The Element Table

Chapter 17: Dragon Falls

Jacquelyn peeked out from behind the large boulder, her eyes glued to the magnificent creature. It was hard to miss its black scales in an area of green. In normal circumstances, she would be thrilled to see a dragon. But this was the forbidden forest, filled with Caine's shadow creatures. There was no doubt it was one of them.

She hid behind the boulder, turning back to the other guardians that were hiding there with her.

"We have to get to that table" Henry stated

"But how? The table is in the cave behind the waterfall, the dragon is blocking our way" Ryia said

"So we have to get past that dragon somehow"

"How?" Jacquelyn asked

They all stayed silent as they thought of ideas. Philip was the first to speak.

"We can get into the pool, swim under the waterfall and go into the cave," he said

Ryia then took her turn to peeking past the boulder. She observed the waterfall and could tell where the entry of the cave was. She returned to the large rock.

"That won't work, the cave entrance is at least twenty feet above the pool" she explained

"We can use the rope" Henry suggested

"How?" Ryia asked

He sighed, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

"We can do the same thing we did at the cliff" Jacqulyn suggested "Philip can climb up using his daggers and I can shot the rope up to him"

"That might not work" Ryia answered "With all that moisture, things might get a little slippery"

"Plus, behind the waterfall could be mostly stone, my dagger can't pierce through that" Philip added

There was silence again as they continued to think of ideas. This time, Alianor was the one to speak.

"We can use the book," she said holding up the black book Morgaine gave her

"How? We don't even know what it is" Henrey said

Alianor took a deep breath, it was time for her to tell them what it was.

"This is the book of Shadow Magic" she opened the book and showed them the title on the first page "I've been reading it since we came into the forest. It's filled with mostly spells to conjure up dark magic. There was one spell I saw in there that can help us"

She flipped through the book, going to the page she saw the spell on. Once she found it, she turned the book back to them.

"What is it?" her best friend asked

"It's a reverse spell" she answered "it can reverse any dark magic spell"

"How would that help us? We don't even have magic" Henry said

"I know, but I have a plan" she answered

They huddled closer together as Alianor shared her plan. The others nodded, liking the idea. They all added their own bits, turning it into a more solid plan...as solid as it could get anyway.

Soon they were ready to execute. They dropped their satchels, all except Alianor, and took their positions.

Jacquelyn stood behind another boulder, eager as can be. The success of the first phase of the plan was all on her. Her job?

Wake up and distract the dragon.

Getting a nod from Henry, who was hiding behind a boulder not far from hers, she stepped out from behind her hiding spot and slowly made her way towards the dragon. She stopped before she was too close to get easily hurt.