Trevor
(on the green, during the wraith battle)

/snip from Darren's post/
The last thread was linked, she reluctantly released her hold on it, 
the connection to Triss ended.  She pulled out slowly.  

She was looking at her hand on the pearly scales, her mind seemed 
numb from the experience.  She did not feel drained and weak like 
last time, just hollow, like she was missing something.  Having seen 
what was in Triss, and what was in a dragon made her feel like just a 
shadow of reality compared to the bright light in them.

"How is she?"  She asked in almost a whisper. 
/end snip/

     Trevor reached out to support Andorra, gently drew her back from her 
contact with Trissana and helped her to sit on the grass under the shade of a 
large bush.  "I don't know yet," he said, handing the Nomad healer a cup of 
water that he'd poured from his canteen.  

     He turned to his dragon.  *Triss...can you hear me?* he asked worriedly.

     Trissana's blue eyes opened just a bit, and she raised her head.  [My 
rider?] she asked, her voice soft but now normal-sounding.  [My head 
hurt..but now it's stopped!]

     *Thank the gods!" Trevor cried, throwing his arms around the dragon's 
slender muzzle.  The thought that his wonderful Trissana might be reduced to 
a telepathic mute had frightened him nearly to death. Trevor had always been 
good at holding in his emotions, often without realizing it - and it 
surprised him to realize the extent to which he'd been doing that while he 
watched Andorra work.  Now the sense of relief hit him like a wave, and he 
felt once again the quiet, unquestioning support she always gave him.  He 
felt a tear roll down his cheek to fall softly onto her pearly nose.  He drew 
back in embarrassment, but Trissana moved her head so that the tip of her 
muzzle was still pressed against him.

     [My rider,] she said quietly, [It means so much to me that you cared 
enough to do that.]

    Trevor nodded and cleared his throat, then turned and walked back over to 
Andorra.  "You did it!" he said, kneeling down next to her and taking her 
hand in his.  "If there's every anything that Triss or I can do to repay 
you..."

     Andorra shook her head.  "It was power of Anavasha which healed 
Trissana, not me.  I was glad to be instrument of Anavasha in this."

     Trissana, meanwhile, had decided to add her own thanks and crawled over 
to where she could touch the healer.  Craning her neck around, she gently 
rested her cheek against Andorra in much the same way she'd always done with 
Trevor.  Somehow, she knew that the Nomad healer wouldn't mind.  Just as she 
somehow knew, to her surprise, that despite their different races and 
backgrounds, she and Andorra had much common ground between them that might 
allow them to understand each other as humans and dragons ordinarily could 
not.

     [Thank you, Andorra,] Triss said.  In response, Andorra sat bolt upright 
and looked around as though listening.

     "What is it, what's wrong?" Trevor asked Andorra.

     [I believe she can hear me now,] Triss answered.

     *How can that be?* he asked.

     [I don't know, perhaps it is because my telepathy is different from 
other dragons, or maybe because our minds touched one another...maybe both.] 
the pearl dragon answered.  Once again she nuzzled Andorra, and the Nomad 
healer hesitantly reached out a hand to touch her face.  

     "It's all right," Trevor assured her, knowing that Trissana's 
affectionate ways could easily be misinterpreted.

     "I...know this," Andorra said, turning momentarily to Trevor and then 
looking back into Trissana's great blue eyes.

     [I think we are a lot alike and could be friends,] Trissana said.  [You 
have helped me, and if you are ever in need I will do the same for you if I 
can.]  Triss gazed into the Nomad's face, wondering if Andorra could or would 
reply.

(Tag Darren)

* * * * * * * *
Kellie
(At the battle)

     It was no good, the Beta wingsecond saw, as the battle yet again turned 
against the defenders of Cleft.  Despite the best efforts of Dan'yar and 
Meena and the gallant riders and dragons of both wings, they were again being 
pushed inexorably backward.  The presence of the hive-queen here allowed for 
the same degree of onsite command and control that the dragons and riders 
normally enjoyed. As a result, the wraiths did not attack blindly or fight by 
ones and twos as they normally did.  Instead, they fought as a 
well-coordinated unit.  The hive-queen was quite adept at shifting forces 
from one part of the battle to another as needed to stem an advance by the 
warren forces or to exploit an advantage in another place.

     [And, no one dares go near that monster,] Varie pointed out sourly.  
[Wherever *it* is, our forces pull back.]

     *We either need more dragons, or a miracle,* said Kellie.  She thought 
of her mate Turner on the ground back at the warren, and wondered if she 
would see him again.  If the battle did go against them here, she vowed that 
she wouldn't leave him down there to face the wraith horde.  If the warren 
had to be evacuated, she wouldn't leave until she had Turner in the saddle 
behind her.

     [Azure is back,] Varie said, and Kellie turned to see the blue dragon 
gliding into place behind Shinner.  She wondered how Katrina had managed to 
get her injured dragon back into the fight so quickly.  Then she saw 
something else, another dragon farther off but coming their way.

     *It's Els'beth and her dragon, from Epion!* Kellie said.  *I wonder if 
they're planning to join the fight?* Any hope she might have felt in that 
regard only lasted as long as it took her to remember that a single rider and 
dragon would be of no help in this battle.  If all of Epion came it might be 
different, but...

     [That's odd,] Varie said.  [Tejas root.]

     *Huh?* Kellie asked, unable to make sense of the dragon's jumbled words.

     [That's what *she* said,] Varie explained, motioning with her head to 
indicate the Epion dragon.  [She said to tell you 'Tejas root,] and so I did.]

     *Well...ask her what she meant by that!* Kellie said.

     [Can't, she just teleported,] Varie said with a mental shrug.

     Kellie scratched her chin in thought.  Tejas root, tejas root...was 
Els'beth trying to tell them something?  *Tell Shinner, Vonn, and Azure that 
I need to talk to their riders quickly.*

* * * * * *
The four dragons landed on a nearby hilltop from which they could continue to 
direct the losing battle.  At the rate things were going, Kellie saw, this 
position would be untenable in about five more minutes.  That was the amount 
of time it would take the front line of battle to reach them.

     "Tejas root," Dan'yar mused.  "What did she mean by that?"

     "A weapon?" Meena asked.  "Tejas root is used against Hellspawn."

    "But we've dealt with the Hellspawn," said Katrina.  "What we need is a 
weapon against the hive-queen."

     "The way that thing moves it would be difficult to hit, even if we tried 
to drop any on it," Meena observed.

     "A net," said Dan'yar.  "If we used a net covered with the extract of 
the tejas root, and if the dragons could drop it onto the hive-queen from 
overhead..."

     "But where would we get a net like that?" Meena asked.  "Not out here in 
the desert..."

     "Telnor perhaps," said Dan'yar.  "The fishermen at the Telnor Sea use 
fishing nets, but I'm not sure they're big enough."

     "The lost DragonLands has a sea," said Katrina.  "If we went to Geode 
they could give us directions on how to get there..."

     "I don't think we have time for any of that," Dan'yar said, looking 
skyward at the approaching wraith horde.

    "Does it have to be a net?" Kellie asked.  "What about a blanket?"

    Dan'yar shrugged.  "I imagine it would, but we'd need a whole lot sewn 
together in order to..."  He stopped, realizing that such a blanket did exist 
right back at the warren - the one that Kellie and Turner had made for 
Trissana.

    "We'll need to call Andahar and Bohoc back to go along on this," said 
Dan'yar.  "Bohoc is the only one who *might* be able to convince her to 
donate it."

     "Or keep her from screaming *too* loudly when we take it," Kellie agreed 
ruefully.

(Tag Barb or Arlene - and good luck getting the blanket! :)

(NRPG: I do have more I need to write, but am running out of time today, so I 
figured I'd get this off now rather than wait.  Will try to do more later.)

Submitted by:

John

Trevor & Trissana
Kellie & Varie

Cleft Warren

 

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