The Mark of Arella(Book One of the Dragonfly Chronicles)

Chapter Twenty Four

Sam stood back for a moment thinking about what Rhylan had said. Was he putting her in danger? Or was this Rhylan's way of keeping them apart? He didn't trust the faery, but he also had to admit he had no idea what this realm was like and what dangerous they would face. Still he had to trust Lilly and her feelings on the situation, and he would die before he let harm come to her. No, he would still go on this quest and Rhylan could just live with it. He said to Rhylan, "We are going on this quest and there is nothing you can do about it. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get my things together." He walked past Rhylan and down the garden path. Ashley was pacing the room when he returned. She saw the blood on Sam's face and said, "What happened?" Sam just smiled through his bloody teeth and said, "We just had a bit of a disagreement that is all." Ashley cringed and said, "Well we need to get you to a healer because that looks bad." She grabbed his elbow and led him down the hall.

Lilly looked at the clock, it was time to portal to the mountain. She dressed in all black, even covering her face. She portaled to just outside the building and carefully walked up the steps to the back entrance. Aeron kept very little guards at his home, relying mostly on his wards and spells. She had lived here long enough to know how to sneak in without being noticed. She made her way down the hall and came around the corner to where his office was located. This was going to be the most difficult part of her mission. Aeron had many wards and spells around the office and she had to make sure she didn't set any of them off. If she did not do this correctly, not only would she alert the guards and Aeron to an intruder, but she could be killed. She took a deep breath and remembered all those times Aeron and Colvin had her practice getting thru his wards. She focused her mind and slowly stepped towards the door. She could feel tingles running up and down her spine and into her core. It made her feel sick, but she continued moving. She focused all of her will into making the wards think she was permitted to go into the office and she could feel the magic swirling around her trying to discern who she was. She opened the door and stepped thru the threshold feeling the pull get stronger. Just when she thought she couldn't stand it anymore, the ward dropped and she passed freely. She took a deep breath and closed the door. It was pitch black in the room and she realized she hadn't thought of how she was going to be able to see. She couldn't turn a light on. Crap, crap she thought. Then something occurred to her. When Aeron found out she could talk to animals, he and Colvin suspected she could also shape shift. She thought about all the night creatures she had seen in the forest and how their eyes glowed in the dark. She thought of an owl and willed her eyes to become owl's eyes. It worked. She could see everything in the room as clear as day.

Lilly made her way to the desk and started to look thru the drawers. There was nothing there but letters and papers. She turned to the book shelf and ran her fingers along the spines of each, but the books were not there. She sat at Aeron's desk and slid his chair back a few inches. She felt something under her feet. Like a nut, or a little stick might have been under the carpet. That didn't seem right though, Aeron never ate in his office and why would a stick be under the rug. A thought occurred to her so she stood up, moved the chair and pulled the rug back. There it was, a trap door and the nut she was feeling was a metal ring attached to a wooden door. She pulled on the ring and opened the door. Inside she found two books, two maps and a bag full of other items she was not familiar with. She was running out of time so she picked up the bag and shoved the books and maps into it and then placed it in her back pack. She closed up the trap door and replaced the rug and chair where she found them. She made her way back to the door and found it much easier to get thru the wards a second time. As she came out of the office she heard footsteps and remembered Aeron's two guards would be patrolling this area. She hid along the wall behind a plant box as they walked by. One of the guards stopped and looked towards her. His partner asked, "What is it?" He said, "I thought I saw glowing eyes" His partner chuckled and said, "Aeron is going to be mad when he finds out rats are living in his hallway. The other guard hesitated for a moment longer and Lilly held her breath, she totally forgot she still had night vision. She willed herself back to her original form and kept still. The guard shrugged and walked away.

Lilly made her way to the back door and slipped out un-noticed. She had plans to meet Sam and Logan in 10 minutes so she hurried down the stairs and portaled herself back to her bedroom. She had her backpacking gear ready. It had a sleeping bag with other essential camping supplies. She shoved the books and maps into the top of it and headed down the hallway to meet up with Sam and Logan. Silently she was hoping Rhylan would be there. She knew he had kept his word and stayed silent about her plans otherwise Aeron would have been there to stop her. She walked out the back door and out towards the forest. Sam and Logan were waiting there for her. She looked around for Drexoste and his guard but they weren't there. She said to Sam and Logan, "Has Drexoste shown up yet?" Sam nodded and said, "Yes, he said he had a few things to take care of. We are to head towards the mountains and he will find us" She nodded and looked around again, hoping Rhylan would be there, but he wasn't. She walked closer to Sam and saw a huge bruise on his cheek and eye. She said, "What happened to you?" Sam replied, "Its nothing, just a scratch. We should get going before anyone finds out what we are doing." Lilly nodded and looked to Logan. "Lead the way". Logan nodded and headed towards the mountains.

They made their way thru the snow packed forest Lilly already regretting this decision, it was really cold out. She was thankful she had such a good pair of winter boots that were sealed from getting wet. Her feet were cold but she could handle it. Sam started to groan and said, "I didn't realize the snow was so heavy in the forest. It's going be a challenge to get our tent up." Logan looked at the two and smirked. "The winter here is quite harsh but once we make it over the mountains the terrain changes drastically to a summer desert. There are a few caves we can use to keep us sheltered along the way." Lilly thought that sounded wonderful, all they had to do was make it over those mountains and it would get warm again. It could take two weeks to get there on foot she realized and started to get worried again. As they were walking and shivering she thought about some of the new magic she had tried recently. She wondered if she could summon some heat to warm the group up. She reached out with her mind and wrapped a shield around them and then thought of the sun and a warm summer day. She felt herself warming up as Logan and Sam looked at her with a question on their faces. She smiled at them and they kept walking. They had hiked about a mile in when out of the corner of her eye she saw Drexoste appear. She turned to say hello and in the distance she saw three men on horses before them.

The men got off their horses and started to walk towards them. Lilly gasped out and ran towards them. She jumped into Rhylan's arms and said, "You are here,  you came". Rhylan pulled her to him and put his face into her hair and whispered, "I could never let you do this alone and I don't want to be parted from you anymore." She looked up at him and gave him a tender kiss. Someone cleared their throat and she looked over to see Tam and Finn standing to the side with three extra horses. She looked to all of them and whistled. "You brought those for us? How did you get them out?" Tam laughed and replied, "We have our ways princess, and we couldn't let you go adventuring thru these woods on foot. It is much too cold and way too far for you to be marching. We can cut our travel time down by a week which will get us thru this snow faster." She walked over to him and gave him a huge hug. Then she suddenly panicked. "I don't really know how to ride a horse", she looked over to Sam and he grimaced and said, "Me neither". Finn walked up to them and handed them their mares. "We figured as much so we got you two the most docile of the group. They will follow our lead horse and all you have to do is hold on." Lilly looked at the huge animal and didn't even know how to get on it. Rhylan came over and grabbed her hand and said, put your left foot in this stirrup and as I lift you up, swing your right foot over. She did what he said and she was up and on the horse in a flash. Sam watched her and after a few attempts got himself up as well. Finn was right, these horses were so calm, and they just stood there waiting for their lead horse to get moving. There was a seventh horse to pack their belongings on so Rhylan took everyone's gear and quickly attached them to lead pack horse and mounted his own. He said, "Tam and Finn you take the lead, Sam and Logan you cover the back. I'll ride with Lilly in the middle. Stay sharp, there have been rumors about strange beasts in this forest" Drexoste said to Lilly and Rhylan, "Two of us will go ahead and two will stay behind. I'll walk with your group. If we scent any creatures it should give us time to prepare."

-Well, the journey has begun.  I wonder how Sam and Rhylan will handle this trip together?  Do you think there will be any dangerous creatures in the forest?  I hope Lilly and Sam can handle riding their horses.  Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote or comment.