Arlen looked at the cave entrance leading into the mountain. It had been a mine once, though now it was long abandoned. The forest had grown around it, obscuring it from the view of the average passerby. This was where the bandits were hiding out.
Arlen prepared himself, grasping Mor'ranr, but not drawing it. As well as the dark, unbreakable hand-and-a-half sword had served him, he wouldn't need it yet. He missed his old blade, but that wouldn't do. Mor'ranr was the superior blade, even if his previous sword had been given to him by his father.
As captain of the guard, Arlen's father expected his sons to join him in protecting Cathalorn, and to do that, they needed proper weapons. His father commissioned a swordsmith in Ceunon to forge three swords when Ehren became of age. The first was for Ehren as a birthday present, the second was Arlen's for training, and the third was for Gratian when he was older. Arlen didn't know what happened to Gratian's after he died, but the other two had seen use in battle on more than a few occasions.
He hoped Ehren and Embry were alright, as was their mother. He had no contact with them since leaving Cathalorn, so he missed them. He assumed they missed him as well, and were probably worried sick—or at least Embry was. Hopefully the letter he sent along with Jerrell would stop their worrying, or at the very least let them know that he was alive.
Rose snapped him out of his thoughts. "Arlen, have you got an ideas for storming the mine?"
After a moment's consideration he said, "Not really, no."
Rose frowned. "Well, we could try smoking them out, but there could be another exit. Artsanna, you spot from the air so that we know if… What are you doing?"
Artsanna sniffed the air and stared up the mountain. I smell something, she said. Something… Run!
Arlen looked to the sky and saw a terrible sight. A white Dragon flew down from atop the mountain, a dark haired Rider atop it. As the Dragon landed in a nearby clearing, it roared loudly.
Arlen quickly sized up their opponents. The Dragon was slightly smaller than Artsanna, which hopefully meant a less experienced Rider. The Rider was a woman, and from this far off, she looked like an Elf unfortunately. This could be very bad.
Arlen drew his sword, and stepped into the clearing. "I don't want to have to fight you," he said.
The Elf snickered. "Don't worry; I'll give you a chance for surrender," she said.
"You first," Arlen replied.
The Elf frowned. "Are you saying…?"
"Volyeth?" Rose said, stepping out beside Arlen. "Is that you, Volyeth?"
"Yes and how do you know…? Lilyon!" The Elf ran over to Rose, but didn't draw her sword or made any other aggressive move. She wrapped her arms around Rose and hugged her. "Lilyon, I thought you were dead!"
Rose's voice seemed strained as if the woman was squeezing her too hard. "What gave you that idea?"
As the Elf—Volyeth—drew away, she said, "I don't know, just… I haven't seen you in decades!"
"If I remember correctly, Galbatorix was still king when we last parted ways." For a moment that seemed like a ridiculous amount of time for two friends—as that was what they seemed to be—not to have seen each other, but Elves were much longer lived than Humans, so it seemed reasonable. Rose turned to her companions and said, "Arlen, Lynde, Artsanna, meet Volyeth. Volyeth, meet…"
"I know who they are," Volyeth said. "They happen to be fugitives."
"We did nothing!" Lynde said. "All I did was…"
"Have a Dragon hatch for you," Volyeth said. "I know, and while I suppose you'll move past this rebellious phase as I did, for now I think that I must arrest you."
Rose frowned and crossed her arms. "I thought I taught you better than this," she said. "Don't pick a fight with a superior foe unless you're out of range."
Volyeth stepped back. "You wouldn't fight me, one of your own people. We're practically blood, as the Humans say."
"Volyeth, I don't need to," Rose said. "Arlen's outfought Elves, and Artsanna's larger than your Dragon. You can't win, but you can help us."
Volyeth looked to each of them and said, "How?"
"Bandits are staked out in the mine," Rose said, pointing to the mine entrance. "Do you know of any other entrances or exits?"
Volyeth shook her head. "There are none. It is a shallow mine, if I recall correctly; abandoned shortly after discovering there were no metals here."
"Good, then we can smoke them out."
Lynde grimaced. "Do we have to do something like that?" she said.
Rose nodded. "Would you rather we charge in there blindly and without Artsanna, hoping we don't all get killed?"
"Hold on, do they have a magician?" Volyeth asked. Lynde nodded. "Then it might not work." When Rose looked to her for an explanation, she said, "Riders use a spell when they're flying high to keep fresh air around them and their Dragon. The spell doesn't use much energy so if they know it, then smoking them out won't do much good."
Rose nodded. "Then we'll have to figure out another way," Rose said.
Artsanna soon spoke excitedly. What if you used magic to make each and every wooden support in there suddenly burst into flames. Arlen was surprised with Artsanna, not only because it was a good plan, but also because it was yet another plan that involved burning something. Was there any other kind of plan she could think of?
Rose pondered for a moment before saying, "Yes, it could work. It would be extremely taxing, but it could work." She looked to Lynde and Artsanna. "You'll have to give me some of your strength so that we all have enough for a fight."
"Alright, but someday I'm going to have to cast the spell," Lynde said indignantly. It sounded like Artsanna's mood was rubbing off on Lynde. Rose ignored her and began to speak in the Ancient Language.
Arlen didn't know much of the Ancient Language, nor did he know much of magic in general. He knew it was a powerful tool—if not power itself—but not much else. But instead of listening to them and trying to understand, he took up an ambush position near the mine.
Soon enough, he heard the crackling of burning wood and the screams of men. He heard running, and eventually saw several men exit the mine. But instead of jumping out, he waited for Lynde and Artsanna.
Soon after they left the mine, it collapsed completely. There came a large cloud of stone dust, which revealed the silhouette of a man hiding in the entrance. He was probably waiting, the same as Arlen, to jump out and attack in case of an ambush. He would have to remember that one.
When Lynde charged with Artsanna at her side, Arlen came out of the brush and stabbed a man in the back. He quickly withdrew his sword, and killed another before they realized he was there. At that point, it might as well have been over, as they put their hands up in surrender. One of them shouted, "We surrender!"
Arlen lowered his sword and said, "We accept. Now which one of you is the leader?" At that, he heard a terrible war cry behind him. He turned around just in time to see a large man with a club charging him. Arlen dodged the man's attack easily, and stabbed him in the gut. "Was that him?" he asked.
"Yes, he was," the same person who surrendered said.
"And where's the magician?" Lynde asked. They looked amongst themselves and talked, and the consensus was that he died when the mine collapsed. That took care of that nicely.
Rose and Volyeth came out of the bushes with the white Dragon. "Volyeth, perhaps you can handle them," Rose said. "Taking them Therinsford and all that."
"Alright, though I may bring in more Riders to take you on," she replied.
"At least it's a better plan than your first one." She turned to her companions and said, "We're done here. Let's go."