The Golden Light
Part III of V

She was in her lair when she heard a heavy set of steps upon the edge of the entrance, she went quickly with hoped it would be her mate even if she knew he was far away from her in some cold dungeon of the castle in the north. However, her spirits brightened as she saw her brother enter; a bronze dragon that had a very serious, worried look on his face when he saw his sister.

"I got word about what happened, how are you, sekan?" he asked as he stepped toward her.

She shook her head and replied, "I don't know what to do, can you help me, deen?"

He frowned and nodded at her, sitting beside her and draping a wing around her shoulders. "But of course, we have to get him out of the clutches of...who was the captain again? I've heard his reputation is just horrible, but no one speaks his name."

"Aeryk, Captain of the northern kingdom, and he is ruthless and a cold-hearted dragonslayer to top it all off...what are we going to do, Ahndeleck?"

"I think I know someone who could help us, he is more of a rebel but has a military background...maybe he will be willing to help us."

"Who is it? Do I know him?"

"I believe you do, it's Serinay."

= = =

Together the two dragons made their way to the village where they knew Serinay to usually visited, he lived in the patch of woods not too far away. He was a gryphon, many of the females of his race did not consider him the type of male to stay down to raise gryphlings - not that they didn't try. He was a jaguar/falcon type gryphon, the only special marking he had was a scar that ran across his neck from a previous encounter that no one knew about, since he did not just discuss his past with anyone. Ahndeleck knew that his sister had a run-in with Serinay before, and Tigrath had shown him exactly who was her mate and nothing would change that; this time things had gone too far and now they needed help to rescue her mate. Once they landed a good way away from the town they quickly shifted their forms, Ilith into her black wolfess form and Ahndeleck into his own white wolf form. He was dressed in a blue vest, black slacks and boots. They soon found their way around and walked into the local tavern, The Aries, and saw Serinay at the bar. He was in his more commonly taken wolf form, same clothing and battle scars showing, and he was talking with a tan-colored wolfess that was dressed in a white uniform, one could tell she was clearly enjoying her time with him. When they came up to him she saw Ilith and quickly clung to Serinay's arm, seeming to show that she had her eye on this male and to not get any ideas. Ilith growled at her softly and turned to her brother, who gave a little smirk in return and they began to discuss with Serinay about their situation. Once they finished they awaited his answer, he took a few more gulps of beer and fiddled with his dagger, pressing and twisting the tip of the blade into his palm-pad, as he turned their request around in his head. They're asking me to risk my neck to break into a well-guarded dungeon...to help a murdering dragon escape...sounds like fun, what have I got to lose?

He placed his glass down and wiped the froth from his muzzle as he gazed at Ilith, remembering the first time he had laid eyes on her black-gold face, nodding at her shortly and finally replying with a sly smile, a deep and husky drawl coming from his throat. "Sure, I'll help with ur man, I've been meaning to commit suicide for a while now. Just...I'll try to keep from doing it during this."

By nightfall the two dragons and the griffin make their way to the large fortress of the northern kingdom, everyone knew it was not the king who was in charge but his ruthless captain of his great army who wielded the power over the rest of the people. As they fly Serinay tells Ahndeleck of how he first met Ilith, which he must admit is a bit ironic now that he thinks about it. After a moment Serinay glanced down and saw there were a few cavalry below them and he tells them that they need to land somewhere close-by to get ready to get inside. They follow him and then quickly shift their forms, both Ilith and Ahndeleck staying in their dragon forms but being more human-like in appearance and not so large in size as their regular forms, while Serinay shifts to his common wolf form. They stay on the outskirts of the fortress before spotting the entrance to the dungeon, which also happens to be the only exit, excluding the one leading into the castle itself.

All of them could sense a certain death coming from within the bowels of the castle, the dungeon that Captain Aeryk proudly boasted that no prisoner could escape from and that is the reputation the place has held for more than five decades. Quietly they snuck as close to the entrance as they could get, hiding within the shadows of the vast forest that grew near the castle walls, Serinay gestured for them to wait here since he volunteered to be the distraction so they could get inside the dungeon and he would help as much as he could from then on out until the deed was done. Ilith's heart raced with the thought that her mate was somewhere in that horrible place and Ahndeleck could see the tension building within his sister, he touched his shoulder against hers and she calmed down just enough to not break into a run when Serinay called to them. They sprinted across to where he was and he pushed them both inside, now wearing one of the guard's uniforms and he hid the unconscious guards inside a dark, empty cell nearby. They made their way through the dimly lit hallways of the dungeon with some ease since most of the guards were either in the cavalry they had seen when coming here or inside the castle above.

After searching for a few minutes none of them could find Tigrath, for what he had done he must be locked up in a holding cell and being protected somewhere else. Serinay took the chance and told them to stay in a small dark cell while he looked around on his own, since he was the only one dressed to fit in here anyway, he quickly took leave of them and made his way to a cramped office, where an old fox sat sharpening his sword.

"What are you doing here, sir? Shouldn't you be at the feast with all the others in the castle?" the fox grunted and went back to sharpening his blade.

"Well, sir, I was told to take the shift in watching the prisoner, the one who killed the lieutenant."

"Oh, him," The fox stood now and sheathed his sword; he nodded at Serinay and walked out of the office. "They've kept him sedated since they brought him here, they wouldn't tell me why, only that he was dangerous and rightly so!" 

He came to a steel door and produced a set of rusted keys from his belt, picking out one and unlocking the door. Serinay looked inside and saw Tigrath chained to a wall by his neck and wrists, looking in pain as he lifted his head wearily to who came inside. Tigrath did not seem to recognize him so he sighed and looked at the fox.

"I'll keep my eye on him, sir, why don't you go join the rest of the men at the feast?"

The fox eyed him for a moment then nodded, placing the keys in Serinay's paws. "Very well, I'll come back in one hour and if you're so much as dozing I'll make sure you're stuck here for the rest of your life, understand?"

Serinay nodded and as the fox walked away he narrowed his eyes and gave a short growl, making his way back to Ilith and Ahndeleck now, then leading them back to the unlocked steel door. He opened it and let them inside, Ilith rushed to her mate's side and lifted his head gently, giving him several laps upon his muzzle and cheeks with her forked dragon tongue while both her brother and Serinay worked on getting the shackles off him. It didn't take too long since Serinay had the keys, but it did take a considerable amount of time since there were more than twenty keys on the ring itself. Carefully both he and Ahndeleck lifted Tigrath up on their shoulders and Ilith opened the door carefully, peeking out and looking up and down the hallway before she opened the door more widely for them, they made their way to the exit and could hear several loud voices coming down the stairway before them, they froze in their tracks and Serinay quickly unsheathed his sword with his free paw.

"Ilith, take a hold of him, I'll make sure you guys aren't followed. There are a couple of horses, that belonged to those two guards I attacked earlier, tied to a fence just outside, take them and I'll meet up with you later."

Ilith nodded and took Serinay's place to hold up her mate, and just as she was about to reply he quickly made his way up the stairs, tearing off the uniform as he went and they could hear loud growls and yells coming from behind them as they made their way out. They found the horses just like he described and Ahndeleck carefully helped Tigrath up onto the horse, seated behind Ilith and he held his arms weakly around his mate once he was mounted with her, leaning against her heavily. Just as Ahndeleck was mounting the other horse he felt a searing pain in his left shoulder and he roared with agony, both he and Ilith whirled around to see an archer and a small group of other soldiers at the top of the castle walls and they quickly drove the horses into the cover of the forest, riding them fast and hard through the brush and trees to get away from that place. In the back of her mind Ilith could have sworn there was a struggling wolf in the midst of the group where the archer was, bloody with wounds but fighting with all of his might.