|
Post by stardust12 on Aug 23, 2011 18:30:03 GMT -5
This chapter gives testimony to how cruel and soul-less Ivenna can be! Simply wonderful writing Starry!
|
|
|
Post by Starry Dancer on Aug 25, 2011 4:17:15 GMT -5
She is quite the little beast, isn't she? Thankfully, North of North has heroes running out its ears... next chapter!
Tarragon and Nightingale’s wings beat like thunder as the two pegasi carried their riders as far from the dark spires of Styginmoor as possible. Darkness was already falling- it came unnaturally quick in this part of the world- and Mina’s heart was still hammering loud in her ears. Mina vaguely wished for the fluffy costume she had been wearing earlier- she had dropped It somewhere over the forest, and hadn’t looked back. She and Strahlen were both stunned into silence.
Then, a keening howl split the sharp air,
And a black sliver, darker than the night itself, split the gloaming sky. Nightingale shied in fright, and Tarragon’s wings actually stopped beating as he dropped down to avoid the quickly widening void. “The Shadow Path!” Mina shrieked, scrabbling frantically in her bag for her sword. Both horses stretched out their necks, sweat breaking out across their flanks, and raced towards the East, as if the end of the moor would save them.
An all-too-familiar voice boomed from the Path. Mina hazarded a glance back and actually spotted Ivenna, seated atop Myrfor, barreling towards them on a miasma of dark cloud. “You thought you would go free?” she boomed. “My wolves brought me back your pathetic disguise- and now I see that we have yet another Valkyrie weakling on our hands!”
The horses were both gasping, taking massive gulps of the frigid air. Strahlen screamed something across the sky to Mina; something about them not being able to maintain this speed for long.
All hope is lost,Mina whispered to herself. And then, she remembered the last time she had faced the Shadow Path. “Nightingale!” whispered, leaning up over her steed’s neck to be heard. The winged mare, of course, knew exactly what she had to do. She sent Mina a short series of images that communicated a jolt of bad news; one couldn’t demand the presence of Lovesong Lane, the skyroad used for quick transportation by the Valkyries themselves. They could only let it come to them.
Mina tried to clear her head, but the danger literally breathing down her neck was too much to block out. So she exchanged one thought with Nightingale, and they plummeted. Nightingale’s bird’s wings stopped in mid-beat, and the horse and rider fell like stones. The ground below, still littered with blackened trees, flew towards them. There was nothing in Mina’s blurred vision but darkness; nothing in her ears but the beating of her heart and the roar of the air. She felt nothing but buffets of wind. And then, a golden light, dancing with every color of the Aurora, burst from nowhere. She and Nightingale were swept up by the warmth and color and shot back up into the stars. Mina saw a tendril of light catch Tarragon and Strahlen and begin to draw them up, up into the atmosphere. But Strahlen didn’t look relieved; her face was aghast, and she looked as if she were trying to scream something to Mina. Then, she pointed a shaking finger behind her. An arm of dark was inside the Lane. Ivenna and Myrfor were charging down the ever-widening path, almost spitting fire. At that instant, Mina felt the solid curve of her sword’s hilt, and drew it from the bag with a great heave. With a second great desperate heave, she slashed down into the growing darkness behind her, hoping that her wild swish had connected. It had. Hissing with menace, the Path began to dissolve, taking wolf and rider with it back into the void.
|
|
|
Post by stardust12 on Aug 25, 2011 23:17:11 GMT -5
What an action-packed, fast-paced chapter!! Ivenna had me worried for a minute there!
|
|
|
Post by 321unicorn on Sept 3, 2011 10:11:46 GMT -5
great chapter!!!!! Up date very soon!!!
|
|
|
Post by ponyiowa on Sept 5, 2011 20:08:40 GMT -5
Great chapter! Update soon!
|
|
|
Post by Starry Dancer on Sept 12, 2011 0:25:00 GMT -5
Thanks ladies! We're nearing the end of this Prologue-type first chapter/story/thing; expect new characters soon! If there's anything you want to see happen, I love suggestions!
The horses flew all through the night, carried fast over the ever-changing landscape by the power of Lovesong Lane. By dawn, the familiar streets of Trail’s End came into view; by the time the sun had first stretched its rosy fingers over the far Whitemantle peaks, Tarragon and Nightingale were swooping once more through the Wind’s Eye and clattering across the amethyst tiles of Rolandsgaard castle.
Somehow, word of their journey had spread, and the throne room was full of anxious whispers and nickers. Mina spotted Bella, Sara, Thunder, Fiona, Jewel, Nike, and Bello pacing atop the Orchid Dias. All manner of dignitaries, both equine and human, were milling about on the floor. When the girls burst through the hole in the ceiling, borne on iridescent light, silence fell over the crowd and a pathway opened up for them to reach the dias.
Nightingale and Tarragon trotted between the rows of onlookers and each made courteous bows to the Legendaries. Strahlen and Mina dismounted and curtseyed.
“We have heard that the Shadow Path brought Wolf Riders almost to our borders; we were very worried about you two and about the Traveler people,” Sara said. Although her voice was soft, it almost echoed in the still hush of the throne room. “Tell us, have you found them?”
Strahlen stepped forward and began to describe their journey to all present: how they had decided to inquire at Styginmoor, with Mina and Nightingale disguised as Travelers themselves. How the wolves had herded them through the castle, and their conversation with Ivenna. And, finally, with a tear in her voice, Strahlen described how they had been shown the Travelers, shrunk into nothingness and trapped inside of a crystal ball.
As soon as she had finished, murmuring overtook the crowd until Thunder stamped a hoof impatiently. Bella stepped forward and, as only the Legendary horses could do at will, spoke.
“It seems that we have made two important discoveries,” she intoned. “Firstly, we know that the Travelers are safe and alive for an indefinite period. As long as Ivenna can hold them ransom, your people are valuable enough to be safe, Strahlen and Tarragon. We will do our best to rescue them as soon as possible. However, we have a second problem: Ivenna is expanding. First, she has overtaken the Traveler lands. Soon, she may be encroaching upon the Mustang or Pantheon lands. I sense that Ivenna seeks to build an Empire- for what purpose, we cannot be sure.”
“What will we do?” Mina blurted, stepping forward to take Strahlen’s hand and lay her other hand on Nightingale’s back.
|
|
|
Post by 321unicorn on Oct 6, 2011 8:57:51 GMT -5
Great Chapter! I can't wait to read what happens next!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Starry Dancer on Oct 12, 2011 0:29:45 GMT -5
Nike addressed her. “We must clearly investigate deeper into Ivenna’s Empire, but this must be done with the most clandestine spies. Magical Friends can be dispatched to Styginmoor to gather information for us.”
“And my people?” Strahlen asked, in a whisper.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the same resources as we did during the last siege of Styginmoor,” Thunder rumbled. “the community of Magical Friends that were slaves in the castle have now been entirely replaced by wolves. Without an inside operative, storming the castle will be much more difficult; in fact, with the growing strength of the Wolf Riders, such an action may be our downfall.”
“Then we can do nothing?” Strahlen almost screamed.
“We could always break the spell,” said Jewel softly.
“Spell?”
“The enchantment that entrapped the Travelers in a crystal ball is a curse or spell of Ivenna’s,” Jewel replied. “If we find some magical way to use magic to free them, the Travelers will regain their height and be able to fight their way out of the castle.”
“How do we find the counterspell? What do we do?” cried Strahlen, faced flushed with excitement.
“Alas, Ivenna’s magic is evil and unknown to us,” Jewel replied. “We will have to send a quest to search for the answer.”
“But Emma, Deru, and Colm are still deep in the quest for the Lost Herds,” Sara said worriedly.
Silence reigned over the throne room for a moment, until an idea popped quite suddenly into Mina’s head. “Herd Moonfairy!” she cried. “Pardon?” asked Fiona. “The White Fairy Queen, Rime, was imprisoned in a crystal ball by Ivenna before the herd was found!” Mina exclaimed. “And, somehow, they freed her. Someone can go to the Emeraldian Wilds to seek and answer.”
Discussion erupted, until Thunder again stomped for order. “Your idea is a good one, Mina,” said Bella, “but we haven’t got Deru here to seek out an answer. The fairies will hardly listen to anyone else-” “But we can try!” cried Strahlen, lit up with excitement. “The fairies will have an answer, and Mina and I will be willing to do anything- anything!- to see the fairy court!”
“So you’re saying that you two and your steeds will be the heroes in this quest?” Fiona asked, a smile playing about her mouth. “You’ll accept the quest to save the traveler people and to find them a new homeland?” “Yes!” Strahlen announced with confidence. “Mina?” Mina gulped, thinking to herself: is this even allowed? She had hardly had five months of Valkyrie training! She wasn’t even related to a Valkyrie, like Emma was, nor was she a dryad like Deru.
But who else was there in North of North with a horse that could call the power of the auroroborus, or a sword that could cut through the shadow path, or her (limited) experience fighting evil?
“Yes,” Mina replied. “I will accept this quest and fulfill it to the best of my ability.”
Applause boomed out from the ballroom, and Mina’s face flooded with a smile and a blush simultaneously. She glanced at Nightingale, and then Strahlen and Tarragon. They were suddenly the heroes in a story of their own!
|
|
|
Post by Starry Dancer on Oct 12, 2011 1:20:06 GMT -5
End of the Introduction! YEEEEEEHAWWWWWW! My next post will be in a different thread, and it will chronicle the first adventure in the Auroroborus Saga: The Isluv Quadrille
|
|
|
Post by ponyiowa on Oct 12, 2011 18:07:36 GMT -5
The Isluv Quadrille? Nice name. Can't wait to see it!
|
|