FSE

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l12 years ago...

"Kena we have to go now!" Kena looked around her she did not see the cause for her mother's haste.

"But mother, Narsin and father are coming back soon..." her sentence ended in a question, for she herself was not sure whether she would see her brother would come back.

"KENA! NOW!" her mother shouted. Kena thought her mother sounded scared. She looks around to see her mother stare in terror at something, when Kena looked back she froze, her blood froze in her veins as her brother hung before her his throat being gripped by some black Figure. He struggled then went still. She was about to call out to her brother, surely he was only playing as he had done many times before, but something caught her around the middle and tugged. She heard her mother breathing hard as they fled to the main clan lands.

Presently

Kelnadra Dracoma ©

Sientas clan 40,000 years after "The Separation".

G'ivorn, Chapter 1

"Silent as a shadow, quick as a midnight breeze." These words are part of the Lead Scouts' training regime. He was low to the ground, almost touching it as he moved. He was small for an eastern dragon, stretching little over 10 feet from nose to tail-tip, and he was but 5 feet from shoulder to ground when he stood straight. Even though he was small, he was one of the most valued fighters in the clan and the best earth mage they had. He had fought long to convince the Alpha that the best job for him in the clan was as a scout, because even with all the skills he possessed he despised the idea of fighting. His scales were the color of a moonless night which made him nearly invisible in the dark, except for his eyes which shone a deep gold. Though easily missed on his dark hide he had a scar on his left side that ran from his shoulder to his left thigh; it did not hinder him anymore, and he barely took notice of it. Even with this token of war he held a kindly face.

He took a deep breath to steady his thoughts, it was a cold night out and there was barely a breeze. He was surrounded by trees and greenery, the moonlight barely shone through and where it did it shone silver. He shifted his paw, and a soft earthly sound greeted his movement; they would have no hope in finding him, not tonight. There was too much at stake and if any of them passed this particular test, then they would be released to join the Scouting team. Tomorrow at the Changing of the Seasons festivities he would announce whether or not he thought that the Trainees were ready or not.

Something rustled behind him and he bounded away silently, careful to not give away his position. At the moment his students were paired up and hunting for him. They were also under orders to disable one another should they meet. The first team to do so would win. There were three teams around the wood; this year's candidates surprised him by their skill and he had almost been caught multiple times. He moved himself into the shadow of a tree, his form melting into the darkness. The breeze blew again, hailing him with the musty scents of the forest.

He stood still for a long moment, there was much that he could do to avoid capture but he wanted to be fair, they were very good but they were still only trainees in his eyes, he huffed and made his decision."I think it's time to see what these draklings are all about.' Closing his eyes he delved into himself, reaching for his Mana reserve. As he returned from the depths of his mind, a thin light blue line followed him. As he settled within his body again the line split and washed over his eyes. When he opened them again his eyes were bright yellow. The moonlit night seeming like day to him, secrets hidden in the dark were brought forth. "Let the games begin." He ran off into the darkness disappearing from sight. A faint whisper of rustling leaves was left behind him.

***

A dark green dragoness was resting against a tree, breathing shallow and quickly. "They came out of nowhere! They had to be using magic!" her tail lashed out softly against a tree. She and her partner had been hiding at the time trying to figure the next best move, when she had heard a faint rustling not too far off, had seen a flash of scales against the moonlight and ran. Her partner, Fang, had not been as quick to catch on. When she looked back she was in time to see his large grey form being brought down. She had a mission and knew better than to go back for him until it was safe or the mission had been completed. She had been born into the clan and had recently found that her talent was in Scouting as was her friend and master, G'ivorn. She was a fair-sized dragon, about the size of a middle-aged male. Her mother was the Alpha Dragoness; Treka was her name, a blazing yellow in the sunlight. Her own name was Kendra, but to the rest of the clan she was known as Kena.

She pushed her-self from the tree and walked on carefully. G'ivorn had told them that they had to stick together, but she knew that she could work better alone. Like G'ivorn, she was a fair earth mage. She smiled to her-self; perhaps it was time to use a little spell she had picked up not too long ago. Watching the elders had always been fun and educational for her.

She hummed softly, calling to the vines; they writhed and twisted in response. A soft red glow emanated from the vine wrapping itself around her front paws. Changing the pitch of her hum she forced the glow into the ground. "That should do the trick." She smiled again and walked on, an invisible rustle following her footsteps. She sped up to a silent trot. She had to find her master and fast. G'ivorn was the best at what he did, finding him would be a challenge. She lowered her-self as she ran hoping for a little more speed.

As she ran she reached back mentally for a strand of power. Running this strand over her eyes a faint glow began to emit from the forest around her. With this she would be able to see if G'ivorn had used any magic. She knew that everyone's magical color was different. Hers was blood red, G'ivorn's was a light blue, and the pure natural earth energy was a blue. In this G'ivorn had the upper hand, but it did not matter; once she found the trail, she would find him. When a spell was cast its affects would followed the caster long after the spell ended. If she was to catch him she would have to move quickly. She found the trail of his spell and followed it closely. By the strength of the aura that his spell gave off, should he stop using it, it would dissipate. She ran through the forest, aiming for speed and silence. The wind rushed past her forcing her to bring her wings in close. "So close! If I lose him now l swear I'll..." She stopped suddenly throwing her wings in front of her. She could have sworn that she saw something moving in the shadows of the trees. She arched her back and jumped onto one of the bigger trees around her which could easily hold at least another four adult dragons. She climbed to just above the levels of the leaves and waited. It was not long before a shadow detached itself from darkness. It walked slowly and carefully, its' dark scales shone in the moonlight.

"I see you've learned a lot, my young apprentice." Dark golden eyes looked up at her.

"You've taught me well Master G'ivorn." She jumped down from her branch and landed in front of him bowing low. "You also gave me one hell of a work out." She smiled and nuzzled him gently.

"Dropping the courtesies already are we?" He said teasingly, chuckling, as he nuzzled back. Throughout the years he had become a good friend to Kena. They spent most of their free time together and if she ever had a problem he was the first that she went to. "Well I do believe congratulations are in order, you found me."

"Do I have permission to go? I want to go check on Fang, we got taken by surprise, and he might be hurt." She took a few steps back and looked at her friend. He was nearly half her size but she felt power radiating from him. He looked back at her, nodded and with a smooth stroke of his wings took off, as he flew he breathed a pillar of fire in front of him, in the night sky it would catch the teams' attention telling them that the training was over. She waited awhile before taking off herself, her wings carrying her through the air currents over the forest.

If she knew Fang she would be able to find him, he spent most of his nights outside near the lake. Being a water wielder, he was more at home near large bodies of water. Luckily Fang was also a healer so he would not be injured too badly, he was still in training when it came to healing, and his skills were growing quickly.

She caught a warmer terminal and flew higher over the forest. She was getting close to the edge now and the lake was in view; two minutes of flight and she would be there. Bringing her wings down in stronger weeps she sped up, anxious to see if her partner was in good shape.

She landed gracefully at the water's edge, tucking in her wings as she looked around. "Fang, are you there?" she called quietly her voice would carry far over the lake and the lake shore in the dark hour of midnight. There was silence for a few moments; then came the soft lapping of water. Looking toward the lake she saw a small wave rise and glided along the surface. She sighed as it washed over her feet and swept back into the dark water.

Her mouth curved slightly into a smile, she knew this sign well. Not long after they had met, Fang had taught, if that was indeed the way to describe it, the water to respond to her voice. When he was not there then two small waves washed over the shore, when he was in his cave, which was located not too far under the surface of the water, then only one wave washed over the shore; in this case however the wave meant something else. She took a running start her claws digging into the soft shore sand and took off over the lake. Spiraling upward she hovered for a minute then dove down, her wings pinned closely to her sides.

The cold air rushing past her was replaced with colder water in a matter of seconds, closing her eyes as she penetrated the water's surface. She had gone, perhaps, three dragonlenths, before she slowed down. She opened her eyes but she could have just as well have kept them closed. She allowed her wings to fill with water and drifted, her ears filled with the tight ringing of the waters silence. She stroked her wings as if she was flying moving slowly forward. The sound of rushing water came from behind her. Already knowing what it was she twisted her body upside down and sped up a bit. She looked over her stomach to make sure what it was, when she saw two light purple dots growing bigger in the distance, Kena straightened her neck and continued to speed up. Mere moments later a claw latched on to each one of hers, she closed her eyes and focused on keeping up her speed, she let the other lead. Together they dove and swirled, zipping through the water. Excitement wound its way through Kena and she urged her dancing partner a little faster, he gladly obliged.

They started climbing back to the surface twirling as they went. Breaking surface they rocketed out of the water into air made colder by their wet hides, almost freefalling as they tried to get used to the feel of air beneath their wings again. Kena took a deep breath of fresh air and looked at her training partner and mate.

"Are you okay love?" she murred as they slowed down nuzzling him gently.

Fang chuckled and nuzzled back "I am dear one; at least tell me you found him...?" he left his question dangling as they spread their wings and let go of each, flying slowly toward the smallest of the three mountains surrounding the clan lands.

"Yes I found him; I then came to see if you were alright. Did you see who attacked us?" she looked at him as they flew over the lake the mountain looming over them.

"No it was too dark and they moved way to fast, in and out in a heartbeat, though I think you vanished faster than they did." He added teasingly, looking back, a low hum of amusement in his voice.

"I am sorry I left you back there."

"You did what you had to do love, there's nothing wrong with that." His eyes glimmered lovingly. "Hush now, I don't know about you but I can't wait for bed, its well past midnight, and I'm bushed."

They flew the rest of the way in silence; the moon had almost set as they landed on the ledge that led into the cave they called home. Kena tucked in her wings and moved into the cave settling her-self down for the night; Fang curled himself around her placing a wing over both of them to guard against the cold. Murring softly, they both fell asleep within seconds.

Kena woke with the sun in her eyes, feeling around her she tried to find her mate but failed. When she did not find him she sat up and looked around her, Fang was nowhere nearby. Standing up she went outside the cave and stretched out her wings and legs yawning widely, cool morning air washed over her scales making her muscles beg her to go back inside. She stopped in the middle of the yawn, closing her mouth slowly, and looked around her toward the lake and the grass lands.

"That's new, there's no one here." She looked toward the sky squinting slightly as she did so the sun bright but not yet near midday. "It's not time for the meeting either." She bent her legs and kicked off her wings sweeping down gracefully, pulling her through the air. She kept flying higher so she could see more of the valley. She flew for what felt an hour, the air strangely still around her, when sight before her almost made her fall out of the sky. What looked to be the entire clan was fighting what could only be the Tieka clan. The Tieka clan made itself enemies with the Sientas a long time ago. But although they were never too friendly there was nothing that suggested a war now.

She spotted her mother in the fray and dived in all other thoughts except saving her mother left her head. As the wind rushed past her she tried to summon her magic, fear washed over her when she felt that she could not find it in her. She slowed down as she heard her mother give an alarmed shriek, turning she saw her mother being pinned by an enormous male. She suddenly felt sick a tingle ran up her spine and she began to fall. As the ground rose to meet her, she closed her eyes waiting to wake up when she hit the ground.

The ground never came, as she opened her eyes moonlight shone into the cave, she sighed and took comfort in Fang's soft rumble. She started to murr softly and snuggled up against Fang, who woke just long enough to wrap a wing around her and give her a soft lick on the nose. She stayed awake for some time, the dream slowly leaving her memory; she finally fell into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.

She woke up, again, to a sharp nudge on her right shoulder. She moaned softly in protest, but lifted her head to see what was happening. Fang was busy stretching and motioned for her to get up when he saw that she was awake.

"It's passed dawn love; you'd better get to your mother before she wakes up."

"Don't you think it time to tell her?" Kena asked him softly as she stifled yawned. Her mother had told her that when the time came, she would decide her mate for her.

"You know that she will never accept it. And it might have me thrown out of the clan, you know that." He looked at her lovingly and murred to her softly. "Besides I think she is a bit too busy at the moment." He walked over and nuzzled her lightly, purring as she nuzzled back. Taking a few steps toward the cave entrance he looked at her again and took off, his form melting into the mists of morning.

She sighed deeply and stood up, she would have to hurry and get to her mother's side. The council would be starting soon and she wanted to make sure that her mother was ready for this; her mother had a weird fear of large crowds and needed Kena besides her. But first there was someone that she had to see. She shook her head and took a running start, throwing her-self off the cliff edge. She tucked in her wing partly allowing herself to fall into a dive, the wind whistling in her ear fins as she fell. As the ground drew near she stretched out her wings, pulling herself out of the dive mere feet from the ground. Her speed gave her some lift before she began stroking her wings through the air. After she had reached her target altitude, which was about halfway between the ground and the clouds, she glided into an air current and followed it to her mother's cave. She smiled as she flew, if all went well in the meeting today then she would be off scouting for a few months which also meant that she would be able to spend more time with Fang.

The flight to her mother's cave was a short one and she was soon at the cave entrance. She landed lightly and walked into the cave, seeing her mother's form in a corner she grinned broadly, "I do believe this will be fun." She walked slowly towards the sleeping dragoness. A few meters away she crouched down waited for a moment and pounced landing squarely on top of her mother, giving her a big lick on her muzzle and pounced away just as her mother sprung up and looked around wildly.

"Who, what happened? Has Gerna..." She paused and looked at her daughter, and smiled, "Please don't do that again, Kendra" she walked over to lay a wing over her daughter and squeezed tightly. "By the way where were you last night? I was expecting you home." Taking a few paces back she stared into her daughters eyes. Innocent eyes stared back at her.

"I spent the night at Fang's, Master G'ivorn took us hunting training, me and Fang got jumped and after training I went to check up on him, we were both so tired we fell asleep in his cave."

Her mother gave her a long look, as if staring long enough at Kena would make her change her story, but her daughter merely looked back at her. "You know that I won't allow you a partner that I have not approved of, when you are to take over as..."

"'Alpha, you want a strong leader with me', I know mother, and besides, me and Fang are life-long friends not partners" She smiled sweetly and tried to think of a way to get her mother's thoughts off her and Fang. "By the way I was wondering if you would like to take a morning swim to wake up for the Meeting later today?" her mother always liked to go swimming and Kena thought that this would do to get the subject of mates out of her mother's head.

"I think it's still a little early to go swimming in the lake, too cold at the moment, but we could go to the hot springs, there we could wash off and warm up a bit for the day."

Kena's mother walked past her and she followed suit, and yet as she walked an idea came to mind. If there was only a way to get word to Fang she could have him meet her and her mother at the hot springs then perhaps her mother would decide that Fang would make a good Alpha in the future. She grinned as an idea did indeed come to her head. She started on a message to fang, fairly short and innocent, no need to tell him of her plans.

As they took off Kena urged a ball of magic to the tip of her tail and attached her message to it, giving her tail a flick, she sent it off to find Fang and deliver the message. She kept her pace with her mother taking in her surroundings as she did so. Both Kena and her mother enjoyed silent flights, as she flew she saw a few of the hatchlings playing at the edge of the lake, their mothers keeping watch deeper in. Kena and her mother shifted to the right and Kena had to look away as the sun shone in her eyes from the lake. She looked to the west and saw the Fighters of the clan practicing over a layer of rock so they could practice their elemental fighting without harming the land. Her clan had always been the most in touch with the land and did all they could to protect it. She had wanted to join the Fighters but her mother said that it was too dangerous and sent her to the scouts instead. She had despised every minute but stayed on only for the love for her mother and the love she held for her Master G'ivorn, she did take a liking however when her secret mate Fang had taken a place in the scout training as well.

She sped up and flew next to her mother. She caught a slight look of worry on her mother's face before she noticed Kena, and gave her a sweet smile, the worry gone as if it was never there. Though Kena could feel a crease of worry tugging at her own features, if her Mother was worried about finding a mate for Kena, then she and Fang should either tell her mother or run away, though she could never do that to her mother. She would have to tell her mother soon. She barely noticed that her mother was in a descent to the hot springs and quickly caught up.

As they landed Kena saw a blur of grey and silver vanish into the cave where the Hot Springs were. Her mother did not seem to see the blur and continued on into the cave, Kena followed suit. The moment she stepped into the cave a warm rush of air flowed over her. She took a deep breath feeling the moisture around her. She had always come to the Hot Springs to relax and think. She noticed that she, her mother and unseen Fang were not the only ones there, one of her life-long friends, Tienas, with whom she had hatched and grown up with, lying in one of the pools. Kena went with her mother into one of the pools that were out of sight and looked around the cavern, half the clan could fit in the cavern yet there were few dragons that used the hot springs in the spring.

As they got comfortable Kena jumped away hoping her mother would catch on. Her mother looked after Kena then noticed Tienas, smiling she called her over, "Tienas? Would you like to join me?" At the mention of her name Tienas looked up and nodded "I'd love to thank you Ma'am." She bowed her head respectfully and swam to the edge of her own pool and jumped into the other. "Didn't Kena come with you today Ma'am?"

"Please I've told you before Treka is fine." She nuzzled Tienas in greeting then got out of the way rather quickly, Tienas had a moment of surprise before Kena jumped her from behind, taking them both under the water in the deeper parts of the pools, Kena and her friend surfaced in time to hear "Oh she's here" from her mother.

Kena smiled broadly "Thanks Mother," then turned on her friend who was still half trying to figure out what was happening, seeming to have reached a conclusion Tienas looked at her friend and smiled "Nice to see you too Kena." She looked around slyly, "I saw Fang not too long ago, though I have no idea wh..."

Kena pawed at her friends maw to keep her quiet. "Hush Tien, my mom may be listening. And I know that Fang is here, I invited him."

"First, your mom is underwater, second, why...? If your mom finds him here"

"That's kinda the point, my mom says that she is looking for a strong male and if she gets to know Fang better she might see he is the one." She took a long look at her friend and smiled. "Come on, I think I know where to find him." Taking a deep breath she dove into the warm water, she could feel Tienas following her a moment later.

She swam into an opening almost hidden from the surface, known to a few dragons that there were more caverns along the underground rivers that fed the hot water springs. There were pockets of air, and at some places huge caverns that also held hot springs, if Fang was here he would be in the first cavern, which he and Kena found while swimming one day.

As they swam, Kena noticed an opening in front of them; she looked around and motioned to her friend that this was the place. She twisted slightly and slipped into the crack that led into the next cavern, Tienas coming up not long after. As the surface broke they took a deep breath and looked around them.

"So where is the Shadow?" Tienas commented after she failed to see Fang, and got onto one of the ledges above them.

"Lurking..." A voice said behind Tienas causing her to jump back into the water with a splash. When the noise had settled Fang walked out from behind a spire and chuckled, "I'm sorry Tienas," he bowed his head in her direction, "but I could not resist," He jumped off the ledge and seemed to slide into the water causing no more than a ripple on its surface, he came up besides Kena and nuzzled her warmly.

"Showoff..." Came Tienas's quiet voice from a different ledge looking behind the rocks for any more surprises, Fang chuckled again. Tienas did not even turn around, "One day buster, one day."

"I'll be waiting Tien, I'll be waiting, anyway, Kena if I may ask why the summons?" He looked deeply into her eyes as he asked, hoping they would give the answer away.

"Hehe, you'll see, love, you'll see." She walked toward him and gave him a loving nuzzle, he murred in response and licked back.

"Hey, hey, not while I'm in the same cave ok?" Tienas said sharply and dove into the water splashing Kena and Fang with water. "Now come on you two, Aunt Treka will begin worrying if we don't show up soon."

"Wait, what? This is your reason for bringing me here, I told you it's a bad idea to tell her, if she found out..." he stopped as Kena put a claw on his muzzle.

"Aren't you a bunch of nerves? We're not going to tell her anything, I just want her to get to know my training partner a little better, besides I don't think you two have been properly introduced."

"But, this is the hot spring I think your mom would like her privacy."

"Oh please, that's human talk, and I know she would like extra help with grooming, now come on she probably noticed that we've left." And without waiting for a reply Kena leapt into the water and started swimming back to the main chamber she soon heard Tienas jump in and felt the water's excitement as Fang slipped into the water as well. The swim back seemed faster to Kena, as she was filled with excitement at what could happen if all went well. She decided not to tell Fang of her plan, fearing he might try something weird to impress her mother, or escape.

She broke the surface to see her mother resting in the shallows on the main pool she looked at her daughter as she emerged, "I see you two have found the back tunnels, and Fang am I right? Good morning to you." She said when Kena had nodded at her mother's guess.

"Good morning to you to Ma'am." He said it without looking at her eyes and bowed his head respectfully as soon as he could stand in the water.

She bowed her head in the same manner toward Fang and smiled sweetly. She then looked at her daughter and her friends, "I suppose you two will be helping each other wash" Kena and Tienas both nodded, Treka then looked at Fang, "So then could I ask you to help me? The favor will be repaid in kind." Fang looked severely taken aback and took a step backward, the water around him vibrating tensely. "Oh come now Fang, it's just a back scrub, are all scouts this shy?" Kena and Tienas giggled as they moved to deeper water, this seemed to give Fang a little more courage and he nodded as he stepped forward.

Kena and Tienas swam for a while, turning in the water to get some of the dirt out from under their scales before they started cleaning each other. They surfaced again and moved to a place where they could stand and look at each other. As though they decided something, Kena started running a paw over her friend's back, the scales on her paws running under her friend's and brushing sand out from between Tienas's scales. She was busy with her friends lower back when they heard Treka urge Fang on, they both burst out in laughter, Kena actually had tears in her eyes. "You can push a little harder than that I'm not going to break you know, ahh, that's it." As Kena and Tienas looked at Fang they saw that he was very uncomfortable, Kena almost felt bad for him.

Smiling at Tienas she continued to work her friends back, when she was done she moved herself to a position so that Tienas could reach her scales easily, them being both, more or less the same size. She closed her eyes and shivered as her friend started to clean her scales. Looking over at fang she had to suppress a smile, he was having his hide washed now, and looked extremely nervous.

"Dear me, it's like trying to wash a rock, Fang are you always so tense?" her mother asked him as she continued to scrub, she had to get on a rock to be able to reach his back, half standing on him and the rock, he did not mind the pressure. But it was obvious that he would rather be anywhere else right now.

"It must be last night's training ma'am." He replied after a second, his voice hiding the discomfort he felt. Kena saw him trying to relax then; she looked at her mother and caught the weirdest expression on her face.

"The training with Master G'ivorn? Or the "training" with Kena?" Her mother put a emphasis in the second training and this made all three of the younglings tense up, Kena felt Tienas' claws dig into her back but paid them little heed. She was staring at her mother in a look of shock. When she glanced at Fang, he had the expression of someone that was about to be executed, and indeed her mother had her claws in a position to do some serious damage. "Hehe, you can all relax, I've told you Kena the I don't want you with someone that I have not approved," her claws went back to cleaning Fang's hide, "I have not approved Fang." Fang took in a slow deep breath and looked sadly at Kena. "Yet." She smiled at her daughter and everyone began to relax again, Kena looked at Tienas and shook herself, her friend let her claws relax and start rubbing over the spots. "Besides, if you have deemed him fit then I trust you on your decision."

Kena smiled at her mother then, though she could only manage a "How long?"

Her mother laughed and replied, "Lets' see, you two were spending time alone, about three years before you joined the scouts... But I guess that I've always known since the time I came across you snuggling and deep in sleep, oh about five years ago." She looked at Fang now, he had not moved nor had he said anything since she had made her little pun. She poked him and he shook himself slightly, "I promise you Ma'am there was no... training... last night." Was all he said, he seemed more relaxed and sighed softly.

"Hehe, well that's none of my business really, but I am glad that you two have been able to keep your heads in the matter." Her claws did another sweep of Fangs back and she jumped off. "Any way I think I'll take another dip and then I think I'll be ready to go, Kena?" Her mother stared at her and Kena nodded in response.

"I'll be ready at that time as well mother." She said and layed down as Treka jumped into the water and Tienas continued to work her back, although it seemed as if she was not paying attention to where she was washing, neither was Kena. Fang was lost in his own little bubble, having not moved or said anything since her mother had left.

"How could you do that to me?" Fang nearly shouted at Kena just before they left the springs, "You knew that would happen didn't you?" he stared at her suspiciously.

Kena tried hard to hide her giggles, although what her mother had said had shocked her, she still could not help but find it amusing afterwards and Fangs facial expressions were not helping, "Of course not hun" she managed to say with a straight face, "I just wanted to formally introduce you two" she looked away to hide her smile and when she had that under control she nuzzled him and jogged to her mother. "Thanks a lot mother..." she said as she got closer to the older Dragoness. "That will be night of awkward between me and him now." She poked her mother with a claw and looked up into the Amber eyes of her mother, and smiled weakly. Her mother leaned down and gave her a soft lick on the nose.

"I'm sorry dear, but its about time you two established yourselves as mates if that is indeed what you want to do."

Kena nodded slowly and smiled again. "Then me and him will be joining the other pairs at the next Changing of the Seasons." He mother nodded happily in agreement and took off with a powerful wing stroke he tail lashing behind her as she caught wind.

Kena shook her head and soon followed suite, she bent her knees and jumped letting the down swing of her wings do the rest taking her high into the air. She faltered in her strokes for just a minutes the upset making her turn and around and she caught a glimpse of Fang flying off in the other direction, she would have to make up for scaring him like that but that could be delt with later. She righted herself and followed her mother back to the main Clan lake.

In a few days there would be a clan meet and her mother had asked Kena that she joined in, as heir to the clan it was past her time that she learned the politics of leading the clan, if her mother did not outlive her in that regard.

She watched Treka fly off towards the lake and she decided to go check up on Tannil, she needed a good girls night out after last night's training. She tilted her wings and started to head off to her friends Cave. Hopefully it would not be the same surprise she got when she visited last. Tannil and Sarek were further into their relationship than herself and Fang.

She landed quietly and looked into the darkness of the cave and called out.

"Tannil! Safe to come in?"

She waited a moment before tannil responded sounding rather tired.

"Define "safe", come in Kena." Kena heard a giggle after her friend had called out and slowly made her way into the cave. It was simple enough grey rock lined the walls with small little crevices, of which many were decorated by Sarek holding florescent pants and moss. Tannil was lying there covered by something rather big, as Kena approached she found that Tannil was lying under Sarek's wing, who was still fast asleep. Tannil and smiled and started to wiggle out of her captors wing, slowly stretching as she went and licked Kena on the nose. "Welcome dear, how can I help you today?" Tannil looked at Kena with a broad smile, and she thought that her friend had had a busy night despite the long training hours.

"Not much just coming to say hi, and to ask if you wanted to come to the lake today, me and mother are heading there now, I ditched to get you." She smiled back and returned the lick.

"Sure hun, do you want me to wake up the drake or just let him lie?" Tannil looked back at Sarek laying there and seemed to make up her own mind. "C ome on, let's go." And with that the two friends set off taking a slight running start and jumping off the cliff that Tannil and Sarek had nested on.

"We should get going to the Meeting mom, it's starting soon right?"

Her mother nodded at her and took off, Kena right behind her. She kept close to her mother, but tried not to get caught in her mother's back draft. The cool air washed over her as they flew, and the meeting cave loomed in front of them. Tucking in her wings she began to descend to the patch of dirt, as she landed she noticed the claw marks of old and new landings that had taken place at the meeting cave.

"So some have already arrived." She thought but broke off that chain of thinking as her mother landed besides her. She looked over to her mother and saw that she had changed through the flight. She had become the Alpha, a figure to be respected and feared. Kena bowed her head low "After you Ma'am" she said after a moment and fell in behind her mother as she walked through the cave entrance.

Kena followed closely and walked into a tunnel that was about four dragonlenths, when she looked in front of her, she saw that it opened up to a huge natural cavern. As they walk into the cave soft green light washed over them, looking up Kena saw that the roof of the cave was made up of plants that have grown for thousands of years, weaving into each other make a solid roof of green. She gazed around her and saw what she thought was all the elders of the clan, close to fifty dragons perched on ledges all around her and her mother. It was now that she heard Master G'ivorn and what he said of the cave;

As one walks into the cave the hard rocks that assailed the feet are replaced by soft sand. The harder sunlight is replaced by a green haze and a light wind cools down the body. A soft deep smell of old wood and soil calms down the body and mind, as one goes deeper into the cave it expands out to reveal an old tree near the side of the cave wall, its branches reaching up and covering the roof in greenery through which the light filters through. The sand becomes less to reveal the cave stone-floor which has seen many of the clan meetings. The walls are jutted with ledges and everywhere there is seen claw marks and smooth indents in the stone where the dragon scales have worn away the rock, this is a place of sanctuary and peace where many go to think and wonder.

She stayed right behind her mother as they walked out into the middle of the clearing. As the other dragons noticed their presence they stood up and made a near half circle around Kena and her mother, this was easier for her and her mother too keep track of who was speaking. They all bowed low as they took their places. Treka and Kena both bowed low, and from a silent signal they all lay on their stomachs a few dragons leaned to their sides due to wounds from battles longs past. Her mother had said that this was they felt less inclined to start arguing as they were known to do frequently, and, she said, she had managed to cut the time taken by meetings in half.

Her mother had not told her what the meeting was about so Kena merely waited and it was her mother that spoke first.

"We have a slight problem on our paws; I do believe that you have all heard what has been happening." There was a soft rumble that told her she was right. "Then you know that we will need to keep an eye on the situation. This cannot be allowed on clan lands" another rumble of agreement "Now we must find a way to take care of the problem, an attack may be too harsh as they may be just wondering group in which case, they may stay here, this clan needs a little new blood. The Scout Master has given me a very good idea, that we let the scouts take care of this, it is, after all what they've been training for."

Kena's head shot up and found her master within seconds, she stared at him for a few minutes, he did not seem to notice, she shook her head a focused on what was being said, an elderly dragoness had taken the stage, "furthermore this I a chance for the Beta to show what she is able to do, I say that she must be in charge of the expedition." There was a murmur in the crowd, then one Dragon somewhere in the left came forth, "No disrespect meant, but is she ready for this?" Kena agreed with him.

"I have full confidence is Kena's skills as a scout" G'ivorn almost whispered but everyone heard it, he used a tone that he used on his pupils, and it demanded attention. "She has given it all she's got and has surpassed my expectations. Otherwise I would not have suggested it."

Treka stared at her old friend, "You meant to have Kena lead the expedition anyway?" when he nodded she sighed and looked at Kena, "And young one, what do you think of this proceeding?"

"I am willing to do it for the clan, Treka. Though can I choose the dragons that go with me?" she looked form her mother to G'ivorn as did her mother.

"You are the lead scout; I'll leave the decision to you." G'ivorn nodded at Treka's proclamation. "Very well, as we are here we might as well go through the anything the counsel might have on their minds, G'ivorn, Kena, if you two wish to speak about the details you may leave."

G'ivorn nodded once and took off from his ledge and landed behind Kena and her mother, getting up Kena joined him and together they left the cave, and walked into sunlight. She blinked twice and looked at her friend, his face had changed since they had left the cave, and G'ivorn did not have that killing look that he had had in the cave.

"A scouting expedition? And if I may ask why me?" She asked as soon as they were out of view from the cave.

"Because Kena, you excel at your training and the time has come for you prove to the others that you are indeed ready for your post as Beta, and resolving this matter could only prove useful for you, try to understand your mother needs all the help she can get and this is the chance she been waiting for get it. "He looked at her for a long while then sighed, "I would not have put forth the suggestion if I was not sure if you could handle it. Go and get your team together you leave at dusk." With that he nuzzled her and took off, going at speed to the east.

"Yeah sure ready to take my place... well I guess it must be done, I'll do it for mother, I wonder who I should take with me, Tannil will be a good forward scout, and Sarek backs her up pretty well, and then of course I have to take Fang with me, it is better to keep the training partners together." It was here where her train of thought cut short. Something, no some things crashed into her from the right side, and she and her attackers rolled off to the left. Kena was stunned with shock only half her mind registered what had happened the other half was contemplating about the mission that lay before her.

"Morning Kena!" Two young voices screamed in union, "We were waiting for like EVER! What were you doing in their anyway?"

Kena twitched at the sudden noise and sat up looking at the two younglings, they were the twins of the clan, Gerna and Eddy, the two mischief makers, and Kena was told constantly that she was not helping the situation. They were both deep red, but their eyes told them apart, Gerna's eyes were a light gold, her brothers on the other hand were jet black, he often looked away from any source of light.

"Hey you two, she put her wings around then and hugged, "You know that I can't talk about the meetings, and why were you waiting for me, if I may?" she smiled as t he twins looked at each other for a moment.

"Well we were wondering if you had something for us to do." Gerna said matter-of-factly, her brother nodded, "Yis we are bored, and wish to help." Then they both looked at her and with a rather toothy grin said "Please" as if they'd been doing it for ages.

"Very well, you two could help me actually, I'm going on a mission!" she was pleased that she had gotten the effect she wanted; their eyes were glowing with a new edge that only spelled trouble. "Now don't tell anyone ok?" They nodded. "Ok, I need you guys to go and find Tannil and Sarek for me, tell them to meet me at the big tree, you two can come to if you want to, but only to the tree though not the mission ok?" she looked at them sternly and they nodded eagerly, a moment of silence and the both ran off in two different directions.

Twins were really rare in the dragon race but they were very powerful if they put their minds to it, being able to share thoughts and power at no more than a glance. Kena sighed and walked on, she'll find Fang and she knew where to start looking. She took a running start and leapt into the air with a whoosh, and looked at the red twins for a while still running in different directions but at an amazing speed for their age, looking away she angled herself with the wind and headed towards the lake.

She flew over the island in the middle of the lake and spotted what she was looking for, near the tip she saw her grey form basking in the sunlight, and flew around behind him. Her landing was silent and she crept up toward him, she noticed that he was asleep and decided to drop her original plan and tried something else, laying down close in front so that they were touching, she arched her back and rubbed against him, it worked he laid a wing over her and snuggled her in his sleep. She murred happily and gave a nip on his fore leg, and then everything moved, she had been waiting for this and managed to land on her feet as Fang jumped to his own, an astonished expression on his face.

"K-Kena, p-please don't do that again, I almost swallowed my tongue." He fell to the ground and panted as though he had just flown for days, Kena was on the ground already but she was rolling around laughing, when a new idea came to mind and she promptly rolled off the edge of the ledge, "Kena!" As his face came over the ledge, she jumped up from the one below and pounced on him happily.

"I sorry love, but you were so vulnerable, any way, we have been given a mission! And we need to meet Tannil and Sarek at the big tree, soon." She nuzzled him from on top of him and he purred gently.

"You're to be the death of me you know that right?" he said and walked off with her still on his back, Kena braced herself latching her front claws around his wing joints, and putting her back paws on his thighs, tucking her wings tightly to her sides, Fang took off with a burst of speed.

His speed forced her to put more pressure on her back paws. She leaned back and filled her wings with air a little and then tucking her wings in again. She saw that the other two were already on their way, when they were just bellow Kena she let her wings fill with air and let go of Fang. She did a back-flip with the sudden brakes and the pulled herself into a very fast dive, she flew past, and buffeting them with the wind that followed her, she heard both dragons exclaim something and pulled out of the dive just below the forest roof.

They landed a few minutes later in front of the biggest tree in the forest, two red figures were jumping from the branches when she landed, and they disappeared when the others landed however.

"May we ask why the summons, missy?" Sarek asked her when he landed. "We just woke up! You may be able to go with an hour but we need sleep."

"I am sorry Sarek, Tannil; but I've recently been given the job of leading a scout party, to figure out why a small pack of stray dragons are in Sientas territory. They let me choose and I was wondering if your three would like to come with me," she addressed Fang now as well as the others. "I think you guys would be perfect for the job, if you're willing to come of course." She looked at them expectantly, she had no idea how you asked something like this but she thought she did well.

To her surprise they merely looked at her blankly before figuring out what she was saying, and then their stare changed from "blank" to "empty". Tannil recovered first, shaking her head and looking at Kena thoughtfully.

"Well Kena, I would follow you wherever you take me," she looked at the boys, "they would to, once their minds return, let's leave them for a while, this might take some time." Kena and Tannil walked of; the two males did not even blink. Kena looked over her friend, Tannil had made her feel welcome it the scout training, and what she really liked about her was her easy going nature and she seemed to get really excited by the smallest things. She was very energetic, and never seemed to have a still moment. They walked side by side. Tannil, was a bit smaller that Kena but had a well formed body, she was also called the cat, well formed but lean and very flexible. Although she did not look it she could easily overpower even Fang, who was one of the larger males of the clan.

They had not walked for more than five minutes, when they heard very fast movement behind them, both Kena and Tannil jumped up the trees next to them as the two males ran, full speed, past them, as they disappeared they both heard hysterical laughter coming from where they had just been. Kena smiled and looked over to Tannil, who had climbed only higher into her tree.

Kena jumped down and, looking in the direction that the males came from, called out, "Ok you two, Tannil and me are over here, you guys will get lost." The sound of laughter faded into giggles, though the giggling was coming closer. "Tannil, have you met Gerna and Eddie, the twins?"

A soft thump came from behind Kena as Tannil landed; appearing by her side she looked at Kena, "I haven't met them, no." And she looked ahead of her as two red shapes expelled themselves from the cover of the trees.

"Kena you should have been there, their faces were priceless." Gerna said laughter still ringing in her voice.

"We know dear one, they came sprinting through here not too long ago, come on let find them before they get themselves lost. Tannil, would you mind carrying Eddy?"

"No no, Kena its still midday and we're in the mood for an adventure." Gerna said, looking at her brother nodding in response. "Besides those two are likely to head toward the rest of the clan, or come back to "rescue" you two." She giggled and looked at her brother; the both nodded and ran off into the trees before Kena could object.

"Energetic aren't they?" Tannil said turning to Kena, "So do we wait for them to return or go after them?"

"You have no idea how energetic they can be, anyway I think Gerna had a point, they will come back for us, let's just wait." She looked at her friend, as saw that she was looking at the direction that the two males had run. "Or maybe we need a good hunting challenge." She smiled as she saw Tannil nod once and smile back.

"You bet, besides he said that I would never be able to find him, I need to repay him for that." Her smile broadened and a gleam crossed her eyes that Kena had never seen before. "Shall we?" and she bounded off, Kena waited only a second and ran after her.

Kena Kept close to Tannil, making sure not to let her out of her sight. A thought crossed her head then and she jumped onto one of the trees in front of her easily keeping her speed with Tannil as she jumped from branch to branch. From her height she caught sight of the two males further ahead of them; they had stopped and seemed to be talking. Jumping down she landed next to Tannil and picked up her speed keeping then neck to neck.

"They stopped about a minutes run from here, seems their lost on what to do." She then ran off towards the right and saw Tannil go to the left a second later. After a short run they reached the edges of the clearing where Fang and Sarek were standing. Kena leapt toward Fang ready to latch on should he start running again, she saw a flash of blue as Tannil did the same. They both landed on their prospective males.

Kena barely had time to latch on before Fang bolted. He stopped just outside the clearing and swung his head around to look at Kena. She licked his nose as he did so and jumped off him.

"Found you." From behind them came Tannil's musical laughter. "You big boys afraid of something?" she asked turning back to Fang, a smile spreading across her lips.

Fang merely glared at her for another moment before turning away.

"Aww, Fang." She nuzzled him softly. "The first scare wasn't us that was the twins; we just came to find you guys." She looked at him and saw him relax, she then turned to Tannil who was getting similar treatment and said aloud, "C'mon guys, we're setting off tonight, and we need to go to Master G'ivorn for instructions should something happen." As one they began to walk toward the rest of the clan, Fang stayed close to her but remained quiet.

"But why tonight? You know sometimes I think that the Master has it in for us." Tannil put in, it seemed that she was also getting the silent treatment. "I mean last night took forever and tonight we have the Changing of the Seasons. You know this is beginning to get irritating."

"Now now Tannil, I know Master G'ivorn can be pretty trying but just try to endure." Kena looked over at Tannil a smiles playing on her lips.

Tannil sighed and nodded back, smiling after a bit as well. "I guess but I will not be on guard duty again! I mean what the hell do we need to look out for; a stray wind?"

"I don't think that he will put us on guard duty, it is the Changing of the Seasons after all, I've never seen any guards during the celebration." Sarek put in softly the first time the males said anything, "I think that they use the Guardian for that." He did not even look at them and it started to occur to Kena that mayhap it was not her and Tannil that ticked them off but rather something else was bothering them altogether.

This train of thought was destroyed almost as soon as it made its home in Kena's head, to be examined later. Instead she thought of the Guardians, spirits of the elements, all seven of them that guarded against any misfortune until midnight. So that was when they would set out, once the Spirits went back to sleep for the next year.

The Guardians were really just elementals that lived in the center of the clans lands. She was told that all of the clans had them and that they lay dormant for a year at a time, attacking anything that seemed to be a threat to anything around them. They were guardians against violence, not enemies from other clans, only hunting was allowed when the Guardians were active.

She deeply enjoyed watching these glowing giants move around during the night, in fact that is what many of the clan did. They would sit for hours until the Elementals fading back into their surroundings. What she found interesting however was that the elementals were not their own shade of color. They were all the shades of the color of the element. Tonight would be a night that the elemental users would be able to see the colors of the elements that they were not able to use. The spell for seeing other elements was very draining and so many did not use it.

The Sun cast a last shimmer of light before it was hidden away behind the mountain. They had broken out of the forest and took off one by one, Kena was glad to be flying again and decided to try her luck with Fang's mood. She took off in front of them and sped back, right at Fang. She saw a flash of a smile as she passed him and turned to find that he was diving at her. So they began a game of tag, chasing each other, not really making much speed to the lake, it was not long before Tannil and Sarek decided to join them, all four lost in flashes of movement.

It was dark when they landed on the shores of the lake, each taking a long drink of water before flying off to the clearing, where the clan gathered briefly to pay respects to the elements before enjoying the night, even with their game, they were not tired, eager more than anything, as they set off into the cooling night. The flight there was a short one; they landed near to the back. Luckily for them they were just in time to begin the ceremony. It was dark now; the elementals were already on the move, casting a faint light where they walked, and in some cases glided.

"The Changing of the Seasons has come once again, a night of peace. And may the elements keep it that way." Treka's voice carried over the din and silenced any conversation that was going on at the time. "Tonight we honor the spirits as we have done for ages gone by. Tonight we ask only for peace, and as always, when you cross a guardian of your element you are expected to give it some of your power. There shall be no training tonight."

"You left out one thing Treka." G'ivorn's voice came from behind her, making her jump and an amused murmur to go through the crowd. "The elements, as most of you know, have stories to tell, they have been here for generations. I would encourage you to listen when the element speaks. If you are approached, merely stay where you are, should the element seem to want to go by you then move out of its way." A fire element that had come into the clearing while G'ivorn was talking, seemingly to prove him wrong; walked through G'ivorn then. It was Treka's turn to laugh now, and everyone joined in; Kena even saw the Fire Elemental blaze a bit, as if it, too, was amused.

And so the night began, there was a lot of movement, the Elements then flooded the clearing, and groups started forming around them, these were the oldest Elements. Always after the introduction to the night they came into the clearing and told their stories to the waiting audience. From each of the elder elements there was a small blaze as they accepted the offering of power from each of their listeners, they then set forth into their stories as the dragons seated around them.

Kena looked at Fang, Tannil and Sarek had vanished.

"So where are you off to?" She asked him softly they. He knew that she liked to watch the Elements for a while before giving her offering. What she did then varied on the mood she was in, last year she had spent the rest of her night curled into a ball under Fang's wing.

"Well I was wondering if you would give your offering while I go and give mine, and then we could have a flight?" he looked at her and she knew what he meant, they had not gone to their little cove in ages. Tonight was full moon after all; she smiled and nodded to him.

"We'll meet back here then?" She nuzzled him after he nodded and wrapped her wings around him for a moment before running off to find her Element Elder. She was careful not to disturb any story telling that she passed and give some power to any Earth Elemental that she crossed, she always gave the most of her power to one element. The Earth Elemental Elder, she saw him then, it was easy if one knew what to look for. He was darker with age, glowing blue. And the greenery around him seemed to glow with him.

Luckily for her he was just finishing up the telling of one story, the young earth users getting up and walking away whispering softly as they went. The Elder turned as Kena approached him and went towards her. They stopped three feet away from each other, looking at each other for a long moment.

"Evening to you Kendra, you look in a hurry, both to find me and then leave again." He said, though she did not hear his voice, she never really understood this, all she knew is that he had spoken and she could not remember if he had actually said anything.

"Evening, forgive me but I need to prepare for my mission later tonight. We are due to leave at midnight." Kena said, bowing her head in respect. He she looked up he was nearer to her his deep blue eyes staring into hers. Then he pulled away and laughed.

"I forgive you, though I could argue that midnight is rather far off." Still chuckling he said, "I see young mischief afoot tonight! Well you came to find me and I won't keep you too log from your plans, what is it that you wanted to see me about then?"

"Will you accept my offering tonight sir?" By now she had lost track of everything that had been happening around her.

"I will indeed." She felt warmth flood her then and she opened herself to the feeling, when it left she felt slightly dazed and everything seemed to move slowly, and fuzzily. "Now be off with you, and enjoy the night!" he said and she was off running through the wind. She was sure that she was going very fast and yet she seemed to move slowly seeing each patch of ground clearly before putting her foot down and pushing herself further and faster. She stopped at the spot that she and Fang were supposed to meet, it was then that she figured out that the Elemental had not taken any power from her but rather gave her some of his power.

She was still wondering about that when she felt a soft nuzzle on her shoulder and turned to see Fang at her side. She crooned softly to him; his eyes seemed brighter since they last met. Both turning Fang took off first and Kena followed careful not to get caught in his down draft. After they had gotten high enough to glide the started to fly around each other, never letting go of each other's gaze, while doing a complex pattern in the air, they had never need to practice. Whenever they were alone together they managed to pull of something, never the same as the last and each more bonding than the last.

They flew for some time before they stared to descend, Kena pulling out of the dance before Fang and him following her closely. They had headed south away from the clearing, and flew over the forest, Kena ducked under the ranches as they reached a big tree, landing in the branches. She jumped down and landed heavily on the forest floor. The smell of wet dirt found its way to her nostrils her claws sinking slightly into the layer of mulch. She heard Fang land behind her. Together they walked forward to a massive tree in front of them. It was much bigger close up and served as an entrance keeper of a small glade, now long unused by the other dragons except Fang and Kena.

They ducked under the low hanging branches that hid the entrance. It was not a short walk through the tunnel, but it was pitch black. They made their way through memory and feel; careful not to trip over any roots that may have made the tunnel their home since the last time that the two had come through.

As they turned a corner the exit was filled with a soft blue glow, since their eyes had become used to the dark this was more than enough light that they needed. They stepped into the small glade; it was big enough to fit about twenty dragons comfortably, a deep pool dominated the Center of the glade, underground rivers ran in every direction. It was here that the rivers met and surfaced their movement paused in a soft swirl. As Kena looked up she marveled at the sky that greeted her. A fast star filled sky, and yet, even though Kena had flown over the forest multiple time she never managed to find the glade.

A soft warmth spread through her then, she smiled softly to herself and turned around, walking forward she nuzzled down Fangs' neck. He murred deeply and crossed his neck over her own.

"You know Fang, now that mother knows and approves." She began but he cut her off.

"We have talked about this, Kena. And we did agree that if your mother knew and approved of our relationship..." he left the sentence hanging. "Is this what you want?" he whispered softly backing off slightly and looking deep into Kena's eyes.

She looked at him and nodded slowly, whispering, "I am ready, are you?" she titled her head as he hesitated, he smiled softly lovingly and whispered back, "I am." She turned to the pool and jumped in without another word, Fang followed her moments after. They latched onto each others' claws as they did that night in the lake.

They started swirling and cutting through the water, following one river then the next. Their last river led them back to the pool in the glade and they shot out of the water. Fangs claws tightened their grip on Kena's and he pulled her sharply to his body. His Strong wings carried them towards the stars as Kena was lost in a wave of passion.

***

Chapter 2

The moon was at its highest point in the sky; if you looked closely you could see the hint of shadows over the plains, and occasional flashes of glowing eyes. But these details were only for those that were paying attention.

As a breeze blew over her, Kena held her breath for a bit, and then sighed with relief when she noticed that they were traveling against the breeze. To be found now would destroy their entire mission before it had even properly beginning. This was their first night of traveling. They were hoping to set up camp, so they could observe from there for three days, then if they deemed that it was safe they would make contact, if not then they would report back to the clan. They stopped running soon after midnight, pulling to a halt under the shelter of a few trees.

"Okay, we will be able to reach them by midday tomorrow should they have stayed where they were last seen. Remember to stay hidden; we need to observe them before we make contact." She looked at her party, all three looked worn from running, and she did not want to take a look at herself. They all nodded and without further talking, found a place to lie down; Fang padded up to her and laid down next to her holding up a wing. Kena smiled to herself, he had resumed talking to her that morning, and curled up beneath his wing. He wrapped the wing around her and sighed, she could tell that he was gone before the sigh was done.

She woke before sunrise still under Fang's wing, she could hear him still snoring, she strained to hear further than his ruble and heard Tannil and Sarek, breathing deeply not too far away from them, not wanting to wake him up she crawled out under his wing. His wing was not big enough to cover her completely so climbing out was fairly easy. She stretched herself trying to stay as silent as possible, her plan was to go hunting; she would bring back food for the others. She padded off and left the others still sleeping, she knew this part of the valley well, there would be a heard of deer not too far away from where they were.

She walked for about a minute before she leapt into the air. She brought her wings down in a powerful stroke at the top of her jumping arc and made herself airborne. She tilted slightly to the left and made a wide turn looking for her prey. She had not flown for more than five minutes when she saw a small herd not too far away from her. They had not yet seen her. She dove. They scattered when she came into sight, which was too late as she slammed down on a buck crushing its neck under her claws. She winced as she heard and felt its neck break, this was not the way that she liked hunting but having the animal make a noise was out of the question.

Kena readied herself and pounced another dispatching it with her claws, she nodded as she dragged her second kill to her first these should be enough for the group. Hooking her right claws in one she swung it over onto her back, she steadied it and took the other in her mouth. She could jog and be back at the camp without getting too tired. The ground was hard under her paws but she easily kept her pace, this is after all what she was trained to day. The early morning sun only adding warmth to her cold limbs, the wind rustled the grass and even though there was no real need she was alert, there was something in the air that bothered her, a weird feeling that flowed over her.

She picked up the pace slightly and saw with relief that the others were still sleeping under the tree, except for Tannil who was waiting up for her. She dropped the one carcass and shrugged off the other, Fang stirred as she did so, he looked up at her for a few second before shaking his head and stretching, digging his claws into the dirt. Sarek however needed a few prods from Tannil's tail before he got up and did the same.

Fang walked over and gave Kena a warm nuzzle, purring to her softly as he did, he pulled away a bit and gave her a long look before he said, "Thanks for the breakfast, love. You should have woken me up."

"Oh no, you looked so cute, I couldn't." she smiles warmly. "Anyway tuck in, we need to be on our way soon." She bit into a hind leg as she said this, warm blood spilling into her mouth as her teeth tore through the skin. A chunk of flesh came off and she gave the sweet tough meat about four chews before she swallowed, the others followed suit and breakfast was eaten in silence.

Fang was licking his lips when she felt the same chill that crept across her in the morning. She looked over at Fang and saw that he was not feeling the same as she was. She kept silent about it and hoped that the feeling would fade. She shook her head, and when she looked up she saw the other ready and waiting for her to give the signal. She nodded and they picked up the place where they left it during the night. They ran in a northerly direction and kept to cover barely being able to see each other.

Kena ran low and found the feeling was slipping into memory, she looked behind her for a moment and saw a shadow following them, but it vanished as soon as her eyes had focused in on it. She looked forward and concentrated, letting her senses flow out of herself.

She gasped and just managed to shout, "AMBUSH!" before something slammed into her throwing her of course and the rest of the world into a blur. She tucked her wings in tightly and went into a roll, stopping short of slamming into a tree. Jumping up she had to roll again to avoid the blurred shape coming towards her, she looked quickly around her to find the blur, instead a black dragon laced with gold was staring at her, holding on to the tree that was behind her mere moments ago. The newcomer dropped off and slid into a crouch ready to spring, a deep hiss coming from his throat. Kena reared her head as a vicious growl ripped her throat. She felt her own legs bend, herself slipping in to a defensive stance. She gazed into her attackers eyes, deep red eyes stared back at her, and a chill crept through her spine.

She did not know why, but she had the feeling that she was in deep, very deep indeed. She saw a flicker in her adversary's eyes and jumped away just as he leapt for her; she moved again and tried to keep him in her field of vision.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all, but how long can you keep up?" the air seemed to blur around him, and he moved, she meeped in surprise, it was like trying to focus on something that, instead of moving to one place at a time, moved everywhere. Just when she had thought that she had focused on him, his tail lashed out and caught her on the side throwing her into a tree.

She landed on her side but was up before she took a breath; he was standing in front of her staring at her intently. The intense light that shone in his eye was replaced with a softer light, she hesitated in counter attacking. Her face fell as she stared back at him, he stirred a very deep memory in her, something she knew that she had to remember but just could not. He gave her a very warm and familiar smile them turned and vanished once again, leaving her standing where she was. A breeze stirred the air and she was brought back to her senses.

"FANG!" She ran forward thinking that she would be able to see him, but there was no sign of him, she ran in a circle try to find Fang or the others but failed. "Mierda!" she threw the curse out to no one in particular and ran after the others. "They must have not heard me." She thought savagely, taking to more bounds she leapt into the air tearing grass with her as she pulsed her legs into the ground. She did not go too high instead keeping low trying to get all the speed she could from her wings. At her height she could still not see them; she cursed the fact that they were trained to hide, because she could not find any sign of them either.

She flew a little higher and closed her eyes, as she did so she reached out with her senses and start feeling around, trying to see if she could reach them and find out where they were, she opened her eyes and growled fiercely. There was no sign of them anywhere that she could tell so she flew on, pushing her wings to their extremes. She flew for about another five minutes, still nothing came to her attention. She was starting to get tired now after pushing her wings to the extremes. She slowed down and landed, looking around her and found her-self not too far from the checkpoint that they had decided upon. She started running again when she had caught her breath. Keeping a low profile just in-case she was being followed, the wind whipped past her as she ran and the occasional long blade of grass stroked her nose and sides.

She was still alert looking out for anything else that might be coming her way, and she did not want to take any chances. A land mark flashed by her eyes and threw her-self to the right. She began slowing down and walked forward, she had to concentrate. There were spots all over the clan-lands. The scouts used these spots as checkpoints, each checkpoint was protected by a very strong magic and only the scouts of the clan could enter these places. Scouts could also let others come and go from these areas.

As she stepped into the safe zone she gasped and froze where she was, the ground was scorched in places and the there were deep claw marks in the soil. She shook herself and walked forward and took a good long sniff of one of the claw marks, and she recognized Fangs scent. She started smelling at all the claw mark marks. She could smell Tannil and Sarek as well as a few other Dragons that she did not know. She took a few steps back and closed her eyes, trying to feel the earth around her. Light flickered behind her eyes, "Madre tierra, muestreme lo que usted sabe." She whispered quietly, as she opened and new light filled around her, a soft blue glow filled with pinpoints of white light, swirling like mist. She watched as the mist moved suddenly, she recognized Fang, Sarek, and Tannil as they ran through her into the checkpoint. As soon as Fang reached the middle he turned around sharply, glaring at Sarek when he stopped, he spat something at Sarek fiercely, and Kena could almost hear him hiss. Sarek merely shook his head in response and they turned their heads, Fang was slower at doing this, as Tannil said something. This seemed to calm them both down, and although Kena could not hear it (she hated this spell for that reason) she knew that Fang was apologizing to Sarek.

Kena jumped slightly as three shapes leapt into dome and landed on each one of her friends. There was much flailing of limbs, tails, claws, and in Fang's case as well as some of the attackers, tail blades as well. Sarek was thrown against a tree, and crumpled against a tree, he stopped moving. They brought Tannil down next, hitting her against her head with one of their tail blades. She had forgotten about Fang, looking back at him she saw him pulling out his tail blade from his own victim, a blow that she was sure would have killed him, or her. He crouched ready to spring as the remaining two came at him from the sides. He backed up half of his body disappearing past the boundary of the safe zone; her spell did not go further than the immediate area of the checkpoint. She could feel the growling through the air. Then he was gone, something had pulled him outside of the safety zone. The other two waited and was soon joined by another; she stared at it, and could see at once that this dragon was not one to be messed with. It, she had not yet decided on a sex, bent its head down and nuzzled its companion. He stirred on the floor and got up shakily, Kena had been wrong he was not dead. The newcomer put its wing over its companion and stirred him away. The other two took Tannil's and Sarek's limp bodies and dragged them away, melting through the invisible barrier. As the last one vanished, the light around Kena went back to normal darker than when she first came. She looked around her and noticed that it was getter very near dark and the sun had set over the horizon. Lying down and felt tremors of worry going through her, it took her a mere minute to pull herself together and think about what had happened. She had a few options open to her, the first and most obvious was to go back tell G'ivorn to help, this would definitely lead to the capture of these trespassers, but for her friends safety she could not be sure of. And that led to the second option, and rescue mission which she had to do alone. She had made her decision before she had truly chosen to do so. Walking forward and through the apparent safe zone, the night came alive as she heard the small noises that the barrier blocked out. She crouched down and was about to set off when she realized that she had no real lead, sure they had left the safe zone at that point but did they go off in that direction? Kena looked at her position, she was not tracker just a scout, she was taught the basics of tracking, sure, but she never had and experience at it at all.

Looking at her options again Kena found that she, in-fact, had no lead what-so ever, getting G'ivorn or her mother to help her would be a good idea, she turned around and was about to o back to the clan when a different idea froze her in place. She could use the spell that she used to find G'ivorn that night during the training. She was so excited that the spell failed and she had to breathe deeply a few times before her sight shifted.

She gasped as she saw the spell casters magical color, a red so close to her own, only family had similar looking colors. She shook herself and ran after the red line; she was right about where they went; the path lead south for a while before bearing east then north. She barely felt the cool night air washing around her; she had to keep up speed if she was going to get there in time. She ran over her plan of what she was going to do when she got there, she would have to wait and see where Fang and the others were being held, she also had to figure out who was on guard. She slowed down as it came to realization of how hard this was really going to be she had no idea of how she was going to get in and what to do when she did.

She threw herself to the right and laid down trying to become one with the ground, there was somebody coming and she had not other choice. If they even looked her way then she would be seen.

"...really got me, I'm telling you if Fonal weren't there then I'd be dead. I never knew that tail blades were that sharp."

"Moron, I told you to stay away from him, you were told that he was trained to kill. He is from the Tieka, killing is in his blood."

"Yeah, yeah. But he left; I thought that he would not be like the others, but what is really eating me is why the Ranger let the female escape. She's probably halfway back to the Clan by now."

They had stopped walking not too far from Kena, the first that had spoken had a soft fairly likable voice. A soft voice which was hard to put it with the attackers that she had seen earlier today, she lay still and tried to make the least amount of sound possible. She heard a swish of wings and a soft thud not too far from where she was.

"Evening, making your rounds I see, how nice, seen anything yet?" another voice was added to the trio, it was harder than the others.

"You are one to speak, Ranger, if I recall you were to capture the green dragoness, but once again you prove to be useless." It sounded as if the one who said that gave a low chuckle. Raising her head slightly and saw two shaped walking off into the distance. She turned her head slightly but caught no sign of the third, who she presumed was the Ranger. She sighed and eased back down; that had been too close for her liking and wanted to give her heart a chance to recover. Having only become aware of her heart's frantic pounding mere moments ago.

Taking a deep breath she stood up and looked around her, although she had not seen the Ranger appear, he was nowhere in sight. She breathed in again and walked forward; taking each step with care; the crunching of the grass annoyingly loud beneath her feet.

"And where do you think you are going?" The Rangers voice surprised her from behind and she leapt into the air, swirled around and landed facing him. He chuckled, though it was not the chuckle that she had heard earlier. "You know; as I was flying by I wondered why a dragon would be hiding, I then remembered that it was your shade of green that I saw. I decided to investigate. It did become apparent that they did not know of your presence." He gave her a toothy grin and took a few steps forward, his posture seemed friendly enough.

"What do you want?" she would have hissed it but the Ranger's voice had caught her off guard, she did not relax her stance though. "Where have you taken the others?"

"Easy there Draga, I, have taken them nowhere," he pointed with his tail to the other two that were walking off, "its where have they taken them." He sighed then and looked away. "I was against the entire thing from the start. And yet I let it happen." He looked back at Kena again, only his eyes showed any sign of regret.

"Why did you let me go?" She was in a hurry to save Fang and the others but this Ranger had completely stolen her attention.

"I really have no idea, I just go that you were more than you appeared, I wanted to see if you really were something more. I wanted o watch you." He paused for a second looking over Kena for the first time. "Though I must say, any brain-dead worm could have fooled those two." He smiled at her now, "perhaps I could help you a bit, give you a nudge in the right direction..." looking away at her again he sighed, after a moment he chuckled. "Yes I believe I will. Those two are headed back to the camp, where one of your friends is being held, you should still be able to follow them." And then he vanished again, a slight buzz was left in his wake and she was left feeling slightly charged.

"Hey! Great, now what?" she looked around her, though she did not know what to make of her would be helper, she felt a new hope burn through her as she thought about finding Fang and the others. Seeing no other alternative she followed the two that had left.

She ran until she caught sight of them again, keeping low to the ground she stayed on their tail. The wind whispered in her ears and she kept stopping thinking that she had heard a noise around her.

If there had not been a greeting the alerted Kena she would not have known that they had reached the campsite. She jumped away quickly and laid her-self down, now all she had to do was find out where they had Fang and the others. Though she still had to find her way down into the camp-site itself. When she looked around her she almost kicked herself for not paying more attention. There was a shallow cave just in front of her, with an overhanging that made it look deeper than it was.

She saw about four Dragons apart from the two that she had been following. They seemed to be camping outside the cave; the two at the mouth of the cave were obviously guards. She hid behind a rock and watched; the two walked up to a dragon that was off to one side. A look around told her that this dragon was likely to be Fonal, he was easily the largest dragon there, and by the way that the two bowed to him, the leader as well.

The talked quickly and the two departed to go lie down not too far off. As they settled down they were joined by the two that were guarding the cave. Fonal it seemed had taken over that responsibility. Sitting down he seemed to take in the night around him, not really focusing on anything just looking around him. It was at this time that she made her move, passing silently toward the cliff. It was truly a good thing that she paid attention when the elders were talking about spells. She went bit away from the cave mouth it's self and out of view from the camping party.

Angling herself to where she assumed the cave was she closed her eyes and began to build up the energy. It had been a long day and she had to reach deeply. When she opened her eyes she felt slightly lightheaded.

"Madre tierra, permítame entrada." She whispered softly, she felt her strength ebbing away, a soft glow came from the rock face in front of her, as that faded so did it seem the rock. Creating a tunnel, a new entrance to the cave where she suspected Fang and the others to be held. She set off at a fast pace. Speed was required now; she had to get them out and moving as fast as possible. The spell would not hold out for much longer and she did not know in what state the others were and if they were fit to travel or not. She pressed on gasped softly when she stepped into the cave that her path had lead her into, the wall sealed up behind her and she jumped slightly. This was not planned, she looked around her and found her problem almost immediately. Shimmering symbols on the wall that stopped any dragon, except for the caster, from casting spells in the cave. They had to go out the mouth of the cave after all.

Apart from the glow of the symbols there were vines growing around that cave that gave off a dim light as well. She stared at them for a few seconds; she had made up her mind that they were not magic when she heard a soft groan of to her left and scraping of scales on stone.

"Hey, who is there?" a soft voice, Tannils voice, called from close by.

"Shhh, quiet now, it's me Kena." Kena replied softly and padded over to her friend, Tannil was badly injured and covered with scrapes and bruises, when Kena nuzzled her; Tannil shook slightly and was cold to the touch. "Oh, Tannil, what did they do to you?" Kena whispered, she had seen the fight, this did not happen then. "Did they hurt you?" Her tone implied that she was asking more than was obvious.

"Their leader stopped them." She sighed softly and started to get up, Kena pushed against her friend's side so that Tannil could use her as a support. "Do you have a plan on getting out? Did you find Sarek, or Fang? They dropped me off here and then left with the others." Turning her head so that she could get a look at Kena's face, Tannil's own face was not injured, but she had a bad gash on her side and a few places that were bleeding under the scales that were scattered along her back. Kena shook her head and felt warm fresh blood on her own hide as Tannil's wound stretched and opened again.

"Give me a minute and I might have an idea or two." She paused now and looked around, they had kept their voices to whispers, she could see Fonal's silhouette out in the darkness. An idea struck her then, they were tired after today, they had to be. "We could simply try walking out of here, can you move?" she let Tannil stand on her own to see if she could move at all, when she managed to take a few shaky steps, Kena smiles to her-self. "Shall we then?" Tannil gave a slight nod and started to move forward, taking slow deliberate steps. The both paused at the mouth of the cave, and it was Tannil that took the first step into the night.

Kena saw her take in a deep breath and tense all her muscles, after a second she shook her self slightly and walked on, moving slower as if in pain. Fonal gave a grunt and moved, they both froze and looked at him, but he was in deep slumber. Kena moved forward then and pushed Tannil slightly telling her that she could lean on Kena, she was surprised by how much more her friend was using her as support, and how much blood was coming out of the wound. Together they walked a fair ways away from the camp and settled under broad thicket to rest, Kena tended to Tannil's wounds as best as her abilities allowed her. Thinking back she decided that they must have put a pain easing spell on the cave as well as the spell inhibiter.

It was near morning when Kena and Tannil started at a roar of rage, followed by shouts.

"Guess they found me gone." Tannil said in a weak voice, Kena looked at her friend when she spoke and stared at her for a while, her wounds looked a lot worse in the early morning light. And Kena had discovered that the wounds extended to broken wings, both were broken in the same place, so she believed that those wounds were meant. She had set the wings in a way that they would heal correctly, holding them in place with shaped rock. Luckily the rock casing would not hinder Tannil's movement; and would give extra protection for her wings. She managed to stop the bleeding from the gash on Tannil's side and close it, though it was far from healed.

"I guess so, we should get going. If they decide to come looking for us then I doubt our little hide out will be sufficient." Kena got up and looked over to Tannil. The other looked back for a minute before nodding and getting to her feet as well, using the shrub next to her before limping to Kena's side, they were about to start moving when they heard running, coming towards them. "I think we may be a tad too late, Tanni." Kena said very calmly. Next to her she felt her friend tense slightly.

The running was coming closer, and still neither of them had any thought on what to do. They heard flapping now and a body landing right in front of their little hideaway.

"Good morning, Reth, Nazil, I do believe I heard Fonal not too long ago. Did something happen?" the rangers voice drifted through the branches.

"Good morning to you as well Ranger, yes the blue dragoness has escaped." A different voice from last night followed, speak fast and urgently. "When Fonal was on guard as well."

"Oh dear me, that cannot make this a good morning for him then. Well I have been up for most of the night; Fonal woke me up before I really fell asleep. If she walked or flew then she did not come this way." The Rangers voice did indeed sound tired, yet he also sounded assured of what he was saying.

"Thank you Ranger, we may find her yet." Paws scraped the earth as the two ran back to the camp.

"I am afraid that I cannot allow that." His head poked through the branches and surveyed the two dragonesses. "Can you move?" he asked Tannil after a while. When she nodded he pulled his head out. "Then we better get moving, can't hide all day in there, eh?" they began making their way out of their safety zone, moving slowly.

"Don't worry Tannil, I think we can trust him, he has helped me before and he helped me find you." Kena said as they made their way through the shrubbery. The sun was bright and Kena had to close her eyes against the glare of the morning light.

"You did a good job patching her up young dragon. Forgive me, my name is Sareth." He said in a soft tone. "They have gone too far in my book, and I can't stand to let them carry on what they are doing." He looked them over again and sighed. "Come we must move from here."

"There are other caves not too far from here which we can use." Tannil put in softly she did not move here head when she spoke. "They are to the east from here."

Sareth nodded and looked over the two dragons again, "Well then we better get going, before the others get too active." Turning around he started walking off, stopping after a few paces and looked back motioning them to follow; when they started walking he turned back and kept going. Even though there was a breeze it was not at all pleasant, it was hot and dry. Even the ground seemed to be against them. They had moved away from the lusher parts of the Clans near the lake and moved into the drier regions.

Tannil leaned heavily against her friend, her wound seeming to bulge slightly and she whimpered every time it was touch. The heat was not going to do the wound any good. Kena had done her best at healing it, but she was not a skilled healer. They made it to the caves, near midday, Tannil was limping more than ever from the expense. She was weakened greatly and fell asleep as soon as they reached their destination.

"Do you think she will be ok?" Kena asked Sareth when Tannil was out, "I did the best I could, but I'm not a very good healer." she said softly her worry showing in her tone.

"You did better than I could have, I never took healing. But I think she will be fine, though it might be a good idea to take her to a healer. She might get an infection." He leaned in closer to Tannil and shook his head. "It appears that she has already contracted one. It does not look too bad; I'll go back the main camp and try to find your other friends are ok? Wait for me till then." And without a further word he took off flying back the way they came.

"I guess there is nothing to do right now but wait." Kena sighed and laid herself down next to her friend careful not to disturb her but close enough so that she would be there if Tannil needed anything. "You'll be ok Tannil, that I promise you, we will find Sarek and Fang and we will make those who did this pay." She growled softly despite herself and sighed, closing her eyes she drifted off into a light slumber.

She woke to the noise of claws against the cave floor, she opened her eyes to find Sareth standing over her, he nodded once and motioned for her to follow him. "They have moved them into the Valdir clan lands." She said once they were outside. "It will be hard to rescue your friends from there. There was something that I was not informed of they were sent to capture you and your mate. For what reason, I don't know. It would be wise then to not go to them."

"I must go, the Valdir clan is the best shot I have, I can heal Tannil and then find Fang and Sarek as well. If we have to go back all the way to the Sientas healers then I don't know what they will do to our mates." She looked him deep in the eyes and had that feeling that she was supposed to remember something, but it was just too far back to remember. "Look at what they did to her!" she said suddenly in a fit of emotion.

As tears slid down her scaled cheeks they merely looked at each other in silence. She looked away at Tannil, who had not moved since they got there.

"I cannot tell you where to go, but I cannot go with you either way, I have helped you this far and I will keep on trying to throw them of course. But please try and understand how dangerous this can be for you right now." He said in a caring tone, his eyes almost begging.

"Thank you for all your help Sareth, but if we are going to get there at all the we better start now, it will take the better part of a week to get to where we need to go." She gave him a soft nuzzle and looked towards her sleeping friend; it was well past night fall as she looked back out into the darkness. "We will set out in the morning; that is if Tannil wishes to come with me."

"You bet I will." Tannil said suddenly making both dragons flinch. "Even if it is the last thing that I will do, I will find Sarek and Fang." She looked at Kena again and nodded once then settled back down to sleep. Kena sighed and looked back at Sarek, "Well then it's decided, we leave in the morning. Will you stay with us until then?" When he nodded she sighed and settled down next to Tannil who leaned against her in turn.

It was near dawn when Sarek awoke standing up he sighed as he stretched out moaning slightly as he did so. He had gotten more sleep that he had before. Soon the dragonesses would be on their way and he had helped them all he could. It was time that he moved on back to his clan. He perked up a bit and smiled to himself. Perhaps he could stir things up a little back at home base. He could still meddle yet. He bounded gracefully to the entrance of the cave and used the momentum as he spread his wings to take off; gaining his desired height in three powerful strokes of his wings. But first there was something he needed to do.

The sunlight woke Kena from her slumber; the sweet smell that had given her the hungry dreams was a fresh kill in the cave near the mouth of the cave. She prodded Tannil with her tail and got up. "Hungry?" she asked as Tannil raised her head and looked at her questioningly. "Sarek seems to have left us a parting gift." She smiled and Tannil got up and stretched slightly careful to not open her wound again. And with that they both started eating; the flesh was still warm, the chewy muscles filling their stomachs in little time. They had eaten a day ago and so they did not have to eat much to have their fill.

"I saw a river a short walk from here, would you like to clean up before we set out Tannil?" Kena asked as she licked the blood off her maw. Tannil nodded and they left the cave; leaving the carcass as the only sign that they had been there. When they reached the river both dragonesses got into the water and Kena began washing Tannil's wounds licking them to make sure that she cleaned them as thoroughly as she could. She removed the rock encasing Tannil's wings and checked the scales where the bone had broken through, that spell had worked better than she had hoped. The rocks had put the wings back in their position and held them there.

The two spent not extra time drying off and started directly to go to the Valdir clan lands. It would be ways to go yet and Kena knew that they needed speed now. They crossed over the Sientas border that day, the first time for both of them, and set a bee line to the Valdir clan lands. They were Allies after all so the two clans knew where to find each other. The Tieka clan however had thrown itself into seclusion; wanting nothing to do with the other clans except war. Kena knew very little about the lands surrounding the Sientas lands. What she did know was that it was dangerous for all creatures there were areas where battles were fought where dracoliches walked and attacked anyone who came near. There were shadows in the deeper part of the world, and other. Packs of giant wolves and other creatures that she could not remember out of fear; she looked at her injured friend and felt extremely vulnerable.

They set their course away from the rising sun it would have been faster to go directly over land, but Kena wanted more cover in case something should happen and they were attacked. They kept in the forest careful to keep going in the same direction. Night fall was fast at approaching and they settled down for the night, as the sun set so did the warmth of the day leaving only shadows and chill in its place the dark trees looming over then and shadows moving to and fro.

"Tannil, may I have a fire ball please?" she asked when she could no longer take the cold and Tannil was shivering. Tannil looked at her for a moment and startled Kena by conjuring a fire ball right in front of her. It took Kena only a second to recover and reach out with her power. She took over the fireball from Tannil and felt as it started feeding on her own energy rather than Tannil's. She gasped and stared at the flame for a second, this was the first time that she had held fire, and it felt faster and somewhat hungrier than earth which would explain why Tannil was a little more hyper on her best days. When she had gotten used to the flame and reached out once more and took a strand of power from the trees around her. Compared to her the trees were so full of magic that it made it impossible to find any other element by scrying. She took strands from tree trees around then and weaved them to the base of the flame. When they had taken hold the fire grew three times it original size and filled the air with warmth and light. She murred softly and let go completely, the fire sputtered as its energy source was transferred and steadied out again. The shadows around them moved away slowly only because they were used to the light.

Kena and Tannil slept for a while the flame never ceasing to burn. Kena woke to the sound of paws on the ground around her. She opened her eyes and wished dearly that she had stayed asleep. Kena and Tannil were not the only ones that thought the night was cold. Seven wolves had come into the light, they were all as big as Kena, only one was bigger than the rest. It was pitch black, which begged the question of whether he had come into the light or if it was the light which retreated. Next to him stood a pure white wolf, by the way she held herself it was obvious that she was the others mate. Kena glanced at Tannil who had not woken up, or reacted in any way.

Looking back at the wolves she bowed her head to the two Alphas, "Welcome, I invite you to enjoy the fire with us, will you forgive my friend? She is injured and we have walked far." She said in a calm tone, there was no need to be impolite, after all she did not know what had attracted the wolves' attention.

To her mild surprise the Alpha male bowed his head and nodded once giving a soft yip, the other wolves came closer to the fire and laid themselves down in the warmth, he walked closer with his mate at his side, "We thank you Dragon, it is truly a cold night, and the hunt went well. We will repay you for this kind favor" he and his mate laid down in front of Kena both parties facing each other.

"I fear I must decline, we have eaten not long ago, but it is appreciated. My name is Kendra, this is Tannil. We were ambushed, she and two other of my party were taken." She said in a friendlier tone.

"My name is Star, this is my mate Nova." It was the female that spoke now and Kena could see why they called her Star, right on the tip of her nose there was a darker shading which was the exact shape of a star. "It has been a long time since any of our pack has seen Dragons in these parts. You are lucky that is was our pack that you ran into and not the others. They do not take kindly to your kind I fear." She looked at her mate, he nodded in response.

"There has been a lot of fighting in the clans themselves, so far it is only our clan who has resisted that madness. Our prey has moved on to other pastures, and the clans have gotten too big to manage." He sighed and looked into the darkness, silence settled around them. The only noise came from the fire, which hissed contently into the night. Kena settled down again after a while and fell asleep within seconds.

Mist swirled around Kena as she walked through the forest. Light barely filtered through and she could barely see more than a few steps ahead of her. Se was lost for a moment having forgotten what she was looking for. But she knew that if she did not find it fast then it would be lost forever. She began to run, almost running into the trees as they came into her vision. Her breath became heavy and her body began to slow down, the mist sensing her intent on finding what it had hidden tightened its grip on her. She was forced to slow down to a walk treading carefully as each tree came into view. She almost bit herself when she realized that she could easily traverse this maze. She reached in trying to find her magic within her and fell to the floor in panic as she found that she had nothing. When she tried reaching out to her surroundings she found that the earth around her was dead. Completely deviod of life. Getting up she forced herself to keep looking. The light began fading and she lost track of time she could have been days or minutes. As the darkness settled around them the mist glowed, changed from one color to the next. Kena tried not to take notice but often she found herself just standing there looking at the lights. Shaking her self she carried on. It was then when she began having the feeling of being followed. Looking around her she saw Dark shapes running through the glowing mist. Unable to see what they were, voices started calling out to her. Turning her around and evertime she took a step. She turned around trying to find the source but found nothing. She crouched ready for an attack. She turned around in time to see a dark shape speeding towards her.

She gasped and sat up, her breath was coming in deep ragged takes. The fire had not changed bat the sky was growing lighter. She looked around her, the wolves were still there some lying down together, others more separated. She looked at the Alpha male whom was closest to her and flinched when she noticed that he was staring at her.

"You ok? You have been whimpering for a while now, I did not want to wake you but I was close to doing so." He tilted his head slightly and looked at her for another minute; she nodded and took this time to let the fires warmth wash over her. She purred softly and stretched her wings slowly which were stiff for the long cold night.

She looked over to Nova, "Is it near dawn?" she asked and started when she heard her voice was a bit husky. She coughed slightly which caused her friends to move a bit. She watched them as they fell back in a deep slumber.

He nodded, "Won't be too long now, and don't worry, you did not wake me, I've been awake for a while now." He smiled as the question died in her throat being answered. "It seems I guessed right, anyway, I was curious where are you and your friend off to? We don't see many dragons passing through here." He looked at her with true curiosity burning in his eyes. A warmth spread through her and she nodded.

"We are going to the Valdir clan, our mates were taken there, after we were attacked while traveling. They let me go, I managed to rescue her though not before they had a go at her. We heard they had taken our mates to the Valdir, so that is where we are going." She blinked with surprise that she told him everything, she realized as she looked at him that he reminded her of G'ivorn. His eyes radiated the same kind of wisdom and feeling that the elder dragon had. She looked around her and found that her surroundings were actually very peaceful. The glow of the fire illuminated everything with a soft light. The breeze that swept through the small clearing did not seem to disturb the flame.

"We stay out of the way of dragons when we can so you will forgive us if we do not offer to help you with this one." He sighed gravely, "If you need something to eat then we can go hunting if you wish." He looked at her expecting a reply, she merely shook her head and he nodded they both fell into a sudden but comfortable silence. The night was beginning to wane, the soft rays of sunlight breaking through the trees as the sun climbed higher in the sky she noticed how the wolves seemed to melt back into vision as they lay under the trees, she gave a soft giggle as she saw a group of them lying on top of each other.

Tannil began to stir at the sound and looked at Kena through bleary eyes she looked over at Nova and gave a tired eep, before she recognized him and went back to sleep. Nova and Kena looked at each other before looking away trying hard not to burst out in laughter. When their silent giggles subsided they both got up and walked slightly deeper into the forest. Morning was almost there and gave them enough light to see with. Morning had brought with it a soft glow almost like a haze among the trees. To Kena everything seemed to move slower than they were actually going. She padded softly next to Nova, as she looked around the forest her eyes came to rest on the trees they were a deep brown and the soil was soft yet dry. It crunched softly under Kena's feet her tail rustled the leave behind her as she walked. It was tranquil but her mind was assailed with thoughts of Fang and what he may be going through right now.

She tried to push these images from her mind as she walked alongside Nova, it was peacefull morning and she had the feeling that Nova wanted to talk to her about things to come, perhaps give her advice. They walked however until the sun had had all the shadows on the run. It was not until another wolf came running to them, Nova yipped at the newcomer and it went running the way it came.

"There is something that you must know before we part. These lands outside your clan lands are filled with danger, there are creatures that will kill you if you are not prepared to fight them, you are not the only creatures who use magic." He said softly as he sat down in front of her, his head now reached above her own. He looked down at her, "As it is I could easily take you down now, if you want to stay alive stay out of the forest ok? It is the most dangerous."

"I think you underestimate me Nova, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself you know." She shifted her feet into a fighting stance, digging her claws into the warm forest floor. "Do you want me to show you?" She tensed and released all her muscles a few times to get them loose and warmed up.

"I fear you are making a mistake Kena, you underestimate me young one." Though he said this he too got up and stretched a bit in preparation. A soft growl in his throat surfaced as he already knew what her response to this would have been. As he took a fighting stance Kena saw the glowing eyes of the other pack members. He crouched low to the ground and then went still, not a sound escaped him and Kena was immediately aware of the fact that she may have made am error challenging the Alpha of a pack. She scratched the floor with her claws testing to seee whether she would be able to use it to her advantage in the fight, she doubted it. It was soft and did not give her a lot of grip to work with, but there were the trees. If she had to she could use those to give her the upper paw. She locked her eyes on him and waited for him to make the first move.

Her realized her intention and sprung towards her, sidestepping they began their dance, jumping away, swinging a paw or taking a snap when they saw a chance to. Suddenly Nova took a running start and jumped up on to a trees before launching himself off and flying towards Kena, she ducked and sent him skidding to a halt leaving claw marks in the soil that sent shivers down her spine. Seeing her chance she ran towards him swing her body to the side and knocking Nova to his feet with her tail, she dug her claws into a tree and mimicked Nova's earlier attempt, landing squarely on him with her jaw at his throat. As she moved to get away from him she felt his claws on her chest she smiled and looked him in the eyes.

"I will heed your warning Nova." She climbed off him slowly. "I hope that I have proven that I can take care of myself" she watched as he got up and shook himself out.

"Indeed you can take care of yourself, but I still urge you, stay away from the forest. Especially since your friend is injured."

"Thank you Nova." She bowed her head in his direction.

"And thank you Kena." He bowed in turn and in silence they both walked back to Tannil. She was awake when the got there and there was a fresh kill near the fire, Star walked out of the shadows.

"I know you said that you two were not hungry but I insist that you eat something before you go out again." She walked fore ward and gave Kena a soft lick. "We may have just met, but I feel like I've known you forever." her grey eyes swept over the scene in front of her and she glared at Kena and Nova. "I'm not going to ask." And she walked away, glancing at Nova, Kena saw that he looked almost ashamed.

Tannil got up slowly, Kena quickly closed the distance and nuzzled her friend. "How are you holding out dear? Is everything still set properly?" she looked over her handy work, the stone around Tannil's wings was still intact and seemed to be holding out pretty well. The gash on Tannil's side however looked a lot worse. The usually bright blue scales were turning a dull pinkish color around the edges of the wound. Before she could decide what to do Tannil started to stand up.

"Everything is still in place thanks Kena, we should push on." Tannil looked over at Star, "Thanks again for the food but we must decline again, we Dragons don't eat as often as mammals. Is there a river close by? This wound has to be cleaned."

Star looked back and nodded, "I understand, there is a brook not too far from here." She looked behind her into the trees, "Its off that way, I'll have Seth take you there." A young wolf stepped forward, he was white except for two black stripes running down his back on either side of his spine. He walked forward and stood next to Star, it was immediately obvious that they were related.

"I will take them mother, if you two will follow me please?" he turned around and began walking slowly, Tannil leaned again against Kena for support and they walked after him. It worried Kena that Tannil seemed to be leaning a little more against Kena than she did yesterday. Seth walked off into the trees and the duo followed him closely, They had to walk slowly to make sure that Tannil did not get anymore injured than what she was. A mist had crept up through the forest, Kena looked around in the still forest, Seth's from was barely seen in front of them. They walked in silence as their paws disturbed the forest floor, an irregular step from Tannil every time she stepped on her back right leg.

The sound of rushing water soon reached Kena's ears, she looked at Tannil and smiled. Tannil smiled back but winced as she stepped on her leg again. They walked through the mist and caught their first glimpse of the river in front of them. Seth turned around, "I will not be far off, please call me when you are done and I will take you back to the pack." He tuned without another word and left the two standing. Kena urged on Tannil to the water and climbed in after her. Tannil climbed in slowly, testing the water with her paw before submerging her body in the cold water, she stood in the middle of the water as Kena drew close. The mist rose from the surface of the water and swirled around Tannil. Kena stopped and stared, she was reminded of Fang, this is what he did most mornings in his cave. Shaking herself she smiled and moved forward taking water up in her mouth and letting it flow over Tannil's hide where the wound shone through. Tannil gasped as the water flowed over the wound, the blood running off the wound and into the river, making is a red shade around them. Kena repeated this a few time before licking the wound softly. She could taste the infection and Tannil's sweet blood.

"Kena, you will have to clean it deeper." Tannil looked at her and nodded visibly bracing herself. Saying nothing Kena licked hard, trying to get the scab off. Tannil let out a whimper and bowed her head, shivering. Kena tried not to pay attention to Tannil herself but on the wound doing the same to the other side, getting the scab loose on both ends. Sliding her claw under one side of the wound, she eased in off her friend, scratching the wound lightly as the scab came off. She did this all in one movement to make it easier on her friend.

The wound flowed freely now staining the river's course red. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the feeling of fire as it felt last night, imagining a small ball of it in front of her, opening her eyes she found that she has succeeded. She forced it into the shape of the wound and whispered. "Forgive me". The pack back in the clearing shivered as they heard Tannil's roar of pain.

Tannil slumped over onto Kena and they made a very slow pace back to the shore. The would had been well sealed and cleaned, but Tannil was still shaking severly from the pain and further blood loss she had endoured. They both slumped down and breathed heavily on the shore. Seth appeared beside them obviously shaken by what had occurred he said nothing as he stood beside Kena and Tannil, his tail between his legs and his ears drooped.

Kena spoke first, "Tannil? Can you move?"

The other said nothing for a long period of time before whispering, "I just need some time please." She laid her head down and breathed deeply, quickly falling into a deep sleep. Kena rose slowly and almost fell next to Tannil, who woke up long enough to lean on Kena, acknowledging her presence before falling back into slumber.

Kena woke from what she could tell it was late at night and there was chatter around them. The sand on the river bed was starting to hurt her side, Tannil came into her view first as she woke, then shapes made themselves clear around her. She could define Nova only on his size, Star stood next to him. She shifted slightly waking Tannil from her slumber, her friend lifted her head and looked around her, slowly she began to rise. Kena stood up quickly despite her weariness from cleaning out Tannil wound during the day. Supporting each other they made their way slowly to the pack.

Tannil was starting to wake more on her own now. Needing Kena's help only when she stumbled. They stopped in front of Nova, Kena spoke up, "Thank you for your help Nova, but we must get going, Fang and Sarek need our help." She saw that Nova's eye run over Tannil wounds. "We will be fine thank you for the concern."

Star nodded and looked at Kena, "Will you at least take Seth with you? Let him accompany you till you find your mates."

Seth walked up and nodded to his mother, "I will follow them if I have to mother."

Kena looked at Seth and nodded, "If he must, we don't know these areas and we thank you greatly if you could show us the way." A soft wind blew and Kena was instantly reminded how she and Fang would rest at the lake shore, she closed her eyes took a deep breathed and smelled him beside her, when she opened her eyes again tears were flowing freely. She felt a soft, cold, nudge on her neck and turned to see Seth standing beside her.

"I promise you we will find them." He said in a low voice.

She smiled warmly and looked at Tannil, "Dear perhaps you should stay here until you are better. Me and Seth will find them and brings them back safely don't worry."

"'Seth and I' you can't even speak right without me there to help you, no I am going with you." She walked forward, her stride seeming stronger than it was as she made her way over to Kena. "I'll be damned if I am being left behind, I am coming with you." She stood there for a moment with a serious look on her face then sun came up from behind the trees and shone off her scales as she stood there the proud dragon that she was. Kena burst out laughing and rolled around.

Tannil blinked a few times then noticed the sun and chuckled swatting Kena with her tail. The pack visibly relaxed at this their posture dropping to a social level. Seth visibly relaxed and went to stand not far from Tannil. Something obviously was bothering him, his posture was slumped and he seemed far from willing to go. Until he looked at Kena she caught a glimpse of his expression, it was hard and obviously driven, but he dropped it and gave her a friendly wolf-smile and stood next to Tannil. Tannil smiled at him and gave a soft rumble, smiling back he yipped softly, Kena shook her head and got up, this was going to be one hell of a journey she thought, at least the company was good.

The wolves slowly departed they had seemed to come to the conclusion that what was to happen had been decided and that was the end of it. They had gone in search of something to hunt a few had gone back to the den to rest. Star and Nova were the last to leave, walking up they both pressed the noses against Kena and Tannil's then giving Seth a lick on his muzzle before setting off after the pack, as they faded into the lightening forest, Kena and her company turned around and headed for the edge of the forest. It was time to move on. They had reached the edge of the forest, the sun had barely moved since they left and yet the day was already hot. Kena and Tannil basked in the warmth as they walked hardly noticing, but Seth was deeply affected, breathy heavily trying to cool off by staying in shady areas his think fur not helping in this weather.

Kena noticed this and called them to a halt around midday when the sun was at its most potent. They hid from the sun under the shade of a few large trees, even Kena and Tannil were feeling the heat and had to take a moment to cool down. A welcomed breeze blew over them carrying the woody musky smells of the forest. Seth could barely help himself as his tongue hung out of his maw to one side breathing deeply; rolling over onto his back to let the breeze blow over his stomach. Both of the dragons giggled softly at his apparent glee, Kena spread her wings as the breeze began to fade and fanned them slowly, keeping a slow steady source of cool air.

When they had begun to breathe easier, Kena folded in her wings and looked at her two companions. She had slowly come to the realization that Tannil and herself had come this far with no real plan on how to rescue their mates. It seemed that Tannil had been thinking the same things as it was she that brought it up, "Kena do you remember the clan maps that G'ivorn had shown us?" Kena nodded in response, they had to memorize the maps, and the Valdir map was clear in her memory, "I think that they would be keeping Fang and Sarek in the caves in the mountains." Kena nodded again.

"Yeah, it easily watched and secluded from the rest of the clan, though maybe we should ask around first, as Bale says, "'truth hides, what rumor tells'".

Now it was Tannil turn to nod, "Aye, it would be best to learn more about what might be than just running into the dark." They both looked at Seth as he let out a sigh. "Something wrong?" Tannil asked.

He smiled and stood up, "You dragons really are." He paused "...logical, though I do agree with the plan of action, best know what is really going on within the clan, though do you think they will be ok with a wolf in their territory?"

"I don't see how there could be a problem, after all you are traveling with us." Tannil said after a moment of thought. "They are supposed to be healers after all, and for all the races. They will not have a problem with you Seth." She said with more confidence now.

Seth nodded, "Well now that that is settled we should get moving soon, would you two mind if I quickly looked for something to eat? We wolves need to eat more often than you dragons."

"There is no need to go hunting, come here." Kena said smiling as she did so. Seth hesitated a moment before coming closer. "Now hold still, Kena moved forward and placed her cheek against his, she felt him shiver as she did so, breathing in she willed some of her energy into him through their touch, it flowed easily, pulling away she looked him in the eyes. "Is that better?"

He paused for a few second and nodded. "I thank you very much, Kena." They got up from their resting place, and eased themselves back into the sun, the heat had not relented but their rest and new found plan had given them new spirit and they ventured forth, slowing the pace just slightly and no one really felt the heat, even Seth found it easy to travel.

They had entered the outskirts of the Valdir clan, and took a very relaxed pace, a cool breeze introduced the coming night, it had taken them an entire day to reach Valdir clan land and they had yet some traveling to do. It was past midday not too long ago when Kena had noticed that they had a shadow, tailing them just beyond their range of vision, but there never the less. She had at first ignored it thought it to be part of her imagination, but it had persisted and she became very interested, into who or what it might be.

There was no sign of it now but she was still at the ready should there be anything that changed around them. Kena saw a shimmer of scales come from the deeper parts of the clan lands. It was Tannil that commented on approaching dragon, "Looks like the sent an emissary. We should keep going in the same direction they know we are here and we would make their trip shorter if we do." Seth and Kena both nodded in agreement to this plan and they kept their pace. They decided to stop after a while and await the oncoming dragon, Tannil started a small elemental fire and they settled down to wait.

Seth had waited for the other two to settle down before he spoke, "Forgive me for prying but what happened to your mates?" there was a nervous edge to his voice, he had not wanted to ask this question but curiosity had gotten the better of him.

Kena spoke up staring into the flames. "We had been given a scouting mission." She started staring into the flames as though reaching far back into her memory. She retold the story in brief; Seth ears were pricked the entire time, and Tannil had given a few more detail on what had happened to her when she was taken. She spoke briefly and looked away when she was finished. When they had both finished silence settled over the little company.

The night had become complete, the fire burning away silently as the company heard the hush of wings over head, and the soft thump as paws met ground, they had not seen him coming but he walked into the light of the fire, his scales black against the light and the surrounding darkness. Kena and Tannil both got up and dipped their heads to the new comer, Seth quickly followed their example once he knew what was happening. The male a well built youth, dipped his head in return and visibly relaxed.

"Welcome to the Valdir clan lands strangers, my name is, Andri. Is there a reason that you have come here?" he asked, obviously rehearsed.

Kena did not hesitate, "Just passing through, me and my friends are looking for a few people." She said with a bright smile. "Please do join us. My name is Kena; this is Tannil, and Seth." He smiles and laid down close to the fire, stretching out a wing to catch a little extra warmth. Kena and Tannil settled down again and Seth was once again just a moment behind them.

Kena broke the silence that had settled. "I am sorry but we do not have any food to offer, we ate a few days ago." Not knowing what to say she said the first thing that came to mind.

He shook his head. "No worries, I had eaten myself a few hours ago." His eyes had gotten used to the light, "You two look a little beat up, is everything ok, who are you looking for? Not running from something are you?" He added jokingly.

"Running to I'm afraid." Tannil said with a soft smile. "We are looking for our lovers, they were kidnapped by the ones that did this to us." She gave no further explanation and he merely nodded.

"Do you know who the attackers were?" He asked now, suddenly curious.

Both Dragons shook their heads, Kena spoke up. "No, I think they may have been a rogue group traveling around." Tannil nodded in agreement.

"A rogue group? The Valdir scouts have reported some activities that concerned us, are there any reasons that you are here in the Valdir lands following them?" He sat back and studied the two, almost intensely. His light golden eyes seemed to burn as he did so.

"Let's just say our reasons are our own coming here, if that's fine with you we mean the Valdir no harm in coming here. We were told that out mates may be here, so we decided to come and check it out for ourselves.

Andri closed his eye for a second, obviously deep in thought when he opened his eyes something burned there akin to a hatchlings mischief. I think I may know the group you are talking about. Your lovers; is one grey and the other is a brown yes?"

Both Kena and Tannil nodded at the same time when he said this. And he nodded in return, "They were brought in as prisoners under the pretext of spying on the Tieka clan. They have been put in the clans holding caves for the night."

"They were kidnapped! On Sientas clad lands!" Tannil burst out after he said this, Kena shushed her and looked at Andri, "What she says is true and the scars she bears proves it."

He looks at her and nods softly. "So I see, I meant no offense, let us rest here for the night in the morning ill take you to see the alpha I'm sure we could arrange a meeting for you and your mates later tomorrow." He looked up at a sound and saw Seth walking back from his hunt, blood over his maw as he tried to lick it up quickly.

"I'm back Kena, Tannil.... Oh hello there." Seth smiled widely as he settled down next to Tannil still trying to clean his mouth clean of blood. "I'm Seth" he looked at Andri and nodded softly. "I'm keeping the Dragonesses here company on their trip."

Andri nodded and smiled in return, I know of their journey little one, and so you will come along, since, Tannil, cannot fly we would have to walk anyway otherwise id offer to carry you." Seth face went rigid at the idea of being carried by the dragon. Andri chuckled softly as he looked curiously at the Dragonesses and their companion, "well" he decided, "at least tomorrow this would all be sorted out". With that he lay himself down and saw that the dragonesses were following his example Kena waiting a minute before she lay down to make sure that Tannil had settled without any trouble from her wounds.

He was looking into Kena's eyes when he fell asleep and he dreamt that night of hunting fields flesh blood in his maw and the sweet days he had had with his loved ones.

***

Chapter 3

Kena woke up to the sunlight in her eyes, she had positioned herself the night before so that this would be the case. Slowly she got up careful not to step on anyones tails as she moved over to Tannil and checked her wounds. They were healing nicely and relaxed a little. But her mind soon wandered to what her mate could be going through right now. How injured was he?

She stretched herself out and looked around slowly yawning widely as she gave a slight shiver. She closed her eyes and reached within herself concentrating on the thought of a flame. Before she was suddenly hit with a burst of energy, she felt her entire body warm up quickly and opened her eyes flames dance in front of her eyes. She looked down and back over her body and saw that she was covered in a mini inferno. She looked over at Tannil surprised to see that her friend was completely comfortable with a slight smile. Kena shrugged and lay down Andri woke up for a few minutes and moved closer to Kena before her lay down again aparantly to get at the heat that the dragoness was giving off.

Kena started to lay down again herself, it was too early in the morning to get anything done really she gave a loud protest when Andri cried out suddenly and she was drenched with water.

"K-kena... what were you doing?" he immediately started looking over her placing his paw on her side "Does it hurt?" he looked over her curiously she could see the worry flshing at the back of his eyes.

"I just wanted to give you all a little warmth is all Andri." She looked over at Tannil she had not woken up and Kena noticed that she was shivering. "Now if you don't mind please be quiet, it's just past sunrise" Kena turned around and took a deep breath closing her eyes as she let the power gather before flaring it out, opening her eyes she saw she got what she wanted. "Fire is going to be hard to master..." she lay herself down next to Tannil, she stirred just a bit lifting a wing to catch a little more heat, Kena murred gently as she looked over to Andri and smiled motioning him to come closer to the heat that she was channeling. He smiled back and came closer to her settling himself down next to her. With a soft sigh she laid her head down and relaxed slowly.

Kena was jolted awake not too long after she laid down, the fire that she was covered with had now dispersed. She looked around her and pokes the three sleeping around her, Tannil got up slowly and shook herself her stretching to the limitations of her wounds. Andri looked over and smiled his eyes unfocused and seemed a little lust full Kena caught it and looked at him till he blinked and came to realize something and looked away with a cough.

"I'm sorry... I have a mate back home and a hatchling." With a soft nod Kena looked at Tannil and gave her a soft lick.

"Time to go, we are getting our mates back today." Tannil gave a slight smile and a soft nod her claws digging into the ground at the memory of herself being held captive. Kena stood up slowly shivering at the loss of heat around her and walked over to Seth prodding him with her tail till he stirred.

"Ok, ok I'm up" he said seeming to force his way up from where he lay stretching himself out as he went.