From: Dianne <marialla@rockriver.net>


>K'Tarr looked at the young woman for a moment. His gaze seemed to climb 
>deep into her soul from behind his painted face. He leaned in quite close 
>to her face. She could smell the scent of dirt and trees and dragon on his 
>skin. "It means that when I hunt, I usually get what I want?"

He leaned into her as she backed away.  This is the closest she had been to
a man, well other than Antwin, except when Alexis attempted to rape her and
did rape her dear friend, Mari.  She became very tense when the thought of
her friend entered her mind, but it was soon broken by the call of her dragon.

<The one with the furball is in trouble.>  Donjanth sent her.

*Cat?* she thought back.  *In trouble how?*

<She was in the water, and didn't come back up.  We're searching for her,
but it's so dark.>

Kalena glanced at K'Tarr and jumped to her feet and ran thru the forest, in
a direction she thought was towards the lake.  The hunter grabbed her arm
to stop her.  

"This way."  he said pulling him with her.  

" I can't keep up with you."  she stammered out of breath.  "My legs are
too short."

The man picked her up and carried her with ease, setting her down as they
reached the shore.

She quickly dove into the water.  Knowing it was nearly hopeless to find
her underwater at night.  But not wanting anything to happen to another
friend.  It would just be another thing to blame herself for, if she didn't
try.

*Doni,* she said to her dragon. *K'lvin is very tired.  Tell Firegem to
bring him to the surface.*

<Firegem has been trying.  But his rider won't listen.>

Kalena was frightened.   She feared it was already to late for Cat and
didn't want the same thing to happen to K'lvin.  She again was in a
situation where she wanted more than ever to help her friends and felt that
she was incapable of helping.  She didn't know what to do.

Then she saw Qualis surface with the young girl laying unconscious across
the back of his neck.  K'Tarr positioned her and held onto her as Qualis
headed towards shore.

>"They've found her!"  Kalena suddenly appeared beside him.  "Qualis has
>her."
>
>Qualis' dark bulk surfaced a short distance away and began heading
>swiftly towards the distant shore.  K'lvin scrambled onto Firegem's
>back, reached down for Kalena and then urged the dragon to race after
>the other.

It seemed like hours before Cat began to breath again.  Kalena knew it
hadn't been long but time passed slowly when they didn't know if the girl
would live or not.

She'd seen the same concern that was in K'lvin's eyes many times.  She'd
seen it in T'rell's eyes when he found out about Mari being raped.  K'lvin
was in love with Cat.  Did the girl realize this?  She was a lucky girl.
Kalena hoped she realized that.  She saw how much help T'rell had been for
Mari, while she recovered from the rape.  He had been here strength and his
love never wavered.  She saw this same look in K'lvin's eyes.  Kalena hoped
that Cat would be able to open her eyes and see this look too.

Kalena said a silent prayer to the gods as Antwin gave first aid to Cat.
K'Tarr placed a towel around her shoulders as he saw her begin to shiver
from a combination of the cool night air on her damp skin and fear for the
young girl lying on the beach.

It was like a chorus of sighs, as the girl began to cough.  Everything
seemed to move quickly then.  K'lvin had scooped Cat into his arms and was
on Firegem's back and away.  As Karina soon was on Donjanth and K'Tarr and
Antwin on Qualis.  The three were gone nearly as quickly.

By the time Qualis and Donjanth landed near the med center K'lvin already
had Cat with the  healers.  Kalena hurried inside.

"Is she going to be alright?" she asked a worried looking K'lvin.

"Yes, they say she's fine.  But they want to keep her here for observation
overnight.  If she's fine why does she have to stay here?"  she could hear
the worry in his voice.

"I'm sure it's just a precaution."  she said.  "She'll be fine and if she's
here, someone will be checking on her through-out the night."

"But I could do that." he said.

"I'm sure you could.  But if she wasn't alright, what could you do except
bring her back here.  I'm sure there can be some complications.  I think
the biggest fear may be pneumonia.  If she aspirated a lot of water.  I'm
sure that they won't mind if you'd like to stay with her until she falls
asleep."

"I don't know.  Maybe that's not such a good idea."  he said sadly.

"Don't give up on her." was all she said. "I'm heading back to my
apartment.  Tell her I'm thinking about her."

(Tag Les)

**********

As Donjanth landed on the ledge and Kalena slid off her back the dragon
cocked her head.

<You seem sad tonight, my rider.  It's not because of the girl with the
ball of fur?  She will be alright,  Everyone knows that now.>

*No dear, that's not it.* she said as she headed into the apartment.

<Well it's something.>

*I'm just wondering if they'll ever be anyone who will look at me the way
K'lvin looks at Cat, or T'rell at Mari.  I know it's silly.  But sometimes
I wonder.*

<I think Qualis' rider would like to look at you that way.>

*Silly dragon,  Men like to look at women.  Usually it's not the same look
than the one I'm talking about.*

<I don't understand you sometimes.>  the dragon said as she laid on the
ledge looking down at the rest of the warren as her rider went into the
apartment.

***********

Kalena and Donjanth







     All original creative content in this document is 
Copyright © 1999, Dianne L. Eberle, Rockford, Illinois, USA.

--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------

Get EXPERT CONTENT at ONElist!
Join PROS&PUNDITS.  For details go to: 
<a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/prospun1 ">Click Here</a> 

------------------------------------------------------------------------