Baeta stood and listened to Z'lec explain the situation, then turned to her 
temporary partner, Araminta, or Minty as her friends called her.

Baeta's partner had sprained a wrist somehow or another.  He hadn't been 
terribly forthcoming with the information, and Baeta suspected it was 
something spectacularly klutzish.  The man had a knack for that.

Minty's partner, Diana, was with her mate at Telnor, presumably with his 
family in dealing with the death of his son, B'rin.

They mounted up, got the image from the hatchling dragon, Storm, and 
teleported as a wing to the site where the girl had been found.

<Keep your mind open to other dragons,> Baeta instructed Jindalie.

<I am, dear.>

The wing split up as Z'lec had ordered, each taking a small wedge outward 
from the site, zig-zagging in larger and larger lines as they got further out.

<I see something!> Jindalie exclaimed.

Baeta peered down and saw it, too.  A glimmering shape below.

<Kirimith and her rider say we should go down.>

Baeta nodded her agreement to the younger woman and they spiralled down.

What greeted them was the body of a queen dragon, her hide scorched and 
torn.  Several spears and arrows also jutted from the body.  Baeta's 
stomach twisted as she saw it.

"This had to be caused by rogue riders," she said.

Minty nodded and studied the body.  "She's really thin."

"You think she was sitting on a clutch?"

Minty nodded.

"Well, then it can't be too far away, then."  Baeta told Jindalie to relay 
this information to the rest of the wing.  Then she and Minty remounted and 
continued their search.

Ten minutes later, a dragon appeared in the skies, keening piteously.  Minty 
and Baeta exchanged looks.  Both Kirimith and Jindalie turned and began 
following the dark green toward a cliff face.

<Jinda, love, what are you doing and what's wrong with that dragon?>

<His rider is dying.  We have to help him.>

<Of course we'll help him.  But send word to the rest of the Wing, would you?>

They landed on a ledge that let into a cavern which quickly opened up into 
a huge, sandy space.  Within it, they could see the rounded form of three 
eggs.  Colchis, for so the green dragon called himself, lumbered to a far 
nook, where a human form lay limp, near a sputtering lantern.

The two women approached nervously, watching for traps.

In the lantern light, they made out the features of a young man, in his late 
teens, his dark hair plastered to his head.  His left arm and side had a 
sloppily-applied dressing.  Baeta leaned down and pulled the dressing 
aside.  Underneath, was charred skin.  Baeta pulled aside the blanket that 
covered the rest of his form.  He still wore a pair of leather pants, but 
they were browned and stuck oddly to his leg.

"He's been badly burned."

"According to Colchis, they attacked that queen, and she flamed him," Minty 
said.

Baeta nodded.  "And the rest of the rogues?"

"Abandoned him here."

She sighed.  "Okay, we need to get him back to the warren, I think.  If he 
survives, he might tell us more about Roland and his band.  Are those eggs 
still warm?"

Minty rose and ran her hand along the surface of one shell.  "Yes, and very 
hard.  They're close to hatching."

<Colchis says he has been keeping the sands warm for them, as much as he 
can,> Jindalie informed her.

"We ought to take the eggs, too, then," Baeta said.  "I'll have Jinda call 
the rest of the wing to get us some help.  We may want that healer-- 
Lakoda, is that her name?-- to come here to supervise moving the rider.  
I'm afraid of injuring him more."

"What about Arri?"

Baeta shook her head.  "Too dangerous out here for a queenrider.  We don't 
know if the rogues might come back or not.  We only have Colchis's belief 
that his rider has been abandoned by his fellows."

Minty nodded.  "You're right."

Baeta studied the young man's face in the flickering light.  <Jinda, what's 
the human's name?>

<Ranon.>

"Ranon.  Nice name.  He has such an honest face, too.  You wonder how such 
a kid got in with the likes of Roland."

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Baeta and Jindalie

NRPG: Les, if you want to do more with them waiting in the cave for some 
help, feel free.  If not, I guess Kris or Barb can write getting Ranon and 
the eggs back to the warren and to the Medical Center.  Question is, who 
gets the pleasure of brooding those eggs now that they're orphaned?

---
|   Lynette R. F. Cowper  *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess    |
| http://www.io.com/~lcowper  *  lcowper@io.com  *  lcowper@indy.net |
|  "If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever |
|                   get done."  -- L. Wittgenstein                   |