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Chapter Nine: Travel By Foot

With Evelyn leading the way, the three travel north west towards the Forgetful Valley, moving across the Midway Plains of Havenya. The plains are full of wheat grasses, rolling hills, a large spring river, and wild flowers. Forest lands, and mountains are seen in distances as they travel up and down hills of different sizes. The sun was blazing hot as the beams shined down upon Damien’s face.

“Come on Damien, keep up.” Evelyn calls out from a head of the young preteen boy.

“My feet are killing me. Can’t we stop and rest for a moment?” Damien asks as he drags his feet. “I’ve never walked this much in my entire life.”

“No we keep going. We have a lot of ground to cover.” Evelyn says as she looks at her compass and continues to walk with Ming on her shoulder.

Damien stops for a moment and collapse down to his buttocks with exhaustion. Breathing heavily Damien sits there for a moment as Ming looks back to see that Damien was on the ground.

“Perhaps we should stop Evelyn. Damien isn’t doing so well.” Ming points out.

Evelyn looks back to see Damien sitting on the ground and sighs, “Fine.” she says as she walks back towards Damien and hands the young preteen her waterskin of cold water from the castle. “Here drink this.”

Damien takes the waterskin and takes a gulp of water. “Thanks.”

“Can’t stay here for long Damien. It’s not safe traveling in the open like this. Too many dangers out there.” Evelyn squats down to his level.

“My feet are killing me. How much farther do we have to go?” Damien breaths heavily.

“Look over there.” Evelyn points to a canyon with trees surrounding it in the distance. “That’s Forgetful Valley. It’s just a few more miles. Not too much farther.”

“Why didn’t we get horses? It be nice to ride in a car.” Damien comments.

“Are you talking about those transports in your world? Like that cab?” Evelyn asks.

“Yes. They are very convenient you know.” Damien huffs.

“Yeah I guess they were quite nice.” Evelyn smiles. “Unfortunately we don’t have them here. And the horses were not an option at the moment as known of the Luvians were around.”

“Doesn’t Rumla know some talking horses we could have rode?” Damien asks.

“I guess she could have. But I didn’t really think about it at the moment. Kind of just slipped my mind I guess.” Evelyn replies. “Next time I will be sure to think about rides, walking far distances like this wasn’t a smart move on my behalf. But it’s a learning thing you know.”

Damien stands to his feet, “Okay let’s go.”

Evelyn, Damien and Ming continue on towards the canyon as they move at a steady walking pace through the rolling terrain. As they walk, a large roaring sound fills the skies. Perked ears went up on Ming as he flustered lookes in many directions.

“Over there!” Damien points out a huge figure in the distance. “It’s heading this way.”

“What the hell is that thing?” Evelyn cries.

“It looks like a no winged dragon.” Ming comments.

“That’s no drake Ming. It runs on two feet and have small arms!” Evelyn responds.

“That’s no dragon. It’s a T-rex!” Damien yells.

“Run for the canyon!” Evelyn calls out.

Damien and Evelyn begin to run northern towards the large ground of tree surrounding the canyon entrance. The Tyrannosaurus Rex races towards the young children with a mighty roar chasing them from the south east. As the large lizard charges, the ground shook little by little.

“You know what that thing is?” Evelyn calls out to Damien.

“Yeah, don’t you?” Damien asks. “Haven’t you ever watched Jurassic Park?”

“What?” Evelyn confused asks Damien. “Watched what?”

“Oh never mind.” Damien continues to run. “It’s a dinosaur. A carnivore that will eat anything in its way.”

“It’s gaining on us!” Ming shouts.

“Keep running!” Evelyn yells at Damien. “Hold on Ming! We’re almost there!”

As the two run as fast as they can, the T-rex gains ground and moves closer and closer to the travelers. Damien trips over his own feet and falls face first into the grassy grounds. The large dinosaur slows his run to a walk and stops before Damien as the preteen stubbles back up to his feet. Damien’s face goes pale as he turns and looks up at the large lizard before him. Scared shitless Damien freezes still. As Damien stood perfectly still, the dinosaur looks around to find the preteen who just suddenly vanished before the creature.

“Evelyn stop!” Ming calls out as the teen continue to run. “We got to go back!”

Evelyn turns to see Damien standing completely still as the dinosaur stood there huffing and puffing its hot breath on the preteen boy. Taking out her bow and an arrow from her quiver Evelyn makes her way back towards Damien. Pulling back her bow’s string she fires her arrow, sending it soaring towards the giant lizard creature. The arrow pierce into the dinosaur’s neck and a horrific roar cries out as the large lizard turns its gaze towards Evelyn, who was placing another arrow onto her bowstring. Evelyn fires the second arrow, in which punctures the lizard’s neck once more. Furious at Evelyn, the large creature stomps towards the young archer with a steady pace. Evelyn walks backwards as she grabs another arrow from her quiver. Scared, the teen girl struggles to put the arrow on the string. She trips and falls to her bottom as the lizard approaches her. Saliva falls from the lizards sharp toothed jaws.

Instantaneously a great roar sounds with in the skies followed a large fiery blast of amber that hits the side of the large two legged lizard. The Tyrannosaurus stumbles a little and turns to look up into the sky. Circling over head was a large western red dragon with gold spikes, a short neck, and mighty bat like wings. The dragon dives down towards the large lizard, as Evelyn backs away, grabbing Damien’s hand and moving the young heir away from the large lizard. The mighty western dragon fires another fireball of flame at the dinosaur, as a cluster of mysterious arrows fly into the creature’s side. The tyrannosaurus roars with pain, as the dragon swoops back up towards the sky.

“Where did that dragon come from?” Damien asks sitting on the ground out of the way next to Evelyn and Ming.

“No clue.” Evelyn replies.

“It’s not alone! Look, there’s someone on it’s back!” Ming calls out.

Looking up at the dragon, Damien could see a small humanoid figure standing on the tail of the dragon. The figure was hard to see at first until the dragon swoops down for another attack on the giant lizard. The figure was a man with long blonde hair, athletically built, and had to be at least six feet tall. He wore a green and brown outfit. It was a silken dress shirt of white with a woodland green suede jerkin tunic over top with brown trim and eleven silver writing sketched into the fabric. With a olive green jerkin vest underneath. He wore matching brown pants that were tucked in his brown long knee high boots, and long brown vambraces over his jacket. On his back was a quiver of arrows and two elven short swords. A long curved bow in his hand and a long elven sword on his hip.

“That’s an elf, a woodland elf on it’s back!” Evelyn calls out.

“He kinda reminds me of Legolas.” Damien adds.

The elven archer fires a few more arrows as the mighty western dragon lands down between the dinosaur and the young travelers. Sliding down the dragon’s tail the elf leaps off to the ground and runs towards the large lizard with no hesitation. The large lizard charges the dragon and goes in to bite at the winged lizard’s neck. The dragon blocks the beast’s attack swinging it’s mighty tail and tripping the large lizard. The lizard tumbles to the ground as the elf climbs up onto it’s back and up to the head, pointing his arrow at the lizard’s head. Without a second thought the elf fires his arrow, killing the beast before the young children.

Hoping down from the dead dinosaur, the elf walks over to Damien and Evelyn, “Are you alright?”

“We are now.” Damien responds.

“It is eccentric to find two younglings roaming open fields alone.” the elf comments.

A sudden flash of red shines around the western dragon as the large winged lizard suddenly transforms down into a humanoid woman. An elven woman with pointy ears, spiky red hair, red dragon eyes wearing a red and gold cuirass, pauldrons, bracers with black leather pants and a long estoc elven sword on her hip.

“Younglings should not be out here alone.” the red haired woman comments.

“Who are you two?” Evelyn asks.

“Apologies I am Bredan the Woodland Elf, and this is Razlyn the Scarlet Dragon.” the elf introduces/

“No way! You’re the dragon tamer. I’ve heard of you in books.” Evelyn’s eyes widen.

“So you have heard of my tale.” the elf smiles. “It is nice to know I am still known in these parts. I am no dragon tamer no more. I am a rider, and an outcast to my people.”

“Aren’t you from the Misty Forest?” Evelyn asks.

“I used to be from there. A Woodland elf born and raised, but no longer welcomed.” Bredan replies.

“Why? Why have you been outcast from your own kind?” Ming asks.

“They do not deal with dragons any longer. The time of elves and dragons have been banished from the woodland elves’ culture. They only serve themselves and the goddess Artemis.” Bredan sighs. “It is sad that my people no longer ride dragons, but a falling out they have had with the reptilians.”

“And you still ride with her?” Damien asks staring at the red head woman.

“I do, as I am one with Red. She is my other half, my lover.” Bredan nods with a smirk.

“Lover?” Evelyn asks. “How does that work? She is a dragon, you are an elf.”

“As you can see I can transform into elven shape. It is not hard for us. We have been bonded for many years.” Razlyn responds.

“Where are two younglings and a rat heading all alone?” Bredan asks.

“Hey! I’m no rat, thank you very much. I am a ferret.” Ming huffs

“We are on a mission to bring the sanctions of Havenya back together. We are heading for the Forgetful Valley.” Evelyn comments.

“The Forgetful Valley is no place for children. It is dangerous there.” Razlyn states. “Perhaps we should contribute in your adventure. The minotaur are not very reliable and trusting after all.”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Damien gazes over at Evelyn for approval.

“Maybe you’re right. More help the better.” Evelyn gives a small smirk on her face.

“What’s your names?” Razlyn asks.

“I am Evelyn Scarlet of Torman. That’s Sir Damien Foxx, and this little guy is Ming.” Evelyn introduces herself and her companions.

“it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Bredan kisses Evelyn’s hand as a sign of respect.

“Shall we move for the valley now?” Ming asks. “I’d like to get away from this open space you know.”

“Yes, we must move on. Wouldn’t want to face another large lizard again.” Bredan nods. “It was not a pleasant beast.”

“It was called a Tyrannosaurus rex. It’s a type of dinosaur.” Damien comments.

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Author
BJ Swabb
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