[Day 3, the trial, Retala]

She had failed.  Somehow, she had failed to keep L'sein from being
banished.  She looked at R'chein's white face, trying to convey her
apology.  He turned and left.  She looked at her notes, as if the answer
to Ophelia's behaviour was contained in them somewhere.  He had shown that
there was considerable doubt that L'sein was guilty.  Enough that he
shouldn't have been banished.

It was insane!

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.  She looked up to see Kalewyn
gesturing frantically.  She shook her head.  "Kalewyn, I don't
understand."

"He said, 'Stop this!'" Kattibrie filled in.  Kalewyn looked at her
thankfully and then picked up his slate. 

[This is wrong! You have to stop this!]

Retala shook her head, "There's nothing I can do now."

The deaf rider signed emphatically.

"I'm sorry, Kay.  It's over."

Kattibrie started pulling him away, but Kay stayed planted, looking at
Retala with pleading eyes. The woman shook her head at him, and held up
her hands, letting him know that her hands were tied. There was nothing
more she could do.

"What about the Dragonlady?" Kattibrie asked.

Retala looked at her for a moment, then nodded.  "We could appeal to
her...  but..." 

Kalewyn signed again, frantic.

Though she didn't understand that exact signs, she did understand the
meaning.  She nodded.  "I'll do what I can."

He finally allowed Kattibrie to pull him out.

H'nry pushed his way forward and gathered Retala into an embrace,
"Congratulations, I think."

"For what?  I got him banished," she said bitterly.

"It's probably better than death or castration.  You *did* prove that he
was not guilty of raping Kerra."

But it hadn't helped.  Even with proof, he'd still been banished.  But it
would help when she went to the DragonLady. "I guess it's half a victory," 
Retala said. 

"Do you have a few minutes?"

"For a celebration or something else?"

"Something else."

"Sure," Retala replied.

******

[Ophelia's office]

"Retala, H'nry, L'vand.  Please come in and sit down," Ophelia said when
the three riders appeared in her doorway.

"Ophelia," H'nry said, "we've discovered something disturbing that you
need to know." 

"And that is?"

"The crystal that H'nry found on the hatching grounds," L'vand said,
"shares a number of characteristics with the crystal embedded in my eye. 
This implies that the egg was devoured by a wraith." 

"Impossible," Ophelia replied.  "Vithraena would never let a wraith get
anywhere near the hatching cavern."

"Unless it was disguised," Retala said softly.

"Not you too," H'nry said.  "It was bad enough that Barak suggested that a
wraith could disguise itself." 

"When all possibilities have been eliminated, whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth," Retala quoted. 

Ophelia shook her head.  "I'd be more inclined to believe that Vithraena
was exhausted from laying her egg and simply didn't wake up.  The laying
was very late, as you all know, and exhausting because of that.  A single
wraith doesn't have a great deal of scent and moves quietly.  There's no
reason she would have awakened.  However, that leaves the question of how
the wraith got past the warren's watchdragons.  If they were awake, which
I've been assured they were, not even a single wraith could get in past
them.  While I may have been questioning them on anything *leaving* the
warren, I'm sure they'd think to mention it if a wraith dropped by
uninvited."

"Well, perhaps the wraith came in disguised, then," Retala offered.

"One," Ophelia said, "wraiths are not intelligent and a disguise would
require intelligence.  Two, it would take a damned good disguise to get
past all the watch dragons.  I don't buy it."

"But it *fits*," Retala insisted.  "It had to be a wraith.  It fits
everything.  And it got in somehow."

"I'd suggest, then, finding out how it did get in, instead of making rash
conclusions."

The three sat quietly for a second, then Retala said, "Yes, ma'am."  She
stood and the two men followed her out.

******

[R'chein, evening]

He had stayed around for the birth of Tahlaya's baby, as much because he
didn't want to return home as because of the complications of her unusual
pregnancy.  Now he sat staring at L'sein, drugged into unconsciousness.
But even drugged, his son's body twitched and occasionally thrashed.

Oh, gods.  What was he to do?  He didn't even know what was wrong.

******

[Day 4]

He awoke in the chair in L'sein's room.  Ophelia had never inquired as to
his whereabouts.

Sadly, he wasn't surprised.  She had understood that in banishing L'sein
on such a flimsy excuse, she was going to lose her mate.

He stood, running his hand over his stubbly chin.  His razor was in
Ophelia's apartment, of course.  He could, however, get himself cleaned
up, at least.

******

There was a knock at his office door.  Zanni stuck her head around without
waiting for an answer.  He quickly finished closing his fly.

"Hey, you could wait for permission to enter, you know."

"Sorry," she said, not looking particularly remorse.  "You've got a letter
from Larsine."

"Let's hope it's good news.  I could use some."

She handed him the letter, then collapsed into one of the chairs on the
other side of his desk.  R'chein tore open the letter abd read it quickly.

"So, what does he say?"

R'chein shrugged.  "He doesn't give any hint as to diagnosis, but says his
daughter, healer Lakoda, the head of Marrid medical, has encountered
something similar and will be paying us a visit."

"Well, that's something, I suppose."

He nodded, then looked at the night healer.  "Shouldn't you be going
home?"

She shrugged.  "I wanted to know how you were holding up."

"Just fine, thank you."

She sat quietly for a moment, then quietly said, "My apartment's available
if you need a place to stay."

He looked at the woman in surprise.  "Zanni?"

She stood then and walked around the desk.  She studied his face for a
moment, then leaned over and kissed him full on the lips.  She pulled back
and smiled at him.  "Don't look so surprised.  I'll see you around."

He was still in shock when the emergency call with Tahlaya's baby came in.

******

<The healer Lakoda is here.>

He looked up from his desk.  He stood and headed out to meet the woman.

"I got your father's letter a little while ago," he told her after
greetings had been made.  "I'm really not sure what he thinks you can do
or even if you can figure out what is wrong with the patient, but any help
will be appreciated."

"Then my father didn't tell you what you may be facing?"

"Not really."  R'chein frowned.  "Only that you had dealt with something
that sounded like what we have here, and that you would explain it to me
when you got here."

"My father was right, Healer R'chein, I have faced something that sounds
very much like a problem we had at Marrid.  Tell me, Healer R'chein... 
have you ever dealt with or heard of hellspawn?"

He shook his head.  "What are hellspawn?"

"R'chein, Ryan's father is here to get his body.  Can you show him?" a
dragonrider asked, looking desperately like he didn't want to deal with
this man.

R'chein looked at the rider and the man's grief-stricken face.  "Sure. 
I'll take him.  Lakoda, please excuse me.  You can ask one of the staff to
show you to L'sein's room to examine him.  I'll meet you there shortly."

She nodded and headed into the Medical Center, while R'chein led the man
to the underground room where bodies were kept in the relative cool until
the funeral.

He spoke gently as he went.  "Your son didn't suffer, I can assure you,
sir."

The man nodded, fighting tears.

"Here we are," he said as he opened the door set at ground level, lit a
torch and headed into the gloom.

He paused at the bottom, thinking the flickering light had to have
deceived him.  The body of Ves was missing.  And Ryan's chest had a huge
hole in its center.

Then a shadow moved.  R'chein stepped back and stumbled and the shadow
creature flitted down and enveloped him.

Lofflossit's scream reflected his rider's own, as the wraith's juices
burned through his clothes.

R'chein, through the pain, was vaguely aware of running feet as he passed
out.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Retala and Rimanda
  R'chein and Lofflossit
  and others

NRPG: R'chein isn't dead yet.  Anyone wanna take on a HUGE wraith that ate
its way out of Ryan's body and devoured Ves and is trying to make a meal
out of our head healer?

 # Lynette R. F. Cowper        o       INWO Line Editor & Goddess      #
 # lcowper@indy.net             <><     Circle of Janus Secretary      #
 # lcowper@io.com                  o       Captain, USS CALYPSO        #
 # http://www.io.com/~lcowper/  ><>     Warrenlady, Telnor Warren      #