Ismira was still in shock. The entire situation had been a mess ever since she foolishly decided to set course for Palancar Valley. She was still trying to grasp all that had happened. Tricked by the voice, kidnapped by the Urgal, and rescued by an elder Rider.

She ran alongside Murtagh, still wearing his cloak, as they both rushed towards the dragon cell. Rubbing her wrists, as the chains had not provided any slack, she realized how lucky she had been to not only escape her chains, but also be found by Murtagh.

The dungeon in which Ismira had been imprisoned was a complete vacuum for her powers, both magical and of mind. But when the Urgal king left, in his hurry, he had left the door slightly ajar, allowing just enough wiggle room for Ismira to say a few choice words in the ancient language. She had shouted out to Vanilor with her mind, but clearly his cell had similar enchantments.

Ismira was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly crashed into a giant pile of rubble. Murtagh scowled. "That was the only way to dragon cell." Just then a huge rock crashed down, right next to Murtagh.

"We can't stay here." He said. "We have to reach open air. Come on!" And he dashed off, slightly tugging Ismira. All Ismira could do was stare back at the pile of rubble with despair.

Unfortunately the duo met another obstacle. Urgals. They were crawling all around the castle, surprisingly enough, not panicked, but organized, as if this had been planned. Murtagh didn't have time to ponder this however, because the Urgals spotted them immediately and threw themselves at them.

With a grimace, Murtagh extended one arm to keep Ismira back, and with the other he drew Zar'roc. He would have preferred to keep the lowest profile possible, not to mention that having to kill Urgals still turned his stomach. It had taken a long while to get used to the Urgals as friends, and now this.

But there was nothing for it. In a final vain attempt to make the Urgals retreat, Murtagh cried, "Stop! I am Murtagh Morzansson, Killer of Kings and Razer of the North! Flee now while I still permit it!"

Though this did not dissuade the Urgals altogether, it did make them hesitate, which bought just enough time for two dragons to come crashing through the roof.

Someone is awfully full of himself. Thorn said teasingly. Murtagh heaved a sigh of relief.

The second Ismira saw the pristine white shine of Vanilor's scales, she ran out from under Murtagh and rushed towards him, not even bothering with words, but simply transmitting all the emotions she was feeling through their mental link.

Vanilor was likewise relieved to see Ismira unharmed. In the future, he said, We will be listening to my instinct. Dragons clearly have better ones than humans.

Ismira laughed through her tears.

"We must go." Murtagh said, already atop Thorn. "The Urgals seem oddly at ease, as if this was all planned. We would do well to leave this place and never return."

Ismira and Vanilor could find no argument t that, so they listened to the elder Rider, and in no time they were airborne, passing through the gap in the roof. Once outside though, the cause of the collapse was revealed to them.

It was Kulkarvek. And he was enormous.

The Urgal king was a Kull, and an unusually tall one at that, but after his transformation, he had grown to monstrous proportions. He had even outstripped Thorn, by twice or thrice as a matter of fact. His horns were now as big as Vanilor.

The king laughed, and the sound was enough to collapse another wing of the castle. Ismira stared at him in horror. Murtagh's scowl deepened.

Worse still, Kulkarvek stood at the only exit to the cave-like castle skeleton that was left. Ismira could see Murtagh analyzing the situation.

After a few seconds, he gave Ismira and Vanilor instructions. "You go with your dragon…"

"Vanilor" Ismira supplied.

"Vanilor," Murtagh said, continuing, "And fly around at a safe distance. Do not get close enough for him to grab you, but fly around his head and pester him."

"And what will you do?" Ismira asked.

Murtagh smiled in a humorless way. "Me and Thorn will take him down. The idea is to knock him off balance. If we manage to take him off his feet, we will buy ourselves enough time to escape. And Ismira" He added.

"Yes?"

"It has been a true honor to meet you."

"And you."

And without another word, the two Dragon Riders took off, both knowing that what they were trying to do was impossible.

As Ismira headed towards the giant's head, Murtagh led thorn full speed at his legs, ramming into them effectively, and almost toppling him, had he not supported himself on the adjacent cave wall.

Then, with surprising speed, he rushed forward and, with his other arm, plucked Vanilor out of the air. Ismira cried out in despair.

Murtagh's face contorted, regretting not killing the Urgal earlier, and realizing they would not be able to outrun the beast, at least Vanilor wouldn't. Thorn flapped his enormous wings, ascending to the giant's head. He was unable to attack however, because the king was holding Vanilor and Ismira in front of him as a shield.

Ismira was pinned against Vanilor's saddle, unable to move. Vanilor thrashed, but eventually, upon seeing that his efforts were vain and only hurting Ismira, stopped.

Just then, a tiny blur flew into Ismira's vision. It had flown straight from the ground, and worked its way all the way up to Kulkarvek's hand, before embedding itself in one of the knuckles, shattering it.

With a roar of pain, the giant Urgal released its grip. Vanilor immediately regained power of his flight and circled around the giant, giving him a wide arc. Ismira looked towards where the blur had landed. She saw now that it was a hammer.

With a rush of excitement, She told Vanilor to land, and to her amazement, she found her father there, battling Urgals, but without his hammer. As Vanilor touched down, crushing several Urgals in the process, Roran had battled his way through to them. Ismira threw herself off Vanilor and embraced him.

Murtagh meanwhile, had wasted no time after Vanilor and Ismira were safely out of the way, and had continued his assault on the giant king. He managed to force him outside, where Thorn had much more maneuverability. Murtagh had also discovered, to his extreme surprise and dismay, that the king was immune to magic, even after using the Name of Names.

Back at the ground battle, Ismira quickly found out that her father had come with his soldiers, along with many friendly Urgals. In addition to that, it seemed that Ismira's peers and teachers were also on their way, but they had been delayed by a pack of Fanghur.

Even as her father finished explaining this, four dragons came soaring in from the distance, landing a ways away, engaging the Urgal enemies. Stronghammer's eyes widened as he heard of Murtagh's arrival from Ismira.

Wasting no more time, Ismira, despite her father's adamant objections, mounted Vanilor and took off to continue helping Murtagh and Thorn, as she saw Jourt, Miremel, Eridor, and Galzra all head towards Kulkarvek as well.

Kulkarvek, realizing that he was now facing 6 dragons and 5 Riders, bellowed with all his might. Even as he did so, he grew more and more, until he had grown to more than triple his original magnified height. Now even Thorn could be caught, if using both hands.

Worse still, a horde of archers appeared below, forcing all of the dragons, except Thorn and Vanilor, thanks to Murtagh's wards and Ismira's height.

Murtagh decided that even if they could not outrun the Urgal, knocking him of his feet would still be their best chance at defeating it. He transmitted this to Ismira with his mind.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if Kulkarvek knew this, because he started dancing from one foot to the other, an moving in other random ways. Murtagh and Ismira were at a stalemate with the Urgal, so they simply circled him, looking for chinks in his odd and improvised defense.

Suddenly, the giant king surged forward towards both the dragons hands extended, ready to snatch them out of the air. When Vanilor and Thorn tried to fly out of the way, they realized they had been backed into a wall of the barrows. They were trapped.

But just then the expression on the Urgal king's face changed from smug to wild panic, as something struck him with amazing force from behind, using the king's own momentum to send him tumbling to the ground.

Ismira and Murtagh looked past the Urgal, and, the first time, Murtagh became just as shocked as Ismira. For there, hovering in the air, was an emerald green dragon and his elven Rider.

"Arya!" Murtagh called out. "How did you know to come? I forgot to send you an invitation."

The elven queen laughed and answered, "Oh, I knew that you couldn't spend all your time up here without the slightest bit of fun. It would be tragic if I missed out on it."

Murtagh frowned, as Arya had not really answered his question, but then a shiver went up his spine. He turned to his right, and then to his left. Vanilor was not there.

In the confusion, Kulkarvek had grabbed Vanilor once again, just as he was falling. He knew full well he was not going to make it out of this encounter, so he would at least claim the satisfaction of killing the girl and her dragon.

Murtagh and Arya were descending, but Kulkarvek was crushing the life out of the pair too fast for them to make it in time. Ismira could see nothing, having blacked out from pain and lack of oxygen. She was still conscious, but she her vision was totally black.

And then the giant's grip loosened, and, after with an earth-shattering howl, his fist unclenched, freeing Ismira and Vanilor. Ismira looked up and saw that a long knife had penetrated Kulkarvek's eye, going deep enough to kill him.

And wielding the knife was Gurgdor.