• ARTEMIS QUICKSILVER

    Artemis streached her stiff limbs. She had slept in a tree that night, because the prince and his men were out elf-hunting again. They thought of her kind as game to be hunted and killed and stuffed as trophys. She tucked a single lock of black hair behind her pointed ears. Unlike her brothers and sisters, who's hair was pale blonde, hers was as black as a wyvern's hide. And speaking of wyverns, here came the prince of Runath on his now. Instead of fine horses, the prince and his nobility rode dragons. She scaned the dragon's bodies, checking for any of her brethren they may have captured. None. Artemis let out a deep sigh of relief. One of the men glanced up into the tree where she hid. "there! I've found one your highness" Prince Agravius looked up into the tree and saw her. In her tattered dress sewn from moss, her long black hair, her pointed ears, and he reached for his crossbow. Nimble as a fox, Artemis leaped aside to the next branch just before the arrow hit her. Laughing, she dodged the next one too. Finally, she leaped onto the wyverns back and cut the harness. The wyvern streached its gaping jaws and shook the prince off of his back. Arias leaped onto its back instead, whispering a few words of dragontounge, and the wyvern listened intently. Turning to its fellow dragons the nobility were riding, the great beast used its wings to whack their riders off. Arias jumped to each of them while the wyvern held the prince and his men at bay. One by one their harnesses fell, and one by one they slipped silently into the forest. Another word of dragontounge and the wyvern allowed her to leap onto its back. As soon as she had grabbed its spines, it dashed through the trees at full speed. They soon reached the small elven village, and the wyvern slowed to allow her to leap off. With a gentle word of thanks in dragontounge from Artemis, the wyvern dipped its head in acknowlegement and sped off. The elven girl strolled through the village at her leasure, checking the huts to make sure everyone was ok, before returning to her own hut.



    PRINCE AGRAVIUS

    He had been hunting elves for some time with no success. Occasionally he would spot a gleam of blonde hair, or soft footsteps, but whenever he turned his wyvern in that direction they dissapeared. At last, one of his men spoted one sitting in a tree, "your highness! there!" He turned his wyvern and sure enough, an elf girl in her torn moss dress sat crouched in a tree, her hair was unusually black. He had drawn his crossbow, but she dodged it, crowing with laughter. Then she knocked him off his wyvern. the wreched elf cut the harness off the wyvern, and with a few strange hissing noises, made it attack his men and then distract them while she cut them loose. After they were free, the wyvern took her somewhere. A thousand curses on that elf. He would hunt her tomorow. She would be a valuable prize indeed. He and his men got up and began the long walk back to his palace on the hill.



    END OF CHAPTER ONE. SEE CHAPTER 2 SOON