Day 36
2 A.M.

The night over the warren went a little darker as the large black shadow of
Fourd appeared.  His mind reached out to one sleeping.  <Poke.>

Chrysthal's mind stirred at the intrusion, but then snapped to full
alertness as the watch dragons called out their challenge, and an answering
bellow responded.  <Who?>

Fourd rested on a crest not far from the warren.  <It is me, Fourd.>

{Fourd?  OH!  Fourd!  What are you doing returning at this hour?}  Chrysthal
stretched and looked for him.

Fourd spreads his huge wings and glided in to land at the Queen's ledge.
<My rider has a request.>

{Well, tell him to wait until morning!}  Snapped the irritated queen.  {My
rider is sleeping!}  Then she noticed the empty saddle, { ...  Where is he?}

He looked around almost uninterested in what his mission was, <Wow, nice
place you have here...Is this natural or did they have to make it?>

{Natural, I think..  thanks -- but where is your rider?}  Chrysthal snorted.

<In a 'jail' I think he called it.>  He looked down.  <Roomy.>  He laid down
testing out how it felt.  <Really nice...>
Merissa stumbled out onto the ledge, alerted by Chrysthal's call.
<*Chrysthal, what's happened?  Where is Har'son?*>

{Someplace called, 'jail' -- I think?}  Chrysthal recounted to Merissa.
{Get up lazy!}  she addressed the dark blue dragon, {My rider is here.. now
where is 'jail'?}

Fourd looked up from where he is resting, still smelling of the three kegs
of ale he had been treated to.  <Some human town, not far from here.
Windmill Village I think it is called.>

{Windmill, he says.}  Chrysthal relayed, again.

<*Windmill?  Windmill.... gods where is that?  Who would know?  Kanler --
oh, wait, he's with Katla....  J'red!  Chrysthal ask Firefly to have J'red
come meet us here.  J'red's alone...*>

A moment later, a disheveled J'red and a very grumpy Firefly landed on the
green in front of Chrysthal's ledge.  J'red was up the stairs two at a time
and joined Merissa in the cool night air.

Fourd broadcasted a picture of the small village and the building his rider
was in.  Sitting with him was a tall lanky fellow, both look pretty beat up.

"That's Windtide!"  J'red exclaimed.

Merissa groaned, "Oh, it would be...."

<Is there something to eat, I am famished.>

{Well, go get something from the animal pens!}  Chrysthal replied.  {I'll
let you know what they're going to do about your rider.}

<You want to come and get something with me.  It is not good to eat alone
you know.>  Fourd nudged Chrysthal with his wing.

{Hmm.. midnight snack... doesn't sound so bad!  Coming Firefly?  Areena?}
Chrysthal included the other two dragons present.

Fourd nodded to the others there and launched from the ledge, gliding in a
spiral down to the pens, letting the other go before him.  He sniffed at the
wind to pick up the scent of the meat -- and another more enticing scent
wafted towards him.  He followed behind Chrysthal, keeping very close to her
side -- he knew her time would be soon.

****
Merissa sighed and turned to J'red, "Guess we need to send someone to go get
him, huh?"

J'red grinned, "Yeah, guess so... looks like he's not alone, though.  Wonder
if we'll need some help?"

"The local authorities aren't too friendly to dragonriders... I wonder...
Tinker."

"What?"  J'red looked at Merissa in surprise, wondering what she was
thinking.

"Tinker... he's from Windtide.  Maybe he knows the local.. whatever.. and
can help straighten this out?"

"Good idea... I guess.  But do you think the two of us is enough?"  J'red
frowned.

"You want to take the wing?"  Merissa's eyes widened.

"No.. not the whole wing... but maybe a few more friends to back us up
wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Who do you want to take?"  Merissa asked, "at this hour of the night?"

J'red grinned, "yeah, nothing like flying in with a half dozen dragons to
wake up the locals... hmm... Horatio, Effinky, Ben'sar and Elissa?"

"Great.  Have them all meet me in my office -- in 15 minutes."  Merissa
pulled her robe about her tighter and ran inside to get dressed.

****
TAG: Mia, Bridget, Barb and Kris -- wake up, it's time to fly!

****
[ Tinker... wake up. ]

When calling to him didn't work - something Narshada took as an affront -
she resorted to the old-fashioned method. Rising to her feet, she ambled
over and dumped over the simple cot he was sleeping in.

"Lovely," Tinker snarled aloud. "I was *just* about asleep. Your timing, as
ever, is flawless."

In the darkness, Nar's form couldn't be made out except for twin sparkles
reflecting from her eyes. [ You've been asleep for two hours and fourteen
minutes, my rider. You just think you weren't. ]

"How do you know that?"

A cross between a belch and a heavy sigh poured from her tooth-filled mouth,
illuminating the mostly-empty apartment with the reddish-hued light of a
small fireburst. [ Simple. I read the clock you built. ]

Disbelieving, Tinker sat up and shook his head. The candles that Nar had
breathed over sputtered into life, and he made out the ornate iron hands on
the noisome device. Sure enough, it read late in the two o'clock hour. It
spoke much of his ignorance of dragonkind when he asked, "You read that in
the dark?"

[ For me, ] she explained patiently, [ it isn't all that dark. Anyway, the
reason I awoke you is that you're needed in the Warrenlady's office. At
once. ]

"At once?" Still groggy, Tinker made his way to his feet and started in
several directions at once while trying to regain his grip on the real
world. "How urgent is this?"

[ As in, don't bother getting dressed. You're not the only one being dragged
out of bed, so showing up in your nightshirt won't be out of place. ]

Looking down at his barefoot-all-the-way-up self, he shrugged. "Better find
my nightshirt, then. Where'd I leave it?"

****
WARRENLADY'S OFFICE
2:30 A.M.

Merissa paced back and forth as she waited for the riders to assemble.
"Damn, how could he be that stupid?   Windtide of all places... When I get
my hands on Har'son...."

"Ma'am?" Elissa poked her head in the door,  "Har'son??"

"What?  Oh, nothing... talking to myself.  Come on in.  You're the first one
here!"

"First?  What's this all about?  How many more are coming?"

"Patience, I'll explain when everyone is here,"  though Merissa looked
anything but patient.

It only took a few more minutes before the other riders assembled in the
office, which suddenly felt very small.

"Look, we've a situation here... our searcher seems to have gotten himself
into a bit of trouble -- a bar fight to be exact, from what Chrysthal can
gather from Fourd....  Anyway, we need a few riders to go extract him from
this situation.  Upon J'red's recommendation... you are it!"

Merissa went on to explain how she'd like J'red, Tinker and Elissa to go
into the town and try to talk to the local watch and see if they could
arrange for Har'son's release.  She could see both Tinker and Elissa
wondering why they'd been chosen.   While Tinker's being from Windtide would
be easy to explain, how could she tell Elissa that she was being sent
because of her... charms.  If a hammer didn't work, perhaps honey might.  So
she decided not to explain and, ignoring the murmured "Why Me, I'm still
just a trainee?"  from Tinker, she just plowed on to tell the other three
that they'd be keeping watch.

"Watch? Watch for what?"  Horatio asked, a bit disgruntled.

"Because dragonriders are still persona non gratae in Windtide, is why!"
Merissa responded in exasperation.

"Windtide?"  She could hear Tinker choke on the word.

"Oh, right.. yes.. that's where you're all going.  Windtide."

****

Respectfully submitted by
Arlene Jacobs
AKA Merissa, warrenlady, rider of Chrysthal of Whiteriver Warren.

Many thanks to Darren for his part with Fourd and to Brian for his snip into
Tinker's life.


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