
***
There was a sudden roar, and Dreamoth fell to the ground as Krantalo watched
in horror, "Dreamoth!!!" he screamed, and started to run towards his fallen
friend. He ran up to Dreamoth's head, and a tear fell down his cheek as he rubbed
his paw over the dragon's muzzle. "Dreamoth…" he whispered softly.
"I'm still alive…" the dragon mumbled, and Krantalo
could have jumped for joy. "I am still alive… but not by much." He tried to
stand, but fell again with a grown. Dreamoth looked up to Malothsi, who was
preparing to finish off the dragon since he saw that he lived. "Run Krantalo.
You can live!"
Krantalo looked up at Malothsi as he prepared
to end it for Dreamoth. "Get up Dreamoth! Hurry!" and he shoved at the dragon
with his paws.
"It won't matter, I am too weak to do much anyway.
I can only be saved if Malothsi is destroyed."
Krantalo looked into the eyes of Dreamoth, and
nodded. He then raced off and headed for Malothsi. He would not let evil take
his friend from him. He was sure of that.
The End
Authors Note: I actually planned to have this be the last story in the
Boldheart saga, but unless I wanted to cut the length down by taking away on
the story, it wouldn't have worked. So I will instead make one more story for
Boldheart
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