Many years ago, more years than I can count, there was a beautiful princess
named Keleana. The entire realm stood in awe of her legendary beauty, which is
saying something in a kingdom of Elfen. Her skin was the colour of ivory,
though when she stood in bright light a faint green sheen covered its surface.
Her eyes were flecks of emerald, sparkling with merriment.

Unfortunately, there cannot exist such a wondrous woman without someone
desiring to take her for himself, and with her, take all the realms that her
family holds claim to. There was one particularly vile dwarf, Baronin, who felt
this desire keenly. He had lost one eye in a brawl, and various teeth were
missing from other such skirmishes. He had survived long enough to figure out
that he had a knack for organizing and leading others in an attempt to achieve
his lesser goals, and he figured that this would be no different.

He gathered a band of his disreputable followers, promising them many riches
should they succeed in their task, and off they went. In the depths of the
night when all slept, they kidnapped the princess and carried her away before
anybody was aware, leaving only a note saying, "We have your daughter. She will
be kept in good health, as long as you obey our demands. Any single knight who
can break past us to steal her back may have her, and we will not return-- but
should you send an army, you will never see her alive again."

Her father was quite distraught, and quickly promised many riches to whichever
knight could bring her back. But the dwarf had planned well-- no single knight
was a match for the large group of hardened brigands, and each was quickly cut
down. As the number of heroes willing to try dwindled, king Dathiel continued
offering more for the rescue of his daughter, until eventually he declared to
the entire realm that whosoever rescued his daughter could have her hand in
marriage, and rule the kingdom.

This was what the dwarf had been waiting for. With a smirk, he entered the
king's hall and declared that he would rescue the fair maiden. Looking down at
the battered dwarf, Dathiel desperately wished to refuse, but he had little
choice... he wanted his daughter safe more than anything else. A sigh ran
through the assembled crowd, but they all expected the dwarf to fail where all
others had as well.

As Baronin turned to leave, however, the doors to the throne room slammed open,
and in strode a trill, his black-feathered wings arching high behind his back as
his fixed gaze stared ahead. He was clad fully in midnight-black field plate,
which clanked as he approached the throne. "Your Majesty," he said, dropping
to one knee. "I have come from the distant city of Hallifax, having heard
months ago of your predicament. I come to offer my services on your behalf,
though I require no payment."

Baronin looked over at the knight, his smirk vanishing-- the new warrior walked
as though his blades were a part of him. The dwarf was still sure that his
vagabonds could take care of this insolent upstart, but still he worried. He
scuttled towards the door, disappearing outside to begin the trek to their lair
in an effort to beat the knight there and bring warning. After all, there was
no sense in taking chances...

Dathiel looked down from his throne, appraising the newcomer. He seemed
confident enough, but so had others who had tried, and died. However, there was
something about his bearing... something that brought a small smile to
Dathiel’s face for the first time since his daughter had been kidnapped.
"Please, brave knight, our kingdom welcomes your assistance," he said. "What
is your name?"

"I am Taiiwonakaii," the knight replied as he rose to his feet. "What
information can you provide me about her location and her captors?" The king's
Master of Arms was quick to provide the relevant information, even spreading a
map of the area so that the knight could more easily find his way. When asked
if there was anything else he required, he thought for a moment and then
nodded.

Though he did not know the lay of the land as well as Baronin, the details
provided to Taiiwonakaii were excellent. He carried his supplies and extra
gear within a backpack, and after he had nodded and explained what he needed,
his foodstores had been replenished by the order of the king before leaving.
He occasionally stopped to consume these stores in order to keep up his
endurance for the long trip ahead. His wings, strengthened from long use,
quickly carried him past obstacles that left those bound by the ground huffing
and ranting about, and within a few hours he had passed the dwarf.

After a few more hours, the sun was dipping towards the horizon, as the
Taiiwonakaii reached the shore of a large bay. Pink and orange streaks
shimmered across the ocean's surface, reflective of the setting sun, though
three large dark masses broke the surface ahead of him. These were the islands
of Bondero Bay, and he already knew that he was heading for the closest island--
the one with scattered, ruined buildings and a tall mountain in the center.

Taiiwonakaii alighted on a rocky outcropping just shy of their base. It was a
tunnel into a cave system deep within the mountain, which precluded any use of
his wings to gain entry. Fortunately, he had other tricks that he was capable
of. To this end, he chose a suit of thin, supple leather instead of the plate
he was more accustomed to, as black as the night which was covering the world.
With this change, he was much more silent as he stole up to the entry point,
ducking from shadow to shadow, until he reached the outer edges of the light
cast by the torches. These torches were actually in his favour-- those using
them had destroyed their night vision, unable to see beyond the flickering ring
that they cast.

With a grim expression, he took position behind a particularly large rock and
picked up a smaller one, flicking it off to the side. The noise startled the
guards, who had become much less cautious as the numbers of opponents dwindled.
The leader of the three gestured to the youngest, commanding him to take a
torch and investigate. As none of the other brave knights had any measure of
intelligence, they had all marched straight up with blade drawn, and been cut
down by various traps before they so much as swung once. Thus, the bandits
were of the mind that strange noises in the night were generally animals that
needed to be shooed away before they would trigger any trap and cause multiple
hours of effort to reset it.

As he ventured out into the dark night with his torch held high above his head
in order to provide the most illumination, the young bandit had little idea
what he was about to get into. He was cautiously walking, picking his way
delicately through the terrain until he had passed out of view of the other
bandits behind one of the large boulders scattered through the area. Suddenly
a strong hand clamped over his mouth. He gave a gasp of surprise and almost
dropped his torch, but when he felt the blade tickle his back he quickly
stilled.

As the others at the entrance called out his name asking if he was all right, a
voice hissed in his ear, "Call them over. Tell them that you fell and twisted
your leg, and you will have a chance to redeem yourself." The young mercenary
complied, calling over his compatriots who grumbled and began to walk over. The
dark knight took a moment to slam the hilt of his other sword upon the head of
his captive, propping the torch up in a pile of rocks before once again
concealing himself.

When they got close enough to see his body lying unconscious on the ground,
they stopped in surprise. Unfortunately for them, they were also standing right
next to each other, and the knight took advantage of this. With a quiet
gurgling, both slid to the ground as air escaped from their throats, no way
remaining for either to cry any warning to those still laired up inside. He
reviewed his handiwork for a moment, sighing at the necessity, before going
back to where he had left his armour and switching back to plate. Once inside,
he was sure, they would be quite used to the sound of platemailed bandits
striding the corridors. Without warning, they would not be expecting an enemy
within their walls.

He eyed the path to the entrance critically, noting various tripwires and other
assorted traps, and disdainfully spread his wings, soaring over them. They had
not even considered that someone might try to fly past-- and to their credit,
nobody had before this. He landed at the entrance to the cave, looking back
out over the darkened terrain over which he had passed. The moon was in its
last quarter now, barely illuminating any of the terrain around him, and he
turned back to the cave's entrance as he prepared himself for the fighting to
come.

As he slipped inside, he saw that there were no more traps laid out.
Apparently they had decided to leave them where they did not have to wander as
much, instead of always having to dodge around while they went about their
daily business. Shaking his head, the knight moved forward, the darkness of
his plate melding with the blackness of the tunnels that he walked through,
broken only by the occasional torch. Whenever he came upon another, he stopped
only long enough to quickly cut them down as they stared in surprise at the
intruder in their midst, not one coming to their senses fast enough to raise a
cry. He aimed very specifically for chinks in their armour so as to avoid any
sound of metal scratching on metal, which would carry through the tunnels as an
alternate type of alarm.

Eventually, he made his way to the end of the tunnel, leaving only a pile of
broken brigands behind, the ground slick with their blood. He did not feel much
remorse for them, after the many deaths they had inflicted upon others. Hanging
upon the wall was a set of keys, and before him a locked door. It did not take
much deduction to realize that the two went together, and he swiftly opened the
door, releasing the captive... who was still entrancing, even though she had
been locked away for so long.

Guiding her unsteady feet back towards the exit, they came upon the vile dwarf,
who was aghast at the damage to his squad; they were all dead to a man. He
glared at them, declaring, "She is mine! I will have her, and you cannot stop
me!" He threw himself forward, a large axe appearing in his hands and hurling
towards the knight's head.

With an eyebrow raised, the knight leisurely ducked under the whirling axe,
lifting one of his own blades to score a mark on the dwarf's cheek and the
other scoring his right leg. The dwarf cursed as he brought his axe around
again for another swing, resulting in another miss as well as another pair of
red stripes. This continued for quite some time, the nimble trill slowly
wearing down the stronger and much more hardy dwarf.

Realizing this, the dwarf knew he needed to end the fight quickly. He was
already becoming exhausted. He twisted to the side, swinging his axe around in
a circle in an attempt to cleave the knight in twain. Crossing his swords
protectively in front of him, the dark trill took the brunt of the blow on his
blades, though some carried through to his plate, denting it. However, the
plate held, and with the axe stopped Taiiwonakaii thrust forward at the dwarf,
impaling him with both blades.

Crumpling to the ground, Baronin stared sightlessly up at the sky, attempting
to gasp out something. Neither the knight nor the princess had any desire to
hear his words, however, and both left (taking care to avoid the traps just
outside). He had to support her, as she was unsteady due to so long without
being able to move, and they turned their feet towards her father's kingdom.

The journey was much longer and more difficult as the princess was unable to
fly, and had not eaten very well in addition to her muscles being unaccustomed
to some movement. They located the boat Baronin had used to return to the
island and set off, Taiiwonakaii rowing while Keleana nibbled on some of the
food he had offered her. She smiled softly, watching him work after she
finished her meal, though the gentle rocking of the boat and the soothing
sounds of the water quickly lulled her to sleep.

She woke when the boat bumped up onto land, starting and staring about herself
anxiously before she realized that she was no longer locked away. She shook
her head, her heartbeat slowing as the knight stepped out of the boat and
dragged it further onland, and then offered her his hand and helped her step
forward onto the soft wet sand of the beach. Dawn was just touching the
horizon, the glowing orb of the sun peeking over the edge of the world as
streams of colour blazed through the sky, water lapping against the shore and
swirling about their feet. She leaned against the knight, and after a moment
of startled silence he wrapped a comforting arm around her and held her as she
simply enjoyed the first dawn she had seen in weeks.

They stood like this for over an hour, until the sun was well clear of the
horizon, before they began the final trek back. As they passed small
settlements, those who lived in and farmed the land came out to cheer for their
princess and her safe recovery. Though she did not have fresh clothing, she
walked with a dignity which shined through the dirt and grime, and she was
instantly recognized by her subjects.

Once they returned to the hall, the knight once again knelt to the king, and
said, "Your majesty, your daughter is safely returned." Dathiel responded,
"Brave knight, you have overcome all odds and rescued my daughter. I give to
you her hand in marriage, and the kingdom, should you desire it." Raising his
head to look the king straight in the eye, the knight replied, "I did not do
this for a reward, your Majesty. I cannot accept such an offer."

At this, the princess gave a soft cry. She had grown fond of him during their
trek back, and had become used to his presence. With him, she felt far more
safe and comfortable than she ever had in her life before. She demanded of him,
"Sir Knight, if you will not accept a reward... would you accept my pledge? I
wish you to remain, I wish to marry you. I have come to love you, and I do not
want you to leave." His gaze turned to her and softened. "This," he said, "I
can willingly accept."

They married, and lived happily ever after.