I edged my way along the outer edge of the lava pits, looking for his body. I hoped that he was not hurt, for I will never forgive myself for telling Bryon that he was okay to come. As I went into the woods, a wisp of smoke clouded in front of me and an orange colored dragon appeared out of the shadows. I screamed and stumbled backward. The dragon came towards me, I notched an arrow and let it fly as soon as I did, I was swept upward and flung into the air. I watched the ground come at me and landed with a dull thud. My head banged hard and my vision blurred. A shape loomed over me and I felt pressure on my ribs like nothing I've ever felt before. I slipped my dagger out and jabbed over and over again. Blood spattered and the dragon roared and backed away. War cries sounded and soon the dragon was bound and burned.

"Are you alright?" A shadow above me asked as I felt strong arms lift me

"I'm. Fine." I wheezed out.

"What can we do for you?"

"I need to find Tobin, Beckon's son."

"We will go with you. There are more than enough of us back there." I nodded my head as I clung to the warrior's arm. Then I felt myself being lifted and being put on top of a horse which moved slightly underneath me. I laid my head down on the horse's neck as it walked forward. I willed the pain to stop in my head and body.

"Ma'am." I heard one of them say

"Yes?"

"We have a body up ahead." I slid off the horse and stumbled my way to the heap. As I got closer, I could see blood pooling. Leaning close, I saw the broad face of Byron

"It's Byron, one of you get him to the medic bay." I demanded.

"Yes Hunter." Then we continued. My vision finally cleared and now I walked with my head high as we combed the rest of the lava pits, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Where to next, Hunter?" Another warrior asked

"The dark woods." We entered the woods which were cold and damp. Water dripped from the trees onto our heads, moss lined the ground making our steps slippery. We walked in a single file, then I motioned with my hand towards the right and left. I went on ahead with one warrior. Behind us we could hear the cries of dragons as they went down. I hoped that all this craziness would end soon and that our village would go back to peacefulness.

"Do you hear anything?"

"No Ma'am."

"Let's stop and listen. Perhaps he is calling." The warrior and I pause to listen. There is nothing but the sound of whistling leaves and far off shouts.

"Uh Hunter? How will we know if the others have found him?"

"They will signal us somehow. Now come let us ke-"

"Help! Please Help!" A voice screamed.

"Did you-"

"Yes I did! Come on!" Our feet pound the ground as we follow the voice. There up ahead was the tar pits.

"You don't think?" The Warrior asked with a face full of horror.

"Quite possibly yes." We reach the edge of the woods to where the tar pits start. The tar pits have claimed many victims both human and animal. We scan the pits looking for anything that resembles a body then there a few feet north and five deep is Tobin. His body submerged almost up to his neck.

"TOBIN!" I shout as my heart jumps to my throat. The warrior and I race to the edge looking for any way to get to him. But there is none.

"What do we do?"

"You need to go find the others. We need something to use for leverage. I'll talk to him and keep him calm."

"Yes Hunter." The warrior bows and charges back through the woods. I make my way to the edge of it to where a log sits and goes out two feet deep. With shaky legs, I crawl on top of it

"Mal, no don't you will fall. It moves when it senses movement."

"I have to try Tobin. I have to get you out before it squeezes you to death." I say as tears prick my eyes.

"But Mal. It won't help if you get stuck in here too. They will need your weight to help pull me out."

"I don't care, Tobin." I say snappily. I stand now and walk with my arms extended. I watch his face turn to sheer panic as I make my way out to the fat end of the log and kneel on it. "See, I did not fall and besides, I am still three feet short. There is nothing else I can do but talk to you."

"I feel so stupid Mal. The son of a great warrior getting stuck in the pits."

"Please Tobin. No one cares, they just care for your safety." I sigh. "Besides, it could have happened to anyone." He scoffs

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." I shake my head back and forth as I change my position to cross legged.

"No I'm not. It could have happened to me, one of the warriors. Even a tough man as your father." Tobin hrrumps.

"I bet you're wondering what happened."

"More or less." I say with a shrug. I know that I can't make him talk too much or he will just be sucked in even more.

"Well.." Tobin smiles childishly. "I saw a dragon and I decided that I wanted to sneak up on it and try to kill it before it flew away. So I snuck up on it but I didn't realize it had eyes on the side of the head and it saw me. It roared and grabbed me by my shirt and threw me up in the air. I was thrown onto it's back and it would turn and snap it's head at me and try to eat me, but I stabbed it with my sword and well yeah that's how I ended up here. "

"Where's the body?"

"A few feet that way."

"Hmmm.' I mused as I tapped my chin. "I'm proud of you Tobin. That was very heroic, your father will be mighty proud of you."

"You think so?"

"I do."

"What of my father?"

"I'm sure he will be most pleased of your great efforts to help." Tobin snorts.

"Yeeah right, Look at me. Stuck in the tar pits." Malvina rubbed her nose.

"Speaking of being stuck, what is taking them so long? They should have been here by now. I grow weary of waiting Tobin and so I have a plan."

"Am I going to like it?"

"Probably not. See that long branch there?" I point and Tobin nods. "Well I'm going to make a noose and then swing it up to the branch and let it slide on. Then I'm going to swing back and forth on it and then you are going to grab my hand and we'll go from there." I stood and began to tie my rope.

"Uh Mal, I-I don't think it's going to work."

"It's got to Tob. My patience is wearing thin and look, it's almost to your chin." I say as I finish notting the rope. I swing it above my head four times before releasing it, but it doesn't catch right away so I try again. And again. And again before it finally catches. I pull on it to make sure it won't fall off. Then with glee in my eyes, I walk backwards until their is some pull to it, then with a flying leap, I fly off the edge and swing forward

"Weee!" I say with laughter.

"Uh Ma-" Is all Tobin gets out before a large cracking sound splits through the air, with horror I watch the tree branch break in half. I screamed as I plunged downward, suddenly though, something pricked me in the leg and I jolted to a stop. The flapping of wings could be heard as I opened my eyes and so the Kreckle looking down on me. I was in awe of it as it flipped me in the air and I landed with a thump on it's back. Then it circled twice and hovered above Tobin, I continued to stare at it until it growled lowly.

"Right. Uh Tobin! Catch!."

"With what?" He demands, a sour look on his face.

"Uh right. Um, how about your teeth." I give a shrug as I throw the rope to him which he catches with a snap of his teeth. Then the Kreckle groaned and shot upward causing me to scream, we struggled a bit but then Tobin flew free, dangling in the air as he grabbed the rope with his teeth. The Kreckle roared in pride as he flew in a circle twice and then landed briefly on the ground. I tumbled to the ground with shaky legs and fell onto Tobin, before I could say anything, the Kreckle whooshed upward with a wind of air.

"Oh my god, I thought we were going to die!" Tobin said with heaves. I glanced at his tar covered body, laughed and punched him in the arm.

"Oh Tobin." The sound of running footsteps could be heard. We both turned and saw the stunned faces of the warriors. I gave them a wave and Tobin smiled nervously.

"Oh hello." In a sing-song voice.

"But how?"

"Oh I um I you know, I threw my rope and.." I blew a raspberry as I circled my arm upward then downward. "And he caught it and then well..." They looked at my like I was crazy so I jabbed Tobin in the ribs and motioned my head towards their skeptical faces

"That's right. She went up and down and around and boom we were on land." Tobin gave them a cheeky smile as they all blinked and slowly unfroze.

"Well uh okay."

"Run that by us again."

"I still don't get it." The warriors said one after the other. Finally the leader cleared his throat

"Anyways. Let's go, t-the dragons have left."

"Are you certain?" I asked sobering up.

"Quite."

"And Tobins father, is he alright?"

"Yes, after he knew his son was going to be alright, he continued fighting again."

"Quite vigorously." A warrior pipes in.

"Did everyone make it out alright?"

"I'm afraid not. We did lose many." The warrior says glumly as we back tracked through the woods, my heart already heavy for fear of what I would see. The lava pits were littered with animal carcauses, human bodies and human skeletons.

I gave an anguish cry when we reached the clearing of our village. I dropped to my knees just as a hand touched my shoulder. Tears fell from my eyes, soaking the ground, as whispers surrounding me saying prayers for the dead. I bowed my head and said my own prayers before glancing back out at the barren land. The land where our village once stood which was now nothing but dust and ash.