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1. [DL-J] Back From The Brink
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 12:47:04 -0800 (PST)
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-J] Back From The Brink
Karashi, Kataani Healer
Morning, Day 2
/snip from Kris' post/
The orderlies jumped in and helped attach the stretcher to Sabbith's
harness as Kay scrambled up onto the dragons back. he beckoned for the
healer to join him, but the Kataani seemed to be glued to the patch of
dirt under his feet.
<Sabbith! Help him up, we don't have time for this!>
<Are you sure?> Sabbith asked, <He looks as thought he thinks I'm going
to eat him?>
<He probably does.. just grab him, I need him. Tara needs him!> Kay saw
Varaenna flying in circles around them. <Haven. We're going to Haven.
Are you ready?>
<I am ready.> The queen nodded.
Sabbith launched into the air and then gracefully circled around and
swept down toward the Kataani healer whose mouth opened wide in terror
and he turned to run, but Sabbith was faster and he grabbed the man up
in one claw <Next stop .. Haven!>
/end snip/
Karashi didn't know what to make of this - he'd been told that his
people and the landers had made peace, at least for the moment, and now
he suddenly found himself grabbed and lifted skyward by one of the
biggest dragons he'd ever seen. Actually, the dark red dragon would
have been the biggest, except that the silver and white dragon that
flew alongside them looked to be even bigger.
There came a sudden wrenching sensation, and a blackness and silence
such as Karashi had never known, even in the sea's darkest depths...and
then they were flying through the air again, but a quick glance told
him that something was amiss. The immense 'warren,' with its great bowl
surrounded by towers and spires, was gone. And, even more impossible,
the sea - which seconds before had stretched from horizon to horizon -
had vanished as well. Instead, a gently rolling green land spread
below them. He would have said "from horizon to horizon," but even the
horizons here were obscured. From their altitude, the land seemed to
be bordered on all sides by a grayish haze that kept him from seeing
more than a distance of a few miles. At least, being a Kataani, that
fact didn't disturb him too much. In the sea, visibility was usually
measured only in yards anyway.
The dragons landed, the big red one on three legs because of the need
to hold Karashi in one claw. The Kataani saw they were near a small
settlement containing several stone buildings. Karashi had no idea
what they were for, but he hoped there was a place they could take his
patient, so she wouldn't have to lie outside in the open.
"Here, now, what's this?" came a voice from the direction of the
buildings.
"I don't know, I thought you could tell me that," Karashi answered
irritably, and then realized that this was the first time the
brown-haired man had spoken to him. Not only that, he had spoken in
the Kataani language. Karashi looked up, startled, to see another man
approaching. By his clothing and overall appearance, Karashi
recognized him as one of the "sailors" who plied he sea's surface in
their wooden "ships," far above where the Kataani lived and worked in
the deeps.
"No need to get testy," the sailor said. His command of the Kataani
tongue was limited, but enough to get by. Then he looked past Karashi
at the other human. "Kalewyn? And...Warrenlady Tara??" He knelt down
by the woman and helped the dragonrider undo the fastenings that held
her to the gurney. He spoke some words in the lander's tongue to the
rider. The rider, in return, took out a black slate and a piece of
chalk, and wrote something that Karashi couldn't read, presumably in
the lander's tongue. This exchange went on for a few moments, then the
sailor nodded and stood up.
"My name's Griffin," he said, "First Mate of the ship Marquesa. This
here is Kalewyn - he doesn't speak or hear, but he reads lips and can
talk hand-talk...which I don't understand, but he can write things out
on that slate. You know, don't you, that that woman there is Tara, who
rules Jasra Warren? That big dragon glowering down at you is hers,
just as the red one Sabbith is Kalewyn's."
Karashi looked around, to see that the head of the immense silver
dragon hung only a few feet over him, and its green eyes were watching
him impatiently. "I have heard the name 'Marquesa,' more than once,"
he said. "You work for the man called Dolfis?"
"Yup, but that's neither here nor there," Griffin replied. "Kalewyn
here tells me that he brought you here because she had some kind of
magic sickness. Sea-magic don't work here in Haven, you know...nor
anyplace else more'n a few miles in from the seashore. Kalewyn says he
*thinks* that's what you was wanting. Is he right?"
"Yes, he is," Karashi replied with some relief. "I didn't know our
people's magic had boundaries upon it, but that will help here, I
think. She was hurt by Counselor Oga, who before he died managed to
injure her gravely. The healers at the warren could deal with the
physical injuries, but Oga used magic too, and his magic was beyond my
ability to counter. But if our magic is nullified here, then she
should begin improving very soon."
Griffin's eyebrows went up. "So old Oga's dead, eh?" he asked, a
wicked grin showing on his face. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer
guy." He turned to Kalewyn. "Did you bring the Scepter back, by
chance?" Kalewyn shook his head and wrote out a message on his slate.
Griffin read it, and a look of relief passed across his face.
"Destroyed, eh? Well, that's a relief!! I hid that damned thing here
for far too long! Now that it's gone, I can return to my ship and my
captain."
He looked down at Tara. "Meantime, we better get your patient
inside. Come on, there's a place we can take her...not no med center,
mind you, just a small boarding house. I hope you brought your own
tools and medicines."
Karashi replied that he did, and then he took one end of the
stretcher while Kalewyn took the other. With Griffin leading, they
walked into the town of Haven.
* * * * *
Varaenna
Midday, outside the settlement
The queen paced back and forth, staring balefully at the small
cluster of buildings. <I hate this place,> she grumbled. <Why doesn't
that fish-man get my rider healed so we can leave?>
<Kay thinks we'll be here all day, if not overnight,> Sabbith
replied, as he lay nearby and watched her. <Look on the bright side -
your rider is going to live, Kay says, and that's a wonderful thing!
Having to spend a night here isn't such a big thing compared with that,
is it?>
<No, I guess not,> Varaenna growled. <It's just that this place is
so...small, so confining, with the wastes on all sides...> She turned
and paced over to Sabbith, and all but flung herself down beside him.
She felt herself getting hot, and spread them out a bit to fan herself,
inadvertently bumping Sabbith in the process. <Hey, you bumped me!>
<No I didn't,> Sabbith protested innocently, deciding not to point
out that it was her wing that did the bumping, and that he'd been lying
here in this spot all along. <Varaenna, calm down!>
She rose up in a jerky motion, starting to step across Sabbith and
then stopping in mid-step, glaring down at him. <If you were a
*worthier* dragon, you could do something about this!> She glared back
and forth, still standing over Sabbith as she mantled her wings.
<Isn't there a WORTHY dragon in this whole, miserable little place??>
(Tag Kris, for both Kay's and Sabbith's parts! I guess it's pretty
obvious what's happening to Varaenna...want to JP this?)
Submitted by:
John
Tara & Varaenna
Warrenlady, Jasra Warren
and
Karashi, Kataani Healer
Summary:
Morning, Day 2: Kay and Sabbith bring Tara and the Kataani healer
Karashi to Haven, where they encounter Griffin, first mate of Dolfis'
pirate ship. He is able to translate between Kay and Karashi, and gets
them inside where Karashi can treat Tara.
Midday, Day 2: Varaenna becomes increasingly testy, and as Sabbith
tries to calm her she goes into the early stages of heat, presaging a
mating flight.
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