The Eileen Collins listed heavily, as the sea and rain poured in.  The wind
raged against the sails, as all hands worked at a bone-braking pace to lower
them.  The storm had hit with such suddenness and ferocity, that even the
Captain had to admit that he had been unwise in ignoring his first mate
Corwin's advice to return to the last port and had continued on to Cabral.
With a great crash the main mast broke across the deck, but the screams of
the injured and dying were drowned out by the roar of the thunder.  Corwin
would never know how many of his crewmates were lost, as a sudden wave broke
the railing he   had clung to, and he was washed out to sea, clutching the
fragments in his hands.

Calling for help, the waves choked and blinded him.  Debris battered his
body as he was thrown this way and that.  He thought he was a goner, as he
slipped under the waves, until a dark form came up from the deep.  A voice
called to him and he wondered if the angel of death had come to claim him as
he felt his lungs filling with water -- only to discover that he could
breathe.

His body was supported from below, and he thankfully wrapped his arms around
the long, soft... neck?  <I am Syngnath and you are my rider>  The voice
told him.

Confusion and disbelief made Corwin feel giddy, <I'm losing my mind... or I
am dead...>

<You are neither.>  Came the voice.  <You are very much alive... but I am
hungry and ... I can't carry you much farther.>

The long neck curved around and the coral-pink eyes looked back into
Corwin's sea-green eyes.  Corwin thought, <You know what I'm thinking?  And
are you doing this -- I'm underwater, and yet.... I'm not drowning?>  He
looked up and could see the foam that was being created by the storm
reflecting the flashes of lightening far, far above.  His ship and its crew
were no where to be seen -- and he realized that they were... flying, was
the best description he could come up with, through the water.

<Yes.  I heard your voice and came to you as soon as my egg released me>
the hatchling sea dragon replied.

Corwin remembered the urgency he'd felt since passing the last sand bar --
he'd attributed it to the coming storm.

<Here... we will be safe here.  There is another... his name is Loki and he
and his rider Gus know of somewhere to be safe from the storm>

<Another??>  Corwin asked as they emerged from the foam onto a rocky beach.

A small charcoal dragon, only slightly larger than Syngnath came to them.
Corwin slipped from his back, and falling into the water from exhaustion,
felt hands pulling him forward.

****
Respectfully submitted by Arlene
AKA Corwin and Syngnath of Jasra Warren.