Ch. 3 Queen of Dragons

The dragon's roar made the earth tremble. It spread its magnificent feathery wings and took flight creating dust storms beneath it. Its body seemed to be covered in fur rather than scales. Two fluffy, pointed ears were seen in front of two horns which curved inwards.

"No... Als..." Gilbert groaned. He was bruised all over his body from being beaten up by Cavius. Gilbert tried to stand, but his paws kept shaking preventing him from supporting himself.

"Lorielle, it seems we have to change plans, yes. Letting this beast loose would ruin our mission." Cavius yelled as he jumped on his flying carpet. Lorielle quickly followed him on.

As the two enemy mages flew up towards the rampaging dragon, Artemis loaded an arrow in her bow. Pulling back she released the arrow, piercing Cavius in the left shoulder.

Slowly, the carpet started falling. It seemed to be flying with Cavius' magic and the arrow Artemis shot drained it. As Cavius and Lorielle fell, Reize inhaled deeply, puffing his cheeks, "Rock Dragon's... ROAR!" he breathed out a tornado like breath-attack which impaled the two mages with many small pebbles.

"Uhh... not good at all, no good at all..." Cavius mumbled, scratching his head in pain. He yanked the arrow out of his back shoulder. "Don't think we'll leave just like that!" he spat.

Artemis attempted to grab another arrow from her quiver; however, Lorielle wrapped her nails around Artemis' wrist, immobilizing it. An electrical charge ran along the rope-like nails shocking Artemis.

"Don't forget about me, lady!" Reize smiled from behind Lorielle, "Just thought up of a new technique." Reize slammed both of his hands under the ground. At first it seemed that nothing occurred. Then from the ground beneath Lorielle, many stone bullets shot out, causing her to release Artemis.

"Ugrh, he ran his magic through the ground..." Lorielle gasped

"You're the one who forgot about someone, yes. Good for me; very good for me." Cavius crept behind Reize.

"No, I don't need to worry about you."

"Kitty Headbutt!" Before Cavius could hit a blow on Reize, Legolas tackled him on the back. The momentum of the flying cat's attack pushed Cavius into Lorielle.

"I have comrades I can rely on now," large stones circled around Reize's arms as he ran towards the two enemy mages. "Rock Dragon's..." Each arm smacked one of the mages and Reize spun them around and threw them in the air, "Wing Hurricane!"

"Yay..." Legolas cheered wobbling side to side; His head butt hurt himself as well. Before he fell, Artemis caught him and picked him up.

"Now we have to help Alsius..." she whispered.

High in the air, the blue reptile circled as it blew breaths of fire-like substances from its mouth. Its roars continued to cause the earth to shake. Leaves and twigs fell from the great tree as the dragon blindly flew into its branches.

"Hey, are you sure that's Alsius?" Reize laughs nervously.

"I'm not so sure myself."

"The dragon is Alsius." Gilbert meowed. Despite being beaten up roughly, he was flying without pain. "It's been 5 years since I have seen her like this. You're probably wondering how she was able to return to her original form, but I don't know either."

"That's helpful..." Artemis snorted.

"Should I try hitting her with my dragon slayer magic? She's a dragon now, right?" Reize smiled, he actually was serious. Artemis quickly disagreed to his "plan".

"Hurry, we got to do something or she'll destroy the tree!" screamed Legolas. Everyone then stared at the little orange cat and gasped.

"Hey, isn't it our quest to destroy this tree?" Reize asked. "It may be slightly barbaric in method, but we get the job done..."

Artemis sighed, "Then what do we do after that? If we don't be careful, Alsius might end up destroying the village as well."

"Leave it to me, mages of Elven Wings..." A young boy about Artemis' age, 17, jumped up the tree. He wore a long black hooded jacket so Artemis couldn't see what he looked like.

He leaped up a branch which was higher than Alsius. When the dragon flew close to the tree, the boy jumped on her and sunk a knife in one of its wings. The beast let out a roar of pain as it tumbled down from a great height.

"What are you doing!?" Artemis screamed.

The boy stay sitting on the dragon even through the fall. The furry beast let out a small whimper as it helplessly lay there. When seeing it up close, it was obvious to see that the dragon wasn't much bigger than the boy.

The boy looked up and Artemis saw his face. He had golden hair which covered his left eye and emerald eyes. Though his height seemed to belong to someone of the age close to Artemis, his face looked too young. The boy took off his hood and a long earring dangled from his right ear.

"Well, are you going to thank me?" he sneered.

Artemis immediately responded with anger, "No, why would we? You just hurt our team mate! She hasn't even returned to her original form."

The boy chuckled in a somewhat evil tone, "What if this was her original form?"

Artemis paused, not knowing what to say and the boy laughed at this. "Don't worry, this isn't." The boy took out a small pellet-like candy, pried open the dragon's mouth and made her swallow it. Slowly, Alsius' extra magic flowed out of her body, which revert her back to her human appearance.

"What did you feed her?" Gilbert gasped pushing the boy off Alsius.

"Just a little medicine to help us gain control of our berserk experiments," he smiled slyly.

Artemis quickly loaded her bow with an arrow and pointed it straight at the golden-haired boy, "Who are you?"

"Whoa, that hurts; you don't remember me, Artemis Fairleaf?"

"What...?" she lowered her bow and in that second the boy kicked it away from her. It flew beyond anyone's reach.

"Just kidding, I'm disappointed in you, getting distracted easily like that." He smiled putting the knife dripping in Alsius' blood at her throat. He gave a warning glance at Reize so he wouldn't try to do anything. But then he sheathed his weapon, "I just came to see how Loreielle and Cavius were doing on their mission. Seems they failed... Take care of that experiment, for now.

"Oh yes, I forgot one more thing..." whispered the boy. He walked up to the trunk of the tree and placed his hand on it. He chanted a few words and his hand started to glow. The tree then started to wither away until nothing was left of it. "There you go, quest complete." He smiled, then, the hooded boy disappeared using a teleportation lacrima.

Artemis fell to her knees breathing heavily. She touched her neck where the weapon was and saw smeared blood on her hand. Legolas flew next to her to comfort her.

"I think Alsius will be okay after a little rest," Reize said, "Though the wound on her back shoulder is really deep, it looks as if it's starting to heal on its own."

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly Terra spoke up, "It's because she has the blood of a guardian. Guardians have very fast regeneration abilities."

"When did you get up..." mewed Gilbert.

"We'll ask Mr. Kriss, the chief of the village for a place to rest until Alsius wakes up. You'll need it too, Artemis."

Alsius woke up all bandaged up, and the first thing she saw was Gilbert. Gilbert quickly jumped and hugged her tightly, which hurt her but she didn't say anything after seeing Gilbert's relief. She rubbed her head not remembering anything.

"Oh, look who's up." Reize smiled. "Gilbert was looking after you all day, you know."

"Was I sleeping for that long? What happened?"

Gilbert shook his head, telling Reize not to say anything.

"Well, we cleared the quest somehow. The tree's gone and we're going to take Terra back to our Guild." Reize explained. "She seems to be interested in joining as well."

"She is that's nice," Alsius smiled.

Good, she seems to remember Terra at least, thought Reize, "When do you think you'll be ready to go?"

Alsius got up and zipped up her robe and put her hat on, "Anytime."

"Good, I'll tell Artemis and the others that." Said Reize and he left ahead.

The mages loaded their belongings on the carriage. Alsius walked up to Incendiare and stroke her mane. "We're counting on you..." she whispered.

"Of course you'll be fine, it's me you're talking about!" Incendiare snorted.

Alsius' jaw dropped in confusion, "wha... did Incendiare just... talk?"

Artemis laughed, "It's the quest reward remember, the holder type magic, Animal Charm. See the jewel on her new bridle? That's it."

"I was able to understand you people without this... it just helps you understand me." Incendiare sighed.

"She's sassier than I expected..." Alsius chuckled. "Were you able to understand her before, Gilbert?"

"Yup, of course."

"Come on, we're leaving!" Terra waved from inside the carriage with Reize. Artemis and Legolas hopped inside the carriage while Alsius and Gilbert went on top. They all waved good bye to the villagers of Donalf and set out back to Virens, the city where their guild, Elven Wings, was.

"What's the date today, Gilbert?" Alsius suddenly asked.

"July 4, X791... oh"

Alsius smiled, "Yeah, it's that time of the year... already five years since we joined huh."

Gilbert nodded.

"I'm thankful that you are hiding the truth from me, but I went berserk again, didn't I." Alsius said. She looked Gilbert in the eye and knew she was right. "Thanks Gilbert."

"I'm sorry, Als..."

The next day...

"Good morning, Reize!" Artemis yawned, Legolas following close behind, "Have you seen Alsius, today?"

"No, I thought she was with you guys."

"She went out early this morning," a short black haired boy replied. He wore a mask over his mouth and nose. "It's that time of year, you know."

"Oh, I forgot." Artemis laughed. "Thanks for reminding me, Yushiro."

Reize looked confused, "What time of year."

"Every year on July 7, Alsius and Gilbert go back home to meet their family. I actually never have been there though." Artemis explained.

"Looks like you'll be able to see it this year, Artemis." Elven Wings' master, Jadez smiled. He held up an envelope and gave it her. "It's a map to the harbour city, Xerxes, and her house there. You, Legolas, Incendiare and Reize are invited, go have fun."

"Yay, beach party!" meowed Legolas.

"Well, it's good to have a break like this once in a while." Reize smiled, "It takes at least two days to get there... we better leave now."

"Yes, let's go, next stop Xerxes."

To be continued...