Ambushed
The bright, morning sun shone down upon the forest. Spring had arrived only a few weeks ago, but already the signs of renewed life were everywhere. The birds were singing, the leaves were starting to return to the trees, and the wildlife of the forest that had been asleep all winter began to awake. In a clearing in the middle of the forest Brinsop began to stir. It had been many months since he had fled his home with his friend Mikhail, whom Brinsop had saved from an untimely death. Mikhail and Brinsop had been friends since they were young, and both knew their friendship was forbidden; that did not stop them from being friends however.
Brinsop awoke and sleepily looked around the camp. He noticed that Mikhail was nowhere to be seen. Brinsop began to worry about his friend, when suddenly Mikhail emerged from the bushes with a dead boar in tow. "Well it's about time you woke up," Mikhail said. "I was beginning to think that you'd sleep all day." Brinsop laughed and replied," Well, I wouldn't be so tired if I didn't have to carry you all over the place." Both friends laughed as they prepared a fire to cook their breakfast, which was made easier and quicker thanks to Brinsop's fire breath. The two friends sat around the fire, and discussed their plans for the day while eating. "As far as I can tell we are almost out of the forest," Brinsop said. "There is a valley to the north of here that I think will take us out." Mikhail nodded in agreement then asked, "How long do you think it will take us to reach this valley?" "We could probably be there around mid afternoon, unless we run into trouble."
The two friends finished their meal, packed up camp, and headed out on their journey. Normally, Brinsop would just fly them to the valley, but the duo had recently discovered that some of Brinsop's old clan members had begun to follow them. One night; A dragon the Brinsop knew from his clan even walked right by the cave where he and Mikhail were staying. Fortunately, they had the common sense to hide the cave with brush, and leaves before using it to spend the night but it was still a close call. So the friends continued their journey on foot. It took many hours, but finally around mid afternoon they arrived at the edge of the valley.
Looking down into the valley they could see more trees of various types, as well as a large river. No doubt that the river had formed this valley many centuries ago. They had also noticed there were houses in the valley. Mikhail thought it was strange that there would be a village out here in such a remote area. He turned to Brinsop and asked, "Should we go down and investigate?" "Why not," replied Brinsop. As they took their first steps into the valley they heard a loud roar from overhead. They looked up just in time to see a large red dragon land off to their right. Brinsop's eyes went wide with shock as he gazed upon the large dragon. The dragon looked at Brinsop and spoke in an evil and unfriendly tone, "Well, well what a pleasant surprise. I thought I would never find you Brinsop. Our master has had the whole clan out trying to find you. He is most displeased that you abandoned the clan." Mikhail by this time had drawn his sword ready to do battle with the enemy dragon that had suddenly appeared before them. "Brinsop, do you know this dragon," asked Mikhail. "Yes," replied Brinsop. "His name is Akkan. He is an assassin for my former master." A smile began to spread across Akkan's face as he noticed Mikhail for the first time. "It seems that abandoning your clan isn't your only crime Brinsop. You also betray us by collaborating with a human. The master will not be pleased with you." "He doesn't have to be," replied Brinsop. "I am never going back to the clan. The master's view of humans is wrong, just as the human's view of us is wrong." "That's too bad," replied Akkan. "I guess it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Seeing as how I was going to kill you even if you decided to come back willingly." With that Akkan charged Brinsop and Mikhail. Akkan quickly grabbed Brinsop by the back of the neck and threw him into a nearby rock face knocking the wind out of him. Mikhail brought his sword around quickly to try to catch Akkan off guard, but to no avail as the dragon quickly took to the sky. Akkan then spoke to Brinsop, "I could kill you first, but where would be the fun in that. Instead I will kill your human friend first, while all you can do is watch." Mikhail readied himself for whatever Akkan had planned. Akkan circled Mikhail a couple of times trying to size up his attack, then in a flash began to plummet straight at Mikhail. Mikhail couldn't dodge the attack due Akkan's unbelievable speed. All he could do was brace himself for the impact. Mikhail raised his shield in an attempt to soften the blow, but it was to no avail. Akkan hit Mikhail with a full head of steam sending the warrior flying straight into a tree. A loud crack was audible as Mikhail hit the tree, and Brinsop was sure his friend was dead.
"Humph, so much for that," laughed Akkan. Akkan now turned his attention to Brinsop who was still trying to recover from the previous attack. "Now I can deal with you." Brinsop managed to get to his feet ready to die fighting to avenge his friend. "I will kill you for what you have done," roared Brinsop as he blindly charged Akkan. Akkan laughed to himself as he watched Brinsop charge him. "What a fool," Akkan thought to himself. With that Akkan opened his mouth and let forth a massive fire ball that connect with Brinsop's mid section and exploded. Brinsop was once again sent flying into the rock face, but this time the force of the blast sent him a good 5 feet into the side of the rock. "I expected more of a challenge from a warrior of your stature Brinsop," mocked Akkan. "Maybe, I'm doing you a favor by ending your pathetic life." Akkan's words made Brinsop angry. He wanted to rip his throat out, but the last attack had left him unable to move. "This is it," he thought to himself. "This is where it's going to end." He could see Akkan getting ready to deliver the final blow. All he could do was accept his fate. Brinsop closed his eyes and thought back to all the good times he and Mikhail had when they were younger. Things had seemed so much simpler then. They could sneak out and hang out with each other without anyone asking questions, because they were young. Now, all that had lead them to this moment.
Brinsop left his eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable. At that moment he heard a loud explosion. He expected to feel pain from the attack, but there was none. "Had Akkan missed" he asked himself. Brinsop opened one of his eyes and was shocked to see Akkan lying in a crumpled heap. He was even more shocked when a silver dragon poked its head into the hole that Brinsop had been blasted into. The dragon then spoke to Brinsop, "Are you okay?" The dragon's voice was that of a female. Her words were kind and full of concern as she looked upon the injured Brinsop. "I-I think so," Brinsop stammered as she helped him out of the hole. Brinsop then turned and looked at Akkan, who was obviously dead, and asked, "What happened to him?" The dragoness replied, "I attacked him to protect you. Normally I don't condone violence, but sometimes there is no avoiding it." Brinsop suddenly remembered Mikhail and that he had been wounded. "Where is my friend," asked Brinsop? "Don't worry," replied the dragoness. "Another one of my friends already took him to our village in the valley. He was pretty badly wounded, but he should make it." This came as a great relief to Brinsop. He was almost certain that Mikhail had been killed by Akkan. He then looked at the dragoness again and said, "Thank you. If you hadn't showed up when you did; me and my friend would both be dead right now." The dragoness smiled and replied, "Don't worry about it. That's what my friends and I do. We help those in need of help." Brinsop then spoke again, "I apologize. We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Brinsop." The dragoness smiled again and replied, "My name is Thava. It is a pleasure to meet you Brinsop."