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A/N: Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed and to Ally Serenity for betaing this chapter
Chapter Nine
Lily was flying towards Lord Voldemort's army and couldn't clearly remember what she had done during the hours following the news. She remembered the speech that the King gave, announcing to the population the kingdom's invasion by the Tarelys and Death Eaters.
Flash Back
"I, King Regis of Erkanswald, am sorry to announce to you that today, the Tarelys and Lord Voldemort have united and are trying to invade our kingdom. I, along with my counselors, will do anything to protect my subjects. In order to preserve our country, everything that is needed will be done. The fate of this war is laid in your hands. All the men in good health and willing to help the kingdom's protection will be welcome in the army; all people who think they can help to fabric weapons will have to contact Sir Exer.
"We shall have to try our best to protect our country, our houses, and the lives of all the people we love. Victory is possible if we only believe in our strengths. Dark is rising and we must stop it at all cost!
"Believe in our fighters, and help our kingdom in any
way possible…."
End of Flash Back
The panic that had followed had been hard to end. Then, the king had started to give orders to gather the army and the wings. He had followed his counselors' idea and had decided to send spies to have as much useful information as it was possible. The two spies who had been chosen were Sir Frank and Sir Amos. To her great surprise, Lily had been chosen to escort the two spies in their mission. She remembered the reaction of Sir Cornelius at the choice of Sir Exer for the fight-dragon who would take care of the spies' security. He had choked; Lily had thought he was going to explode as he was getting redder and redder. Finally after speaking for about ten minutes about silvers' incompetence, he had to stop talking in order to breathe. Then Sir Exer and Sir Albus had begun to destroy his previous arguments. Sir Albus had also, after having asked Lily the permission, revealed the councilors her wandless abilities. They had been a bit shocked at this, and had agreed with Sir Exer's choice, all except for Sir Cornelius.
That was the reason Lily was now flying near the green and blue dragons. They were two of the best spies. Lily knew Sir Frank and appreciated his company, but Sir Amos had the same opinions as Sir Cornelius towards the silver. She remembered too well his face when he had seen the person in charge of his security… It had been funny to see someone's face become so… She couldn't find words to describe it… He had complained for a long time and had only stopped after having seen Lily made a demonstration of her powers.
The prince's reaction had also been interesting. He had looked at Sir Exer, unbelievingly.
Flash Back
"What? SHE will escort them? HER?"
"Have you something to say, my prince?"
"Why did you not choose anyone else? I mean, there are many browns, bronzes or goldens who are far more experienced!"
"Do you doubt my choice?"
"No, Yes, I mean… Why HER?"
"Could you name me a fight-dragon faster and stronger than Amaris? A wizard more skilled than Lilyaris?"
James looked at the ground, silent.
"No? Moreover Lilyaris has a secret asset which will be very helpful in this mission."
The prince remained silent, then turned on his heel and left. Sir Exer looked at him, a small smile playing on his lips.
End of Flash Back
Lily smirked at this thought. The sight had been priceless. She slapped herself mentally. She was supposed to protect the spies, not daydream! She looked at her surroundings. They were flying over a huge forest, the Ancients' forest. She realized they would reach Lord Voldemort's army in a few minutes.
At the first sight of the army, she knew something was wrong; she slowed down, motioning to the spies to stop.
"Sirs, there is something very strange, do not go further, I can sense something…"
"Nonsense!" replied sir Amos " We are here to fulfill a mission, and we will do it! But I can understand that a female is too weak to continue, it was predictable."
"You do not understand Sir Amos, I do not worry for myself, but for your security."
Sir Amos laughed at this.
"It is laughable! A silver worrying for the security of two of the best spies in the kingdom!"
"Amos, if you are not quiet, you shall get us caught." Stated Sir Frank.
"Alright Frank." Answered Sir Amos. "Come, we need to gather information…"
Despite Lily's warnings, the two riders, after having cast an invisibility charm and a spell that made them undetectable by other wizards, approached the enemies' army.
Sighing, Lily followed them after having cast the same spells on herself.
Her worries became true ten minutes after having begun spying on Lord Voldemort. Choosing to ignore Lily's warning, Sir Amos had decided to fly closer to the Dark Lord's headquarters. In a few seconds he was caught in invisible ropes. Sir Frank started to fly towards him when Lily stopped him.
"Sir Frank stop!"
"But he is caught!"
"I know, and I do NOT need to have to rescue two spies instead of one. Take advantage of it to gather more information. I am afraid we shall have to leave very quickly when I have released this idiot!"
Nodding, the blue rider left. Just at that moment, two hydrias rose in the air towards the green dragon, which was trying to escape from the trap he had fallen into. Hydrias looked a bit like dragons, but were always black. They had four heads, four wings, and a longer tail than a dragon. Even if they were slower and weaker than dragons, their hypnotic powers made them highly dangerous. Sighing again, Lily took off her spells. She quickly stunned the two hydrias along with the Death Eaters that rode them. She knew that because of the hydrias the spell would not last long, so she quickly released Sir Amos and told him to leave her to find Sir Frank and bring what they had discovered to the King. He nodded and left.
At that moment, the spell broke. The two Death Eaters started to follow Sir Amos but Lily interposed between them.
"You will go no further." She said threateningly.
The two Death Eaters laughed, and then pointed their wands before them. Before they could cast a spell, Lily had already shouted: "Expelliarmus!" The two wands flew away directly into Lily's hands. Once the two Death Eaters were disarmed, she cast her more powerful stunning spell. Immediately, they fell with their hydrias, which had been also hit by the curse.
As Lily turned to face the two spies, she saw with relief that they were gone.
'At least the King will have useful information, even if I don't come back.' Thought Lily.
I forbid you to think about things like that. You are going to come back in one piece, or else my name isn't Amaris!
Face the reality, my chances of survival are not very big.
Maybe, but you haven't the right to give up now!
Alright Maris, I will try.
Good.
Then she heard a loud cheer. She turned, and what she saw made her gasp.
I've changed my mind Maris, I will be very lucky if I ever get out of there alive…
Indeed, attracted by all the commotion, Lord Voldemort had just come out of his quarters, and was mounting a very huge, hydria…
Meanwhile at Erkanswald, The prince, Bella, Sirius, and Remus were gathered in Bella's room, waiting for some news.
Bella was reading one of Lily's books; Remus was looking in Lily's book collection to find one to read. Sirius was lying on the bed, and James was pacing up and down.
"James, if you do not stop that at once, I will make you do it." Said Bella, without looking up from her book.
"Yes, it's quite unnerving!" added Remus.
"Are you nervous James? Worrying for Lily?" teased Sirius.
"No! Not at all! I am worrying for Frank! I do not think she can handle it."
"James, you are lucky I am reading Lily's book and that I know for a fact that she hates when I throw them to someone's head, or else I would have already have hit you with it." Said Bella matter-of-factly.
"Bella, face the true. She is simply not experienced enough for a mission like that!"
"And why?"
"First it is only her first year in the wings, secondly she has never participated in a fight, thirdly, she is a silver, fourthly, she will be alone in case of a battle and I do not think she can manage to fight against Voldemort's soldiers alone."
Bella closed her book and looked at him.
"First, she may have been in the wings for only one year, but she had trained herself harder than you could imagine for a least two or three years before that. Secondly, she may not have participated in a fight but she has a lot of experience. Thirdly, she is a silver but may I remind you that none of the goldens, browns or bronze are able to beat her. Fourthly, she has been alone since her parents' death, I am positive that she can handle it."
"All right Bella, all right. No need to yell, I'm not deaf." Said James.
"I am starting to wonder about that, it is at least the fourth time we have had to talk about Lily's abilities." Sighed Bella.
"Bella, I am beginning to think that our little prince is only nervous about Lily," said Sirius, smirking.
Before James could open his mouth to reply to Sirius' last comment, their dragons warned them that the spies had returned to the castle. Instantly, they were running to the throne room, where they knew the spies would go first.
As soon as they entered in the room, they knew something was not right. Only Sir Amos and Sir Frank had come back, Lily was not there. Seeing their looks, Sir Albus motioned to them to approach. The two riders were giving information on what had happened.
"… We had just arrived near the army. Lily warned us that there were a lot of traps there, but as we decided to continue, she followed us, warning us not to approach The Dark Lord's quarters. Amos, decided he knew better and did not listen to her. He was caught in invisible ropes. Two hydrias came. Seeing them, Lily flew to help Amos after ordering me to gather as much information as I could. I obeyed. While I was spying, she stunned the Death Eaters and released Amos. Thanks to their hydrias, the Death Eaters managed to break the curse. She told Amos to find me and to come back here while she was distracting them. As we left, I saw that she had caught the wands of the two Death Eaters… That is all I know." Finished Sir Frank.
He looked at his feet.
"Can you tell us what you have learned or found?" asked the shaken King.
For the following minutes, the two spies filled everyone with their discoveries. Then they left after Sir Exer had told them to meet him after dinner.
While the adults were talking quietly talking between them, James looked at his friend. He knew he had to have a strange look on his face. He was quite shaken by this news. As much as James wanted to deny it, he admired Lily, and despite his behavior, he did not want her to be injured or killed. Sirius was looking at the ceiling, apparently deep in thought, which was quite uncommon. Remus seemed very worried, and Bella had a faraway look on her face. She seemed to be talking with someone.
James started to leave, but Bella noticed him.
"Where are you going James?"
"To help her."
"She does not need help. But I can assure you that if you go there; she will skin you alive. I know she prepared a plan in case something like this happened. You will just be a burden for her if you go. Moreover, she will be here in a few minutes."
"How do you know that?" asked a bewildered Sirius.
"Lily and I share a bond that allows us to speak mentally to each other, but it can only work when one of us is in danger. I've just contacted her. She had to duel with Voldemort. She has managed to escape but she is quite injured."
"Oh!" The three young men were astonished at this.
As Remus was about to ask something else, they heard a loud roar. They hurried outside and saw a silver dragon land. They went closer, followed by the King, Sir Albus, and Sir Exer.
Amaris was bleeding; she had quite a lot of cuts, a hole in one of her wings, and was burnt on a few parts of her body. They gasped when they saw Lily. She was severely burnt, hat a cut above her eyebrow, which was bleeding profusely. They too saw that one of her arms was broken along with some ribs. She had another cut on her shoulder that was bleeding as well. She held up her wand. They noticed how painful it was for her. She then muttered something, and they saw all the dragon's injuries heal.
"Lily stop that!" shouted Sir Albus. "You are not strong enough!"
She shook her head, and continued to heal Amaris. Just as the last wound healed, she let her arm fall, and fainted, falling off of her dragon. Without thinking, James caught her before she hit the ground.
A little before
Lily saw Lord Voldemort rising into the air and approaching her.
Be ready Maris
The Dark Lord began to laugh. Startled, Lily looked at him. Seeing her look, he said,
"Is King Regis so desperate, that he send me females to fight? Poor fool!"
Lily remained silent, but was becoming very angry. She had had enough of being made fun of just because of the fact she was a woman.
Without warning, she took her wand and cried "Augustus clothum!"
She smiled.
The Dark Lord stared at her.
"Why are you smiling? I am recall that you are facing the most feared wizard in the kingdom!"
"May I be excused, but dressed like that I doubt you will be able to scare a fly…"
The Dark Lord conjured a mirror and dropped it with a yell as soon as he saw his reflection. He was dressed in a clown outfit, with the big red nose, the colored clothes, and so forth… With a flick of his wand he made his clothes reappear, and then he looked at Lily with a mad glint in his eye.
"No one makes fun of the Dark Lord and goes away alive!" he growled.
"Whatever…" replied Lily. Despite her confident look, she was desperately trying to find a way to escape from this.
That was not a good idea Lil, now he is madder than ever.
I know Maris, I am just trying to win time…
Why not apparate to Erkanswald?
It's impossible to apparate from here.
Alright, so?
I am trying to think of something!
I would advise you to be quick, he is about to use a spell.
What!…
Lily looked at Voldemort. He was pointing his wand to Lily.
"Crucio!"
Lily was hit by the curse. The pain was incredible, she was shaking, and all her body was hurting as if she was being torn up from inside… Then the curse ended and she built a shield around her and Amaris. Lily was out her breath and still shaken by the Cruciatus curse. Voldemort shot another spell, but the shield reflected it. She shot to him a powerful stunning spell, which he managed to dodge. They exchanged curses for a while. And then he threw her something that looked like a handful of bugs with big stings. The shield protected her from magical attacks, but not from physical ones. She succeeded in dodging a few, but she was hit above her left eyebrow, on her right arm, on her ribs and on her right shoulder. She felt the wounds starting to bleed and knew that she had broken a few ribs. Amaris made a small cry as several bugs hit her. Lily clenched her teeth at her dragon's pain. She couldn't heal her now. The hydrias started blowing fire on the silver dragon. Lily managed to not cry as she was burnt.
Amaris? Can you continue?
Yes, Go Lil.
Will you be able to do what we had planned?
I think we haven't any other solution.
All right. Be ready to fly away as fast as you can.
To Voldemort's surprise, Lily raised her hands as she was admitting her defeat.
"Finally, I knew you would be sensible. No one can beat the Dark Lord." He shouted loudly.
Lily restrained herself from shouting something very rude to him. A Death Eater approached her carefully and took her wand. After a few seconds, seeing that Voldemort had let his guard down, she flicked her hand and cast her most powerful stunning spell. Taken by surprise, the Dark Lord was petrified. Lily took advantage of everyone's amazement.
"Accio wand!" Her wand flew straight in her hands.
Amaris Go! NOW!
Amaris flew away as fast as she could. Lily heard Lord Voldemort shouting,
"Go get her! Bring her back if you do not want to die!"
She saw that four hydrias were following her. They were faster than her specifically since Amaris was injured and could not fly as fast as she could normally. A few meters and they would be able to appear right to the castle, the Death Eaters had nearly reached them.
Amaris…
With a big effort, the silver dragon managed to accelerate and reach the limits of the protection which prevented them from appearing.
You're the best! Go!
Immediately, they disappeared from the Death Eaters' view.
The Death Eaters stopped and cursed, scared of facing Voldemort. They perfectly knew the Dark Lord did not accept failure and that they were going to pay dearly for Lily's escape. They slowly came back to their master…
"SHE HAD WHAT?" yelled a mad Voldemort. "How could an INJURED SILVER DRAGON escape from four hydrias! You don't have any excuse and you know I do not accept failure, Avada Kedavra!"
Instantly the four Death Eaters fell on the ground dead.
"Take them out of my view!" shout Voldemort, pointing to the four lifeless bodies. "Does any one know who she was!" he asked angrily to the crowd beside him.
For a few minutes, all the Death Eaters remained silent, and then one dared to spoke.
"Master, she is the winner of the last new-rider tournament. She is the grand daughter of Praïn the elf chief. Sir Albus had trained her before the tournament. Her parents were Kethran and Gladys Evans. After the tournament she disappeared with Lady Bella to train. She came back a few months ago and has been charged of the training of the new recruits. Her full name is Lilyaris."
"Did you plan on informing me of … Wait, what is her name?" spat Voldemort.
"Lilyaris, Master."
"Go away, everyone." Shouted the Dark Lord.
Immediately all the Death Eaters left their master.
"Lilyaris… The Pure…" he muttered. Then he entered his headquarters and looked in his old parchment for something he had read a long time ago.
Lily appeared a few kilometers away from the castle.
Sorry Lil, I couldn't come nearer.
It is fine Maris, you were wonderful.
Thanks Lil.
Then Lily concentrated, trying to contact Bella. "Bella! Bella! Do you hear me? It's Lily, I have managed to escape. I will be at the castle in only a few minutes. Can you get Sir Albus, Maris and I have been injured during our duel with Voldemort…"
"Alright Lily… We'll be ready."
"Thank you."
She saw they had nearly arrived. She felt very weak due to the fight and to the loss of blood.
Amaris landed. She saw the King, Sir Albus, Sir Exer, Bella, Prince James, and Sirs Sirius and Remus coming. She noticed their looks at the sight of her injuries. She held up her wand and started to heal Amaris.
Lilyaris! Stop that! You are not strong enough!
Maris, I must take care of you.
But…
Lily did not listen to her dragon's word, nor to Sir Albus's order. When she saw that all the injuries had been healed, she let her arm fall and started to climb off. But then everything she saw went suddenly out of focus, and then black. She felt herself falling off Amaris. Before she hit the ground, two strong arms caught her. She felt nothing.
