"There were no term negotiations - " began Kale coolly, but broke off as Merrin flushed crimson, her expression affronted.

"Because of me?" she exclaimed indignantly. "What have I done? I - " here she mouthed soundlessly for a moment. Inside information? From whom? His accusation struck a chord no matter how she tried to prevent it. Wasn't that what they were trying to do? Save the dragons? And Kalma and his offspring were inarguably dragons...

Seeing the sudden uncertainty and distress apparent in Merrin's expression, Kale gestured and soldiers pinioned Kalma's arms. It was no longer her decision, if it had ever been, to detain him. "Silence," he commanded, voice sharp and cold like the spears his soldiers held.

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Kalma quietly smirked as his arms were bound, it was a fun experience for he had realised how much fun it might be trying to escape yet for now he waited. Yet his eyes kept locked on Merrin, who was clearly uncomfortable and uncertain of what to do yet outranked by the subcommander it seemed. Merrin had mentioned the druids and perhaps they in all their wisdom could prove more compassionate.

"Merrin, mind doing me a favour?"

He suddenly asked and received hostile looks from all around him.

"Tell the druids and your higher command of my offer, tell them that I only did what I did for the sake of my offspring. If I die then all you renegades will have to bare the guilt of not having saved those eggs, of letting a dragon and his offspring vanish when the race that you ride into battle vanishes!"

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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!

Poor Merrin seemed about to reply, but with a sharp glance Kale silenced her. The soldiers ushered Kalma out of view, no doubt down to the same dungeons Evlyn now occupied.

She drew a shaky breath, not at all sure that this was the right course of action. What if it was true, and they were endangering the future of the dragons? What if they - she - failed to save their past, and no hope was left?

"I can't fail," said Merrin aloud to the stone passage, empty now but for Kendath. "I have to save them." Again the weight of it pressed upon her stiflingly, made no better by Kalma's accusations.

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(Kalma, Evlyn will ally with you)
(i presume by everyones silence that they approve of my plan to sacrfice Semri)
(also the Meiltha are going to attack the Renagade strong hold.)

Deep in her cell Evlyn lay her eyes stareing at the wall oppasite, her tears had dried, and her mind had gone blank with grief.
Evlyn....Evlyn...
Jemx...?
Where are you i thought you were dead Evlyn by the gods i thought i'd lost you...
Jemx....i....oh Jemx he dosn't love me...he never did love me....Jemx... Something in her tone made him stop, she sounded so desolate. We're comeing for you, we'll get you out, its ok Evlyn, i'm comeing.
----------------------------
A few miles away, yet rapidly approching a great horde of Meiltha Dragonriders approched the Renagade city silently.

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Made by Lembas

Nightfall mantled Vryngard's steepled guard towers in velvety darkness. Fuming and cursing, Demon circled the skies alone a few miles out from the Renegade city, yet close enough to still sight the flickering lights that marked its existence.

A faint nuance in the air piqued his attention. Eyes narrowing, he stalled his flight and glared off into the distance. Renegade dragonriders? The last damn thing he needed... But as they neared, he realized that some of them were familiar. Astonished yet overwhelmingly relieved, he angled his flight to meet them.

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A quest. Yes, so I've heard. Gyre's thoughts ticked her rider's mind as the dragonrider pair banked towards the bluff near the southern outpost, where they were scheduled to meet Merrin, Sage, and various other potentates.

Enjoying the crisp night and the breathtaking panorma of stars, Kendath leaned forward in the flight saddle and responded, I'll thank whoever happens to be up there if we return alive.

A contemplative pause. At length Gyre mused, You wouldn't have let her go alone in any case.

Kendath hesitated before forced to concede, No. I wouldn't have.

Of course not, came the soothing reply. You love her.

His visceral retaliation was to snap back a caustic denial, but he realized that, to the impossibly perceptive Gyre, it'd be fruitless. He was spared the need to answer when he sighted the accumulation of Renegades and Druids on the designated bluff. His dragon began circling downwards to alight.

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A paler patch of silver-grey in the night, glittering slightly in the light from a few subdued torches, could be seen with greater clarity than the rest in the little group assembled on the bluff. Merrin stood close to Wyvern, her cloak blending almost seamlessly with his scales, and the two of them seemed deep in silent conversation. So absorbed was Merrin that she failed altogether to notice Kendath's approach astride his emerald companion - and when as they landed she did glance up, her face was pale in the dim light, a troubled frown drawing down the corners of her mouth. It disappeared in a moment, as if she were reluctant to show the trepidation she felt, but her fingers, wound tightly around one of Wyvern's short horns, made it apparent nonetheless.

Expectantly, expression set, she looked silently at Sage. The moon grew higher, and now that the assembly was complete there seemed no further excuse to postpone the reason for their coming.

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"Behold," Sage intoned in a voice belying his age, "the power of the Skyseekers." The Star Crystal's many iridescent facets reflected the starlight from within. He held it up, and under the celestial bask it fairly hummed with harmony. The silence that hung over the gathered was hushed, reverent.

The ancient Druid turned, letting his gaze encompass both Merrin and Kendath. "The Star Crystal will open a one-way scar in time, to be closed only when you return to the present through the same scar. There is no control. The artifact may land you anywhere upon this continent near the determined date: 174 Fo.A., before the Lost Battle. What matters is that you find a way to return to that location once your quest is completed, for you cannot take the Crystal with you. Should your task fail, the Crystal in the wrong hands could prove disastrous."

His gray eyes seemed steeled, reminding them of the gravity of the quest ahead. There could be no return if they ended up ultimately lost in the river of time. "Remember, your task is to observe, not to change events that have already transpired. One ripple in the still pond, and you may bring about the end of us all."

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Merrin nodded mutely, gaze drawn irresistably to the glittering gem in Sage's hand. "I understand," she affirmed, meeting his eyes. Their grey depths calmed the pounding of her heart in her ears, and she let go her death grip on Wyvern's horn. Moonlight illuminated the Crystal's many faces, so a different one glistened in turn until it seemed a glowing globe of mystical luminescence. She attempted a smile. "Gods be with you until we return."

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Sage's smile exuded warmth. "And gods be with you, Merrin Dragonrider, blessed of the divine." He laid a weathered hand upon her head and kissed her gently on the brow.

As he inexorably turned, Kendath could not suppress a wince.

"Walk with eyes unblinded by darkness," the Druid said quietly. "Remember that the gods hold faith in you, though you still may not believe."

With those words, he lifted the Star Crystal towards the heavens. Arcane syllables rasped from his throat. As he repeated the mantra with growing strength, the very fabric of the air rippled, undulating towards the cynosure of it all - the Star Crystal that lanced forth with blinding, ethereal light. Blinded by the sheer magnitude of its power, Kendath was forced to look away.

At length the tempest ebbed. The artifact fell from nerveless fingers as Sage mutely let his arms drop to his sides. He raised his head, suddenly appearing twice his already considerable age. Soundlessly, he gestured at the air before him.

Kendath frowned, his incredulous gaze shifting from the Druid to the object of the gesticulation. Nothing appeared to be different.

"Go now," Sage whispered, indicating once more the empty air.

There was more to it than met the eye, Kendath decided as he mounted Gyre. The dragonrider pair took a tentative step forward in the illustrated space...

...and fell through the gates of time.

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Merrin reached out, hesitantly, and sudden electricity crackled against her fingertips. Gods, I trust you... she thought, taking a breath - and once more holding tight to her dragon stepped forward.

Darkness mingled with blinding light swirled about them, and the only thing Merrin was sure of were Wyvern's scales under her hand. They hung poised in the infinitesimal depths of space and time, perfectly balanced between two eras vastly different. Stars danced before Merrin's eyes, a black sky dotted with pinpricks of light -

And solid ground was beneath her feet again. Merrin felt blinded as dazzling blurs of light faded from her vision, and she could feel Wyvern's every muscle tensed under her hand.

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They struck solid ground, and Kendath was immediately jolted from the saddle to land unceremoniously on his face. His world seemed to be spinning, and every muscle hurt from an unnamed exertion. Couple that with the fact that screams and roars clashed in cacophony all around him -

It wasn't until he noticed the grass beneath him stained red with blood that he jerked back to rationality. Dreading the worst, he staggered to his feet and managed to more or less gracefully whip out his falchion -

- just in time to parry a formidable battle axe that would have happily cleaved his head in two. Still disoriented from the time travel, he stumbled through the first reflexes of defense by instinct alone. When he finally regained his bearings, he found himself cursing their luck. Out of all the places to get landed in...!

The ardent sunset ran crimson with blood, a backdrop for the battle that waged beneath. The two enemy forces clashed in the center of a barren desolation marked only by a forbidding circle of obsidian monoliths silhouetted against the twilight upon a nearby rise.

Recovering from his initial disconcertion, Kendath growled and retaliated with a feinted stagger as his enemy's axe whooshed an inch above his head. Cutting underneath the high slash, he dropped to one knee and dove forward falchion leading. An instant later, his adversary found himself painfully lacking everything below the knee once belonging to his left leg. As the man went down, he caught sight of the Renegade insignia on his falling battle axe.

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Wyvern's roar echoed in Merrin's ears and her vision cleared just in time for her to dive sideways as an arrow twanged past her ear. Clawing her rapier from her belt, she looked wildly about - there was Kendath, falchion drawn - but what was happening?

MERRIN! Wyvern pierced through the fog of confusion. Get up! We've landed in the middle of a battle!

And then there was no time for conversation, telepathic or otherwise. The ground felt slippery, and Merrin had an awful suspicion it was blood - but again there was no time to look, as weapons seemed to fly out of thin air from every direction. Sun blinded her momentarily and only Wyvern's tail whipping past saved Merrin from sudden decapitation. Her rapier seemed pitifully small against hulking maces and broadswords glinting red.

We need to get out of here! Now! Wyvern's teeth snagged her cloak and Merrin found herself roughly deposited adragonback.

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Kendath glimpsed something coming for his head and threw his arm up. The arrow impaled his forearm, sending stabs of pain up his hand and shoulder. He spun in time to deflect yet another blow from a swinging morning star. "Gyre!" he roared, pivoting, his cloak flying out behind him to snag two more arrows.

I've got your back! came the equally enraged response. The jade dragon's spiked tail swept forth, threatening potential assaulters as her rider seized the chance to leap on her back. A blade ripped the trailing edge of her wing, and she rumbled in pain. By intimidation alone she managed to gain altitude, lifting higher into the vermilion skies -

- to enter a whole new level of hell altogether.

Gyre's sleek frame was average sized among the dragons of her time, but in the midst of those that existed eons ago, she was but half their size. Blood rained from the heavens as the mighty leviathans clashed in the air. She launched herself into a vertiginous display of acrobatics simply to avoid her battling kin and the chaos unleashed by raking talons and cones of dragonfire.

Clinging precariously onto the saddle, Kendath crouched low and glanced about desperately for Merrin.

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Claws tore at Wyvern's wings, and Merrin clung desperately to the saddle as he arrowed up and down and over, executing several complete flips in midair. There was a jarring collision and two bursts of bright dragonfire, and Merrin flung an arm over her head as heat arced above her.

The dragons were impossibly large, airborne mountains of muscled flame and scale. Wyvern was dwarfed so absolutely that even his fiery expulsions of breath seemed insignificant. This had one very slight advantage in that the battling dragons dismissed them as unimportant and did not turn their fury directly on the suddenly diminutive silver wyrm and his rider - but their aerobatics forced Wyvern into his own unbelievable contortions.

Jade - cobalt - golden yellow - blazing scarlet. Jade again, smaller - and Merrin glimpsed a black-clad figure. "Kendath!" she shrieked, her voice lost in the din of roaring flame and snarling dragon. Talons raked Wyvern's flank and he banked sharply, nearly dislodging her. A sudden inferno; a sword slicing through the air and catching Merrin across the shoulder and side; and abruptly they were out of the dizzying tangle of battle, though by no means safe.

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Gyre's feral battle cry ripped from her throat when a copper wyrm twice her size descended, flames shooting from its mouth. She rolled over in midair and the dragonrider pair whooshed over perilously close. As she came back up, Kendath launched three daggers in rapid succession. The first two grazed the lithe dragon, but the third one struck by the way the enemy rider stiffened. The copper dragon retaliated with a vengeance, its spiked tail lashing out.

Kendath glimpsed something pointed and lethal headed straight for his face before reflexively ducking. Before he even registered the hit he felt himself jerking forward, the wind knocked out of him. Only when a stab of pain shot through his shoulder did he realize the blow he'd taken. From Gyre's similar roar, he gathered that she'd taken one as well.

Spotting a clear path out of the inferno, she seized the opportunity and shot towards it. She hovered a little ways off from the main battle, above the circle of obsidian monoliths they'd sighted earlier. At length she alighted and folded her wings to her sides. One wing in particular dangled off at an odd angle. Broken, she reported grimly.

"Damn," snarled Kendath, dismounting and favoring his left shoulder. "That was entertaining. Let's do it again."

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Just as Merrin found time to gasp for a much-needed breath, frantically searching the battlefield churning with foot soldiers for her companions, there was a thud and the world spun. Wyvern rolled helplessly in the air, plummeting earthwards as flame crackled through the space the pair had occupied a split second ago. Merrin clawed frantically to stay aboard as he twisted upwards, pursued by a gigantic crimson beast.

She could feel his flanks heaving underneath her, hot blood dripping from the parallel gashes in his side. Merrin whipped her rapier sideways as the two wyrms collided in midair, and it found the armored shoulder of the scarlet dragon's rider and failed to penetrate. She had a blurred impression of a bulky man, eyes gleaming in ferocity, before his own weapon connected - and, but for Wyvern's frantic leap to escape, would have decapitated her. As it was a shallow gash ran the length of her collarbone and Merrin reeled momentarily as they dove sharply to escape.

Land! Anywhere, I don't care where, we're going to die! she thought dimly to her dragon, through a haze of panic. He did so, scattering a troop of soldiers near the edge of the corpse-strewn battlefield.

There! Gyre and Kendath! Wyvern lunged forward, throwing warriors left and right.

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