Merrin's rapier was likewise out and even as the dragon landed she was searching for an insignia -

There. Renegade. With a sigh of relief she sheathed it, wondering what he meant. "Where are - " Oh. The dragons. Merrin swallowed the sudden tears that threatened to come again. "They're gone," she said almost defiantly, looking up to meet his eyes. "I'm - Merrin." She did not add the 'Dragonrider'. "That's Kendath, Garthag - what's happening?"

The question burst out with an air of near desperation and Merrin quelled it hastily. "We've only just returned. How long has Vryngard been under siege?"

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"Dead"

Garthag added to the question, which he considered one coming from a slow witted man. Was his place not in the battle that raged in the skies? Should his dragon not be tearing the flesh of the Meiltha instead of standing there, eying a couple of strangers who were simply not interfering?

"An earth elemental was their doom and dragons hardly have the advantage of flight in a cave, but there are more important matters at hand than crying for the dragons that did their duty. Now then, I am not quite sure what Kendath had to report, but he might as well tell you or you might take him to someone who needs to know."

He said with an impatient tone, there was no time for words as there was a battle raging nearby and it was only a matter of time before they would be noticed. Especially when a dragon was sitting out there in the open, it would be an easy prey for a vicious Meiltha rider and dragon.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Kendath took one look at the Exhalted insignia on the newcomer's belt and cursed under bated breath. Excellent. Exactly what they needed - an interrogation by some pompous Renegade knight. And who would have thought...? They were merely a few insignificant specks in the foothills, disguised among the ordered chaos above and below them.

Another fireball showered them with flame, making them dive for cover. This was ensued by a cataclysmic boom and a chorus of dying screams. Vryngard the Mighty. Vryngard the Hallowed. Its first "impregnable" wall had been breached. A dark river of Meiltha flooded into its blasted gates. Bolstered by the victory, steel-encased siege engines rumbled forth.

Kendath turned his attention back to their own predicament. Perhaps they could make this knight useful after all. "We have a report to make to Commander Thorone. We'd prefer to avoid the ecstasy of battle on the way there."

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Well, it wasn't quite the farewell I had intended for Adanil, but hey--now I get to bring in character no. 2.

The bio is a work in progress, so it might not be up for another little while, just fyi.

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Fire, blood, and bodies filled the sky. Some bodies were falling, others were still flying, and some were being torn to shreds or burned where they sat, in the case of the Dragonriders. Meiltha and Renegades both comprised the falling, yet more of the former still flew than the latter. The Meiltha assault force was far larger than any had thought they would assemble to attack any one place.

The outer defenses of the impregnable fortress of Vryngard had been broken, and now bloody combat was waged within its walls, still outside the secondary defenses, though. Blades slashed and thrust, and men and dragons fell with screams of rage and pain.

Outside the walls, though, on the edge of one of the surrounding hills, a bronze dragon swooped earthward and landed in a silent rush and then a clatter of claws and scales meeting the ground. A line of white horns ran down the center of its head and neck, the highest right between the glittering golden eyes of the dragon. Those eyes were turned towards the four people and the other dragon already there, who were now watching it and its rider with gazes varying from suspicious to mournful and uncaring.

The rider dismounted, his Renegade insignia clearly visible on the green tabards that he was wearing over his armour. He had something that would take most dragonriders by surprise, though--a small sheaf of hay with a sickle crossways across it was embroidered on the breast of his brown cloak. It was the emblem of the oldest line of Dragonriders. His swan-hilted scimitar caught the light of the multitude of fires as he swung off of the dragon.

"Kendath and Merrin Dragonriders, I presume?" he asked, ignoring Valten and the stranger for the time being. "It is an honour to meet two such people. I and others were placed in these hills to watch for your return and guide you back in, in the event that something like this might happen. I am Jhoran of the House of the Seeker, and this is Dawn," he said, gesturing to the dragon.

Glancing around them, he avoided referencing that which was plainly obvious--they no longer had their dragons. "Dawn and I can take one of you, and I'm certain that Valten and Archaon will take the other two of you," he said. "Time is being lost, and Commander Thorone will want to talk to you as soon as possible."

Noticing the looks that passed between the three newcomers at his words, he nodded in understanding. "I would guess that this stranger is not someone you want only one person watching. Am I not correct? Perhaps it would be best if he went with Valten, then."

Swinging back up into Dawn's saddle, he shifted the flanged mace that hung there and reached down a hand to hoist up whichever of the two Dragonriders chose to fly with him.

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[ignore]

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Curse it, just how many Renegade knights were there?

A shadow loomed over them, waxing larger by the second. A burst of fire from Vryngard's walls glinted on bronze scales. The unidentified dragon swooped earthwards, and Kendath retreated in the rush of wings and grappling talons. The rider dismounted, and the strange emblem emblazened on his cloak didn't escape Kendath's notice. Must be some titular Renegade thing. More striking still was the scimitar. His eyes narrowed at it, though in the maelstrom of recent events he couldn't -

"I am Jhoran of the House of the Seeker, and this is Dawn."

Right. This was getting better and better - though he did have to grudgingly admit that they would never have made it past the Meiltha siege without assistance. Kendath evinced a curt nod of gratitude. Diplomacy was simply not his forte. Compared to this Exhalted and this scion of a House of the Seeker, he must appear quite the primitive mute. He accepted Jhoran's proferred hand and hauled himself into the saddle. Jhoran shifted to make room, and his scimitar caught the lambent light.

A swan-hilted scimitar.

Kendath's jaw dropped open, affording him all the intelligence of a landed fish.

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Merrin made to follow with a grateful glance upwards at Jhoran, intending to express her thanks once astride the dragon - and as she made to mount felt the unmistakable rush of wind created by a landing dragon's wings. She turned half expecting to see yet another Renegade knight landing to see what all the fuss was about.

And only by gods-given luck and reflexes borne of three years as a dragonrider managed to avoid instant incineration.

Meiltha riders with their viciously flame-spewing mounts thundered groundward, creating instant mayhem. Merrin clawed her rapier from its sheath even before she was on her feet again, to fling her free hand - and simultaneously a shield of what seemed white lightning - out to avoid a second burst of fire. She turned to race for Wyvern, automatically scanning the alighting Meiltha dragons -

There was no Wyvern. Merrin remembered with a rush of dread and looked frantically about for the two Renegades they'd met, hardly able to recall the hue of their dragons.

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Blinding white dragonfire seared past, blasting the rock behind them. The heat was intense. Instantly Kendath had the impression of sitting helplessly in a furnace. The bronze dragon - Dawn - reflexively reared away from the flames. In desperation he locked his knees and grabbed onto the saddle. A crimson Meiltha dragon roared and assaulted Dawn once again, snapping its sinuous neck towards the bronze's jugular.

Kendath turned just in time to see a lethally spiked tail headed for his face. He swung himself backwards, unsheathing his falchion before remembering - belatedly - its broken blade. The Meiltha dragon's tail cracked like a whip as it arced around again. He slashed his falchion across the crimson scales. Steaming blood spurted. More enraged than wounded, the dragon flicked its tail back around.

This time the spikes struck Kendath right in the stomach. The wind knocked out of him, he went sailing backwards, right off Dawn's back, to land unceremoniously on the ground. Pain shot up both his spine. He put a hand to his abdomen. It came away bloody. A burst of heat, and he launched himself into a roll from another column of dragonfire. The enemy, a green one this time, coiled its hindquarters to pounce on its seemingly helpless victim.

The seemingly helpless victim shouted something incoherent and snapped a dagger up. The small projectile hurled blade over hilt, hilt over blade, blade over... It struck home. The Meiltha rider doubled over, hand clutching his chest. One down. Kendath staggered to his feet. If Jhoran didn't find him soon, he'd be dead.

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A ray of magic flashed trough the air and hit the green dragon right in the side of it`s head, burning the scales and flesh for a brief moment. It turned to it`s right in rage, forgetting the easy prey it had eyed on and now turned to face a white figure standing alone in the midst of the battle. Seemingly more than an easy target the dragon charged forwards in blind rage to impale the mage with his claws.

The claws did pierce the white robed figure, but the figure disappeared as soon as it came to contact with the claws as the real Garthag sneaked to Kendath.

"Nasty"

He commented dryly at the wound that Kendath had suffered and gazed around for a moment only to spot the green dragon turning around into a flight. Garthag grinned and gazed at Kendath before attracting the dragons attention by sending a simple, ineffective magic missile at it, then leading it away from Kendath hoping to buy sometime or just to find himself a way out. The green dragons claws almost grind the ground as they approached Garthag with a deadly velocity. Realizing that he could not possible avoid darting around, Garthag jumped aside just before the dragons claws were about to hit him. As the dragon sweeped upwards into the sky, Garthag found himself lying in the dirt coughing and trying hard not to scream in pain.

His leg had been just and just hit by the dragons claw, more than enough to make it bleed horrifically and probably a bone had been broken.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Merrin felt horribly small in the deafening cacophony about her, lost without her dragon to return fire in the flame-filled air. It took every ounce of her concentration to remain alive, and none was left to even look for the two Renegade dragons she knew were there among the horde of Meiltha.

Again she whirled, hand outstretched, as the earth shook behind her to indicate a landing dragon. The shield that burst into existence to stop a torrent of flame was not such that Merrin couldn't see the sudden comprehension in the eyes of its rider. Rapier clattering to the rocks, she strained to hold the wall of white lightning against dragons encroaching from every side.

When it finally broke the ensuing explosion of power sent Merrin reeling, a brief cry of her own mingling with the din about her. Flame seared the air and she flung herself to the ground, feeling fire miss her by little more than a hairsbreadth. Any minute, she was sure, a dragon was going to dive and crush her into oblivion -

It was almost a relief when a gauntleted hand jerked her upright - a relief until Merrin realized who it was. She lashed out with her free hand, intending to incinerate this Meiltha with gods-given wrath, and found her other wrist instantly trapped. No rapier - no dragon - Merrin did everything in her power to resist but found herself being roughly dragged towards a crimson-eyed bronze, yelling at the top of her voice for help from someone.

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Jhoran made himself as flat as he could against Dawn's neck as the dragon lunged off of the ground. It wasn't at all a takeoff--the bronze crashed into the side of an iridescent red Meiltha beast, jaws locking around its long throat. Fire crackling past his back made Jhoran happy that he had ducked. Dawn's scales were resistant to fire, but in his chain-mail, Jhoran would have been roasted alive.

The red dragon roared and twisted, snapping futiley, but Dawn held on to its neck, jaws closing tighter and tighter. Jhoran, in turn, held on tightly to the saddle, knowing that he couldn't contribute anything to the fight. The Meiltha rider seemed to realize that, too, but from the look on his face, rage was overcoming logic. His dragon wouldn't be able to survive long, pinned down as it was, but he certainly wouldn't be able to do much, either--if he got off of his dragon, he would just as certainly be crushed into the muddy ground.

The Meiltha tried, and just as Jhoran had known, Dawn stepped on him. Moments later, the Red's struggles subsided. To your left--Kendath, Jhoran thought to Dawn. The bronze dragon burst off of the ground with a rush of air that would have buffeted Jhoran out of the saddle if he wasn't already expecting it, and started winging over towards the dragon-bereft Dragonrider.

A green dragon was already there, jaws opened wide in preparation to breath fire. Jhoran felt sweat bead on his face as Dawn drew closer, and Kendath still seemed to be merely standing there. The green dragon did seem to be injured, and its rider had a knife sticking out of his ribs, but Kendath had blood pouring out from under his arm, clutched across his middle.

As the green dragon breathed out an inferno of bright dragon fire, Kendath somehow managed to dodge, and Jhoran started breathing again. The green didn't get another chance. Dawn swooped in low and scooped Kendath up in a claw, and they climbed for altitude while Jhoran reached down a hand to help lift the other dragonrider into the saddle.

The plaintive, panicked cries behind them were unnoticed among the roars and screams of battle.

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(Aerandir, your post doesn`t match with my earlier one, read my post and you`ll realise that Kendath was no longer being threatened by the green dragon. Garthag annoyed the green dragon and began fighting it, away from Kendath)

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Yeah, I know, but I just figured it had returned....I mean, both Garthag and Kendath were injured, after all. Neither target is necessarily more desirable for it, so I just figured it'd kind of just randomly choose. If you want, I can change it.

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(ah sry, it`s fine then)

"Oh saps"

Garthag muttered as he limbed trough the field of battle, he coughed dust out of his lungs trying, franticly, to find a way to escape the chaos. He gazed around, but his eyes caught onto a sight that made him swear under his breath. It was Merrin, being dragged by a Meiltha rider towards his dragon and Merrin kept screaming for help. Where was her precious Kendath now? Safe and sound on another dragon being taken away.... Garthag at that moment turned and instantly ducked as the green dragon swooped just right over him.

Garthag cursed and turned towards the Meiltha rider that was dragging Merrin away, he concentrated and soon enough an arrow formed into his hand. The arrow speeded up and a green liquid covered it, ready to burn away flesh and bone. The acid arrow hit the Meiltha riders back and pierced trough armor, skin and flesh, still burning the inside of the rider as the arrow sticked out of his back. Garthag was exhausted and breathed heavily, he wouldn`t last much longer, all the spells he had done already had worn him down and the next might be his last, if he kept going. Garthag rushed to Merrin and grabbed her by the shoulders, starting to hopelessly drag her away.

"Where`s your precious dragons and Kendath now eh Merrin?"

He muttered in anger and frustration as it had been left to him to save Merrin from the Meilta or at least try. Every effort to move onwards was a pain in his leg, it would not work and the pain was excruciating. He couldn`t go on any longer and cursed as the Meiltha closed in. This couldn`t be it, this couldn`t be his end, he refused to believe it.

Then the renegade landed onto the Meiltha dragon that had been threatening them, Garthag gazed at the skies and cursed the gods for playing with him like that. Garthag waved his hand at the renegade to come to help them. Yet apparently the gods weren`t willing to give him that blessing as a shadow was thrown over Garthag and Merrin. A black, Meiltha dragon snatched them both in it`s claws and carried them both away. Garthag realized that trying to free himself or Merrin would end in a many hundred feet dive eventually. Garthag cursed again before he began to quietly feel dizzy and loose consciousness.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

(( I edited my latest post so that you or Meldawen can continue ))

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

(Elegost and Aerandir would you be so good as to post your bio's or PM them to me so that i can put them on the first page, or even give me a link to where they are. I'm sorry Aerandir i should have done this when you first joined i didn't think.)

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Made by Lembas