The Guardians (draft 2)

Chapter 36

 Ashe jumped with a start as she heard the distant sounds of clashing swords and the roar of a dragon echo through the forest and into the clearing the meeting was being held in. She worriedly glanced at Rowan and his expression said it all. The camp was under attack. Rowan had planned on trapping Lumina, but it had ended up being the other way around.

Rowan glared daggers at Lumina and then looked back to Raymond and winked. He then quickly lifted his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. Seconds later Terrin appeared and Rowan jumped on his back.

"I'll meet you four back at camp!" He yelled as Terrin zoomed away.

The other three people in Rowans 'entourage summoned their creatures and took off into the forest, without another word, leaving Ashe to stare at the Lyerans.

Thanks for leaving me here. Ashe thought scornfully, glaring at the patch of sky that Terrin had disappeared into. There was definitely room on that dragon's back for Ashe. Ashe brought her attention back to the Lyerans that stood across from her, eyeing their disappointed faces.

Aspen just stared at her and shook his head, before summoning his own dragon. Glancing over his shoulder as he left.

"We will talk about this after the battle Ashe." Lumina said, voice hard and emotionless as she climbed onto Opals back, holding her hand out to Raymond and Briar, pulling them up.

"I'll meet you guys there. Go on without me."

"Okay, but hurry Sol, we will need your strength."

"Of course your majesty." Sol responded, bowing as Opal took off towards the direction of camp. Now it was just him and Ashe.

"Ashe. If you werent learning anything why didn't you tell me?"

"Psh. It should have been obvious. I really dont think Rowan is a bad person, he just had a bad past." Ashe snapped, not wanting to hear another one of Sols lectures.

"Everyone has some sort of bad past. Aspen did and you never liked or even respected him. I did, Forrest did, heck even Lumina did! I agree that past decisions don't reflect people now, but Rowan is not a good person. He kidnapped Aspen and sucked away his powers. He used you to get Aspen in even more trouble, hoping to make us weaker, which it did. You are being naive Ashe, don't tell me you can't see what's wrong with all of this!"

"I know some of the stuff he did was wrong! But he also helped me become stronger, he was nice to me, he never put me down or told me bad things about me that I already knew. He made me feel even more confident! He was a good mentor!"

"The one thing you don't need is more confidence. Now, I'm going to go help my people, I hope you choose the right side."

"Sol, wait!" Ashe watched helplessly as the forest swallowed him up. She then summoned Flame and jumped onto his back. Maybe I can help both sides without harming the other. She thought as they spurred Flame through the trees, going as fast as she could. Within minutes she entered the moon bathed the clearing of the camp, not prepared for the sight that had unfolded in the camp.

Ashes eyes widened in shock and fear at what lay ahead of her. Dragons flew overhead, roaring and illuminating the clearing with fire. Swords clashed and the sounds of dying soldiers filled her ears. The massive wolves that had been peacefully sunbathing only a few hours ago viciously tore through the camp, scooping up soldiers as they ran, shaking their bodies like ragdolls. Manticores roared fiercely, battling Lyeran gruhpns in the sky, swerving around the dragons as they fought.

What do I do? Ashe thought worriedly as she stayed crouched behind a rock. Her eyes found Sol who had just launched a massive fireball at a manticore that had a Gryphon pinned. His face was set with determination as he launched fireball after fireball at enemies, screams of pain following in his wake. Hard gusts of wind shot through the camp, knocking mantroices out of the sky, and blowing small groups of Edarek soldiers around the camp.