Chapter 8

In the morning Varden heard a knock on the door. Varden got up, got dressed, and answered the door, it was Drayden. He got the biggest smile on his face but then got a good look at her and something was different about her, she was still dressed in her nightgown. As soon as he was in the hall, she pulled them close and kissed him. Then she asked if he would come into her room for a little bit.

It didn't take much talking to convince him to go. Varden couldn't understand what was going on with her, but he knew that he liked it. It wasn't just the way she was dressed she was all over him he didn't mind but he just couldn't understand what was going on.

Last night she was cold and distant like when they first met. Now she just wouldn't leave him alone. He really started getting into it when he snapped back to his senses, he knew that she couldn't do this, or else they all would pay the price.

Varden asked her, " When did all this start?"

Drayden replied, " Onboard my father's ship."

Varden asked, " What changed your mind from last night?"

She said, " I am just feeling different this morning."

She pulled him into her room and that wasn't very hard because he himself wanted to go. He tried to resist it, but it just wasn't working very well. As soon as they got into her room, she shut the door and they started kissing. While they were kissing, she started unbuckling his pants and then dropped them to the floor.

He quickly reached down and pulled them back up. He then took hold of her hands so she wouldn't do that again.

He was still wondering what was causing her to be like this. As they sat there and kissed, she tried undressing him again, but he made sure to stop her.

She went over to her bed, slipped out of her robe, and lay down in her bed in just her nightgown. She made sure that she was laying in the sexiest pose that she could think of. She asked him to come over and get closer. As he started over to her, he noticed her mace was flashing slightly very slowly but steadily. Seeing that he started going toward the mace then she said, " I'm over here."

At this point, he decided it would be better if he got out of there before something happened that would hurt them. He knew that he had been warned too many times to ignore them. He turned and started for the door. She asked him, " Where are you going."

Varden answered, " You'll thank me for this later and you should get dressed because they will be ready to leave in a little while."

Drayden had a shocked hurt look on her face and the tears had started running down her cheek she turned away from him. He really wanted to stay with her or at least talk about it, but he knew that he had just to get out of there before he made a bigger mistake.

He left the room and went back to his own and woke up Drake and they quickly got dressed. Drake didn't know exactly what the hurry was, but he did as Varden had asked him to do. Now Varden really wanted to talk to Argus about that mace.

They went over to Drayden's door and knocked; she didn't answer. Varden told Drake to check downstairs for her he would check in her room.

Drake went downstairs to look for her. Varden knocked on her door again but still didn't get an answer. He eventually opened the door to see her just sitting on her bed staring out the window. She seemed to be in some kind of trance.

Varden called to her, and she just sat there like a statue, it was like she couldn't even hear him. He went over to her and shook her. She jumped as soon as he touched her. Varden said, " Come on let's go. Argus and Drake are waiting on us."

Drayden's said, " I didn't notice you come in."

Varden thought that Drayden seemed to be getting worse and they had to get her to Argus's to find out just what was going on with her. He said, " Come on you need to get dressed."

Drayden started slipping her nightgown off right there in front of him as if he wasn't even there. Varden turned around instantly so as not to look at her and went to the door. She undressed and then slipped on her war robe and her armor and when she was ready, she grabbed her mace and a shield. Varden had so many emotions and they were all conflicting he just didn't know what to do so all he could do was nothing but worry about her.

When they got downstairs, they saw Drake's sitting with five men in dark robes. They had noticed them in the bar before, they were the thieves that Drake had told them about. Since Drake hadn't seen Drayden when he came downstairs, he decided he would get more information from them. And he was able to get some very important information from them. It seems that last night someone saw a werewolf running through the forest. The werewolf had been heading toward the mountains and if it could reach them, it would be out of reach of everything until it decides to come back on its own.

They left the bar and went to Argus's Castle. Argus was at the gate waiting for them surprised to see Drayden with them.

Varden told Argus that he wanted some new magic armor. Argus looked at him and his tattered and torn armor, and Argus nodded his head.

Varden asked, " Do you have any magic armor that would fit?"

Argus answered, " I have a plate armor suit that might fit you. Come inside and we will see what we can get you and of course, you're going to need a new helmet as well. Not to mention we still have to go through the chest that we brought back last night."

They followed Argus into the castle. Argus looked at Drayden and asked, " How are you feeling?"

Drayden replied, " I'm feeling great." Argus could tell something wasn't quite right with her it was like something had changed in her.

They went into the counting room where they had put the chest last night and the two of them started separating and counting the coins. Argus told Varden to come with him so he could get his armor.

Varden followed Argus to his armory they went in and Varden said, " I am glad we are away from the others because..."

Argus interrupted him and said," You wanted to talk to me about Drayden and her mace."

Varden said, " You're right how did you know what I was going to say?"

Argus said, " Never mind about that now we have more important things to worry about. The first thing I will need is Drayden's mace again to study it more thoroughly, but she might not be willing to give it up very easily."

Varden said, " I will try and get it from her." So, he went back to the counting room and a minute later he returned with her mace.

Argus asked, " Did you have any trouble getting it?"

Varden told him, " All I had to do was ask her for it."

Argus was amazed that he had no trouble getting it from her then he pointed to a pile of armor in the corner and said, " That is the armor I told you about. Over there is a little room that you can change in go try it on." He pointed to the little room in the corner.

Varden handed him the mace then grabbed the armor and went into the room. Argus took the mace and started studying it. He noticed a small symbol that was engraved space in the handle that he had not noticed before.

When Varden had the armor on and returned Argus filled him in on the mace he said, " It is the symbol of a neutral cleric. What must have happened is that Drayden being a cleric aligned with the good faith is starting to now being adjusted to more of a neutral nature now. If it had been an evil nature instead it would have hurt, her or even killed her. And it seems since she was so gravely wounded in even killed when a broader back the shift has been intensified."

Varden now realized how light the armor was. Usually, plate armor is tremendously heavy and made slow and hard to move but has a tremendous amount of protection. He feels energized as if he could do anything and to top it all off, he still carried the gem that made him as strong as a giant.

They started back to join the others, and, on the way, Argus told Varden, " You can have the armor for your share of the treasure whatever it is."

They were both unsure of what the value of the treasure was, but they knew the armor was worth more Varden needed good armor and it wouldn't hurt to cut him a break for it. Varden agreed to the price, but he realized why he was getting such a good break.

As soon as Varden entered the counting room Drayden went over to him. She looked deep into his eyes, and it looked like there was such a longing in her for a kiss. Varden handed the mace back to Drayden and she smiled she got such a warm feeling just by touching it.

Varden went over to Drake and explained everything that Argus had told him.

They finished the counting, divided the shares, gave Argus his portion, and put the rest into the vault that Argus is letting them use. Once everything was stored, they left for the castle.

When they got there, they headed to the last tower. When Drake searched the door, he found that it was locked so he went about picking it once he had an unlocked he told Varden it was okay when Varden tried it still wouldn't open. It was jammed and they would have to force it open so Varden pulled with all of his might the door went flying open.

As soon as the door was opened a large black bear came running out of the room. They were all taken by surprise. They backed up and split apart to give the bear some room and the two regain their composure.

The bear stood up and started walking toward them. They were all ready to fight when Argus suggested that the bear might just be hungry.

So Varden grabbed his extra rations out of his pack and threw them in front of the bear. The bear went over to the food and started eating. They carefully went around the bear and into the tower and shut the door.

They went over to the first-floor door and Drake checked the door again. It was locked so Drake picked it. Once he had it unlocked Varden opened it and looked in. The room was filled with a thin coating of green slime. The slime seemed to be dripping from everywhere, but he couldn't see where all the slime was actually coming from and what was weird was across the room they could clearly see three small piles of coins, but they too were covered with slime.

Varden, Drake, and Drayden entered the room before Argus could stop them. Argus yelled, "STOP! Come out of there at once and do it now!"

Before they could leave the room, some slime fell on Drake and Varden's shoulders.

When the slime hit Varden's shoulder it slid down his arm and fell to the floor.

This line that had landed on Drake started smoking and eating through his leather armor.

They all ran out of the room Argus called Drake over and cast a spell rubbing his hands together. Argus's hands started and fire when he touched the slime and it started to smoke, but the smoke was dark black instead of light white, and finally, this slime disappeared.

The black smoke just hung heavy in the air and everyone that smelled it began to cough. Varden thought to himself that it was a good thing that there was only a small amount of slime there. After a while, the smoke began to clear and once it was gone, they felt like they could breathe again.

Argus had managed to burn the slime off before it did any damage to Drake. But it did manage to eat its way through his armor before it was stopped.

Drake asked, " What about the coins?"

Argus replied, " The slime would eat anything that you put it in. Besides, there is no safe way to pick up the gold without getting in the slime. And even though magic items are safer it will eventually eat that also."

Since the slime was covering everything in the room, they went to the second floor. Once again, the door was locked, this time it aggravated Drake. It was a complicated lock and took some time for him to open. When he finally got it unlocked, he found out that it was trapped as well. He told the others to stand back, he was willing to try and disarm it.

They all stood back and gave Drake the room that he needed. Drake did something wrong while disarming the trap and setting it off. The floor underneath him dropped out dropping him into a pit of razor-sharp knives. They went through his boots and feet the only good thing was that they weren't any longer.

Drake screamed in pain and then passed out and fell to the floor. Varden and Drayden ran over to him. Varden carefully pulled him out of the pit and laid him on the floor. Drayden started healing, but it took a little while, and while she was doing that Argus and Varden talked while they were watching her work. While they were talking, they noticed some of the movements in the words were slightly altered in the way that she was healing Drake. When she finished Drake woke up feeling better than he had before.

Drake told Varden that there was only one trap, and it was okay to open the door and just watch your step going in.

Varden opened the door and looked in there were three giant blue eggs. They were about 2 feet across and 3 feet long they were on a nest made out of gold and silver coins.

They thought it was best to leave the eggs where they were for the time being. Before they left the room, they noticed there was a large hole in the wall and the ceiling.

Varden had a strange feeling come over him. His hand fell to his side and landed on the hilt of the sword. At this point, he knew it was the sword that was giving him this feeling. He drew his sword, and the crystal was flashing. First, it was clear then it turned into dark blue. He looked deep into it, and it put him into a slight trance. Then he looked into the eggs, and he knew that they were almost ready to hatch.

The others noticed that Varden was just standing there looking into the hilt of his sword. Drake yelled his name and snapped him out of it. Varden told the others that those eggs were dragon eggs, and they were almost ready to hatch.

They decided that they were better off if they did not disturb the nest and it was a lot better to be out of there before the parents returned.

The third floor was empty except for a large hole in the floor and another in the ceiling. The fourth floor was empty as well but there were signs that the major battle had taken place. There were bloodstains on the floor walls and ceiling besides all the blood there were signs of scorch marks all over the place.

As they got close to the fifth floor, they heard the sounds of a tremendous battle going on in the room. From what they could tell it was not humans doing the fighting.

As they reached the door the feeling came over Varden again. This time he knew exactly what it was, so he reached down and drew his sword, and looked deep into the crystal. First, it was clear that it was red, that it was blue. Then he looked deeper into it and went into the trance again and he saw himself seeing through the wall into the room. As it opened into the room, he saw two dragons fighting the two blue dragons fighting two red dragons.

The two blue dragons were losing and as they turned away and started to leave the larger red dragon blew fire on the smaller blue dragon. The small blue dragon fell on the floor dead. The large blue dragon let out a death cry and then attacked the large red dragon with a lightning shot that knocked the dragon off balance. The blue dragon then flew up in the air and bit the red dragon's neck. It had only managed to draw blood when the other red dragon hit it from behind with its tail and broke its neck. It let out a cry as it fell dying on the floor.

Varden told the others what he had seen and to stand back he went into the room. He carefully opened the door and walked in. When he shut the door, the red dragons noticed him.

The largest one yelled, " Insulate worm! How dare you disturb me! Who are you and what do you want here?"

Varden said, " Oh great and powerful dragon! I have come to serve your kind, but before I can serve you, I need some information."

The dragon asked, " What is your name worm?"

Varden stood tall and said, " My name is Varden."

It hearing the name of the dragon shot fire at him.

Varden managed to dive behind one of the dead blue dragons just in time to avoid the dragon's fiery blast. He remembered though golden bowl and quickly dug it out of his pack. He put some of the dragon's blood into the bowl. The bowl began to give off smoke in the smoke surrounding him when the smoke cleared Varden was 20 feet tall. Varden drew his sword and prepared for battle.

The first dragon blue fire right in his face.

Varden just laughed at it.

The second dragon that his left arm and raked his chest with its old front feet and then him in the face with his tail.

Varden swung down with his sword and cut a wing off the second dragon and then smashed it in the chest with his shield.

The dragon was thrown off balance and let out a cry as it fell.

The first dragon wrapped its tail around Varden's leg and then started to fly.

It knocked Varden off balance and he fell, but on his way down he grabbed the dragon and plunged his sword deep into it.

The dragon let out a death cry and then fell to the ground.

The second dragon heard the cry and started running for the door.

Varden saw it and knew that he could let it get outside where his friends were. So, we threw his sword with all his might it went through the dragon and sunk to its hilt in the door. The dragon crumpled to the ground.

Just then he heard Drayden scream. Varden pulled his sort of the door and yanked it open. He pulled it so hard that it came off its hinges and he dropped it to the ground he saw three blue dragons that had answered the death cry of the other dragons.

Then he saw Drayden and Argus get hit by a bolt of lightning and fall to the floor.

Drake used his sword and stabbed into one of the dragons hitting it but didn't even draw blood his sword merely bounced off the dragon's scales.

The dragon picked Drake up as if he was a rag doll and simply tossed him down the stairs.

Varden ran to the other room and chopped off the right arm and wing of the dragon that through Drake.

The dragon bellowed out a tremendous roar as it fell backward.

The second dragon threw a lightning bolt at Varden and made a perfect hit but the armor that Varden wore simply absorbed it and Varden didn't feel anything.

The third took off into the air and flew straight at Varden's face using all 4 feet to scratch at his face it succeeded and only made a few scratches on Varden's face.

Varden hit the dragon in the chest with a shield. It bounced to the ceiling and then fell to the stairs below. When a hit the stairs Varden plunged his sword into it.

The last dragon saw what happened to the others it started up the stairs.

Varden saw it but he didn't want to fight it in the first place, so he let it go.

The second dragon yelled. " Why do you kill blood of my blood?"

Varden explained what happened to the blue dragons in the room. And he explained how and why he killed the red dragons and how he wound up attacking and killing them because he had no choice. Then he came out of the room and saw the blue dragons attacking his party before finding out what was really happening. He said, " I don't want to fight you, but if you force me to I will."

The dragon replied, "Well-spoken human. What is your name?"

Varden told the dragon his name and prepared for anything to happen.

The dragon gave a great sigh and said, " Well since I have proof that your words and deeds are indeed true, and just then I can't attack you and I am compelled to aid you. To help you I will tell you this and nothing more. There is another dragon that rules most of us and controls other creatures as well. He is very displeased at your actions and will stop at nothing to stop you."

Then the dragon turned and went upstairs Varden called to it before it got too far and said the other blue dragon was not dead. I did not hit it with a fatal blow, but it was badly hurt. The dragon turned once more and looked at its brethren and saw that indeed it was still alive but badly hurt but it would live. It had its own magic that helped the other dragon get to its feet. Then the dragon looked at Varden and nodded in approval, then the two went up the stairs. Before they get away from Varden and let them know about the nest that had the dragon's eggs down below.

This time the dragon turned and looked deep into Varden and said, " Once again we are in your debt, we will consider this if we meet again."

Varden was glad that it was over with because he felt the magic starting to wear off. Once the dragons were out of sight Varden went over to help his friends; he noticed that Drayden and Argus were both burnt and knocked unconscious. Drake had a broken arm from when he hit the stairs as he landed, he also had a lot of bumps and bruises from tumbling down farther but he was lucky that was all he wound up with.

Drake wondered about Varden's enormous size but decided to question him about it later that he wanted to help the others first.

Since Drayden and Argus were both unconscious and Drake had a broken arm, they had only one choice which was to head back to town and have someone else do the healing.

Varden was still giant's sized, so he quickly grabbed Argus, Drayden, and Drake and set off for town. By the time they made it halfway through the woods, Varden found himself starting to shrink. He barely made it out of the woods before he was normal size again.

Just then he heard a pack of wolves. Varden told Drake, " Run to town for help, I will try to hold them off to help arrives."

Drake set off for town, and Varden carefully put Drayden and Argus to the side they were close to him but off to the side enough that they shouldn't be in the way. Then he prepared for battle-ready to face whatever comes.

When the wolves arrived, he was ready, but they came in a pack of seven. Their leader was way larger than the wolf, he was huge, and he looked semi-familiar.

The leader stayed in the back and seemed to direct the rest.

Varden had his sword ready for them to make the first move.

A large male wolf jumped for Varden's throat. He slammed it hard with the shield and it flew up in the air did three complete flips and fell hard on its side. It let out a loud cry and then a few small whimpers as it tried to get back to its feet.

Varden started after the leader he figured that once he dealt with it the fight would be over. Four wolves tried to stop him, but Varden just pushed through them.

When Varden got close to the leader wolf it jumped to attack, he swung his sword and chop the wolf in half. It let out an almost human cry as it fell to the ground.

Seeing that the other wolves quickly took off into the woods.

Varden noticed that the body was slowly changing and slowly took the human form it was Wolfram. Looking at the body on the ground Varden was disheartened because this had been a friend and after all, it was under a curse. At one time he wanted this, in fact it was very recently that he wanted it. But still, he had been his friend and he knew in his heart that Wolfram was a good person.

After a few minutes, Drake and a few guards from Argus's castle arrived. Varden told the guards, " Take Argus, and Wolfram's body to the chapel."

Drake promptly yelled, " No, not that thing! Don't you remember what it did to Drayden? You can't mean you want it brought back to life."

Varden turned and looked straight into Drake's eyes and said, " You know how much I love her but if I don't do this, I couldn't live with myself." He then carefully picked up Drayden's body and they took them to the church.

As soon as they got there some priests came out to help. When the priests took the wounded into the church, they sent the guards back to Argus's castle.

Varden pulled a priest aside and told him Wolfram was a werewolf when he was killed and that he was told that he had been under a curse. Then he told him, " Drayden's mace was magic, and how it glowed." He started to hand it to the priest, but the priest just backed away and gave them a stern look. Then Varden realized what he was doing and said it down near the table then they left the room.

While the others were being healed Varden went back to the castle and went to the room that the dragon eggs had been sitting in. It was as if he thought the eggs had started to cool and if they weren't kept warm the dragons would die. He thought to himself the two blue dragons must have been their parents. And the other dragons must not have found them after he had told them about them.

Varden carefully put one egg in his backpack and the other two into a large sack that he had brought with him. It took a bit longer than he wanted for him to gather up the eggs with the coins that were their nest in a second bag. Making sure to secure both bags tightly so nothing would fall out in the eggs wouldn't get damaged, he picked them up and went back to town.

By the time Varden made it back to the church they had all finished being cured and were waiting for him. He said his pack and the two sacks down that he told Drayden that he needed to talk to her it was very important.

The two of them started walking down the street when they were just about in the center of town when they noticed a small path off to the side.

They started down the path when Varden turned and looked deep into Drayden's eyes. Then he said, " I'm glad to see that you're better." Varden turned away for a moment and tried to gather his thoughts. He was fighting the urge he really wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her.

Varden asked, " Have you heard about Wolfram?"

Drayden simply nodded her head.

He said, " You know I would do anything for you."

She said, " I'm glad for all of you did, it only makes me love you all the more. But it makes me have to stay away from you even more now."

He asked, " If I love you and you love me how can this be wrong?"

She replied, " A cleric's power comes from her faith and loyalty to that faith. The problem that I have is that our love goes against that faith, but at this point, I don't know if there's any way to stop it from growing."

Varden looked at her and saw the struggle growing in her mind, but he had no idea how to help her.

He finally asked, " What about your mace, did you find out anything about that?"

She looked at him with a confused and puzzled look on her face and then asked, " What about my mace?"

Now he had to explain about the mace and the small symbol and the way it was glowing not to mention how her spells had been slightly altered. Varden also told her that he had left her mace at the church.

She still looked puzzled then it was like a thought suddenly struck her. She said, " Pardon me but I have to go check on something." And it looked like she had a huge smile on her face.

She looked really excited and then gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Then quickly started back to the church.

While Drayden was in the church. Varden and Drake tried to take the eggs to their room. They were on the stairs when the innkeeper stopped them.

The bartender told them, " You can't bring those eggs to my place. Now get them out of here."

They left the inn and wandered around for a while trying to figure out what to do with the eggs. They needed someplace to keep them warm and safe if they didn't want them to die.

After a while, they made their way back to the church where they saw Drayden talking with Argus. As they approached, they heard Drayden say, " And so it's all right." At that point she noticed them and so she stopped talking.

Varden asked Drayden, " Do you want to go for a walk with me?"

Drayden smiled and Argus quickly answered yes.

Varden saw the smile and wondered what that was all about. But he wouldn't ask her, at least for now.

They went back to the secluded path where they walked before. Varden noticed Drayden seemed to be acting a little differently and she seemed to be a lot happier than she was before. After a few minutes, he couldn't take the pressure any longer and so he just had to come out and ask her what was going on.

She gave them are coy look and just smiled.

He looked at her and said, "Come on and tell me what is going on with you?"

She got a big smile and said, " Okay I'll tell you. Well, I guess it all started when I got the mace from Argus. Then I was killed, then they brought me back to life. After it touched the mace again the mace permanently changed me, but no one noticed until I just checked."

Shocked, Varden asked, " How did it change you?"

She said, "I'm not a good cleric anymore, I am a neutral cleric. The main difference is that our love will not destroy my faith, it could even enhance it. It will just take the losing part of my power for a while and healing will be harder for a while that means it will just take longer and I won't be if they do quite as much. But no matter what it will strip all my power away."

He asked, " So if we get close how long would will you be without your powers to heal?"

Drayden replied, " There's no way to tell. Besides I'm not ready for that anyway."

Varden's face reddened with embarrassment "I wasn't meaning…" He cut it off short because he was flustered. Then agreed with her right away that he thought at least this would give them some room. But at least now they could at least get close and not get in trouble. But he still had three members he had to keep himself in control for. So that it would not go too far or too fast so that everything would be destroyed.

She said, " Well, we better go back and see what the others are doing."

Then they turned and started walking Varden took her by the arm and looked deep into her eyes and said, " I'm glad that we could talk in that we are able to get at least a little bit closer without causing trouble."

He wanted to say so much more but he just couldn't find the right words to say and that frustrated him more than anything. Even though he couldn't find the right words Drayden knew just what he was trying to say, well good enough anyway.

She gave him a look that made him weaken his knees. He started to kiss her, but she turned a little and just gave him a hug. Then Drayden said, " I just want to take it really slow at least for now."

They made their way back to town and met up with Drake and Argus. Argus saw them smiling and a big smile came over his face and then quickly vanished.

Argus asked Varden, " What are you planning on doing with those eggs?"

Varden replied, " I'm not sure because we can't keep them at the inn."

Argus said, " Well you can keep them in my castle I have the perfect place." Then Argus took a closer look at the eggs. He told them, " They were ready to hatch it any time it for sure would happen within a few weeks anywhere between now and then."

They took the eggs to the castle. Argus had a special room that just seemed to radiate warmth. It wasn't hot and it didn't seem to be coming from any one specific source. It was just that the whole room was warm, it wasn't hot it was just the perfect temperature.

Varden wondered where the warmth was coming from because there was nothing in the room that would be radiating the heat, it was just a plain empty room with only one small window opposite the door.

Varden asked, " Where is all the heat coming from?"

Argus answered, "This is where we practice certain spells. The eggs should be safe here since we are not planning on using this room again for a month."

They found a place along the wall to rebuild a makeshift nest for them at least to keep them together and it looked like the safest place to put them. They used part of the treasure that the parent dragons used for the nest.

When they finished, they went to the training room. All his students were practicing a wide variety of spells.

Argus announced, " Attention students I have something to show you. Varden, you and the others will have to leave the room this is just for my students."

As they shut the door, they heard Argus say some strange words, then they heard some loud popping noises. Then there came an awww from the room there seemed to be whistling and even Varden felt some power building then all of a sudden there was a tremendous explosion. As Argus opened the door they looked in and saw that all the students frantically trying to cast the same spell even if none of them had the same timing.

Argus said, " Well it's almost dark. What are your plans?"

Drake said, " I have some people I need to talk to."

Varden and Drayden said that they had no plans.

Argus said, " I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my students. Some of their magic needs a more personal touch to get it right and we have a little time to work on it now." Varden found it very strange, but he knew better than to ask.

The three of them left the castle and Drake set off on his own to meet the men at the bar.

Varden asked, " I don't suppose you want to talk, or anything do you?"

Drayden nodded her head and said," What would you like to talk about?"

Just then the town alarm sounded. The town was being attacked just as the dragon had promised it had sent things to the town to kill everyone and destroy all the buildings. The town guards had seen the first of the monsters coming and had started ringing the town's warring bell letting everyone know to get ready for the attack.

It was nothing that the town had not faced in the last few months and that was why they had started trying to get help coming. Although usually, it was just one thing that would stray into town looking for food.

As the time went on the ringing became faster and seemed to be more desperate. Normally there would only be a couple of rings just to let the guards know to be ready, but everyone could tell that he was a lot more desperate now. It was like the town was under siege and everyone that could fight was being called out to help.

It was a good thing for the town that all the adventurers that were mostly away for the day were back and they had left the bar so that they could help. On hearing the bell Argus and all his students filed out of the castle and made their way to the center of town. Argus knew that they were not going to be any good at hand-to-hand combat and in fact, most of them were not ready to do much of anything, but they needed to see a little combat to know what they were going to be eventually expected to do.

Argus had the young ones gather together knowing that the power of all of them would be stronger if they were close to someone else that was casting a spell. He had taught them one useful attack spell and he knew that this was going to be the best time for them to use it.

It was not long until Varden and Drake had their armor and weapons and were standing in the front row in the center. Drayden wanted so much to be with them, but she knew that her place was in the back with the other people that were going to be casting spells and trying to heal everyone that they could. Drayden had her mace handy she knew that if anything would break through the fighters she would have to help protect the ones that were casting spells, or they would quickly be wiped out.

The town guards had formed up on the wall with all the ones that had bows and arrows and all the rest blended into where the fighters were.

Varden looked at the town guards and he could tell that they had been trained but not as well as the ones that he had seen working for his dad. Most of them looked young but at least he didn't see any of them trying to run away now that they were being needed.

As Varden looked everything over he noticed that there were a few things that the commander was doing differently than the way that his dad would have done it. He thought that might be a mistake or it was just set up that way because of the things that were attacking.

The bell finally stopped ringing when the first of the animals came into the clearing of the town. The archers had prepared flaming arrows and as soon as they were close enough to have the arrows fall right in front of them, they began firing them. The fire that they were using was enough to scare most of them, enough to drive them off.

At first, Varden was wondering why they panicked so much knowing that all they were going to have to do was to shoot a little fire at them and have them all runoff. Things changed quickly when they saw the skeletons that had been following the animals. Varden could tell that it was all of the adventurers that had perished at the castle.

As the skeletons entered the meadow Argus prepared a light arrow with a fireball knowing that it was going to take something like that to eliminate them. As he prepared the spell the students all watched him carefully. They knew it was something that they were not going to be able to do but one day they would be ready.

When Argus let the spell go, it took off and was headed for the biggest cluster of them until it got close and was about to blow them away when it just fizzled out. As soon as Argus saw that happen, he knew just what it was. The dragon, knowing that they had someone that could break its forcefield made sure that it was not going to be easy for them to use magic against his attack. If he was going to be able to help them at all he was going to have to figure another way to stop them.

Argus watched as some of his apprentices tried casting spells and it didn't matter what they did, it always fizzled out before reaching them. At least he was glad to see that they were at least trying.

The fiery arrows were making it but having little to no effect on them unless it was just animated bones then a good hit tended to make them break apart and stop moving. Varden was watching everything going on and saw that the spell that Argus had used last time seemed to not be able to do anything now. He knew that it had to be the dragon that was protecting them.

Once the priests saw what they were truly facing they stepped forward and started chanting. Drayden took her place next to Drake and Varden. They watched as one by one the skeletons were either broken by being hit by an arrow or having it simply turned and walked away.

By the time that the skeletons had gotten all the way to town the numbers of them were small enough that the fighters were easily able to cut them down.

Varden wondered what was going to happen to the ones that just wandered away. As he watched he saw one simply fall apart as the magic that had called it was now dissipating. A few of the others that had not gotten that far from the others turned around once again to try and come fight.

Varden found how simple it was to break them, it really didn't take much as he hit one with his shield and the bones went flying in different directions. He thought the only thing that you had to watch out for was the weapons that they were carrying. It was not like they were hitting all that hard but most of it was the condition of the weapons knowing that they would make you sick even if the hit didn't kill you.

Varden was glad that the ones in his party were a lot better off than the regular townspeople. As he looked around it appeared that they were the only ones to take any real damage from the skeletons that had slipped through the cracks. Varden was glad that it was all over except for getting the wounded to the church. Anyone that was not wounded badly was sent to collect the bones so that they could be given a proper burial and their spirits could be put to rest. Drayden took her time and healed as many of the light wounds as she could.

On the way to the church, Drake found a small diamond on one of the bodies. He quickly stuck it in his pouch before anyone else saw it.

When things had settled down Argus, his guards, and his students all went back to his castle.

By the time Varden, Drake, and Drayden made their way back to the inn. There were only a few people left in the bar. Drake went over to the table where the four hooded men were and where they always seem to be.

Varden and Drayden went upstairs and when they reached their rooms she asked, " Would you like to come in for a while? So, we can talk some more."

Varden's face lit up and said yes with a big smile on his face. He could hardly believe that she wanted him to come in, after everything that happened that afternoon and evening.

As they entered the room she went over and lit a lamp on the wall. He walked over to her, and they looked into each other's eyes and kissed. She took his hand and walked him over to the bed they sat there just holding each other for a while. He looked into her eyes and felt the passion growing within him. He realized that he needed to go before things got out of his control and he did something that they all would regret.

As he stood up and started to leave, he noticed the little sadness in her eyes. He tried to ask what was going on, but she just turned away, so we had no choice but to go back to his room.

It was not long before Drake returned. By this time Varden was ready and already in bed. Varden asked, " Drake have you ever had any troubles with women?"

Drake replied, " I've had my share of troubles. But it's the ones that you love that cause you the most trouble. My suggestion to you is to try to avoid the moments when you and she are alone together. Just remember that you hold the fate of the team in your hands, and if any one person will cause the team to succeed or to fail it will be you."

Varden thought about that, and it hit him hard he knew everything was riding on him. As he thought he went to bed so that they could get some sleep.