Young Writers Society

Layla Valkyrie

"Strike back for your families!" Layla shouted, urging the small band of rebels forward. Her sword swept side to side, cutting down soldiers. Then she saw him. The dragonsoul who had killed her father. He smiled vicously and pulled his ax out of a rebel's head. She lowered herself then leaped high into the air, as Venatrix tore the enemy dragonsouls partners wings off. The man screamed in anger and pain as Venatrix gave the killing strike. He turned just as Layla thrust her sword into his heart. He gasped, then fell limply as the group of rebels killed the remaining soldiers. Layla stared down at the man, Vance Carn. The leader of the rebels approached." My lady, when do we take the fort?" She turned and smiled softly. "Micah, we cant take the fort. Besides, we came what I needed. Revenge, and this." Softly, she pulled the golden dragon egg out. Micahs eyes glinted. "We're going to raise an army?"

Layla shook her head" no micah. Vance stole this from some rural village in the mountains. Idk if they even know these babies are missing. Its a sanctuary for dragonsouls that actually have good souls. A place of safety. He was planning something, but luckily hes now dead. Im going to take them back. They need to be safe. I just hope heyna is with me, I need to find this place before the children hatch."

Finley and Kit

"Keep back."

"What did he say," Finley clicked out to Kit softly.

"Don't know."

"You are a dragon!"

"He spoke English! I don't speak Enlgish!"

"I don't speak either!"

"You are supposed to!"

Fin growled and turned away from his partner back to the strange dragon. His stomach ached from where Kit's tail wrapped around it and his heart was beating furiously still from his close call earlier with the strange dragon's teeth. But he did not attack, and that confused Fin. He turned his brain over, searching for a course of action to take that didn't involve running away or fighting. While he was thinking, the dragon spoke again.

"Archer, we have company."

Fin looked up at the source of the noise and saw the man that was sitting off to the side earlier start to stand and head towards his dragon. Kit wrapped his tail loosely around Fin's waist, and the boy put a comforting hand on his brother's scales, but still kept an attack rune on the tip of his tongue just as a precaution, in case the situation turned ugly.

"Who are you," the rider shouted, "and what are you doing here?"

"Finley, you have to do something," Kit barked. His claws dug into the earth and Fin could see his muscles tensing to spring. "Now, or I attack. I don't like this.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking-"

"Ah," he exclaimed suddenly, causing the strange dragon to startle and growl and the rider to move into an attack stance.

A wide smile stretched on Fin's face and he put his hands palm out into the air, trying to convey he meant no harm. As soon as he was sure the dragon and his rider weren't going to attack, he knelt down on the ground and started carving a rune into the soft dirt. Once that was done he reopened the wound on his hand from earlier, and dropped blood onto the symbol.

"Ansuz!"

The rune glowed briefly before disappearing.

"Hello," he spoke slowly, testing out the word on his tongue. When it rolled off easier than usual, he smiled. The rune he activated was one mostly conjured when dealing with the villagers to help aide communication, and even though it wasn't very strong, it proved to be enough.

"My name is Finley," he said carefully. "This is Kit, my brother. We are not here to do no harm... I mean... any harm...? We live in forest," he continued, motioning behind him towards the thicket of trees. "Leader smell strange scent. We investigate to protect family. You are not here to kill? If you are not hunters, we are friends. We mean no harm."

*What a week. Sorry I haven't posted, will do so shortly.*

Kaili

Kaili did not like being woken up. She'd never been a morning person, and usually whoever rousted her in the mornings had to tread carefully to avoid a deathly glare and matching words.

Kaili especially didn't like being woken up after sleeping on the cold, wet ground. She had her sister's dragon wings to sleep under and shelter her from the weather, but rocky, bumpy dirt was rocky, bumpy dirt however she looked at it.

And on top of all of this, now Kaili was being shaken out of sleep and hauled to her feet, and Ariga was roaring at her too.

Kaili pulled back sleepily, mumbling something along the lines of "Ar'ga, le'go me..." before she realized that Ariga wasn't grabbing her. These were human hands. Kaili opened her eyes and looked around.

Oh, crap.

Just as she registered that she was, in fact, being hauled to her feet by Dragonsouls with their dull, black eyes, she realized that Ariga was already fighting at least three black dragons while trying to get their humans - at least, the soulless things that looked like humans - away from Kaili.

There was also a mace five inches from her skull and closing the distance fast.

Kaili screamed, pulling back once more, and as panic ignited magic a burst of gale-force wind and fire exploded around her, sending the servants of Xelios flying in all directions but towards her, many of them burned.

Kaili ignored them and ran to Ariga, adding rage to her panic as she saw wounds gaping through red and black scales. She opened her arms and sent blasts of ice running along the ground, sealing talons to the ground and freezing black dragon legs in seconds. Those in the air drew back for a moment, startled, and Kaili sent another blast of wind at them, sending them tumbling away.

As they did, Kaili reached Ariga, who without a word lowered herself for her rider to climb into the saddle, and even as Kaili was swinging her leg over her back launched herself into the air, pounding her wings furiously. Leaning against Ariga's back as if it would make her go faster, Kaili coaxed the air into a tailwind, and they took off, leaving most of the dark Dragonsouls dazed, injured or thawing. The entire fight had lasted about fifteen seconds - but the encounter wasn't over yet.

"There's still some following us," Kaili shouted over the wind, and she felt Ariga's chest rumble as she snarled in frustration. Kaili was tempted to try to throw the black forms behind them off with another windstorm, but the toll of her magic was already eating away at her, and she wasn't sure how much more energy she could spare, even with battle thrill keeping her lively. Instead she just held on, silently urging Ariga on and praying that they wouldn't have to fight.

"How did they find us?" Kaili hollered as they fled. "We were careful!"

"I don't know," Ariga growled back. "But perhaps we should just focus on getting away from them for now!"

"There are some mountains nearby, right?" Kaili said over the wind. She turned around, creating a gust of air to push back a dragon that was coming too close. Good thing they don't have any archers, she thought. "We'll have to hide out there."

"That's a few days' flight from here!"

"It's the best we've got, Ariga! We'll keep ahead of them and hide out until they're gone!"

In truth, Kaili didn't like her own plan either, but it was the best chance they had - she didn't know how many more Dragonsouls there were on top of the dozen or so that were already tailing them. She wasn't sure if it was even possible for them to keep playing cat-and-mouse with them for however long it would take them to get to the mountains: Kaili didn't doubt that they could outrun them with her magic, but she worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her energy up long enough to win this mad race. She would just have to pray and conserve her strength.

Layla glanced behind her as she walked towards Venatrix. A dozen rebels followed her slowly, micah at their head." Layla, I am grateful for your help, but you have no right to those dragonsouls. No right." Smiling to her self, layla turned to micah." And how will you stop me?" She gestured at the dozen terrified rebels." You forget, son of Carn, who I am." She paused and spread her arms out, slowly breathing out the spell, as her dragin armour grew over her. Brown cahinmail, that glittered like jewels, and a brown chestplate. Black and brown bracers and pauldrons. Her sword reappeared on a baldric b1ehind her back. The men stepped back, as pure black armour appeared around Venatrix, giving the sight of a black dragon.
"I am layla valkyrie! I am the chosen of heyna, goddess of war, and I will spill you blood if I must my comrades." Venatrix lifted back her head and gave a roar, shooting flames into the air. Even micah shook as layla placed her helmet on. Two brown horns spiraled up into sharp points as layla mounted Venatrix." I hope we meet again." She said softly, placing the egg in a cusioned saddle bag. She smiled softly, knowing two pure dragonsouls were growing inside
Later that night

Layla roasted the deer she had shot and took a leg, giving the rest to Venatrix, which of course was swallowed whole. Layla carefully set the golden egg by the fire." That would suck if the egg hatched." Layla said, sitring back. She froze at the cracking coming from the egg. You had to say something, Venatrix thought. Layla rolled her eyes as she cautiously approached the egg. Gods be with me, she thought as the first crack appeared from the shell.

Name- Arcadia
Age- 16
Gender- Female
Partner- Archer
Human and Dragon Appearance-

Personality- Arcadia is not talkative but if she notices something she believes is wrong, she will speak out and act in a way she think suits the situation. She hates conflict and will always help if asked.
Background- Arcadia was found with her dragon, Archer, near a lake in a forest. The people who found her instantly became scared until they noticed she was blindfolded and playing as any 6 year old would if they were alone since birth. So, the people left her there for a while, just watching from the shadows. Not long after her 7th birthday, the people came forth and talked to her. Since she didn't know some had no dragon, she asked innocently where was their's. They, of course, said that they simply didn't have any but would take care of her and her dragon in secret. So, Arcadia grew up after that, learning kindness and spreading it to all who she met, until she met another Dragonsoul. This one was mean and tried to beat the kindness out of her but only made her stronger. So, instead of beating her, it burnt down her home and left laughing. Now she is 16 and is out to spread her hope and kindness to all.
Gift- Kindness is her gift to the land. She is to teach kindness to all.
Other- She is going blind.

Hope I can join!