The Pen and the Dragon

Chapter 1

"For you, knights-hopeful Liadons," Queen Titania declared, "I have a quest for you."

The Summer Court gasped and murmured, as they had for every declaration for the past three hours.

She waved an arm as she spoke. "The Green Lord, Oberon, recently sent me a rather expensive quill in a pathetic attempt to appease me."

The Court knew that it was yet another lovers' quarrel, but nobody spoke a word.

"Still, he amuses me." Titania tilted her head to the side slightly. "I wish to have this pen."

Another round of gasps and murmurs filled the vast chamber.

"It was stolen from its courier not long ago. Find it and retrieve it, and it will reflect well upon you in this Court."

Still kneeling, both Sariel and Enna responded in unison. "Yes, my queen."

Titania laughed. "Oh, siblings are so amusing when they do that. Now, on with you!"

The Liadon sisters stood up, bowed, and exited the main hall. Sariel was smiling, but Enna looked apprehensive.

"C'mon, Enna!" Sariel said to her sister. "You've got me, and you've got Zelifarn!"

Enna continued looking forward. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

Outside, a number of people - eladrin, fairies, satyrs, and all the other inhabitants of the feywild - were gathered around Zelifarn. He proudly showed off his scales, regaling them with tales of how he had defeated pirates on the high seas. Once he saw the Liadon sisters approaching, he politely excused himself from his crowd and carefully pushed his way through to them.

"So how did it go?" Zelifarn asked, excitement audible in his voice.

Sariel smiled brightly back at him. "We got a quest! The Summer Queen wants a quill that was misplaced."

Zelifarn tilted his head. "Did she say where it is?"

Sariel's response was interrupted by Enna. "No, but the feywild does not work the same way as the material plane. As this quill was lost en route from Oberon, the Green Lord, I suspect it will be located somewhere in the wilds."

Zelifarn paused for a moment before responding. "Which wilds?"

Enna allowed herself a small smile. "Let's just say that direction has less meaning here."

---

Chapter 2

Exhausted from hours of flight, Zelifarn came to land near a small eladrin village, deep in a massive forest. Sariel and Enna climbed down from his back, and Sariel rubbed the dragon's neck. Like cats and dogs, Sariel had learned that dragons had spots they loved to be loved in, or so she assumed. At the very least, Zelifarn did.

Observing the inhabitants of the village, Sariel commented to Enna. "You know, I thought they'd be more surprised by a dragon in their midst."

Enna shrugged in response. "Zelifarn isn't the weirdest thing here."

"I'm not weird!" Zelifarn called out from behind. "I'm a dragon!"

Sariel chuckled. "You know what she means."

The perpetual twilight barely shone through the woods, keeping the village in a perpetual dimness. Fireflies danced about the air, and magical lamps lit the streets with cool, blue light. Sariel entered the tavern, her usual destination for information.

Outside, Enna leaned against a wooden beam, put one leg up, and crossed her arms. Zelifarn eyed her closely. He slowly leaned against the side of the tavern, putting one leg up as well. However, creaks from the wall put an end to that idea. He quickly righted himself, pretending that nothing had happened.

After a few more seconds, Zelifarn spoke. "How long does she take?"

"To get the information? Well, it depends." Enna answered. "It will be either five minutes or over an hour."

Zelifarn tilted his head inquisitively. "Why would she take an hour? Surely she can ask faster!"

"That's if she needs to sleep with someone." Enna answered bluntly.

"Sleep?" Zelifarn asked. "What do you mean- oh! Oh!"

Enna craned her head up at Zelifarn. "I keep her around so she can do it, not me. Besides, it's her specialty, like mine's magic."

The dragon paused for another moment. "Can you teach me magic?"

Enna thought for a moment. "I'll consider it."

Just then, Sariel came out of the tavern door, smiling. "I know where it is!"

Zelifarn lowered his body, allowing the sisters to climb onto his back. "Where?" He asked, excitedly.

"A lake, not far from here! It was in a small rowboat that sank." Sariel responded as Zelifarn took flight. "Head... that way!"

---

Chapter 3

Zelifarn circled high in the twilit sky, and the three of them looked down at the lake below. It was large, deep, and dark. Simple enough for Sariel and Zelifarn, but Enna had her doubts. Zelifarn once again swooped down at speed, landing at the shore of the lake in a burst of wind.

Sariel shifted to the side, and performed an acrobatic cartwheel off of Zelifarn's back. She turned around and bowed to Enna, as if the wizard was giving applause. Enna thought for a moment, then stood up. She put one foot back, then performed a fan jump, landing right next to Sariel.

Zelifarn looked over at the two of them. "I would roll over myself, but I don't want to squash you!"

Sariel giggled, and even Enna managed a smile. However, Enna's smile faded when she looked at the lake.

"We should get prepared before we look for this quill," she said. "It's probably dangerous."

Sariel slapped her sister on the back. "How bad could it be? I'm sure we'll be done in no time!"

"Nymphs, naiads, and nereids, just to name a few. Enna bluntly replied.

Sariel shrugged. "I've dealt with them before. They aren't so bad."

Enna continued. "Crocodiles. Sharks. A monstrous crocodile-shark hybrid."

Once again, Sariel was unfazed. "We've got Big Z with us! We'll be fine!"

"Drowning, as you well know." Enna said, crossing her arms.

"We can both hold our breath for four minutes, and he doesn't even need to breathe air!" Sariel replied, motioning at the dragon standing next to her.

Enna rolled her eyes in resignation. "Fine, but I want you to know that I think this is a bad idea."

"Duly noted, sis." Sariel said, already halfway through taking her tunic off. "Now c'mon, let's get this done before dinner!"

---

Chapter 4

Running through her mental checklist, Enna finished packing her clothes into her bag, then cast mage armor on herself. Without water breathing magic, she wouldn't be able to cast spells that used a verbal component underwater. She caught a dagger thrown to her by Sariel, and attached it to her belt. She looked over to see her sister attaching hers' to her thigh. Once Sariel was done, she walked over to Enna.

"You look nice!" Sariel complimented with a smile.

"I'd prefer to have something more than my smallclothes." Enna grumbled in response.

Sariel smiled again, slowly turning to face the lake. "You'll get used to it!"

Enna ran through her checklist one more time. "Did you remember to cast mage armor?" She asked Sariel.

"Of course I did! I'll have you know I'm getting pretty good at it!" Sariel replied with some measure of pride.

Mage armor was a simple spell of 1st-level, but Sariel had learned a slightly altered version - much easier to cast, but she could only cast it on herself. While Enna disapproved of the unorthodox casting method, she liked that Sariel was taking such an interest in magic.

Once again, the two half-elves climbed up on top of Zelifarn. However, this time, he did not take to the air. Instead, he leaped into the water, his riders taking a deep breath as he did so. Enna rubbed her eyes as she adjusted to the water. The lake was deep, but filled with colourful plants and fish. Unfortunately, there were no rowboats in immediate view. Zelifarn swam deeper into the lake, while the two half-elves on his back released their grip. Sariel motioned at one side of the lake to Enna, indicating the wizard should search that half.

Enna split from Sariel, swimming to her side of the lake. She appreciated that Sariel had given her the shallower part, but would have preferred if they stuck together. At the very least, some time alone gave her space to think about some experiments she wanted to try. Unlike her sister, however, she didn't allow her thoughts to cloud her perception of how much air she had left.

---

Chapter 5

An hour of searching had gone by for Enna, and she was nearing the end of her search area. Every few minutes when she went to get air, she'd wait for Sariel to pop up, to make sure she was still alive. Luckily, nothing had happened to either of them. Zelifarn was nowhere to be seen, searching the bottom of the deepest part of the lake.

As Enna held her breath and submerged herself once more, she noticed something. A fissure in the lakebed, probably large enough to fit a rowboat through. She swam over to the fissure, and peered into it. Enna felt a smile creep over her as she spotted the rowboat, about thirty feet below her. The rowboat itself was resting on a small rock, and looked fairly precarious. Scanning the boat, Enna quickly spotted a fanciful lockbox underneath it.

Right as she grasped the box with her outstretched arm, the boat suddenly slipped. Even with her fast reactions, Enna wasn't able to pull her arm out in time, and the boat pinned her arm to the lakebed. Enna's eyes went wide, and her heart quickened. She pulled at her arm, but it was stuck completely. She tried pulling the boat off her arm with her free hand, but it was far too heavy. Panic set in. She frantically looked around for anything that could help, but came up short.

No, she was smarter than this. Her panic quickly subsided as Enna realised this wasn't a threat. It was a riddle. Misty step and dimension door wouldn't work, as she couldn't say the incantations properly underwater. There weren't any levers around either, and her knife was too small to act as one. This gave her an idea.

Enna unsheathed her knife, and used it to start cutting away at the rotten boat covering her arm. As she did so, she continued thinking. Zelifarn would easily be able to lift the boat, but he might not be able to fit in the fissure. Sariel would be able to fit, but she was as weak as Enna. Right as Enna was thinking of her sister, she was surprised as Sariel swam up next to her.

Sariel gave a smile to Enna, then took a look at the boat. She tried pulling on it, but just as Enna had predicted, was too weak to pull it loose. Sariel then pointed at her mouth, Enna's mouth, and the surface. Enna wasn't quite sure what her sister meant, but she assumed it was a mouth-to-mouth air transfer. While that would extend her lung capacity for several more minutes, she much preferred to avoid doing that. Enna shook her head at Sariel's proposal.

Enna continued thinking while Sariel frantically tried to get her sister loose. Nothing was working at all, and Enna was starting to feel dizzy. Panic slowly began creeping back in as Enna's plans failed. With her seconds of consciousness counting down, she started to feel resigned to her fate. It couldn't possibly be that bad - Sariel had drowned multiple times, and she still loved swimming. As the world started to feel dark, Enna closed her eyes.

That was when she was hit with a brilliant inspiration. Reanimated and surging with adrenaline, she picked up her knife, and motioned for Sariel to swim further up. Once she was satisfied with Sariel's position, she used her dagger as a focus, casting steel wind strike - a spell that didn't require an incantation. The spell teleported her to her sister, thirty feet above her at the top of the fissure. While Sariel was injured by the damaging spell, Enna knew she wouldn't mind. Wincing from the pain, Sariel put her arm around Enna and started swimming up.

Moments later, right before Enna was about to fade into unconsciousness, both half-elves breached the surface with a gasp. After panting for a few moments, they started laughing.

---

Chapter 6

The two swam back to the beach, where they collapsed onto the sand. Sariel reached into Enna's pack, taking a potion of healing for herself, and throwing another to Enna. The red liquid soothed Enna's pain, and her arm felt considerably better.

Sariel turned to face Enna. "You know, I-"

She stopped talking, her head snapping up to attention.

"Someone's here." She said quietly, motioning for Enna to get up as well.

Now Enna could hear it too - rustling in the nearby treeline. It sounded like there were a number of individuals approaching. Sure enough, seven satyrs stepped from the treeline. They looked the sisters up and down slowly, lust evident on their faces. Enna didn't like it, though she assumed Sariel did.

"My, oh my. What a treat!" One of the satyrs said.

Sariel immediately summoned her bow into her hands, and Enna picked her shortsword up from her pack.

"Oh ho! The little girls have pointy sticks! How cute!" The same satyr said, approaching them.

Enna noticed some waves in the lake, and smirked. "Actually, we have a dragon."

The satyr didn't have time to react before a blur of bronze scales erupted from the water, leaping through the air and crashing into the sand.

"Hey, Zelifarn!" Enna shouted. "Get rid of these creeps for us!"

Zelifarn looked at his friends, then at the satyrs. As his mouth started sparking with lightning, the satyrs fled back into the woods.

Enna approached her draconic friend. "Thanks, Zelifarn."

Zelifarn's mouth moved to what could only be a dragon's smile. "Oh, it was nothing, Enna. Did you find the quill you were looking for?"

Enna passed the lockbox to Sariel, who used a lockpick to get it open. Inside was a fairly mundane looking quill pen. All that was left was to deliver it back to Senaliesse.

THE END