Post by Katlyn on Nov 12, 2012 20:06:45 GMT -5
(Swift and Seleti. This is part 3 of Rebellion, Accusation, and Punishment)
Swift had thought something amiss when he returned to his weyr and settled in for the night before the evening meal and his friend and lately, Lover, was absent. Even Cheyenth was nowhere to be found when Seminth looked for her. Sure, things had been quite tense lately, but he did not think that Seleti would go out in the weather that had enveloped the Weyr in a cold. Swift skipped the evening meal that night as he contemplated on why Seleti was missing and eventually fell asleep sitting on the edge of their couch.
It was three days later that Swift decided that whatever Seleti had gone off for, she would have returned by then and so he readied his old worn out pack to go find her. He packed his usual survival supplies, having always checked his stash randomly, it was updated and ready to go in less than a quarter of a candlemark. Slipping down to the Dining Caverns, he sweet talked a cook into giving him some herbs, expecting to be gone until he found his greenriding friend. Having never been one to following protocol, the former Raider readied Seminth’s straps for an early morning flight in the morn, taking half the night to talk his dragon into allowing him to go without telling anyone.
Morning came and Swift was up before the first gray light of dawn in the snow-covered Weyr, harnessing his bronze for the trip they were about to embark on. Finished quickly, they took wing and winked Between as the first ray of light touched the horizon.
~~~
Appearing over the island that they had spent a night on back when Cheyenth flew out of Weyr, Swift smiled at the warmth of the air. He had picked the island first as it was a nice retreat and no one had really gone to it in recent sevendays and that was his first thought as to where to find Seleti and her green. Sure enough, Seminth picked up on the green’s link to tell them of where she was. Dropping in low, but able to rise into cloud cover if needed, the pair swooped along the island only to see a sight they thought they would never see: a gray-tinged Cheyenth with what looked to be a net over her. Swift quickly commanded his bronze into the cloud cover and to keep quiet. Banking around, they landed on a secluded beach about a cove where Seminth could be hidden, but also able to take off quickly if the need arose.
Dismounting, Swift patted his bronze’s shoulder and said, “Go ‘head an’ let ‘er know we’re shardin’ here. I gotta find out what we’re up ‘gainst.” With that, the Rider slipped away quickly and headed toward where they had seen Cheyenth under a net. Half a mark later, the blonde was sneaking silently closer to the small encampment and his wild green eyes were taking in what he saw. It was extremely familiar, yet almost foreign at the same time, seeing the work of his own Clan from the outside.
{{Cheyenth, Mine and I are here for you,}} the bronze’s smooth words reached out for the green that he currently held as a mate.
Cheyenth rumbled lowly where she was forced to stay, eyes whirling quickly in an orange-red tint of anger. Whoever these men were, she was not happy with them, having attacked her and Hers. In fact, he was so angry at them, that she missed the arrival of another dragon overhead. Hers was still not fully concious again, but she could tell that Seleti was starting to come around. That, at least, made her feel slightly better, though she could also tell that Hers was hurting some.
The grumbling green suddenly fell silent though when a familiar voice touched her mind. ((Seminth!!)) she called out to the bronze, giving a roar then. They weren't alone anymore! ((Mine, you must wake up. Seminth and Swift are here for us!)) the green side, bringing her rider about somewhat. She repeated it again, which woke her rider up the rest of the way. The news set both rider and dragon to struggling against their binds. If the bronze and bronzerider were here, it was only a matter of a few minutes, surely, before they were headed home.
Surprisingly, Cheyenth did not appear to be injured, if at all, but her color told of her mental state and that was something that Swift just did not like. He watched the area closely a little longer, digging up old memories of how their Clan set up things. Any captives would be in the tent at the center so they had little options on escape if they were even lucky enough to do so. Routine called for information before killing a captive and obviously Seleti had given little or none at all if Cheyenth appeared still in decent health. He was willing to bet that the green had not eaten since whenever they had been taken either. Thankfully adult dragons only needed to eat every few days. Of the four tents, arrayed about the center tent, Swift guessed there to be only a dozen Raiders: a typical band sent out to strike with maximum effect on its target. Of course, the Clan he belonged to had a main goal of trying to wipe out dragonkind so that they could undermine the Holds and effectively take over Pern's Leaders like the loyalty to Weyr's before the Plague did most of their jobs for them.
As Cheyenth's roar echoed in response to Seminth's words, Swift smiled as the desired affect happened. Raiders scurried into view to see what riled the green, showing just how many folk were there. One in particular stood out; another Raider with his same build and stature: his older brother...Swift backtracked away from the encampment and hurried back to Seminth, making the trek in double time and formulating his next move.
{{Mine is thinking how to get you and Yours out of there,}} Seminth told Cheyenth once his link with his Rider told him of the Rider's next moves.
Seleti stared as one of the raiders came in and saw that she was concious again before he told her to shut it and left. If they were looking for an answer to what rattle the green, they might easily write it off as her rider being concious again. ((Where are they?)) she asked her green, settling down for a few moments.
Cheyenth all but snarled at the men who came out to see what was going on with her. Hers was awake again and Seminth and his were there now. It would take a bit to calm her down. But she settled for a moment after Seminth spoke again. ((Ok....but make it fast.)) she replied, before passing onto her rider that they were figuring out how to get them out.
Seminth relayed to his green mate his Rider’s next thoughts, {{Mine’s going to infiltrate to get Yours out easier.}} The bronze was calm as his Rider was extremely calm, if not slightly upset of the events taking place. {{How is Yours?}} Seminth asked of Cheyenth as he watched his Rider dress down from a Rider’s leathers.
Swift shed his flight jacket onto his pile of leathers that belonged to Seminth. He was hoping that it would take no more than a day to get Seleti out of there. A lot of it depended on what Keekair had in mind when he showed up at their encampment. At any rate, he would be able to see Seleti at least. After staring at his wherhide pants a long moment, he pulled his belt knife and slit a few gaps in them at various places to make them look older and worn. Finally gaining the desired effect, he did the same of his tunic, tearing a few gaps in its hems, the neckline, the back and front, and his dominant sleeve, then staring at the empty Bowl tattoo at his wrist for a long moment, getting his head back into the game of the life he led before Seminth and Seleti ever crossed his path. Kneeling down, he frayed both boot laces in various places to get his worn effect then he rummaged about for a patch of dirt and some berries in the little cove. Finally finding what he desired, he brought a few handfuls back to a little puddle of sea water on the beach, crouching there to see his reflection. Dirt was rubbed on various parts of his exposed skin and even some of his torso beneath his tunic which he had pulled loose to allow any cool air to sift through it. He smeared dirt on various places of his tunic, pants, and boots as well, achieving a drifter’s look who had not had a chance to clean up in a long while, perfect for the wandering life that he was supposed to be doing, but had not since he had met Seleti and found the Weyr with her. He knew that he would have a lot of explaining to do after this, but his first priority was to get Seleti and Cheyenth free and safely back in their own Weyr, in their own couch where he could give her all the attention she desired so that this would hopefully never happen again. The final touch lay in some berry stains that achieved a bit of a dried blood look that the bronzerider littered about his abdomen on his tunic. The scar there, his most recent injury from D’verado of Outlath before he had found Tristar Weyr. Topping off his attire, he roughly sewed together a few gaps in his tunic that he had just made with some string from his pack of supplies, then stood to take in his appearance, soon turning to look at hid dragon for the bronze’s opinion. [[Whacha think, Semi?]] he asked by thought, spinning around for the great dragon to check him over.
Seminth stared at the transformation before him. His clean Rider was no more and instead what looked to be like one of the folk from the ships of supplies stood before him. {{Is THAT what you looked like before me?}} the glittery bronze inquired, relaying the image he saw to his own Rider’s mind.
Swift smiled somewhat proudly at the image. [[Yup! I apologize now for anything’ I shardin’ do that goes ‘gainst us. It’s to get Sel and Cheyenth back with us,]] the Rider bespoke his bronze as he returned to his pack and rummaged through it, tossing a few items on his pile of leathers that would normally not be found in his possession pre-Impression. Finally satisfied, he decided that he would fashion a spear along his way back to the encampment and stashed his pile of leathers and Weyr related things under some brush for safe keeping. Giving his dragon a pat, he smiled up at the bronze and tossed his pack in the hiding place, a length of string slung over his shoulder for his spear he would be finding and attaching to an old spearhead with a broken tip. It was something of a trademark for him to use the broken head and he had never had the heart to get rid of it since becoming a dragonrider. Promising Seminth his return around dark, he set off toward the encampment to begin his next step in his plans.
~~~
Swift had watched the encampment closely for a long while, spying another of his brothers about the premises before he decided to make his approach, spear in hand in the fashion of a walking stick as he practically strolled into the encampment another two candlemarks since he had left Seminth and most of his gear in the cove. “Faranth, ‘is place looks shardin’ familiar!” he called out to the nearest Raider, a burly man with a nasty scar down the left side of his face.
The man spun around at Swift’s clear words, shortsword of a guardsman swinging to strike at the unfamiliar voice. The bronze rider was quick to leap back to avoid a connection with the blade and gave the man a feral smile. “Really? I’d have ya’ on the shardin’ ground in a moment if I wanted ta shellin’ kill ya’,” he said with an amused smile on his lips.
The man stared at Swift a long moment. If there was one thing that stood out in anyone’s memory of the former Raider, it was that of his wildly shaded green eyes. The man paled and stepped back a moment, saying, “We thought ya’ was a dead wherry,” before turning toward the encampment and shouting, “Keekair! Lyden! Swift’s alive!”
Suddenly the encampment was abuzz with its occupants, coming to see if the word was true and finding it so at the image of the travel worn man before them. Keekair, the one that looked the most similar to Swift, pushed his way to the front of the gathered group and gave the bronzerider a close inspection, going so far as to circle him to verify his relation to the man that had been missing for three or four turns without so much as a token to say that he was alive. “Where ya’ shardin’ bin?” he asked, voice gravely in his demand.
“Chasin’ Riders,” was the simple and quick answer from Swift. In a way, he was speaking the truth. “Looks like ya’ll got one,” he said, pointing his spear toward the netted green a short distance away. “They talk any yet?” he inquired curiously. He was not going to give away the Weyr’s location, but he was a pretty good liar to mask it from anyone getting a suspicion.
Keekair shook his head, pointing at Swift’s pants and boots. “How’d ya’ come ‘cross them?” he asked, having recognized the garb as similar to that of their captive.
Swift grinned at his eldest brother. “Took ‘em from a brown and a bronzerider I killed a bit back,” he said proudly. He was a scavenger and so was the rest of his Clan. “How many ya’ got?”
Keekair shoved a thumb back toward the netted dragon. “That’s the shardin’ first one. Faranth, they hide good,” he said. “C’mon, lemme show ya’,” and he waved for his youngest brother to follow him.
Swift smiled feraly at the green as they stepped up to the center tent where Keekair led him inside. It took everything he had to not show acknowledgement that he knew the Rider bound before him, but he was going to chalk it up the best he could, hoping that Seminth’s brief warning had made sense to Seleti that he was infiltrating the camp. “Pretty lil’ thing. Had any shardin’ fun with ‘er yet?” he asked of his brother.
Keekair shook his head. “She’s spitfire. Real hard to get any shardin’ thing outta ‘er. Even ‘er name,” he answered as he gave the Rider a kick to her ankle to gain her attention.
((Infiltrate?)) the green questioned, though she passed on the message to her rider. Seleti thought she understood what it was Swift intended to do, thinking about it the way that her own clan would have handled such a situation. She was grateful that it had only been that morning that these raiders had shown up. At least she assumed it had only been that morning.
((He means to sneak in and get me, and then we'll get you,)) Seleti told her green, who was still curious about the plan at hand. At least, that was what she hoped was his plan. She heard her green tell Seminth that she was ok, except for her head hurting as she let her eyes close again. Who knew how long it would take for Swift to get there and get her and her green out.
The greenrider had eventually dozed off, so she didn't hear the commotion that started up once Swift made his appearance in the small camp. The green rumbled softly when Swift gave her that odd smile, before she realized that the one she was rumbling at was indeed Seminth's rider. ((Why does yours look so strange?)) the green asked her bronze mate curiously as she slowly started to try and wake her rider up again. It didn't take much to stir Seleti from her nap.
((Mine, Swift is here. He looks odd,)) Cheyenth informed her rider, sharing the picture she had managed to glimpse of him before he disappeared from sight. She Tried to settle down again, though she felt as they were going to be free very soon.
Seleti saw the image and was instantly confused. She hadn't seen him look like that for quite a few turns, and then it had been when they were about to try and off eachother when they had first run into eachother. But she pretended to be asleep until the one raider kicked her in the foot. At that point, she slowly woke up before glaring at the two. Something told her to pretend like she didn't know Swift, so that's what she was going to do.
{{Mine is looking like the ones that have you and Yours to get in and get you and Yours,}} Seminth replied to Cheyenth’s inquiry of what his Rider looked like. He had made a huge change in appearance in such a short period of time. Obviously it worked as he was able to waltz right into the encampment.
Keekair smirked at the Rider on the ground before them. “Wanna work yer magic on ‘er later, lil‘ brother?” he asked of Swift.
Swift grinned at his brother. “Love to,” he said, wild eyes going over every inch of Seleti, though not lustily, but closely as if to gauge her health from what he could see. His brother knew of his past “experience” with women and the two-faced Raider could get them to bend to his will quite often.
The pair left the tent, only to return closer to dusk and Keekair leaving Swift alone with Seleti to see if he could get her to talk. Kneeling next to Seleti’s still form, Swift touched her shoulder, saying softly so his voice would not carry outside the tent’s fabric, “Sel? Wake up.” He would not even blame her if she struck out at him, but he would chalk this up for any listening ears on his tactics.
Little brother?! Seleti was shocked to hear those words from one of her captors. She hoped that shock didn't show on her face though, as that might give this whole charade away. She would drill him about it later though, when they were out of this mess. Cheyenth passed the message onto her rider as Swift and his brother left her alone again. So he was fitting in, huh? That was different.
She let herself go back to sleep again after the pair left, only to hear a familiar voice waking her back up again some time later. Since he had startled her, she did move to swing at him, only to find her arms still bound, but she realized it was him a few moments later.
"What's going on?!" she hissed at him, keeping her voice quiet. Oh, she was angry at the entire situation, and he was exempt from that, but she knew they needed to get out first.
At Seleti’s swing, Swift moved enough to avoid any contact from her, his old instincts coming back by the moment to his original quickness and stealth. At her demand, he suppressed a sigh. “I got a lot a shardin’ explainin’ ta do later, yeah. With any luck, I can gitcha outta ‘ere tamarra without any suspicions by my brothers,” he said, telling of his plans to get her out of there before his brothers found out that he did ride a dragon, too.
Seleti glared at him. "You don't say..." she grumbled, before shifting where she sat. "They got us this morning...before we even woke up. My head hurts...." she said then, wincing some as her moving had caused a sharp pain to shoot through her head and down her neck. "And they keep asking where the Weyr is. Why do they want to know where the weyr is?" she asked him then, wondering what it was that she had gotten herself in the middle of at the island she had escaped to after her run in with M'riel a few days before.
At least they had only had her for a day as it was nearing dusk now. For the first time since he had known Seleti, Swift's words came delayed to answer her inquiry. Turning his wrist over to show her the bottom of the tattoo, he pointed out the empty Bowl. "They wanna wipe out dragonkind," he finally said, a bit remorseful in his tone. Yes, he had been one of them. He had originally wanted to kill off dragonkind as well, but histhoughts changed drastically as he fell for Seleti's desires to be among the dragons and also when Seminth picked him off the Sands at Igen.
Seleti saw his delay, and it worried her. She watched as he showed her the tattoo she'd seen plenty of other times before, but the words that followed with it shocked her. Get rid of the dragons? But. . . .that made no sense. She turned almost cold then, despite the remorse she heard in his voice. And she was from them, which meant that he had been lying to her more than she had realized. She wasn't willing to wait until the morning for him to try and get her out, when there was a chance that they could do something to her green.
"Get me out. . .now. . ." she hissed at him. She would deal with him later. Right now, she just needed to get out of here, before something devestating happened to her or her green. Or him and his green, but she was rather angry with him at the moment, so she didn't really stop to think about that.
“I can’t gitcha out right now. Too many’re awake yet. We gotta wait ‘til later,” Swift replied in a hushed voice, trying his best to curb his own temper at Seleti’s anger toward him. He sure hoped that she would forgive him over this, but now the feline was out of the bag and it was only a matter of time until his secret drifted throughout the Weyr and he was viewed with hate and disgust as one of the dragonkillers.
Seleti glared at him some more. She was fairly certain that if he put his mind to it, getting her out of there right then was something they could do, but she honestly wasn't going to push the issue. He obviously knew these raiders better. After all, he had been one of them.
"Fine....so go have your happy little family reunion, but we leave tonight!" she said, still practically hissing.
“As ya’ wish,” the bronze rider said, somewhat meekly. He was going to have to explain a lot to her once they were out of here. He was not going to let her die at his brother’s hands, even if he took the worst of the fight once his brother found out he was a Rider. “I’ll be back shardin’ later,” he told her in a grumble before standing and heading for the door to the tent.
((To Part 4))
Swift had thought something amiss when he returned to his weyr and settled in for the night before the evening meal and his friend and lately, Lover, was absent. Even Cheyenth was nowhere to be found when Seminth looked for her. Sure, things had been quite tense lately, but he did not think that Seleti would go out in the weather that had enveloped the Weyr in a cold. Swift skipped the evening meal that night as he contemplated on why Seleti was missing and eventually fell asleep sitting on the edge of their couch.
It was three days later that Swift decided that whatever Seleti had gone off for, she would have returned by then and so he readied his old worn out pack to go find her. He packed his usual survival supplies, having always checked his stash randomly, it was updated and ready to go in less than a quarter of a candlemark. Slipping down to the Dining Caverns, he sweet talked a cook into giving him some herbs, expecting to be gone until he found his greenriding friend. Having never been one to following protocol, the former Raider readied Seminth’s straps for an early morning flight in the morn, taking half the night to talk his dragon into allowing him to go without telling anyone.
Morning came and Swift was up before the first gray light of dawn in the snow-covered Weyr, harnessing his bronze for the trip they were about to embark on. Finished quickly, they took wing and winked Between as the first ray of light touched the horizon.
~~~
Appearing over the island that they had spent a night on back when Cheyenth flew out of Weyr, Swift smiled at the warmth of the air. He had picked the island first as it was a nice retreat and no one had really gone to it in recent sevendays and that was his first thought as to where to find Seleti and her green. Sure enough, Seminth picked up on the green’s link to tell them of where she was. Dropping in low, but able to rise into cloud cover if needed, the pair swooped along the island only to see a sight they thought they would never see: a gray-tinged Cheyenth with what looked to be a net over her. Swift quickly commanded his bronze into the cloud cover and to keep quiet. Banking around, they landed on a secluded beach about a cove where Seminth could be hidden, but also able to take off quickly if the need arose.
Dismounting, Swift patted his bronze’s shoulder and said, “Go ‘head an’ let ‘er know we’re shardin’ here. I gotta find out what we’re up ‘gainst.” With that, the Rider slipped away quickly and headed toward where they had seen Cheyenth under a net. Half a mark later, the blonde was sneaking silently closer to the small encampment and his wild green eyes were taking in what he saw. It was extremely familiar, yet almost foreign at the same time, seeing the work of his own Clan from the outside.
{{Cheyenth, Mine and I are here for you,}} the bronze’s smooth words reached out for the green that he currently held as a mate.
Cheyenth rumbled lowly where she was forced to stay, eyes whirling quickly in an orange-red tint of anger. Whoever these men were, she was not happy with them, having attacked her and Hers. In fact, he was so angry at them, that she missed the arrival of another dragon overhead. Hers was still not fully concious again, but she could tell that Seleti was starting to come around. That, at least, made her feel slightly better, though she could also tell that Hers was hurting some.
The grumbling green suddenly fell silent though when a familiar voice touched her mind. ((Seminth!!)) she called out to the bronze, giving a roar then. They weren't alone anymore! ((Mine, you must wake up. Seminth and Swift are here for us!)) the green side, bringing her rider about somewhat. She repeated it again, which woke her rider up the rest of the way. The news set both rider and dragon to struggling against their binds. If the bronze and bronzerider were here, it was only a matter of a few minutes, surely, before they were headed home.
Surprisingly, Cheyenth did not appear to be injured, if at all, but her color told of her mental state and that was something that Swift just did not like. He watched the area closely a little longer, digging up old memories of how their Clan set up things. Any captives would be in the tent at the center so they had little options on escape if they were even lucky enough to do so. Routine called for information before killing a captive and obviously Seleti had given little or none at all if Cheyenth appeared still in decent health. He was willing to bet that the green had not eaten since whenever they had been taken either. Thankfully adult dragons only needed to eat every few days. Of the four tents, arrayed about the center tent, Swift guessed there to be only a dozen Raiders: a typical band sent out to strike with maximum effect on its target. Of course, the Clan he belonged to had a main goal of trying to wipe out dragonkind so that they could undermine the Holds and effectively take over Pern's Leaders like the loyalty to Weyr's before the Plague did most of their jobs for them.
As Cheyenth's roar echoed in response to Seminth's words, Swift smiled as the desired affect happened. Raiders scurried into view to see what riled the green, showing just how many folk were there. One in particular stood out; another Raider with his same build and stature: his older brother...Swift backtracked away from the encampment and hurried back to Seminth, making the trek in double time and formulating his next move.
{{Mine is thinking how to get you and Yours out of there,}} Seminth told Cheyenth once his link with his Rider told him of the Rider's next moves.
Seleti stared as one of the raiders came in and saw that she was concious again before he told her to shut it and left. If they were looking for an answer to what rattle the green, they might easily write it off as her rider being concious again. ((Where are they?)) she asked her green, settling down for a few moments.
Cheyenth all but snarled at the men who came out to see what was going on with her. Hers was awake again and Seminth and his were there now. It would take a bit to calm her down. But she settled for a moment after Seminth spoke again. ((Ok....but make it fast.)) she replied, before passing onto her rider that they were figuring out how to get them out.
Seminth relayed to his green mate his Rider’s next thoughts, {{Mine’s going to infiltrate to get Yours out easier.}} The bronze was calm as his Rider was extremely calm, if not slightly upset of the events taking place. {{How is Yours?}} Seminth asked of Cheyenth as he watched his Rider dress down from a Rider’s leathers.
Swift shed his flight jacket onto his pile of leathers that belonged to Seminth. He was hoping that it would take no more than a day to get Seleti out of there. A lot of it depended on what Keekair had in mind when he showed up at their encampment. At any rate, he would be able to see Seleti at least. After staring at his wherhide pants a long moment, he pulled his belt knife and slit a few gaps in them at various places to make them look older and worn. Finally gaining the desired effect, he did the same of his tunic, tearing a few gaps in its hems, the neckline, the back and front, and his dominant sleeve, then staring at the empty Bowl tattoo at his wrist for a long moment, getting his head back into the game of the life he led before Seminth and Seleti ever crossed his path. Kneeling down, he frayed both boot laces in various places to get his worn effect then he rummaged about for a patch of dirt and some berries in the little cove. Finally finding what he desired, he brought a few handfuls back to a little puddle of sea water on the beach, crouching there to see his reflection. Dirt was rubbed on various parts of his exposed skin and even some of his torso beneath his tunic which he had pulled loose to allow any cool air to sift through it. He smeared dirt on various places of his tunic, pants, and boots as well, achieving a drifter’s look who had not had a chance to clean up in a long while, perfect for the wandering life that he was supposed to be doing, but had not since he had met Seleti and found the Weyr with her. He knew that he would have a lot of explaining to do after this, but his first priority was to get Seleti and Cheyenth free and safely back in their own Weyr, in their own couch where he could give her all the attention she desired so that this would hopefully never happen again. The final touch lay in some berry stains that achieved a bit of a dried blood look that the bronzerider littered about his abdomen on his tunic. The scar there, his most recent injury from D’verado of Outlath before he had found Tristar Weyr. Topping off his attire, he roughly sewed together a few gaps in his tunic that he had just made with some string from his pack of supplies, then stood to take in his appearance, soon turning to look at hid dragon for the bronze’s opinion. [[Whacha think, Semi?]] he asked by thought, spinning around for the great dragon to check him over.
Seminth stared at the transformation before him. His clean Rider was no more and instead what looked to be like one of the folk from the ships of supplies stood before him. {{Is THAT what you looked like before me?}} the glittery bronze inquired, relaying the image he saw to his own Rider’s mind.
Swift smiled somewhat proudly at the image. [[Yup! I apologize now for anything’ I shardin’ do that goes ‘gainst us. It’s to get Sel and Cheyenth back with us,]] the Rider bespoke his bronze as he returned to his pack and rummaged through it, tossing a few items on his pile of leathers that would normally not be found in his possession pre-Impression. Finally satisfied, he decided that he would fashion a spear along his way back to the encampment and stashed his pile of leathers and Weyr related things under some brush for safe keeping. Giving his dragon a pat, he smiled up at the bronze and tossed his pack in the hiding place, a length of string slung over his shoulder for his spear he would be finding and attaching to an old spearhead with a broken tip. It was something of a trademark for him to use the broken head and he had never had the heart to get rid of it since becoming a dragonrider. Promising Seminth his return around dark, he set off toward the encampment to begin his next step in his plans.
~~~
Swift had watched the encampment closely for a long while, spying another of his brothers about the premises before he decided to make his approach, spear in hand in the fashion of a walking stick as he practically strolled into the encampment another two candlemarks since he had left Seminth and most of his gear in the cove. “Faranth, ‘is place looks shardin’ familiar!” he called out to the nearest Raider, a burly man with a nasty scar down the left side of his face.
The man spun around at Swift’s clear words, shortsword of a guardsman swinging to strike at the unfamiliar voice. The bronze rider was quick to leap back to avoid a connection with the blade and gave the man a feral smile. “Really? I’d have ya’ on the shardin’ ground in a moment if I wanted ta shellin’ kill ya’,” he said with an amused smile on his lips.
The man stared at Swift a long moment. If there was one thing that stood out in anyone’s memory of the former Raider, it was that of his wildly shaded green eyes. The man paled and stepped back a moment, saying, “We thought ya’ was a dead wherry,” before turning toward the encampment and shouting, “Keekair! Lyden! Swift’s alive!”
Suddenly the encampment was abuzz with its occupants, coming to see if the word was true and finding it so at the image of the travel worn man before them. Keekair, the one that looked the most similar to Swift, pushed his way to the front of the gathered group and gave the bronzerider a close inspection, going so far as to circle him to verify his relation to the man that had been missing for three or four turns without so much as a token to say that he was alive. “Where ya’ shardin’ bin?” he asked, voice gravely in his demand.
“Chasin’ Riders,” was the simple and quick answer from Swift. In a way, he was speaking the truth. “Looks like ya’ll got one,” he said, pointing his spear toward the netted green a short distance away. “They talk any yet?” he inquired curiously. He was not going to give away the Weyr’s location, but he was a pretty good liar to mask it from anyone getting a suspicion.
Keekair shook his head, pointing at Swift’s pants and boots. “How’d ya’ come ‘cross them?” he asked, having recognized the garb as similar to that of their captive.
Swift grinned at his eldest brother. “Took ‘em from a brown and a bronzerider I killed a bit back,” he said proudly. He was a scavenger and so was the rest of his Clan. “How many ya’ got?”
Keekair shoved a thumb back toward the netted dragon. “That’s the shardin’ first one. Faranth, they hide good,” he said. “C’mon, lemme show ya’,” and he waved for his youngest brother to follow him.
Swift smiled feraly at the green as they stepped up to the center tent where Keekair led him inside. It took everything he had to not show acknowledgement that he knew the Rider bound before him, but he was going to chalk it up the best he could, hoping that Seminth’s brief warning had made sense to Seleti that he was infiltrating the camp. “Pretty lil’ thing. Had any shardin’ fun with ‘er yet?” he asked of his brother.
Keekair shook his head. “She’s spitfire. Real hard to get any shardin’ thing outta ‘er. Even ‘er name,” he answered as he gave the Rider a kick to her ankle to gain her attention.
((Infiltrate?)) the green questioned, though she passed on the message to her rider. Seleti thought she understood what it was Swift intended to do, thinking about it the way that her own clan would have handled such a situation. She was grateful that it had only been that morning that these raiders had shown up. At least she assumed it had only been that morning.
((He means to sneak in and get me, and then we'll get you,)) Seleti told her green, who was still curious about the plan at hand. At least, that was what she hoped was his plan. She heard her green tell Seminth that she was ok, except for her head hurting as she let her eyes close again. Who knew how long it would take for Swift to get there and get her and her green out.
The greenrider had eventually dozed off, so she didn't hear the commotion that started up once Swift made his appearance in the small camp. The green rumbled softly when Swift gave her that odd smile, before she realized that the one she was rumbling at was indeed Seminth's rider. ((Why does yours look so strange?)) the green asked her bronze mate curiously as she slowly started to try and wake her rider up again. It didn't take much to stir Seleti from her nap.
((Mine, Swift is here. He looks odd,)) Cheyenth informed her rider, sharing the picture she had managed to glimpse of him before he disappeared from sight. She Tried to settle down again, though she felt as they were going to be free very soon.
Seleti saw the image and was instantly confused. She hadn't seen him look like that for quite a few turns, and then it had been when they were about to try and off eachother when they had first run into eachother. But she pretended to be asleep until the one raider kicked her in the foot. At that point, she slowly woke up before glaring at the two. Something told her to pretend like she didn't know Swift, so that's what she was going to do.
{{Mine is looking like the ones that have you and Yours to get in and get you and Yours,}} Seminth replied to Cheyenth’s inquiry of what his Rider looked like. He had made a huge change in appearance in such a short period of time. Obviously it worked as he was able to waltz right into the encampment.
Keekair smirked at the Rider on the ground before them. “Wanna work yer magic on ‘er later, lil‘ brother?” he asked of Swift.
Swift grinned at his brother. “Love to,” he said, wild eyes going over every inch of Seleti, though not lustily, but closely as if to gauge her health from what he could see. His brother knew of his past “experience” with women and the two-faced Raider could get them to bend to his will quite often.
The pair left the tent, only to return closer to dusk and Keekair leaving Swift alone with Seleti to see if he could get her to talk. Kneeling next to Seleti’s still form, Swift touched her shoulder, saying softly so his voice would not carry outside the tent’s fabric, “Sel? Wake up.” He would not even blame her if she struck out at him, but he would chalk this up for any listening ears on his tactics.
Little brother?! Seleti was shocked to hear those words from one of her captors. She hoped that shock didn't show on her face though, as that might give this whole charade away. She would drill him about it later though, when they were out of this mess. Cheyenth passed the message onto her rider as Swift and his brother left her alone again. So he was fitting in, huh? That was different.
She let herself go back to sleep again after the pair left, only to hear a familiar voice waking her back up again some time later. Since he had startled her, she did move to swing at him, only to find her arms still bound, but she realized it was him a few moments later.
"What's going on?!" she hissed at him, keeping her voice quiet. Oh, she was angry at the entire situation, and he was exempt from that, but she knew they needed to get out first.
At Seleti’s swing, Swift moved enough to avoid any contact from her, his old instincts coming back by the moment to his original quickness and stealth. At her demand, he suppressed a sigh. “I got a lot a shardin’ explainin’ ta do later, yeah. With any luck, I can gitcha outta ‘ere tamarra without any suspicions by my brothers,” he said, telling of his plans to get her out of there before his brothers found out that he did ride a dragon, too.
Seleti glared at him. "You don't say..." she grumbled, before shifting where she sat. "They got us this morning...before we even woke up. My head hurts...." she said then, wincing some as her moving had caused a sharp pain to shoot through her head and down her neck. "And they keep asking where the Weyr is. Why do they want to know where the weyr is?" she asked him then, wondering what it was that she had gotten herself in the middle of at the island she had escaped to after her run in with M'riel a few days before.
At least they had only had her for a day as it was nearing dusk now. For the first time since he had known Seleti, Swift's words came delayed to answer her inquiry. Turning his wrist over to show her the bottom of the tattoo, he pointed out the empty Bowl. "They wanna wipe out dragonkind," he finally said, a bit remorseful in his tone. Yes, he had been one of them. He had originally wanted to kill off dragonkind as well, but histhoughts changed drastically as he fell for Seleti's desires to be among the dragons and also when Seminth picked him off the Sands at Igen.
Seleti saw his delay, and it worried her. She watched as he showed her the tattoo she'd seen plenty of other times before, but the words that followed with it shocked her. Get rid of the dragons? But. . . .that made no sense. She turned almost cold then, despite the remorse she heard in his voice. And she was from them, which meant that he had been lying to her more than she had realized. She wasn't willing to wait until the morning for him to try and get her out, when there was a chance that they could do something to her green.
"Get me out. . .now. . ." she hissed at him. She would deal with him later. Right now, she just needed to get out of here, before something devestating happened to her or her green. Or him and his green, but she was rather angry with him at the moment, so she didn't really stop to think about that.
“I can’t gitcha out right now. Too many’re awake yet. We gotta wait ‘til later,” Swift replied in a hushed voice, trying his best to curb his own temper at Seleti’s anger toward him. He sure hoped that she would forgive him over this, but now the feline was out of the bag and it was only a matter of time until his secret drifted throughout the Weyr and he was viewed with hate and disgust as one of the dragonkillers.
Seleti glared at him some more. She was fairly certain that if he put his mind to it, getting her out of there right then was something they could do, but she honestly wasn't going to push the issue. He obviously knew these raiders better. After all, he had been one of them.
"Fine....so go have your happy little family reunion, but we leave tonight!" she said, still practically hissing.
“As ya’ wish,” the bronze rider said, somewhat meekly. He was going to have to explain a lot to her once they were out of here. He was not going to let her die at his brother’s hands, even if he took the worst of the fight once his brother found out he was a Rider. “I’ll be back shardin’ later,” he told her in a grumble before standing and heading for the door to the tent.
((To Part 4))
