Finn McDrake's Story

"Let's go girl....you're almost there!!!"
Finn shouted to his dragon as they were almost to the capital of Taramount. Finn had the letter in his hands stating that he and four other knights would be chosen for an important task. They would have to deliver 5 cursed princesses to a certain location, their curses would be lifted, and then bring them back to the castle.

"Slowly, Regina.", Finn could see the castle below. The green dragon glided down to the earth, and carefully landed near the castle gates.
Finn tied Regina's reigns unto a tree nearby, and softly said. "You wait here, okay? I'll be right back."

Finn couldn't help but look around a little bit. He had been to the capital many times, but he was never allowed anywhere near the castle.
At the entrance to the castle, he met a guard who told him to wait in the dining room, where the princesses would be. Unfortunately, the guard did not tell him which princess he would be going with, so Finn was a little confused.

At last, he made it to the fancy dining room. He noticed that there were two other knights, as well as a woman with black hair he assuming was a princess. He said to the other two knights, "I'm not late, am I?"

Ariel looked at Ela her maid. She asked the question with her eyes and Ella answered to them all. "Knight are present you with Ariel the Fourth Princess. She curtsied and moved out of the way for Ariel. She walked over to the knight and curtsied. Then she offered her hand to him as she was tought. "Hello I am Ariel. I guess I will be ridding you." She laughed and her pale face got a roset red in the cheeks. As it only happened when she laughed.

Finn
"Well that was quick", Finn thought to himself. As the girl offered her hand, Finn got down on his one knee, and said,
"My name is Finn McDrake, general of the Taramount army. Pleased to make your aquaintance, m'lady."
Ariel's face seemed to be pale, but when she laughed, her cheeks turned a rosy color.
"Princess, is there anything you would like to do before we go?" Finn asked. He was considering whether or not to ask her about her curse, but he realized it would probably be rude, so he refrained from asking her anything. He figured he would find out later.

Elise
As Elise waited out in the hallway, she decided to take her eye off of her sisters for one second, just to see who was in the dining room.
She crept silently down the stairs, and slightly opened the door to the dining room, so that only her eyes were peeking out. She could see a knight with blonde hair, a knight with whitish hair, and a knight with red hair who at the moment was talking to Ariel. Elise waved to Ariel, hoping that she could see her. Elise wondered if the girls would stay near each other, or if they would travel seperately.

Ariel smiled at his questions comming fro
His eyes. "My curse is but a horrible sickness. My little friend Lenny over there keeps me somewhat well. I would like something to eat first. Also my saddle needs put onto your dragon." She paused and looked over at her sister then at the ground. "I am to weak to just hold on. I hope your dragons or you don't mind." She stopped to hear his thoughts.

Finn
"My curse is but a horrible sickness. My little friend Lenny over there keeps me somewhat well. I would like something to eat first. Also my saddle needs put onto your dragon." Finn was surprised that she knew what he was thinking. He was also extremely relieved. He was preparing for something much MUCH worse.
Finn nodded and said, "Okay, Princess. I will wait here and take your saddle while you get something to eat."
The princess seemed to be looking at somebody else, then turned back her attention to Finn.
"I am to weak to just hold on. I hope your dragons or you don't mind." Finn started to see Ariel bearing a lot of resemblence to his own sister, Bonnibel. Bonnibel was sick just like Ariel, and Finn remembered having to take care of her when he was little. He couldn't help but feel bad about Ariel's condition.
"Don't worry, I won't mind at all. I doubt Regina will either. Why, she's the calmest dragon in all of Taramount!" he said with a smile.

Elise
A serf saw Elise by the door and started motioning for white-haired knight to come towards her. Eli silently gave the 'no' motion to the serf, but the serf did not see. Eli just hoped Della and Oriana remembered to come down to the dining room. Then again, Scarny had told Eli to take care of the two, and with her curse and all, Eli didn't have that much of a choice.

The white-haired knight came closer, so Eli went into the dining room, silently closed the door behind her, and leaned on it. She took a closer look at the knight. He was a couple inches taller than Eli, he looked like a dragon, and he had such a serious glare that Eli couldn't help but cringe on the inside.
Great, an axe murderer.

He knelt in front of Eli and took her hand. "I am Lance I have been informed I shall be your knight in shining armor.", he chuckled after saying this. Elise chuckled as well, but it sounded more like a 'panic panic panic panic' kind of chuckle. So his name was lance, just like the weapon she was holding. What a coincedence.
"And your name my fair maiden?" He asked her politely.
"oh uhhhhh......my name's Elise. You could call me Eli.....uhhhh...yes...Eli." She said awkwardly. She tried to make the best smile she could. It turned out to be a cheesy grin. She felt terrible, the guy was just trying to be polite and yet with the way she was acting, she felt like a freak.
"ummm...if you'll excuse me for a sec. Ummm...Scarny told me to go do something and I think....I think now's probably the best time to do it...so you can wait here or something, and i'll be right back."
Elise silently slipped through the door and shut it behind her. When the door was all the way closed, she sat on the stairs for a couple of seconds and buried her head in her hands. Then, she made her way up the staircase and called to Della and Oriana.
"Alright girls, i'm leaving. Remember to come downstairs when you're ready. Hope both of you have a safe trip!"
Then, Elise went back downstairs, her knapsack on her back, her lance in her hand, her sword in its sheath around her waist. She came right to the door, and took a deep breath.
"Adventure, traveling, dragons, fun, just like the books." Elise thought to herself before opening the door and standing right next to Lance. This time, she was calm and was not nervous. "Alright, Sir Lance, i'm ready." she said with a nice smile.

Ariel nodded then sat down while a plate was placed in front of her. She looked at the knight. "You can join me or Ella can bring the supplies for the trip. Oh yeah I have a part of the harness here. It's for Lenny. Also this is Lenny my manican." She took of the harness and set it down. Then Lenny climbed on her hand and she moved him towards the knight. He stretched his hand out. "Nice to meet you sire."

Elise
As Elise followed Lance into the dragon yard, her jaw dropped when she saw all the large and beautiful dragons. They looked just like what she had pictured them to be. Goodness, these knights got the best kind of creatures in the world, and all Elise had was a pegasus.

"Well we can leave once the others arrive down here. Would you like to wait down......" Eli could hear Scarny say to her knight. Elise would have to stay with this guy until the other girls came. She tried to strike a casual conversation with Lance.

"Sooooo ummm...Sir Lance, this is your dragon, right?" Eli said, pointing to the dragon beside her. "Oh yeah, right...almost forgot!" She suddenly exclaimed. She put her three fingers by her lips to create a loud whistling sound, and down came her pegasus, Saat-Suki.

"This is my pegasus, Saat-Suki." She said, gently stroking Saat-Suki's hair.
"If you want, I can either ride with you or i'll just stay on my pegasus. I don't know which one you prefer, y'know since your taking me to the place thing...." she said. "Saat-Suki's pretty fast, so i think she'll be able to keep up with your dragon."

Finn
"Nice to meet you sire.", the small manican named Lenny said as he streched his hand out.
"Nice to meet you as well, Lenny! How are you?" Finn said, taking his thumb and pointer finger and gently shaking the small manican's hand.
Finn took a seat next to Ariel as he waited for her. It seemed as if there was only one knight waiting. Finn counted in his head; there were 5 princesses, and 4 knights had already showed up, so that would mean that there would only be one knight left.

Ariel finished and Ella said they were running late. "Finn we mus go. Lenny hop in my pocket." Lenny did as she was told and Aroel rushed from the room. In the dinning room you could hear a thud as the princess fell. With her weak statue she could not run but she did and fell. She layed there for a moment felling for any extra pains. Ones she dosnt have before. Then she reached for Lenny she saw he was alright then slowly made herself go into a sitting position then standing.

Ariel looked at her. "Thank you sister I am find so is Lenny. Finn are you coming?" She walked towards the door and out to the yard. She saw two unattended dragons and walked to them. "Which do you think is Finns,Lenny?" She moved him to his walking pouch. Then kissed his head.  He looked up and replied. "I am not sure Miss. When we do ride I would like to sleep. I never was good at flying.

Finn
When Ariel fell, Finn almost had a heart attack as he ran up to her.
"ARIEL!!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!", but Ariel picked herself up off of the ground right before Finn had a chance to help her. Everyone was gathered around Ariel, as she got up.
"Thank you sister I am find so is Lenny. Finn are you coming?"
"I'm coming Ariel." Finn followed her outside into the yard, making sure she didn't slip again. For being sick, Ariel sure was strong. Finn remembered that when Bonnibel fell, she couldn't even get back up.

"Which do you think is Finns,Lenny?" Finn silently chuckled as he listened to Lenny and Ariels conversation about which dragon was his. After Lenny replied to Ariel, finn said, "my dragon is the green one on the right. The one next to the tree.....and is currently sleeping right now". Finn sighed after he said this, but he wasn't annoyed. "Follow me, m'lady". He motioned for Ariel and Lenny to follow him as he made his way over to the sleeping dragon. When he was right by Regina, he softly whispered, "wake up, girl. It's time to get up". Regina slowly opened her eyes, and as Finn untied the reigns from the tree, the dragon slowly started to stand up.

"So Ariel, Lenny, this is Regina. From your father's letter, we are to travel on her by night, and rest during daylight." Finn started to put the saddle on Regina, and put on the part where Lenny was to sit. He put the supplies near where he would sit, where they would be close the reigns. He made sure everything was secure, then turned to Ariel.

"Alright, here we go!" he said, as he helped Ariel up unto her saddle. Finn checked to make sure everything was okay, and then said, "Regina, FLIGHT. FORWARD." And Regina smoothly lifted herself up into the air. Pretty soon, the were cruising high above the kingdom.

Elise
"Ug . . . Well if I don't keep you with me at all times I will get beheaded...."
Beheaded? that was knew.
"... So we better ride my dragon. Would you like to get up there so we know you are fastened properly?"
Elise nodded, and although she kinda knew what to do, Lance helped her anyway. Elise didn't mind though. She was just gonna have to get used to not doing everything herself.
Lance fastened them both in, and then said,
"Hang on to his spike...."
Elise's eyes turned green again, and she instantly grabbed the spike in front of her. Of course, she couldn't let go.
"... If you get uncomfy you can grab anything except the bags."
Before she knew it, the dragon was off the ground and flying. Elise could feel the rush of the wind in her hair, and could see the stars passing before her. Elise wanted to spread her hands out and feel the breeze, but she couldn't. She looked back to make sure Saat-Suki was following, and sure enough, she was right behind the dragon.
"WOOOHOOOO!!!" Eli cried out into the night. Flying was a wonderful feeling.

When Eli's emotions started to calm down, she decided to talk to Lance a little bit. There was something she needed to find out first.
"Nice ride you got here Sir Lance, if i must say so myself!" She chuckled a little. She wasn't lying, it was much more fun then flying a winged horse.
"So ummmmm.....I just wanna know Sir Lance.....since you didn't adress this earlier....ummmm....do you know about my curse?" Eli asked a little bit nervously. She honestly hoped that he already knew, because she didn't want to tell him herself. She always felt nervous talking about her curse to strangers, like they would use it against her.

Ariel loved the flight. Lenny was fast asleep. She leaned towards Finn. "I've never flown before. Lenny has but it was when he was being brought to me." She smiled at him then looked below as the lights faded behind them. She knew then that it was really happening. They were going make her healthy. She slipped her arms around Finn. She knew her Scarny would disagree but she didn't care. "Thank You for giving me life." She whispered. 

Lance smiled as she enjoyed the flight. Then she began to talk about the curse. He swallowed hard then shook his head. He also added an afterthought. "You don't have to tell me. If you don't want."  He saw the others behind him. He pulled out the map and told the dragon some last minute details and where they would set up camp. 

Finn
Finn could feel the princess slipping her arms around him. Was she scared about falling? Finn started to wonder, and then he heard her say,
"Thank You for giving me life.", she said.
"Anytime, m'lady", he whispered. He took his one hand off of the reigns and gently touched one of her hands. The town down below turned to green forest and plains. He watched Lance's dragon. Lance seemed to know where they were going to set up camp.

Eli
Surprisingly, Lance shook his head. Eli started to drift off into space, until suddenly she heard Lance say,
"You don't have to tell me. If you don't want." Eli's eyes widened. He had past the test. Eli still didn't tell him her curse, though. She figured he would find out when they set up camp, which as she heard Lance talking to the dragon, she knew was coming up soon. Her arms were starting to ache from holding the spike.

Eli started to feel bad. She never felt like this journey was a team effort, but just about the princesses.Eli started to think of a list of questions (which seemed to go on and on, since Eli considered knights adventurers) and then, she finally decided to ask a question in which maybe she could figure out Lance's personality, since, in Eli's mind, he didn't seem to have one.

"Sir Lance..." she began to ask, "sorry for all the questions, but ummmm...when did you start your training? y'know, as a knight?"

Ariel felt his hand go on hers. She felt safe around him. She looked around at the others. She saw an absence of Scarny and Oriana. She stiffened. "Finn Scarny and Oriana are missing. We need to land." She looked around frantically. 

Lance laughed. "I have been training since I was ten. Hey your hands are starting to bleed you better move them." He reached into the bag behind him and pulled out a rag. "Wipe them off with this until we land." He suggested and saw a good landing spot. He started downwards. "The sun will be up in a couple hours. We need to be able to set up camp. To bad we couldn't fly longer. Plus you need to get used to flying. " Once he landed he got off and pulled out his sword. "Stay on him. If I tell you to fly off go and keep the others to safety." He walked around the clearing then in the woods. 

Finn
Suddenly, Finn could feel Ariel stiffen as she said,
"Finn Scarny and Oriana are missing. We need to land.", Finn looked behind him. She was right.
"Good eyes, m'lady", he said, facing her.
He could see Lance in front of him starting to land, and so, Finn decided to follow him.
"Regina, DOWN."
The dragon came to a slow stop in midair, hovered a bit, and then slowly flapped its way down to earth. It was hard to find a clearing in the forest that was big enough for the dragon, but Finn managed.
"STAY" Finn said to Regina as he started to jump off her.

Finn looked at what Lance was doing in front of him. He seemed to be walking around the forest while his princess stayed on the dragon. Finn started to think that maybe he should do the same thing.

"Alright", he said to Ariel, "Imma go on ahead. Stay on Regina, and if something happens, try to shout as loud as you can. Alright?"
With his battle axe in his hand, Finn ran up to Lance.
"Whatcha doin'?", he asked the white-haired knight.

Eli
The knight laughed at her question. Elise wondered why he laughed. Was it silly for a princess to ask a knight how long they have trained for?
"I have been training since I was ten. Hey your hands are starting to bleed you better move them."
Eli looked down. Sure enough, her hands were bleeding.
Lance pulled out a rag and said to her, "Wipe them off with this until we land."
Sure enough, Elise's eyes turned green, and she started to wipe her bloody hands with the rag.

"The sun will be up in a couple hours." Lance said as his dragon started to land. "We need to be able to set up camp. To bad we couldn't fly longer. Plus you need to get used to flying. "

Get used to flying? Didn't Elise already have a pegasus?


"Stay on him. If I tell you to fly off go and keep the others to safety." Lance said, pulling out his sword. Elise's eyes turned green, absorbing his every word until he walked off into the forest.
"You got it, CAPTAIN" Elise grudgingly mumbled to herself. She tried to get off the dragon to see if her curse was in effect, and sure enough, it was.
Elise didn't understand why she just couldn't go off with him. Maybe he hadn't noticed the sword sheath around her waist, or the lance she was holding earlier. But then again, maybe her crazy father had ordered him to make sure Elise stayed put, and he was just following his job. Soon, Elise's pegasus landed right next to Lance's dragon. Eli sighed, and leaned over to pet her winged horse. So far, this adventure wasn't what Elise had expected.

Scarny walked back over to Jericho. "Yes knight we better hurry. We are late. I'm sure everyone else has
Already made it a long ways." she sighed and looked towards the sky. "Can you help me before Scar takes off with me." She walked over to the dragons neck and tried climbing on. Being stubborn she kept trying. Finally she gave up. She looked at the knight. "Her neck is to tall for me." Then murmuring she added kinda sourly from impatience. "at least Scar lays his neck on the ground for me. " 

Lance finished and turned to the other knight. "Looking for danger. It's all clear but you can look while I set up tents." He walked over to his dragon to tell Elise the good news. "It's all clear you can climb down whenever you want." He started unpacking but never went more then a few steps away. Soon he was unpacked and setting up a tent for himself. Then he placed one ten feet away for the princess. He set up a few other things and eventually had the start of a curve. 

Ariel stayed and watched the knights. She looked over to her sister and studied her. Then she looked at the things Lance was setting up. Then over to Finn. She studied each one of there features. That is something she learned to do since usually she could do nothing but sit there. She studied people learned them. 

Finn

Finn nodded at Lance when he told him it was all clear.
Finn turned around, and went back to Ariel.
"Okay, m'lady, the knight over there is going to be setting up tents. I think I'm going to start gathering firewood. If you'd like, you could stay on Regina, or you could talk to your sister over there. I'm sure she'd be glad to see you. Just please don't wander too far. The deep forest isn't safe at this time of night". Finn looked at Ariel, waiting for her response.


Elise
Lance came back in a couple of minutes, saying to Elise, "It's all clear you can climb down whenever you want".
"FINALLY", Eli thought to herself, but when she tried to get down, she couldn't. Elise was awfully confused, but then she realized something.

There were many times when Elise thought that she had been commanded to do something, but her curse was not in effect. In those times, Elise was impressed, because that meant that even though it sounded like the person was commanding Elise, they weren't doing it intentionally, so the curse wasn't in effect. It was complicated, but Elise understood. Lance hadn't forced her to get off the dragon, but gave her a choice, and so, she was still stuck with her previous command; to stay.

Eli wasn't happy, but she wasn't mad either. She started to see something in Lance, something she couldn't explain. She looked to see what he was doing. It turns out he was setting up the tents. Elise decided that when he was done, she would tell him her curse. Not for his understanding, but for Elise's own good.

Scarny pulled back instantly. The curse reminded her of her duties. She didnt want to tell him. With all her heart she wished to keep it secret. She sighed then hesitated again. She didnt know how to explain. She finally found a solution. She redoes herself to explain. "There is a reason we are being forced to travel at night." She stopped to study his expression. Then continued with out moving her eyes. "When the sun um hits me. I well I change. Not for the better. And not really for the worse." She stopped not knowing how to continue. "I will just have to show you what I mean." She reasoned. Then it hit her. The most dreaded thing. She was risking scaring off her knight and her sisters knights. Even though trolls were gentle they were large scary looking creatures. Only mystical creatures and animals understood they meant no harm. 

Lance finished and looked towards Elise. "I see you have takin a liking to him haven't you." He chuckled patting the large black dragon.  If the moon didn't shine off his scales he would think he was gone. He slid his hands down the scales. He felt the quiver of the body under his hands with joy. 

Ariel looked at the dragon. "Can I go flying with her while you set up. Maybe show the others where we are?" She said an excited tone in her voice. Forgetting the worries. She fell in love with dragon and didn't want to leave now. "What do you say?"

Finn

"Can I go flying with her while you set up. Maybe show the others where we are?" Ariel said. Finn didn't know what to say. The letter told the knights to always keep an eye out for the princesses, and with Ariel falling in the castle earlier, Finn was a little bit scared to let her out on her own. But then again, Regina was easy to control. If Ariel was just going to look for the others, then the other knights would be able to supervise her. Also, Finn almost forgot that he had his dragon whistle in his pocket, so if Ariel strayed too far, the whistle could call the dragon back.

"What do you say?" Ariel said, an excited tone in her voice. Finn smiled as he said, "okay. i guess until everybody comes here. Make sure to hang on to Regina's reigns! don't wanna slip! All you have to do is tell her to start flying. She understands voice commands, so you don't have to do any fancy tricks or anything." Finn took some of the supplies off of Regina's back. When he got everything, he hopped back down to the ground and said to Ariel with a smile, "you ready?"

Elise
"I see you have takin a liking to him haven't you." , Lance said. He chuckled, and Elise chuckled with him. "Yeah, i've never been on a dragon before. It's so much different then being on a pegasus.", she said. She then chuckled a little bit.

"okay, you're gonna have to tell him your curse now, or else he's gonna think you're gonna STEAL the dragon!" Elise thought to herself.
She tried to tell him, but the words just didn't come out of her mouth. For some reason, she was NERVOUS. It was never like Elise to be nervous about anything, but for some reason, she was. She decided to give him hints instead.

"So umm, Lance...wait, do you mind if i call you Lance?" she started to ask, "anyway, umm, do you need any help or anything with the tents or do you need me to do anything like prepare a fire or something? If you need anything, just tell me. She leaned closer to Lance on the last three words. She really hoped he would understand what she was trying to say.

Ariel squealed with joy. She clutched the reins then waited for him to hop off. "Thank you so much Finn. Father never let me do anything like this." She stopped them smiled at him then shouted to the skies. "Fly girl fly." She acted fast knowing he would change his mind if she was never around to fly before. She didn't care if she got in trouble she was having fun. She flew around and tried getting used to it for a while then started seeing what the dragon could do. "Well if you want you can do something different. Side glides, loops anything really." She hinted to the dragon to see what she would do for her.

Lance didn't understand why she kept getting closer to his face. Then he got an idea and stepped way back. "Princess I am so sorry but I just met you plus this is my first real quest. I don't want to get a relation with you other than a professional one." he walked over to the tents again avoiding looking at her. "Your sister just left on a dragon. I would let you but he barely listens to me." he messed with some things then got an idea. "I saw you had some weapons on you. Would you like to spar?"

Scarny sighed she really didn't want to show him. Then she saw Ariel flying around. "Hey is that Ariel. We need to land." She got more and more nervous the closer they got. "Ariel! Ariel what are you doing!" She looked at the girl sternly. "Knight you must land at once I need to talk to the knight that's supposed to be watching her." She rolled her skirt up just enough to jump off when they landed.

Elise

Lance stepped way back and said,
"Princess I am so sorry but I just met you plus this is my first real quest. I don't want to get a relation with you other than a professional one."
Elise's face turned red.
'HE THINKS I'M HITTING ON HIM?!?!?!' she thought to herself.
As lance kept rambling about his dragon, Elise silently murmured, "stupid...curse....dragon...ughhh!!!" Elise knew she would have to be prepared to sleep on the dragon.
Then suddenly, Lance said,
"I saw you had some weapons on you. Would you like to spar?"
Elise then calmed herself down, and said, "oh yeah. I'm a blacksmith."
Then she had a thought.
"I could show you them. Do you want me to come off your dragon and show you my sword?", she asked.
'pleaaaasssee answer in a complete sentence, pleeeeaaaaaassseeeeeee....' she thought over and over.

Finn/Dragon

The dragon looked back at Ariel as she said, "Well if you want you can do something different. Side glides, loops anything really." Regina made a deep sound, and started to fly in circles, like a corkscrew. then, after three complete circles, the dragon looped, not fast, but not slow enough that Ariel would fall off. After Regina looped, it flapped it's wings so that it could stay level with the earth and not bump into the forest.

Finn watched from a distance as he looked through the forest for wood that would be perfect for making the fire. He smiled as the dragon performed the tricks.