Avanlonna, outside of the small village of Doth, Northwest of Eversong

Avalonna froze and felt her heart beating fast and her life practically flashed before her eyes. She would have been stabbed easily by the airborne dagger, had it not been for her innate instincts. Before she could blink, or even think, a single word escaped her lips.

"Prohibere" she somehow managed to say. The words left her lips with not a moment to spare as the magic flowed from her fingertips and caused the dagger to stop midair and fall harmlessly at her feet. Avalonna felt a little weaker than she was already, and stumbled back a few steps. She heard the whispers and mumbles of the bandits and they all drew their weapons.

"Did you see that?"
"You don't think..."
"No, it can't be... can it?"
"Aye, mates. I think it is." The bandits said amongst one another. The leader who threw the dagger grinned and spun his sword in his hand.

"Looks like we got ourselves a witch." He said with a wicked smiled.
"I thought those were all slaughtered years ago. I wonder what the King would pay us if we hand you over to him, my dear." He continued smiling and his allies circled around Caspian and Avalonna. She was able to count 8 bandits and each had a blade in their hands.

"Listen to me," Caspian said, stepping in front of Avalonna and putting his hands inside his coat,
"If you attempt to hurt my friend here, or if you as so much as get dirt on her dress, it will be the last thing you and your men ever do." Caspian said, looking directly and intently into the eyes of the bandit's captain.

The scoundrels all laughed and swung their swords in Avalonna's direction mockingly.
"Forgive me if I'm not exactly scared," the captain said with such an annoying smirk that Avalonna had to restrain herself not to go smack him across it.
"However, you are outnumbered and outgunned, you see. So with that in mind, we will be taking the god forsaken witch, killing you and letting your blood run over these rocks into the stream, then we will deliver the she-devil to the King, where she will experience an even worse fate than you, I assume. So please, do tell me. What exactly do you suppose you will be doing about it, merchant?" He grinned and shoved Caspian back hard enough that he bumped into Avalonna. Caspian apologized and brushed himself off then walked forward and stood in front of the bandit.

"I don't suppose anything. I know, I will defeat all of you before you even lay a hand on her." He said firmly. The captain simply smirked as a reply.

"Alright, mates," he said, gripping his blade tighter,
"Fun's over. Kill the arrogant merchant here and take the witch." He drew his sword and attacked Caspian.

Avalonna went to go help him out of instinct, but quickly realized he was not the one who needed help. Caspian drew a stick from his inner coat pocket and it somehow transformed itself into a full metal staff before everyone's eyes. The captain, along with the rest of his men, all seemed shocked and hesitated just a little. Caspian smiled as this was just the moment he needed. The captain's sword clashed against the staff and Caspian spun it around himself and tumbled out of the way with the grace and speed of a much younger man. He swept the captains legs out from under him and two more bandits rushed to go fight him. While Avalonna looked on, three bandits had surrounded her as well. She was frightened, but controlled her emotions and touched her star necklace. She smiled, which caused her attackers to hesitate slightly, as she aimed her hands at the bandits intently. There was no use in hiding her magic now, she just had to be careful that she didn't exhaust herself too soon. The other problem was that she did not know what spells to use, the only time she ever did magic was by accident. She began to doubt herself, but then felt her necklace warm up near her heart. Her eyes glowed a faint green and she thrust her hands out in front of her.

"Draco!" She called out instinctively. The wind began to pickup and swirl around her and the leaves in the trees and on the ground rustled loudly. Avalonna instantly felt herself grow much weaker, to the point she almost collapsed as her knees shook, but she stayed standing strong. Her palms began to glow with the same green light and energy as her eyes and the bandits hid behind their swords and shields to brace themselves. A dragon, made of a brilliant green light and no wings or physical body, flew out of Avalonna's right palm and roared at it's targets. The dragon's body and tail moved in waves as he flew across and went through the bandits. It did not stop immediately and flew straight into 2 more bandits that were further behind them. All the bandits dropped whatever they were holding and screamed in pain, holding their heads.

"It... It burns! It burns like the flames of hell!" The bandits cried this, along with similar remarks, although they had no visible injuries or marks of any kind. They screamed and rolled but then all of them grew quiet and fell over. The dragon roared again, a roar unlike any animal Avalonna had ever encountered, and its pale green energy burned brighter and brighter until the dragon was completely gone. Avalonna felt weaker and leaned herself against a tree. She saw Caspian hit two of his attackers in the heads with the ends of his staff and then pin the captain to the ground, holding him down under the staff.

"I told you what would happen, didn't I?" Caspian said, just loud enough that Avalonna to hear,
"Any last words, you heartless scoundrel?"

The captain smirked, his face bloodied and dirtied, and spat in Caspian's face.
"Die!" He pulled a dagger from inside his boot and stabbed Caspian in the stomach as he recoiled.

"No!" Avalonna yelled as she staggered over to Caspian. The captain let out a final, despicable chuckle before coughing and choking and then breathing his dying breath. Avalonna held Caspian in her arms and tried to get enough strength up to try some sort of healing spell. Caspian looked weak and dizzy and breathed slowly. He closed his eyes and then Avalonna felt him start to grow warm.

"C-Caspian?" Avalonna asked in confusion and disbelief of the situation. His body began to glow a light red and everything about him seemed to change right before Avalonna's very eyes. She was no longer holding Caspian the large, old merchant in her arms. Now, she was holding a man she had held there many times before. She stared in shock as the light began to dim. She would recognize the long black hair and green eyes and scarred hands anywhere. She had seen them nearly every day for 2 years.

"Drow?!" She said, barely able to speak his name.