Best Page NaNo 2008

Best Page NaNo 2008 "The Adventures of Ryn and Ciyme"

As she knelt to make the fire, a black horse rode into their camp. The rider sat tall in the saddle, the muscles in his arms flexing as he tried to rein in his horse. His long jet black hair was tied back with a thong and his piercing black eyes were looking straight at Ryn. She was frozen with shock and fear.

“Lady, what are you doing traveling without an escort?” he demanded. His voice was deep and calming but Ryn didn’t seem to notice.

“What makes you think I need an escort?” she said returning to her work. He suddenly was no longer appealing to her.

“All ladies need escorts to protect them from other men and wild animals.” He said matter of fact.

Ryn snorted. “Oh that’s right. Women are so stupid that couldn’t possibly take care of themselves. Go away stranger.” The wood sparked and she gently blew on it to get the fire going. She added firewood before she noticed that the stranger had not moved.

“I told you to leave. You’ll regret it if you don’t.” Ryn said.

The man dismounted, with a smooth grace that even Ryn was jealous of. “I couldn’t possibly leave you without an escort, Lady. What kind of man would I be?”

“A smart one.” Ryn said just as Ciyme came down from a tree branch.

“Ah-ha!” Ciyme yelled before setting fire to the man’s hair.

He calmly patted out the flames before pulling out a bottle of tonic. He sighed with irritation as he put three drops on his hair. Ryn was wondering how and why he had the tonic when a black dragon the same size as Ciyme flew out of his saddle bag.

He attacked Ciyme and the two tiny dragons fought in the air.

“Ciyme! Stop! Don’t fight him!”

“Molten! Let her go! Stop that!”

The two dragons stopped in mid air, looked at each other, then flew back to sit on the shoulders of their pets.

“Are you alright Ciyme?”

“Yes I’m fine.” Ciyme said out of breath.

“Now, please before anyone gets hurt. Will you just leave?”

“I told you I can’t do that.” He turned to unpack his horse.

Ryn lost her patience with the man and drew her sword. Without giving him warning she lunged. He easily dodged her attack and in the same movement drew his own sword.

Molten and Ciyme settled on the stranger’s horse to watch.

Ryn was having trouble fighting this man. He was so strong that with every block, she felt the force of it in her entire body. Her arms were getting sore but she was not going to let him win.

“Who do you think will be the victor?” Molten asked Ciyme. His voice sounded like drums beating in a flourish.

“Ryn, my pet. She’s a mean fighter and she would never let a man beat her anyway. So she’ll fight dirty I’m sure.” Ciyme said proudly.

As if she heard Ciyme, Ryn kneed the man in the groin. He bent over in pain just long enough for Ryn to hit him over the head with the hilt of her sword. He fell into the dirt and Ryn quickly grabbed the rope, tying his ankles and wrists together.

“I could easily untie him.” Molten said.

Ciyme pounced on the black dragon before he could take flight. They fell off the horse and into the dirt. They rolled around for a few moments before Ryn went over and picked them both up.

“You aren’t going to do anything.” She said. She wrapped Molten up in a sac then hung him from a tree.

Then she went to investigate the stranger’s horse. As she was looking through his bags, he came to.

“Hey! What is going on here?” he demanded still lying in the dirt.

“You were beaten by a girl.”

“You didn’t stick to the rules of warfare.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was that not lady like? I’ll have to work on that.” Ryn said sarcastically as she continued to rummage through his things.

“Ryn! What happened here? I’m gone for thirty minutes and you tie up a man!” Y’ron said stepping into the small clearing with two rabbits in his hand.

“This pompous man insisted that I needed an escort. I tried to tell him I don’t need one but he refused to leave so I subdued him.”

“Ryn, you are the weirdest girl.”

“I know.”

(word count:741)