Unable to speak, unable to breath, nor move, she remained staring into the darkness that was his eyes. After a long moment, he pulled back, lowering the blade to his side, so she took the moment to breath, but never took her eyes off of him.
Doing the same, he watched her a moment before turning his glance towards the castle and said, "set up a place for us to rest the night. I'll be back."
She said nothing as he headed back for the castle, only rubbed her throat watching him walk off. The clouds soon covered the moon once more and he seemed to completely disappear within the shadow of the castle. Making not a single sound, she moved into the nearest house and started with lighting a fire within the hearth and preparing a place for them to stay the night.
All the while, the haunting image of his mask stayed fresh in her mind, an image she just couldn't shake.
It was well into the night before he returned, finding her sitting near the fire. She didn't dare say a word as to where he went off to or what he did, it was better if she left his thoughts to himself.
He crossed the room and sat on a chair against a wall, all without a word. Not knowing what he was thinking, or where he was even looking, she kept a watch on him from the corner of her eyes.
After a while, she spoke, "have you any ideas what to do now?"
Seeming shocked she spoke, he looked over at her and nodded, "I thought you were sleeping, but if you're awake," silencing, he reached into his robe and pulled out a tattered scroll that he then stood and brought over to her. "I have no idea if this will be of any help. I only know that I was told it would help if the Kingdom were in desperate need."
More questions flew through her head, all pointing to an answer she was already well aware of, but refused to believe. So, blocking out the thoughts, she shifted closed to the fire and opened the scroll to look it over. Letting out a soft gasp she pulled it closer to her face, as if not believing what she saw.
"How'd you get this?" She asked.
"As I said, already."
"This is..." Trailing off, she brushed some dust from the scroll. "Incredible really, this is older than the Ivory Kingdom. It's a scroll from the time of the Dragons."
"Dragons?" He questioned, "a fairytale story?"
"Not fairytale, long before the kingdoms stood, it was Dragons who owned all of the land. As humans and elves began growing, they began to worship the Dragons as Gods. A lot of the Gods we worship today are based off many of the Dragons from the past. Riella for an example was the Dragon of the forest, she controlled the plant and animal life, it was said she fell into a slumber beneath the mountains when the war started."
"War?"
She nodded, "as the Ivory Kingdom rose to power, they sought to take down the Dragons, for they saw them as oppressors rather than Gods. So they began killing them, one by one until they were all gone or slipped off into Uthernera." He shifted as if not understanding, "Uthernera, it's an elvish word. It's like, a blissful endless sleep." Standing, she continued looking over the scroll. "Once the Dragons were gone, by whatever means, they were erased from history almost entirely. But the Elvish Kingdom, holding high respect for the Dragons, kept record of them, hold prayers for them once a year in hopes they would return. This writing here is of the ancient Elvin language, which I unfortunately cannot read."
"Then, it is hopeless." He sighed, though almost as a question.
"Not quite. While I may not be exactly welcome within the Elvish Kingdom, I do have a friend that might help. If this has anyway of helping restore the Shadow Kingdom and taking down the Ivory King, she's going to be the best one to help."
He nodded, "then in the morning, we travel towards the Elvish Kingdom."
A slight uneasy, she gave him a nod and rolled up the scroll, slipping it into her pack. Deciding then for a short rest and by dawn they were on their horses riding to the west.
