As they enter one of the larger wagons used solely for council meetings or formal gatherings, Aleena begins explaining what transpired earlier. Faylin, Lyrian and Kyrza all listen in Kyrza's own home of green and natural colored wood.

  "My former clan member Maiwyn, I went out with her to see her leave. We walked together and I helped her gather herbs and feed animals and heal dead plants," tears are forming in her eyes as she explains.

  "What happened?" he asks softly. He sits upon a large bench lining both sides of the mobile caravan housing.

  "She's behind this entire mess. Somehow, somewhere, she contacted some evil magic. She created these beasts and resurrected these predators."

  Kyrza gasps in disbelief, "impossible..."

  "Aleena, you're saying that the beastmaster is Maiwyn?" Faylin asks.

  Aleena nods, "yes. She's responsible."

  "That would mean that the beastmaster isn't just responsible for creating these creatures, but also responsible for summoning forth their power," Lyrian speaks up, rubbing his chin.

  "And what does that make her? A sorcerer?" Kryza questions.

  "Not quite," Lyrian shakes his head. "Summoners use magical energies drawn directly from nature itself rather than drawing upon divine sources or arcane studies as a wizard would do. But what I don't understand is that why is she using dinosaur bones. Normally necromancers use bones to bring back the dead but these animals are not undead entities."

  "One cannot summon that which is dead," the elder argues giving him a side look.

  Lyrian thinks even more to himself, not fully understanding the complexities of the magic yet.

  Aleena hesitates momentarily before continuing, "perhaps she may still remain in our forest yet. She should be close."

  "Well there's only one way to find out," Faylin says crossing her arms.

  Everyone stares at the red headed woman and nod.

  "Regardless, Maiwyn needs to be stopped, wherever she is," Aleena says.

  The elder shakes his head, "you realize that saying that Maiwyn is the beastmaster is a serious accusation. Even though she was banished for a short time, she has found her way of traveling in the forest to give nature good health, prayer and proper burials. She is still our sister wood elf."

  "Please elder, you have to believe me," Aleena's tone soften, begging the elder.

  "Evidence, what proof do you have?"

  "One thing led to the next," she explains. "She's a healer using some weird magic, she wanted revenge against my clan and killed them for banishing her. She hates humans and will not trust Lyrian and Faylin whatever they do, even though they helped save our clan from this attack, three times, once in my clan, and two times in this clan."

  "I see that you are saying she is a clear suspect but that is not enough to accuse her fully Aleena," Elder Kyrza pauses. "Perhaps she has an alibi?"

  "Wait! The bones!" Aleena perks up, "Maiwyn said that there were bones glowing with green energy down in the forest, telling me that they weren't fully grown yet. Kyrza, you're a mage and can examine if it's Maiwyn's energy or not."

  The elder stands and makes his way over to a shelf lined with several objects and trinkets.

  "This is indeed a big case," the elderly leader responds thoughtfully. After thinking for a moment, he continues, "but regardless, whether she has anything to do with it or not, she will likely deny involvement. And if we act too hastily based off of rumors spread throughout our own people..." He trails off before concluding "...it might put our very village at risk again."

  "So we need to find those dinosaur bones that are growing magically in the forest," Faylin suggests.

  "If you can bring one of the magic bones, I can examine it and see if it matches Maiwyn's energy," the elder says.

  "But how can we possibly go about locating something that seems so elusive and unpredictable?" Lyrian questions. His brow furrows slightly, reflecting his inner doubts regarding such an endeavor. "And wouldn't Maiwyn be on guard since she's expecting us to hunt her down?"

  "Lyrian has a good point. She would be on her toes," Faylin adds, looking towards the others around her.

  "Lyrian, you're a mage, you can sense magical energy," Aleena asks Lyrian.

  "Only from a short distance," Lyrian says. "If Maiwyn has her magic energy in these bones, it must be in an area she's been to recently."

  Aleena thinks, "it would have to be in a spot full of wildlife, a former campsite. There's bound to be something there. I'm a tracker Lyrian. We'll find Maiwyn's spots and places of prayer. Lyrian, you'll be sensing any magical energy in the area so we can find some of her dinosaur bones, and Faylin will keep watch for danger."

  Faylin crosses her arms, "you're acting as if I'm the third wheel here."

  "Oh don't be ridiculous, you'll be helping us all out. We'll find some clues, and you'll keep us safe," Aleena says.

  "Oh yes, because you and Lyrian will have your hands tied. Very well. I'll chaperone your little date," Faylin teases with a smirk.

  "This is not a date," Lyrian and Aleena both shout.

  The elder chuckles, "well we've reached a decision. Good luck. And Aleena." Kyrza says with some small sadness in his tone, "I hope you are not right about Maiwyn."

  "I am right I'm afraid," Aleena replies. Her face is set firmly and determinedly. Her gaze rests on Kryza as he nods and waves them off. Aleena leads Lyrian and Faylin through the village and into the forest, heading towards the woods beyond.

  Aleena leads the two humans through a dense woodland region filled with towering trees. However the heat is gaining. Sweat on their bare arms begin to stick.

  "Stay close, I know these paths better," she warns them yet wipes the sweat off her large forehead.

  Lyrian walks alongside Faylin as they follow Aleena deeper into thick humid vegetation surrounding them. He looks over to her and throws a brief smile walking ahead. Faylin follows closely behind him while keeping an eye on her surroundings. Her gaze flickers from one side of the forest floor to another.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "So how do we track the Beastmaster's places of rest if it is Maiwyn? How would she even leave footprints in the forest?" Lyrian asks curiously as he strolls along.

  "She'll have a spot where she prays or meditates or even practices her spells." Aleena says. "We can find her spots there."

  Faylin asks, "like the elder said, how do we even know she's the beastmaster?"

  Aleena stops to a small trail, "don't you guys at least believe me? When I saw her off she threatened me and rode off on one of those crested dinosaurs. And she explained to me about her pouch of dinosaur bones. And she sent Valery to kill me. And her motives are nothing but revenge against my clan, and healing dinosaurs I guess, bringing them back to life somehow. But she was also very vague about her motives."

  Faylin and Lyrian look to each other, and Faylin comments, "well, I never did like her anyway. She was very rude, and puffed up, but that's a lot of wood elves."

  "She's had a lot of trauma Fay, with humans. She was once a slave like me. It's how we became friends, and we supported each other," Aleena saddens at her lost friend, but still carries her empathy towards her fellow elves.

  "But that doesn't explain how she knows so much about these creatures," Lyrian says traveling next to the others. "It's like she has a direct contact to the beast. Or the dinosaurs are simply being controlled by magic. Like mind control. Maiwyn can't be a necromancer or summoner. It's like she morphed her healing magic with necromancy while also creating life, or maybe she just creates life. It's godly, and I've never heard of such magic before. There's never been any such thing!"

  Aleena nods her head as she examines some small tracks, "you're right, we need to be cautious around her."

  Faylin nudges Lyrian with her elbow, crossing her her arms, "Lyrian don't go crazy over this. No mage has the power to create life."

  "How else is she doing it?"

  "Maybe synthetic? Walking husks to control?" Faylin suggests.

  "Then why not just use necromancy? These creatures act pretty natural to me," says Lyrian.

  After searching for some time, they eventually come across several sets of large foot prints leading towards an opening between two trees.

  "Look here!" Faylin shouts as she spots something interesting. She crouches low beside the trail, "this print looks like something heavy stepped here recently. Dinosaurs?"

  "The forest has made an opening," Aleena tilts her head and steps through the two reaching trees. She spots a campfire that's been burned out. A blanket lies neatly folded atop a stone slab near by. Nothing else is left but the clearance of the forest and large hanging branches of trees.

  "Maiwyn's spot," she says scanning the area. "Lyrian check for magic."

  Lyrian steps over to the stone slab. His eyes begin to glow green color. His vision changes from normal to seeing waves of magical energies radiating off everything around him.

  Carvings along a large tree trunk is left there written in elvish. "I am the mother of all creatures," Aleena reads. "Typical Maiwyn playing goddess more like."

  A bag is left behind, hiding in a small bush and Lyrian looks inside, spotting several different kinds of herbs and spices.

  Aleena walks over and peeks her head into the pouch.

  "There's a pile of rocks here," Faylin notices, looking at a rock garden with several clusters of small pebbles. "It looks like she's been arranging these stones into specific patterns."

  Aleena checks around, "those are just prayer rituals for the dead animals."

  She turns around to look for anything out of the ordinary. Trees nearby had been marked, and scratched deeply. Bark is peeled off the wood.

  "Looks like this was a recent kill site for the dinosaurs," Faylin comments seeing a couple of small tombstones for animals.

  Aleena wipes more sweat off her forehead, "that or of natural death because of the heat."

  "So Maiwyn would still have empathy towards all the animals she's killed?"

  "I don't even know what she's thinking anymore," Aleena looks at the ground, slumping her shoulders.

  Lyrian continues scanning his surroundings, noticing nothing out of place besides what Aleena and Faylin point out. He feels around, scratching the rock with his gauntlet, giving it a knock.

  "There's something behind this cliff, in the rock. It's a big magic energy," his hand taps on it and it echoes through the wall.

  "A hidden cave," Aleena realizes when Lyrian taps the rock.

  "How are we supposed to get in?" Faylin asks, touching the rock with her palm.

  Lyrian thinks and a spell comes to mind. He stands in front of the rock wall, takes a stance and readies himself. "Stand back, this may be a big cave in."

  Lyrian slams his fist and sends vibrations throughout the entire wall. Walls are cracking, trailing all throughout his impact. It crumbles down, more than Lyrian expected.

  Boulders rain down on the party but Lyrian conjures up a stone shield to deflect them, the boulders are bounced off and roll to the ground. Loud crash sounds echos as the rocks tumble. Dust fills the air as clouds settle. Faylin sits and wipes off the dirt. Aleena and Lyrian stand to see the shallow cave,

  They look up, now seeing a green glowing tyrannosauridae bones resting inside a wall of rock. They walk in and the skeleton appears bigger and more impressive with each passing minute, towering over them.

  "This must have been what she was doing," Aleena says, staring at the massive dinosaur skeleton. "Lyrian, can you identify it?"

  Lyrian flips through the pages of his book, the types of theropods he looks at are large, "I can't. All the bones look too similar to each other. I'm not an alchemist Aleena."

  "Well we need to dispell this magic, or prepare for it's return somehow," Aleena tells him sternly.

  Lyrian examines it and places a finger on it. He feels the magic energies flowing within, causing an unsettling tingling sensation to course throughout his arm. His eyes glow as he looks around. A faint lime aura surrounds the entire skeletal structure. "It's not quite alive. But this is the same kind of magic energy I sensed from the monolophosaurus when we fought them."

  "Is that supposed to be a soul?" Faylin asks.

  "A soul that Maiwyn created. None of these creatures are animated dead. They're actually alive," he says. He stands and looks over the rest of the bones. There are worn and torn all over the skeleton. Each bone is in pristine condition for a prehistoric find, but not free of blemishes or scratches visible. "These bones were dug up. And these are the exact same ones that the dinosaur once had in life. I don't understand this."

  "Look at all of these," Faylin exclaims as she touches the bones infused in the rock.

  Aleena walks over to her, touching one of the bones "these things must weigh tons. This isn't natural."

  "This is what I was afraid of," Lyrian replies, staring up at the massive skeleton before him. "The Beastmaster is bringing these things back to life with her magic."

  "How do you stop a thing like that?" Faylin asks.

  "Same as stopping a dragon I guess," Aleena shrugs. She takes a step back from the skeleton to view it's massive size.

  "Or perhaps something else. It doesn't appear fully revived," Lyrian ponders.

  "Well let's not find out," Faylin suggests nervously. She backs away slowly.

  "Agreed. We should return to the elder and inform him about our discovery," Aleena says.

  "I agree," Lyrian nods.

  "Let's take a sample of the bone for the elder," Faylin readies her hammer. "We'll have to break a piece of the bone."

  Lyrian grabs ahold of the tiniest toe bone and tries pulling it but it is infused to the rock.

  "Allow me," Faylin walks over with her hammer in hand. She swings the hammer down onto the small rib bone.

  *SMASH*

  Bone breaks into several pieces. Shards are scattering all across the floor. Lyrian reaches down and picks one of the larger fragments and inspects it closely, turning the object in his hand.

  Faylin turns to Aleena, "that was quite easy."

  "This magic energy is weird. It's almost as if it were made of flesh and blood," Lyrian explains, thinking more about the energy. "That's not possible. This is just a bone, and rock."

  "Well let's get moving. Maiwyn could come here at any minute, and I'm eager to know what elder Kyrza is going to say about this," Aleena cautions while determined to speak about the find.

  The three start to exit the area, walking back between the two tall trees they entered from.

  Faylin notices a head peeking out with a short beak, and it's almost as large as the tyrannosauridae bones that they encountered, "quick get down!"

  Aleena ducks behind some brush, followed by the others. She watches carefully, looking through the branching leaves.

  They all peer at the creature as the head passes them by above the heavy foliage, rustling leaves and twigs in it's path.

  "What's that?" Lyrian whispers.

  "Looks like a giant ostrich." Aleena replies, keeping watch.

  Long claws as long as swords emerge from the bushes, snapping back multiple branches as it enters the area, stalking the party. It moves slowly, sniffing and listening to its surroundings. Cautious and very protective, the creature's eyes pan around, looking for any intruders.

  "We're in trouble," Faylin comments.

  Aleena Tells the Elder Kyrza

  The Tyrannosauridae Bones

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