“My name is Taliana.” The dragon said. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” She noticed Briyen and narrowed her eyes at the arrow in his shoulder. “Bring the boy here.”
Cilen hesitated. “But…” he began.
“It’s alright.” Taliana assured him. “I’m going to help him.”
Cilen slowly walked forward, laying Briyen in front of Taliana.
The dragon examined the arrow, then looked at a small clump of bushes. After a moment, a girl, about 13, walked out of the bushes. Her hair was dark, a sort of browny-blackish color, and her eyes seemed to glow slightly with a silver light, though their true blueish-green color was still visible. Seeing Briyen on the ground, she ran over and knelt beside him. After a moment, she said “Get me one of the silaras, and some water from the river. Now.”
Cilen ran to do as she said, not stopping to argue. He returned with one of the silver roses, and handed it to the girl, along with his water skin, which he had filled from the river. “Is he going to be alright?” he asked, worriedly.
The girl nodded. “Yes. You’re lucky Tali was here, otherwise I doubt he’d’ve survived.” Rolling Briyen onto his right side, the girl drew a small knife and cut the feathers off the arrow. “Ok, boy, listen to me.” She said to him. “We’re gonna count to three, and I’m going to push the arrow out. Alright?”
Briyen nodded a little. “ok…” he said, his voice weak.
“Right.” The girl said. “Ready? One…two…” she pushed the arrow through as Briyen was saying the last number. He jumped as she pulled it the rest of the way out. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked, smiling a little. “Ok, now just take it easy.” She pulled a few petals off the silver rose, and laid them over the entry wound, wetting them with the riverwater first. Putting her hand on top of them, she closed her eyes. Her hand seemed to glow silver, then the glow was transferred to Briyen’s shoulder. When she lifted her hand, the petals were gone, and the wound was healed, with only a slight scar to mark it. She did the same to the exit wound, then helped Briyen up.
“Thank you…” he said, moving his shoulder a little, testing it.
The girl shrugged, smiling a little. “It’s nothing.”
Taliana smiled. “Bren here can heal just about anything.” She said. “So what brings you people here?” she asked, turning to Cilen.
“We were journeying to Fedor…” he began, then caught her look.
“No you weren’t.” Bren said, glancing at Taliana. “come on, tell the truth.”
“We’re looking for the Dagger of Indoran.” Briyen told her. Cilen glared at him, but said nothing.
“The Dagger?” Bren looked suspicious. “Why?”
“To defeat Rethlon.” Briyen said. “And to rescue our friends’ father and sister.”
“So finally someone figures it out.” Bren said. “Whose idea was it?”
“Mine.” Briyen raised his hand.
“What’s your name?” Bren asked.
“I’m Briyen. Briyen Kirulao…” He hesitated, then went on. “Sarín.”
“Kirulao-Sarín…Otter-Hawk” Bren smiled a little. “A kindred spirit, then. And your names?” she asked the others.
“Daryn Frelan Jerenath, and Shanaya Atreyan Jerenath.” Shanaya said, pointing at her brother, then herself.
“And I’m Cilen Kirulao” Cilen said. “What about you?”
“Fair enough.” Bren said, smiling a little. “My name’s Brennan Halcyon.”
Cilen’s jaw dropped. “Halcyon?!”
“Yeah.” Bren looked at him strangely. “Why, that mean something to you?”
“Yes.” Cilen said. “It means that you’re the rightful ruler of Indoran.”
Bren sighed. “Yes, I know. But with Rethlon in power, there’s not much I can do.”
“come with us!” Briyen said. “With the Dagger, we can defeat him, I know it!”
Bren raised a brow, then looked up at Taliana. “how about it, Tali? Up for an adventure?”
“Sure.” Taliana said. “Why not?”
Bren looked at Briyen and grinned. “We’re in.”
“Great!” Briyen grinned back.
Cilen and Daryn exchanged looks. They could see where this was going, and cilen wasn’t too happy. “she’s a princess, dar!” he whispered.
“Aw, let ‘em be.” Daryn said, grinning. “They’ve got something in common, anyway.”
“Well, yeah…I guess…” cilen said, grudgingly.
“so why tear them apart?” Daryn said. “They’ll get over it soon enough.”
Cilen nodded, slowly. “Ok.” He turned to Bren and Briyen. “Come on, you two. Let’s get moving. We’ve still got a long way to go.”