Merrin was not altogether devastated that she could not immediately verify Evlyn's presence. She was reasonably sure that Evlyn would still drop her off a dragon at a thousand feet without a second thought, and though the feeling was not quite mutual, it was primarily due to the fact that compassionate Merrin would very likely refuse to drop anyone off a dragon, thousand feet or no. But the mutters and glances from various residents of Vryngard as she ascended to the north entrance made her squirm, and itch to burst out that she was no different from any of them.

This temporary annoyance, however, was driven from her mind when Merrin rounded the last corner and halted in surprise to see Subcommander Kale discussing something or other, expression grim, with a somehow very familiar figure. "Who are you?" she asked sharply, unable to place him but knowing beyond a doubt that she knew him from somewhere.

_________________

Kalma remained quiet for the remained of the time and when he was inquired of how he exactly knew of Merrin he simply hissed at the subcommander as a warning not to inquire too much. When Merrin finally appeared Kalma smirked slightly as he turned towards her, she probably had a very good guess who he was, but not confirmed knowledge.

"Kalma is the name and I have come to... negotiate... yet should you have doubts of my trustworthiness then I must admit that I am in a bit of trouble. You see Garthag knows of the crystals time travel capabilities and he seeks to go into the past to destroy me, the being that enslaved him and before that killed his... bretheren... so as Garthag would be a threat from there on and with his bretheren a greater threat, I have come to make a deal with you.

You aid me in stopping Garthag from killing me in the past and you can have the other crystal"

_________________

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!

"Ahhhh Kendreth..how good to see you once again...surrounded by you're allies." She looked at him with hatred, "So how is the *beep* Merrin, still as obnoxtiose as ever?" She hissed. All she really wanted to do was break down and cry, to be held by him and told it would be alright. But she couldn't, not in front of him...not him the traitor, she had to prove that she was still strong.
-----------------
A day later and Jemx had half flew and half dragged himself back towards Meiltha territory. A patrol came out and found him, quickly bringing him back to the caves for healing. When he was done he stood before the Miltha Council. In the center sat Commander Sequor.
"Jemx, you return to us without you're rider, without you're conpanions, without the prisoner, and without the Crystal. Where is it?"
Jemx lowered his gaze We captured the Crystal, but Kendreth had left and turned to a Renagade..
"This we already know, what of the Crystal and you're rider?" He asked instistently. With a sigh Jemx began thier tale, ommiting nothing. ...and now they have taken Evlyn. he finished.
"So the crystal now belongs to an unknown power, and the Cloud Crystal to a Renagade...You will be punished for you're faliure to carry out the will of the Council Jemx, but then we shall retive you're rider and the Crystal...you have my word." Jemx closed his eyes with relif and thankfulness as he was led away to be tourchered.
-------------------
Semri and Rano entered Garthags chamber and wached Demon silently.

_________________

Made by Lembas

Kendath stood back and silently regarded her. In their years of alliance they had been close once, as much friends as two Meiltha ever could be. She was proud, incorrigible - something he'd always admired in her. They'd saved the other's life multiple times. How much did he owe her? He found his thoughts inevitably drifting to how he might help her escape, and his hand gripping the bars to test their strength...

You are weak, Kendath. Never forget that. Demon's last parting words echoed in his mind. With a growl he retracted his hand and his thoughts. He had something to prove.

Instead he shrugged and answered her question with an inquiry of his own. "Why are you here?"

_________________

Merrin's first instinct was to look helplessly at Kale, intimidated by this entirely unexpected proposal. She repressed it, however - and the subcommander was surprisingly silent, waiting expectantly for her reply.

"I must admit I fail to see quite how this benefits us," she carefully returned, thinking as she went and hoping she had not entirely missed some important aspect of this proposed alliance. "We need only one Crystal to travel time, and if you and Garthag are - ah - at odds with each other, as it were, how can you promise us the Cloud Crystal? He surely has it under careful guard?"

Subtle infiltration? Espionage? Kendath's words suddenly raced through her head. What if it was a trap? What if this was an attempt to gain the Star Crystal? And they needed the Crystal, or all hope of rescuing the dragons was gone. "Forgive me," she added, with the ghost of a mocking grin at odds with her anxious thoughts, "but I'm afraid your survival is not quite our top priority at the moment."

_________________

Kalma snorted loudly in disgusted and almost spat at Merrin, the renegades an an old order like the Meiltha both with the opposite goals and they both shamelessly used dragons to their benefit. This was not a war for dragons, this was a war for the gods and their worshippers, dragons did not worship and nor did they ever need to.

Kalma took a bold step towards Merrin with his voice hissing and fingers pointed at her face as, if he was going to grab her head like a ball within his grasp.

"Do you incapable fool think that I am unaware of the disaster that my race faced in the past? You renegades and as well the Meiltha are all a bunch of blind sheep their masters thrown small pieces of meat to. Should one crystal fall into wrong hands it will create an unimaginable caliber of disaster, time is not a tool you can use so easily.

One false move or twist then the river of time might be disturbed, then that might have unexpected consequences. Do you even realise how things will change, if I am not around? I will not simply disappear, but everything I did in the north will disappear and worse consequences will come. You and Garthag are sailing on dangerous waters without any idea of what you are doing, you use your emotions to justify your actions and when you do that thing tend to go all wrong."

------------

Garthag briefly gazed at the crystal with a hypnotized look on his face, but snapped out of it and stared back at Demon to give the dragon his answer.

"I am well aware of what it is and in fact I should have known it long before I returned, but I did not.... it is a key, a key to give anyone anything they wish for should they have the power to twist the past into their own willing..."

Garthag said and took few steps back, he seemed to look for a suitable place where to hide for a while as these fools would be delayed. Garthag sensed that Demon was not willing to let Garthag go so easily this time and thus Garthag prepared for the worst, but yet smirked widely should the dragon be a fool enough to challenge him here.

_________________

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!

"What do you mean Demon?" Asked Semri stepping foreward. Out of everyone she had ever met she felt Demon to be most like herself, to hold the same if not similer values to herself. In short, she was one of those few that she trusted.
------------------------------------------------
"Why do you think Kendreth?" She asked with a remorseful laugh, slipping back into the old ways between them. "'Never trust those closest to you, thier best positioned to kill you' isn't that what we were taught? I underestimated Semri, once a traitor always a traitor, she gave the Crystal to Garthag and drove me to death.....and then the Renagdes stole me from Jemx whilst i lay defenceless." She smiled at herself. "To think a Meiltha would sink this low."

_________________

Made by Lembas

"You do your cause little good," snapped Merrin, holding her ground under his sudden vicious accusations. "I assure you, calling me an incapable fool will in no way advance the agreement you wish to make." His insults hit a painful target - had she acquired the Cloud Crystal, Garthag would not have obtained it. It was her fault. She forced herself to meet his gaze.

"You insult me. Are you so superior to all Meiltha and Renegades, then? I hardly think so. We will not be manipulated into an alliance with you if it does not serve our purposes. Garthag's plans, I regret to say" - though Merrin's expression implied just the opposite - "are your problem, not ours. And through no argument will you make them so." She pointedly ignored his assertion that she used emotion to justify her actions. It was false and they both knew it. "Insults will get you nowhere. I suggest you refrain from using them."

Almost alarmed by her own vehemence Merrin stopped. What had she said? She took a breath, fighting to remain outwardly calm.

_________________

Demon's ears confirmed for his sinking mind the worst. Garthag knew. He knew not what the mage planned to do with time travel, but he did know that Garthag served Garthag and none else. He eyed the Cloud Crystal and decided that to challenge him here was suicide. Even outside the human's bastion of power, he was a formidable opponent.

Thus he seized the only means of egress from this imposse he'd just walked into. "Where's Kalma?" he asked abruptly.

--------

Interestingly enough, Kendath found that he didn't feel sorry for her. Her choices were her own, as were her mistakes. He entertained a sudden notion for a moment, then just as quickly discarded it. Bitter and angry she always would be. She didn't have the heart to turn Renegade.

Terms he'd have used to describe himself just a few weeks ago?

The epiphany revealed the excuse for what it was. In their years together, he'd witnessed on rare occassion another side to Evlyn, one that lay deep beneath her layers of odium. But nonetheless...

Merrin may have the guidance and faith to allow her enemies a second chance, but he'd existed too long under the oppression of Meiltha spite and cruelty. As Evlyn herself had just stated, those closest were best in position to kill. Evlyn could not be trusted.

He gazed at her for a while, then unclasped his cloak and tossed it through the bars of the cell. "Nights are cold here," he explained with a shrug. Without further conversation, he turned and walked away.

_________________

(I hope my plot twist works)

"Kalma went spying yet after I make a little trip then he will no longer be around..."

Garthag informed them as he backed down and prepared to either drive them out or to escape them via time travel, his former allies would pale in comparison to his allies should he succeed in the past. His order restored and their power combined would not be challenged by many, the only reason Kalma had been able to kill them all was that he sneaked up on them like a thief in the night.

----------------

Kalma hmped at her answer, he shook his head and went for his robes, it was about time to let the renegades realise what kind of a favour Kalma had once done to the world. Kalma took out an amulet and showed it before Merrin`s eyes, the amulet had many carvings and a strange symbol in the middle. All that someone ordinary might figure out of them was that the amulet had something to do with the sky because of the symbol upon it.

"Many years ago I was a slave of the group of mages and Garthag was the youngest of them, I killed them all and enslaved Garthag thinking that I could have him chained. Not even Garthag knows the truth about his bretheren, mages? Yes, but they were much more than mages renegade... or was it Merrin?"

Kalma said and hmphed loudly as the renegades seemed not impressed, but even more annoyed. Kalma quietly placed the amulet in his other hand and placed it then into a pocket of his robes.

"What do you know of the skyseekers, Merrin?"

_________________

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!

Demon's vermilion glare intensified. He played a dangerous game, he knew, but he saw no other method. At least this way he could keep an eye on Garthag. "You are in need of a dragon," he surmised, sitting back on his haunches in an unthreatening posture.

_________________

"hah"

Garthag laughed briefly at Demon`s words and raised the crystal before him, he was drunk, drunk with power and the fact what he might achieve alone with this item in his hands.

"I was never a rider nor wanted to be, I was a slave of Kalma`s yet he made the mistake of thinking that I would not dare to oppose him or would not find out the crystals capabilities, if he knew of them..."

_________________

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!

[Curunir, Anduril... I was thinking the storyline would be more flexible if we split into three groups as we apparently have 3 different plots going on? Garthag, Demon/Kalma/Evlyn, Merrin/Kendath, and Semri wherever she falls in]

Demon took careful measure of the almost insane gleam in Garthag's eyes. He'd seen many mages with the same passion - most of whom ended up bringing ruin to the Meiltha cause. He is incorrigible. Insane, he thought in disgust.

"It will consume you," he hissed one last time, before whipping around to depart from the room.

_________________

(I thought we had two plots kinda.... I thought that we could first have the confortation in the past between Garthag & others versus the renegades then there would be the restoring thingy)

"Oh since when did you know anything about power when you have never had any Meiltha puppet?"

Garthag asked outloud, perhaps just to annoy Demon or to gain his attention.

_________________

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!

"They have a temple, in the Mountains of Oblivion," said Merrin warily. "That's where the Cloud Crystal was."

She paused, eyes scanning his face briefly before dropping. Somehow she was wary, leery of forming any agreement, though now admittedly she found herself mildly curious. But Merrin had seen firsthand Kalma and Garthag's determination to do what suited them best, and only them. So her tone was not overly genial when she added, already guessing the answer, "What do you know of them?

_________________

(acctually i was thinking of maybe of the Meiltha attacking the Renagades with Jemx's information, however they would form a shaky alliance with them once they realised the truth and help them try and defeat garthag? Oh and i thought the only way to destoy a crystal would be to sacrifce someone and a dragon to it....ie Semri as she's a useless charecter really.)
(do say if you hate the idia)

Evlyn wached him leave the room and then collapsed sobbing to the floor. She never cried, a Meiltha never cried...but she had loved him. A Meiltha never loved, it was not in thier nature, but Kendreth had been diffrent, there had been something about him. When he had left with Merrin she had felt anger, but now she knew he didn't love her she no longer cared for anything, and her cries echoed though the hall ways as she held his cloak to her chest.

_________________

Made by Lembas