Hi, this email begins year 1443. Actions due in 2.5 weeks, and the next year begins 2 weeks after that. ---+ Events for 1443 *Mir [-3]:* Mir looses one of its dragons. A Dragon Rider - each dragon had two wizards specifically trained to handle it - does not return from a practice flight with the dragon. ---+ Visions, part VII: Winona circled around the hill far below her several times before she let her great mount land on it. This was as much for show as for identifying the best place to land; it was never a bad idea to emphasize her power and value to her "superiors" - a lesson she had learned early in life. The dragon landed on a small field beside an ancient ruin. The ruin had long ago been an outpost - a watch-tower with a small garrison - of the Cedonian Empire. Nowadays, it served mainly occational sheep-herders and smugglers. A tall man stepped away from the shadow of the ruin, and walked a bit closer. He had a long pole - maybe 8 feet long - in his hand, and a long cloak which covered everything except his head, which was bald and had a pair of long elvish-looking ears. "Sourceress Winona, come here, let me see you properly!" he called. "Prince Habar. It is Rider Winona, if it pleases You. And no, thank You, I'd rather stay up here, just in case", Winona gave the dragon a small kick, and the dragon spurted a small trickle of flame towards the man. "Purry here can be quite reckless at times. And besides, if I would step to the ground, my protection would break and my masters in Mir would find me." "They will never find you, nor me, nor the dragon. Not through the veils that I have drawn around us. But very well, let us proceed to the next phase. We need to enter the Dreaming, and I know but one gate large enough. It is far away, in the north, in Elyria. Let us go there", and the prince raised his pole high in the air and begun an incantation. "No, stop, Your Highness", Winona shouted. "You can't transport the dragon." "How dare you interrupt me! Your pitiful human limitations does not concern me. I'm a Prince of the Faerie!" "I beg Your pardon, Your Highness. But nobody can transport a dragon. It is against their Nature." The prince was quiet for a while, then walked briskly to the dragon, and climbed to sit mounted on a second saddle behind Winona. "Very well, let us ride there, then." Grinning, Winona drew the reins in her hands, and the dragon rose to the air. The flight took two days, first over the northern deserts of the Qaiyore, and then over a great ocean, straight to north-east. Finally, they reached a string of islands, and at the end of the same day, a great continent. Flying high in the sky they soon reached a range of high hills a hundred miles inland, and there they landed in a remote valley. The prince led the way to a huge cliff forming one side of the valley. When they come near it, the face of the cliff suddenly opened revealing a huge cavern inside - and a huge portal shaped like a half-circle rippling in the middle of the cavern. "There. I'm afraid the dragon has to crawl a bit, but I'm confident it will fit through it." "Hmmm...", Winona said. The portal was biggest she had ever seen, it was large enough to allow a full-loaded wagon to drive through easily, but it still looked small for the dragon. "I suppose so, but it will take some doing." It did. It was easy enough to get the dragon inside the cavern, but first it did not want to go even near the portal, and after that the physical maneuvering through the portal was a challange. On the other side of the portal, the Prince's men waited. They greeted the Prince enthusiastically, and immediately began preparing another portal. This one was vast: a full circle several hundred feet across that hung in high in the air. "Rider Winona. Through that portal we will go to another world. First you, me and the dragon, and later all of my household." Winona had already assumed as much, looking at the piles of goods and packages laid on the ground around them. "Your Highness plans to use my dragon as a beast of burden?" "Yes. Come, let us go and find out what's on the other side." Again, the prince settled behind Winona, they took to the air, made a full circle, and then flew directly through the portal. They come through high in the air. There were green woods beneath, dotted by occational open spaces, and a serpentine river crawling through the woods towards the horizon. There was something strange about the horizon, but Winona could not put her finger on what it was exactly. "Ah, magnificient!" exclaimed the prince. Suddenly, the dragon started a rapid rise. Winona grabbed the reins, but they had no effect on the beast. Higher and higher they rose. The prince shouted something, but Winona could not make out the words - the wind swept them away. And then the dragon twisted, the saddles broke loose and together with the prince, Winona fell. The ground was far away, but it was coming near fast. A strange peace of mind came over Winona, and suddenly she realised what had been wrong with horizon: it was too near. From high, the world appeared a sphere, like Celandra, but it was a much smaller sphere, and irregularly shaped. A cry broke Winona's observation, and she turned her head just in time to see the dragon release its fiery breath upon the prince. The prince had no defence against it, and was burned to cinders. The dragon dove effortlessly in the air around Winona. "This is it", Winona thought bitterly as she waited for the same doom. "The fate of Rider, the one we always dared not talk about; that the dragons would turn against us." Neck extended, the dragon swooped in, closer, closer, but instead of burning her away, gently took her in its claws, and when the ground came closer, gently dropped her to an open field, and landed close by. Winona laid on the ground breathing hard, and could think of nothing. On the other side of the portal, the prince's men waited. ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
