Chapter Sixteen: Unexpected Weather

"Now much further is it?" Rynn asked after they had been flying about 10 minutes. The coastline was just disappearing below them giving way to a vast ocean.
"Its not far now" Arokh replied turning sharply to the left. "This way".
"What exactly are these gates Arokh and what are they used for?" Rynn asked while the opportunity presented itself; the sea was quiet and they did not come under attack.

Arokh was silent for a moment then he began to explain. "The Order of the Flame built a large network of gates around the world that allowed instant travel between them. They were typically placed in or near large cities so the bonded could come at a moments notice." There was a long pause and he continued. "The gates consist of a hub and four to eight satellite gates with the hub gates linked to other hubs. It’s rather a complex system but easy enough once you get to know it. To travel from one satellite gate to another, you have to go via the hub as you cannot travel directly from one to another."

Rynn nodded but the dragon could not see her sat upon his back. "So what about the Dragon Mother? She went through the Mother's Eye" Rynn asked.
Another long pause. "The hub gate in Surdana was referred to as the Mother's Eye after the Dark Wars. It was converted to serve one extra purpose; a link way to the spiritual planes which is where the Mother Dragon is at the moment. Restoring the link will enable her to return but all of its satellite gates must be activated for it to work." The red dragon explained.

The weather was rapidly changing; strong winds blew up and rain began to fall. "There is a storm coming" Arokh noted as he summoned up more strength to fly through the wind which was becoming more violent.
"Is that where the dragons of the Order are - in the spiritual planes?" Rynn asked over the rising storm.
"No, they are sleeping in their lairs or caves - if they are lucky. I would imagine some were stolen and used as decoration statues or whatever. No matter, they will be awakened if we are lucky."

Finally, after a long battle through the strong winds, land could be seen below. Arokh began a steep decent towards a small encampment on the nearest island, his sharp eyes checking for any foes before finally landing in the middle of the camp.

Both of them looked briefly around the makeshift camp consisting of several leather tents and a couple of rickety wooden towers, one of which had a revolving light pushed round by the wind - a temporal lighthouse. Several weary looking men were dotted around, most of them sheltering from the rain in the tents and two were stood on the deck of a nearby ship. Light came from the bridge of the ship and its portals indicating that there was probably more inside. The men were a motley crew, obviously traders or pirates that had stopped by the isles.

"You there! Who is in charge here?" Arokh growled at a nearby man dressed in dirty and torn clothes glaring at him with his piercing red eyes. Rynn dismounted and went up to introduce herself.
The man did not see Rynn, his eyes were fixed on the dragon partially paralysed with fear.
"W..What?" he stammered.
"Who is in charge here?" Rynn repeated Arokh's question, the man turning round to see her eyeing her with surprise. "Don't worry, Arokh here won't harm you" she said noticing the man's expression.
The man waved his arm towards a cave behind him. "Master Sevoth is in there but he is weak, like most of us, almost on our deathbeds" he remarked sadly.

"We are looking for a guide to Ravenshold. Can you tell me where I could find one?" Arokh asked sharply.
"Yes, we were heading to Ravenshold ourselves but there is the problem of the storms."
"Storms?" Arokh asked looking up at the sky. "Why would that be a problem, just wait till they pass."
"They won't pass. You see, there is a shaman who calls himself Bonegrinder. He is behind these storms, his lair is to the North and that is presumably from where they are controlled. We have been stuck here for two weeks now and our supplies have almost run dry. He uses the storms to trap ships so he can loot them, once a ship enters the storms they cannot leave. Even you cannot leave." The man explained.

Rynn and Arokh looked at each other briefly and Arokh gave a sarcastic snort. "We will see about that."
"No, the storm is too powerful. You are trapped here." The man continued sitting down on a tree stump pulling out a pipe. "My last bit of Tobacco" he mumbled.
"Well, I don't fancy spending the rest of my life here; we will see what we can do about this Bonegrinder. For now we had better see your master...."
"Incoming!!" Another man yelled cutting Rynn short in mid conversation as a few flaming balls of tar crashed into the encampment killing him outright.

Rynn looked in the direction of the attack and saw several catapults across the bay getting ready to fire another barrage of missiles.
"Say, you don't think that beast of yours could destroy those catapults could you?" The man who they saw first asked, suddenly remembering that Dragons could breathe fire.
Rynn was about to answer but Arokh interrupted her. "Ill take care of them. Rynn go and see Master Sevoth. Ill meet you here afterwards."
Rynn didn't bother to argue and began to head towards the cave but first she stopped by a couple of tents to speak to the other stranded sailors for information but they didn't have much to say or offer.
Shortly, Arokh landed beside her folding his wings to his side. "Did you see Sevoth?" He asked.
"Not yet" Rynn answered flatly. "I thought I'd see what was out here first."

One of the sailors spoke up. "That dragon is a stinking miracle; the way he cut through those catapults was astounding. I feel like kissing the damn thing."
Arokh turned his great head towards the sailor and eyed him up and down noticing his filthy clothes. "I’d rather you didn’t,” he said with a sarcastic smile.
The sailor's eyes looked down at the dragon's feet noticing the ring around one toe and the bracelet around his ankle. "Is that bracelet gold?" He asked. Arokh grinned slightly. "Yes. Pure gold."
"How much would you sell it for? If I were to resell, it would fetch a fair bit of money in the east when we next visit" the sailor continued.
Arokh gave a laugh. "It’s not for sale. Rynn, lets find Master Sevoth now, we don't want to waste time."

"Yeah. Good idea, I'm soaked to the bone already" Rynn replied. She began to head back to the cave with Arokh following closely behind her, sinking up to his ankles in places in the soggy ground.
"Ill go on inside. Wait here" Rynn said to the dragon and disappeared into the cave. A long tunnel led downwards slightly and was lit by torches stuck into the ground at various intervals. The shelter of the cave offered some relief from the driving rain outside.
Eventually, the path opened out to a junction; to the left was a small cave filled with barrels and to the right several human voices drifted through the air.

"Hello there!" Rynn said walking into the cave. A couple of men glanced up from where they sat upon barrels and crates. Chickens ran free around the cave and a fire burned in the centre of the cave, the smoke drifting up through a makeshift chimney in the roof.
"Another victim of the storms I see" one of the men said.
Rynn strolled over to the fire and looked at the man who had just been speaking to her.
"Forgive me. I am Sevoth, leader of this motley crew. You are?" He asked introducing himself.
"Rynn. I came here looking for a guide to Ravenshold" The young woman answered.

Sevoth laughed and drew a long breath on his pipe. "Captain Fandril knows the way; he will be aboard his ship outside but he won't be of much help. We are trapped here you see".
Rynn was a little impatient not to mention cold and wet. "Yes, one of your men told me all about Bonegrinder."
Sevoth laughed again. "Aye, he is an evil little bastard that's for sure but he is very powerful. We don't have the resources or manpower to defeat him."
Rynn shook her head. "You seem to give up too easily. I want to have a try at defeating him; is there anything I should know about?"

There was a long silence and one of the men left the cave sniggering to himself. Rynn threw an angry glance at him and turned back to Sevoth.
"Well?" She snapped.
Master Sevoth began to stroke his beard, grown over the past two weeks he had been stranded there. "Bonegrinder has many Wartocks protecting him. If you did manage to get into his lair, he wears a helmet making him invulnerable but it has one weakness. You see, there are three crystals powering the helmet, if these were destroyed he will become vulnerable."
"Hmm. is that easy?" Rynn asked.
"I know a way. I can teach you a spell; to be able to cast lightning, you can use it to destroy the crystals" Sevoth replied thoughtfully.
Interested, Rynn took up the offer and sat closer to Sevoth to learn the first bit of elemental magic she never knew she was capable of learning.

"No, No. Like this" Sevoth said calmly as he drew the outline of a rune with his hand, it immediately wreathed in a blue light.
Rynn repeated the action thinking of lightning as hard as she could and to her surprise a ball of blue light appeared in her hand. She grinned at Sevoth. "I got it"
"About time. Now, aim at that crate over there and think of destroying it" Sevoth instructed. Rynn obeyed and a bolt of lightning shot from her hand smashing into the crate shattering it into tiny burnt fragments.
"I never thought I'd be able to do such things" Rynn remarked surprised at the destruction she had caused just with the power of her mind and the movement of her hand.

Sevoth smiled broadly. "I appreciate your efforts to kill Bonegrinder. Good luck for the sake of all of us" he said more or less indicating he wanted to be alone. "I will" Rynn said and left the cave.
"Hey, you wanna buy?" A voice came from behind. Rynn swivelled round on the heel of her foot and saw a scruffy man in the back cave sat by a large collection of weapons and potions.
Rynn went up to the 'shop' and carefully looked over the items. "These are for sale?" She asked.
"Yeah, Yeah, yes. Olag sell." The scruffy man said excitedly. He seemed a bit of a half-wit but Rynn continued to talk with him.
"I'm Rynn. Ill take this,” she said picking up a suit of scale armour and putting it on.
"1500 gold" Olag grumbled.
"Fair price, here" Rynn replied offering Olag a couple of coins; one 1000 and one 500.
"Olag make sale" he laughed. "Hey, you pretty, you come back."

"Er, yeah." Rynn said slowly making for the door. Suddenly she thought of something; she wasn't wearing any socks and her feet were cold and becoming blistered. "Do you have any stockings?" She asked.
"Nothing like stock...ing" Olag replied. "I have club. Club... good."
Rynn sighed in dismay and exasperation and left the cave system meeting Arokh outside.

"Hey Arokh, look what I learnt" Rynn said showing the dragon her new abilities. Arokh looked on amazed. "Stop showing off" he laughed. "Lets get going."
"Absolutely, come on, I need to see Captain Fandril then we can pay Bonegrinder a visit" Rynn suggested running over towards the large boat docked nearby. Arokh hovered in the air ready to protect her from harm if the need should arise.

Rynn boarded the newly built vessel, a large and sturdy ship. It looked like a cargo ship as a large trapdoor was in the middle of the deck obviously used for loading. A lone man stood at the helm looking out across the stormy sea, wondering if his ship would ever leave the isles.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Captain Fandril" Rynn asked tapping the man on the shoulder to get his attention.
"That'll be me then" he said with a smile.
"I understand you know the way to Ravenshold" Rynn shouted over the rising wind. She wiped the rainwater from her face and held onto a nearby wooden post to steady herself.
"Come inside, it will be easier to talk" Captain Fandril beckoned leading the young woman to the bridge.

"Sit down" he continued waving to a chair at a table on which several charts and maps lay strewn across it. The door closed behind them with a loud thump and for once the sound of the storm died down. Rynn could feel warmth from a stove that burnt in one corner of the room lit by candles on the walls and tables. She shivered and looked across the table where Fandril seated himself.
"You are the dragonrider? The dragon told me about you" he informed.
"He did, did he?" Rynn said with a hint of sarcasm. "Then he told you of our purpose here."
Fandril nodded and took a sip of a warm beverage from a mug on the table, pushing it towards Rynn who gratefully accepted took a couple of mouthfuls.

"Two of my men escaped last night with the charts showing the way. You see we are from the south; it’s our first time to these lands. My men are traitors, they wanted to strike a deal with Bonegrinder's troops but I doubt if they were successful. I’m afraid I need those plans back to continue." Fandril explained. Rynn's shoulders sank. "Any idea where they are?" She asked hopefully.
"There are a few caves dotted about these isles, I'd try the nearest ones first; my men can't have gone far." Fandril said taking another sip from the mug Rynn placed in the middle of the table. She glanced out of the thick glass windows at the view outside and looked back at the captain.

Feeling that this would be the only way out, Rynn agreed. "Okay, Ill see what I can do. Leave it to me and my dragon."
With that, she left the warmth of the ship's cabin and returned to the shore.
"Arokh!" She shouted wondering where the red beast had got to. Eventually he showed up and landed in front of her stretching his muscles with a loud satisfying snarl. He looked at his bonded and blinked. "Lets get going!" He growled dipping to let the human on his back.

"Where to?" Arokh asked after they had been flying for a couple of minutes. Rynn scanned the shores of the small islands looking for caves and fissures in the rocks in search of a place to answer the dragon's question.

"Captain Fandril said a couple of his men had escaped with the charts detailing the way to Ravenshold. They want to strike a deal with Bonegrinder or something. We should look for a cave" Rynn suggested.
Arokh grunted in reply noticing a couple of old wooden ships docked by a large island. The ships were typical of Wartock ship design, basic but serving their purpose reliably. A campfire could be made out with several Grull sitting around it, two Wartocks were patrolling the shores, their large axes held firmly in their hands.

"That looks interesting" he pointed out beginning his decent towards the camp. Just then a fireball came hurtling towards them seemingly from the Wartocks below. "What was that?" Arokh grunted as he evaded the projectile, missing it by a few centimetres.
"The Wartocks have learnt a bit of magic it seems" Rynn said.
"Oh so you know about them? Oh well... damn another one" the dragon snarled as a fireball hit him in the chest causing some burning but the thick scales offering a degree of protection.

Arokh swooped down even further flying over the two wartocks breathing a cloud of flame as he did incinerating them. He landed and let Rynn jump off. "Ashes to ashes" he said nodding his head in the direction of the two still smoking corpses. Rynn just laughed and ran over to the campfire to kill the cowering Grull and taking their hoard of gold.
The rain lashed down pummelling the top of Rynn's head and lightning flashed across the sky. The storm seemed to be getting worse but it could just have been Rynn's imagination as well.

"Look Rynn, a cave" Arokh shouted noticing a small opening in the towering wall of rock that made up the island. "Come on" he beckoned as he made his way into the cave, Rynn following behind.
Once inside, the faint smell of sulphur drifted in the air and it was notably warm; volcanic activity was nearby. Rynn wiped the rainwater from her face and shivered with the cold water that had soaked her clothes. "I'm glad to be out of that" she grumbled.
"So am I" Arokh added, thankful of the shelter of the cave. His eyes stared into the tunnel that led from the cave; it narrowed a bit making it impossible for him to squeeze through but small enough for Rynn.
"This seems to be the only Grull camp we have come across so far. Hopefully the charts will be in here" Rynn said, her voice echoing in the dimly lit cave.
"With luck, yes. Rynn step aside!" Arokh shouted noticing a Wartock coming up from behind Rynn. She looked around fearfully and dived underneath the dragon just as he unleashed a cloud of flame burning the Wartock to ash in seconds. Crawling out from underneath the dragon, Rynn patted him on the side of his neck showing her thanks. "I wish you could come with me" she said. "It will be difficult on my own."

Arokh nodded. "You will be fine. Go on, Ill be waiting here" he smiled giving her a gentle push towards the inside of the cave. Rynn took the Earthblade into her hands and carefully crept deeper into the cave.

As Rynn got deeper, it became warmer and the smell of sulphur was more obnoxious. A deep semi circular cavern was at the end of the tunnel, the bottom of which covered with a layer of boiling, bubbling lava. A path went around the top of the cavern and the ruins of some temple lay half submerged in the lava down below. Something glittered down there and Rynn carefully made her way down the steep slope towards the ruins taking care to avoid the edge. She put her hand over her mouth and ran to collect the shiny object; it was an invulnerability potion, she now had two of these. "Very useful" she mumbled to herself and returned to the end of the tunnel path.

The young woman saw another Wartock running down the path towards her. "Now to try out my magic skills" she said out aloud concentrating to bring forth the lighting spell. It erupted from her hands hitting the Wartock a few times but the fourth time she tried it didn't work. "Out of mana" she muttered drawing the flamestrike to finish the creature off. She collected a couple of gold coins from his pocket and continued on.

Back in the cave entrance, Arokh sat down to make himself more comfortable, he didn't even hear the Wartock chieftain coming up behind him due to the noise of the wind.
"Outta my way" he growled at the dragon not noticing who he was. Arokh turned his head sharply upon noticing the inhuman voice and the Wartock suddenly noticed his grave mistake.
"You’re not... an.. Ice bat" he stammered with fear. Arokh whipped round and knocked the Wartock to the ground and unable to pin it down with his foot, sat on the Wartock’s chest but yet not fully putting his weight down so not to injure the creature.

"Ice bat eh? So you have made allies with them" Arokh asked.
"Yes, kind of. We have an agreement you see" came a muffled voice from underneath the dragon.
"Why.. who are you?" The Wartock questioned.
"I am Arokh, a dragon of the Elder Breed" the dragon replied with a smile but the Wartock could not see his face.
"But, that's not possible. They are all sleeping in stone!" The Wartock protested, not believing what he was being told.
"Not me. I was awakened and I'm going to put an end to your plans" Arokh sneered putting more force on the creature's chest.
The Wartock was beginning to understand, somehow the name Arokh seemed familiar to him. He was sure he had heard of it in some story when he was a child but he couldn't quite remember.

Suddenly, after a short silence, the Wartock remembered that Arokh was Heron's dragon, the one who had brought an end to the Dark Wars.
"You aren't the Arokh who killed Navaros are you?" The Wartock asked fearfully, his voice still muffled but the dragon understood him perfectly.
"Got it in one" Arokh growled. The Wartock's heartbeat began to race and he for once felt fearful of his life. "You will never leave this place you know" he quivered.
Arokh gave a short sarcastic laugh. "We will see about that. I have a dilemma for you; tell me where Bonegrinder is and I will let you go. If you don't, well, Ill kill you. Painfully."
The Wartock thought for a moment. "Never!" He said defiantly, not wanting to suffer the wrath of Bonegrinder should he disobey his orders. Surely, Arokh would kill him in a quicker, less painful way than what he would be subjected to at the hands of Bonegrinder and his henchmen.

Arokh's jaws curved into a wicked smile as he broke wind into the Wartock's face. "Pooh, smell that!" he grinned standing up slightly to see the creature's face, quickly sitting back down again when it tried to get up. Arokh laughed away to himself for a while till he could speak without laughing.
"Okay, Ill tell you but its kind of difficult with a dragon's arse in my face. Can you let me up?" The Wartock asked breathing as slow as he could so he didn't have to breathe in the offending smell.
Arokh got to his feet and quickly turned round to face the creature fixing it with cruel red eyes. "Try anything, you are dead" he snarled.

"It’s to the North. Carry on up the coastline till you see a large tornado. Below that is the entrance to Bonegrinder’s lair but Ill tell you now the entrance is too small for you to enter." The creature explained pointing a hairy arm in the general direction.
Arokh cocked his head on one side. "Don't you worry about that. Now get lost before I change my mind about killing you."
The Wartock turned and ran away into the rain as fast as he could. Arokh watched and then drew his face into a slight evil grin as he shot several balls of flame at the Wartock killing it outright.
"Thank you for your time" he said with a smile and sat down waiting for Rynn to return.

Meanwhile, Rynn had made her way stealthily through the short cave system avoiding wartocks and their Grull cousins with years of practised ease. Eventually, she came to a large open area where stalagmites grew from the ceiling meeting their opposite companions on the floor. She was suddenly startled by the sound of male human voices as a gate opened abruptly at one side of the cavern. Quickly ducking behind a ledge, Rynn peered over to get a view not wanting to be seen at that moment; the suspected traitors could be just as hostile as the Wartocks.

Two men dressed in dirty clothes came running out of the gate that had opened pushed forward by a large Wartock. Another came up to meet them and they stopped in the centre of the cave by a few large crates. One of the men pulled something from his pocket and showed it to the Wartock, Rynn strained forward to see what it was.
Small snippets of conversation could just be made out; it appeared to her that the men were wanting escape the isles leaving the rest behind in exchange for something but she couldn't make out exactly what.
The Wartock's distinctly louder voice was easily heard though when he answered the human's plea.

"Hah! Do you think Bonegrinder would stop the storms just for a couple of humans? No? Well, neither would I. Humans in this world will be dead soon anyway... All of them!" He laughed raising his battle-axe high into the air. There was a horrible crunch as the axe was brought down on the man's head splitting it open like a melon. His companion screamed in terror and the second Wartock ran him through with his sword then both of them left sniggering to themselves hitting each other's palms in triumph.

Rynn shook her head in disgust and swallowed hard. "Another waste of human life" she thought to herself knowing that the human race was already on the verge of extinction. She figured that there was no more than 10,000 humans left in the entire world, Surdana itself had a population of only 900. Since the Dark Wars, humans had been systematically slain by the beasts driven on by Navaros's influence - even long after his exile. Furthermore, the Desert Lords did not favour the human race choosing to enslave or kill humans whenever they could. She wondered why it took so long for her own village to be attacked with all that was happening in the world, she didn’t even know of the atrocities until she met Lady Myschala.
She let out a sigh of dismay hoping that they would be successful and crept down to where the two slain humans lay on the ground.

Rynn searched the bodies for the item one of them was showing to the Wartock. They were traitors but humans nevertheless and Rynn felt angry but yet sad at the same time. She soon found what she was looking for - a rolled up chart showing the partial outline of the Central and Northern continents with several islands dotted around the sea. One of the islands was labelled 'Andrellian isles outpost' in the top half of the chart. She put the bloodstained chart in her pocket and quickly left via the door the humans came through shortly finding herself back outside in the driving rain.

"Arokh!" she shouted into the wind but there was no reply. It was obvious to her that she had come out of an alternative entrance to the caves and Arokh was further up the coast. Sighing again, she began to walk up the coast watching out for any more Wartocks but the coast was clear; wisely they were sheltering from the rain inside caves and tunnels. Suddenly, Arokh appeared seemingly from nowhere and landed behind her in a clear area.

"You have good hearing" Rynn commented. "Let’s get back to Fandril before I catch cold."
The great red dragon smiled in agreement and let Rynn onto his back quickly flying up into the air to hover for a moment. "We had better follow the coast back, its difficult to see through the rain" he suggested making his way south, the dragon's wings tirelessly cutting through the wind.

After a good ten minutes, the welcome sight of the outpost lighthouse could be seen through the driving rain and Arokh began his decent making his debut by the docks.
"Please don't be long" he grumbled as Rynn jumped off his scaled back to run up to the docked ship. She did not bother to answer and quickly ran into the cabin where Captain Fandril was still seated at the table.
"I have the charts,” Rynn said placing them onto the table. Fandril's eyes lit up with excitement as he unfolded them.
"They are a bit soggy and bloodstained but they are legible. Here, take this as a reward, you deserve it" he said throwing a ruby stone towards her. Rynn nodded and pocketed it.
"I'm afraid your men didn't make it. I was too late,” Rynn said sadly.
Fandril stayed silent for a moment then lifted his head to look at her. "Aye, it was to be expected."

Rynn felt slightly awkward with the situation and turned to head for the door. "I'm going to take care of Bonegrinder now,” she said as she opened the door, the rain immediately soaking the wooden floor.
"Aye. Good luck, I'd hate to see you or your dragon suffer at the hands of that wretch." The captain said looking up from the table.
Rynn gave a weary smile and returned to Arokh.

"Now is the time to teach that Bonegrinder a lesson" Rynn commented as she stood by the dragon's side. His head turned round to see her, the rain running down his face and off his nose. He blinked and shook his head violently sending droplets of water off in all directions but it didn't matter, Rynn was already soaked through.
"If I were you, I'd go and see if you can buy a few health potions from the sailors back in that cave there" Arokh suggested. "If Bonegrinder is as powerful as they make out, we had better go prepared."

"Good idea" Rynn agreed and walked past the small canvas tents in which the stranded sailors made their home and continued on back to the cave where she had met Master Sevoth.
"Ah, Rynn. Its good to see you are still in one piece. Have you found anything out about Bonegrinder?" Sevoth asked looking up from the barrel he was sitting on.
Rynn shook her head then nodded. "Sort of. I more or less know where he is; I'm going to get stocked up and make my way up there. You will be free soon, don't worry."
Sevoth gave a hearty laugh "Well I certainly hope so, good luck!"

Rynn left the warmth of the cave and stopped by Olag's 'shop' to buy a few health potions as Arokh had suggested. She didn't really want to see that creepy half-wit again but she depended on him and was as pleasant as she could. "You really pretty. You come back now!" he shouted as she ran back up the tunnel to the waiting Arokh.
"What's with the smile?" The dragon questioned. "There's nothing funny about this situation!"
"Oh nothing, just a half-wit with a crush on me in the cave" Rynn grumbled climbing onto his back. The dragon smiled slightly to himself and took off into the stormy skies.

The journey to the Northernmost island took about half an hour, getting there would be an almost impossible task for the stranded sailors let alone for them to attack Bonegrinder. Rynn realised why they had almost given up, hoping for the storms to stop by themselves. Arokh must have seemed like a godsend to them.

The winds were very strong blowing the dragon all over the place and the stray blackwing or two further complicated matters. Several boats and Grull camps were found on the way and both of them stopped to explore finding gold, potions and other valuable items, all which had been looted from the unfortunate ships. Sadly, their human occupants had been killed to the duo's dismay but still they pressed on not letting it get them down.

Eventually, as they passed over the island, a large tornado funnel could be seen coming from a hole in the ground rising up to a huge dome above them. The area around the hole was covered in sand and a cave entrance could just be made out in the rocks at the base of the funnel. Getting closer, Rynn could see that there was a deep shaft into the ground from which the tornado came from.
"That must be the lair!" Arokh shouted pointing out the cave entrance.
Suddenly, a teleporter activated in front of the cave and a large Grull appeared on the sand below them. Arokh glanced down and briefly looked around for any foes and looked back down at the Grull ready to exhale a long stream of flame but the Grull began to speak. "Correct. I am Bonegrinder but you will never reach me. Mizzidrel! Arise!" He shouted and disappeared when he reactivated the teleporter.

Arokh turned his head back so he could see his rider. "I guess that was that" he said raising an eye ridge. Rynn wasn't listening however as her eyes were firmly fixed on what was in front of them. Arokh saw the fear on her face and slowly followed her gaze; a feeling of dread suddenly came over him. Something was not right.
A large two headed sea serpent had risen from the pool of water outside Bonegrinder's lair and was thrashing its two ugly heads wildly around. Arokh instantly recognised the creature and his fear subsided a little although he knew he was in danger.
"Mizzidrel! What are you doing here?" He shouted over the thunderous noise of the tornado above them.

"Ah, Arokh.” Mizzidrel said scornfully. “Bonegrinder said there was a dragon of the Order to kill, I never would have dreamed it would be you" the creature hissed.
Taken aback slightly, Arokh gave his response. "Well, I never thought you would join the Dark Union" he said with disappointment.
"Well that is where you are wrong. I didn't. I serve the Desert Lords. Anyway, what's it matter to you? Its time you were put to sleep forever!" Mizzidrel laughed and began to brew up her devastating lightning breath.
"What now?" Rynn questioned.
"If you have any invulnerability potions, use them or we are dead meat!" Arokh snarled, edging away uneasily; he knew Mizzidrel would make short work of him with just a couple of shots of her breath weapon.

Hearing Arokh asking her to take the Invulnerability potion she could really make out how dangerous and powerful that two headed sea serpent was, as it stood tall with its two monstrous heads thrashing them in an offensive manner. Ever since the death of Werokh, Arokh had never thought that he would again have to fight with someone whom he had known quite well who had turned traitor against the Order.

He knew now it was either him or Mizzidrel, so without wasting much time he prepared himself to fight the creature with his full strength. As it wasn't going to be easy fighting that two headed creature, Arokh asked Rynn to use her bow and he himself flew to other side of Mizzidrel and shot several balls of flame. Though the lightning struck Rynn several times but couldn't do her any harm and Arokh was quick enough to save himself from the lightning though it just missed him by a short distance. Rynn’s arrows couldn't do much damage so it was up to Arokh to slay the serpent and he had to be quick as Rynn had just one invulnerability potion left and Arokh knew that Rynn want be able to stand for a second against that monster.
Arokh made a quick move towards Mizzidrel and burst a cloud of fire frying one head, which almost reduced her power to half after so much damage. Still her other head was waving around healthily and attacking more quickly than before. This time Arokh couldn't save himself and the lightning struck him in the wings. Rynn noticed that and she quickly took a healing potion. With another quick move he approached Mizzidrel and burst a cloud of fire finishing the serpent in one final blast of flame.

"Phew, that was a hard fight" Rynn said gasping with exhaustion.
Arokh looked round in surprise. "What do you mean? It was I who did the hard work!"
Rynn laughed it off and Arokh noted her humour, letting the incident slip from his mind. He tried to forget about Mizzidrel, he wasn't really friends with her but he knew the creature well that lived in the ocean surrounding the central continent. He landed outside the entrance to Bonegrinder's lair and stopped eyeing the huge tornado with wonder.
"I was told only you could fit through the door to this place,” he said staring into the cave; he could not see any reason why, the opening was huge and large enough for ten dragons to fit through.

Rynn shrugged as Arokh walked into the cave, past the huge funnel that was coming from a hole in the cave floor and passing through another in the roof to the sky above. “Don’t stray too close Arokh or we will be sucked in” Rynn said as they passed it but Arokh didn’t hear her.
"There!" Rynn pointed out noticing a large door, partially opened so that it was only big enough for her to fit through.
Arokh hurried over and Rynn got off to try and force the door open some more but it was too heavy.
"Let me try. It may need superior strength" Arokh muttered gently pushing her out of the way with the side of his head. Rearing up on his hind legs, the dragon pushed with all his strength on the huge stone door, pushing it fully home into the wall.
"See? All it needed was a little push" he grinned at the surprised Rynn who simply frowned. "Well. Lets get going then" she added.

Arokh walked through into the lair killing a pair of Wartock guards and turned round to see where his bonded was.
"Well are you coming or not?" he said with a smile.

The bonded pair could see that the wide tunnels and caves that led to Bonegrinder's lair led steadily downwards encircling the central area from which the tornado funnel thundered from. The noise level made it impossible for the two to speak and hear each other but they sort of knew what each other was thinking.

The tunnels leading to the lair was as expected, full of Grull and Wartocks but they were no match for the mighty dragon who pushed onwards breathing clouds of flame at anything that dared to attack. They hadn’t anticipated that a dragon would enter those tunnels; after all, no one would have expected it. Bonegrinder was completely unaware of Arokh’s awakening and Navaros’s defeat, cut off from the rest of the world for the last two weeks due to his storms.
Eventually, the tunnel came to an end in a large cavern. Seeing no enemies, Arokh strode forward but suddenly something surprised him. A Wartock appeared out of thin air in front of him; it’s back turned. He turned his head round to regard Rynn with a puzzled expression who simply shrugged.

"The Wartocks have learnt some useful magic" Rynn muttered to herself but Arokh did not hear. He incinerated the unsuspecting creature and flew down to the next level trying to avoid the thundering column of wind; getting caught in that would spell instant death for both of them.
After some time, the pair came to a large door blocking the end of the tunnel, which was guarded by a couple of large Wartocks who Arokh naturally killed on sight.
"That must be the lair. The only problem is, how do we get in now that you have killed the guards?" Rynn asked, the dragon now able to hear as the noise of the wind was not as loud.

"Hmm, always blaming me" Arokh grumbled, his jaws drawing into a scowl. "I suppose we knock."
"We could have persuaded the guards to open the door" Rynn pointed out gesturing her hand to one of the charred corpses.
"And what makes you think they would have obeyed?" Arokh objected.
"Well, you are very persuasive. No-one would argue with you" Rynn said with a smile.
Arokh growled to himself and strode up to the door but it opened by itself as if they were expected. He frowned and entered noticing that they were at the foot of the giant funnel. Looking up, the dragon could see that it was emanating from a large blue crystal suspended by chains fastened to the cavern walls.

"So that's how he is creating the storms!" Rynn gasped looking around the spacious cavern.
"Yes!" a voice came from nearby.
Arokh sharply turned his head towards the voice and saw the large Grull he saw earlier dressed in fine robes, like what a mage would wear.
"Ah I see you were stupid enough to come here. It’s a pity you survived at all; I will never put my trust in that sea serpent again. How on Drakan did you get past her?" Bonegrinder demanded holding out his staff in a threatening manner. Arokh looked at it and laughed scornfully.

"Mizzidrel is dead and you will be soon unless you stop these storms and surrender" he grated, still eyeing the beast with scorn. “I promise your safe passage to Surdana if you give yourself up.”
The Grull laughed and scowled at the dragon stepping backwards so that he was out of his reach. "Never! You think Bonegrinder is stupid? Bonegrinder live for nearly 200 years and never felt threatened by anyone or anything. No, its you that should surrender. Then you will die."
"What?! You think you can defeat me, you pathetic little wretch!" Arokh snarled, further enraged by the fact that Bonegrinder was smiling confidently. "Your magic may be impressive but let's not forget what you are. A Grull! By the time I have finished, you will be licking my feet, begging for me to kill you" Arokh roared, his fury beginning to rise.

"I doubt it" Bonegrinder laughed and ran backwards a few paces hurling a beam of energy at the dragon temporally stunning him. He retaliated but to his surprise the shaman was not harmed! He tried again but was unsuccessful.
"Ah, now you are worried" Bonegrinder sneered seeing the dragon's expression.
"I am not worried" he snapped. "Rynn, there must be some way he is invulnerable keep your eyes open" he said sharply to his bonded.
Rynn nodded in reply and flicked her eyes around the cavern. Nothing was obvious at first but suddenly she noticed that as Arokh attacked Bonegrinder, faint blue energy bolts leapt from four crystals embedded in stone columns in the centre of the room. They snaked around and eventually met the top of Bonegrinder's helmet seemingly healing him.

"Arokh, there!" She shouted pointing out the crystals.
"I see them" the dragon confirmed. "Get off and see if you can destroy them. Ill watch your back."
Rynn did not need to be told twice and leapt from the dragon's back firing an arrow into one of the crystals shattering it into tiny fragments.
"No!" Bonegrinder cried and ran after Rynn who was now running around the cavern trying to destroy the rest of them. Arokh was quicker though and leapt at the oversized Grull slashing him with his claws slowing his progress. Rynn was hit once but she still had the energy to carry on. One more crystal was left when she was hit again throwing her to the floor.
Panting, she looked up to see Bonegrinder's face above hers drawn into a hideous grin. His axe began to fall and Rynn closed her eyes expecting the blow but it never came.

A loud snarl echoed in the cavern as Arokh's foreleg lashed out knocking Bonegrinder to one side. "Now Rynn!" He shouted. Rynn took that moment to destroy the final crystal and rolled over to face the battling Bonegrinder and Arokh.
"Now look who is worried" Arokh laughed scornfully.
"He is vulnerable now!" Rynn shouted stating the obvious. "I know" Arokh snapped as he curled one of his front feet into a fist and punched Bonegrinder to the floor.
The Grull reeled about in pain; Arokh had clearly broken one of its ribs. Not satisfied, the dragon began to really lay into Bonegrinder, kicking him relentlessly over and over until he coughed up blood, panting for breath.

"No more, please! Let me live" He sobbed spitting a mouthful of blood onto the dusty cave floor.
Arokh laughed. "See, you are not so powerful now are you? You want to live? Beg then" he snorted moving one of his front legs closer.
Bonegrinder never thought this moment would come; he was about to beg for his life. What would be more shameful? Dying miserably having failed or kissing the feet of a dragon of the Order then having to tell his master he failed? He pondered the situation for a while, knowing that the Desert Lords would certainly kill him if they found out. He could always use his magic to hide from them. Yes, that is what he would do.

Bonegrinder crawled over to Arokh's extended foot painfully. He didn't dare to look up and see the dragon's expression. He paused again and thought of the shame. He closed his eyes and licked Arokh's foot whispering a faint "Please, I beg of you" but there was no reply from above. Slowly he again licked the dragon's foot and even between the toes with his extended tongue and muttered something to himself. Arokh was enjoying it; he looked down with scorn and quickly looked across at his bonded who simply rolled her eyes.
"Surely, you are not going soft are you?" she questioned.
"Nah, he dies" Arokh growled beginning to back away.
"No, Please!" Bonegrinder cried grabbing hold of the dragon's ankle.
"Get off" he snarled kicking him away then engulfing him in a cloud of flame ending his long life. All was heard was a pain filled scream then silence.

"You have a strange sense of satisfaction Arokh. I mean do you enjoy having your feet licked or something? I kissed yours when we met and from what I understand so did the servant who bathed you" Rynn said noticing the dragon seemed to enjoy watching the Grull beg.
He gave sheepish smile. "Well, I never asked you to kiss my feet, all I asked was for you to kneel which is customary if a human wishes to bond with a dragon; its to show their respect. You did that of your own accord. Anyway, of course I do. Like I say, many centuries ago, dragons were treat with great respect; any human had to bow before us whenever we met except for high-ranking members of the Order. If anyone insulted or displeased a dragon in some way, it was normal for them to kiss the dragon's feet to beg for forgiveness. It’s a way of showing our superiority over less powerful races" he explained.

"Hmm, so you consider me less powerful?" Rynn questioned.
"You are a human, yes." Came the short reply.
Rynn's shoulders sank and Arokh noticed her expression. He smiled and touched her on the shoulder. "I was only joking Rynn. You are more than a friend to me and I would never consider you to be less superior to me."
Rynn's face changed into a more pleased look and she patted him on the side of the neck. "Come on, let’s get out of this hell hole."
The storms had now stopped, ended upon Bonegrinder's death. Rynn collected his staff; it was far too heavy for her to use efficiently as a weapon but it would certainly fetch a lot of money if sold.

The bonded pair left the caves into a vastly different environment to which they had entered. The storm clouds had gone leaving a clear blue late afternoon sky, the spring sun gently warming the rain soaked grass. The body of Mizzidrel still lay strewn across the grass where she had been expertly slain by the formidable Arokh.
"It seems I forgot something,” Arokh said as he flew up into the sky. Rynn could see what he was heading for; a large orb glowed in the sky above Mizzidrel's fallen body. Arokh absorbed it giving him the additional breath weapon of lightning; a devastating powerful weapon useful against both ground and air foes, not as powerful as when Mizzidrel had it but better than his natural flame breath.

Together, they flew over the islands towards the outpost; they could now see for miles. To the south was the northern coast of the central continent where Surdana lay and to the North, the coast of Ravenshold could just be made out.
"Nice scenery" Rynn said taking a moment to take in the view.
Arokh grunted and sharply turned noticing a few boats heading in their direction, Rynn noticed one was Captain Fandril's ship.
Hastily they headed over and Arokh hovered closer, he could see Fandril on the deck.

"I see you did it! Well done, I thought we were stuck here. Follow my ship and we will guide you to Ravenshold" he shouted.
"Do we need a guide, we can see the coast" Rynn pointed out to Arokh.
"We see the coast, not Ravenshold itself" he replied flatly.
"We will be glad to. Would you mind if I landed on your ship's deck? I find it difficult to fly slow for a long time" Arokh shouted back to Fandril.
"Sure" came the reply.

Arokh shortly landed on the deck with a loud thud, Rynn jumping off to talk with Captain Fandril.
"How long will the journey take?" She asked the weather-beaten man.
Fandril took a deep drag on his pipe and breathed out a large cloud of smoke, which quickly blew away in the slight breeze. "We should reach the Ravenshold Trading post by morning. Come, you must be tired and hungry."
Fandril led her into the cabin and she turned round to speak to Arokh. "You will be OK out here won't you?" she asked the noble dragon.
"Oh, yes, Ill be fine. Don't worry about me,” he said sarcastically.

"Your dragon seems a little annoyed" Fandril mentioned once they were inside. "Oh don't worry about him, he is pleasant most of the time but sometimes he can be moody and he has a foul temper." Rynn replied closing the door behind her.
"Well I certainly don't want to be on the receiving end of his fury; I saw him destroy those catapults and kill the Grull" Fandril laughed.
She sat at the table she sat at before and waited whilst the captain brewed some hot tea. "If you don't mind me asking, what cargo are you carrying?" Rynn asked.

"Clothes and other supplies. There is a trading post we are going to; we will sell our wares to the Northmen." Fandril relied. His eyes looked Rynn up and down noting her thin tunic and armour.
"You will be cold in the Northlands wearing just that. You can take whatever you want from our cargo as a token of appreciation. Its the best we can do I'm afraid."

"No problem" Rynn laughed. "All I want at the moment is some socks. These boots are murder without any."
"Oh we have plenty of socks" the captain laughed. Rynn felt a sudden friendship between them and they began to discuss their life stories well into the late evening.

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