The Time: Maegwin's 29th birthday

The place: The Tularian forest
 

As the scene comes in to focus.

Sunrise.

Maegwin is sitting in a tree, hundreds of feet above the ground.  It looks like a type of redwood.  Her back is against the trunk, her legs bent and resting on the wide branch.  She's wearing green leather armor, with a russet cloak pulled around her.  She looks much thinner than she is now, almost gaunt.  She's sitting perfectly still as she watches the sun come up over the distant ocean.

The barest rustle of leaves, and an elf appears wearing the same uniform.  He nods to Maegwin.  Maegwin sighs and nods back.  She stands up, picks up a long bow that had been next to her on the branch, and steps off the branch.  As she falls to the ground, you can start to see a large camp down below ringing a grassy clearing.  Several seconds later,  she lands lightly on the grass.

Maegwin walks across the clearing into the brush, working her way past several groups of creatures.  A pack of unicorns move in formation past her, obviously on patrol.  As she moves past a group of trees, one turns and watches her pass.  She nods to the tree as she continues on her way.  As she moves through the brush, crashing and snapping of large branches can be heard in front of her.  Maegwin grimaces and continues forward.  As she walks into another clearing, several small green dragons are attacking each other.  Maegwin just shakes her head and circles around them.  As she moves around to the other side of the clearing, it becomes obvious that the dragons are engaged in rough housing, nipping, jumping on and wrestling each other.

On the other side of the clearing, Maegwin steps into a tent under some trees.  A few other elvish women are in there sheding their armor.  Maegwin tosses her cloak on her pack, reaches for the clasp on her armor, and pauses.  She steps to the doorway and watches the dragons play for a moment more, then returns inside, lying down on her bedroll with her armor on.  She lies there for a long time, staring up at the roof of the tent while the crashing outside continues.

Suddenly there's silence.  Maegwin's eyes snap wide open.  She reaches for her bow and pulls it next to her.  For a count of five there is no noise, then the sound of an explosion.  A wave of fire blasts the tent wall.  Maegwin and the other women in the tent are blasted off the ground and into the trees.  Maegwin, her face half burnt, pulls burning tent fabric off of herself and looks around.

The clearing is chaos.  The green dragons have been attacked by fire.  Several of them are injured.  Then a shadow drops from the sky and crashes into the small dragons.  A black dragon.  It's size is easily 10 times that of the smaller green dragons.  It claws dig deep into the back of one of the green dragons and it screams in triumph.

Maegwin dives back to the ground.  In front of her is the broken charred body of one of the elves.   The sound of a alarm horn can be heard.   Maegwin searches around in the flames and bodies for several seconds, then dives for a quarrel of arrows she spies spilled in the dirt.  She grabs them up, and retreats back behind a large tree.

She looks around the tree into the clearing.  The black dragon is wrecking havok.  It breaths fire off in the other direction from Maegwin.  An odd bellowing can be heard, almost like elephants screaming.  Then a herd of trees move toward the dragon, several of them on fire.  Unfortunately, they move too slowly and are all engulfed in an inferno of dragon breath.

Maegwin knees and lays out her arrows.  She notches one, and peers out around the tree aiming at the dragon.  Arrows from other sides of the clearing  are pelting the dragon with little success.  The green dragons have rallied, and are attacking the black from all sides, trying to pull it down.  The black dragon tears into another of the smaller dragons, it's teeth shreding the green's backside.  The small dragon goes limp.  The other green dragons go into a frenzy attacking the larger one, but they can't seem to get through its armor.

Maegwin aims carefully for the head, 5 seconds, 10.  The unicorns have charged into the clearing and are attacking the black dragon.  More dragon flame.  15 seconds, 20...  A green dragon is thrown into the trees near her, lying motionless.  25, 30, 35... Finally Maegwin gets the shot she's waiting for.  She releases as the black dragon inhales for another blast.  Into the eye.  The dragon throws its head back in pain, the blast of flame going high.  Several of the remaining unicorns charge underneath and attack the belly of the dragon, they pierce in several places.  The dragon leaps into the air, and blasts the unicorns with fire.  A few go down, and the rest retreat into the trees.

Maegwin puts one arrow aside, and starts firing rapidly at the dragon in the air.  She aims for the belly where the unicorns managed to tear through its armor.  Arrows are firing up from all sides of the clearing at the dragon now.  It retaliates by starting to flame the forest.  Screams can be heard all around her.  She continues to fire.

Then a golden shape plummets out of the sky and slams the black dragon into the ground.  Maegwin ducks behind the tree as fiery debris flies past her.  After a couple of seconds, Maegwin looks back around the tree.  A gold dragon is on top of the black, ripping into its back and shoulders.  The black struggles to get up, but the few remaining green dragons attack its legs, keeping it from getting a good stance.  Maegwin fires twice more at the black, aiming for wounds created by the other dragons.

The gold bites deep into the neck of the black.  It convulses once, twice, then goes still.  Then the Gold throws itself into the air, darting away.  Combat can be heard from not too far off.

Maegwin looks around.  The forest is in flames around her.  She darts for the remenants of the tent, looking around, pulling pieces of flaming fabric and tossing it away.  She pulls out an elf body and carries it into the clearing.  Already, other trees have come out and are pulling the black dragon carcass to one side of the clearing.  She kicks aside debris and lays the elf on the ground.  Then she goes back and pulls another form out of the flaming brush.  This body is far more damaged.  It appears to be dead.  Maegwin takes it and carries out to the first and lays it next to her.

Going back in, she's searching the brush when the green dragon that had been thrown near her moves.  Maegwin approaches it.  It moans.  Maegwin looks it over.  The right wing is mostly torn off.  The rib cage is deformed and the legs look broken.  Maegwin runs into the clearing and whistles three times.  Three elves from the other side of the clearing dash over to her location.  They follow her to the location of the small dragon.  They look it over and nod.   Maegwin gathers tent poles from the ruins of the tents, and they slide four of them under the dragon.  Straining, she grabs two ends on her side, and the four of them lift the dragon.   Straining, they bring the dragon into the clearing and across to the other side.   A group of what appear to be monks are treating the wounded and are clearing an area.   Maegwin and the elves bring the green dragon to the healers, the dragon's head lolling weakly.  A healer guides them to a clear area, and then waves them off once the dragon's been dropped off.

Maegwin returns to the ruins of her tent.  It's starting to rain.  Maegwin finds two more elves and pulls them out into the clearing.  The rain is extinguishing the fires.  She finds her pack.  The outer canvas is scorched, burnt through, and soaked.  She reaches in and pulls out a timex.  The time reads 7:17am.  She sits down near the elves she pulled out and waits.  She pulls out a cloth, and begins to dab at the burns on her face.

The sounds of distant combat fade.  After a while, the Gold dragon returns, landing in the center of the clearing.  It carefully picks it way to the green dragons.  They call up to her, crooning.  She leans down and nuzzles them.  The Gold then moves over to the healing area, and croons to the wounded ones.  Then she flies away.

An elf dressed in grey armor comes up to Maegwin.  He stops next to her as she sits.  He looks down at her and hands her an arrow.  The tip is black with ichor.  She takes it.  Then he walks away.

Maegwin looks at the arrow for a moment and then puts it in her pack.