The Mark of Arella(Book One of the Dragonfly Chronicles)

Chapter Fourteen

Lilly spent the next few weeks training with Colvin and Logan. The day started out with a morning run, warm ups in the training yard, then hours and hours of punching drills, kicking drills, rolling out of falls, and practice in knife and sword fighting. In the afternoon she would read about and practice basic magic. Every night she went to bed with bruises and every morning she woke up sore. The days went by very fast and the only thing that kept her going were having Angela and Ashley each night to clean her, massage her shoulders and talk about their day. When she slept, she dreamt about Rhylan, she dreamt about Arella and most recently she dreamt about a dark haired woman leading an army of beasts. Lilly could feel her magical powers growing within her. It was a thrumming feeling, a powerful feeling, it was like the ocean and she sensed it could be wild and deadly if she did not stick to the calmer shores. Every day she would ask Colvin and Aeron about Rhylan, and every day they would say he had not returned from his quest. She worried for him, she had a foreboding that something bad was going to happen. The past two days she had been practicing more useful magic like blocking, shielding and learning how to portal to and from places. Master Aeron had explained that as long as you knew your destination, you just needed to think of going there and you would.

Lilly felt stronger and more confident every day. She had done very well at shielding and in general using air as a tool and weapon. Earth was the second easiest to manipulate. Fire and water were more of a struggle. She occasionally sent a caress down the bond with Rhylan, sometimes she would get a response and sometimes she would not. It made her nervous and fearful. She was in the practice yard trying to manipulate fire when she suddenly flashed to a forest scene, Rhylan and Jarron were there along with Tam and Finn. They were hiking through some hills headed towards a big mountain when suddenly they were ambushed by huge creatures and fae soldiers. "Lilly!" Colvin screamed. "Put your fire out, you are going to burn the building. Lilly!" She came back to reality and fell to her knees, distinguishing the fire she didn't even know she had conjured. "I saw a vision Colvin, it's Rhylan, and they are in danger. We have to go to them". Colvin said, "Are you sure Lilly, could you just be worried for him?" Logan said, "And we don't know where he is and I doubt we would be able to portal in time". Lilly looked at both of them, we have to try. Get your weapons and let's go."

Lilly wasted no time. She thought of Rhylan, she focused on their bond and grabbed Colvin and Logan's hands and portaled them out of the mountain castle. A split second later they landed in the middle of the most horrific scene. Rhylan and his men were surrounded by 20-30 fae soldiers. Out in the clearing there were huge fanged creatures approaching. They were as big as grizzly bears and moved graceful like a cat. They walked on all fours and had red and black stripes. Their eyes were terrifying. They were crimson red and glowed. There must have been half a dozen and they were standing in front of her. She looked around the soldiers advancing on Rhylan and his men. She was horrified. Rhylans crew had nine people. They were completely outnumbered. She must have arrived just as the ambush developed because the fight was just breaking out. "GO" she said to Colvin and Logan, "help them! I'll take care of the beasts". Colvin and Logan ran towards the fight with the fae soldiers and Lilly stood staring at six demons. The middle one stalked back and forth and said, "So, Arella's ancestor has finally come home. Our Queen will be pleased our ruse worked. She wants you and we plan to take you back. Don't bother trying to fight us child. You cannot beat all of us" Lilly said to the beast, "I will not be going with you today, your dark queen can be sure of that" She didn't understand how she was talking to this animal mind to mind, but she could. Suddenly from the side, one of the beasts lunged at her, she pulled out her sword and just before it made contact with her, she rolled to her side and cut through its leg. It roared out in pain and collapsed. She thrust her sword into its chest and it stilled. The remaining five started to stalk her in a circle. Three advanced and she pushed air at them and it knocked them back into the trees. The leader and one other were left pacing. He said, "I see you have been learning your magic gifts. The queen will take care of that, once we take you back, she will take your powers too."