[Ceth]

Keev darted down one of the tunnels.  Ceth groaned to herself, as she picked
herself up to chase after him.  It was DARK.  She made her way back to the
main entrance and grabbed a branch from the fire before trying again.  
After feeling the excruciating pain caused by placing her pack on her 
shoulders, she decided to leave it behind.

"KEEV?" she shouted.

"KEEV  EEV EEV..." the echos shouted back.

'This is fun!' Ceth happily thought.  "KEEV!" she shouted again.  After
about 15 minutes of wandering through the caves, her branch burned too
low for her to comfortably hold.  She dropped it, still shouting, making
her way through the tunnels with a hand against the wall.  Other than
the sound of her footsteps, and the echos of her voice, there was nary
a sound to be heard.  Ceth frowned.  A TRUE dark elf would move with
total silence.  Still trying to find Keev, she worked towards moving
silently, her cape moving jauntily behind her.

It was cold.  She was cold.  She needed to find Keev.  How can I be
cold when my skin is burning?  Keev.  The little boy who ran down
the tunnels.  The half-elf who ran away from home.  Home...step-father.
Ceth shivered.

"KEEV!"

The echos mocked her.  So cold.

"KEEV!"  She needed to find Keev.  She would be good for him.  She would
want him until he threw her away.  The echos affirmed her promise.

"KEEV!"  her father was looking for her.  Not Ceth the Bard, her OTHER
father.  The one who was never there.  What was that!  The earth rumbled,
threw  her flat.  Ceth tsked at her lack of grace, then continued crawling
and shouting.  So cold, but burning.  Fire burned.

Ceth found herself at the entrance to the cave.  Fire.  She went outside,
gathered wood to burn.  Cold.  Large fire.  Heat..burns....

A DRAGON!  Ceth gathered her will...cast....nothing happened.  She frowned,
tried again.  She waved her arms in the air, hoping to scare it off.

S'brogh spotted the huge blaze and directed Iganeth that way.  The strange
half-elf creature was beside the fire, waving her arms.  He landed and
dismounted.

Ceth knew she had failed her task, best to get it over with.  She was 
dusty, her fingernails dirt-encrusted.  "Keev's in there," she
yelled, pointing to a cave mouth, as soon as his feet touched the ground.
"He was in a tunnel when the earthquake hit.  I can't find him."

S'brogh absorbed this information in shock.  "He's caught in the cavern?"

Didn't he know?  Didn't he assign the task to her? 

"I don't know.  He ran off.  I tried to follow him.  He's lost... maybe hurt."

S'brogh nodded.  "You stay here.  I'll get help."

With that, he was back on his dragon, mounting to the sky.  Ceth watched as
the man and dragon winked out awaiting her fate.  She wrapped her arms
around her legs, hoping for a warmth that was kinder than the fire.  She 
had failed, THEY would punish her.
*********

[D'nil]

V'kat strode up to him, looking more furious than ever.

"What did you do with her?"

"With who?"

"That assassin thing...what's her name...Ceth!"

"She was hungry, I threw her out," D'nil edited the truth a bit.           

"Oh, good job!" V'kat sneered.  Noticing that others were around, he
modulated his tone.  In a sickly sweet voice he continued, "You threw
her out and she kidnapped Keev in revenge...she also stole an 18 inch
knife to do it with."

At D'nil's sick look, V'kat smiled, "Why don't you consider yourself
on vacation for a bit so you don't do any thing else...like finishing
the job the assassin started."  With that, V'kat walked away.

D'nil felt sick.  He was the one who rescued her, and to find THIS
out.  He sighed; he should have let her drown.

(Later that evening...)

"D'nil!" V'kat rushed up to him, "They've found Keev!  Come on, maybe
you can do some good for a change!"

There was still a bonfire burning in the clearing by the lake.  He noticed
a small figure huddled beside the fire, but his attention was quickly
diverted by the rescue attempts.  He noticed people wandering in and out,
marking the walls, trying to find the boy, and each other.  Apparently
the tunnel network was quite extensive.  After a few hours, they finally
found Keev.  Excavating him took hours.  The walls in that area of the
cave were sandstone: very unstable.  Digging Keev out frequently meant
trapping the rescuers, who then had to be rescued.  He spent his time
cleaning cuts and wrapping them up.

Finally, they found him.  V'kat rushed to his side, only to have Kyven
push him away.  D'nil found a glimmer of satisfaction at the sight.  As
he turned to leave, he noticed the person by the fire again.  As he
walked up to her, he noticed the signs of shock.  He then realized it was
Ceth.  He turned and walked away.
**********

[Kyven]

Kyven was relieved, at first, when S'brough brought the news that Keev
had been found.  He quickly organized the healers and orderlies to form
parts of the rescue team.  He was also frighted by what they may found,
frighted enough to not be able to think clearly.  First Reet, and now
Keev......  he was relieved when V'kat took over.

*So close* Aethnod thought at him.

Kyven agreed, fuming.  They had passed the site at least twice, not realizing
Keev was there.

Once there, he managed to calm himself.  Helping to direct the efforts calmed
him.  After having to be rescued a few times from the caves, he stopped
trying to find his son himself.  He wanted to be there when Keev was found.
He threw himself into his work.

Finally, they found him.  DAMN them, they wouldn't let him go down.  
Something about the rock being unstable.  After seeing the injuries of 
the excavating team, he reluctantly agreed. 

When they brought Keev out, his heart nearly stopped.  That limp form
couldn't...COULDN'T be his son.  Seeing V'kat rush to tend him snapped
him out of his dazed state.  This was HIS son, who the hell did V'kat
think he was to take over.

The injuries were quite extensive.  Both legs were broken, concussion, 
ribs seemed to be bruised, thank goodness, not broken.  Was that a 
flinch? Yes, back isn't broken.  Numerous bruises and cuts.  Cuts aren't 
bleeding much.  Bad. Skin cold, clammy.  Lips seemed discolored, but hard 
to tell in this light.  Probably extensive internal bleeding and going 
into shock.

Gathering him into his arms, Kyven rushed to his dragon, nearly running
someone over in his haste.  Finding himself back at the warren, Kyven
went to work.
*********

[V'kat]

V'kat was frightened.  This was not unusual.  V'kat was always 
frightened.  He knew some day he would die, and there would be nothing to 
show that he existed.  He had a plan, though.  Some day, SOME day, 
everyone would know who he was, and he could rest knowing that people 
knew that he existed.

It wasn't fair.  D'nil fished that...that....V'kat didn't want to think 
about it.  It should have been HIM.  Him, not some orderly who just 
happened to be there.  D'nil USED to be his friend.  How could he do this 
to him.  He was just about to share his plan, too.  Well, he would show HIM.

Worse was what happened to the DragonLady.  He needed her.  He NEEDED 
her.  So beautiful.....but some things are not meant to be.  It was 
justice, in away, that D'nil's creature would do that to her.  

He was therefore honored to be there just after SHE gave birth to her 
daughter.  He wished she could just rest, take the time that she needed, 
but she was right, working would make her happy.  Anything that made her 
happy had to be good, right?

It was awful.  He talked to his friend, his REAL friend, and she told him 
all about that creature.  He was horrified when he found out that Ceth 
had cursed her, and beyond horror when he realized that that Ceth-thing 
had kidnapped Keev.  Poor Kyven.  He would do everything he could to make 
things easier for him, and Chrystalla....for all of them.  He stopped for 
a moment, basking in their gratitude.  Then, returning to reality, he had 
a few words to say to D'nil.  It was a shame, really, but D'nil had to 
realize what he had done.

He was happy to serve Kyven when they had found Keev, but dismayed to be 
tossed aside at the last moment.  He EXISTED, he wanted to scream, you 
can't push me away like this!  You can't do this to ME!

But he was V'kat.  He was calm.  He didn't let the unfairness of the 
world affect him.  Not even when he saw that dragonrider rescue Ceth.

As he paced behind the medical center that night, he firmly said, "No, 
don't kill her yet.  We need to find out more about her kind.  What kinds 
of trauma they can withstand.  What diseases, and poisons do the most 
harm," he smiled, "and pain."

[NRPG:  Ceth's problem is that she is badly, badly sunburned, her pack 
had burst blisters along her shoulders and back.

I haven't been keeping track of what I've posted, and characters, so I 
hope I didn't mangle details too badly, and left enough open for anyone 
else to work with.]

June