*Dianthus, how's Sabbith?* Lyonnia asked, heading toward her friend and his
partner.

<He's fine.  Eclipse and Sunburst are taking care of him.>

Suddenly, she heard a dragon's roar, and whirled to see an angry Sundellath
stomping towards the forest, trying to get through the trees.  She stopped
and asked her best friend's dragon *What's wrong?*

:My rider!  She's been taken!:

My god!, Lyonnia thought, racing to the edge of the forest.  She saw Gab'rin
ahead of her, racing the same way she was and getting to the forest before
her.  She slowed somewhat, knowing with Gab'rin Tera would be okay, but
still wanting to help.

Then, she saw H'nry coming out of another section of the forest, to her
left, and slowed down some more.  She didn't know where to go; her friend,
who was in desperate need according to Sundalleth, or her own partner, who
seemed to have a struggling.....girl?

She darted a look after Gab'rin, then at H'nry, then painfully decided that
any more people helping Tera might be more of a hinderance than a help.  She
sighed, and headed to her partner.  It was then that she noticed that
Dianthus was almost right behind her, startling her somewhat.  *Backing me
up, bluebird?* she teased.

<Yes, carrot top> came the smug reply.  Lyonnia fought back the laugh at the
apt nickname, keeping her face composed as she came upon her partner.  She
saw that Dalanth had come over as well, and was staring at the girl ferociously.

>H'nry laughed a bit out loud.  The girl turned to look at him, "What's so
>funny?"
>
>"He asked if he could eat you," H'nry replied flatly gesturing toward Dalanth.
>
>"Oh," the girl said, catching a glimpse of Dalanth's teeth, "OH!  You aren't
>going to let him?"
>
>"Don't know.  Haven't made up my mind yet."
>
>"Are you ok," Lyonnia asked.
>
>"Yeah, I think so.  Just a few scrapes from running into some trees.  You?"
>
>"I'm fine."
>
>"Ok, let's see if we can figure out what's going on here," H'nry said leading
>the girl over toward the man they had been talking to in the woods.

"It seems Tera was kidnapped a minute or so ago," Lyonnia began, keeping her
eyes foward.  Even with that, she could almost feel H'nry's surprise.
"Gab'rin went out to find her.  I hope they're okay."  She suddenly thought
of her best friend, dead, and cursed herself mentally for not helping.
Stupid, stupid, she thought bitterly, but didn't let anything show.  "I
brought the man who tricked us back to camp; I didn't know whether or not he
would try to get away, or if he was part of a plot or not.  And I was sure
you could take care of yourself," she added hastily, hoping he didn't mind
that she hadn't gone after him to help.

He didn't seem angry though.  "That's good," he answered.  "Where did you
put him?"

"Over there," she said, pointing at M'rtain.  They both walked over there,
H'nry leading the girl somewhat roughly by the arm.  The man they had been
talking to seemed utterly cowed by M'rtain, who stood guard over his prisoner.

>H'nry turned to the man he'd talked to in the woods, "Who's she?" he asked,
>gesturing to the girl.
>
>"She's one of the raider's girls.  I didn't know she was still here.  I
>thought she left with the rest of them."
>
>"Why should I believe you?  How do I know that you weren't leading us into a
>trap?"
>
>"I wasn't, I swear.  I don't like what's happened to this village.  It used to
>be filled with honest hard working people.  We weren't rich, but we made our
>livings honestly, all of us.  Then the raiders began to move in.  A few at
>first, using the village to hide in when they were being looked for.  Then
>more arrived.  The honest folk began to move out.  We should have, but my
>father was too stubborn to leave the land, his land.  We stayed because we had
>to, for his sake.  I'm no friend of these raiders," the man answered.
>
>> Tera walked right up to the man and let him take a good look at
>> her. She knew the second recognition set in.
>
>Tera had been held in the woods while H'nry had been chasing after the girl.
> He'd heard of her rescue after the fact from Dalanth.  The bald man she was
>speaking to had apparently planned to murder her before she joined.  She was
>less than happy to see him.
>
>> "Your friend is dead. Just like you had planed for me. Only I'm
>> going to walk away and go on living my life. You should start
>> worrying about what's going to happen to you when your trial's
>> over. I hear the penalty for murder is to be left outside chained
>> to a pole and left there for the wraiths to find." she began to
>> turn away and then stopped and look back at him one more time, her
>> green eyes as cold as ice. "I only wish I could be there to see
>> them find you."
>
Lyonnia could see the fear in the man's eyes as her best friend told him a
punishment, and felt like hugging the girl.  Way to go sis! she thought
happily, but decided that questions, and congradulations, were for later.

>H'nry looked at Lyonnia and said, "I think we've done enough damage here for
>one day.  Let's get out of here before we do any more."
>
>"What about them?" Lyonnia said gesturing to the assembled villagers.
>
>"We take him," H'nry indicated the bald man, "back to the Warren.  The rest
>may remain here, but be warned that we know where you are and will be watching
>closely."
>
>Then H'nry leaned closer to the man he talked to in the woods, "I think some
>of the raiders will be leaving soon."
>
>As they walked to their dragons Lyonnia asked, "Why did you let them all go?"
>
>"The warren isn't set up as a prison.  We don't have any place to keep so many
>people.  The bald man will be used as an example."

As they walked away, Lyonnia felt a small breeze behind her, and turned to
find a large dragon landing behind her and H'nry.  She saw immediately that
it was Dameon and Themis, and, puzzled, turned to meet them.  *Di, isn't
Dameon supposed to be in the hospital or something?* she asked, curious.

<Themis tells me that he left without permission> her dragon answered.
<Themis thinks his rider is stupid sometimes.>

I can see why, Lyonnia thought dryly.  If she remembered right, it had
something to do with his heart, and hearts didn't just heal suddenly.

>The pair landed and Dameon hopped off, when his feet hit the ground her 
>got a cold chill.  But it was nothing.  He must be concentrating on that 
>too much.
>
>Walking over to the pair of riders he smiled, he was so happy to be out 
>again.
>
>"Heya H'nry, Lyonnia.  Are you to toying with people again?"

H'nry, who had seen Lyonnia turn around and had spotted the pair, was about
to say something when he was interrupted by an indignant Tahlaya.

>Running towards the dark blue dragon she shouted,
>
>"Dameon, what the hell are you doing here?"
>
Dameon looked at the girl and seemed to deflate somewhat.  "Hi Tahlaya," he
said, his voice still cheerful but strangly hollow.

"Don't 'Hi Tahlaya' me," she said, pulling up alongside Dameon and putting a
finger to his chest.  "You are supposed to be in the hospital," she said,
emphasizing each word with a jab in the chest, "and why are you...."  She
trailed off somewhat when she saw what she was doing, and pulled her hand
away from his chest like her finger was a knife, but continued to berate him.  

Lyonnia, thinking the two may want to be alone, turned back and headed
towards the central square.  She was quite curious about exactly what was
going on, and decided that the congregation of people seemed to be the most
reasonable place to find the answers she was looking for.


NRPG:  Okay, I hope I got this all right.  If I didn't, real sorry.  

BTW:  I have a little question.  How much time has gone on between the
hatching and now?


Submitted by

Sarah
Lyonnia/Dianthus *Telnor*
Laris *Telnor*