Young Writers Society

A/N:Special thanks to @ajruby, as well as @Dragonfphoenix, for being willing to supply me with the outfits, and the with characters of this story, to get it as accurate as possible, and as close to their wishes as possible.

Ariana slowed her Arabian to a halt as she reached the crossroads heading out from the library, and the Knights of the Green Room (KotGR) learning campus. She patted her mare’s smoke-colored neck, looking down the road to the campus.

“Where is that knight, eh Star?”

Lady Ariana pulled a canteen out of here saddlebag and took a gulp of water from it. The sun was already burning bright and warming up the landscape, even though it was early morning. She looked around. She was on one of the two dusty roads the converged into one. All around here lay rolling hills of lush green grass and speckled with trees, and she let Star meander over and begin munching on some of the grass.

Ariana dismounted and walked over to a nearby tree, enjoying the shade. She wore a chain-mail neck-piece, as well as a rich green tunic, covered by chest plate and arm guards, and her leather pants were covered in part by leg guards. All of this was good protection against any living foe. There was one problem. The sun doesn’t live.

Ariana sighed, impatient for Knight Dragon to arrive. He had said to meet her here in one hour, because he had one more class to complete.

“What’s the class, stay at the campus as long as possible?” Ariana joked.

She shrugged and unbuckled her sword belt, leaning it against the tree, and then resting herself in the same manner. She closed her eyes for a short nap, sure that if trouble approached, her new horse Stardust would give her fair warning.

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Dragon rushed to his personal bed in the campus barracks, knowing he was late by a full twenty minutes to meet with Ariana. His barracks consisted of five beds lined up against the two long walls in the rectangular building.

His bed the last one on the left side of the room, and he skidded to stop at it. Besides every knight’s bed hung his armor and he looked at his options. He could go light and fast, or heavy and strong. He chose the heavy. Within minutes he had, with the help of a fellow knight, donned his armor. It was one of the most admired in all of the KotGR’s fifty suits.

Starting from the top he beat everyone in the fear-striking department. His silver, full-face helmet was adorned with emerald-colored dragon scales, rising at the middle of the helmet, and slowing flowing down the back, decreasing in size. In the sunlight it would shine like fire, and with the rest of his dragon-honoring outfit, including the carving of a dragon had on his chest plat, and the small dragons on his epaulets’, his true warrior-self came out. And to top it off his sturdy oak shield was painted with a green dragon, breathing fire.

He lastly attached his great sword to his belt, pulled on his gauntlets, clanking as he did so, and left the barracks. As he stepped into the sunlight his armor burst into a high-sheen glow, reflecting the sun’s fiery rays. His emerald scales danced on the dusty ground in a mixture of green and yellow flashes of light.

Dragon raced to the stable as fast as he could, weighted down somewhat with his armor. He found his trusty steed Ayla, saddled her, led him out the stables, and mounted him. He waved to a few knights milling around the campus, took one look at the grad castle rising in the background, and pushed his horse forward.

His steed was a fast one, and within minutes he reached the well-beaten crossroads. He looked around and spotted Stardust first, chewing grass slowly. Then he saw Ariana leaning back against a tree. True to her full title, The Silver Lady, her chest plate was the purest silver possible, purified a hundred times, and then cleaned of any nicks. In the end it came out looking like a glowing piece of metal.

Dragon nudged his Ayla lightly, and as they approached, Stardust looked up and nickered softly. Ariana made no visible signs of movement. Dragon sighed as he dismounted.

“Curses! I must really be late.”

The armor plates clashed noisily, and he cringed. 'Way too loud,' he thought as he approached. To a bystander, the sound would have been like metal pans bashing against each other, and the involuntary noise should have been enough to wake up Lady Ariana. Yet still she slept. He leaned over, and tapped her shoulder with his gauntlets.

Quicker than he could move, Ariana flung his face-guard open, and had a dagger to his face. She glared at him with cold green eyes, wiping away a wisp of her blonde hair, and spoke to him in a low accusing voice.

“You are late.”

“Hey, I can’t control the teacher and-?” Dragon began.

Ariana’s eyes turned to slits. “you were arguing with him .”

Dragon thought about it, his eyes looking up, and his frown of concentration appearing. “Well no, we were discussing it but anyway . . . sitting here isn’t going to help us on our mission.”

“Oh no, you’re not getting out of it this easily. This the third time in a row.” Ariana gave a fake smile.

“I’m not. Besides, you realize Messenger has been late for the past month. Every time.”

Ariana didn’t move the dagger. “Is that an excuse?”

“No, just a rabbit trail.”

“Oh, well I hunt rabbits.”

Dragon grinned wide. “Well then shouldn’t you follow its trail?”

“You know what I mean,” Ariana said, rolling her eyes.

“Well are we just going to sit here? And you know I’m not doing it to get out of this situation. I have classes in three hours.”

“Oh,” Ariana pulled the dagger back. “your precious classes. Of course you can’t be late to those.”

Dragon re-donned his helmet and walked over to Ayla. He rubbed down the white streak in her forehead. “You know if I get kicked out, then Messenger will be the highest knight around, and that won’t be a very good reputation to give the KotGR.”

In truth Messenger was a very faithful and trusty knight, but he a knack for sleeping in.

Ariana shuddered in mock horror. “Oh that would be a tragedy. At least he would be dependable.”

“What do you mean?” Dragon asked. “Dependably late?”

Ariana mounted Stardust. “At least with him I can trust him to be late. I never know with you.”

“Well you know-“

“Let’s ride!”

Dragon grinned. He had nothing more to say, but he enjoyed teasing Ariana. Especially since she couldn’t stand it. He grinned wider. Ah, what a life!