Arlen and Rose ran through the forest. He had never run this fast in his life, and it was exhilarating. While he did trip once or twice over the underbrush, he was glad to have this so that they could catch up to Lynde and those Shades.
When they finally did stop, it was outside of a tomb. Next to the tomb was Artsanna, unmoving, but alive. "There are spells keeping her from doing much," Rose said. "The only way we can break them is to destroy the source of them."
He knelt down next to Artsanna for a moment. "Don't worry, Artsanna, we're going to save Lynde," Arlen said.
If you are going to do it at all, do it now, Artsanna said. They are about to turn her.
Arlen and Rose, realizing the urgency, ran into the tomb. While they did so, Rose began mumbling something in what he assumed was the Ancient language. He didn't know what it was, but he wasn't about to ask. When they got into the room with Lynde and the Shades, he saw Lynde standing on a coffin with bright orbs of light around her.
Vras seemed to be talking to her. "Give up, child. You cannot beat us, even with Spirits. I offer you life. When we beat you, you must die. Even if you were to escape, we would try this again, and then you would die. You see this is what our goal is: to destroy the Dragons, the Rider, the Elves, the Humans, and everything else that lives.
"You must see that it is all pointless. No matter how hard you try, you will die, and so will everything else. Even if we do nothing, they will all die deaths eventually. Even the immortal Elves will someday all die. Give up and join us."
Lynde was quiet. When she did speak, it was with proud defiance. "No matter how inevitable death is, I will not be party to it ever again! All may die, but it won't be today!"
Vras sighed. "Kill her."
As Raud and Tyra drew their swords, Rose fired an arrow at Vras. It was the metallic arrow that would kill anything it hit. Vras saw it, and halted it midair with a spell. It then fell to the ground with a clatter. "Pathetic," Vras said, disgusted. "Utterly pathetic." He gestured to his allies. "Kill them."
Raud charged Rose while Tyra attack Arlen. He remembered his training, and parried Tyra's attacks. He managed to lead Tyra to a nearby column, where he noticed something about her fighting style. She was inexperience with a blade, with no subtlety or control, but a lot of strength and speed. This worked to her advantage mostly, but he had an idea to use her strength against her.
As he backed into the column, she swung her sword, aiming to cut his head off. He ducked out of the way and her sword hit the column. It unexpectedly became lodged in the stone. It seemed that it was a very, very durable sword.
As she pulled the sword out with a massive tug, Arlen swung his sword and sliced her hand off. Her sword dropped to the ground as she stumbled back, reeling in pain. She grasped the bloody stump of her wrist, and sneered at Arlen. As Arlen moved in to finish her off, she shouted a phrase that sounded like it was in the Ancient Language.
"Jierda sverd," she said, and his sword shattered. The sword he'd carried through this whole mess broke apart in his hands because some Shade said some words in a language from an age he knew nothing about. His shock was beyond words.
It was then that he realized that he never really understood what power magic could have in the right or wrong hands. It was more powerful than the steel he replied upon, and possible more powerful than the stone he walked upon. It was power itself.
He soon pushed this discovery out of his head as Tyra began mentally recovering from her hand being cut off. She looked tired, but no less dangerous. He himself started to feel tired, but that wouldn't stop him. Arlen darted to the Shade's fallen sword, and lunged at her with it. She repeated her spell, but this time the sword didn't break.
She fell to the ground, dead, with no wound but her missing hand. Then, her body faded, leaving darkness in its place. The darkness formed into two separate forms, and drifted away into nothing. Arlen shrugged, thankful that the Shade was dead.
Looking at the Shade's sword, he noticed some interesting things. It was rather light, but its durability was enormous. The blade was sharp, and the metal was dark like it had been treated against rust. The hilt and cross guard looked like cords of twisted metal like thick rope, and the solid pommel had a red gem in it. It was a good sword; he would keep it for now.
He looked to Rose and Lynde to see how they were doing. Rose barely touched the ground, jumping from column to column, firing arrows at Raud who deflected them with his sword and chased after her. Lynde was casting spells against Vras, who countered each one and threw more at her, which she in turn managed to survive. He was glad he got the Shade who wasn't that good with a sword, because he wouldn't last two seconds against one of those.
Suddenly, he got an idea. With Vras so focused on Lynde, Arlen snuck around behind him. He was about to stab Vras in the back when the Shade turned around and swung a punch at him. Arlen barely managed to get out of the way and stab him in the heart.
Suddenly, the same thing that happened with Tyra happened with Vras, only a little different. Spirits began to burst from his being, all running out in a stream of power. As they divided, he saw dozens of different blots of light. Were they all Spirits? Vras screamed as he fell into nothing, and the spirits followed.
The Spirits surrounding Lynde also faded away, following their freed brethren. The flood of spirits out of the tomb was massive, and very hard to look at. When they left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
That was, until Raud spoke. "Well, that's perfect. I was going to kill them anyway." Arlen looked to Raud in a corner near Rose. He and Lynde moved in to corner the Shade. "I hated all this subterfuge anyhow. I'll just kill everything the old fashioned way—one at a time."
What happened next was so fast that it took Arlen a moment to realize what had happened. Rose ran to pick up the arrow she'd fired at Vras. Raud raised his sword to his throat, aiming to slit it. Rose fired the arrow at Raud. Raud moved to block the arrow with his sword before it pieced his chest. His sword shattered as the arrow hit and pierced his heart. Seeing the arrow, Raud said, "Too bad." He then died, his darkness splitting into several blobs after him.
It was over. They had won.
Footsteps came from the outside, and Arlen and Lynde rushed to see who it was. It was a man with a golden sword in his left hand, wearing a brigandine over his torso, a single vambrace over his left forearm, and greaves over his shins. Under his armor were plain clothes except for his right sleeve, which was dark silk. The man was not imposing because of his dress though.
His scars made him look as if he was a very different man. Burn scars covered the right side of his face, though they looked very old. As Arlen looked, he even realized that his hands and arms were different. While both hands were gloved, they were of different make and material—the left leather, the right silk—and his right hand looked as if it had fewer and shorter fingers than the other. What sort of fire had scarred this man so?
"Who are you?" Arlen asked defensively.
The man replied with a rough and guttural voice. "I am Alaric, chief Dragon Rider in Alagaësia." His eyes looked to Lynde. "Girl, your name is Lynde?"
"Yes," she said suspiciously.
"Then you are to come with me to join the Order of Dragon of Riders."
Lynde defiantly stepped back. "No."
Alaric stared at her. "No?"
"No," she repeated.
Alaric pointed a sword at Lynde. "Then I will have to arrest or kill you; it is your choice."
Arlen stepped forward. He had little idea what he would say to someone so dangerous, but he would say something. "Please, give us a rest," he asked.
Alaric looked bewildered. "A rest? Why?"
"If you'll notice, we just killed three Shades. They also had me break them out of prison, and may have accidentally started a forest fire."
"Sorry about that," Lynde interjected. Alaric nodded in acknowledgement.
"My point is, since we just did this great service to the world, and may have even saved it, could we maybe have some time to rest?" Arlen asked.
Alaric thought long about this. He may have even talked it over with his Dragon Magnora for all Arlen knew. When he finally spoke, Arlen could breathe a sigh of relief, if only that he did speak instead of prolong the silence. "Very well. You have until sunrise the day after tomorrow. After that, we will hunt you down like a dog, Lynde."
Rose accepted that on behalf of Lynde. "That seems fair enough, considering your past with rogue Riders."
Alaric stared at Rose with rage in his eyes. "You know what Thorn did to me. Do not bring it up again or else you will have five seconds to live."
Rose then did something that Arlen had never seen her do. She bowed and said, "I apologize for my rudeness."
Alaric nodded. "Thank you. Now, who killed these Shades?"
"It was myself and Arlen, Alaric," Rose noted.
"And your name?"
Arlen was surprise with what she said. "Lilyon. Tell them, Lilyon killed the egg thief."
Alaric nodded. "I will tell them, but this deed will not stop me from hunting down Lynde when the time comes."
"Of course."
As Alaric turned around and walked out of the tomb, Lynde looked to Arlen. "You killed two Shades!"
"Really, Tyra killed herself," Arlen said. He explained the circumstance of Tyra's accidental death.
Rose was curious, and examined the sword. "I remember this sword and the legend behind it. It was wielded by an Elf named Kitharvie who eventually gave the sword to his apprentice, a Human man. I wonder how it got into Tyra's hands. Its name is Mor'ranr, which means peace. It was said to be unbreakable because Kitharvie hated to maintain it, so used spells on it accordingly."
She handed the sword back to Arlen and he said, "Won't this be useful then?"
Rose went over to where she killed Raud, and retrieved the arrow she killed him with. "So will this," she added.
"What about my sword?" Lynde asked.
"I enchant that in the morning," Rose said. "For now, let's just get some rest."