On the center dias lay the palantir. The ancient magical glass orb crafted by the founders of Northaven remained untouched by the intruder hell bent on destroying it. No magic or weapon could break it. It only reflected the image of Eilionwy staring back at it in disgust. "How dare my parents betroth me to a weakling and the youngest prince of a kingdom. I will be QUEEN and all shall LOVE me and DESPAIR!"

*****

Arlhenwe, Caliaphy and Serna could now hear the rantings of an elf maiden gone insane with power on the far side of the Undercroft now.

"I was hoping that we would not encounter her here. Caliaphy and Serna, I will distract Eilionwy long enough for you two to awaken the palantir. The others are depending on us all." The loremaster prepared herself for a confrontation by summoning one her many animal companions, a great white bear.

"Who is she?" Serna whispered to The Loremaster. The Shield Maiden was more curious than she was frightened, "Just be careful, Arlhenwe, if she made it down here too; that means she either has friends or there is more to her than meets the eye."

"Eilionwy was betrothed to Prince Willow, Serna." The loremaster said in a low voice. "There is no reasoning with her and she views any non-elf with contempt, as in she hates the other races. So focus on the palantir and let me deal with her."

"Okay," Serna agreed, "Just be careful."

The white bear took point with Arlhenwe right behind.

Caliaphy tapped the shield maiden on the shoulder, "We need to stay in the loremaster's shadow all the way until we get to the other side, Serna. No talking, okay."

"Mums the word!" Serna stood silent as she waited for the Loremaster to lead both her and Caliaphy across the magical bridge.

The kurori turned back into the fairy and whispered to Serna, "I'm gonna make us invisible now. We'll be fine I hope."

Arlhenwe moved steadily closer and looked over her shoulder to see the magical bridge beginning to disappear. Glancing downward to Caliaphy and Serna, "There's no going back the way we came, only forward."

Serna nodded in agreement but said not a word.

Once the three of them stepped onto the central dias, the bridge vanished. The loremaster's animal companion huffed and growled in a defensive stance towards the figure.

The figure turned around stepping into the light revealing a lithe fair skinned elven female with red hair and green eyes. She held her head up high and regarded the loremaster with little interest, "Arlhenwe? Are you lost?"

"I am right where I need to be at this very moment, Eilionwy. Still craving power that was denied to you, I see. You shall find none here or anywhere else in Northaven when the Sunrider hears of your treachery! You will have no place to call home!" The loremaster gripped her staff in one hand and drew out a sword in the other.

Serna wordlessly prepared her shield. She did not know what Eilionwy would do next but the Shield Maiden was ready for anything.

While the loremaster and her bear steadily moved closer to the estranged elf maiden, the kurori slowly crept around to the left towards the palantir with Serna.

Eilionwy viciously grinned, "Where you need to be is groveling at my feet, as will all of elven kind! HAHAHAHAHA!"

The white bear let out a challenging roar and charged lashing out with cleaving paw staggering Eilionwy away from the palantir.

Arlhenwe brought her staff down upon the stone floor of the undercroft with a thunderous boom and the shockwave planted Eilionwy in place long enough for Caliaphy and Serna to make it to the palantir.

Serna raced over to the palantir and looked at Caliaphy, "What do I do now?"

Eilionwy shook off the attack and blasted the loremaster with a beam of red energy. Arlhenwe deflected the attack away but some of the magical energy bounced against the palantir reflecting towards Serna. The charms on her wrist spun and twirled absorbing the magic before falling down upon the palantir like rain drops. Now the solid crystal responded faintly.

"Look Serna! Look at that!" The kurori whispered excitedly.

"WOW!" The Shield Maiden gasped, "You know what, that gives me an idea."

Serna closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts on her charm bracelet. Then she opened her eyes, stepped right up to the palantir and allowed her charm bracelet to come in contact with it first before she took the ancient device into her hands.

"Whatever you're gonna do, Serna hurry it up!" Caliaphy ducked down behind the palantir as another blast of negative energy was deflected in their direction.

The bear roared again and again to keep the attention of the mad elven princess. Rearing up on its hind legs, the animal came down hard against a crumbling pillar and pushed out a section of the stone. The sound of stone cracking and breaking forced Eilionwy to step back and off to the side.

As the blast of negative energy flew towards Serna, the Shield Maiden used her shield to deflect the energy onto the palantir only this time her charm bracelet was in direct contact with the ancient object. Serna hoped that all the palantir needed was a spark to come back to life. She believed that between that energy blast, her shield and her charm bracelet she might be able to awaken it.

The loremaster kept her sole attention fixed on Eilionwy as she repeated deflected the magical attacks towards the shield maiden's weapon of power.

The elven princess scowled again and again as to why her attacks weren't dropping the loremaster. The red dragon said she would be unmatched in her rise to power. She blasted Arlhenwe again with a much stronger focused blast that finally hit its mark pushing her back. "Hahahaha! You can't stop me!"

The magical energy built up and surged with intensity with the combined will of a child with a weapon of power and the charm bracelet burst forth into the palantir. The beach ball sized solid glass orb hummed to life as a beam of brilliant white light shot up into a focus crystal pouring up and out over the city of Northaven.

"WHAT?" Eilionwy snarled turning in Serna's direction, "YOU LITTLE HUMAN BRAT! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

"I don't think so, you mean nasty traitor!" Serna shot back at Eilionwy.

The elven princess's form shapechanged into a huge red dragon who hungrily snapped in her direction.

"WHAT IN THE REALM?! YOU'RE A DRAGON?!"Serna activated her shield in an effort to protect both herself and Caliaphy.

Caliaphy teleported her and Serna out of the way just seconds before the razor sharp teeth of the red dragon struck. "Phew! That was too close! Okay, Arlhenwe, anytime now!"

"Tell me about it!" Serna gasped in relief.

The loremaster raised both staff and sword into the air and blasted the red dragon with lightning. **SHRACKKK!** "Now, Caliaphy!"

One que, the kurori teleported all of them out of the undercroft and up inside the city walls of Northaven.

"Why didn't you tell me she was a dragon?!" Serna looked to both Arlhenwe and Caliaphy, "That is not something you should keep from a friend! Bad form, you two, REALLY bad form!"