From: "Raven Darkblade" <abbykat@hotmail.com>

<"Why did you let her ride off alone, Soul-Mate that she is? How could you look at yourself in a mirror in the morn, knowing that she's alone in grave danger, as could be seen from the anger in her face? And how will you live if she dies and you are not at her side? Do not let a woman's vapors emasculate you, cousin, ride, ride, you belong at her side. You've made your bed, and though roses have thorns, they can be ignored if one concentrates on the sweet smell of them. Let not your mind dictate your heart, love is more important than all and every moment should be savored, every moment you are away from her is lost in the uncaring ocean of time." *snip* "Go, cousin, we follow you, and fear not for the camp, the innocents here will be guarded, fly on the wings of love."<

Solarin took his saddle absently from the hands of the younger elf. He chuckled without humor or spirit, eyes fixed on the sparkling remnants of the Road of Swiftness. "I no more command her than I do the wind." He shook his head. "She's done exactly what he intended her to, but I don't think he realizes what it is he's called to him.

He placed the saddle lightly on Redlegs' back, leaning to buckle the girth in a perfunctory manner, eyes still focusing on nothing. "She'll never forgive me if I interfere. She takes the matter of her protection very seriously..."

Abruptly he turned to Dak, looking straight through the other elf. "If she dies?" He smiled, a bitter twist of his mouth. "I expect I shall follow."

He tugged on a billet strap, then pulled a fist-sized pouch from his saddlebags and turned toward the fire. Perhaps he would go after her... but there was something else he had to do first.

From: <Sorchafyre@aol.com>

Sand looked around as the graceful stranger approached her. The air of subdued haste was still present, but no one seemed to be frightened. The troll still looked alert, but no longer as though he expected to be attacked. It seemed as if they were no longer in danger of being on someone's menu. The woman she did not recognize reached her and began to speak.

<"What's going on? I have little knowledge of this area. I don't know what is dangerous. And also, if you are fighting some type of threat, I would like to be of aid. I am a fighter, with some magical ability. Not very reliable, but some. Please, could you give me some information?" Kay hoped that someone could tell her what was going on, because she was lost, having been tucked away in a corner to avoid causing any trouble.>

Sand almost smiled at the absurdity of anyone asking _her_ for information. You could hardly find a less knowledgable member of the company. However, she quickly revised that opinion as she remembered all the new faces which had appeared as she slept. How best to approach this? Comerade-in-arms as she had with Shadowblade? Lost waif who happened to fall in with these protectors? After considering and rejecting a dozen possibilites in as many breaths Sand decided to be Bard.

"I would be pleased to inform you of what knowledge I have, and perhaps together we could seek more. It all began at a small Inn a distance from here where I was performing. Several of these people, mostly the more violent among us, were drawn to that place for various reasons, both known and unknown. In a small meeting held at that place it was discovered that Medivh Savar, a black sorcerer practicing the death arts was, contrary to rumor, still alive in his stronghold in these woods. It was decided to travel to his citadel and face him down. I'm sure our band would welcome any aid you may choose to offer, and offer you protection in an unknown place in return."

Sand carefully edited her story to make no reference to her own unsure place in the band, and the pervasive in-fighting which had marked their trip so far. Still, that would quickly become evidentand it was better for Kay to be forwarned lest she be taken in unaware by one faction or another. She sighed, not too heavily or dramatically, but hardly soundlessly. "Of course, as with any group of people there are some whose motives are questionable. I shall not prejudice you with my opinion but let you form your own while you are on your guard." Sand thought it time for a little painful honesty. "As you may have noticed, I was sleeping as you joined us," (Yes, I'm so noticable)-the thought was buried so deep under Sand-as-Bard it almost didn't touch her conciousness, "and several of the others here with us seemed to have appeared at the same time as well. Whom, my graceful lady, are you and what has brought you to us?"

Kay listened intently as the young woman told her why all these fighters and mages were together in the woods. (Well, at least there is a reason, and at least I found the good guys. It could be worse. Even though they are sitting ducks waiting for the hunter, I might as well hang around with them, at least until I find out where in the seventeen hells I am!) Kay answered, being as honest as she could without revealing any painful truths, or reliving any painful memories.

"I am Kay Silversong. My bondmate is Winddancer, a large black wolf. Don't ask me where he wandered off to. We come from a land very far to the north. I began to wander a long time ago. Usually I have some idea of where I am, but I got a touch lost, and thus, have no idea where I am right now. Dancer and I were looking for a town to get our bearings when we stumbled across your camp and were welcomed by two men. I didn't quite catch any names, but I think that one of them was either Zak or Zeke. I can't remember. But we found your camp by accident, and decided to introduce ourselves and find out what you were all doing out here." Just then, a shadow detached itself from the trees and headed towards them.

:Excuse me, but who found this group of imbeciles?: The shadow was Winddancer, making sure that he got his credit. Kay sighed and hoped that the other woman wasn't _too_ shocked at the wolf's behavior. "My apologies. He tends to get mouthy. Yes, he found the camp. He was also the one that said that we should ignore you. I think, though, that staying with you may prove to be intelligent, as this land appears to have more danger than I thought. If you will have me, I would be honored to stay and use my skills to help you. All I can offer is some expertise with daggers, a bow, and a sword. I have magic, but it tends to do unpredictable things when I use it. And I can cook a little." Kay glanced at Winddancer, and he nodded his shaggy head.

:Yes, I believe that you are right, bondmate. With your luck, if we left these people and headed off on our own, you'd stumble into this Medivh Savar's lair and get us both killed or captured.: Dancer's eyes danced with a laughing purple glow. Kay just glared at the wolf. :I don't always get things messed up, wolf. I have done some things right!: Dancer whined, and pretended to be sorry. Kay turned back to the young woman, anticipating a laugh over the exchange, because the wolf was broadcasting to anyone that wanted to hear him.

"You know," Sand said very slowly, "I could almost swear that wolf was talking to me. Or rather to you, and I could hear him. I keep hearing voices in this group, and I don't understand. I don't think I'm moonstruck, and this group is certainly odd enough in other ways that I can almost believe they can speak inside my head. There are certainly enough odd animals around that I'm beginning to believe they are more companions than pets." Sand looked around as Kay stood there trying to work through what she had just said. Didn't Sand know about bondmates? Bards were supposed to know all sorts of uncommon things from old tales and legends. Then Sand took a deep breath. She thought of their confused flight the night before, the way there was no agreement on direction, and her own inadequate knowledge of travelling in a group this size. (Well, we certainly can't have things go on this way. The only way to get people to take care of me is to tell them to. If I sound sure enough, someone may tell me nicely I'm wrong. Here goes.)

Sand pitched her voice in best outdoor performance mode, so it would be heard throughout the clearing. "Alright, I think we need some order here. Everyone needs to know what to do when we camp, how we travel and just how to get where we are going. Xenon, would you and Fallenangel, and ..." her eye fell on Solarin, "this elven gentleman please gather and discuss where we are going and the best way to travel there. Anyone who joined our camp last night and intends to travel with us, please see Princess Rainbow, Princess will you please sort out their skills. As to travelling, (think fast, who was with us that first night who seems competent, ah yes) Etain, could you please get an inventory of our supplies, things like tents and horses and such, figgure out how best to use our resources. Ah, Muranog, I think you would be best to set up a watch schedule for the evening. Shadowblade, Kay here and myself will see to the cooking. If there is anything I have overlooked, or anything you particularly want to volunteer for, let me know." Sand stood trembling inside (it's just a show, just a part) but outwardly calm, waiting for the camp to erupt in chaos, or to be obeyed, or perhaps to be drawn and quartered her for her presumption.

From: "Raven Darkblade" <abbykat@hotmail.com>

<<Sand pitched her voice in best outdoor performance mode, so it would be heard throughout the clearing. "Alright, I think we need some order here. Everyone needs to know what to do when we camp, how we travel and just how to get where we are going. Xenon, would you and Fallenangel, and ..." her eye fell on Solarin, "this elven gentleman please gather and discuss where we are going and the best way to travel there.[the rest snipped to save space]">>

Solarin paused, Sand's words reaching him just as he reached the rim of the firepit, and turned slightly towards the bard. He didn't have time for this; he had to-- He balled his free hand into a fist until his nails bit into his palm. The pain went a ways towards clearing his mind, though some part of his consciousness felt the wind that whipped back Raven's hair against his own skin. He couldn't catch her now, Solarin realized, not without magical aid, and there was too much Power being tossed around as it was. His other business... could wait.

The sun had fully set, but the moon and stars were yet bright, and Raven yet had much ground to cover. Nevertheless, before turning to look with utter calm towards Xenon and Fallenangel, Solarin dropped a willow leaf into flames and watched it vanish into smoke and golden sparks. (Siliel, hold her....)

From: troll@netcomuk.co.uk Muranog and Sable watched as Solarin and Raven returned from their excursion, barely even sweating after dispatching the lizard-men. The troll and war sheep watched and listened as Raven rode off and then as Dakorillon berated Solarin, while at the same time catching parts of the conversation between Xenon and the human lady who seemed to be Dakorillon's companion.

:Mindmate, the Sword she carries -: Sable Mindsent.

:I know,: the troll replied. :Clearly an artifact of Power. Yet shielded against my probes. Just as the blade carried by Jonas Savar.:

:Should we investigate further?: asked the war sheep.

:Perhaps. Later. For now, other matters take priority,: the troll replied grimly. :Send to Ironhold that we may soon have need of Plan C.:

Sable did not reply for a few minutes, deep in trance as her mind ranged out and conveyed Muranog's message far away. Then she snapped out of trance again. :Message sent, mindmate. Our people acknowledge.:

The black troll nodded silent thanks to his black war sheep's report, and moved forward to the firepit where Solarin stood, doing his best to ignore the young human - Sand, was that her name? - and her commands. _Little better than Princess Rainbow, that one,_ the troll thought wryly to himself as he moved up beside the elf. It was plain to see, even for one unused to reading the facial expressions of surface folk, that Solarin was trying to restrain his emotions, and only barely succeeding.

"We would accompany you, friend Solarin," the troll rumbled, even as the elf turned to look at Xenon and Fallenangel. "When you confront an Adept - as you clearly will do - you would do well to have an Adept at your side. I am Adept. I would assist you against Adept Savar, if you will accept my aid." Muranog turned toward Fallenangel. "I am sure that the Lady Fallenangel can keep our companions safe and sound in the meantime." The troll bowed to Fallenangel. "So, friend elf, what say you?"

From: Katie <kay_silversong@yahoo.com>

<< Sand pitched her voice in best outdoor performance mode, so it would be heard > throughout the clearing. "Alright, I think we need some order here. Everyone needs to know what to do when we camp, how we travel and just how to get where we are going. Xenon, would you and Fallenangel, and ..." her eye fell on Solarin, "this elven gentleman please gather and discuss where we are going > and the best way to travel there. Anyone who joined our camp last night and intends to travel with us, please see Princess Rainbow, Princess will you please sort out their skills. As to travelling, (think fast, who was with us that first night who seems competent, ah yes) Etain, could you please get an inventory of our supplies, things like tents and horses and such, figure out how best to use our resources.

Ah, Muranog, I think you would be best to set up a watch schedule for the evening. Shadowblade, Kay here and myself will see to the cooking. If there is anything I have overlooked, or anything you particularly want to volunteer for, let me know." Sand stood trembling inside (it's just a show, just a part) but outwardly calm, waiting for the camp to erupt in chaos, or to be obeyed, or perhaps to be drawn and quartered her for her presumption. >>

Kay stood by and watched as the young woman, (a Bard) Kay reminded herself, took control of the situation skillfully. Kay watched the young Bard and saw a slight uneasiness in her, but that was overshadowed by her confidence in her skills. When she began to speak, it seemed to Kay that everyone turned and listened. Kay thought that some people were missing, but couldn't tell because she hadn't met many.

(By the Goddess, I haven't met anyone at all, almost. There are so many people here. Warriors, Healers, Bards, Mages, and even one of Laoghaire's angels.) Kay was surprised to see one of Laoghaire's angels in the camp, but what with the rest being a motley assortment of all different types, pushed her surprise away and returned to listening. Sand was attempting to make the camp follow some kind of order, and Kay sighed thankfully that Sand had given her the job of cooking. (At least that's _one_ thing I can do without blowing up the camp.) Kay watched silently as Sand trailed off, and the two stood and waited for the camp's response.

Winddancer pushed his head into Kay's hand and whined. He could tell that surprise was thick in the camp, and he could smell that Sand was nervous. Kay ruffled his ears affectionately, and turned her attention back to the camp when he shook his head to get her to stop being all emotional over him. That over, he stood next to her, a large shadow in the sun, unmoving and silent.

From: "Raven Darkblade" <abbykat@hotmail.com>

<<"We would accompany you, friend Solarin," Muranog rumbled, even as the elf turned to look at Xenon and Fallenangel. "When you confront an Adept - as you clearly will do - you would do well to have an Adept at your side. I am Adept. I would assist you against Adept Savar, if you will accept my aid." Muranog turned toward Fallenangel. "I am sure that the Lady Fallenangel can keep our companions safe and sound in the meantime." The troll bowed to Fallenangel. "So, friend elf, what say you?">>

Solarin sighed, shaking his head. "It was foolish of her to go," he said at length, "and foolish of me to let her... but I rarely have much sense when it comes to Raven. I'd be even more of a fool to refuse such aid freely offered, and I can afford no more foolishness. Catching her when she doesn't wish to be caught, though, can prove rather difficult--especially given the head start she has. I confess I am at a loss for ideas." He glanced down to the pouch he still held. "Also, there's something I'd like to do before I leave here. It's not horribly important, I suppose... but it would make me feel better. It can wait, if necessary."

From: <Spiralivy@aol.com>

As the sun rose early in the morning, Etain woke with a start. (Something's wrong. I have a strange feeling that something is going to happen.) Carefully and quietly as to not wake those still asleep and not to disturb those awake, she grabbed her carrry-pack and her walking staff and walked over to where the horses were tethered. Rubbing Fea on the nose she fished an apple from out of her pack and gave it to the horse who munched hungrily.

"Did you have a nice rest, dearheart?" She asked the mare. Fea nuzzled her head. "Good." After bidding her mare a quick goodbye, she wandered off into the forest.

****

It was some hours later when the birds stopped singing that she realized something was wrong. No more animals sounded in the brush, no more crickets chirped... even the sound of the leaves cracking underfoot sounded deadened. The clouds overhead thickened and darkened, and the air smelled like rain. She had just started back toward the camp when a dark shape passed over her. She could barely see it through the trees, but its cry was unmistakeable. (That's a Smirnh! And a hungry one, judging by it's cries.)

]The Smirnh were scavengers, kin to their smaller relations, vultures. They fed on the carcasses of the dead with no respect to species or size. What was strange about this episode was that the Smirnh dealt exclusively with Lizardmen. What the Lizardmen killed, the Smirnh disposed of. (Lizardmen. I had better hurry back to the camp.) She set off at a ground- eating run in the direction of the camp.

****

Upon her return, she not only found the group safe, but the Lizardmen killed. Breathing a sigh of releif, she started to walk over to Muranog to find out what had happened while she was out, but she stopped when she heard her name. <snip> Etain, could you please get an inventory of our supplies, things like tents and horses and such, figgure out how best to use our resources. <snip> "Sure." she answered. "If everyone would let me know what kind of useful supplies they have I will compile a list and figure out what we need when we reach a town."

From: troll@netcomuk.co.uk

Muranog half-smiled at Solarin's reply. Beside him, Sable projected a clear mental image of satisfaction.

"We are ready to ride when you are, friend Solarin. Do whatever you would do, and we shall await your readiness to depart."

Muranog noticed Etain rejoining the party and nodded politely to her as he checked his weapons and armour and swiftly saddled Sable. With a single smooth motion, the troll mounted his war sheep and sat waiting for Solarin.

From: "Raven Darkblade" <abbykat@hotmail.com>

<<Muranog half-smiled at Solarin's reply. Beside him, Sable projected a clear mental image of satisfaction. "We are ready to ride when you are, friend Solarin. Do whatever you would do, and we shall await your readiness to depart.">>

Solarin nodded once at this, no motion wasted, and turned to kneel at the very edge of the firepit. He used the blade of a knife to scrape a heap of glowing coals from the edge of the still-burning fire, deftly avoiding singeing his hand or blackening his sleeve, then rocked back on his heels and worked open the knot holding the pouch he held closed. He drew out a pinch of the dried herbs the pouch contained, sprinkling them lightly over the piled coals. A thin plume of fragrant smoke rose, wreathing his fingers as he stretched his hand out a handspan above the crumbling embers.

He gathered himself, shutting out everything except himself and his task, lowering his hand until it hovered less than an inch over the coals. The heat against his palm was painful, but Solarin was no stranger to pain, and he didn't flinch away. Instead he collected what scant Power was open to him, focusing it like sunlight through a convex lens, directing it at the embers beneath his hand. The effort was almost beyond his abilities--needles of pain stabbed down behind his eyes and his vision threatened to white out--but Solarin, familiar with the sensation of his power being stretched to its limit, held fast.

A tongue of flame leaped up from the coals and licked his palm, scorching his flesh a bit before he pulled away and regathered himself. There; the hardest part was done. He added another light dusting of herbs, letting the tongue of flame grow in strength before reaching into his tunic and drawing out a small leaf of oak he had plucked not long ago. He fed this to the flame, murmuring.

"Solaras, lia atalae." Solaras, guard her. The oak leaf flared into flame and was gone. Next, a leaf of ivy, also fresh. "Selaena, lia avalae." Selaena, guide her. Finally, a willow leaf. "Siliel, lia adarae." Siliel, hold her. The heat from the small flame, and the bigger fire so close to it, stung Solarin's eyes. He blinked them clear, and began a final chant in the ceremonial tongue of Karilanth, pleading, in carefully phrased words, for whatever the threefold deity of his people was willing to give. Then he cast a last pinch of herbs over the dancing flame. With a quiet hiss, the tongue of fire before Solarin went a rich garnet-red, sending lines of black smoke into the dark air. For a heartbeat, a pair of runes flashed black against the garnet. _Ceilos._ _Ardae._ Then the flame flared gold again, and died away into ash and fading embers. Solarin stood. (Sky, and fire. The gypsies?) He shook his head. No, that would be too easy; besides, Mikhal and Celi'Ardi were unlikely to intervene without cause... Something tickled Solarin's memory. He frowned in thought. (The colors. Black on garnet, garnet and black... Solaras! Ceilos ardae - sky-fire - lightning! Peril from above--)

His eyes went to the sky, searching it for some sign, a black form against velvet-black clouds. And, invoking his Sight, he found it, a sinuous winged shape silhouetted against its own roiling crimson aura. Solarin's blood turned to ice water in his veins. "Nirathei!"

From: Typo <typodrgn@arches.uga.edu>

Skimming the treeline, beneath a curtain of clouds that blackened even the deepest shadow, Erelan did not notice the form in black sweeping nearer until the creature was almost upon her. The only warning was a bellowed challenge from above and behind her, and in the split second she turned to meet the incoming fighter, the enormous black dragon struck her once - a love tap - and sent her sprawling into the trees. Dismayed, she pushed off as the larger dragon swept over her, his taunting laugh rattling in her ears like dry bones.

Her night vision let her see the general shape of her adversary, and the fact that he was over twice her size, but she pulled herself up behind him and flamed the shadowy figure once, illuminating only part of the muscled, sinuous body with its armor of obsidian scales. Part of a memory tickled through her mind, chilled her slightly. (We've met before, this one and I) She winged higher in chase, streaked after the great dragon as he led her a twisting, twining path up, down, and about the skies. She was faster, but she was loathe to close with him - she didn't expect that she'd have the mass to fight him once he got his claws on her. Once, and only once, he tucked his head back under his wing and spat lightning toward her. She dodged it easily, but those ember-red eyes mocked her.

"Too afraid to fight, little one? Come to me - I'll teach you all about war and death and... other things...."

"I know all I want to know," Erelan answered in disgust, roaring the words to be heard across the wind. The black dragon, with a malicious twinkle in his eyes, folded his wings and dove toward the earth. Growling, she followed, the wind streaming through her talons like invisible streamers.

"Tell me your name, night-crawler," she ordered belligerently, following close on his tail. The fight would begin in earnest when the older dragon declared challenge, she imagined. This playing was a waste of time. For one moment, the black drake cast a look back in her direction, and she could see terrible, cruel amusement in the glowing red eyes. Her stomach suddenly felt queasy.

"Nirathei!" the black dragon roared, and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her at the name.

(Nirathei....) she thought, long-forgotten memories crowding into her mind. (But he's....) She had no more time for thought, as the great dragon took advantage of her momentary distraction and dropped to her side, throwing his shoulder against her hard enough to knock her into the leafy treetops. Laughing, he gripped her shoulders in his front talons and pushed her through the trees, crushing the breath out of her as they landed on the ground many feet below, his weight holding her down.

"Well... it's Luine Tor's favorite pet, after all these years," Nirathei rumbled in almost amused draconic tones, "Dear little Erelan. When Savar sent me out to slay the 'dragon whelp', I had no idea he meant it so literally...." The words sounded calm and almost sweet-tempered to her ears, and the mention of Tor's name chilled her blood. He remembered. He probably remembered more than she did. Pinned solidly on her back by his weight, Erelan looked up into his smouldering garnet eyes and saw the madness there, as a fleeting memory of dark days on the field of battle washed over her and sent a flash of coldness from the top of her head to the tip of her tail.

It was all insanity, and she was drowning even now, all the years of her imprisonment warped and twisted and blanked out of her mind. (Nirathei,) her mind whispered. (Oh, dear Sola, how could I have forgotten?) She struggled with the memories, the rage that threatened to take her at the images of carnage. She had been drenched with blood that day - her own, and that of countless, unnamed others. They had called her a devil, clothed in red and black, who hissed and slavered like a rabid beast and left men maimed, dead, and dismembered in the path of her fury. In a flash she remembered the pain of broken ribs and broken tail, the raw agony of a crossbow bolt lodged in her chest - but she had fought still, killing like some soulless creature bound only to the taste of blood. Nirathei had been there. Those eyes that spoke to her then had been the only point of sanity in the world. Those horrible eyes had mocked her with their calm, invited her to join him in the mercy of madness. Ice clenched her body as she realized that they called to her now with the same fierce glee, whispering to her of a place beyond regrets and reproach, where there was no need to make sense of chaos, no need to long for lost friends or lost memories. It was madness. (Sola help me....)

"And you're free, then, are you?" Nirathei continued amiably. "Served your time and flew away into the sunset?" His eyes glimmered with fierce glee. "Oh, you're prettier than you were then, little Erelan. Shall I gut you first or spit lightning until your eyes boil in their sockets? Being a gentleman, I must let the lady choose," his tone was so solicitous, the fact that he was debating how to kill her seemed even more chilling. She pulled back away as far as she could, trying not to shudder as he ran one of his huge back talons lightly down the smooth scales of her belly, tracing the path of the cut that would disembowel her. Leaning closer, he half-whispered, "Flew off into the sunset - after killing your master. Some may call it an animal attack, but I _know_ the animal, and Savar knows. That was messy killing, Erelan. Isn't it hard to pretend you're on the side of good and light when you kill... slowly... like that? I'm proud of you, dear... didn't know you had it in you." His eyes glimmered maliciously for one moment. "Yes I did. You were born to kill, just for the pleasure of it. I saw it the first time I saw you take the battlefield - beautiful little Erelan, dressed in blood to the tail-tip. You may have fooled your new friends, but you can never trick me. I know your soul like my own. So choose your death, little friend, and I'll release you from this so-confusing world."

For one moment more, she remained paralyzed beneath those burning eyes, and then the bloodwine of fury sifted through the fear, galvanizing her muscles and drawing a haze of scarlet over her vision. Throwing her head forward like a striking viper, she clamped powerful jaws down on his nose, shaking her head savagely until she felt her fangs tear through the scales and tasted blood entirely too like her own. Hissing fiercely in counterpoint to his bellow of outrage, she yanked forward to overbalance him as he instinctively pulled away, then drew her hindpaws up to her chest and kicked hard at his underbelly, sending the much larger dragon sprawling away by a trick of leverage. Two young trees took the brunt of his fall and splintered beneath his weight with a crack like breaking bones. Both great beasts were up in an instant, but Erelan was faster by the smallest of margins. Vaulting into the air with the skill of one long used to gaining the sky from stark-walled seaside grottoes, she pulled herself out of reach of the first blast of his lightning, and scorched her wingtip from the heat of the air as she dodged the second.

Nirathei twisted his sinuous body like a great black snake to track her as she danced across the air, and raised his shadowy wings behind him like a cloak. His eyes caught hers, chilled her heart once more with the dark calm beneath the rage of pain.

"Erelan, you surprise me child," he rumbled almost conversationally in Dragon, despite the thick rattle of blood in his nose. Those eyes - fevered, mad eyes drew her, made her want to... "Come down and talk with brother Nirathei awhile, little one," he said, mocking and cajoling in one phrase. "Don't you miss the Singing? I remember it - little lost child, singing alone in your prison. No one else will sing to you out here - and hasn't it been a long time? How many years since your dear Lady Muriel's tones soothed your pain?" He had moved forward again, a step or two, and it seemed as if she watched him approach from far away, hardly noticing that her circling flight was drawing closer and closer to him. (His eyes...Muriel...ah, Sola...please don't let me listen...) "Was her screaming sweet music enough as she died, little Erelan?"

"Bastard!" she roared, and spat flame at him in a wickedly hot blast. He stepped easily to the side and snapped his head up with a malicious smile in his eyes, then sent a crackling fury of white-hot lightning directly at her chest. Folding her wings in an instant, closing her eyes and pulling her ears tight to her skull, she saved her most delicate parts from the blast, but still the wave of electricity made her heart spasm in her chest and sent a convulsion of pain through every muscle of her body. She dropped like a stone, looking for a long moment as if she would crash headlong into the trees, but she unfurled her bright wings at the last moment and pulled herself out of the dive, dropping quickly just out of sight below the line of leafy branches. Nirathei started toward her with a snort of derision, only the faint glow of his ember-eyes and a fainter wash of light off his scales betraying his presence on this dark night. Twining his long body through the trees, he moved sinuously through shadows, his ears full of the preternatural stillness of the forest, then turned suddenly at a faint sound behind him....

-*-.__.-+*-._.+-._.--._.- -*-.___.+-._.--._.- -*-.__.-+*-._.+-._.--._.-

Sofaltis looked up as he felt something pull overhead, and felt, rather than saw the dragon that had been traveling with them. (Oh no...is it looking for me!?) he though worriedly, until rational thought took over...(You silly fool. She passed right over you, likely, she knows not you're here.) Then.. he heard something from far up in the sky and it was then he looked up, and every nerve in his body froze in fear.

"Oh save us all. Two of them, fighting," he whispered into the shadows which seemed closer all of a sudden... and Rainbow's plight fled his mind like water from a cup. Terrified, he watched, and caught bare snippets of screams and shouted words as his eyes and the elvensight tracked two deadly, but beautiful, combatants floating, pinwheeling, trailing, turning, twisting, and cavorting around each other. As the forest sounds deadened into the night, it was a surprise to him that he couldn't hear their fight, until it dawned on him just how _high_ they really were. (Two dragons. One's recognizable, the other...taunting...evil...)

And thoughts blossomed to his mind about his family, the only ones he ever had, his mother and father, and in that instant, he raged, and hate consumed him, but in that same context, a deadly sense of purpose and of rationality, if it could be called that. If wanting to try and kill a dragon with only the weapons he had on hand was rational. (It need only come to the ground....) his fevered mind plotted, while his feet traveled silently over the dead forest, his mind realizing even more clearly that his forest was a wasteland compared to what it should be and that evil taint suffused throughout. But that's not what caused _this_ particular deadness. Even in the back of the mind of a lowly snail, they instinctively knew that two of the planet's most awesome creatures were in combat and they cowered in hopes that their lives wouldn't be in jeopardy.

As he followed as best he could the two dragons, his mind drifted, plotting the death of the evil one, as he also replayed over and over the deaths of the only things he ever loved. (It will die. Even if I have to ram myself into it's mouth to kill it. Perhaps this way, I can feel free!) and with that, he saw Erelan take a seemingly fatal blow... and he rushed towards her. His body flew like the wind to make up for the intervening space, the run exhilarating, screaming in his veins. Unlimbering his sword, he pulled the shining blade from it's sheath, its ever sharp edge glinting in the moonlight. (Soon. I will be there.)

And he was. He thought he was safe...he saw Erelan in a crush of trees, groggily looking about, and he took one step too many in his sudden rush of kindness for the obviously pained dragon, and a branch cracked under his foot... (NO YOU IDIOT!!! You've not made a mistake like that in _years!_) he screamed mentally, as he felt himself snatched up and crushed in talon of obsidian, and heard a mocking, evil, manipulating, but somehow calm laugh of triumph. In that instant of shock, he dropped his sword, and he screamed as it spiraled away from him, into the night, it the only memoir of his parents...

"NO!!!!" he screamed as he twisted reflexively and uselessly in the dragon's grasp for a minute or two, before he fell silent, feeling the massive strength in the talons surrounding him and realizing just how _fast_ the ground was passing beneath them as this fiend flew over the treetops. The wind was in his face, and the roar was in his ears, but still, if he didn't think about his situation, and how close he was dancing to death, it was perhaps one of the most beautiful moments of his life.

"Why me, you worthless lice-infested, plague-ridden, water burping scum!? _WHY!_" he screamed at it...incoherent. It answered in a perfectly calm voice, full of malice.

"Because Erelan will want you...to save you. For all her evil, she is so endearingly human at times. Perhaps we can play with you before you die?" It seemed confused, as Sofaltis rode there limp now from resisting, and realizing that it was so beautiful that dragon. (Winterlight...why does evil look so good...) Soon, the dragon dropped to the ground and casually tossed Sofaltis against a tree. Suddenly free, he spinned in the air, and rebounded from the tree trunk in an impressive display of acrobatics. A knife came twisting to his hand, and he raised it against the dragon as he turned, but then was slammed into the ground by a huge claw, grasping him and the earth... and that was that last he knew for a bit...

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Nirathei blinked burning red eyes down at the boy for a moment. Had the little wretch fainted? Things were no fun at all without the proper amount of screaming. Just as he was pondering whether a bit of lightning would be sufficient to wake the boy, a wave of fire washed over him from behind and above. His bright black scales dulled for a moment with the heat but the flames stopped far enough down his back so as not to endanger the one he held captive beneath his great claws. The tips of his neck spines still smoking from the blast, he cast the briefest of baleful glares back toward the small teal dragon.

"Fight me!" she roared at the top of her lungs, wings flapping hard as she hovered above them in the air. "Fight _me_, you worthless heap of bones!"

"Erelan," he answered, his voice a growl, "You never did know when to die." His foreclaws contracted just the tiniest bit tighter on his quarry. She flamed him again, as hot as she dared with Sofaltis pinned beneath him. Her fangs were bared, and flashed wickedly in the darkness, the blue of her wings turning a bright violet in the illumination of her dragonfire.

"Leave him and battle in the sky, Nirathei - if you'd prove yourself a dragon, and not the wingless, gutless wyrm I know! Leave him, or by Sola, I'll slaughter you coldly and honorlessly as I would any baby-killing viper in my aeryie." She dove toward him to emphasize her point, using speed as her only advantage to avoid the back-sweeping horns as she scored a cut across the top of his head with her front talons. It was absurd - a magpie harrying an eagle - but that attack, so close to the odd depression in his forehead succeeded well in gaining his attention.

He whipped his head around, nearly catching her with the wicked, horns as she danced out of his way, and his eyes, now framed with slow-running blood, were dark with death and fury. His talons, shining bright as obsidian against the shadowy ground, clenched hard against the dirt, sinking into the gashes he tore as he spat white-hot lightning at her.

"You will never have an aeryie, Erelan," he hissed. He looked once down at the one he held immobile in his massive front claw, then growled deeply and cast him away, umindful of where the boy fell among the shadowed trees, and turned his eyes to Erelan once more, spreading his great, leathery wings. "You will never see the light of another morning!" he roared, and vaulted up after her into the sky.

:Run,: Erelan mindsent fervently to the boy that reeled somewhere down in the shadows. She dodged the blasts of lightning and desperately tried to stay ahead of Nirathei. :Run, as you love your life - and don't stop until you're safely with the others.: She prayed that he wasn't too badly injured. No matter how confident she was in her own abilities, some small, practical part of her doubted that she was going to be fit to help him at the end of this. She didn't dare fly straight away from the nightmare behind her - a single well-placed blast of lightning would knock her out of the sky, and would likely reduce her wings to charred ribbons. Instead, she dipped and swooped, flying an erratic path as she tried to stay above his easy range.

What safety she gained by the aerial dancing, she lost in speed - he gained on her with every wingbeat, until she could nearly hear the snap of his great dark sails behind her, through the rush of wind. It was after a bolt grazed her so closely she could feel the arcs of electricity crackling about her ears that she knew she had to find another way. Catching sight of him as a glimmer of liquid darkness behind her, she struggled to climb in the sky -through thick, porridge-like layer of heavy-hanging clouds, and up, until the air was so thin it pierced her lungs with every breath, and the moon shone down with unforgiving, crystalline purity on the two dragons.

He labored up after her as she rose, bellowing angrily at her change, and she caught sight of the sinuous form below her in a glance - handsome and evil and deadly under the silver light. She hoped her plan would work - that he would have to fight too hard for air in the ever-thinning atmosphere to draw breath for his lightning. She thought it might give her a little time - even her own head was starting to swim for lack of oxygen. She snarled breathlessly, climbed higher, then pulled her wings close without warning, brought her massive hind talons forward, and rushed down toward him like a hunting raptor. He saw her turn and began to dodge, but the size of his huge wings made him just the tiniest bit too slow. With a roar of triumph, she struck him from above, dug her claws in, pressed herself tight against his back... and only then began to wonder if she had overstepped her abilities. Her claws were breaking through the tough armor of scales in places, yes, but she was not foolish enough to think the wounds were mortal. He roared with rage and pain and bucked in the air, losing altitude from the new weight. The spines on his back raked her chest hard, and after the first moment of trying to get a solid bite or foul his wings with a good swipe of her claws, she was struggling merely to hold on. The world twisted about them as they spiraled and plummeted down.

Now the layer of clouds was an endless, ghostly plain of silver-washed grey, now it was a vast ceiling of roughened stone and the great arc of the nighttime sky fell away into infinity below them. Dizzied, she was not prepared as Nirathei unfurled his wings and used the push of wind to halt their fall. Gravity thrust her hard against him, and two of the spines between his shoulders pierced the scales on her chest and struck against her ribcage, one grinding against bone and the other sliding off to jab dangerously near her heart. Crowing at her cry of pain, he tossed his head backwards and knocked her away with his rack of backsweeping horns. She lost her hold and fell away from him, trying to use the fall to escape, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close, until she could see the glowing garnet embers of his eyes and feel the hot, blood-scented breath against her face. His claws gouged into her shoulders, and the pain resonated through her breast at every breath. He beat his wings hard, losing altitude more slowly as he labored to carry both their weights - from the look in his eyes, he was not going to be carrying hers much longer. Nirathei gripped her lower body with both hind-talons, the claws sinking deep, and rasped to her in a voice like wind-torn thunder.

"I would have killed you quickly, Erelan," he said, grasping the arm of her wing with one front claw as they fell through the heavy clouds. The wind roared in her ears as she struggled against him, the claws sinking deeper into her hips. "But better," he growled, snapping the long, double-boned middle section of her wing. She howled in anguish and tried to spit flame at him, but the knife-edged pain of her chest kept her from drawing a deep enough breath to cast more than a thin tongue of fire that danced harmlessly across his breast-scales. "Far better that you die this way," he rasped, snapping the other wing - now, both hung uselessly, buffeted by the wind about them. "Torn out of the sky. Helpless. Just like old times, eh, Erelan?"

She felt him shifting his hold on her, pulling his blood-covered hind-talons free, and she closed the pain out of her mind as best she could, trying not to feel. Some hint of the madness that touched her soul once twisted through her heart, and a pain-sickened, wicked smile traced its way through her expression. "Far better," she gasped, and twisted against him with uncanny strength, raking her back claws against his legs and belly to distract him for just long enough.

Roaring, he tried to push away the maddened thing that tore at him and slapped at his eyes with broken wings, but her claws found a mark and she held on, whipping her long tail up and sending the spines up into the joint where his wing joined his body. He faltered as they fell out of the clouds and began to plummet once more toward the earth. She reached out with her freed front claws and bound his wings so that he could not stop the fall.

"We die together, Nirathei," she said in a whispered hiss that was half-lost in the rush of wind about them. "Just like old times." Nirathei tried to club the little demon away, but she was just a touch too large to easily break her strength, a bit too small to work his claws under to pry her away, and she held on with the tenacity that had always been her mark in battle. Erelan watched him calmly, her eyes half-lidded, and her face just out of reach of his lightning. They were running out of time - the ground rushed up at an alarming speed, and all the night-washed tree-tops now jabbed like spears at the heavy sky. (So it is to be - death. Here. Fitting,) he thought, savoring the rush of darkness about him with the enthusiasm of insanity, even as he grappled with the smaller dragon. It was all quite lovely. (Your song is ever my love, lady Night. Goodbye, Savar.) A few moments more, and there would be nothing but darkness. (Erelan - shall we dance?) A flicker of amusement passed through his eyes, and he looked down at the little dragon with something almost like fondness - the irony was exquisite - but before half a moment had passed, he felt the watcher at the back of his mind, that prying, spying, ghastly mind that was his master.

:Court the lady Death all you want....: Medivh Savar's haughty voice spoke into his thoughts, and Nirathei felt power from afar rising about him and within him. :_After_ my will has been done.:

"SAVAR!!!" Nirathei bellowed, as a wave of energy surged through his body and struck the younger dragon. Erelan's eyes flew wide for a moment, and gave the smallest of shocked cries as the bolt of Adept-level magic crushed into her and broke her hold on Nirathei. For a moment, she clung with one forepaw as the great, black dragon spread his freed wings and caught the air. For a moment, they were both jerked back from the headlong fall. Then her grip faltered and she fell, her wings tossed uselessly in the wind and her arms flailing desperately for something to stop her descent. There was nothing. She crashed into the trees with a single, sickening crack - and no sound more.

"She was mine," Nirathei growled. "Mine!" Steady now on the wind, he circled once over the place where Erelan had landed, and saw no movement at all. Disgusted and more than a little angry, he flew off after the remainder of his tasks, his nose stuffed with blood and his wings and body beginning to ache from the wounds, now that the battle was done. Someone was going to pay for his discomfort and disenchantment. Savar wanted a plaything, and Savar would have a plaything, but the odds were only even whether aught but bloody rags would remain for the mage to play with at the end of the journey. Nirathei didn't even know if he'd be able to wage a proper battle with the rest of the camp - he was bleeding from any number of wounds himself, and Erelan had managed to strip no few of the scales from his belly and chest with her frenzied kicking. He found it vaguely annoying to think that for all his size and strength, he might have to take Savar's 'plaything' like a thief in the night - even arrows and crossbow bolts represented a serious threat to him now. Dark as the night itself, Nirathei faded away into the blackness.

Deep in the shadows of the silent forest, the teal dragon fluttered awkwardly against the ground, a web of broken trees around her. A soft, gasping whimper escaped her throat as she struggled to roll over on her side and pull the worst of the gruesome cuts out of the dirt. She lay there for a moment, blinking with exhaustion, her long neck stretched out against the earth and her cheek pressed flat into the dust. She squinted into the darkness, trying to see if anyone was there, but the shadows swam and danced unsympathetically in her muddled vision, and after a moment, she gave up trying to peer into the forest with something like a weak laugh. Too tired to continue, she closed her eyes and let her aching wings settle painfully against the ground. Perhaps Nirathei had been right, and she would never live to see another morning, but she hoped this darkness would pass as others had. Exhausted or not, she wanted to live.

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Sofaltis watched the battle of the two dragons, clearing his senses, while they fought in the sky again. He was amazed to be honest, his mind was wandering, and only his feet were keeping his steady while he moved through the forest as if a shadow, on autopilot. (Why did she save me. She's a dragon....) He couldn't fathom it, but he also knew that she did save him. And for that honor, he would at least give her the benefit of the doubt. (Not like that'll do you good if she decided to toast you to a crisp anyway you lackwit!) His hatred for dragons wouldn't be ignored. (But it would be so nice if I could just forget...)

A flashback. Burned trees, burned house. The laughing, sadistic roar of a black dragon as it flew into the night. His parents. Mere skeletal remains. The ring of fire. The dash to save what he could of the house. The Sword that never came down off the wall, but now was as good as any weapon. The ironroot bow. Arrows. Quarterstaff. A healing kit. All ashy, all slightly burnt. Except the Sword. The dash away as the house collapsed in. His jump from the tree. The dragon. The chase. The cave. His fever. His escape. And then he was back to the real world, still traveling after the wheeling dragons, a faint misting of tears clouding his eyes. (Winternight... ) he thought despondently for a second. (She seemed to help... some suspected she was a mind healer, all I knew was that she always knew what to say... and always told me that my hatred of dragons was silly. I hate it when woman say 'I told you so' even when they are...) He refused to finish the thought, otherwise, he would get even more depressed.

(And she wouldn't want that of me. She would want me to stay focused, and do what I can, keep on track, and remember her the way she was. And I try Winternight, may the gods smile on you.) As soon as he came to that conclusion, he looked up, just to see Erelan fall into the underbrush after a long diving soar, and the other dragon sweep over the area... (Spitting LIGHTNING! Holy Mother of Gods... I always thought it was fire... ) before soaring off into the night, until even his elvensight could catch no more of him, although some of it was due to the white hot flashes that still stayed on his retina, blurring his vision.

He waited till that was clear before pressing onward, flitting from tree to tree, coming to the border of the clearing where Erelan was just uncurling, and then seemed to collapse... Looking at the wounded dragon, he almost gasped. (She's bleeding from dozens of places right now, and she's got _holes_ in her... She's going to die. Because of me.) Flabbergasted at that thought, he had to do something for her, regardless of himself. (I can't let her die in vain, I just can't. I may have a score to settle later... but... no. I can't let her die, and just crawl off. I'm not like that. Winternight would have my hide.) He smiled softly, thinking of her exact facial expression, and her methods of tanning people alive, before he came back to himself. (Damn. She still haunts my thoughts. I need to find something, really, someone to take my mind off of her. Damn.)

He waited a bit to see if Erelan would move, but she didn't, all that he could see was a little flicker of light across her teal scales as the light shifted, mostly due to her breathing. The blood trickling down her scaled made a gruesome counterpoint to her beauty, and he pondered what he could do. (I'm no healer... but if I take the time to get back to camp, she'll be dead by then. Surely. Damn, what do I do! Hellfire!) Straightening with resolve, and his own compulsions not to be as cruel, he opened his hard-earned shields, and probed out with his mind...

:Dragon, Erelan, this is Sofaltis.: he announced to her as he framed each word clearly, albeit a bit nervously. (I've seen what humans can do in pain induced fevers. I don't want her to mistake me for an enemy and disembowel me with a random twitch of her claws!) Erelan eyes flew open at the voice in her mind, and she struggled to pull herself up, to fight or flee... and scarcely found the strength to raise her head.

:Who is it? Who's there? Stay away!!: she ordered, trying to breathe deeply enough to spit a warning blast of fire at the stranger. The result was not impressive. Coughing, she squinted at the form that approached from the darkness, and fell back as she saw the young elf-boy (human boy?) that Nirathei had captured. :Oh... boy, why did you stay? Nirathei could return...: she knew that wasn't true, though. Nirathei had bigger fish to fry this night - now that some of the memories had returned, she recalled in detail so many things about her old 'friend' and former teacher. Her only hope had been to delay him for a while - and from the look of things, she hadn't even accomplished that very well.

:You're hurt, but I don't know how to help you,: Sofaltis answered. :I'm merely a ranger, and infinitely grateful that you decided to spare my life, but, not at your own cost. I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do? I shall try if I can.: He felt so bad that he was the cause of so much pain. (No one should die for me. No one, I'm not worth it. Damnitall, this just isn't fair!) But he knew that fairness had no part in the world, and he only hoped that luck would be on his side.

(I'm hurt. Yes, that would explain things....) Erelan thought with grim humor. Her chest and wings hurt the most, and craning her neck, she could see the broken scales, and the blood smeared across her breast like a banner. If her wings had been whole, she might have flown back to the camp for help, but as it was.... She looked back at the boy and felt a little better, knowing that he was alive. At least she had succeeded in that much. Other than that, she just wanted desperately to sleep - just drift away to forgetfulness, where pain wouldn't follow.... She imagined the warm tones of the morning Singing back home, dragons old and young waking briefly from their dreams - praising Sola as the great, fiery dragon rose from her nest of red and gold and winged slowly into the fair, blue sky. Nirathei had been right - she did miss the Singing, and she missed wonderful Muriel, who had learned the Singing just for her dragon friend. She missed many things, but out here, everything was soft and warm, and so comfortable, and all she wanted to do was drift and dream....

:Wake up!: Sofaltis screamed mentally, and the insistent thoughts intruded on her comfortable half-dream. :Wake up, damnit! You have to stay awake!: (She's dying! Hope she can stay awake, she's trying so hard to be brave...) He moved out more clearly into the dragons view, watching her carefully, noting once again her deadly beauty.

Erelan pulled herself out of the Dreaming with regret, darkness and pain clamping down on her senses. For one brief moment, she angrily wanted to tell the youngster to go away and leave her in peace. But she looked at the fair, earnest face, and did not have the heart to curse him. (He's lost friends too,) she thought with odd clarity, not quite knowing how she knew. Perhaps it was something in his eyes - that enduring sorrow and wearied wariness. ...And it wasn't the boy's fault she was in this mess now. Nirathei had been under orders to kill her, and however mad the black dragon might be, once he decided to do a thing, he did it ruthlessly well. Sofaltis saw the look in her eyes, and wondered what she was thinking.

Trying not to show his very ready fear, and stay calm, and composed, he shivered slightly at her gaze. (I wonder what she's thinking, surely not to toast me...I'm her only hope of living! 'Lest she's got some silly notions of honour..) he thought with a start. (Wouldn't be the first time I've run across such things.)

Erelan knew it was very likely that she was dying. Still, if the boy was unwilling to give up, she at least had enough pride to make the effort. :My pack,: Erelan mindspoke, gesturing weakly with her nose toward the satchel still strapped to her back. She could just feel the edge of it under one crumpled wing, and was not looking forward to the sensation of trying to lift her broken sail off the leather satchel. :There is a metal box with a bottle inside... red, I think...: It was getting hard to keep her mind on the task. Her head swam now more than it had up at the top of the heavens with Nirathei, and she was almost glad that shock was dulling her senses - she didn't really want to see how much blood was pooling on the rich forest earth beneath her. The red vial was another legacy of Luine Tor's, and one she had never forgotten. It was a painkiller - powerful enough to let her return from battle to his fortress with all but the most deadly of injuries. She had taken it twice before in her years with Tor, and she knew well enough what the crimson liquid could do - it would let her walk on broken legs... or it would kill her. Tor could even be merciful, when it suited him.

Sofaltis swallowed hard. (She wants me to climb up on here..) He gulped, and mastered his fear quickly. :All right then, but be still, please, for the love of god!: He managed to keep his fear of her down, he thought, rather well. (I hope so. Fear will do nothing for her in this state. And hatred, ye gods.) He tried not to dwell. He maneuvered around, getting in besides her, his entire body tense enough to break with a stick. (Great, the one thing that I thought I would never do, heal a dragon. And here I am. Hock deep in one. And using a magic potion supposedly to heal her. Great.) Snatching the pack away from under her wing, with barely moving it to get it out of the way, he stumbled backward, inadvertently bumping the wing, cursing loudly at his clumsiness, and dropping the pack. (Oh. That was _smooth!_ ) He was quivering inside from fear/rage. He managed to look past that, and search through the pack.. (Red, fargin, vial. Vile. Bah.) He found it as he punned to himself, a flicker of a smile crossing his face, and then he looked up at Erelan.

:Lady,: he asked quiely, glad that his voice was only quivering a bit, even though his mind was in uproar and turmoil. (RUN AWAY! Let her die...) crooned one voice. (No! she fought for your life!) crooned another. (She's a dragon, they killed at that you knew! RUN YOU FOOL! Let her die..) all of which circled in his head. :What should I do with this now? Must you imbibe it?: Erelan looked at him for a long moment, sternly telling her eyes to behave.

When his form stopped shifting and blurring enough for her to make sense of the shapes before her, she nodded her head a fraction of an inch. :Aye, I must imbibe it,: she said slowly. His mental voice was shaking - was it only her imagination, or did he actually think he had something to fear from her? He noticed that her eyes seemed to be dilated, and she was going into shock.

'Okay..' he said to her softly, 'Take it,' he ventured to extend the bottle away from his body. Sofaltis looked at the bottle carefully, cautiously. (Impressive symbol. Her own crest?) he thought idly while waiting for her. Blinking slowly, and reaching out for the bottle with one slightly quivering forepaw, Erelan whispered into his mind.

:Boy, do not fear harm from me. Please. I could not hurt one of your kind, or any innocent - upon the egg that hatched me and the bright flames of Mother Sola, I swear it to you.: She paused and sighed once, painfully. :But I am a winged devil still, and I imagine my oaths mean little to you. Very well, song-brother. Draw any weapon you will to guard your life - and train it on my breast as you would mark your deadliest enemy.: Innocent till proven Guilty.

'I trust you Erelan... it's just one of your kind that I hate. I've never seen any others than you and him, and I apologize, but, he Hurt me, and it's very hard not to let that hate become...a part of me.' He told her this softly, hoping against hope...'I will not draw on you.' He said it all with a bit of a smile on his face, realizing that him saying that he wouldn't draw on her was such an ignominious statement... She pulled the bottle toward her and leaned back on her side with only the faintest whimper, exposing the patches of missing and broken scales on her chest. It would not have taken a marksman to find a deadly hit among the wounds. Falling silent, she reached toward the vial clutched in one forepaw and slipped a claw under the looped stopper, pulling it open. (May you suffer for eternity in whatever hell your deeds bought you, Tor,) she thought fervently as his symbol on the side of the flask caught her eye. Trying not to taste the foul liquid, she downed all of it and settled back to wait for the stuff to take effect. She didn't have to wait long.

Within twenty breaths, she began to feel numbness crowding out the pain, and a cold, untroubled quiet fell over her mind. In forty, she struggled to her feet, useless wings dragging on the ground and dirt sticking to her everywhere blood had mingled with the dark earth.

:My... thanks... brother....: she said, as if from far away, all her senses narrowing to the thinnest focus and the rest of the world fading away. Unthinking and unfeeling, she reached out to her pack and removed the cloths that protected one of her precious stones, and she pressed the cloth to her chest as if the wounds belonged to someone else. She felt no pain at all - only a vague, calm rationality. Lost in unheeding numbness, she pulled the straps of her pack out to their widest extent, gathered up her crumpled, unresponsive wings as if drawing a cloak about her, and bound them tightly to her sides, clipping the pack to hold the bandages firmly to her breast. It was done - until wound-fever set in or she collapsed from blood loss, she would go on. Single-minded under the effects of the drug, she began walking off into the forest, swaying slightly as she went, her long tail dragging on the ground. It was only after she had gone ten paces or so that she remembered the boy, and turned back to him, her eyes wide with pinpointed pupils, scarcely seeing in the dimness.

:Shall... we... go...?: Sofaltis watched her take the drink, and it's impeding effects, and he knew with a clarity of vision that it wasn't healing, but a massive pain-killer. 'I'll follow you Erelan, but I must retrieve my sword.' He was quite amazed. (Magic, must be, because no herbs can do that, although the effects are similar. If she doesn't get to where she be going soon, she'll be dead from system shock!) So he followed her, looking about for his sword, trying to find the bloody thing as the poor dragon crawled off, under the peaceful bliss of painlessness. (May you be granted respite Erelan, may the Gods smile on you...)

From: "Angie" <heraldtg@mbox3.singnet.com.sg>

:Dragon, child. The stench of evil is around him.: Ynys stared at 'Blade across the clearing. The elf was on her way to do some scouting when she was stopped by the message. And the unmistakeable sound of wings... big wings, in action. She looked up, squinting at the lightening sky. (A dragon... another one?) Screams to one side. She knew what it was before she saw it. Erelan. A sky battle between two dragons waged hot and furious just to one side of the clearing. The people there scrambled out of the range of the tongues of flame, grabbing belongings and running to the other "safer" side. The side where the lizard men were supposed to come from. 'Blade sighed. This was one battle she would not be dealing with. Trying to help would be stupid. But the shrieks and roars of pain were getting to be... annoying.

:Ynys, dearheart. What is going on?: She Sent to the unicorn tiredly. Staying up almost all night was stupid. Sleeping that one hour or more was the most stupid thing she had done. The nap only made her eyes even more puffy. (Damn, but I _am_ getting soft. This is what magery does to me.)

:A battle child. I thought that would be obvious. Raven has left the clearing for some unknown reason. Your plans for the day are in too much of a mess. And to make things worse, Sand has just appointed you the cook of this mini-entourage. I suggest resting to collect your thoughts.:

:You're probably right. But I don't think I'll sit down just yet. After this battle, there are sure to be wounded. If that other dragon gets injured and falls within our hands, I think it best if I stay to help treat him and try to learn things from him. I get the feeling Savar is behind this. And if Erelan falls, well, she definitely deserves what help I can give her.:

:But your scouting....:

:Someone else can go scout for all I care. This is where the wounded are going to be. This is where I should be. I fear there would be more work on my hands then I care for.:

:It's your choice....: Ynys shook her mane and trotted away, Darro still slumped on her back, unconscious, even with the fighting going on. 'Blade stared up at the dragons again. Their battle was bringing them further out into the forests. Keeping her eye on them, 'Blade tracked their flight, and followed them into the trees.

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