The group of men stood among the rocks and scrub lining the road, bows and 
swords at the ready.  The sound of bleating sheep and lowing cattle grew 
louder till the first of the herd bound for Telnor crested the rise.  The 
horsemen among the bandits rode forward while their compatriots prepared to 
put down any resistance.

A man with wavy blond hair and laughing green eyes watched his companions 
ride into the herd, then saw the dragons winging toward them.

As he saw the bowmen change their aim, he muttered, "Damn, damn, damn. What 
is Ophelia thinking?"

"Shadow sir, what do we now? There's dragons in the sky." The bowman nearest
to him asked. "How could they have known we'd be here?"

'Yes, how could they have known,' the blond man, known to his men only as 
The Shadow, asked himself as the two men watched the dragons drawing nearer. 
The men on horses were having a hard time trying to keep their mounts steady 
as they became aware of the great beast above.

"Spread the word to all the men," The Shadow turned to the bowman, "Have 
them stay out of sight, but be ready to move as soon as the dragons are gone.

"Damn Ophelia," he thought again. She was supposed to be sending her riders 
out to the other side of the valley today. The fattened cattle and sheep
were supposed to be making their way to the Warren, unattended except by the 
greedy herdsman and a few of his men. Easy pickings....At least that was the
information he had received from his contact inside the Warren. 

What went wrong? he wondered as he watched the four dragons land. 

**"Who are they? Do you know any of them?"**  blond haired leader sent a 
quick thought.

*Only  the big orange dragon,"*  the return answer echoed in his head. 
*"It's Dalanth, H'nry is his human rider."*

"Oh shit!!" the blond man swore, recognizing the riders name. He remembered
H'nry as being a smart man, not easily fooled. Deep green eyes move to skim 
over the other three dragons. It was then that he almost faltered. When his 
eyes moved past the man approaching the herder and landed on the rider of 
the lavender dragon. With that head of white blond hair the girl was easy to
recognize, even at this distance.

 Danielle!!

"So!" he thought to himself, "she had finally joined with a dragon of her 
own. The last time he had seen her, she was just a warren brat and a flirt, 
with dreams of one day joining with a flying dragon. "What a flirt too," 
he thought. At the time he had been tempted, but thought her to young... 
now!! At any other time, blond haired man would have been over joyed to 
see her. But now was not the time to think about it.

The other two riders, were unknown to him.

*The red one is Sabbith, and the light blue one is Dianthus. They are 
both newly joined.* The thought came into his head, *We can not allow 
them to be harmed* 

**No one will be hurt if I can help it,** the blond man sent back. ** Stay 
out of sight, but stay ready incase I need you. Do you remember the time 
we took Danbridge away form that group of hunters? I may need you do try 
it again if the dragons come back. The girl on the blue.**

* I know what to do.* came the answer.

Minutes ticked by, while green eyes kept tracked of the scene before him. 
He watched as Danielle all but pulled the rider of the red dragon up to 
where H'nry was talking to the lazy jerk who called himself a herdsman. 
There seemed to be some kind of argument going on between the boy rider 
and a few of the others.

Finally he watched as H'nry moved to settle the dispute, sending the boy 
back to his dragon before turning back to the herdsman. Words were 
exchanged then H'nry turned and walked back to his own dragon, remounted 
and raised his hand to give the order to lift off.

The herdsman stood there in the middle of the road, watching as the 
dragons flew away. Even at a distance the blond haired man could tell, 
the man on the road was fuming over what ever it was the rider has said 
to him. He saw the man turn to face a young boy. One of those who had 
been arguing with the boy rider, lay him out flat with a backhand to 
the face then walk away. The herdsman began yelling orders to the men 
standing around and soon everyone was up and readying the herd for the 
next part of the trip.
*****
Quickly the blond headed leader turned to the bowman a few feet away, 
giving a few orders of his own. He turned his attention back to the herd 
of cattle and  sheep approaching, knowing the bowman would do as he was 
told. 

The battle ...if you would call it that didn't take long. The herdsmen 
and his men didn't put up much of a struggle. The men on horses began 
to gather up the cattle and start them moving back the way they had come. 
There was a little cut off not far from where they where, were they would 
drive the beast. Sand on the trail would cover any sign of movement. The 
raiders had used it before, and no one had stumbled across the trick yet.

"It would seem herderman Evart, we are once again in your debt," the blond
haired
man remarked with a short humorless laugh. "My men will eat well again 
thanks to your generous donation to our cause." He took a step back and 
gave a slightly mocking bow.

"Laugh now raider scum," The dark man sneered. "But before you 
congratulate yourself for your thievery, you'd better take a look up in 
the sky behind you." 

*They have returned,I will be ready* 

The raider's dark and forbidding green eyes never left those of Evart's.
The cool, almost ruthless look on his face was enough to send shivers 
down the mans back. 

"If you do not want to die where you stand," the leader said, his voice 
a soft deadly tone as he spoke. "You will raise your hand up and wave to 
the dragon riders to land. You will then tell them that my men and I 
startled the herd as we came racing around the bend in the road, causing 
them to scatter. We offered to help round them up and set you back on 
your way."

"Do you think the riders are that stupid they won't notice you men are all
holding
weapons," 

Though his lips curved into a smile, his green eye were as cold as ice. 
"If you look around, the only weapon you will see is the arrow in the 
trees behind me, pointing at your son," He stepped aside just enough for 
the man to see. " There is another one behind you, but you'll have to 
take my word for that."

A hot spill of anger surged inside the mans body knowing there was nothing
he could do without getting his son or himself killed. Well it was no 
difference to him, he wouldn't be held accountable for the tithe beast 
now, why not just do as he was instructed and get it over with.

Evart slowly started to raise one arm upward, it was soon joined by the 
other as he waved them back and forth to draw the dragon riders attention.
***
H'nry up on Dalanth and the other three were making a return sweep of the 
area when he happened to glance down and saw most of the cattle and sheep 
were missing. He could see herder Evart standing there next to a man he 
couldn't recognize from up in the air.  He could also see horses, where 
before there had been none. Herder Evart was waving wildly trying to get 
his attention. Nothing looked to be amiss, but from up here he really 
couldn't tell. 

H'nry had Dalanth give the order for Danielle to have Lyonnia and Kay land 
a little ways behind them and to have them stay on their dragons.

H'nry's senses began to tingle a little, as he made his way towards Evart 
and a second man he didn't recognize, quickly his eyes scanned the area
butnothing looked out of place. Except the herd beast. Not only where they 
out of place....they were no place to be seen.

"Evart, where are the cattle and sheep?" H'nry thought Ophelia's suspicions
about trouble with the herd may have been right. Then he remembered the 
Warren had had trouble with this man before. Maybe that was what the 
Warrenlady had ment.

There was a tall blond headed man standing next to Evart when H'nry stop 
before them.  "I asked you where the tithe beast are, herder. Or is this 
another of your tricks? The Warrenlady will not be happy if you lose 
another herd ment for the Warren, " he threaten.

"Beggin' yer pardon rider," the tall blond spoke up, his head slightly 
bowed. "Ah donna want tis fine man te git in no trooble for wot my men'n 
me caused. Was sur'nuff our reckless ways on te horses that caused te 
beasties to go runnin' off down te trail,"

H'rny wasn't falling for it. He knew something here wasn't right. When he 
turned away just for a second to speak to Dalanth, the blond haired man 
spoke up, when H'nry turned back to face him, there was a sword in the 
man's hand and it was pointed right at his chest.

"If you call your dragon for help, you'll both die this day," his words 
were as clear as the threat he made. The sword in his hand had appeared 
out of no where, as did the men with bows and knives surrounding them.

"Now you're to tell that pretty little girl on the ground next to the 
dragon, to mount up and teleport back to where ever you came from," he
instructed the rider, "and only that. For if I see anymore dragons around 
here before we have a chance to leave......

Suddenly the dark green dragon lifted off of the ground , he swept down 
low and plucked the young girl off of the sky blue dragon and in the next
instance they were both gone.

"You Son of a bitch," H'nry swore while making a move towards the blond man.

"Stay where you are rider," the steely voice ordered, the sword in his 
hand poised to strike if need be. "There'll be no killing here by my men 
today, not if they can help it. Do as I say and order your Dragons away. 
When I'm sure they're really gone I'll set the girl rider free unharmed. 
You have my word on that."

H'nry stood there fuming, he wasn't afraid for himself, but for the young 
rider out on her first patrol. Angry with himself for letting down his
guard, only for a second, but with the speed in which the blade had appeared
in the young mans hands, it wouldn't have mattered if they had been standing
face 
to face.
  
H'nry mentally sent Dalanth a quick message to have the other three stand on
alert but not to try anything. Dianthus was fidgeting around some, but she
seemed pretty calm despite her rider being taken like that.

[The green told Dianthus, her rider would be left unharmed as soon as we 
were all out of the area, and no other dragons were reported near by. Kay 
has also tried to calm her down. He believes the green tells the truth.] 
Dalanth told his rider.

"How do I know the girl will be unharmed?" H'nry growled in a low voice as 
he faced the raider.

The man gave a bitter laugh, "Ask the Warrenlady Ophelia," he sneered. "She
knows The Shadow, never makes promises he can't keep."

****Submitted by:****************************

Barbara
Voice of:
Tera & Sundellath (Telnor)
Ga'brin & Preston (Telnor)
Dan'yar & Shinner (soon of Cleft)
"The Shadow" (points unknown )
Dragonlands
********************************************
(nrpg: everyone have fun :) But please don't catch my Shadow too soon. 
I want to have some fun with him first.

 Does Danielle get a good enough look at him.....