Chapter Two
And then there were Four.

The journey through the Forest took longer than Keelagh had aniticipated,she hadn`t realised how immense it was. It wasn`t too hard a journey as Magryth always seemed to find the easiest paths through the trees and dense undergrowth.She knew somewhere there were wolves she had felt them watching as she passed a few places where the forest around her had been darker and denser than in other places,she knew they wouldn`t harm not least because she had magryth at her side. They saw many of the colourful birds that inhabited the land and some other strange little creatures with bushy tails that chattered as they passed as though telling others of their presence.
Magryth had kept her entertained with tales of the great war that had brought about the unison of man and Dragon. Though she knew of some of the legends of the war it was fascinating to hear it from one who had so much more knowledge.
Towards the end of the journey she realised that Bryn was agitated,she could not see him because of the denseness of the trees above her head,but they had a bond and she could feel what he felt and sometimes even see what he saw.
She realised he had landed probably some way in front of the forest and hoped that he had managed to land this time without the usual furrowing of earth and spluttering and cursing that seemed to accompany his landings on the ground.
" Bryn seems agitated about something" she said to Magryth who had his ears cocked forward as though listening to something.
" Yes he appears to be standing guard " he stopped and raised his head high,sniffing the air and twitching his ears " We are nearly to the end of the trees Keelagh but Bryn is some distance away I suggest when we leave the forest you mount my back or it will take you some time to reach him"
" I wonder why he has gone so far he normally waits till I appear ?" she asked.
" We will see in a few moments ah the end of the forest and open land awaits " he said as they emerged from the gloomy forest into bright sunshine. Keelagh blinked in the glaring light and waited untill her eyes had adjusted before looking round to see where bryn was,but she couldn`t see him,not anywhere.
" He is beyond the rise " magryth said looking towards the hills on the horizon.
" Up on my back Keelagh and hold tight to my mane,we will be there in moments"
So saying Magryth bent his forelegs to allow Keelagh to climb onto his back. She had ridden bareback before and so knew how to hold on. She realised when they set off that though she may have galloped bareback before this was many times faster and she clung to the mane and neck of the unicorn as the landscape sped by too fast for her to see.
Within minutes they had crossed the flatland and were over the hills as Magryth slowed his pace she saw yet another valley intersperced by small woods and stands of trees, there by one of the stands of trees was Bryn he was hunched down and had one wing half open and on the ground as though he was hurt. In front and around him were beasts that looked like very large wolves but were misshaped,their back legs were shorter and lower than their front legs and their backs raised into a kind of hump that descended into the neckline from which their ferocious heads protruded,long snarling snouts with wicked looking fangs exposed by their curling lips,scattered around were bodies of some of them,some burnt to a crisp and some crushed by the tail swishing and curling as Bryn fought them off.She leaped from the Unicorns back unsheathing her sword as she did so,as she ran towards her beloved dragon she minded to keep out of the way as the flames issued from his mouth to set yet another of the beasts alight. She heard the thunder of hooves as Magryth also joined the fray. Taking her dagger from her belt she waded in cutting a path through the beasts to reach Bryntichs side. They stood the three of them facing the beasts who had now hesitated in their attack,Keelagh on one side Magryth on the other and the Dragon in the middle. The beasts backed off a little way,watching heads down still snarling,suddenly four broke away and ran forward Bryntich roared and flame shot from his mouth catching the middle two,Keelagh stepped forward and swung her sword and Magryth dealt with the fourth with a blow from his mighty hooves. Suddenly a high pitched sound emitted from somewhere and the beasts turned and ran dissapearing over the hill.
Keelagh waited a few moments to make sure they had gone and then turned to Bryntich " Are you hurt? did you land wrong? Is it your wing? " Bryntich shook his head " No Keelagh I am fine,they could not hurt me when they tried they broke their fangs on my scales "
" Then why did you not just fly off Bryn or sweep them away,? Why did they attack you ?"
" Twas not me they were attacking Keely,I could not fly because I was covering their prey with my wing so they could not reach him.See" And he lifted his wing. Laid beneath his wing was a large white wolf,his fur matted with blood,his eyes closed and his breathing laboured Keelagh knelt beside him and ran her hands over his body " He is sore wounded Bryn,and near the end I think" she said sadly as she ran her fingers through his ruff on his neck and stroked his head.
" My turn I think " said Magryth quietly as he looked over her shoulder at the wounded animal.
"Keelagh take your dagger and gently scrape the tip of my horn,hold out your hand to catch the dust as it falls" Keelagh stood and did as instructed catching silver flakes of dust in her hand from the horn.
" Now sprinkle the dust in the wounds" Again she did as told and as she did so a silver light encased each wound. A few minutes later and the wounds were closed and almost gone.
The Wolf stirred and opened his eyes,Keelagh sat and once again stroked his head,he lifted his snout and snifed at her arm and then his great pink tongue came out and licked the hand,with that he closed his eyes again. She looked up at the Unicorn " Why is he not better" she asked.
" I healed the wounds Keelagh,he has lost a lot of blood and is weary from the battle nature now must heal these other things "
" Then we shall find a place to camp and he will come with us untill he is well and can defend himself once more for we cannot leave him to those Bryn just rescued him from" She announced.
" I shall remain on the ground " said Bryntich " And he can travel upon my wing untill he can walk" and so he gently picked up the wolf in his great claws and placed him on his wing which he then gently folded around him to keep him safe.
" I shall go ahead and find a safe place to make rest" Magryth declared and was gone in a flash.
Keelagh and Bryntich started to walk in the direction he had gone.
Behind them on the brow of the hill a figure stood watching as they set off.

" Thunder and Hailstones" Bryntich boomed as he spluttered and spat grass,mud and twigs from his mouth " and you can stop laughing! " he continued indignantly trying to dislodge a piece of branch from between his teeth with a long claw.
" Well at least you didn`t throw me off this time " Keelagh gasped in between the laughter that had her sitting helplessly holding her sides. " you really have to practice that landing Bryn "
" Pah!tis this green stuff thats at fault "
" Grass Bryn,tis Grass"
"I know what it is" he snorted huffily " tis slippy and slidy how you meant to land on that stuff? "
" Well they do say practice is good for the landing part,Bryn or perhaps lifting up your head and not furrowing the ground with it" she said helping him to finally remove the piece of branch " There is that better? "
" Blasted twigs " he muttered as Keelagh threw the offending branch to one side,she chuckled again,the 'twig' was longer than her arm and twice as thick.
" There see you laugh at me again,you bipeds have no respect,why we were cleaving the heavens while..."
" Yes Bryn while we were naught but cosmic specks in the universe"
" You heard that huh? "
" Oh only a thousand times,come old timer lets find a way into this forest"
" Old timer,Old timer!! " he spluttered laughingly as they set off along the side of the forest to seek a way in.
After twenty minutes Keelagh turned to the Dragon walking with an ambling gait at her side," There really doesn`t look to be a way in for you Bryn,The trees are too close together,you will have to fly above"
" And how am I supposed to protect you if I am up there and you are down here? I can clear a path,you know!"
" And start a fire or get splinters under your scales! " she protested stopping and turning to face him. " No you fly,I will be fine,I have my sword and my dagger should ought appear,and the forest animals wont bother me as you know"
" Oh dear I feel a sneeze coming on " Bryn said slyly as he lifted his head up in anticipation.
" Dont you dare Bryntich! you dont know who or what could be in those trees" she cried with annoyence at his stubbornness.
" Oh my you Humans no sense of humour " he said and with that he opened his wings and with a leap took off into the sky.

Keelagh entered the forest and was immediately surrounded with gloom,the dawn had broken while they were trying to find a way in for Bryn but it was still early and there was little light here in the shade of the thickset trees. A number of times over the next half hour or so she caught herself on branches she hadn`t seen and tripped over stones hidden beneath the moss and carpet of fallen leaves. She was just beginning to wonder if she had done the right thing when she heard a commotion from somewhere off to her left,she followed the noise as quietly as she was able,making sure now to look for twigs that would snap beneath her feet and warn those ahead of her presence.Within minutes the trees had begun to thin out and she could see through the trunks a large clearing,several men were pulling on ropes at the end of which was a huge white horse,no wait he wasn`t white more silver than white,she edged closer to get a better view and gazed in astonishment and wonder at what was clearly not a horse. She had heard of these creatures they were legend as she grew but noone had ever set eyes on one,and here was she gazing on a Unicorn. They were supposedly magic so why was this great beast not using this magic to free himself from these captors? She edged round a bit further she wanted to be able to come up behind to surprise them,but they were in a kind of circle with the beast in the middle,five of them,four holding the ropes they had on him and the fifth shouting at them to hold him steady,this fifth had what looked like a large dagger or small sword in his hand. She couldn`t let them hurt him without at least trying to stop them,though she was outnumbered they were sort of tied so really it was just the one with the weapon she had to worry about. She got as close as she could before leaving the cover of the trees and advancing towards them. One of the men saw her and spoke to the man with the weapon. He turned towards her and shouted at her,she didn`t recognise the language so of course she had an excuse to ignore what was obviously a warning to back off. She moved forward at an even pace keeping her sword by her side,she spoke to the beast " I shall get the ropes off you Noble one as soon as I have dealt with these peasents " The Unicorn raised his head and as he did the four men found themselves fighting vainly to hold the ropes. The man ran at her with his weapon raised and she neatly sidestepped and put her foot out and he went sprawling quick as a flash he was back on his feet and once again lunging at her,this time she was not so quick and she felt the weapon bite as it passed by her arm,she spun and her sword flew in her hand,metal clashed as they fought,the Unicorn began lunging and the ropes began to slide through the sweaty hands of the men trying to hold him down. Suddenly the air was filled with the noise of beating wings and she felt the hot breath as a neat little fireball swept past her and singed the nearest man on the ropes,that was enough for them they screamed in terror as another fireball just missed them and they were off,letting the ropes fall they ran into the trees and were gone. The fifth man continued to fight untill with a twist and a spin Keelagh spun the weapon from his grasp,he turned and fled into the forest his crashing retreat echoing in the trees.
Keelagh turned expecting the Unicorn to be gone too,he stood tall and majestic gazing at her with his peircing blue eyes. She walked over and gently took the ropes from around his neck. He never flinched just stood and waited. When she had thrown the last rope away she placed her hand hesitantly on his neck " Go great one you are free now " she said and removed her hand and stepped away. He lowered his head and then lifted it again and cooly gazed at her " You saved my life young Keelagh " he said in a gentle voice " Had they taken the horn they so desired it would have been the end of me"
She looked now at the animal in wonder " You know of me? " she gasped " you speak my name"
" I know of many things " he replied " My name is Magryth,and you wonder why I failed to save myself with magic? "
" Well yes,I did wonder"
" We are not allowed to harm Humans even if they mean to harm us " he sighed " Which is why there are few of us left,they covet the horns magical powers there are wizards,evil men,who will kill us for these "
" You cannot protect yourselves " she whispered
" Oh we protect ourselves but at dawn when we come to drink,the magical protection that renders us as shadows lifts for a short while.it is then and only then that they are able to catch us "
Keelagh shook her head in disbelief at what some men would do,but she knew that magic was important in this world and so could believe the lengths some would go to.
" You are free now Magryth,you can hide once again" she said to him thinking how sad it was that such a beautiful beast should be hidden away.
" No keelagh the time for hiding is past,our great land is under dire threat it seems that I may be of better use aiding you in your quest than hiding away,if that is you would endure the company of one such as I"
" I would be honoured,wouldn`t we Bryn" she cried.
Bryn turned to look at her and then at the Unicorn " And how do we get him over the mountains for he cannot ride on my back as you do Keelagh and he cannot fly,can you?" he asked as he turned back to magryth
Magryth snorted laughingly " No great Bryn I am a unicorn I cannot fly,but I can run faster than the swiftest winds and climb the steepest walls faster than a mountain goat,i will not hinder you and when I can go no farther well then you will leave me if that is how it is to be "
" Great Bryn,he called me Great Bryn did you hear? We will find a way I am sure to get you where we are going,wherever that is " he said puffing his chest out at being called great.
" Thats settled then" said Keelagh " Seems we should be moving as the sun is climbing higher and we have far to go "
And with that they set off to leave the forest,Bryntich soaring once again into the sky no longer so worried about his Human companion being below. What a strange party they were becoming A Human, a Dragon and a Unicorn.

Part One: The Warrior Quest
Chapter one
The Dragon and the Unicorn.

Keelagh stood in the entrance to the cave and looked down on the valley far below,it wasn`t yet dawn and she could see little of the landscape apart from the shapes of the trees and bushes that covered much of the land to her left. That was where they were headed her and Bryntich,though she very much doubted they would find the thing she searched for,she had the feeling this was going to be a very long quest. She sighed already she was homesick,longing for her soft warm bed and not the cold hard floor of dirty dank caves.
She heard a noise from within the cave and immediately jumped away from the opening and to the side as a loud sneeze was followed by a burst of flame through the entrance.
" Bryyyn" she shouted as another sneeze and burst of flame followed the first.
" Oh Oohhh,I`m sorry Keely,this dust off the floor plays havoc with my sinuses" came the reply as Bryntich popped his head through the entrance,smoke still curled from his nostrils and he shook his large scaley head to rid himself of the dust still threatening to make him sneeze once again.Keelagh laughed just her luck to get a Dragon with bad sinuses,she wouldn`t mind so much if he didn`t burn everything to a crisp when he sneezed.
" We really have to find something to ease that sneezing off,Bryn,Wouldn`t want to be finding our warrior and then you incinerating him,would we?" she reached up and gave him a rub on his long nose " come we have to reach the valley floor before dawn " and so saying she went back in to the cave to retrieve their belongings.
" Slavedriver" Bryntich muttered as he turned his head to watch her.