He is not one of us. Snarled Rano agresivly
"Shhhh...but you're right." she asnswered him. "What is he?"

Evlyn awaoke and looked around. "Kendreth...Demon" she shook her dragon. "Jemx...where are they?"
How should i know....theve probebly gone for a quick flight..streach thier wings and all that...the'll be back soon.....get a fire going i'm cold.
"Dragons..." she stood up and collected firewood, amde up a fire, before Jemx gently blew on it, flames bursting to life in the darkness, like a beacon.

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Made by Lembas

"No, he's not one of us. But he will be." This was all, seemingly, that Merrin would say.

How can you defend him? Merrin, he was going to use you! Purely for his own purposes! Wyvern thought at her, bemused and even angry.

He's lost his dragon. I lost you, Wyvern, and it was nigh unbearable. I would not wish it on anyone. I can't help but feel this is the right thing to do.

"I don't trust him." She strode foreward till they were face to face, she slitly shorter than he. Identical eyes to her sisters looking into his. "Why on earth should I?"

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Made by Lembas

(POST AHHHHHH POST PLEASE!!!!)

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Made by Lembas

((Lol relax Anduril))

"You know as well as I that it was never the gods' intent for us to become exclusive, jealous of anyone who wanted to join us," Merrin interjected quietly. She put a hand on Semri's arm. "You need to give him a chance."

She could feel Wyvern's displeasure emanating from him through their telepathic link. Don't, Wyvern. Please. You need to give him a chance as well.

With a hostile rumble Demon banked sharply to the side, away from the suddenly visible dragon and rider. His vermilion eyes narrowed to none too welcoming slits. Interestingly enough, the mage was just the human he'd been seeking, but he wasn't about to reveal that. "What do you want?" he snarled.

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Kendath kept his face meticulously neutral as he observed the proceedings. He couldn't help but wonder at Merrin's forgiveness - had their positions been reversed, he would have slain her without a thought. Was this what it was to be a Renegade?

"I couldn't care less if you trust me or not," he snapped at length, his patience finally on breaking point. "I only ask that you let me aid you in your cause."

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Merrin gave him a peculiar look - could it be reproach? - and let go her hold on Semri's arm. "Right," she replied, and after a pause - "but don't think that we don't ask anything of you in return." Turning on her heel, she walked back to the fire.

She seemed to think Kendath could figure it out by himself.

"Your attention for now"

Garthag spoke in a disarming and cautious manner as Kalma watched quietly at Demon, but it was Kalma that was speaking next not Garthag.

"You want power and now that your rider is not apparently on your side then that makes your path to power clear... all you need to do is to join our cause and we can turn this world into our own playground"

Kalma hissed with narrowed eyes.

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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!

(hmmm is evlyn all on her own...i though Garthag and Deamon we still with her?)

"How can I work with you if i do not trust you....Meiltha." Evlyns eyes stared back at him, yet they were that of Semri's. She shook her head, the harshness disappereing from her manner, and went and sat with her dragon.

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Made by Lembas

Looking at the other Renegade now, Kendath was distinctly reminded of someone he'd worked with for many of the past years. He was about to say something when his detached side intervened, and he settled on the conclusion that he really didn't care.

He went over to sit in a discreet corner of camp, away from the firelight. Pulling his cloak tighter against the evening chill, he stared moodily into the dark forest beyond. Demon was gone, and now... like he was so long ago... he was once again alone.

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"Let's say I'm interested," Demon rumbled, hedging away from commitment. He alighted down on the ground beside Evlyn and Jemx. He flicked a condescending glare on the pair of them, dragon and rider. "What do you say?"

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((Two questions: Anduril, do you have any particular plan for Semri? Like, do you know what's going to happen as far as her becoming Meiltha? And does anyone else have a plot idea? Cause I have one...again ))

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I was gonna post too...

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Merrin, sitting by herself with an annoyingly uncommunicative Wyvern sleeping behind her, cast a look at Kendath where he sat. Bewildered, she wondered why he'd come - he certainly didn't seem happy about it.

[aside from the fact that they're getting ready to climb the mountain... and the druid's key opens some secret tunnel under the mountain so they can circumvent the noxious fumes... not really]

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((Okay, so basically I guess both sides will end up going for the Crystal, except the Meiltha still need Merrin. So maybe they'll try to ambush Merrin and Kendath, seeing as they have superior numbers, or let her get it and then try and take it away. Which is where the tunnel thing comes in, cause only Merrin has the key...I dunno...any thoughts, Anduril or Curunir?))

[that was the general idea I was thinking... but we need to know how this whole thing turns out. I was thinking in the end there's some greater cause that they all are forced to work towards, and both Crystals end up being destroyed]

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((Or one does, and then the other is useless...I like that idea, and I was also thinking that Merrin's not that experienced at all, so maybe the guardian defeats her and the crystal is somehow lost or broken in the process...she hasn't decided to go after it yet, either, she figures if she just stays out of the Meiltha's way they won't be able to get it...so either she has to decide or something has to convince her))

EDIT: Spontaneous idea. Prepare for long post.
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Merrin eyed Kendath once more, and then curled up beside Wyvern as the fire flickered and grew lower.

And hours later, for the second time in two nights, she awoke, completely alert. She glanced around her - at Wyvern and Rano, who were both asleep, and Semri and Kendath, who she assumed were likewise.

Merrin got quietly to her feet, and wandered out amongst the trees. Abruptly the land cut off, forming a sort of cliff below her, and with a sigh she sat down, and gazed at the impassive moon. "Why?" she inquired of it aloud. "Wyvern's angry with me, and Semri and Kendath probably both think I'm a complete idiot - if I'd turned him away, everyone would have been happy with me!"

Except Kendath. The words caught in her mind like tendrils of mist, one moment there, and another just a memory. Merrin started. "Yes, of course. But I don't know if I quite care..."

You know you do. And nobody ever said doing the right thing would be easy.

"Why am I talking to the moon?" Merrin demanded. "And why is it replying? And what do I do now?"

And yet you still ask the moon questions. This was all that seemed to be forthcoming, but unbidden Sage's earlier words rose to the surface of her swirling pool of thoughts. Find your dragon. Keep the Meiltha from obtaining the Cloud Crystal. And guard this - the key - with your life.

"I found my dragon. And a lot of help he's been." Merrin's words were tinged with bitterness.

You missed him. Terribly.

A glare in the moon's general direction. "All right, so I did. The next thing was to keep the Meiltha from getting that blasted crystal thing. But that's easy. All I have to do is avoid them. Right?"

Silence. But somehow it did not seem affirming.

"Wrong?"

Merrin Dragonrider, you are not the only one on this earth in possession of a pure heart.

"What?" Merrin frowned, not understanding. Then she gave the moon a very unimpressed look. "I - I have to get it? Before they find someone else?"

Or come back for you. You forget they have superior numbers.

"They're going to think I'm crazy. I never wanted the Crystal, I've said that. Wyvern's already angry and Semri and Kendath already think I'm an idiot..."

Why do you care what Kendath thinks?

"I don't, of course!" Merrin buried her face in her hands. "Go away. The moon doesn't talk anyway."

Even heroes feel fear.

"I'm not afraid. I'm not." But she was, and they both - the moon included - knew it.

((Someone feel free to overhear I'll move on to morning in a bit if nobody wants to))

"Interesting," Kendath said with fine irony as he stepped into view from cover of the trees. "I talk to the moon every night." He leaned against a tree and regarded Merrin coolly. "Do I have to learn that too? Talking to the moon?"

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