The Challenge

Chapter 3

''- I don't know where she is going ! She left me here and ...'' ,Kiara was shrieking when the a stinging backhand slap send the young woman down in the reddish soil.

The blond girl dazed , fought to stifle the tears welling in her large blue eyes.

Her captors definitely waited to see any sigh of weakness from her to continue more intensively their interrogation process.

When they captured her she was still sleeping and she didn't had the time to reach her cyan knife or spear not very far from her mattress.

Kiara disoriented from the blow and completely off guard now ,was unable to answer any more questions.

The dark skinned female ork shook free her own long grey dreadlocks from her full of scars face , clearly enraged by the slow progress that she had made until now.

The seasoned ork face was painted with red and black colours.

The colours of war for her tribe.

That made her sharp features even more ominous and scary to her rivals and according to their secret shamanic traditions made the ork warriors invisible to the evil spirits of death.

The cord muscled female ork almost eight feet tall muttering curses and insults decided that her prisoner wasn't honest enough with her.

She needed to pay for that.

She grabbed Kiaras slender ankles and drag her towards the fire that still burned in the middle of the cavern.

It was the same cave where she was sleeping and dreamed about her distant homeland where the dark forces kept her ancestors fortress under siege for years now without success.

And other younger ,grey skinned male ork shorter and characteristically ugly approached the fire from behind the furious female holding a dirty rag of cloth in his clawed hands.

«Gage her Grimfang » the female ork ordered sharply looking the girl , narrowing her small full of hate and envy, yellow eyes.

"This humans ... ,always prettier and smarter than orks they believed arrogantly in the superiority of their race ... ! " the female ork thought bitterly tightening her bony fists.

Grimfang approached the terrified young woman and grabbing the ropes that tied her white hands behind her back ,gaged her mouth.

«Do it quickly Bellona she will start struggling again and this time i will broke her beautiful neck once for all ! « he growled angrily biting his torn lips in his tusked mouth.

Bellona remove a red jagged sword from the fire and turned slowly towards the paralyze from fear girl who looked her with eyes wide open from terror.

«-I will start by cutting your pretty hands or feet one by one ... which one do you prefer to lose first ? Or you will leave it to me little archer ?»she hissed with obvious sarcasm in her menacing voice.

The girl whinnied ,helplessly trying to screame some words.

Any words.

Kiara struggled to crawl away from the blade but the other ork placed a similar knife in her neck and held her still.

Bellona grabbed the rough black rope that tied her bare feet together with her long left hand and held firmly the pommel of the blazing sword with the other.

The savage red blade approached the young woman left ankle ready to cut throw her smooth skin and bones.

Belona mate and chieftain of her Clan Ghun The Fearless , didn't approve what she enjoyed doing to her prisoners.

For his practical mind, a dead human wasn't useful for future bargains.

But he was too busy tracking down her friend Lucinda and it was unlikely to come back before the dawn.

Because despite their efforts Lucinda slipped away from their ambush.

But not her friend.

Now no-one could stop Bellona now.

Tonight she wanted to satisfied her bloodthirsty instincts as a veteran warrior and ruthless killer.

«-Oh is no point to resist beautiful ... in the end you will not fill any pain ... but not before i feed your limps to all my wolves ! « Bellona continued with a loud hysterical laughter.

Even Grimfang afraid of her , considering Bellona crazy and far more savage than a normal mountain ork expected to be.

But he wasn't fool enough to show it.

That made the girl sobbing in despair totally overwhelmed by the cruelty of the certain death awaiting her.

Not the end that a heroine deserved.

And her quest about her dragon rider father ?
She will never met him.

He will never learn what sacrifices his daughter made to see him again.

The dreadful red blade was up in the cold air now ready to come down with tremendous brutal force and accuracy.

Suddenly a deep growling sound came from the gloom somewhere behind Bellona broad shoulders.

She instantly turned her large head and saw a gigantic dragon staring at her.

The dragon coal black in colour, with its maw wide open revealing its white razor sharp teeth was larger than anything that Bellona had ever faced in her long dangerous life in the mountains.

And behind the beast , a stout red bearded dwarve whose face Kiara recognised almost immediately appeared suddenly looking angrily towards the orks which prepared to imputate her.

"- You hurt this innocent girl your evil cave demons ... now we will hurt you too ! " he roared looking his beloved friend tied up and gaged in the hands of the filthy orks.

He was Duggar, the brave blacksmith of her castle who swore to help her in this dangerous mission few months before.

Without the female ork knowledge he and his griffon Duskfeather had already killed silently the two young orks sentries and the wolf which the cunning Bellona left outside the entrance.

The two inexperienced orks ,Mogdurz and Saramph was laying dead with their throats open few steps away from the tree near the entrance where they ate their last meal.

The hardened dwarve lifted his double edged axe and charged forward towards the surprised Grimfang who tried to grab his bow few feet away of him.

Duggan throw his axe with all the strength that he could find this moment aimed directly at the head of his enemy.

And the dragon didn't hesitate more.

Few moments later the jaws Dian ,the female black dragon , was the last thing that the Belona saw from this word this fatal for her night.

Chapter 4

The Desert

- Oh ! This is it ! '' Lucinda enthusiastic voice faded as she looked gazed the spectacular view in front of her.

She was enamoured.

Huge white dunes created from a strange kind of very thin sand covered the landscape as far as she could see.*

She had made it !

The northern girl had eventually reached the last legendary obstacle that was the margin that separated her from finding the lost dragons.**

The dark shadows of the jagged Grey Mountains was behind her now.

A lot of stories was told for this remarkable and sometimes very dangerous place.

Wayfarers and mercenaries who dared to venture in this vast arid land claimed that the sand was from an unknown material very different from the deserts in other parts of the continent.

A material that without the warmth of the sun changed form into something else .

This unique sand could also produce its own light after the rare but cataclysmic spates of the desert.

The Tears of the Elves ,they often cold them.***

And the result was a pale beautiful blue light all around the sand dunes that lasted often for many nights.

But off course she didn't know many details about all this stories and she hadn't enough time to wait for the raining season.

The young woman scanned anxiously the horizon with her beautiful emerald eye's.

Her eyes was shinning with determination just like her mother the legendary first and last Regent Queen who lost her life leading her people in battle.

After a while she started sauntered into the dunes captivated from the vast landscape that she had discovered.

Her long hair was flying back over her shoulders as a cool breeze wafted in then and washed all other thoughts from her mind.

Eventually tiredness overcame her and she sat down with a deep sigh of relief.

The adventure that she chose to accept eventually made her feel exhausted.

She needed a break.

A short one at least.

A chance to relax and think about other things more pleasant than her current situation.

Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and she took off her furry winter boots.

-I will not need you any more there, she whispered to herself softly and threw them aside near her backpack and her long thin rapier named Needle.

She could feel now the hot sand in the soft soles of her small bare feet.

Her mirth came back.

The girl dug her feet dipper inside until the pleasant warmth of sand covered a little more than her ankles.

Few moments later she closed her alluring eyes.

''I am like a perky kitten enjoying the last sun of the day now ,''she thought and smiled with an image that she had just thought.

She was remembering her cat Sapphira.
How much she doted this cat !

Lucindas long blond hair was laid i the sand like golden carpet.

Her lustrous mane glowed with vibrant life as her ringlets reflected the last purple light of the dusk.

The night was better with the temperature dropping comfortably and a full moon turned the lines of dunes into a silvery dreamscape like the rolling waves of the ocean

She opened her eyes with elation after a long time feeling like it was like a dream that became true.

She smiled and turned her gaze back to the heavens to the allure of the evening sky with a mystical longing in her heart as profound as any woman.

Her mind traveled from the cold mountain ridges to the tantalising vision of her swimming in the warm sandy beaches of a lake back in her distant home land.

The sun soon started to disappear behind the golden and lavender colours of the horizon.

A pitch black night sky without any stars or moonlight took his place.

The visibility was very limited now to any human eye.

The girl started to feel that her feet was cold again.

''I have lingered around enough ''she whispered softly to herself and twisted a strand of her hair around her finger.

Suddenly she felt something uncanny about the soft sand where she was laying so comfortably before.

The sand became strangely cold.
And so quickly after dusk.

Her delicant fingers touched gingerly the ground around her ...

It was solid and hard as stone now !
She tried to move her feet out of the sand ...

''Oh no ! I am in trouble !''she whispered with surprise and fear as she realised what happened.

The woman struggled , whinnying angrily for a while to free herself from the solid ground.

But soon she released that this wasn't possible.

She was trapped.

''I have to use my knife , maybe i can cut it or something, she thought looking around her anxiously.

''Or i have to wait for the sunlight !'' ,she thought more calmly after a while.

She looked again her trapped ankles that was engulfed inside the solid rock.

''This isn't a life-threatening situation after all gormless girl ! '',she thought and rubbed her knees with her palms.

Possibly all this will be just a funny story for the future.

''How skittish i am.There are no orks with cudgels and halberds around me to worry about now ! Just my ankles is a little chafed that's all ! '' ,she thought and snickered ,a little abashed with her trepidation in the beginning.

The nimble girl tried to stretch her slender hand towards her backpack.

She started probing in the gloom until she touched her small leather sack.

Her hunted knife was there.

But then she heard something that made her shudder.

It wasn't close but not very far either.

She wasn't alone in this place as she thought in the beginning.

*Three hundred years before this desert was the territory of a vile race of humans who their only incomes came from the slaves that they possessed.
They began raids in the southern jungles where the elf's clan of the Daughters of the Forest lived as you can read to my other book-short story Lost in the Shadows.
Their fortified city built around the only oasis that existed in the center of this desert was the prison for thousands of slaves.
The Quin of the city,was the notorious ''Red Viper''.

**The grey dragons which came here after the defeat of the Dragon Riders destroyed their city and killed all the slave hunters and their queen .

***They took many female elves as slaves during this raids and they planned to sale them as a healers to to humans of the northern realms. But the fate of the survived female elves remained a mystery after the destruction of the city.

Lucildas mother Roralei as a Regent Queen and a cavalry leader.

Chapter 5

Tracking the enemy

Duskefeather took of from the ridge with two strong flaps of his huge raven black wings and soon Kiara had a perfect view of the bleak landscape.

It was the first hours of the dawn and the morning mist had already disappeared from the small withered forests and cliffs around the valleys of the grey mountains.

-We must find her ! Lucinda must be in this mountains still ,the young woman shouted leaning near the large lion like ear of the reddish brown griffon.*

And despite the fact that her bare feet near the warm feathered belly of her griffon was now numb from the frozen air she leaned again near the ears of the griffon.

- The Shereithel desert is too far for one night travel,she must be here i am sure of it !'' ,Kiara said again with her soft voice trembling from anxiety for her friend life.

Duskfeather nodded silently in agreement.

But even if he didn't Kiara wouldn't accept his misgivings or veracity with composure.

The reticent griffon glanced at the girl and this time he saw a very different person from the timid young woman who they found in the cave ,ready to be executed by the bestial orks.

Kiara ravishing golden hair was tied in a long ponytail which bleached in the sun as the cold mountain air blew again in her beautiful pale face.

But now her large deep blue eyes was shinning with determination and a cyan bow made from an unknown flexible material,the Twinkle as she named it in the past, was in her left hand.

A long curved saber with a shiny green blade was hanging from the back of her saddle.

It was the weapon of the ancient order of the Griffonriders that existed even before the first dragons made their alliance with the humans of the north.

She was again a warrior.
And a vexed one.

Kiara was always a precocious child and later the best archer in her castle garrison.

Now in her twenties she had already won a dozen of contests against many strapping men and women opponents much older than her.

She was ready to use the deadly black arrows near her leather saddle and she knew that this time her enemies will not be able to reach her so easily.

The marks from the rough ropes around her ankles and elegant wrists was still visible.

-'' You are ready ? , the amiable griffon asked with deep but serene voice.

- No more talking now from you griffon ! Hide us ! Now ! Kiara said in a commanding tone.

The griffon quickly gain attitude and almost disappeared in the white clouds following her orders.

It was not the first time that the girl believed that she saw something. She tightened her steady grip around her bow handle.

''-I am not here for the stroll ! I feel that my thirst for revenge is greater than a drow **warrior now !'' she answered and a wry smile appeared in her vivid pink lips.

It was time for paying back the creatures that kept her prisoner.

Now she was ready to face her opponents again but in different terms.

Her terms.

The brave girl was wearing her articulated white bodyarmour which was carefully crafted from her dwarve friend Duggar

The light armour didn't covered her hands or legs but her lissom body vital organs and shoulders were well protected.

He had assured her few hours before they took off together, that no ork arrows could penetrate this light mail from distance.

Not from the ground at least.

The excitement made her heart pumped wildly in her chest.

-Higher Duskfeather ! Higher ! Kiara screamed again too close to his ears.

- We must hid ourselves in the clouds ,i saw something interesting , she added lowering her voice.

A dragon in a similar with Duskfeather position usually didn't show so much forbearance towards young impetuous riders like her.

- We must put the sunlight behind us ! she shouted narrowing her eyes.

-We will not wait for the dwarf and the dragon feisty one ? Is better idea if we check the area first , Duskfeather replied humourously knowing that the dragon and will soon catch up with them.

-No we don't have time ! Maybe Lucinda is already in danger like me before ! she replied shouting angrily and kicking the griffon sides with the smooth heels of her bare feet.

Her delicant fingers yanked the reddish fur around the griffon thick mane.

-I am not here to nance in the cloud's with you ! Swoop now ! We will kill this vermins ! she screamed too close to the ears of Duskfeather

She had just spotted again the small campfire inside a narrow creek not very far away.

Down on the ground a pair of vile yellow eyes was watching them.

They were shinning like wolf's from the shadows of the grim forest near the deep gorge.

'' - Prepare the net for our rider ! '' a sharp female voice ordered vulgarly in the common orkish tongue.

The other male creatures quickly moved to their positions.

-''And inform the mage !'' , Ova added after a while acting as second female in command *** after Auden ,the clan leader of the Laughing Skull Clan.

''Where is this condescending mage and his berserkers ? ''**** , Auden thought and looked around in the dark shadows where her warriors had just scattered.

''- Ludicrous rider ! Soon you will be at my mercy ! '' a cold human voice whispered in the shadows among them.

*Griffons were separated in two very different species.The wild and ferocious mountain griffons that accept no humans as riders ( with few women riders as an exemption to that ) and the smaller and more even tempered valley griffons that very often served the humans like Duskfeather.

** In drow or dark elves matriarchal societies which was hidden bellow the surface, females despite their smaller size was higher in hierarchy than males and very skillful in warfare ( as you can see in my book - short story Lost in the Shadows )
But if a young female drow failed to satisfy her Matron Mother standards as a drow she wasn't killed immediately like the male ones. She lose the protection of her fraction and the other rival families were free to capture her and sell her as a slave to their allies the gnomes of the deep Underdark.

***In orks tribes the gender didn't play important role and a determined female could become easily clan leader , often murdering her mate or father if she sensed any weakness from him.

**** The mages often accompanied by the berserkers ,half drow and half werewolfs hybrids which was created to track down escaped female drows slaves who took refuge in the surface like Alvina in the Lost in The Shadows Book.

The Hero

Chapter 6

Duskfeather was fighting to keep the evil humanoid beasts away from the girl who laid still in the rocky ground.

They had fell in the ambush of the mountain orks as they flew through a narrow opening between the crags just before a sharp turn of the canyon.

A net fell opon them entangling the griffon and the girl and send them on the muddy ground where there enemies awaited them.

The griffom managed to free himself from the net but Kiara had already injured and laid unconscious in the mud.

The young woman pretty face was pale from the sock and her thick blond mane was even thicker now from the wetness of her blood.

She had injuried her head during her fall and now the small pond next her was crimson from her blood.

But Duskfeather was injured too.
He had broken several ribs and now his right shoulder had two large gashs from the halberds of the orks around him.

Realising that his possibilities to survive was far less if he remained here he leaped on the chest of one of the closest orks and teared it apart with his front paws and beak.

Meanwhile Kiara stirred.

She was starting to painfully open her wet blue eyes although that she was still dizzy from her injury and severe blood loss.

The brave girl quickly overcame her sock and instinctively her trembling bloody fingers reached for her three bladed glaive in her leather belt.

As the griffon continued fighting, too focus in his counterattack to understand what happened behind him ,the other orks retreated back on their heels, disheartened from his ferocity.

But then Duskfeather using his powerful rear legs jumped high up in the air and flew away abandoning his rider to her fate.

The hunchbacked creatures howled with excitement and rushed towards the helpless beauty who was still laid on the ground.

- Duskefeather ! Kiara screamed in despair as her griffon dark silhouette flow away from her.

He had abandoned her !

A hairy thick muscled ork ran towards the girl in order to have the honour to capture her first, but Kiara didn't lose her fighting spirit.

She instinctively thrown her swift glaive in the neck of the beast which fell stumbled on the rocks next to her, choking from his own dark blood.

The other creatures didn't leave her time to organise her defence.

They soon grabbed her from all sides and held her still on the ground.

Kiara continued to resist kicking two of the largest males orks in their balls and sending them howling on the mud.

But then the leader of the gang ,a tall female ork grabbed her wooden club and knocked the woman unconscious with a sudden blow with the handle of her heavy weapon.

Now the girl was really at their mercy.

The goblins quickly tied her wrists and legs by the ankles on a long straight branch with dirty ropes and straps.

Two of the grey muscled creatures lift the branch in their shoulders and started to carry the girl who hanged limb from the branch, back to their camp.

As they reached the exit of the canyon marching through a thick forest Kiara finally found her senses and she began to slowly open her eyes.

She was still dizzy and very weak.
The girl had already lost a lot blood but her eyes was starting to clear from the blur.

Suddenly to her horror she realised what was happening.

Her light body was hanging from her ankles and hands and moved left and right as the two orks , which carried her, followed the twisting narrow path between the dark trees.

She slowly turned her head to see her surroundings.

The worst possible scenario was real for her now and the griffon was nowhere around.

''Duskfeather was wounded ,fatally wounded perhaps ... ''she thought bitterly.

The horrible thought and her guilty conscience send a sudder in her spine as her eyes became wet with tears.

-Duskfeather ...what i have done to us ... ! , she whispered with soft fading voice.

Only the tusked grim faces of the goblin kind creatures which carried her like deer through the silent forest, was around her now.

''Where they are taking me ?'' she thought fighting with her dizziness.

Orks rarely raped humans in order to breed.

Not here in the south at least ,where their numbers were large and their populations healthy.

But the ork tribes there were well known for torturing their prisoners or sacrificing them to their bloodthirsty gods and goddess ,often burning them alive.

She weakly opened her dry pink lips.
Kiara wanted to scream for help with all the strength that she could still find inside her soul but she couldn't.

The dizziness from the severe blood lost overcame her again.

Her head fell again to her side.

-What you want from me ? she managed to say weakly turning her head.

No answer from them.

- Please ... please ! she whispered closing her deep blue eyes as tears started rolling down from her face to the hard soil below her.

The orks suddenly halted.

And then burning arrows started to fly all around them , from every direction of the forest.

The creatures left their victim down and tried to rallied around their two leaders.

But this didn't save them.

Not tonight.

The orkish warband ,at least nine warriors was obliterated in very short time and the few survivors scattered in the crags running for their lives.

When Kiara opened again her eyes a handsome young man dressed in black was kneeled at her side.

Few moments before he had pulled his cowl down revealing his face and his bow was still hanging on his back.

He was checking her pulse with his hand touching gently her neck.

Then he tried to cut free the tight ropes around her wrists and ankles that the wretched creatures used to kidnap her.

His icy blue eyes locked for a moment with hers.

-Rangers ... she whispered and then fainted in his hands.

Then a woman tall and slender as a knife appeared from the shadows.

Her clothes was black like the man who held Kiara in his arms and a large crossbow was loaded in her right hand.

-Who is she ? a woman asked a little irritated from the way that her companion looked the girl.

-I have no idea , he replied calmly not able to take his gaze away from the Kiaras face.

The Breath of the Dragon

-Back of creap ! Back ! Lucinda screamed bravely using her long thin sword to keep the wretched creature away.

The giant spider retreated for a while knowing that her victim feet was trapped and unable to escape.

The six large eyes of the white spider couldn't see the girl clearly.

And that because the clever Lucilda used the red light of the crystal to blind the creature every time that it was approaching to sting her with its paralysing venom.

Lucilda panting used again the light of her crystal to search the darkness around her.

Her rapier and cyan knife were ready in her left hand.

-I am the hunter not the prey , she whispered angrily.

The struggle had already lasted for hours and her body was exhausted from the effort to keep the vile thing away.

Her terror and disgust for the gigantic insect was something that she had never experienced before in her life.
Sweating and with her elegant fingers trembling from adrenaline ,she looked around her once again in hope that someone or something will come to her aid.

Even with that possibility highly unlikely here.

The spider was nowhere to be seen and as the time passed by ,the light of the dawn appeared in the horizon behind the dunes.

Few minutes later the sand reacted to the light and started to become softer like mud.

''Yes ! At last '' the girl shouted with enthusiasm, finding at last her chance to escape.

The iron the grip around Lucinda's ankles became loose and the girl pooled her legs out with all the strength that she could find.

With one last effort she freed herself and fell backwards as her feet realised from the previously hard as stone sand around them.

Now she could run away from this place as fast as possible.

But then she felted a sharp pain in her back just right behind her left shoulder.

She screamed in pain and turned to see the spider retreating again backwards watching her eagerly with her dark eyes.

She tried to get up and run but the poison was already in her vains making her vision blur and her bare feet unable to move easily or feel the ground above her.

The girl got up and started to run towards the mountains but after a while she fell dazed from the venom.

Lucilda spend few agonizing moments trying to stand up until her vision darkened.

She fell limp on the cold sand unable to move but keeping the consciousness of her mind.

She wanted to scream but she couldn't even whisper a word.

The terrified young woman could still breath and feel the cold air in her fair face as the sun rays became warmer in every passing moment.

The spider moved again closer.

The creature crawled above her body and started to wrap the helpless woman tightly in its sticky but powerful web.

The terrified girl was watching everything but she couldn't do anything to save herself.

Suddenly after a while the creature stopped.

The head of huge reptile emerged from the sand looking at her with his icy cold grey eyes.

The beast pulled itself from the sand and unfolding its huge grey wings opened his mouth sending a ball of blue flames towards the gigantic spider.

The burned insect ran away for a while until the fire consumed it ,leaving only a black smoking mass in its place.

The dragon approached the body of the half wrapped in the webs girl anxious for her life.

''I am too late i am afraid ,'' the dragon thought growling with a mourning tone.

But Lucilda was alive.

And she instantly recognized the huge grey dragon that looked at her with admiration and surprise.

Around them other humanoid pale form's approached silently.

The dragon turned to see the female leader of the Desert Elves ,tall and ferocious , as she drew her scimitars and looked with hate in her burning green eyes ,the blond human girl.

Desert Elves Hunter and Honorable leader Ralomys.