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The horse cantered up the slope though the trees, and then slid to a stop
only yards from the pair who struggled on the ground... the one beneath only
feebly.  Practically throwing Aitzan to the ground in his haste, Tyler
sprang from the mount and raced towards them.

Aitzan scrabbled to her knees with a stone in her hand and her sling out.
The leather strip whirred above her head as she tried to regain her feet and
nearly whacked herself in the head as her ankle gave out painfully.
Hissing, wrist still working the sling, she began moving to a better
position as fast as she could on her knees, praying that Tyler would get out
of the way so she could let fly.

But Tyler stayed his course, plowing headlong towards the pair, his borrowed
sword already arching down towards the man on top of the warrenlady.  "Leave
her alone!"

Mardan's concentration was on his daughter as he fought to free her from the
demon in the only way he knew how.  But the outcry caused him to turn his
head, and he saw the boy swinging the sword.   Instinctively, he twisted to
the side to evade the strike, while keeping one hand locked on Tara's
throat.

To Tyler's horror, Tara was now directly in the path of his blade.  In his
attempt to curb his swing, he turned away, and was equally shocked to see
Aitzan's sling spinning in his direction!

Aitzan hardly paused to think as Tyler suddenly interposed himself between
her missile and her target.  The warrenlady had stopped struggling and
didn't have time for any more playing around.  She fired, aiming for Tyler's
leg to get him to move.  He panicked, trying to drop out of the way, and
caught the stone in his lap instead.  Tyler dropped to his knees, eyes
bugging out as he clutched at his groin and curled into an agonized ball on
the ground.

Aitzan didn't pay him a wit of attention. As soon as he was out of the way,
she went for Tara's assailant, sending a brief plea to the gods to keep the
winds calm for just another moment as the second rock blurred through the
air.  The strangler's hand popped off Tara's throat with a crunch, and for a
moment, the man knelt there in shock.  Face twisting uglily in pain, he too
curled up into a ball, losing his balance and rolling a bit away from Tara,
howling and clutching at his newly broken wrist.

Aitzan stared at the two men in disgust--keeping a wary eye on the strangler
and giving him a well placed kick with her good leg as she passed--and
crawled over to check on Tara.  Noticing the warrenlady's still chest,
Aitzan immediately bent down, plugging Tara's nose and tilting her head
back, and breathed into her mouth, exactly what she would have done if Tara
had been stupid enough to drown.

Almost instantly, Tara began coughing and gasping, the ugly blue color
leaving her lips and face, and Aitzan sat back, angrily observing the dark
marks around her throat.  Spitefully, she crawled over to give the
warrenlady's attacker another kick, glancing over at Tyler to see how he was
fairing.

Tyler moaned.  Not only was he seeing stars from the agony below his gut,
but he was also hurting over his ribs where the guard had kicked him.  His
face felt at once damp, yet cold, and his vision clouded and then refocused.
When he finally could breathe again, he noticed Aitzan, who was gingerly
massaging her ankle, glaring at him.

"Gapak'gech, that two times you throw me off horse," she accused.

Finally finding his voice, Tyler responded, "I didn't really have a choice
now, did I?  Couldn't you see Tara was in trouble?  How's she doing,
anyway?"  Tyler was feeling better every minute, and sat up gingerly.

"Breathing, fine, no help from you."  Aitzan flicked a glance over at Tara,
pleased to hear the warrenlady's raspy breathing easing a little.  "How is
you?  You fool not to trust me," she said, a little hurt that he hadn't.
"Own fault you hurt."

"Trust you?  You hurled a stone at me!"  Tyler bristled.

While they argued, the man responsible for all of these atrocities slowly
began crawling away.

"If you think and no throw me off horse, I no need stone you!  I only throw
one stone at bad man, and more fast with no Tyler in way!" she countered,
wishing her ankle would stop throbbing.

"You just admitted it was to get even with me for throwing you off the
horse!  You could have simply yelled!"  Tyler responded.

"No in talk of this land!" Aitzan said, then blushed, averting her gaze,
angry at herself for admitting her shortcomings so carelessly.  In the heat
of the moment, her small grasp of the DragonLand's tongue had completely
deserted her.  Opening her mouth would only have generated more confusion.
Her inability to communicate made her a liability in battle, not an asset,
and that shamed her more then anything Tyler could accuse her of.

Seeing her discomfort, Tyler pushed himself up and came towards her, it was
only then that he realized that they were no longer alone.  A short distance
away he saw Jerram and Ieyasu striving to hold off a half dozen armed men --
who were dressed in the Grouty livery.  Anger flooded over Tyler, and he
abandoned Aitzan to launch himself at the attackers, his blade swinging, and
thankful that his father had been so thorough in his education.  He knew
there would be more around, and wondered why all of them where not there --
as by shear numbers they would have overwhelmed them.  It was then that he
hear the dragons  -- a wing had come to their rescue!
____________
NRPG: Tag someone!

A joint post respectfully submitted by,
Arlene Jacobs,
AKA Tyler and Plastyra

and

Bridget Olson,
AKA Aitzan and Thelleranyath