[DL] To the Rescue

<I have the image, Darlea! I know where he is....>

Darlea watched as the four dragons ahead of them disappeared. For a moment
she had second thoughts. She had never teleported by herself before. She had
always been with her father. She knew that bad teleporting could mean the
loss of a dragon. What if she were making a mistake.

<Don't be afraid, Darlea... I have the image. Just picture it with me.>
Suddenly the image flooded her head. She saw a large odd shaped rock jutting
out of the granite. There was lots of smoke clouding her vision. She
couldn't see through it. <Concentrate on the rock, Darlea. Concentrate on
the rock!>

Darlea did as Makayla asked. She trusted her dragon's inborn instincts and
knew that their best chance of surviving the teleport was to be of one mind.
With practice the dragon would be able to teleport with ease. But this would
be Makayla's first teleport, so Darlea concentrated until all she saw was
that rock.  

<Let's do it!> she thought to Makayla. Seconds later she felt the mind
numbing cold of teleporting.  She wouldn't let her concentration falter.
Despite the cold she kept the image of the rock and within seconds she
realized that she was no longer seeing an image, but the real thing. She
also realized that once again, she was warm.

****

Sheltie heard the dragon keening out in the courtyard. After having lived in
the warren for so long, she knew that was a signal of trouble. She had never
liked the sound not even before she met D'Nar. As a young girl it had
distressed her. As a young woman in love with a Dragonrider it frightened
her. Now as the mother of a newly joined Dragonrider, she near frantic.

"What is it?" She cried running into the dinning room.

"There's been another Wraith attack!" someone shouted.  It was hard to keep
new from spreading in the warren. And this type of news spread like a wild fire.

The news hit her full in the gut. She almost fell from the impact of those
words. She tried to calm herself down, knowing the M'ressan would never send
his trainee's out this early. But she also knew her impetuous daughter.
Darlea had always been fearless. Especially when it came to dragons. Sheltie
was sure she had her father to thank for that. 

"I have to find Darlea," she said to Melnora. "Can you see to the
preparations of numbing ointment?"

The older woman nodded. Melnora had been like a mother to Sheltie since her
mother had died in childbirth when she only 7. The babe did not survive
either and Sheltie's father had gone into a deep depression from which he
never recovered. Melnora had been there to pick up the pieces of a broken
child's life. She had also been there to pick up the pieces of a young
woman's heart when D'Nar had left. She would also be there if anything
happened to.....

No, she refused to think about such things. She hurried out to the training
field to find out where Darlea was.  Seeing from a distance that it was
empty she began questioning the people milling about the courtyard.

No one seemed to know what had become of the trainee's.

****

Darlea watched as the larger dragons blew flame at the Wraiths.  It was then
that she realized, she hadn't bothered to feed Makayla any coal. She
wouldn't be able to blow any flame.  So while the larger dragons fought the
Wraiths, she flew down to find Michel.

<Where is he, Makayla?>

<Right down there, can't you see him?> asked the dragon.

<No, the smoke is too thick, I can't see anything down there. You'll have to
lead the way, deary. And try to stay away from the Wraiths>

Makayla dove into the smoke. It stung Darlea's eyes and made them water. Now
she was really blind. But Makayla wasn't having any trouble seeing where she
was going, so Darlea just hung on tightly while the dragon dodged the Wraiths.

--Darlea & Makayla
****
NRPG: I didn't want to do to much while I waited for other posters to get
into the action:)

Oh, and somebody might want to save poor Sheltie from wandering around the
courtyard. Not that you have to, cause if no one else can, I will find a NPC
or something to help her:)

Kristen
Kristen
(AKA - Dr. Janna Swansen, CMO, USS Bismarck, ASR)
(AKA - Lt. Krysa Jenn, Ops/2O, USS Feynman, ASR)
(AKA - Ens. Ainese Kev, CSciO, USS Magellan, WW)
(AKA - Bree, Broken Lands, WW)
(AKA - Darlea & Makayla, Dragon Lands, WW)
(AKA - Dr. Darla Shane, CMO, Starbase 109, UFPI)
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/kris.htm