When Blood Is Thinner Then Water


"Chance you've already done enough today," Kanler frowned as they made their
way to where the horses were being held. "If you keep this up your leg...."

"Quit fussing!"  Katla glared at her mate but he could tell she was
exhausted and swaying slightly on her crutches. 

He sighed, knowing she'd only fight him if he kept it up and let her get on
with what she called her duty, figuring the sooner she took a look at the
beast the sooner he could get her home.

But this was the last stop he would allow her to make, he promised himself.
Even if he had to pick her up and carry her back to their apartment and
force a sleeping pill down her lovely throat.

Slowly, very slowly, she walked around the draft horses.  "Hmmm.  Looks like
Big Jeb's line."

"Big Jeb?" asked W'lam.

"A show horse from the Calarais stables.  We mostly breed racers, but they
do more in the line of show and occasional draft horses."  Katla crooned to
the two horses.  "Poor dears.  I think they've only been recently broken to
harness... I don't think they were originally trained as cart horses at all."

"What then?"

"Show horses... Kanler, go get Flit's saddle, will you?"

"What?" He asked in disbelief. All he wanted to do was go on home and hit
the sack for a week. He couldn't believe she was still awake though he knew
by all right she shouldn't be. 

"I'm curious about something... please?"

She knew he couldn't resist her when she used that tone with him, but he
wasn't going to fall for it much longer.

Grumbling, her mate wandered into the stable, returning with the requested
bit of leather.  Taking it from him, she saddled one of the horses, and
mounted.  The horse responded to the lightest touches and she guided her
through her paces.  With Kanler's help, she dismounted and frowned.

"They are most assuredly blooded show horses, probably from the Calarais
stables." Katla announced flatly.  "Unfortunately, there's no way to prove
exactly where they came from.  Anyone could have purchased them, and they
don't have their papers..."

They concluded their business soon after Kayla promised to send the word
around asking if any one had come up missing such fine animals and Kanler
didn't give her a third chance to find something else to take up her time.

He ordered his dragon in a very stern voice to tell everyone, short of an
attack on the Warren itself that Katla was Not to be bothered until morning.

Then he helped her up onto 'Tinka's back and followed her home. Once there
he made them both a drink and added a little something extra to hers to make
sure she got the peaceful rest she was in dire need of.

The drug, caused by her already weakened condition, didn't take long to
work. In fact it worked so fast that he ended up having to undress her and
put her to bed.

That was where she was a bit later when Derry showed up to check on her. He
looked at his sister then smiled at the man standing there on the other side
of the bed looking back at him as if daring him to comment on his trickery.

"You won't get any complaints from me," Derry laughed after finding out
*how* Kanler had finally gotten his love to sleep. "It won't be me she'll be
yelling at for a change when she wakes and finds out."

"Well hopefully she won't find out what I did so I can use it again when she
over does it," Kanler's lips finally relaxed into a grin. "It'll be our
little secret."

"Deal."

"It's not that I'm being over protective of her. I Know Chance is capable of
doing what she's set herself up to do," the rider told her brother. "I mean
she's better suited for it them some of the others I could name, but she's
just....just..."

"To attuned to duty to the point where she feels she has to prove herself
over and over because of her legs." Derry added when Kanler didn't go on.

"You got that right and I hate to see how much it takes out of her when she
over does it this way."

"So you've appointed yourself as her baby-sitter?" Derry chuckled. 

Kanler blushed. Then decided he could tell this man how he was really
feeling. "Well I wouldn't call it that. I mean I know she has to do what she
feels is the right things to do, and there's no one I trust more to follow
into battle. She seems to have a real sense for what's going to happen and
can adjust quicker then I know even I could... I just hate to see the toll
it takes on her when everything settles down. I hate to see her hurting the
way she does."

"Believe me I know exactly what you mean," Derry agreed as the two men
walked out of the sleeping room. "But there's really nothing you can do to
stop her. We already found that out."

"Tell me about it. But I've got to find a way to get her to slow down even
if just a little and to make her see that she doesn't always have to be the
one to go in head first. Hell I'd be willing to help her out anyway I can.
My own family isn't without resources you know. I'll just get them more
involved. My mother would love the chance to mother a whole world if given
the chance. And Da... well he'll do anything he can to please her so he'll
be willing to help out."

"I've meet your mother," the other man reminded him. "Maybe you should get
them together and see what they can come up with between them."

"I will."

They made their good-byes with a clasp of hands usually only given to a
family member and then Derry started to take his leave and stopped.

"Oh when Chance wakes up tell her there's to be a meeting in my office in
the morning. We have to discuss the new security measures we're about to
install here in the Warren."

"Will do. she'll be there."

......................  

Later that morning... after the meeting (I hope the timing is right Jill)

"'Tinka is all saddled and we're ready to go," Kanler told his mate when he
can back into the kitchen and pick up his coffee mug. "If we go now then we
can find out what your ah.. friend has for you."

"My friend?" chance looked up at him, clearly confused.

"Yup.. today is the day we're suppose to go meet him and find out what was
so important that he sent a note to your fathers house for you." he reminded
her.

"Oh Gods.. " she cried setting her own cup down and then getting up to place
her arms in the fight jacket her mate was now holding out to her. "I feel
like an idiot."

"Well with everything else going on around here, I'm not surprised it
slipped from your mind," he chided her but left the rest of if off. 

"I've only been doing things that needed to be done," she snapped, knowing
what he hadn't said.

"I know love," he pulled her into his arms and settled her anger with a
kiss. "And I couldn't have been prouder of you for what you've accomplished.
But now lets get going and see what your *friend* has for you."

....................

Raine
*******

Quiet. Warm. 

At first the girl thought the whole past day or so had been nothing but a
bad dream.

Until she opened her eyes and saw him sitting across the room staring back
at her.

Though he made no move towards her upon seeing she had awoken. Raine still
feared him. For she knew him even without having ever met him. His
reputation reached far and wide, and it was on him that she had rested all
of her hopes. Foolishly maybe.. But at the time her only thoughts had been
to escape from the hell she'd been put through.

What she didn't know is if she could trust him.

"My lady, I see that you are awake."

She flinched slightly at his velvet tones, saying nothing.  A smart girl, it
seemed, to know that no matter how elegant the bower, it could easily be a
prison.

"Lady Raine, I have sent a message this very day to an acquaintance of mine
-- a wealthy one -- who will be most interested in your presence here."

"Who?" she asked. Her fear building at the thought of her bother finding her
before she'd even had the chance to warm the Warren of the danger they faced.

"A member of a... noble family."  He smiled gently, admiring that she kept
her fear behind her eyes, expression neutral bordering on ennui.

"Really. How do you know who I am?"

"A lovely blonde woman, with soft hands that have never seen a day of work
beyond idle stichery?  One who is openly rumored to run from her brother
after having been caught with several as-yet-unnamed servants in her bed,
servicing them for an undisclosed -- yet rumored to be high -- price.....

"Oh, my Gods." She didn't hear all of his words. Her stomach began to
protest and she could feel herself about to get sick. He had called for her
brother! Kel maybe too... the thought of them finding her was more then she
could take.

But he wasn't finished yet. She heard him go on and try as she would to
shout out the words, she couldn't.

"It's also rumored that you offered to bed your own brother to keep him
silent about your little pastime.  He and his roommate, Keltian Vaddon, have
offered a small fortune for your return, that they might properly 'chastise'
you. Public sentiment is, of course, on their side, since it seems that no
one wants a whore in their family."  His voice reflected on the seeming
injustice of that.  "Not that most of the finer families seem to care if
their men visit such women.  Odd."

She couldn't take any more. Her stomach heaved and a bucket was placed
before her until the contense of her abused stomach was empty and nothing
else would come out.

A cool cloth was placed against her forehead and gentle hands, cleaned her
up even as he kept talking.

"Fortunately for you, I've sent a message to someone who does not mind the
company of whores, and -- indeed -- will undoubtedly do something about it."

"Who have you sent for?" She had to know. If it wasn't her bother and Kel...
then maybe her trip here to see him wouldn't be wasted after all. But if he
was setting up her hopes and was going to sell her to the highest bidder....

Her own life meant nothing to her any longer. They had killed her the minute
they had started their abuse of her. She was nothing now, and had no family
to speak of any longer. The only thing left to her was revenge. She'd see
then rot in hell for all that they had taken from her.

She hated them with a passion far stronger then any love she might have
thought she had felt for Kel. But it was not just because of the way they
had used her that she would tell her story. It was because of the threat on
the very Warren that protected them all. 

The dragonriders were the savors of their world and she had to get to them
and let them know that they too had been marked for death.

"La Belle Fortuna, my dear child.  La Belle Fortuna..."

"La Belle Fortuna?" she looked confused. But he refused to enlighten her any
further.

"You will know soon enough my dear, but for now," her breath caught again
when he stood and came towards her.
she refused to let him see her fear.

If he was lying to her.. Promising help only to loll her into feeling
grateful to him only to make her feel like she owed him...

But he had only moved to reach for the elegant robe draped over the end of
her bed and held it up to her.

"I'm having a light meal brought in M'lady and would be honored if you would
join me until our guest arrive."

Raine slid slowly from the bed. Not so much as because she feared him as
because her abused body was protesting the movements. She knew in time her
body would heal, but the hatred she felt for her family would forever be a
part of her.

She no longer had a family and once she showed the book she had taken, and
explained about the conversation she'd over heard about the attack on
Whiteriver. She would cease to be Lady Raine. That girl had died the night
of her brothers betrayal. 

Never again would she be bond by family ties. If she wanted to go to
Whiteriver and hope for a chance on the sands at the next hatching, then by
the Gods she would!! Nothing was going to stop her from doing so. Nothing!!

That was if she wasn't to late with her warning and there was still a Warren
to run to.

"I had.. something's with me before those men...found me," she said slowly
not wanting to sound to accusing.

"They are in my possession and will be returned to you shortly," he told her
as he offered her his arm and led her into the next room where a table had
been set up for them.

"Though I will admit that I am a bit curious as to how a woman of your
breeding shall we say, had come into possession of such objects."

Raine lifted her head. eyes meeting his. "Let's just say that I earned them.
the hard way."

..............

She hadn't been to sure she could eat anything, but the aromas of the food
as it was placed on the table before her, told her just how wrong she had been.

She didn't know how much time had past between her flight and waking up, and
didn't ask. But her stomach has telling her it had been long enough to know
she needed something in it.

She hadn't been eating long when a servant entered the room and told the man
that his *guest* were there.

"Well do invite *them* in," he replied with a pretty good idea who was with
La Belle.

Raine's fears returned. She looked up, eyes glued to the door expecting to
see her bother and Kel walk into the room, but her fears dissipated the
moment she recognized the woman who did enter.

She nearly fainted in her relief. The man hadn't betrayed her. He had kept
his word and sent for the one person besides Saul of Whiteriver who could
help her.

She saw the woman's eyes open slightly as she took in the dark bruises and
was grateful when she made no comment over them, but took the seats that was
offered to her and then Raine began her tell.

She showed them the Coins and the book, leaving out her own part in it until
she had too. Then slowly she told of how Keltian Vaddon came to be a guest
in the home where she and her bother had been residing... and then being
unable to meet the woman's eyes as she told of the horror's the woman's
bother and her own had put her thought, Raine lowered her head and looked
down focusing on a silver spoon sitting next to her plate as she told of the
rape and then finally she got to the part she'd over heard in the library as
she was making her escape.

"They we're talking as if something was about to happen soon," she told
them. "And I knew I had to warn the Warren to be prepared! The Dragonriders
are to important to be killed. I knew I had to do something!!"

Kanler sat back. He hadn't said much as the girl gave her story, but he
could feel his mate tense up when her bothers name had been brought up. He
knew how she must be feeling, because he would be feeling the same if he'd
learned his own brother been accused of doing things so vile.

"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Katla said slowly as she faced the
girl. "But how can you be sure you understood what they were really talking
about. Could.. it have just seemed like they were talking about the Warren?"

"No M'lady. I fully understood each and everything they said correctly. Even
the part where Kel laughed about letting other men have... use of me at
their next meeting. I wouldn't trust him, or be alone with him, if you plan
on going to see him. I'm afraid he has the same plans for you. He said as
much when they were discussing it."

Raine looked her in the eye now. "He hates you for becoming a Dragonrider
just as much as my own bother and father hate me just because Saul of
Whiteriver asked if I could stand before the eggs. To them we are the enemy
and as women only good for one thing. They took what they wanted from me...
Pray they do not caught you alone or you will suffer the same fate. Family
ties be damned."

Kanler knew what his mate was thinking. Or thought he did. She now knew
where the horses had come from.. but as to the rest of her thoughts. The
news over her bothers actions. She was giving nothing away. That would come
later when they were alone. Or when she could report back to Derry and her
father. 

He didn't envy her with the job ahead of her. 

The man was her bother. Flesh of her flesh and he knew it was killing her
inside to think of him in this new light. But what more could he do but be
there to stand by her and back up any decision she worked out.

Katla was handed the bag filled with coins. The one with her family crest on
it and then the book Raine had brought along with her.

"We need to get back to the Warren with this information," she said and
stood up to go.

"Take me with you please!" Raine stood and grabbed for her arm. "Please.
There's nothing left for me here and if I stay they might find me... and I
couldn't stand to go through that again..."

[Tag Jill... I'll let you decide how Katla will react...]

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

Raine
Whiteriver Warren

aka
Barbara