More FYI... We had to time the thefts at the same time or there abouts
figuring if one Warren was attacked then the others would learn about it and
be prepared if they had their own eggs on the sands to look after. so we
couldn't let that happen.... 

Barb

================================================


[Day 8 - Night]

Night fell over Cleft Warren engulfing it in a soft black shroud.  There
was no moonlight, and no clouds obscured the myriad stars arrayed on the
canvas of the heavens.  Jinam and Matteen lay together in the soft grass
by the banks of the mare river looking up at the shining pin points of
light.  To the northeast they saw the Bowman with his arrow nocked and
ready.  They followed the line of the arrow to the Deer of the North
whose heart always lay directly to the north.  In the west they saw the
Bear, and south was the horse.

They were looking east at the Wolf when something large flew across the
sky, obscuring their view.

"That is odd," Jinam said in the Nomad tongue as he sat up and  tried to
track the dark shape as it flew toward the warren.

"What?"  Matteen asked.

"That dragon flying toward the warren."

"What is so odd about a dragon flying toward the warren?  It happens all
the time."

"It didn't roar to the watch dragon," Jinam said as the dark shape he
was following stopped moving.  He thought it must have landed.  "Dragons
entering the warren always roar to the watch dragon when they return at
night."

"So, he probably forgot."

"Maybe," Jinam said standing up.  He could feel the hair on the back of
his neck bristle.

"Where are you going?"

"Something doesn't feel right.  I'm going to have a closer look."

Matteen watched him duck into his home and come out belting on his
sword.  Matteen shrugged and moved to follow him toward the warren.

***
[Hatching Cavern]

For Cynthia time might as well have stopped.  Her existance had been
shrouded in a blanket darker than night, darker than death.  Syren
struggled to calm her enough to get her to sleep.  She lay curled up
beside the queen in the warm sand of the hatching cavern.  Syren could
feel the gentle movement as Cynthia breathed against her side.

<Syren, I think I might know where Trissana is,>  Bohoc said in her
mind.

<Trissana is gone,> Syren replied sadly.

<I'm not sure about that.  I think I might have felt her when my rider
was gathering plants to help Blanchie.  I am going to go out to look for
her.>

<Be careful,> Syren replied, <We hope you find her and bring her back
safely.>

<Cynthia,> Syren prodded her rider, <Bohoc thinks Trissana is still
alive.>

Cynthia didn't respond.  She was deep in a dreamless sleep.  Knowing
that somehow they would get throught this, the queen also drifted off to
sleep.
***

Shamir moved quietly through the short tunnel that lead to the hatching
cavern.  The four nomads followed quickly behind.  The soft, warm sands
were good for the maturing eggs, but also for masking the sounds of the
invaders.

Shamir paused at the entrance of the hatching cavern and scanned the
darkness for signs of movement.  He stood for a long moment watching the
darkness.

"Why is he waiting?" Idran whispered to Feysal.

"Patience," Feysal whispered back, "Shamir knows what he's doing."

Shamir heard the humans talking and hissed quietly, but warningly, at
them.
***

Syren slept lightly.  She wanted to tell Cynthia that there was some
hope of finding Trissana as soon as her rider awoke.  She was also
anxiously waiting a report from Bohoc.  Syren's eyes were closed, but
her mind active when she heard someone whispering.

At first, she thought it was Cynthia, but then she heard another sounc
and knew it was not Cynthia.  She knew it had come from near the
entrance to the hatching cavern, and assumed it was some of the warren
children coming to sneak a look at her eggs.  She really didn't mind
when they did that, but she usally played the ferocious mother dragon
because they seemed to enjoy the show (or at least that's how she
interpreted the screaming and running away).

Syren lazily opened one eye and saw something lunging toward her...
***

With the humans silenced, Shamir took another look around the hatching
cavern.  Still nothing moved.  He fixed his gaze on the queen and he
could feel the lust building inside him.

Through their link Khazeen felt it, too.  Shamir felt a jolt of pain and
heard Khazeen in his mind, *There'll be time for that later.  Now we
need the eggs.*

Shamir didn't answer, but sprang at the queen instead.  He indended to
land on top of her and pin her to the sands while the nomads gathered
her eggs.  As he descended toward her, she began to move.  Her legs shot
out and caught him in the stomache as she rolled.  His momentum and the
push carried him past her and into the wall of the hatching cavern. Pain
shot through his side and fueled his lust even more.

He spun as the queen got to her feet and lunged at her again.
***

Cynthia awakened as Syren lurched away from her and she heard something
thud near by.  She pushed herself off the sand and shook her head to try
to clear it.  Wan light filtered into the hatching cavern from the
corridor leading to the rest of the warren.  In that light she saw the
dark shape lunging toward Syren.  It was a jet black dragon.

The pearlescent queen struck at the intruder opening a gash along the
side of his face.  The black dragon seemed not to notice and slammed
into Syren.  He knocked her off her feet, and she had to twist as she
fell to avoid crushing Cynthia.  Their momentum carried them over, and
they came to a sudden stop as Shamir's tail slammed into one of the eggs
crushing it with a sickening sound.

Cynthia looked around, unsure of what to do.  Then she saw the four men
scamper out from the entrance to the hatching cavern.  They split into
pairs and moved between the eggs.  Like Syren, her first instinct was to
protect the eggs.  She moved toward the men as two of them lifted an egg
from the sand and deposited it in a pouch attached to the black dragon's
saddle.  As they moved off, the other pair brought over another egg,
this one flecked with gold.

Cynthia moved quickly from hiding behind another egg, and sprang toward
them.  Analt saw her lunging toward them, and tried to shout a warning
to Feysal.  Feysal shifted his grip on the egg as Cynthia slammed her
shoulder into Analt's exposed abdomen.  Analt staggered backwards with
the wind knocked out of him.

Alone Feysal struggled to hold the pouch open and drop the larger queen
egg in.  He listened to the sounds of struggle behind him for what
seemed like an eternity before finally getting the egg inside.

Analt marvled at the skill and strength of the woman fighting him.  It
might have been ammusing if he were not bleeding from his nose, and
feeling like a few ribs had been broken.

Feysal spun around and saw the woman's exposed back toward him.  He
quietly stepped over and grabbed her from behind.  "Get some rope," he
instructed Analt as Cynthia struggled against his grasp.
***

Kellie and Turner walked down the corridor toward the hatching cavern
when they hear some noise.  Kellie strained to make out the sounds, but
counldn't.  "Do you hear that?" she asked Turner.

"It sounds like it's coming from the hatching cavern," Turner replied.

Kellie nodded and began to jog down the corridor, a vague uneasy feeling
settling over her.

Turner watched her pull away from him and then sped up as well.  He had
almost caught up to her when she stopped in her tracks at the entrance
to the cavern.  "Rashevon," she said staring into the cavern.

Turner stopped and followed her gaze.  A black dragon had Syren pinned
to the sand and a pair of nomads were carrying and egg toward him.

Kellie's eyes were fixed on the dragon, "M'del must be alive then."

"You mean your son M'del?" Turner asked.

Kellie nodded slowly, "That's his dragon."

At one Turner realized that he had to do something, and that he might
die trying.  He looked back in the corridor and saw a wooden bean left
behind from some construction work.  He grabbed it in both hands and
sprinted into the hatching cavern.

Kellie saw him run past and knew she had to help.  She drew her sowrd
and followed.  They sprinted toward the Nomads with the egg.  The pair
saw them coming, set the egg down and moved to draw their weapons.

Turner and Kellie never got close enough.  They were jumped from behind
by Analt and Feysal whao had just finished tying Cynthia up.

***

Jinam and Matten paused at the entrance to the hatching cavern,
listening.  They could hear the faint sounds of activity from inside and
Jinam debated his next move.

"It is not usally wise to enter the Hatching Cavern uninvited," Matteen
said.

Jinam nodded, "But I have a feeling."

"Then you and your feeling should lead the way."

Jinam stepped into the hatching cavern entrance and moved slowly
forward, allowing his eyes adjust to the darkness.  They  reached the
point where the entrance tunnel met the hatching cavern and Jinam
stopped.  He could see Syren on the sand with a large black dragon on
top of her and two men mounted on the black dragon's back.

Jinam sprinted toward them, howling a nomad war cry and drawing his
sword.  He saw two more men on the ground and one hoisted a struggling
form, Cynthia he thought, up to one of the mounted men.
***

Feysal had thought that things had gone badly enough before the war
cry.  Now it was taking a turn for the worst.  He took Cynthia from
Madur as Idran took Kellie from Analt.  "Get up," he shouted at the
other two as they turned back for Turner.

They didn't get there before Jinam was on them. Jinam deftly sliced his
slightly curved blade into Madur's side.  Analt spun on him and began to
draw his sword.  Jinam lunged and deftly took Analt's hand off at the
wrist.  The other noman screamed as blood sprayed out.  Jinam reversed
his grip on his sword and drove it up to the hilt into Analt's chest.
***

Shamir knew a really bad situation when he saw it and needed little
prodding from Khazeen to leave the hatching cavern.  He bounded forward
toward the entrance tunnel.  As he entered the tunnel, he thought he saw
the glint of light on metal.
***

I must be insane, Matteen thought as he crouched just inside the
hatching cavern watching the black dragon come toward him.  As the
dragon passed him, he brought his sword up and plunged it into the
beast's side.  The dragon was moving so fast that he had to release his
grip on the hilt to aviod being dragged into the tunnel as well.

He heard a satisfying roar of pain and scrambled away from the dragon's
lashing tail.  Then all was quiet.  Matteen looked down the tunnel and
saw nothing.  He moved away from the hatching cavern entrance and stood
by Jinam.  "What happened?"

"I don't know exactly," Jinam said looking over at the crushed egg.

"He won't be able to tell us," Matteen said pointing at Analt.

"I'm hoping the other one might be pursuaded to talk," Jinam said
looking at Madur who was breathing raggedly on the sand.  He walked over
Syren and knelt by her head.  Her color was poor, but she was definately
alive.  "Poor mother," he whispered, "what has happened to you?"

Matteen strode over to Turner and cut his bonds.  He shook the smith and
Turner came slowly awake.  He sat bolt upright, and then leaned back a
bit.  He looked around, "Where are Kellie and Cynthia?"

"Gone with black dragon," Matteen said in Turner's language.

"Then we may all be doomed."

NRPG:
The problem with these big posts that require other people's input is
that they take me so darn long to write.  This gets the ball rolling in
a big way.  Now Cynthia, Kellie and Lenna are being hald at Jhezrael and
need rescuing.

Lyn: Brisse is in charge of the warren in this situation.

The assault on Jhezrael will take place sometime on the morning of Day
9.  Trevor has to return to Cleft before it can happen.  There's lots of
stuff going on, so have fun with it.

Respectfully submitted,
Warrenlady Cynthia - Cleft Warren
Alton Reich
-- 
			Alton & Elizabeth Reich
			  alton.reich@snet.net
"Dreams are sometimes catching / Desire goes to my head /
 Love responds to your invitation / Love responds to imagination /
 Respond, Vibrate, Feed Back, Resonate" -- Rush, Chain Lightning