Almost to the King

[Ceriden]

Ceridan sped through the water, its clear blue filling her sight. Cairn Island was within her reach now; she would be there in an couple minutes. The king was bound to know that she was there and she was in Dragon territory, so if he did not know, then another dragon would.

The water was getting rapidly more shallow, it was only about 15 or 20 feet. The bottom was fairly sandy, with big volcanic rocks and the occasional strand of kelp. Up ahead Ceridan saw a mound of sand, oblong in shape, and oddly out of place. She had come this way to Cairn Island before, and she had never remembered this. She kept swimming though, thinking nothing of it, but when she was about to pas it, the mound exploded. Sand filled the water, making it cloudy and hard to see. Ceridan closed her eyes to protect them from the sand, and when she finally opened them, she saw two giant hands, closing in on her. She gave a frightened bark and sped up, toward the surface, leaping out and jumping away. As she broke through, her eyes widened in shock. A huge helmeted head with horns for and aft, was just above the water, and two enormous yellow eyes were watching her. Well, no doubt about it, the dragon king will have to believe me. She thought. She hit the water with her nose pointing down, barely making splash, but the hand followed, slower because of the resistance. These things can't be in the water! They are of land! Her kingdom was now no longer safe.

[Shanette]

Shannette struggled to keep her head above the water as the large helmet she had offered to carry whieghed her down. She was utterly exhausted. Deer were known to swim long distances like this very rarely, but it has happened before. Her wet ears were erect and quivering as a wave pushed her from the back and emerged her in the salty water. She had hoped that she would have spotted Ceriden by now, having sprinted nearly the whole time on land and only stopping breifly on the shore to eat some seaweed which soothed her exhaustion, but her selkie friend was out of sight.
Again, her head fell below the water and again it broke the surface. Shannette blinked the salt out of her eyes as she wearily stuggled on. Land was extreemly close now and Shannette quivered with anticipation. She would rather go up to the dragon lord with a companion as she knew approaching in her human form may only return with ignorance and approaching as a deer could very well lead to her death. She did not know how deep the water was but figured it was only thirty feet. She was close now... So close.
With her eyes set on the land, she saw something strange happen only fifteen feet in front of her. What she thought was some type of curoded rock turned into a grusem scaly beast. She nearly drowned in surprise as she realized it wore a helmet very similar to the one she carried and halfway thought of turning back. The only two things that kept her from doing so was complete and utter exhaustion and the glimpse of a very familiar looking seal, whom she assummed was Ceriden.
Making a thirty foot wide curve around the beast to get to land, Shannette soon hit solid land. She crawled upon it and though exaustion panged through her limbs, a sudden sense of self peril over whelmed her senses and she flug herself into a nearby thicket of trees. There she knew she was safe, but was Ceriden?
Shannette could think of nothing to do, so she only watched in utter terror as she prayed that the Selkie would come out alive.....

[Lady Nala]

Nala was walking, hoping to meet with the dragon lord. "Letters..." she muttered to herself, "I was planning to solve allies with LETTERS?" She cursed herself softly for it. Though continued on. Her footprints now started appearing, as there was a little bit of sand where she treaded.

Up ahead as she water peaked over the edge, Nala noticed quite a bit of disturbance. She set her hand on her bow. And pulled it out. Knocking on arrow on it as well. Though to her surprise she saw a huge monster, and a seal dangling from its clutches. She gasped, wondering what was the enemy. She ran on, and saw a dear.

"Greetings. May I ask what is happening here?" Nala said rather anxiously. Though she realized that the deer was out of breath, and it probably wouldn't understand her. For Nala had not looked close enough at the two animals.

[Ceriden]

Ceriden was in the monsters hand. She was out of the water, and the hand was bringing her higher and higher. She sqirmed, twisting herself, trying to slip out of his grip. She could feel his callosed hands becoming wet and slick with water, and she finaly managed to wiggle out. She fell, devoid of grace, and the giant tried to catch her again, but she was like a bar of soap. She crashed against the water, and the impact felt like hitting concrete because her fall was from high up. She cringed, but did not let the pain slow her down. She was still alive, and that was all that mattered. She tried to swim along the shore, as fast as she could, but the creature was blocking every escape. Her only route was the shore, but she was slow and clumsy on land. She could not change fast enough into her human shape. She envied the Herana, who could change so quickly while running.

She thought of Shanette, and wonered where she was right now. Hopefully nowwhere near one of these filthy creatures. The thought of battling an army of them gave her a chill throughout her entire body. She was glad she pledged her alligance to the humans for this. Selkies were no warriors, and there was only a handful of them. They probably could only defeat one or two at most.

She headed for the beach, knowing that she would be dead as soon as she reached it. She would not be able to run away or fight this creature, but neither could she in the water. He was too big, and she was two little. The soft sand rubbed against her belly, and any other time she would have stopped and relished the feel of its warmth. But not now. She wiggled up the beach, using her flippers to propell her foreward. She saw trees up ahead, they were small, but might offer some protection. If she could get there in time. The beast was out of the water now, and in long srides, he was rapidly coming closer to her.

[Lady Nala]

Nala took up her bow and fired a shot at the monster, seeing as it was attacking the seal. She saw it head for the trees, it seemed like odd behavior. But to save yourself, Nala couldn't blame her. The arrow landed on the monster's head, leaving an indent, but nothing major.

Nala cringed, her arrow had done practically anything. Now that the monster was threatening her own health, Nala wished she had a dagger. Though instead she planted her feet firmly on the ground, with another arrow in her bow. The wind whipped the hair in her face, and Nala wished she had put it up. But she didn't dare remove her hand from the bow.

Should I try and help the seal? She wondered, though she realized that it might get out on its own. So she hesitated, wondering if that was a mistake. Nala turned to the deer, it had been carrying a helmet, one very similar to the monster. Curiousity bubbled into Nala's mind, but she shewed it off.

[Ceriden]

The crature turned to look at its new assailant. Ceriden turned her head quickly and saw an elf amung the trees. She also saw a deer with a sack on her back- Shanette! Her friend had come! But, that meant she was now in danger. Ceriden had never seen Shanette fight, but a tiny deer against the monster was as good an attack as a beached seal. This might be her chance. The creature was turned away from her, she didn't know for how long, but it might be long enough.

It was easier for her to cchange in the water, but she could do it on land as well. She wiggled around in the sand, squirming rapidly trying to free herself. After what seemed like hours, the creature was still distracted, and was heading toward the trees. Ceriden could not believe her luck. She was now fully out of her skin, and she hastily stuck it into her pocket, and she drew her double half-hand swords.

The creature was still on the beach- and near a rocky out cropping. Ceriden saw it, and with as much speed as her human legs could muster, she climbed it and leapt off the edge, landing on the creature's neck. It growled and turned to see what was on it. It's focus was now directe upon Ceriden and not on the two in the woods.

"Keep distracting it! Shoot it in the eyes!" She shouted to the elf and Shanette. She wedged her blades underneath the helmet, trying to pry it off. The double edge of the blade cut against the creatures neck, where its scales were thin. She had remembered Faolon saying that it wore it's helmet because it had little protection on its face. It she could get of the helm, they could really do some damage...

The giant's hands reched up to pull its helmet down, but Ceriden reached foreward to slash his hands away. It growled again, amazed to see the blood running through its fingers. Ceriden was not getting enough leverage. She stuck her swords back in and slimbed up to the top of the helm, which was finally tipping off. She jumped off, pulling the helm off almost all the way, but it snagged and the nosebridge caught.

Ceriden's heart was pounding. She was looking the creature right in the eyes. They were blank, with little intelligence hidden in them, but she could see its desire to kill hidden withing the yellow pools. She kicked foreward with her heels, ramming them, one into each eye. The creature roared and reached up, grabbing her around the midrift. As he pulled her, the helmet flew off, landing in the sand with a resounding thud.

Ceriden was flung bodily into the air, and she hit the rocky sand hard, the wind knocked out of her. She was stunned, her gaze spinning and her head aching. The creature was picking up its helmet, but now its delicate face was exposed, if Shanette and the elf attacked now....

[Lady Nala]

Nala had been aiming steadily, hearing the Selkie's commands. She had taken two arrows in her bow, but feared accidently hitting the human, so she waited until what she believed was the right time. The helmet fell off and hit the sand, leaving a cloud hanging in the air. Her eyes followed Ceriden as she hit the ground, but Nala knew that this was her chance. She aimed quickly and fired.

On of the arrows hit right below the eye, and the other slightly piercing the beast's nose. Nala cursed, this was a bad time to be aiming off, though she realized that the arrows actually penetrated at the face. She knocked one more, and fired, hitting the monster straight in the middle of the forehead. Though it wasn't enough to kill it, only to stun for mere moments.

Realizing that more power needed to be supplied, Nala took out a special arrow, and enhanced it with a little bit of elf magic, then she put it on her bow. She took long than she ever had before getting it set, though this was a mere 15 seconds. The creature was running towards her, and fear coursed through Nala. She send the arrow to fly, not knowing where on the face it landed. And how much damage it did. For she had jumped out of the way, unto some tree cover, after recieving a bruise in her right leg from the beast.

[Vardian Custodio]

Vardian toppled out of the clouds and spiralled down towards the earth. He immediately saw the ground rushing up to meet him. He saw a massive beast hurl Ceriden away and then an elf firing at it. The white light from his body was near blinding as he willed more speed into his wings so he could get there in time.

The elf jumped out of the way of the crashing beast and landed nimbly in a heap of trees, and Vardian collided fully into the beast's back. The force of the two beings hitting was thunderous and would have completely pulverised the bones of any human. Both Vardian and the creature rocketed through the trees and deeper into the woods. They flew back through the air in a tangled mass for about 50 feet as the trees they hit splintered in two. Vardian kicked off from the beast and raised into the air. His left arm was numb with pain from where he had tackled into the beast. It was first time he had ever experienced pain before, and he found it strange and alien to him.

He saw the beast's body fall to the ground, twitching and convulsing horribly, its limbs broken in horrid ways. But it wasn't because of Vardian that it was now dead. An arrow sat out of the beast's eye, still quivering from the shot. It had passed almost nearly the whole way through its head, and the feathers were now only millimetres from the entrance wound. Strangely, the arrow glowed golden and glittered in the sunlight.

"Whatever they are... at least they can die..." Vardian muttered to himself. Looking at the convulsing beast below him. The arrow had done wonders, it had probably been dead before he had even touched the creature.

He lowered himself down to where Nala now lay in the grass. He knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder with his good arm, "Are you ok?"

[Lady Nala]

Nala looked up at the Vardian. "Thank you! Once again, your there for me." she smiled. As she struggled to stand up, and burshed her self off. She took a bow to the Vardian. "Your quite strong." As Nala's eyes examined the beast, it was covered in tough scales. A smile creeped up on her face as she saw her arrow in its eye, though she wasn't sure if she wanted it back.

A thought struck Nala, "The seal..." She said, looking around. Hoping that it would be ok. She admired its courage, but wondered why the animal was around here. Also the deer.

"Thank you again. Are you here on couinsidence*? Or purpose?" Nala smiled, while nervously glancing around for the seal and deer. Her feet glided silently towards the sand and water once again. Though she felt pain in her leg, as she looked down. There was blood, but she was sure the others suffered worse. "Are you ok?" she asked the angel, remembering the tough impact.

((* love my spelling don't you?))

[Vardian Custodio]

Vardian helped Nala up and looked back at the beast, "I'll be fine. My arm is numb, but its nothing."

He looked hurriedly back towards where he had seen Ceriden before. "I am here on purpose. I couldn't let the leaders of the Selkies, Herena and Elves come to harm so early in this chapter of history." He noticed her confusion at that statement, so he continued. "The seal you just saved is Ceriden of the Selkies, and the deer is Shannette of the Herena. We have to see if they are alright."

He took off and flew quickly over to where Ceriden was lying on the ground, beside some rocks and covered in sand. He knelt down to look at her wounds, but they didn't look especially bad. She had some bad bruising on her body and there were a few shallow cuts across her fair skin, but nothing that could threaten her life.

"Ceriden! Are you ok? Its Vardian..."

[Lady Nala]

"Ceriden? Shanette?" Nala asked, quite suprised. Though it explained so much that she had not thought about. She saw the Vardian tending to Ceriden, so Nala walked over to Shanette.

"Shanette. It's me Nala. Are you ok?" She asked, wondering if the beast had hurten her. Or whether on her journey she was injured. Nala looked at the light footprints in the sand. Curiousity pulled her towards the body of the beast, yet she wanted to see whether the others were ok.

"And you Vardian? Is your arm well. Do angel's expierence pain?" Nala asked. Her eyes settling on the glowing figure as she sat next to Shanette.

[Shanette]

Shannette looked up to the elf. She could speak to any human or beast in her deer form now, being granted that power by Firedancer. She gave a smile. Yes... Yes I am fine. Just tired. Deer aren't ment to swim that far, and not with this."

she stood up with trembling legs, and with the helmet still latched around her, walked slowly towards Ceriden. She felt bad, not being much of a use, but she had exhausted herself on her swim here and the helmet itslef, whieghed her down to the point where it would have been hard to fight. "I brought this so that Ceriden could show proof to the dragon lord." She looked back at the elf, "But it does not look like she needs it now. "

Shannette's deep eyes looked at the helmet that lay in the sand, slightly dented and then her gaze wandered to the beast itself. Before she took another step towards Ceridan, she turned to the angel. She was surprised, for she had not believed in such things and was in shock that he knew her name. She wondered if the Arch angel knew all names- perhaps even could see into the future. "Thankyou." She said to him and then turned quickly away, still shocked. At Ceriden's side, she layed the helmet.
"Who here has gotten injuries?" Shannette may have not helped fight, but she could heal, and she was anxious to help, even if the angel could heal with his supernatural powers. Shannette herself rathered that things be healed the more natural way with plants and herbs. Ceriden had not responded and she was worried, but she could not sit there and wait for her to answer. Shannette trotted off, taking a deep breath to relieve her exhaustion and started rummaging in the bracken of the bordering forest, and quite close to the beast, but still considerably far away, for dock leaves and other such healing plants. She was just about to return to the others with her mouthful of remedies when she spotted something on the ground. She bent down to examine it.

It was some sort of coin, though much larger than any coin that she had seen. Shannette dropped her leaves and knelt down on her forelegs. There where silver lines etched into the metal, and various colored rubies scattered around it. There seemed to be some crood form of a diractional compass in the center, though to shannette, it looked more like a distorted star. Her eyes glinted with curiosity as she slowly picked it up in her mouth.

Biting back the bitter taste of the metal, which did not taste like metal at all, Shannette headed back to the small group, she began at a trot and transformed into her human self, catching the heavy coin in mid air with two hands.

Her eyes were still latched on it as she walked hastily over to them, trying to figure out what it was.

(( Heheh... found a way we can find their land!))

[Lady Nala]

Nala could not supress the smile from her face. The determination of Shanette, Ceriden, and Vardian amazed her. Curious eyes followed Shanette as she explored. As she shifted, Nala smiled at her. Though noticed what was in her hand.

A thoughts struck Nala as she walked back over to the beast. She searched him for remains of things, yet found very little that was valuable. With a tiny struggle she pulled out her arrow stuck in the beast's eye. The other arrows were snapped, she picked those up. Held the ends together and muttered a silent word and they sealed themselves. Both the arrows were sent gently into the case by Nala's hand.

She looked at Vardian gratefully and admiringly, though caught herself as she turned quickly away back to the approaching Shanette. "What is it?" she asked. Though as she saw it carefully, it appeared to be a compass.

[Shanette]

Shannette flipped it over as she answered Nala. "I don't know..." Her dark eyes traced the silver etched lines and the rubies with the star in the middle, but she could make nothing of it. She flipped the coin over again and this time examined the back. The coin was made of the same metal as the helmet.
"I would have said the beast was a thug, but it's race seems rather intelligent." Though a little rough here or there, the large coin showed a considerable amount artistic ability and the glimpse of an enhanced community system that these beasts most likely lived under. She held out the coin to Nala.
"I would have thought it to be a coin of currency, but it seems too intricate to be. The lines seem somewhat diliberately scetched, but the rubies, they are so scattered and there are very few of them. What do you make of it?"

Though Shannette desperately cared for her dear friend Ceriden, the coin had drawn her into such deep thought that she could not leave the mystery about it unanswered.

[Vardian Custodio]

Vardian looked up as Shannette trotted over to him and Ceriden. "I'm fine, Nala has a bruise on her leg, but Ceriden here has taken the full brunt of this beast," he said as he lowered his ear to her mouth to listen to her breathing. "She'll live... thats for sure, but I fear that she's been knocked about rather hard inside. She'll be greatly cramped and in quite some pain when she wakes. She'll also have some extensive bruising... but nothing will be permanent."

He saw Shannette gather her remedy items, and figured to allow her to heal her friend. It wasn't his place to... although he could have. He stood up, easily head and shoulders above all of the others and took one last glance at Ceriden, admiring her courage and fortitude.

He looked at Shannette closely as she started talking about the strange coin and he strode towards her. "Can I have a look mi'lady?" He asked as he extended his hand out to Shannette. He held the coin up into the light and the sun glinted off the rubies, making them shine lightly. he rotated the coin and eyed the coin flat on.

"It is like looking down on the land from the sky," he said more or less to himself and his own thought. "The rubies are like islands in the chain in these parts." Then he frowned. "So that must mean that the lines..." he paused in thought. "It looks like a map. But the lines are something strange. It will take me time to figure this out."

He lowered the coin, "By your leave... may I take this coin? I fear these beats do not see on your plane... I fear that they might see on mine... and if they do then they already know exactly where and how to attack this realm..."