chapter 10: the shaded stranger
there was a flash of green light, a sound of voices talking all at once, Tess felt as if she was falling , when she was falling she saw people she knew , Robin, and her uncle Tirfindiel were talking but there was something about him that looked different she couldn’t quite make it out…then the Image changed to Inny her black hair blowing in the wind , she was saying something that Tess couldn’t make out but , she caught a few words “Run” and “Hags”…then Lida and Finn, Lida was holding a sword to her surprise, Finn was a mess, and he was holding a axe? then the image changed to a army of trolls , goblins , and orcs , and several other creatures , led by a shadowed Figure , his or her face was shadowed…, he or she was wearing a black cloak over of his or her top armor, when he or she drew it’s sword the sword was jagged it midnight black, the shaded figure shouted something in a hallow voice
Tess Gasped , had her adventure all been a dream? then she looked around the room, the scroll was still there. so it hadn’t all been a dream…she wondered who Thanarien was, and weather he could be trusted…
she had heard about Thanarien before, she had her parents talking about him, but they always stopped talking when she came into the room, and when she asked about what they were talking about they made excuses, Tess got out of bed and walked over to the table were the scroll was and enrolled it, it read:
Greetings,
You have probably heard about the rumors of monsters coming back….as you (probably) already know they are true.
but something else has been happening which is darker. I believe , elves and fairies (and other magical creatures)
have been disappearing…no one knows what happened to them they just vanished
it will be better explained if you come to my palace,
sincerely
Thanarien
Tess looked at the Letter she wasn’t sure what to think. Elves and fairies disappearing? monsters returning? her family could be in danger, they were elves well most of them, not counting father’s side of the family (who are all Hobbits).
what was she to do? then she looked around Robin and Inny were gone, Not again! the Key was lying on the dresser, she grabbed it , put the letter in her bag, opened the door closed it and locked it, and ran down stairs to were the Inn was bustling , people were talking, suddenly she noticed Robin and Inny sitting at a table talking to the shaded figure again, the one who worked for Thanarien, why was he wearing a disguise like that anyway?
she wondered what they were talking about…
“why do you wear that disguise anyway?” asked Robin. “Evil is lurking, I can not been seen even as a elf it is dangerous” said the spy…Robin could see his pointy ears through the hood, the raven that was perch on his pruned itself.
“Why do you carry around a Raven though?” asked Inny, “Oh…that umm..” stuttered the spy. “He just likes it here” he said petting the raven who didn’t seem to mind…”So..are you coming to Thanarien’s palace or not?” he asked. “yes, we will go” said Robin and Inny, “I will go too!” said Tess, “Of course, I mean I would have to go with you…Maybe you could drop me off back at home, you kno—“. “Your coming” said Robin interrupting Tess. “Alright Fine” said Tess, curling a peace of straight short red hair. “One question how do we get to Thanarien’s Palace?” Robin asked. the elf spy look at him and smiled, “You shall see” he said, there was a twinkle in his brown eyes…
“Oh no…I have a bad feeling about this” said Tess.
Much Later after the questers had packed there belongings and left the Inn, they followed the spy, who told them his name was Theron Raven-feather. “That explains , the raven.” said Tess…
as they walked , Robin looked around they were heading into a forest “does this Thanarien live in the woods?” he asked, “Nay, this is just a faster route” said Theron, Tess brushed through the undergrowth , being a hobbit can sometimes be hard, especially the feet part sometimes , how are you expected to run if you have big feet? But being a half Hobbit had some avenges , you could walk silently without anyone hearing you, though eating a large amount of meals a day, being a hobbit was completely fine…sort of. Tess looked up she hadn’t remembered those clouds being there before, then she realized those weren’t clouds! “Duck!” said Tess…”Why?” asked Inny, who didn’t see any reason why she needed to hide, “Inny, Robin, Mr.Ravenfeathe—I mean Theron, there are Moon Ravens!!” Said Tess, Robin looked up at the sky the black-clouds , “She is right. Duck!!!” said Robin. “Ravens aren’t ducks…” said Theron, but was pulled Down by The questers., the questers were well hidden underneath a huge rock covered with moss, a raven perched on it and looked around, it was jet-black but it’s eyes were like diamonds, it was not a normal raven…finally it flied away. “That was close” said Tess looking around, the raven was gone. Theron’s raven though seemed afraid. “What on earth are moon ravens doing here?” asked Robin. “I am not sure” answered Theron, “But we must continue, were very close” he said, and brushed back some vines to reveal a palace in the distance, it seemed to be made out of marble, and there villages around it. “Welcome to Thanarien’s palace!” said Theron. Tess was dumbfounded she didn’t know what to say, she had been to her uncles castle in the woods, but she had never seen a castle like that. “Tess! Tess!” said Robin, he was waving a hand over Tess’s face, Tess blinked “Yes” she said, “Shall we go to the palace now?” she asked, “We will” said Theron, “Fellow me” he said, the group followed theron into the kingdom, some elves eyed them as they walked by, As they walked by Tess thought she saw Silena the Auburn haired dryad, but when she looked back she was gone. It must have been just her imagine, nothing just her imagine. when they came to the castle door the guards let them in, as they walked in Theron throw off his cloak, revealing white robes
, his raven magically turned from Black to white, he walked over to a servant and seems to be in a long talk with her, the servant turned, “I will take you to your rooms” she said, they followed the servant, to a long hallway of doors, the servant opened a door and said “Here is your room” she said. there inside were three beds , there was also a painting on the wall,..Tess walked up to it, it showed questers going a quest for some reason they looked oddly familiar, one of the questers was holding a sword that was glowing bright green, he looked rather like her uncle but younger , the other figure was holding a bow and arrow, she was also wearing a silver crown , and was clad in green, she had to her hood partly covered her face.. behind the two figures there was a short figure, he had large feet, and curly red hair and was holding a pocket knife , he looked rather like her father, there was a also another figure she had brown hair tied back into a long braid she was wearing black robes and holding a staff, with a jewel atop it. her brown eyes seemed to glimmer and twinkle. there was a sudden crash , Tess turned around there was a broken vase on the floor, and Inny was trying to pick it up , “Inny is everything alright?” asked Tess, walking up to Inny. Inny looked at her “Yes, everything is fine, I just bumped into it, nothing terrible” she said, Tess gazed off into the distance she thought she saw a black scaly tail go behind the dresser, rubbed her eyes it must have been nothing, she helped Inny pick up the broken pieces, and decided to sit down and read a good book, she had brought two books with her, she brought me out of her bag , on the cover it read: Tales of dragons it had been the book Eldon had told her to read , unfortunately she would be missing the book club only because she had decided to go on a adventure, she did wonder what George the dwarf and Lauralas the elf were doing, she wondered what they were doing, they were probably doing there contest that they always did, most of the time Lauralas won ,but George sometimes won. she opened the book to the first page ,
the tale of the ice dragon , she shivered she had never met a dragon face to face but the idea of one made her shiver, she began reading suddenly there was a voice “It’s too late to turn back”. Tess turned around “Who are you?” she asked, the figure was cloaked and tall, “I know you…yet I don’t know you” said Tess, she remembered that figure from her dream but who was this person. “Come with me, and you can stop this all adventure nonsense, and have a nice peaceful life with no adventures” the figure said. “I..I” began Tess , not knowing what to say. “I will never join you, whoever you are” said Tess, “Well then…I guess you will have to face your fate” said the figure, and vanished.
then everything went black…