It's amazing all the work one can do when they wake up at 6 am... on a
sunday.. sigh....

================================


The warren was safe. The bad guys under control.

The same message was past along to each of the dragons in the second half of
the dragons who had left the Warren to act as back up if it was proven back
up was needed.

Ghost, aboard her pink dragon, Kikeane turned her eyes to look at her mate,
waiting for his signal just as she knew every other dragonrider was doing.

Word came that all had been settled peacefully inside the Warren. The bad
guys rounded up, but still Key sat there waiting. Ghost wasn't sure just
why, but she trusted her mate to know what he was doing. 

With the threat over and Tara reported safe, all Ghost wanted to do was go
home and take a nice long bath... If Key chose to join her... well she
wouldn't complain. The bathtub in the apartment they had picked out was big
enough for three people. Not that she ever planned to invite a third person
to one of their intimate parties... 

Word came that a group of soldiers from the Grouty Estates  had been spotted
just outside the Warren and once they had been admitted inside the Warren
proper, the dragons began talking about how they were to take charge of the
offenders and take them back to the land bound courts for trail. 

By then Ghost would have thought things were over and that they should be on
their way home. But still Key waited. Ghost barely kept herself from asking
him if this was some kind of lesson in patience, but kept her mouth shut.

Moments later she understood when word came that all hell had broken loose
back at the Warren when it turned out that the men posing as Grouty's men
turned out to be imposters. 

"Now we go!" Key called out loudly as all eyes turn to him expectantly. 

At the same time Kikeane passed along the message from Key's dragon Vas that
they were to go in fast and to give the Warren the back up they needed, but
no dragon was to use it's flame on any of the humans. 

<<He doesn't want to give the dirt bags a reason to cry that we dragons
harmed humans.> Kiki told her rider, which made perfect sense to Ghost.
Riders and their dragons had sworn to protect human life, and that was
something they took very seriously.. No matter what the human was doing. The
only time a dragon would turn violent was in protection of his life mate. 

With the signal given, the Wing lifted off and within seconds they were in
the air over the commotion on the ground. The sight of so many dragons
spouting flame (though all into the air above them) was enough to cause the
added confusion Key had been counting on. 

Within minutes the army on the ground was into total chaos as the men worked
to control the beasts they were riding, and it gave the Dragonriders the
chance to surround them and then bring them down.

<< Where's Tara...>> Ghost asked her dragon as they finally landed on the
field. The tiny girl raised herself up as high as she could in her saddle,
eyes looking around in hopes of seeing the woman this had all been about.   

<Varaenna's rider is safe for now... > Kiki assured her. <The one from the
sea with that funny little pet fought off the man who tried to kill
her...But he's missing now and no one can find him in the confusion.>

<<Then Tara's still in danger...>> Ghost replied, as she dismounted and
pulled out the sword she was wearing. Smaller then the average steal blade,
as Ghost wasn't all that big, it still cut a wide arch and she had no
trouble using it.

Knowing she should let the bigger dragonmen and Warren guards deal with the
prisoners, she kept out of their way as she walked through the crowd to find
her mate. 

She finally found him talking to Shawnee and Saul who were with Tara, and
Ghost was more then a little relieved to find out that their Warrenlady was
indeed all right.

Quickly she change directions and started towards them, but out of the
corner of her eyes she caught sight of something that shouldn't be there.

As if in slow motion she watched as a man with a knife began to head towards
the group centered around the Warrenlady. She could see her lovers back was
to the man and knew he'd never respond in time as the knife in the man's
hand started it's downward stoke.

She tried to scream out his name, but her voice wouldn't work. But even as
she stood there in shock over possibly loosing him, her hand had moved to
the knife on her hip and as the blade slid from it's sheath, her heart
stopped beating in fear for Key's life.

But somehow her hand had a mind of it's own, and just before the attacker's
knife could find it's mark in Keys back, she sent her own knife sailing
through the air and Ghost didn't even wait to see if it hit it's target
before her feet finally found the will to move. 

She began running towards Key... her lover... her life. She had to find out
if her aim had been true. Several big riders got in her way but she pushed
them aside, yelling at them to get out of her way and then when she finally
broke thought the sight that greeted her made her nearly faith in relief.

And then it hit her that she had killed a man. Not just any man, but the
father of her Warrenlady. It didn't enter her thoughts who the man was so
much as he was about to kill her lover when she had sent her blade sailing.

"WHO!" Tara cried out, and looked around at the people standing near by for
the culprit. 

The someone as bending over the man to check to see if they could fine any
sign of life... and then Saul's eyes caught sight of the knife hilt and knew
at once who's blade it was. 

"It that your knife Ghost?" he asked, and she nodded her head.

"He was going to... kill Key..." she stammered in shock as her eyes looked
upon the man laying in the dirt. The knife he had been about to use was
still clenched in his lifeless hand. "I had to do something... I didn't mean
to... but Key didn't see him... and I couldn't let him... "

Then her eyes shifted to look around at the others standing there. And then
finally she met the eyes of the Warrenlady, and wished the ground would open
up and take her when she saw the pain and sadness looking back at her in the
woman's eyes. 

"I'm sorry Tara... Gods I'm sorry... I didn't mean to kill him... " Ghost
cried as her mind became numb with the realization of what she had just
done. "But he was going to kill Key... and I couldn't let him do that..."

[[Tag John... how will Tara react... Ghost is afraid she might be banished
now because they were told not to harm the man... and here she went and
killed him :)

.............

Ghost didn't remember coming home, but at sometime during the aftermath of
the battle she had found her way there. When Key came home later that night
after giving his report, he found her curled up in a ball at the end of
their big sofa.

When she didn't respond to his calling her name, he became worried and went
to her, pulling her into his arms and spoke softly to her.

"Ghost... it's gonna be all right," he told her,

"But how can it be Key," she said in a emotionless voice. "I killed a man...
how can it get better?"

========

NRPG: Well Peter can he convince her?? She'd gonna need some comforting.....

John... Will Tara talk to her about it??

OH NO SHE KILLED KENNY!!!  No wait... it wasn't Kenny...that's a different
story..... 

***Submitted by: *****

Ghost & Kikeane
Jasra Warren 

Aka 
Barbara