Dragonmaiden

[Acalewia]

Legend tells of men and women with the hearts and courage of dragons. These men and women called themselves the Dragonclan. Each Dragonmaster and Dragonmaiden was trained in bow and sword craft, along with bow and sword magic. Nothing surpassed them in skill.
Many years ago tragedy struck the Maidans. They were given a choice, flee or fall. Many fled while many more choose death until one was left: Nadia, the Dragonmaiden's leader. In the end her fate was unknown.
Now the Maidens are just legend, while the Masters still protect those that cannot prtect themselves


Salande watched the two men from the corner of her eye. They had been following her since she entered the market. She sighed. Her tiny village would harbor travelers of all kinds. Her mind told her not to worry, but her instincts told her otherwise.
"Afternoon, Salande" She smiled, then rubbed her earlobe, pinkie out. The sign she was being followed. Nodding, he went on to confront the men, the last thing Salande wanted.

Moments later, they were behind her again. Salande doubled around several times before finally losing them. This was the second time this week she had to do this. She sighed once inside her house.

"Hello, Mummy!" the youngest of the two girls greeted her.
"Hello, Nale" Lavish joined them.
"Let me take that, Salande" In the five years since marrying her father, Lavish still called her by her name, while the younger had embraced her as her mother. Salande closed the curtains and gave one last look outside before turning to her family.

***

Salande checked on the girls before joining her husband. As she combed out her hair, she noticed Jasper watching.
"What?"
"You're beautiful" he got up and kissed her neck and ran a finger down the chain around her neck that held a key in the shape of a dragon with wings outstretched.
"Come to bed, Salande"

Salande sat up in bed. Then she heard it again.
"Jasper! There's someone in the house!" she whispered. Jasper looked at her sleepily
"What?"
"Get up!" Jasper then heard footsteps. "Get the girls and get them out of here" Salande grabbed her robe while Jasper went to confront the intruders.

"Wake up, Nale. Wake up"
"What is it, Salande?" Lavish was tying her robe.
"Help me get your sister up" A moment later, they heard Jasper cry out.
"Now! Let's go!" Salande's plan was to take the girls through the kitchen, out to the stable and on Midnight. But the intruders found them before they reached the kitchen.
"Go!" Lavish screamed. The way out was blocked. Salande pushed the girls behind her while grabbing the knife she had left on the counter.
"Back off!" One of the men lunged at her. She slashed him across the chest. The man rewarded her with a very strong backhand. She heard one of the girls scream before she saw darkness.

[Acalewia]

As Salande came too, she could hear voices. She wasn't sure which hurt more: her jaw where she had been backhanded or her head where she had hit it when she fell. She felt someone touch her arm.
"Salande! Are you alright? What happened here?" Salande recognized the voice of Jasper's friend, Lei. She grasped his arm.
"The girls! Where are the girls?" Lei shook his head.
"I don't know. They're gone" Salande ran a hand through her dark brown hair.
"Oh god, no! They took them!" Lei helped her to her feet.
"Come, your husband needs you"

When Salande entered the bedroom, tears rolled down her cheeks. Jasper had wounds on his chest, stomach and back. Salande knelt next to him.
"What do you plan to do?" she asked. "What will you do about what has happened here?"
"There is nothing we can do, Salande" Norrin, the village's wrinkled doctor said. "The men who came were armed men that knew what they were doing. No one here owns a sword, let alone how to use one. There is no use going after the girls if we will just be slaughtered once we find them." Salande stood.
"You will do nothing! You will let the girls be subjected to whatever those men plan to do to them! What if it was your own children? Would you do something then"
"My argument stands, Salande. The girls are gone and your husband might not live. You will have to move on with your life" Norrin turned and left. Salande would have hit him in the back of the head had not Lei held her back.
"Calm down, Salande. His children are grown and I doubt he even knows he has any."

Later that night, as she watched her husband sleep, Salande made a decision that could possibly kill her. She decided she would go after the girls. After penning a letter to Jasper, she took the dragon key from around her neck. The chest it unlocked was under the guest bed. It had been ten years since she had opened it. Inside was a shirt and breeches, fingerless gloves, boots that laced to the knees, a blue jewel and weapons. After dressing, she laid the letter inside and closed the lid. She had never told Jasper what was inside the chest. She laid the dragon key under Jasper's hand wrapping the chain around his wrist. Only he knew what the key unlocked and where it was. She bent and gently kissed his forehead.

Midnight lifted his head as she opened the stable door. He tossed his head and neighed. Salande smiled.
"We ride like old times, my friend" She swung onto his back and turned him south. The men had left enough tracks that a half blind child could track them. She hesitated and looked back before urging Midnight into the night.

[Acalewia]

"Oh come on" Aya wispered. "It'll be fun. It's not everyday we get the chance to have an adventure" Charles rolled his eyes. Aya never stopped talking and she was always getting them into trouble. "Who's that?" Charles followed Aya's gaze. A figure on horseback had just come out of Jasper's stable and hesitated before continuing on.
"Come on!" Aya mounted her own horse. Charles had a feeling they were going to get into deep trouble and he had no idea how he would get them out.


The next night, Salande stopped for the night. While she was unsaddling Midnight, she felt someone behind her. Midnight tossed his head.
"I know, boy" she wispered to him. "I know" Then in one quick movement, drew her sword and brought it to rest on the throat of the sneaker. Salande sighed.
"Aya! What are you doing out here?"
"Nothing" the blond 15 year old squeaked. Salande sheathed the sword. "Charles, get out here" Charles slinked out of the trees, leading their horses. "Do you two not know how to stay out of trouble?"

[Acalewia]

Aya's eyes popped as a sword came to rest under her chin. Then the woman said her name. She gave the woman a good look. She was dressed in a brown shirt that the sleeves reached her bicep and breeches. Her lace-up brown boots reached her knees. She wore fingerless black gloves. On her hip was a sword and over her shoulder Aya could see a bow. Her dark brown hair fell about her shoulders. In the middle of her forehead was a dark blue stone with a thin chain holding it in place. As Charles slinked out with their horses, Aya realized who the woman was.
"Salande? Is that you?" Charles stopped in his tracks.
"Yes. It is" she said. "And since you followed me this far, I'm taking you with me." It was the last thing Aya expected to hear from Salande. "Get some sleep. We leave at first dawn." Aya and Charles nodded. They were going to have a real adventure.

[Acalewia]

Lei knocked on Jasper' door a few times before going into the house.
"Salande?" It was odd to Lei. Salande always answered the door. Lei continued to call Salande's name. She was not answering for some reason. When he reached the bedroom, he saw Salande's dressing gown and robe on the back of the chair. Something at the back of his mind told him something was wrong, but he ignored it. Coming around the bed to check on his friend, he caught sight of the chain around Jasper's wrist. Lifting his wrist, he saw it was attached to a key in the shape of a dragon. Lei swore, knowing excatly what that meant. Salande had gone to bring the girls back.

[Acalewia]

A few weeks later, the three came to what looked like a small abandoned fortress. Ivy covered the walls, but strangely not over the door. Aya and Charles looked at each other. The Salande they were traveling with was not the Salande they grew up knowing. She drew her sword and tapped on the bronze plate on the door. While they waited, Salande started to pull off her right glove. The plate slide to the left and a face appeared.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Woman! Waltzing up here with the Dragonstone on your forehead! You --" Salande sighed and rolled her eyes as he spoke. She held her hand up.
"Shut up and open the door" the man's eyed widened to the size of saucers. The plate slammed shut and the door opened. Salande jerked her head toward it. Inside, men and boys milled. A man standing in the middle of the room smiled. What he wore was similar to Salande's attire. He wore his shirt open. He also wore a blue stone on his forehead.
"You are the last person I expected to see" He motioned to another door. Salande inclined her head as if he were an equal and smiled.

[Acalewia]

As the door closed behind them, Salande sighed. The man walked around the table.
"One of three things could explain who you are. One: You stole the Dragonstone and you will be in big trouble when the owner finds you. Two: You are a ghost. Three: You are alive and well after disappearing for 11 years and making us believe you were dead." Salande laughed as she took a seat.
"You haven't changed, Elnon" Elnon smirked.
"Obviously, you haven't either" The smile disappeared from Salande's lips.
"Asiago knows I'm alive." Elnon's brow raised.
"If he does, then why do you sit before me? He has found three Maidens in the past five years. He sent me each one of their heads. How did he find you when I couldn't even find you"
"I don't know. He attacked us in the night. My husband may be dead and he has the girls. He wanted to drag me out of hiding for some reason"
"He has secceded."
"I need your help. I promised their mother on her deathbed I would protect them. Will you help me find them?"
"Of course, Nadia" She smiled. It felt good to hear her name once more.

[Acalewia]

Aya brightened when the man and Salande finally came out of the room. They joined her and Charles.
"What are we to do with these two? The boy we can train. The girl is up to you" Salande poked his ribs.
"Don't you dare start that!" She turned to Aya and Charles. "This is the Fortress of the Dragonclan. And this moron" she indicated the man. "Is Elnon, Leader of the Dragonmasters" Both teenagers jaws dropped.
"The Dragonclan!?" Charles squeaked. "I thought the Dragonclan was just a story my mother told me to make me go to sleep"
"I remember Salande telling stories to me and Lavish about the deeds of the Dragonclan. How they could fight longer than any warrior. How they were the best of the best" Elnon gave Salande a look.
"We have a canidate to be the first woman we train as Dragonmaiden in 11 years"
"Yes we do"

[Acalewia]

Weeks passed as Nadia trained Aya. But the girl did not seem to believe in herself. Elnon noticed this and spoke with Nadia.
"You're wasting your time with her."
"No. I'm wasting my time waiting around here while your scouts find nothing!"
"Nadia!" he threw her hand up.
"Test her!"
"I will not test her until I know she is ready!"
"The other test."
"No"
"Am I the only one who will believe in her!? Test her! She has spirit! It will show itself. Too many people do not believe in Aya, including her"
"Fine!" Elnon threw his hands up. "I'll give her the first test!"

[Acalewia]

Nadia heard yelling. Rounding a corner, she saw Aya fighting off three boys. The boys were calling her names and shouting obsenities. Elnon had worked fast in giving the test only an hour after they had spoken. He was standing in the shadows.
"You were right, Nadia" he said. "She has it in her." he pushed off the wall. "You might want to break them up before she hurts someone"

Aya swung with all her might, but the Master trainees kept shouting and swinging at her. She grabbed one of the pratice swords and started swinging it at the three boys.
"ENOUGH!" she heard a female voice shout. The boys immediatly backed away, touching their foreheads in a salute. Salande glared at them and they and their friends scattered. Aya hung her head.
"You passed your first test" She said. Aya looked up at Salande, puzzled. "The first test is you aganist several. To see if you are able to fight when you are outnumbered. The second test will come later, if ever" Charles ran up.
"Salande! Elnon sent me to give you this" he said breathlessly as he handed her a folded paper. She opened it and her eyes brightened.
"They found them" she turned and strode toward Elnon's study, with Aya and Charles behind her.

[Acalewia]

Elnon stood as Nadia strode in.
"Well, I see you got my message" she leaned over the table.
"What did the scouts find"
"Na-" he noticed Aya and Charles standing in the doorway. "Salande, I wouldn't get your hopes up." Nadia gave him a dirty look. "Damn. Do you have to give me that look. Asiago's men have them about four mile from here."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Yes, good."
"Oh no. I'll go with you. I'll bring-"
"I go alone. It's me Asiago wants. Not you. Not the Dragonmasters. Me. And I promised their mother I would protect them. And I will stop at nothing to keep that promise"
"With that tone, I know I won't be able to convince you otherwise." Aya stepped into the room.
"You're not going by yourself" she said.
"Aya" Elnon begain.
"All my life, I have believed in nothing. Until Asiago took Lavish and Nale. Nadia has taught me more than just the sword and bow"
"Nadia?" Aya smiled.
"I heard your slip, Elnon. Nadia has taught me how to believe in myself. I will go with her. And there is nothing either you or Nadia can say or do to stop me" Elnon sat down and leaned back.
"She has been around you way too long"
"Shut up" She put a hand on Aya's shoulder. "Meet me in the stable in an hour"

[Acalewia]

Jasper' eyes slowly opened. Lei was sitting in a chair nearby, staring at nothing.
"Salande?" Lei started, then jumped from the chair.
"Jasper! Thank God you're awake!"
"Where is my wife, Lei? My daughters?" Lei bit his lower lip. Jasper realized there was something on his wrist. Lifting his arm up enough to see what it was, he saw it was Salande's Dragon Key. Unwrapping it from his wrist, he handed it to his friend.
"This unlocks the chest under the bed in the spare room" Lei complied.

A few minutes later, Lei brought back a folded letter. Jasper opened it.

Jasper,
The girls have been taken. The men of this town have refused to do anything to help them or to bring them back. I have gone after them. I fully plan on returning them to you alive and unharmed, even if I die in the process. Believe not anything you may hear otherwise.
Your loving wife,
Salande

The letter fell from Jasper' hand.
"I cannot believe this!" he looked up at Lei. "Is it true no one would go after the men who took my daughters?"
"Only your wife. But I swear to you, had I known what she planned, I would have gone with her"
"I believe you" Jasper closed his eyes. "I just pray she doesn't get herself killed trying to save the girls"

[Acalewia]

Nadia and Aya headed south in silence. Aya was sure the Dragonmaiden could hear her heart pounding. After a few moments, Nadia reached into a pouch at her belt.

"If anything happens to me" she said, handing Aya a folded paper with a dragon seal. "Make sure you give this to Jasper" Aya took it and looked down at it in the twilight. Jasper's name was written in Nadia's graceful hand.

"Do you think something will go wrong?" she asked as she carefully put the letter in her own pouch.

"You never know when you face a fight if it will be your last" Nadia reigned in Midnight and dismounted. Her face was grim. Aya followed her lead. Together they crept forward.

Before them was Asiago's camp.

[Acalewia]

"Stay here" Nadia said. "Take the girls back to the Dragonhold once I free them."
"What about you?"
"I have unfinished business to attend to"
"Nadia" Nadia placed a hand on Aya's shoulder.
"Remember what I told you and do as I say" She crept back and circled around. The next moment, there was a disturbance at the edge of the camp closest to Lavish and Nale. Lavish took the opportunity to grab her sister and run. Aya grabbed Lavish's arm and pulled her into the bushes. She clamped a hand over her mouth.
"They'll here you, you idiot!"
"Aya?" she nodded. "If you're here, who is that?" her voice trailed off as Nadia pushed back a few of the men. "Is that Salande?"
"Yes"
"What is she doing here? And what is she doing fighting?"
"Long story." Aya led them to the waiting horses. "I'll tell you on the way back to the Dragonhold"
"The Dragonhold?" Lavish helped Nale on the horse. "Are you telling me the Dragonclan is real?"
"Yes" Lavish slapped the horse's behind, sending it running.
"Then we will help Salande if we can" Lavish turned and crept back toward the camp.
"And I thought I was the rash one" Aya muttered as she crept after her friend.

[Acalewia]

Nadia fought hard, cutting down as many as she could. She chastised herself for doing such a foolish thing. She had seen the girls run when the fighting began. She hoped Aya would do as she commanded and not remain to fight. Or return.




Aya and Lavish watched as the remaining men surrounded Salande. The men parted to let Asiago into the ring. Lavish saw Salande was poised to continue to fight them off.
"I do not know wither to say you have made a wise choice in surrendering yourself to me or a foolish on in revealing yourself to the men that have killed your sisters" some of the men snickered.
"She's a Dragonmaiden?!" Lavish whispered. "Is she truly a Maiden?!"
"Yes. Asiago took you and your sister to draw her from hiding" Lavish turned back to the camp. Asiago stood before Salande with his arms crossed.
"Surrender or die, Nadia." Lavish's jaw dropped.
"The Nadia!" she squeaked. "The leader of the Dragonmaidens has been living among us!"
"Yes" Nadia lowered her sword a few inches.
"I make my choice, Asiago" She held her sword where it would reach across her body. She placed her left palm on the flat of the sword. It began to glow white. The glow became a white light. Nadia held the sword point up, her palm still upon the flat. The men around her began to back away. The blade was a bright white light. The point switched directions. Nadia shouted and plunged the sword toward the ground. A circle of light spread away from Nadia. Lavish and Aya realized it was white fire as it burned every man it touched. It dissipated when it reached the edge of the camp. The two girls could hear anguished moans and screams.

Nadia gasped. She had never used that much magic before. She fell to her knees, still panting. Her limbs were trembling. Then she heard laughter.
"You are a fool!" Asiago stumbled toward her. "You used your strength to do that, yet you have only wounded your enemies." Nadia glanced at the sword in her hand, but knew she was too weak to defend herself. Asiago unsheathed a knife.
"You should have killed me when you had the chance"
"Don't you even dare!" A voice shouted.
Lavish? Asiago scowled.
"What do you think you're going to do with that, girl?" Nadia looked over her shoulder. Lavish was holding a bow with an arrow nocked. She shook her head.
"I'm not going to let you kill her!"
"You and what army?" Nadia turned her gaze back to her blood enemy.
"I'd listen if i were you" Lavish loosed the arrow. The shaft buried itself into Asiago's chest as a sword protruded next to it. As Asiago fell, Nadia saw Aya with a look of horror on her face, blood covering the sword she held.
"Nadia!" Nadia's world went black.

[Acalewia]

Charles paced as he waited for the women to return. He wondered why Nadia didn't let him come. Then he wondered if she would even come back. Before long he heard galloping. A horse with one rider came into view. Charles frowned. He recognized Nale on the horse. Grabbing the reins, he called for Elnon.
"Where is your sister, Aya and Salande?" he asked.
"They stayed behind" she said. Elnon joined them.
"The girls were supposed to come back with you, child" Elnon said gently. "Did they stay and fight?" Nale clung to Charles.
"I don't know. They stayed." Charles swore under his breath.
"We wait. If they don't return within the hour, we go out and search for them"


Within half an hour, more galloping was heard. Elnon and Charles waited until two horses came into view. One bore two riders. The fore rider was slumped as the rider behind held her. Aya rode the second horse.
"Nadia!" Lavish reined in. Elnon ran toward them. Lavish let Nadia go as Elnon gently pulled her from the horse.
"What happened?" he asked as he laid Nadia on the ground. Her clothes were bloodied. "Her wounds are not serious enough to have caused her to faint"
"She used sword magic" Aya said. She and Lavish relaid the story of the fight. "She used the Fire Blade! I can't believe she used the Fire Blade!"
"Is that a bad thing?"
"The Fire Blade is the worst she could have used. It has killed more Maidens and Masters then anything else combined." Elnon picked her up and all but ran inside.

[Acalewia]

Elnon stood in the doorway to the room the healers had taken Nadia to. They had done all they could. Now they had to wait. Lavish sat bedside.
"Everything she told us was a lie" she said. "Her name, where she was from, everything"
"What did she tell you? I know she told you her name was Salande, but what else did she tell you?"
"She told us she was from a small village. That she had fled trouble. She taught me the bow. She said her mother had taught her that"
"Everything but her name was truth." Elnon crouched next to Lavish. "When she came to us, the only weapon she could use was the bow." he looked down at Nadia. "I don't know if she'll survive to tell you this, so I will tell you the truth about Nadia" He stood and pulled a chair next to the bed.
"You know everything about" Lavish hesitated. "Her"
"Yes. Nadia was from a small village that was between two warring lords. The village became a battlefield when the armies from those lords met there. The Clan was a league away. I was a young man and still fairly new to the ranks. We recieved word of the fighting and with all the speed we could went to the village. Unfortunitly, we were too late. The village had been burned and many innocent lives had been lost. There was maybe five survivors. We found a young girl of about nine or ten among her dead family. Several soldiers from both sides lay with her arrows in them. She was mortified that she had killed to protect her family. The Maidens took her under their wing and during the days that passed as we traveled back to the Hold, I saw her tears for her slain family and for her lost innocence. Her name was Nadia." Lavish looked down at her stepmother.
"She lost everything she knew. I don't know if I could be strong enough to cope with that"
"Over time, Nadia's skill grew and she raised into the ranks until she became the leader of the Dragonmaidens. Now for years, Asiago had been trying to infiltrait the Hold, but had been unsucessful."
"Why?"
"Maidens can tell when someone is lying. In order for his plan to have any sucess, the Maidens had to fall. He began targeting them and eleven years ago, the remaining Maidens, led by Nadia, stood against Asiago. All fell, and Nadia disappeared. I discovered recently thet Nadia had been in hiding all those years"
"She lied to us to protect us?" Elnon placed a hand on Lavish's shoulder.
"That she did"

[Acalewia]

Men were everywhere. Death lay about her. Men, women and children were being slaughtered. Her father fell.
"Papa!" She raised the bow she had been clutching.
It's just a moving target, She told herself Just a moving target.she released the arrow. She continued to fire her arrows. Her mother fell. Then her younger brother. Her older sister.
"NOOOO!!!!"



Lavish blotted Nadia's sweat soaked forehead. She was muttering names. Her head rolled from side to side.
"Stay with me" she hesitated, not sure what to call her. "Mother. Please stay with me" This went on for hours: Nadia's fever-induced mutterings, Lavish begging her step-mother to fight harder.

Finally, the moment Lavish had been waiting for
"Elnon!" Lavish called. "Her fever has broken!" Moments later, Elnon, Charles and Aya appear in the door way. Elnon knelt next to the bed. Nadia was sleeping peacefully.
"Thank God!" he breathed.

[Acalewia]

Lavish was asleep with her head on the bed when Nadia awoke. The Dargonmaiden knew she was going to have a lot of explaing to do to her. And her father when they returned.


A few weeks later
"Go ahead, Elnon," Nadia said. "Lecture me,"
"I wasn't..." Nadia gave him a look. "You know you are not supposed to use the Fire Blade. It could have killed you,"
"I know," she said matter-of-factly.
"What?"
"I knew the Fire Blade could kill me, but I also knew it was the absululy the only thing that could stop Asiago,"
"According to Aya and Lavish, you didn't kill Asiago with the Fire Blade,"
"No, I didn't," she smiled. "But they did," Nadia picked up the sachel of provisions. "There will always be a place for Aya here," Elnon touched her shoulder.
"I wish you would remain in the Hold with the Clan,"
"I have a husband I must return to," She walked out to where the girls and Charles were waiting. With one last look at Elnon, she turned Midnight and rode away.

[Acalewia]

Lei saw the riders before they saw him.
"I'd ask what were you thinking but I think I know the answer," he said with a smile.
"I'm sure you do," Salande said dryly.
"You know I'm not lying. Your husband has been worried sick and the rumors the Norrin has been spreading isn't helping,"
"Figures,"


Jasper was sitting at the kitchen table when his daughters burst through the door.
"Papa! Papa!" Nale cried.
"Lavish! Nale!" he hugged his girls as tears ran down his face. After a moment he saw his wife and reached out to her. Salande smiled and took his hand.
"Thank you, my love, for returning,"