Merrin watched him rise for a moment, then trotted off across the moonlit courtyard to the passage she'd come through. There, she thought, nut entirely unhappy with herself. I've done it.

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The Renegade was an imbecile and a foolish imbecile at that, Demon thought complacently as they soared away from the druid citadel.

Kendath was silent.

Sensing something in his rider, Demon growled deep in his throat. Why would she serve such foolish gods? he asked pointedly.

His last words...

You cannot be serious! You owe him nothing!

-----------

Like a wraith Sage emerged from the shadows. The gray eyes that regarded Merrin were not sorrowful, but rather, contemplative. "Why did you do that, child?"

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Merrin jumped a little, not having seen him. She stopped, standing alone in the courtyard with the moonlight shining in her hair, and regarded the druid for a moment before replying, slowly and thoughtfully.

"The gods...they, or one of them, kept me awake tonight," she explained, quite calmly. "They told me to set them free. I didn't want to" - she shrugged, a slightly apologetic smile gracing her features a moment before vanishing - "but I really couldn't call myself a Renegade unless I did what they told me."

There was a slight pause, and then she added, a little sadly, "I do apologize, for going against your wishes."

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"Do not," Sage said with a warm smile. He raised a gnarled hand to touch Merrin's forehead. "The vitality of the gods pulses within you, child. Do not fear to follow what is in your heart."

Pondering, he seemed to reach inward. At length he reached into his robes and pulled out a small golden key embossed with an azure gem. "Find your dragon. Stop the Meiltha from obtaining the Cloud Crystal. And guard this with your life."

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Frowning, Merrin took it, and weighed the little object in her hand. Her eyes flicked upwards, confusion apparent in her expression. "The Cloud Crystal?" she repeated. "Is that the thing they were looking for?"

The tiny key glittered in her grasp. "Find my dragon, I can do. But how can I stop the Meiltha? I am only one rider..."

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"You are vital," was Sage's patient, laconic response. "The Meiltha need you still, for your heart is pure. They may try to recapture you once you are away from my safety. Tread carefully, child, and may the gods be with you." He pressed his withered lips to her forehead. Smiling and waving his staff, he dissipated into thin air.

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Merrin remained quite still for a moment or two, practically quivering where she stood. "That's why..." she breathed, her hand clenched so tightly around the key that its shape was imprinted upon the palm of her hand. They needed me to get that Crystal. A disturbing thought struck - I was alone and vulnerable...why did they not retake me before they left?

"Perhaps there was more gratitude there than I thought," she mused aloud, and dropped the key in her pocket. Quite suddenly she strode off across the courtyard, face set in a determined expression.

And she fastened the warm cloak left in her room around her; strung the key on a ribbon and slipped it over her head, where it hung hard and smooth under her tunic; and walked to the ornate iron gates at the edge of the expansive druid fortress.

Breathing in the cool night air, Merrin felt faintly as though some aura of protection was removed as she softly closed the gates behind her. "First - to find my dragon. That I can do." And she scanned the dark sky, sprinkled with stars, and set off.

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[last post of the night until Anduril comes on]

Frigid wind blew into Kendath's face, numbing him to the core. Secure once more on Demon's warm back, he closed his eyes and dreamed.

"Father..." Blood and ash marring his youthful features, he reached desperately through the rubble, grasping his father's hand. The roar of the conflagration and the flames flickering through the haze of smoke cast an almost surreal atmosphere.

"Go, Kendath!" the high priest of the gods choked through his own blood trickling from his mouth.

He faltered, uncertain. "But the temple!"

Chuckling, his father swept a weak hand to indicate their hellish surroundings - the burning remains of the high temple. "The temple is lost. I am lost."

Tears streaking down his face, he withdrew, but not quickly enough to miss his father's last words.

His last words...

"Gods... keep... my son..."

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Garthag himself had teleported away, only after easedropping on the conversation of Merrin and the druid that was. Garthag waited outside the gates and started following her. A white figure in a forest was quite noticable, but Garthag once more turned to his invisibility spell thus staying unnoticed. After a while of following her, Garthag felt a familiar presence nearby and smirked widely.

Stop her Garthag ordered in his mind.

Shouldn`t be too hard... Answered the bored dragon.

Soon a white figure speeded across the skies and made a quick, rather impressive, landing before Merrin. Kalma`s ice cold stare nailed on Merrin, who supposedly could be useful yet Kalma saw no greater than a puppet in this renegade. Meanwhile Garthag appeared into sight behind Merrin.

"I present Kalma, the mightiest dragon of the northern tundras and my close personal friend... I must apoligize for the rude manner that we stopped you yet our conversation was cut off by the Meiltha, should you remember?

They left you alone and yet now you are to stop them, am I not correct? We can help you renegade, if you are willing to make a deal with us"

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

(so sorry...i ment to come on but i had a megrain and couldn't go near light let alone a computer screen)

As they flew though the air Jemx and Evlyn repaired the link that had been broken. After a few hourse of silnet concentration they were finished, they were as one again. "Why did she do it Kendreth?" she asked softly. And then "And what if the Mage was right..."

Jemx slowly warmed her, content to be with her again. Shall i send it? He asked
We both we She asnswered. They sent thier houghts winging though the air to Merrin.
Evlyn: As much as we hate it Renagade...
Jemz: We are in you're debt...
Evlyn: Th..thankyou...

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Made by Lembas

Merrin was grinning widely as Jemx and Evlyn's thoughts entered her consciousness. She laughed once, a purely happy sound in the quiet, cool morning, and thought back, Don't thank me. Thank the gods. They -

And suddenly a massive white dragon thundered down in front of her and Merrin leapt back in fright, the Meiltha forgotten. She whirled to face Garthag, but this meant having Kalma behind her and she was decidedly opposed to that idea. With a glance at the dragon she moved hesitantly toward Garthag. "I don't usually make deals with those who eavesdrop on my conversations," she stated, very coldly.

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"Stupid Renagade." snarled Evlyn, she hated being indebted to anyone, especially her enemy. She flew on beside Kendreth.

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Made by Lembas

"I'm cursed if I know," Kendath snapped back more sharply than he'd intended.

Demon banked along the jagged ridges of a barren mountain range looming before them - the Mountains of Oblivion. Miasma clouded its peaks. The noxious fumes billowed downward in great clouds, reaching as far as the upper foothills.

"Poisonous," Demon said, coughing and glancing at Jemx. "We should camp here and let you walk the rest of the way tomorrow." He didn't bother to conceal the playful insult. He began spiraling down into the lower foothills.

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((Just wondering if anyone here has a plan or the inklings of one - it may affect Merrin's deal with Garthag and Kalma))

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"Sad for you because you do seem like you would need help against the meiltha or at least making sure that they do not end up with the crystals... I do not want them to be used either and if they are they could spell disaster for our own schemes"

Garthag explained with a calm voice as Kalma stared at the renegade and calmly took a step forward just to annoy Merrin as Garthag continued to speak.

"We have no ambitions to destroy the gods and they know that, but what we have in mind is that in return for helping them... the gods would not interfere with our plans on this world as they might do usually to a new rising power..."

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

(i'm gonna bring back my Renagade charecter Semri...she might have met up with Wyvyn or somin PM me)

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Made by Lembas