A Storm is Coming

The wind blew lightly, splashing the cool mountain water over Sam's bare feet as she sat on the edge of Woadark Lake. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her legs. Resting her chin on her knees, she closed her eyes. Images of the previous two weeks swarmed before her eyes.

After Percy had told her about Blaze and the vampires, she had quickly figured out where they likely were. A quick scrying of Salah confirmed her thoughts and Sam and G'reth had raced to Teirm to stop a potential war. Blaze was just about to attack the city and stopped. The madness that had taken over her mind had ceased and together, Salah, Blaze and Sam had convinced the vampires to stop and return to their city. There was some bloodshed from extremist vampires who watched their dreams of conquest quickly washed away by rational thought. The world was in shambles already. How could war between two races make things better? The vampires took the baby related to Blaze with them to raise. Blaze quickly released Salah from her oath, disgusted with how the magic had seized her mind. G'reth and Sam had been just in time to save Teirm. Sam shuddered to think what might have happened if they had been too late.

What was this world coming to? War constantly loomed over the lands. Greed corrupted the so called un-corruptible. Families torn between beliefs. The young forced to fight for causes before their time. She felt a yearning for days past.

G'reth joined her conscious. Sam let her memories take her away. To her earliest days at the guild. The first time in years she had ever felt safe. A place where she realized she truly belonged and joined the Dragon Riders. The grueling lessons in magic, flight, archery, swordsmanship, speech, languages, geography ... too many to count. The connection between dragon and rider developed more than ever. Making new friends, life long bonds.

Sam absentmindedly felt her ring finger, remembering the gold band she had worn there. Fallenfaith ... and Draco. G'reth growled softly and nudged his rider's shoulder comfortingly. Sam could feel his sadness and rubbed his snout. So many friends and comrades come and gone. Sasoix, Aqua, even Bazoo. And now Darkest. Sam sighed and hugged her legs tighter. She quickly wiped a tear from her cheek and opened her eyes, staring out over the water of Woadark Lake to the mountain peaks of the Spine.

She wanted to run. As far as she could. To find out how far she could go before she had to stop.

Her thoughts were disturbed by a voice behind her. "Sam?" The elf quickly wiped the rest of the tears from her cheeks and stood up, using G'reth's snout for support. Jared stood 30 feet away from the bonded pair. He looked at Sam with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said automatically. The man stared at her for a moment and then turned away from her.

"What shall we do now?" Jared asked. He looked up at her again, confusion in his brown eyes. Sam could tell he wanted to come near her, feel the intimacy they had felt in Uru'baen. She couldn't allow it. Everyone around her got hurt.

And Darkest... it was too soon. The elf pursed her lips, wishing she could understand why Darkest had left her a piece of Wydra and told her to go to Uru'baen. Jared watched the elf slip away into her thoughts once more. He shrugged, pushing away her indifference towards him and went back to the fire.

The elf stared into the air with her blue eyes. Darkest, what did you want me to find? What did you want me to do in Uru'baen?

Why did you leave me so soon?