Er, a slight crosspost, Barb had Phaedra and Melith returning immediately
to the warren while Tracee has them missing during the cleanup, afterwards...
I know that Melith won't leave the Geode until the hatching, if she can help it.
Melith will be holed up in the hatching cavern with the remaining eggs
and I guess that Argent was assuming that they were gone again :)
*********************

(Phaedra)

<<No, no, right under my wing. That's it.>>

<*There, you see? Wasn't it worth coming out here?*>

<<Yes, it was. It was a rough laying. But I am proud.>>

<*I was there for every minute, remember? A queen egg, though...of course,
you can't be sure that it's a queen egg, I mean after all...*>

<<It is a queen egg. And it will be perfect..>>

<* So now you deal with the drudgery of sitting and watching. I don't
envy that...and of course, I don't look forward to dealing with your
conniptions.*>

Just then, Pointer appeared in the skies before them and spiralled down.

<Oh Melith come quick wild dragons attacked the Geode and they've
attacked the eggs oh please hurry!!>

Phaedra was climbing onto Melith's neck even as the golden queen 
reared up in shock. With a roar of challenge and fear, the huge dragon
catapulted into the air.

Suddenly they were there and the unmistakable scent of burning was
everywhere. Phaedra couldn't concentrate or listen from the outraged cries
her queen was voicing as they arrowed to the hatching cavern.
Several dragons and their humans had to duck quickly to get out of her way
when she finally landed and half walked, half flew inside to where she had
left her eggs.

It was too much, too much to take in at once. Several of the eggs were
broken, only a dragon's enormous weight enough to break the rock-hard
newly-laid shells. And near the back, where the metallic egg was so 
proudly displayed, there was only a depression.

The keening Melith uttered was heart-wrenching, enough to make tears spill
from Phaedra's own eyes.  The queen sniffed at each egg in turn, whole or
broken, each broken egg bringing forth a fresh outpouring of grief.  Phaedra
was trying so hard not to lose control herself, her anger bubbling up...she
focused on a nearby tree, as she did so many times as a girl on the river,
and let her anger pour into it. It burned, charred, its stench nowhere close to 
the bodies of burned dragons and riders outside. She wouldn't let the power
go, she couldn't; her anger and her sorrow kept her fixated on the tree and
its destruction until it was white ash blowing in the wind. 

Finally, she turned to her queen, her thoughts as dry as the ash. <* Oh
Melith, I'm so sorry. I should never have asked you to go with me.*>

<<It is not your fault, my rider. I chose to go with you. We arranged for
guards. I trusted them. We could have not done any more. It is our misfortune
that the ones we told were the ones who were killed first. No one else knew
we were gone...and if we had not left, perhaps I would be dead as well.>>

<*Strange, that you're comforting me.*>

<<We are as one. It is not strange to me.>>

H'nin crossed to Phaedra and put his arm around her. "I'm sorry, Phaedra.
We can't find them anywhere. I had a very bad moment when we found that
you were gone, you know."

"We arranged for the eggs to be guarded, H'nin. As Melith just pointed out,
we might not be here if we had not gone. I want you to search, though. I want
you to find these bastards. Someone must pay. I've had enough."

"Of course. We've already started. We'll find them. Also, I'll arrange for
tighter security. This won't happen again."

"Oh, you can count on that. I almost hope someone tries, with Melith here.
She'll be a handful."

*********************

(six weeks pass)

**********************

(Kryptel)

"It's about time, isn't it?"

"The egg is very soft, Chosen. The time is very near. The candidates must
be made ready."

As always, he blinked at the obvious deference the robed one showed. 
Cult of the Chosen, they called themselves...waiting all this time for one
who fulfilled their bizarre prophecy...it unnerved him.

Religious fanatics, all of them. Still, they were useful.

"I'll have the three brought to you." Now, that was one part of the plan that
had gone off without a hitch. Three girls, Searched from under the noses of
the Geode brats, brought here and...retrained...to their philosophy.
That unnerved him, too, but they said it was necessary. Brainwashed to
serve and adore them. He shivered to think of all the physical and emotional 
abuse that had been heaped onto them. 

All for the greater glory? Was it really worth that price? They would see...

***************************




Allen Veazey
wolf@dbtech.net

"And in these days,
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love,
You better take a fool's advice
And take care of your own;
One day they're here
Next day they're gone."
	--Don Henley, New York Minute