SECRETS OF ELVENDALE II

CHAPTER III

"WHOOHOO!"

Emily yelled, as her dragon- Elandra- looped in and out, performing whirls and displays of great flying skills, her large, white wings fanning out and blocking the sun. Azari laughed as her dragon burst out short sparks, and attempted to follow the queen's moves, only to get its tail stuck. "Careful, you don't wanna get hurt!" Azari called out to her dragon, who bashfully looked away, embarrassed.
Sophie saw this, and urged Cronan to convince Ashwing to do the same. "Come on, I told Emily I'd beat her in coolest dragon ever! We can't lose to her!" The elf rolled his eyes, and shot back. "And whose dragon is it, Miss Competitive?" Sophie drooped, and the earth elf laughed at her sadness. "Don't worry, I've done tricks like that with Ashwing all the time. Just hold on tight!" He leaned forward and whispered into Ashwing's ear, and the dragon nodded. She spread her wings out, and performed the same routine as Elandra's with more glamour and flourish, little complicated twists and turns. Cronan smirked at Sophie, who was absolutely flabbergasted. She stuck her tongue out at Emily, who had fallen behind slightly to watch over Sophie. "SEE! I told you Ashwing would beat you!"

The group soon passed over a large, beautiful lake, emerald green, clear and shining in the sun. Aira and Nadia nodded to each other, and their dragons dipped down, swirling around each other, racing each other just skidding the surface of the lake. Nadia's water dragon, Merina, dipped under the water, and glided through the water, coming up with a huge splashing tornado of water that quickly fell back to the lake.
"Show off!" Farran grumbled, and hugged his dragon. He would have loved to do tricks, but Thorne was reluctant after the last time he did so, Thorne's overconfidence had got the better of him, and they had come nearly crashing down on hard boulders before the earth dragon had flapped his wings frantically to get them back up to air. Farran still shuddered at that thought.

Slowly, they landed on a clearing, with tall trees surrounding them, and the dragons stooped to let the elves down. Ashwing was especially careful to make sure Cronan did not fall down, and kept checking to see if her master was in danger.

"Wow, that was fun, huh? We should totally do that again!!" Azari exclaimed, but a grunt from her dragon, Zonya, discouraged her. "Ok, after they have a rest and some food."

Sophie was still breathless after the flight, and lay face flat upon the mossy forest floor, panting in and out. Emily giggled, and patted her sister's back. "Tired, Sophie?"
A muffled "NEVER!" was sounded, before the girl fell asleep. The group sat down for a while and chatted animatedly, while Cronan was sitting next to Ashwing and conversing with her, his hand occasionally straying to stroke the scars on her paws. Ashwing would muzzle him with her about, to reassure him that nothing would ever happen again.

Suddenly, a gorse bush in front of them was trampled and burnt down with a signature bright green fire, charring it to dust. Nadia's eyes widened first, and she yelled "RUN!" To the dragons, who refused to budge, wanting to protect their owners.

A magenta-haired elf, dressed in pitch black robes, and spiked shoulder cuffs, stepped out of the shadows of the trees, cackling maniacally. The emerald in her headdress glimmered and shined with unnatural magic, and soon flames were pooling around her clawed hands, ready to aim at her opponents.

"Hey, seems you've been having a lot of fun, lately. Too much fun, if you ask me."

She raised her hands, as sparks danced across her fingers.

"Too busy having fun to remember RAGANNA?"