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by Lady Celeste

Over the hill came a young girl on a horse. She was short and had long curly, red hair. She was talking to her horse, and was galloping down the hill. She looked very scared. She rode on for about two miles. A look of relif came over her face when she seen a castle. She was even more relieved to see it was Pirate's Swoop, the home of the King's Champion, Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau. She keeped galloping until she reached the gates of the castle, were she dismounted. She ran over to the guardsmen, and said,
"Where is Alanna? I need to see Alanna!" They let her go through the gates, because they knew her. She was Ailaina, daughter of Numair and Daine Salmalin. They were one of Baron George's friends. When Ailaina reached the castle, she ran right inside. She headed for Baron George's study, to see if Alanna was there. On the way, she accidently knocked over one of their children, Thom. He was about 13. She thought about saying sorry. Instead she said,
"Where is Alanna? I need her." He replied,
"King Jon needed her because a fief was being raided by a group of immortals. She left in a hurry. She thought they might be too late. They were almost at the feif's gates when she reached them." When a look of puzzlement and fear spread over her face he added, "She and my father have medalions that they can talk through." Ailaina's face was still overcome with fear. Now Thom was getting worried too. Ailaina was never scared.Then she replied,
"My castle was attacked by a band of Stormwings. Everyone was outside, trying to help fight them off. Then my ma and I felt something weird with our Wild Magic. Ma knew what it was from experience. She told me it was Skinners. They came, and it was horrible. My da cried out something in Old Thank, and they turned to ice. They were supposed to melt, but something went horribly wrong." She stopped for a minute, about to burst into tears. She thought better of it and said,
"A immortal grabbed my ma because she and I were trying to call animals to help. When it grabbed her, da and I tried to stop it, da with spells, I with spells and animals. It, I think it was a hurrok, was too far off and we can't find her. Then they went after my da again, and he was put under a spell and taken away too. It was horrible!! I tried to fight them off, so didn't the animals. The stormwings tried to grab me, but I raced off on my da's horse." When she looked back at Thom, she burst into tears. Thom said,
"We can't cry now! We have to go tell my da." She sobbed even harder at the word "da". Thom waited for her to calm down, and said,
"We can call some of the King's Own, and maybe my ma will come too. Okay?" Ailaina looked a little better, so they started off.

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Story text © Lady Celeste
© Lady Star