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The taste of stale death and rotting flesh, the drip of water as it still spilled in from the floods, all combined to take Alaine back to memories he wished would remain dead and buried. The drake hunched himself down and ignored the feel of the water lapping around his ankles while facing the one gem of light that made the shadows behind him all the more apparent. Looming ghosts of the darkness as his own outline was shown like a ghost of the past, a life lost in this miserable place. It was almost a comfort to feel Azure, Sapphire and Crims- Khilloni pressed up against him while the water rose up higher along their ankles. It would eventually come to their chests, he knew that, but for now it afforded them some ability to speak freely without worry that they would be overheard. Azure was almost trembling against him, the young drake's head swinging side to side as Alaine kept his attention on Thronnos.

He had spent much of his time wandering the mine, testing and delving into tunnels in the darkness to try and find any breech that would lead to the new ones. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, but he dutifully left markings on the openings of the eastern tunnels that plunged down so far that there was the faintest feel of vibration when his paws had pressed against the closed off wall. It had been dark when he'd finally crept out and returned to the island, finding the youngsters in the company of Thronnos and the damned elf. Alaine hadn't even been given a few hours to catch his breath before the drake demanded that he be taken to the old mine. Minos' eyes had been bright, almost feverish, as he sharply asked about gems, a question that Alaine had ignored. But he had brought them here, and chosen a spot where they would be able to talk.

"You couldn't get through?" The older drake rumbled and seemed strangely at ease while his Rider carefully enchanted more stones to glow. "It will require magic."

"A large degree of magic." Minos spoke up, making Alaine rumble unhappily as he shifted in the water, pulling his ears back. "We were hoping there was a way to tunnel through. It will take time to pull the magic together and hope that the enemy doesn't sense us. The best option would be to bring in specialists, but I don't know if we have the time."

"You checked all of them?" Thronnos swung his head around, his eyes reflecting the light with an eerie glow. "Tested to see if they had made any attempt to join new caverns with the old?"

"All that I could get too, many of them are caved in." Alaine shrugged a shoulder, feeling Sapphire straightening up a touch. "I think they were held together with magic, but I know little of that art. And how long do you think we can remain here?"

"Likely, they have gems to spare, even flawed ones, to help them expend their energies on something we could do with simple engineering." Minos commented and hooked a leg up so that he stood on Thronnos' broad paw instead of in the water. "We are already gathering and we won't be able to stay hidden long. We'll work through the night and breech the walls by tomorrow evening at the latest, but we will first have to check to see if we can do it from manual labor first."

Alaine gave him a disdainful look, but Thronnos smoothly interjected into the awkward silence, "We will have to see for ourselves the state of things. At least you will all be secure here while we are gone."

"Do you not believe me?" Alaine bristled slightly and shifted up onto his forelegs. "I told you that there's no way through, I checked."

"If you'll excuse me.." Thronnos extended his head in a polite nod. "Minos will be able to see things that you may have missed. You aren't a builder. I'm sure you are tired, you should rest while you can, once I send for the rest of the Flights we will be crowded here and working swiftly. Perhaps you would prefer to sleep?"

"I would prefer to be done with this already." Alaine growled low in his throat and shook a paw free from the water. "I'm returning to the island, I have no wish to stay in this place. I've spent too much time already in it."

He wanted out of this place, it made his scales crawl to be here with the rusting bars so close to him. How long had be stared out of those bars into his hell? He wanted to bath his scales in the ocean and return to the sunlight, he had almost forgotten what a prize it could be after having freedom for as long as he had. He dimly heard the youngsters following him as he picked his way through the tunnels that would lead to the safety of the ocean. Let the elf and dragon remain in the dark pit by themselves.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"That went better than I thought it would." Minos spoke softly as he hooked his hands onto Thronnos' harness and swung himself back up at the base of his neck. "I was half expecting him frothing at the mouth from being back here."

"He is not an animal." Thronnos corrected automatically and watched the shadows disappear. "He knows that he'll get his revenge, and for that he is willing to be patient, but it costs him. These must be the cages they kept him and his kind in."

"Only three dragons left when he left if that corpse is any indication." Minos shifted, but didn't seem to be in a hurry for Thronnos to start up the paths. "Would they even bother making the tunnels this wide?"

"They dig them, I assume they would dig them large enough to fit their own bodies." The drake commented and turned to start on one of the tunnels that would lead them higher up. "If not, we will be hard pressed to fight."

"True enough." Minos agreed amiably. "We should put Alaine on the front lines, he'll likely go mad at the sight of them and will cut a neat path for us to follow behind in. He'll also have a better idea where they might keep their dragons."

"That smacks too much of sacrificing him." Thronnos ducked his head slightly as the ceiling became lower the further he went along the tunnel. "He's valuable, we need to keep him, he's a born fighter with enough character that he can prove-"

"One of the females is in clutch by him, his line will continue." Minos bent over the line of the drake's back as he spoke. "If we hold him back he will just as likely turn on us. You can see it in his eyes, the past is there, always chasing him and it is easy to fall back into it and forget the present."

Thronnos grunted slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing as they continued along the tunnel. He was struck at the cramped space that made him bristle in discomfort. He wasn't used to being confined, even the buildings on Hayden's Spit had been designed with his kind in mind once they had grown. The edges of his wings scraped against the tunnel creating a steady loud noise that grated on him. He was larger than Alaine, but not that much larger, to grow up in such cramped quarters would have been beyond torment. Even his brief time here was making his temper shorten as he lowered his head and snuffed along the ground. It was worn almost smooth save for spots where claws had hooked into the rock and worn it away over time and indentations that must have come from carts.

The stink of death wafted down from the upper tunnels, but that was no surprise, whatever poor soul had been killed was returning to the earth slowly and steadily. The light from his Rider cast his shadow in front of him as he kept his ears open for any sounds coming from the new mines. Alaine had seemed fairly confident that they would move swiftly, citing the last tunnel dug here had been created in the course of two weeks with the dragons working in long brutal shifts tearing at the rocks with claws and teeth. There had to be magic at work there, they couldn't have possibly managed it with their own strength, even if the rock was relatively soft. If they could create a shaft in a couple of weeks, they might have a labyrinth of tunnels going on in the new one. It would cause more difficulty with the attack.

"Here.." Minos stopped him with a hand on the side of his neck. A stone was thrown over Thronnos' muzzle to clatter into the darkness illuminating a spill of rocks that mounded high in the air. "This isn't a natural cave in."

"No?" The drake stepped forward and snuffed at the rocks curiously, smelling water and minerals, but nothing else. "It looks natural."

"No, look up at the ceiling, there's a wedge set up there." Thronnos lifted his head up to examine the spot, the light from the magic spelled rock giving him just enough to see by that he spotted a large metal wedge that cracked into the rock. Water was spilling form it in dribbles and drops, steadily running downwards over the pile.

"Why would they close up the mine shaft? If they were leaving, there's little reason to want to collapse something." The drake tilted his head to one side and then the other. "It seems dangerous to me."

"Because they opened a new mine." Minos slapped his ridges affectionately. "They want to make sure that they only way into the new mine is one they can guard. If they block the tunnels that might connect, that means they don't need to spare the men to stand at an unused entrance. And who would question a cave-in in an abandoned mine? It might appear natural and they'd continue on."

"If they are that paranoid, they would set other traps." The drake clawed at a few of the rocks, sending them tumbling to the ground. "We should check the other cave-ins, if they are unnatural than we can attack from several fronts at once. I would prefer that. We will already make targets if the tunnels are this size, because it will be one on one, having several fronts will mean spreading their guards thin."

"I was thinking the same." Minos shifted in the saddle, leaning backwards. "We'll head back and send for one of the Flights, we can send for Sapphire, Crimson and Azure as well to start working, carefully. I think we can get through easily if we work in shifts. I don't want to use magic unless we have to, we will have to deal enough with that once we break into their mine."

"Khilloni, Crimson wishes to be called Khilloni." Thronnos corrected absently, twisting himself in the tight confines of the cave so he could turn about.

As they picked their way back through the tunnel Thronnos felt the shifting on his back as Minos moved uneasily. Neither of them were quite sure how to take the red dragonets declaration that he preferred name he had found himself. Thronnos should have felt pleasure, soon they would retake the Isle and claim their homeland again, but he relied heavily on the impressionable ways of the youngsters to keep them in hand. He didn't need a rebellion now, not when they were so close to their goal. They were young and headstrong, they didn't know what was best for their species, he did and he would not tolerate dealing with squalling angry youngsters while he put his final plans in place. He would be sure to have Khilloni work with him more closely, get him away from Alaine's influence.

~ ~ * ~ ~

The herd entered the breeding grounds at the same time it always did, a loud lowing, bleating crowd that disturbed the peace of the place as the dirt was churned up around their hooves and dogs nipped at their heels. No one noticed that two didn't bleat as wildly as the rest, nor that they kept huddled towards the center as they were driven along the rim, well away from most of the dragons so that they could be herded into a massive round pen. The churning animals didn't settle, they remained worked up, shying and running along the edges and shunning the feed that was thrown down while their wild eyes tracked the dragons that seemed to come from everywhere. Only a pair of goats remained settled, watching everything around them with their heads held down low and their sides pressed against one another.

When darkness fell and the grounds became calmer, one of the goats lifted his head to watch as a small band of youngsters was taken towards a small cave-like hut set back near the dragon lairs. Heartwood's eyes raked over them, watching as his offspring gamboled with them excitedly, steady on his small tough legs as he tried to lock his forming horns with another young buck. There was no mistaking that striking white and red pattern, nor the resemblance he had to Rowan, especially along the ears. As the youngsters were gathered in to the hut, but not Oake, his fawn was swept up in a dragon's jaws with a wild laughing squeal to be taken away from the rest. And not a dragon like he had seen before, it was a female, with smooth pale tan hide tinged with gold.

"Move towards the gate." He tilted his head towards Barktrack as he watched the female head towards a lair at the base of the towering walls and drop his son so the little one could trot inside. "Slowly, we don't want them to suspect us of being anything other than goats."

"People are still about." The young buck gave him a nervous look, shifting uncomfortably on all fours. "We should wait."

"No, slowly, we will take our time so when it is quiet we can go." Heartwood put a bit of force into his voice before moving on all fours, ignoring the ache in his back.

No matter how animalistic his features were, his body was not designed to walk on all fours. He could do it for short stretches, especially if he wanted to run, but the longer he remained on all fours, the more it made his back hurt. His back itched from the fur that had been placed there, a mish mash of colors that hid the bare skin that showed and attempted to cover up the flatness of his chest. He was sure that the young buck was just as annoyed as he was while they began to mimic picking about for food as they walked. Careful not to move fast or to show that they had any purpose. So far, no one had picked up that they were anything more than animals, and it needed to stay that way. If they looked too closely, they might realize that each of them had a thin band of leather running around their legs so that daggers could lay flat against their inner thighs. Everything counted on them remaining undetected.

He would have preferred having more than just himself and the other buck, but they needed to be quick and stealthy. The youngsters had had a handful of nurses, but they were female and either very young or very old, they'd be easy to subdue. Once they were down, they could gather up the children and see to the gates and getting out. His main concern was no longer the bulk of the children, but his son. The dragon had taken him specifically away, he didn't think it was to be eaten, but he needed to get Oake back. To do so with a dragon present created a new set of concerns for him.

_At least it is a female, her hide is thin and my dagger sharp, if she wakes I can silence her. _

~ ~ * ~ ~

Amber awoke with the sound of Oake's bleating, a sound that she had tuned herself into instinctively as she spent her nights with his warm furred body cuddled into the curl of her tail. She yawned and lifted her head, ready to settle whatever nightmare or disturbance had woken him up, but she was stopped with a sudden sharp jab against the underside of her throat. The dragoness' eyes flashed open, her mind shrugging off the edge of sleep as the hard press rested right against the large vein that ran along the length of her neck. A form crouched over her, a goat's alien eyes watching her closely as the pressure grew and she felt the sharp edge of a blade pushing against her skin, forcing it open so a dark thick drop of her blood welled out.

"S'OP!!!" Like a blur of red and white Oake launched himself at the strange creature that loomed over her, his small form hitting the arm hard so the blade yanked away tearing a shallow cut down the line of her pale throat. "H'Amber! Don't hur' her!"

"Be still, boy." The goat, no.. satyr, like Oake, but larger and thickly furred, pulled the fawn up against his chest as the boy struggled.

He was dwarfed by the adult satyr, easily held up by one hand as his hooves kicked back and forth. The hand that held him was the one with the blade, stilling the alarm bugle that bubbled into the dragoness' throat. Her eyes narrowed down to slits as the stranger drew back several paces, showing an odd chest that had mottled fur hanging down along his sides in patches while his chest remained bare. His eyes hard and wary as he kept a firm hold on her wriggling defender.

"Let him go!" Amber drew her lips back as she felt her blood rolling down her neck, but dismissed it as she swung a wing out to block the cave exit and heaved herself up onto her paws. "Now!"

"He's going home, move h'out h'of the way." The satyr's voice was deep, the pronunciation familiar from her experience with Oake, but Amber remained blocking the exit.

"He is home, put him down! Oake, don't struggle." The last came in a plea as she watched the fawn struggling to bite at the arm that held him. "He belongs here, now."

"He belongs with his mother, h'and me. H'I'm his sire." The satyr jerked his head up slightly. "Do not make me kill h'you, h'if h'you care for him, let him go back to his dam."

"His dam is dead, I am his mother now." Amber hissed the last words and peeled her upper lips backwards to show her teeth. How did this creature get into the grounds? Where did he come from and why on earth did he want her Oake?

_Alaine.. they want Alaine, capture the Rider and he would follow. _The thought filled her with cold rage as she stepped forward and was rewarded with Oake's increase of struggle, his small hooves kicking roughly against the broader chest.

"She h'is not dead, for h'all h'you tried to kill her! We come for h'our children h'and that h'is h'all." The satyr shifted his grip on Oake, moving the blade as the child struggled harder. Amber hissed out again, stepping forward. What need for alarm when she could snap this creature up herself?

"He doesn't know you, liar. You've made a mistake and one you will pay dearly for." Amber let out a lower growl in her throat. "The Slokakan killed her, that you wish to profit from it will cost you your life."

"Rowan lives!" Oake gave another kick, bleating wildly, but arching slightly. "H'Your Riders failed to kill her. We h'only want h'our children that were taken. The h'Otterkin, humans, dryads h'and satyrs."

"Lies." Amber hissed venomously, her eyes narrowed onto Oake. "Release him."

"H'If h'you gift h'your word h'you will let me prove h'I speak true." The satyr flicked his ears backwards, refusing to give up his hold on the fawn.

Amber snapped her jaws at him, her claws raking along the ground. Speaking true? Everyone knew about the raid on the outlying islands, every one that they controlled had been attacked, even ones that they had no real claim on. The Slokaken had no respect for anyone or anything, they had slaughtered hundreds, orphaning many so that they had been forced to take them under their wings to raise them. How dare this satyr come here and accuse her kind of slaughtering helpless females? Oake clearly didn't know him, not with the way the frightened fawn was struggling to get back to her, he had had a knife to her throat. Who knew what he was attempting to do, what he was up to. There was no reason to believe him.

"Proof?" She snarled the world. "Why should I believe you and what can you show me that would make me want to believe you?"

"His mother." The satyr slowly lowered Oake down. "H'I will take h'you both to see her, he will know her. Will that serve h'as proof for h'you? She h'is outside this place."

"Lure me out to kill me?" She jerked her head up with a snarl. "I am not as foolish as you think I am. Perhaps I can rouse the guards and send them to find this... mother you claim to have."

"No! Just h'you." The satyr let Oake's hooves touched the ground and reluctantly released the fawn so he scampered towards her with a distressed bleat. His warm small body clinging to her shoulder so she could turn her head to touch him with her nose tip. "H'I'll be h'your hostage h'if h'I must. H'I h'am Heartwood. Take h'us h'outside the walls. She waits there for him, for me. h'You can kill me h'if h'I lie."

Amber growled softly to herself, nudging Oake up along the line of her shoulder with a gentle nudge so that he was out of harms way. She kept an eye on the satyr, on Heartwood, her mind working with a hundred thoughts. She wasn't a male, she didn't have the armor that would naturally protect her if she were placed under attack, they might even use her as a hostage. On the other claw, if they were right outside the grounds there were half a dozen young drakes who were on guard along the points of the wall. A single scream and any group would be taken down before they could even get their weapons up. If it was true... If Oake's mother was out there, than it would be Alaine's friend. The one that he had befriended, would she be able to simply ignore the hint that she could still be out there? What would he say?

"I will not carry you on my back." She growled out roughly and slowly folded her wings back to her side. "You will be in my claws, because if they attack, you will be dead before the first arrow can fall."

"H'I agree." Heartwood inclined his heavily bearded head. "H'It is not far. H'I promise."

~ ~ * ~ ~

The sound of beating wings, the rush of wind and Rowan lifted her head in terror to see a draconic shape looming out of the darkness with wings spread wide. The group froze, not running, running would attract attention. Instead they dropped down and the dryad began to use to the covering to tighten over them so they remained out of sight. Her heart pounded against her chest as she heard the thud of the wings that came directly overhead. Her ears pinned back flat to her head, waiting to feel claws scraping through their covering and tearing through their group. They had been found out, why else would a dragon be aloft at night. They must have seen through the deception with the goats and assumed there would be more outside the grounds.

"ROWAN!" The loud bleat came from Heartwood, his voice strangely strangled as the wind crashed around them and there was the sound of a large body dropping to the ground. "H'I have h'Oake!"

Oake... Rowan's chest tightened and she struggled to her hooves to see the form looming over them. The narrow head swung down so she could see the pale face of a dragon glaring down at their covering while one foreleg was pulled up holding Heartwood.

"Oake?" Her voice cracked slightly as she pushed out of the covering, ignoring the warning hand on her ankle from one of their party. "He's alive? Oake??!"

"Stop there!" The dragon hissed, the large head dropped down to glare at her. "So you are the 'truth' that this kidnapper wishes me to see?"

"Please.. you have my fawn?" Rowan held still as a hot blast of draconic breath hit her, making her ears fold back. The dragon didn't look right, the face was smooth and silky instead of rough with broad scales, the muzzle slender.

"Oake.." The dragon turned its, her, it was a female, her head and carefully picked something from between her wings up. A small bundle was held loosely in the lips, but it wasn't the jaws that mattered, it was the small squirming form.

"OAKE!" She lunged forward, ignoring the snarl of warning, it didn't matter, even in the darkness she could see the bold white patches over his haunches. The bundle hesitated mid-struggle and went still, his head lifted up.

"Mamma?" A thin voice lifted up, the hesitation breaking her heart as Rowan reached up and cupped the furred hips and reached up to his sides. "Mamma!" He writhed in the hold, twisting and curling to try and get himself free.

"My little fawn." She wrapped her arms around him, feeling soft hide against her arms from the dragon's lips, but she didn't care. "I'm here, I'm here.."

It felt like her heart was about to break as the hold on Oake was released and the weight tumbled into her arms, far heavier than he had been when she had last held him, but she didn't care. She pulled him in close, feeling the warm fur and skin body twisting about while the small hoof-like hands clutched against her shirt and pulled himself in close. His muzzled pushed against her neck, the breath coming out fast as he drew in her scent while she tightened her hold around him and tucked her head over the smooth nubs of his horns and let out a wordless sound deep in her throat. He smelled like dragon and satyr, but it was still familiar, he smelled like Alaine and home, not of injury or pain. His little legs clutched her waist as she stroked her hands down along his back and bleated softly, comfortingly when he heard a hiccupping sob spill out of him.

"I'm here..." She rubbed her cheek back and forth on the soft baby fur of his head. "It's all right, I'll always come for you.."

The little hooves clung to her, so tight, so strong. He had grown, she could feel how much larger he was. The horns had begun to have points at the tip and bumped against her cheek each time she rolled it back and forth against him. He wasn't thin, so he had been well fed, something that she was terribly grateful for as she shifted his weight up in her arms and heard a soft thud nearby before Heartwood grunted out. The dragon was backing away, her head still lowered, but tilted to one side as she hunched in on herself. Her mate brushed himself off, giving her a long look before moving to her side, but her world was narrowed down to the being she held in her arms. In the span of a heartbeat she had found hope again, hope and peace.

"You're really alive." The dragon rumbled, the eye blinking rapidly a few times. "We were told the Slokaken had killed you in their raids, like they killed so many."

"H'I did not lie." Heartwood sounded almost offended as he came up to her, comfortably nude and almost preening at being proven right. He lowered his large muzzle to snuff at her, whuffling breath over his son as well.

"They never attacked." Rowan spoke up, her voice slightly rough. "Who told you this? Alaine?" The last word was spoken bitterly. "Who are you?"

_Did Alaine send them for Oake? Would he do that? _ The thought was so repulsive it made her sick to her stomach and she clung a bit harder to her fawn.

"I am Amber, Alaine's mate." The dragoness spoke slowly as the eye remained fixed on them. "W-we were all told about the raid. The Rider's had to drive them back, they rescued the orphans from the leveled villages instead of leaving them to die. There weren't enough left alive to take care of them, so we took them in. Many of them."

"Alaine was told this?" Rowan stiffened slightly and kept her ears pinned back. "It was a dragon that came after me, a Rider that tried to kill me. And stole my fawn from me, as they stole others! No others came to Canith, just them. Your people killed and maimed any female with an infant they could find with no explanation! Without provocation!"

Each word rose up in anger, a tremor running through her as she remembered the pain and terror that she had felt. The helpless sickness that had come over her at her fawn being yanked from her arms and taken to this place. She advanced on the huddled dragon, ignoring the cry from Oake as he squirmed in her arms.

~ ~ * ~ ~

They lied to us... Or this female lies.. Amber folded her wings miserably to her sides, her head heavy with what the satyr was telling her. Why would she lie to me?

_ _

Rowan was trembling with rage as she advanced forward, Oake clinging to her with his short tail wagging in his happiness at being held by his mother. There was no doubt that he recognized her, she had seen that the moment she had presented him, he had struggled to be free so he could go to her. She was alive, most certainly alive, and what she was saying went against every rumor she had heard about the youngsters coming here. Alaine had been enraged by everything, the idea of elves attacking and killing his beloved friend, and Thronnos had been firm. They had rescued them from an invasion, these youngsters were casualties of war. The Tomaians were the heroes of this tale, not the villains, but Rowan's voice was lifted with rage and denial.

Why would she lie? What did she gain? If the Riders had come to save the youngsters, would she have a reason to lie to regain her own fawn? She could have gone to any of the Tomaians and said who she was, that she was a survivor and wished her child back. Alaine would have been elated to see her alive and would have personally welcomed her, of that Amber had no doubt. The grief he had felt had been great, to have her here on the grounds with himself and Oake would have made this entirely his home. Surely they would have seen that. But why would the Riders have attacked Canith? There was no reason for it at all! It was nominally under their control and the inhabitants were peaceful. Why kill unarmed females?

To control Alaine with a Rider... Amber stiffened and squeezed her eyes shut against a wave of dizziness and horror.

"They wanted his Rider." She spoke slowly, the words catching in her throat as Rowan stood just a few feet away from her head. "I don't believe they could have done this... That they would hav-"

"Look..." The satyr yanked her shirt up, twisting to one side so that an angry half-healed wound came into view just to one side of Oake. "This is what one of your elves did. They tried to kill me, and now they keep our children here. Fathers and those who survive want them back, Canith weeps for their lost children. Oake is no Rider, he is a fawn!"

She didn't want to think this way. Ever since she had been hatched she had known the elves as friends and companions. They kept her and all the females safe, they helped care for their nests and raise the dragonets together. They were kind and intelligent, eager to give the males a chance at regaining their homeland. She had grown up listening to stories told by the older women, watched youthful riders play in the water next to their dragons, had her own son find his Rider and accept his first harness as he became a warrior. And their lies stood at her muzzle with rage in her eyes and trembling with tears in her eyes. What Rider had tried to kill her? What dragon had taken them down? And for what?! To find Alaine's Rider, a small fawn that had no desire to be in this game and a mass slaughter to find him. To control the drake, to give him a reason to stay.

"All Riders were children once." Amber spoke the words slowly. "Drakes choose their riders when they are born, bond with them. Oake..." She turned her gaze to the little fawn that had tilted his head to peer at her. "Alaine loves Oake, he would do anything for him."

"Even work for you." Rowan's words were bitter. "Do you hold him hostage to make him fight?"

"No, he fights for our homeland. Our Isle. He fights to claim it back for us. To kill those that held him as a slave." She shifted and heard movement as more creatures came from the tall grass, humans and otters, more satyrs and even a dryad. "He's fighting them now, he wants a chance to have his home again."

"Then why did they want my fawn? What reason?!" Rowan stepped forward again as Rowan turned about, being held around the waist. "Why all the death?"

Why indeed. Alaine had wanted the blood of the Slokaken, he wanted to destroy them all for what they had done and he wanted their homeland back. Why would they want to have his Rider if he was already willing to fight for them? The answer came, another blow to everything she had ever believed.

"To control him." Amber flexed her claws against the ground. "He's not like our males, he doesn't have a Rider to fight with for the cause, he is... different. They have a common goal now, but once the Isle is taken what then? All of the males have Riders, after the mines were taken they would have still fought for love of their Riders. Alaine wouldn't. They needed control."

How could they kill so many? Do they care nothing for life? _ Amber lowered her head, remembering her dismay and anger at how Matron had dismissed the youngsters as not being worth an education, instead wishing to put them to chores and work. _Like slaves...

_ _

"I have been blind." She snarled and gave her head a shake. Her world was falling apart before the satyr.

"You didn't know any of this?" Rowan stepped forward, close enough that Oake moved his hands out to clutch at her muzzle with a happy bleat. "Did you?"

"No, they are.. were our friends, companions." Amber spoke slowly and twitched her tail against her haunches. "They told us that our enemies had attacked Canith and we believed them. If I had known, if we had known... The females, at least, would have risen up and left. To kill mothers.." Her throat contracted as Oake wriggled happily between them, too busy basking in having both his mother and Amber together to notice her grief.

"Are you willing to try and make it right?" Rowan reached her free hand out to touch Amber's muzzle. "We need our children back, you can help us like no other. You have wings."

_Alaine doesn't know, he fights beneath the killers of innocents and doesn't even realize it. _ Amber thought of her mate, her strange and unique mate, doing the bidding of those who had lied to him, killed so many. Her world, shattered and shaken, leaving her nothing to stand on, found something solid to cling to. Alaine.

"No, not me." Amber lifted her head away from the touch and watched anger chase across the doe's face. "There are those I trust who will listen to your story, they will see the truth of it. I will bring them here, tonight, while the elves sleep and trust to the drakes to watch. No one will question, I will tell them I wish to hunt beneath the moon with my friends. They will believe you. They can get your youngsters out and find the rest. There are others in other cities.."

"But..." Rowan started to speak but Amber gave her head a short shake back and forth. Her mind already vividly imagining being killed so her eggs could be stolen away.

"Afterwards, we will go to Alaine. I will carry you and Oake, both. He thinks you are dead and works for those who lied to us all." Amber smacked her tail against the ground and shifted up onto her haunches. "He needs to know the truth. He deserves it."

"But.. he is going to battle. We would all be targets." Rowan's voice was hesitant, but Amber bared her teeth in a smile.

"We will have guards. There are at least six drakes that are too young for Riders, they can fly well enough, and fight. They have armor enough to protect us." Amber gave herself a shake and stood up slowly. "I cannot let him fight, and perhaps die, for the sake of those who would do such atrocities. We will go to him, show him the truth."

"They would kill h'you before h'you could do it." Heartwood spoke almost regretfully, the big buck regarding her curiously.

"The drakes would never allow it." Amber spoke confidently and shook her wings out. "Stay here, I will return as swiftly as my wings can carry me."

_And bring the start of a rebellion with me. _ She leapt aloft with her wings beating strongly in the cool night air. If they had lied about the raid, what else had these elves lied about?