Devon
***

>Xanith sat sulking, his back turned on his partner.  He was still fretting
over how to get rid of this new load of bottles when he heard the mental
cries.  Another rider in trouble, further down the beach!

>{Rider, get up, we are needed!}

>There was no response.  {My RIDER!}  Xanith nudged hard at Devon, but the man
only hiccuped and tipped back another bottle.

>Xanith sighed mentally and gave up in disgust, swishing his tail at the
bottles.  They plummeted off the rocks into the water.

>Devon swore at Xanith and scrambled after them.

Devon slipped his way down the side of the rock he'd been sitting on and
ended up face first in the sand. Spitting sand from his mouth, Devon
screamed angrily at the dragon, <Why did you do that!>

Xanith was too upset with his rider to be thinking all that clearly. Not to
mention the fact that his human's behavior lately was beginning to effect
Xanith as well.  It wasn't bad enough that he couldn't teleport very well,
but now he could barely fly much either. And his color was off. The once
warm olive color of his hide was becoming pale and sickly green. But Devon
didn't even notice. <Felt like it ..> the dragon snipped back flippantly.

That, of course, only seemed to further infuriate the drunken rider. <Come
here, dragon! I'm going to kill you! I'm tired of your constant nagging ..
and complaining .. and it's gonna end now!> Devon pushed himself up,
balancing as well as he could in his current state. He swung his fist at the
dragon on top of the rock, which only served to knock him back over onto his
backside. <Come here so I can see you!>

<Come and get me ..> Xanith sniffed dropping his head once again into his
lap. If Devon didn't care about his responsibilities, why should he ..

Devon decided to do just that, and once again he pushed himself up off the
sand and took a step toward the rock. He stopped and turned around,
remembering the pack with his drink inside. <First I need a drink!>

He spun around and would have fallen once again, were it not for the hand
that grabbed him and held him up.

"Eh! Lookie here!"

Startled, he tried to focus his eyes. Still the man .. or was it men, he
couldn't tell by the way the figure in front of him kept dancing before his
eyes .. stayed stubbornly blurry.

The man .. or men .. laughed. The laugh echoed oddly in his ears. "Bet this
is the guy who's supposed to be guarding the beach."

"Who are you .." his voice slurred horribly and the man/men laughed again.

"So I guess we shouldn't have worried about the watch on the beach after all
.. He's sloshed!"

"We can have some fun with him." A second voice sounded from behind him,
Devon turned toward it and saw a second group of dancing men. This was not
good!

<Dragon! I need some help!> he called to Xanith, stepping sideways away from
the army of men swimming in before his eyes.

<Now you need me, eh,> Xanith grumbled, <Fend for yourself!> Still despite
his words, the dragon sat up and inched his way around to see what trouble
the human had now found himself in. He saw two men standing menacingly over
Devon. His rider was clearly scared and backing away. The dragon was almost
amused as he felt the fear from his rider. Devon thought there was a mob of
men coming at him. Well it served him right!

<Dragon! Help!!> Devon yelled through the link, still backing away from the
men

A sort of  warped sense of good luck was on Devon's side this time, however,
when in his drunken state he stumbled backward of a large piece of beach
debris and knocked himself out on the rocks he'd been sitting on top of
earlier.

The two men nearly fell over themselves in laughter. Xanith, who was still
watching the spectacle, wasn't sure he liked them laughing at his human ..
no mater how much of a fool he was making of himself, nor how upset Xanith
was at him. After all, Devon was a dragonrider .. even if he didn't act like
it. And dragonriders deserved respect!

He  hung his head over the side of the rock face and growled, blowing hot
air in the direction of the two men. He watched in satisfaction as they
looked up at him, their faces glowing in fear in the moonlight. He puffed
out a harmless puff of smoke and roared loudly causing both men to scream in
terror before turning and running .. leaving Devon alone.

Xanith looked down at his rider, <Human .. are you okay?>

There was no answer, and the dragon sighed. At least he was alive ..  and
perhaps sleep is what he needed more then medical attention. So Xanith
simply lay his head back down and went to sleep as well. Besides from what
he could tell the fight on the beach was working itself out ..

Regards,
Devon & Xanith
***
NRPG: I imagine this happens sometime in the middle of Dana's post :)

Kris

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       \oo/     Kristen Gant
        ~~      (AKA: Waylene & Aura, Marrid Warren, Warrenlady
                      Meena & Vonn, Norwall Warren, Wingleader
                      Th'rin & Areena,Whiteriver Warren, Head Healer
                      Merybelle Barmen, City of Ralengarde, Innkeeper
                      Ce'lot & Britche, Xylain Warren, Wingleader
                      Saul & Fayloth, Jasra Warren, Searcher
                      Darlea & Makayla, Courier
                      Kalewyn & Sabbith, Dragonrider
                      Devon & Xanith, Dragonrider
                http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/Kris/kris.htm
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