Wet and wind, Aitzan knew like most ship faring folk, equalled cold.  But
wet, wind, and despair, that was a chill that seemed to suck the very life
from the blood.

Of course, being caught between a strange shore and a hurricane had a lot to
do with that.  But the real clincher for the abosolute lack of morale was
the fact that they were caught between the rocks and the windy wet place in
a ship that was missing more than half its rudder and full of holes.

Probably the only reason no one had jumped, was because drowning now and
drowning later all had the same result.  At least if you waited you had a
good view.

At the moment, she had the best on the ship, but that was due entirely to
the fact that only one person could fit in the crow's nest.  She didn't even
mind getting the worst of the weather, the lightning show was more than
compensation.

The after image of the last lightning spider was the last thing she saw
before a wet, shrilling mass slammed into her face.  Wind whooshed over head
and she staggered under the double impact, hitting the fragile railing hard.

It cracked alarmingly, but the only thing Aitzan heard was a muffled, yet
shrill, "Mon-ter! Mo-ster! Monster!!" in close vincitity to her left ear.
Even that would have been drowned out by her shriek, if she'd been able to
get enough breath to scream at all, as sixteen feet and two hands yanked
simultanously on her braids.

Two hands groped the violently trembling creature, trying find some leverage
to peel it off before she suffocated.  The right hand was luckier than the
left and grabbed visciously at the tender gliding skin flap, just beneath
the shoulder joint.  The result was not all that she could have hoped for.

Her head solidly connected with the railing as, she was certain, half her
hair was forcefully disconnected from her scalp and the tail around her neck
put her in a strangle hold.  Both hands went reaching for the offending
appendage, but by the time they got there, the need was gone.  The body
around her head shifted slightly and air suddenly entered the equation
again.

Aitzan sucked in a jagged breath, then another, and just before she was
going to let her still shrilling companion know exactly what she thought of
this stunt, a gust of super heated wind sent both of them shrieking.  The
lizard from fright and her from a burning bottom and the loss of more hair.

Another burning gust and she was on her feet, not even bothering to curse as
she attempted to peel the terrified lizard off her face.  The lizard didn't
cooperate.  More muffled shrieks of pain were blown away by the buffeting
winds as eighteen lizard feet and hands grabbed on and refused to let go.

Violent swells slammed the struggling pair from one end of the nest to the
other while winds tried to topple them over the edge and heat from below
threatened to singe bare feet.  Aitzan was too furious to care as she yanked
mercilessly on her chittering assailant, staggering around like a drunkard.

A nasty sequence of swells sent her careening into the rail, adding more
bruises to her hips and waist.

CRACK!

She knew, with a sense of utter panic, that there was no way she could stop
the fall.  Hands flew from her face in a blind grope for something as the
wood tore through her ineffective yellow poncho and the decking dropped away
from one foot, then the next.

She dropped.  Her hand got lucky and caught the splintered remainder of the
rail, slivers jabbing into her hand while surprisingly intense waves of heat
tried to broil her.  She dangled like a snake off a fence while her hand was
steadily being ripped to shreds.  The lizard decided to move.

"Ingrate!" she screamed as the warm, still shrilling body  began to slither
off her face, preparing to glide to safetly, leaving her to plummet alone.
But when she finally managed to see the fiercely burning prye that her
beloved Jaunlo had become, dread wiped out even the pain shooting through
her hand and arm.

"Nyumi," she prayed hoarsely, her arm begining to ache.  "Don't curse my
soul for the flames, I beg of-- Bakke!"

Eighteen hands decidedly reaffirmed their attatchment to her hair while an
eardrum popping scream let loose in her ear.  Tiny hands whipped her head
around painfully, just in time to see the huge winged monster before it
swooped close and grabbed her.
**************************
NRPG: Well she's almost there!  The Jaunlo will burn and the other two will
most likely capsize or crash against the rocks, no fault of the dragons
though.  All three ships were very badly beat up before hand.  Have fun!

Submitted by,
Bridget Olson
Aitzan and Bakke