While Aragorn was gone, an uprising had started back at his castle. Arwen had fled, followed closely by the hounds of the Rebels. Her horses had all been taken, and she couldn't find any that she could free in time to escape. The Rebels had corralled all of the horses in the castle and posted guards near the single entrance to the corral. Aragorn's banners were ripped from the walls and burned. The Rebels posted their own banners, red with a silver sword painted on it. Two Gladias dragons had seen her run from the castle into the woods. They left and headed towards the nearest group of elves. They stopped two elves headed for the castle and told them what had happened. The elves agreed to go to Aragorn and tell him. The two dragons then created a message orb to send to Terrico. The dragons hoped that it got to her before the hounds got to Arwen. The dragons could not help Arwen because they feared for their lives. The hounds were demonic in origin, devil-dogs taken from Sauron's stronghold as pups. They could bite through dragon-hide easily and knew where the lifeline of blood ran in the dragons' throats. The two dragons had barely escaped from them earlier, when the Rebels had come past their river home on their way to the castle. The dragons had fled on wing, then watched helplessly as other dragons were killed, unable to fly because the dogs had ripped the soft skin of their wings. Of a group of nearly twenty, two survived. They roared to try to distract the dogs, to throw them off of Arwen, then took flight again to seek shelter with the Eagles.
Aragorn was very surprised when two elves ran into the village, obviously exhausted and ghostly pale. Legolas and Terrico had just gotten the message orb from the two dragons, and were worried. The elves repeated the dragons' story. Aragorn stood up and looked over at Griften. "My home and my wife are in danger, we must go." Griften nodded. Sealeaf walked over. "Terrico, Legolas, and I will come as well. If you are dealing with an uprising, you will need help." Gandalf stood nearby. Terrico and Legolas got on Sealeaf's back. Frodo told Aragorn that he wished he could do something to help. Frodo gave him a mithril cloak, made by Gimli's folk. The outside of the cloak was elven-cloth, but the inside of it was mithril ring-mail. Another layer of warm cloth sandwiched the mithril. Aragorn took it and promised to return it after everything was returned to normal. Gandalf told them that he couldn't help anymore, and that he was going to go back to his Tower, which was under a similar siege, although not so grave. A group of strong magi had taken over and were bullying others into paying them for 'protection' and extorting from the nearby townsfolk. Terrico gave Gandalf a small flight of flame dragons to command as assistance. Then Aragorn left on Griften and Legolas and Terrico left on Sealeaf. Gandalf walked down the path towards Greenhorn. The celebration continued. Frodo gave the two messengers rooms in Bag End and a chance to heal before going home. Gimli had left earlier, headed for the Mines of Moria with Balen. They planned to oversee the Mines' restoration and reopening.
Aragorn, Terrico, Legolas, Sealeaf, and Griften arrived outside of Aragorn's castle the next evening. Aragorn approached the gates, which were barred tightly. "Open the gates!" He called up to the watchman, a Rebel. "Who goes there? Is it Aragorn, the defeated? We have taken this castle for our own. Leave now! The hounds will return soon with the body of the elf-queen." Aragorn shuddered, picturing a bunch of dogs, not realizing they meant some of Sauron's demon-dogs, dragging back Arwen. "Open the doors! I am Aragorn, but I have not been defeated! Open the doors, or our dragons will have you for a snack." Griften roared to emphasize Aragorn's claims. "We fear no dragons! We have some of Sauron's hounds. We destroyed a small group of them as a warm-up for the castle!" The guard laughed. Aragorn began to get very angry, but Terrico called him back. "It is more important to find Arwen right now, Aragorn. Come on! We have precious little time." Aragorn turned and wasn't surprised to feel an arrow strike him. Frodo's cloak didn't even tear. The arrow bounced off, much to the surprise of the guard. Griften flamed him as he took off. The Rebels inside shouted threats and shot arrows, but the dragons had already began to fly over the forest into which Arwen had run. They found her not far into the woods. She was on the top of an old dead tree. She held Aragorn's spear in her hand, and was thrusting at the demon-dogs that were trying to claw their way up. She was hurt, one arm was bleeding profusely from a bite wound. One hound lay dead, speared through the eye. Griften flamed at the hounds while Sealeaf carefully landed near the tree. Terrico and Arwen switched places. Terrico jumped onto the tree while Arwen leapt into Legolas's arms. Sealeaf took off, flapping hard to gain height before the hounds saw him. One hound bit his legs, and hung on. Sealeaf roared in pain. The hound took a good bite of flesh off of Sealeaf's leg before falling. Terrico decided that fire-spells would not help much, since Griften's flame didn't hurt the dogs. Terrico used Levitation to lift Griften and Aragorn out of the hounds' reach before summoning a spell to freeze the dogs. She used crushing vines, which caught two of the five dogs. They were crushed, enraging the remaining three. Terrico shot out a blue beam from her staff. It hit the first of the three and it fell frozen solid. The other two leapt aside. Terrico used a Stun Wave to slow them down, then used Vine Encasement to create a wall that surrounded the tree and all of the dogs, alive or dead. She then called up a Sudden Downpour and combined it with Flood, creating a monsoon that quickly filled the Encasement. The dogs paddled about, until Terrico used an old Monster Summoning card. She pulled one out of her robes. It had a drawing of a shark with metal skin. Written on the top of the card was a name: Armored Shark. Below the picture there was more writing: "Armored Shark can only be summoned above, near, or in water. Armored Shark cannot exist outside of water. Armored Shark has the power of stealth in dark water and cannot be detected in any water except by sight from outside of the water." She tossed the card into the water and called out "I summon the Armored Shark! Destroy the demon-dogs!" The card glowed, and the Shark appeared beneath it. It dived as the card returned to Terrico's hand. The two dogs paddled around while the Shark made sure the previously defeated dogs were really dead, mostly by biting them in half. It then turned its attentions to the paddling dogs. Helpless in the water, the normally vicious dogs looked weak. Griften and Sealeaf sat on the Encasement edge to watch the Shark hunt. The Shark swam beneath one dog, then shot straight up and caught the dog in its jaws. The dog disappeared down the Shark's throat. The other dog attacked, but couldn't get through the armor. "That's why I summoned it rather than my White Shark." Terrico laughed as the Shark turned and finished its job. It then disappeared, leaving only bloody water and ripples. Terrico dispelled the water and the wall. The area looked almost the same, except that the Shark's thrashing had destroyed the dead tree and dead hounds littered the area around it. Terrico walked over to Arwen, who lay weak in Aragorn's arms. She seemed peaceful, happy to be back with Aragorn. Aragorn looked up with angry, teary eyes. "Those hounds did this, sent by the Rebels. I will teach them not to mess with me or my family!" Terrico then noticed Arwen's slightly larger belly. She knelt next to Arwen, looking at the injured arm. "Is this the only injured place?" Arwen nodded, wincing. Terrico set the ruby of her staff against the wound. "This is going to sting, so you might want to have something to squeeze." Aragorn held her hand as Terrico summoned her spells. She first used Purification of the Flesh, then Healing Flame. Arwen winced and squeezed Aragorn's hand. The wound closed as flames licked it from Terrico's staff. She pulled the staff away and reexamined the wound. "Perfectly healed. I was worried that there might have been poison, so I had to use Purification. I am glad that there is no scar. Your arm is going to be a bit sore for a while, probably no longer than a week." Arwen sighed and smiled. Legolas helped her up as Aragorn went and got a blanket from his pack on Griften's back. Griften nodded to Arwen, who nodded back, not sure of what it meant. Aragorn wrapped a blanket around her. Legolas looked over the bodies of the demon-dogs that had chased her. "Horrid creatures, obviously from Sauron's stock." Terrico stood next to him. "I have heard of these creatures. I healed Sealeaf, but it has taken much out of me." Legolas wrapped an arm around her, supporting her. Arwen smiled. "Thranduil finally succeeded?" Terrico gave a little giggle and put her head on Legolas's shoulder. "No, I found this wonderful elven mage by luck. She helped me escape my father's soldiers after I ran away. He kept trying to tie me down with these helpless little maidens that couldn't possible survive a trip if it were to go off the well-trod path. She also let me have Sealeaf even though she had the egg. It hatched while we were both there, but Sealeaf chose me. My father has always been against magic and dragons, so I don't know how he'll react to me bringing her home. If all else fails, we'll leave for the havens a bit early." Aragorn laughed. Sealeaf and Griften, however, sat with eyes staring off past the forest, to where a plume of smoke was rising. "The castle is burning." Griften turned to Aragorn. "I think that we should find somewhere safe to rest and gather our strength." Sealeaf turned around, hearing something no one else did. "Who's there? Come out!" He called into the forest. Two Gladias dragons appeared. Sealeaf bowed to them since they were older than he was. They stopped and looked around at the dead hounds and the people. Griften held his head a bit higher, a sign of superiority. He was a bit surprised that the dragons didn't automatically show respect to him. The two new dragons nodded to him, finally. One was just a foot shorter than Sealeaf, the other was a few feet taller. The taller one introduced himself. "I am Glya, and this is Drito. We are all that remain of the Gladias Dragons of this wood." Terrico wasn't surprised to see sudden sadness in Sealeaf's eyes. He was from this area. Glya wasn't his mother, but still recognized him from family resemblance. "You're little Friya's lost son, aren't you. I am her sister. You are very tall and strong for such a young one. She would be very proud. Drito is from the same clutch you fell out of. It is very odd company for a little dragon, but I am glad to see you well." Sealeaf looked confused, but Terrico explained how she'd found his egg after it had rolled out of the nest. Friya had refused to take it back. Sealeaf then understood. "Is there anywhere safe around here where we can rest?" He was tired from carrying two elves so far so fast. Griften looked at Terrico. "How long will it take you to regain your magic?" "Only one night. There is a storm coming. This will help me regenerate magic faster." Glya and Drito motioned toward a small cave not far from the river. They all just barely fit.