Niarth opened one eye, looking around him. What had happened? And why was Tarima asleep at a time like this? Lifting his head slightly, he turned it to look at his back and realised he was being watched. Moving slowly so as not to startle the creature, he 'spoke' to her. We mean you no harm. My rider is ill I think? What has happened to us? he looked at the creature and saw she had young who seemed very interested in him. He hoped that interest wouldnt provoke any attack by the parent. She looked rather capapble of defending them...... He sighed and resumed trying to wake Tarima up, nudging at her, but he was so tired..

Tarima tried to lift her head....someone was speaking to her, someone important that she must answer, but she had banged her head, she remembered now. WHY couldn't she get the energy to speak back? Rousing all her energy she managed to speak. "What..happened?" She couldn't seem to lift her head yet, but she felt the warm bulk of her dragon and realised they were alright, for now... Resting her head back on him, she fell asleep again, powerless to resist the lethargy that spread over her.

"They deserve whatever happens to them for killing those serrets" Jarell said sharply, part of him fully meaning that, "either way it can't be changed now. And I hit that brown dragon, better that we go after that one and its rider. We can find the blue later".
Glancing in the direction the blue offworld dragon had went, he then concentrated about reloading the rifle with another set of darts. The runaways had already been taken down or were out of reach, but the darts would still be needed for later or if they ran into a hungry meateater.
After a pause, he nodded in the direction Tarima and Niarth had flown, "let's find them before we loose them as well".

Clacking her beak together, Riss moved back another few steps as she realized that the strange dragon was about to wake up. Clearly whatever was in those darts had not been enough to cause it to sleep for long.
She ignored the incoherent telepathic muttering from the dragon, and with a low growl she turned towards her cubs-- telling them to hurry back to the nest as they hesitated. All too often younglings had no sense, their curiosity getting them into trouble a hundred times a day if they weren't watched.
And once she was sure that they had done as she told them, she started circling the dragon and its rider at a good distance, as she studied them both. Still the dragon showed obvious signs of the drugs in its blood, and its rider didn't seem to be in a good condition after the fall they had taken.
Reaching out with her mind and a wisp of energy, she ensured that the dragon would be too dazed to notice her and much less attack. Next she studied the body of the rider, stabilizing those injuries that might grow to be life-threatening, before she sat back at her haunches, watching.

Such strange creatures they were really.., sharing some kind of bond which made them much too dependent on each other for Riss' comfort. In fact, in some ways she found it quite repulsive.
If she got a bit of time to study it, perhaps she might be able to remove it without causing too much harm to either of the two, or at least make it much less restrictive?

Niarth was in the middle of trying to wake Tarima when he felt himself growing almost sleepy. Lightheaded, his head slipped back to his forelegs, despite his struggles to keep it raised. He sent one last desperate message to Tarima You MUST work, they will be following, and there is a creatur......... he fell back into the slumber that had seized him.

Tarima meanwhile, was coming round more and more. She was in pain, and having trouble breathing, but at least her Niarth was awake. she stiffened as he seemed to fall asleep mid sentance, trying desperatley to awaken fully. As she did so, a cool feeling spread through her, and the worst of the pains stopped. Lifting her head fully, still groggy, but more in control of herself, she looked at the ground. Spotting the creature she gasped, then, realising that it hadn't hurt them yet, she climbed to the ground, running to Niarth's head to rouse him, reaching desperatley into his mind. She caught a faint trace of 'him' then it slipped away. Suddenly the day caught up with her, and she slumped to the floor, weeping for C'tron and the others. Completely defenceless, but uncaring she sat on the floor sobbing.

Yes they did deserve that for killing an intellegent being.. Serren cut off at the repulsion he felt for the defensless serrets. He couldn't beleive that they could just do damage to the habitat of an alien world and not realize that it might not be just some creature that they killed, but something that actually had feelings. It almost made him sick to think about it. The environment he was made for to protect and these things are just ruining it and dont even realize it. So the Ayron fell silent and galloped in the direction that Jarell told him. It didn't take long for them to come upon the fallen brown dragon and his rider along with an owlpanther standing over them.

Keeping the rifle ready, but not entirely pointed at either the owlpanther or the offworlders, Jarell paused slightly as Serren came to a stop before he jumped off.
Then he bowed slightly to Riss, "we appologize for intruding, but we need to return the offworlder and her dragon to their fellows. They may carry micro organisms that may prove harmfull, and they were part of a group who killed a pair of serrets".

Riss inclined her head, and with a low snort she stretched a wing before sitting back at her haunches.
::Oh, don't let my presence prevent you from doing what you came for. I have no interest in this 'dragon' or the human:: she said, keeping her eyes at Jarell as he walked over to Tarima and Niarth.
But then she turned her attention towards Serren, ::however...., may I ask who they are and how they came here?::

Niarth lifted his head again. There was someone, something here. Opening his eye, he looked over his sobbing rider and started almost fully awake. There was someone there, and he smelled like he meant trouble. Listening carefully, he heard Jarell talking. They were to be returned? But what if his Tarama was hurt, they had shot him and chased him this far, They had SHOT him! HIM! Snarling deep in his thrat, he slowly raised himself further, then, as he reached a good point of leverage, reared to his hind legs and grabbed the human before him, both sets of claws on his forelegs digging into the sides of him. Raking at him, he realised that he was drifting to sleep again. Half out of it, and totally blinded by fury he didn't realise what he was doing, and moving as fast as he could, snapped at the human's leg, catching it and shaking him, before dropping him on the floor and collapsing again, cradling his rider in his forelegs as he fell. She, lost in her grief, and still befuddled by the traces of whatever was making Niarth sleepy, barely had time to note he was covered in blood before she fell asleep, mental link with her dragon and sheer exhaustion mixing to send her to sleep again.

The offworld dragon's reaction as Jarell walked into range, came so sudden and fast that Riss was startled into jumping backwards. And during the moments it took for her to gather herself, the brown dragon had already done a pretty good job of tearing up the human that had arrived with Serren. Dropping its victim, it then collapsed again, seemingly unconscious once more.

If anything, Jarell looked more startled than in pain as the dragon dropped him, and his eyes rolling back in the sockets-- he passed out just about instantly after landing at the ground.

After hearing that some beings had been dragged to Sjirra in the wake of a circean, Nikitaa had remembered that Jarell had left to go attend to the matter, leaving her to roll back over and go to bed. After a while, though, she was too restless to return to sleep, especially that it was already noon. Being pregnant didn't count for much. She pulled on some clothes and walked outside of the tent, seeing the creatures and humans being taken down to the flat field on the other side of the paddocks. At the healer's tent Nikitaa saw Hinrayu, but no sign of Jarell. Stumbling as she pulled on her shoes and braided her long black hair, she finally walked to the tent and peered inside, seeing her grandmother and sister scrambing to help a young man who looked to have some broken bones and bad bruising. Then she turned to Hinrayu and sighed. "Where is Jarell? Shouldn't he have come back with you?"

Munching at a tuber which she had gotten permision to take from the Healer's garden, Hinrayu flicked an ear to chase away an insect before she replied.
::I haven't spoken with him for a while, but he went with Serren after some of the offworlders, who fled. They went in the direction of the serret fields I believe, but that's all I know. Chances are that they might need some help as there was five offworlders and their dragons that needs to be brought back.
I can ask Serren once I get within range, if you want me to go looking that is::

"Mind if I come with you? I can handle a rifle if it is needed." Nikitaa didn't want to get left out of the action, even if she was five months pregnant. Even if she just was a herder, she wanted to be able to play a part in things. "Let me just go back to my tent and get one and then we can go. I am not a hassle, you know that. I just want to make sure that Jarell is alright." Even though Nikitaa loved Jarell with all of her heart, she didn't want to raise their child alone. If he died... She didn't know what would happen in that case. She would probably return to live with her mother on the other side of the lake, or else make sure her mother came back to the camp. Haaldiya didn't need to be over there in the first place, and everytime Nikitaa saw her mother she made sure that the woman knew. "You might be his partner but he means the world to me. Just let me come along and help you out. I can go get Theriaz from the paddock and I can just follow you, I don't care. I want to help you." To tell the truth, Nikitaa did not feel like finding her Cinotah and putting all of the equipment on him. It would just make things easier if Hinrayu would Nikitaa ride her.

Hinrayu considered for a few moments before she nodded, ::you can come with me, but I do want you to use a saddle if you can find one. Since we're not sure how far Jarell and Serren have gone, I'll have to move rather fast::
Not sure how vulnerable a pregnant human might be, she didn't want to know acctually, Hinrayu didn't want to take any chances-- especially not with the mate of her rider.
Knowing Jarell, she would never have heard the end of it.
::If there's anything else that you'll need, get it quickly::

"Well, alright, come back to the tent," Nikitaa said quickly, hurrying back to her hut near the water on the other side of the camp. She threw things out of the way and found a saddle and an extra rifle with bullets. Pausing for a moment, she grabbed a bag and threw bandages and salves into it, throwing it around her back. Nikitaa hurried back outside, pushing the saddle blanket and saddle onto the ayron and cinching it tight around her waist. With deft ease, she swung herself onto Hinrayu's back and loaded the rifle.

"We need to find them, before something bad happens. If there are five of those...beasts out there, then they might be in danger if they get carried away with themselves." Nikitaa knew Jarell enough to know that he would get carried away with himself, especially if he had a weapon. "Let's go."

Pausing for a few moments as she told the other ayrons within range where she was going and what they would be doing, Hinrayu moved out of the camp at a quick trot which soon turned into a gallop.
::Don't hesitate to hold on to my mane if you're unsure about your balance:: she said, then becoming quiet again as she reached out telepathically for any trace of Serren. Ayron's didn't have a particulary good sense of smell, and without getting in contact with Serren telepathically, finding him and Jarell might have taken them days.

Roughly an hour later, she finally established contact with Serren as she stopped for a few moments on top of a hill. Then she nodded slowly as she was told that the two others had nearly caught up with one of the offworlders and her dragon, and were now approaching it.
Starting down the other side of the hill, she passed that information to Nikitaa-- deciding that they would probably catch up with the others in twenty minutes or so.

"They are approaching it?!" Nikitaa cried out, grabbing at Hinrayu's mane. "One of those things? They are just going to get themselves hurt if they do that. Tell Serren to make Jarell stop right there!" Her hands darted for her rifle, but she knew that she couldn't do anything with it. She held onto Hinrayu's mane. "Go as fast as you can. If one of those beasts attacks him... I can't let them hurt him! He's going to be a father in a few months, and if I lose him..." She couldn't bring herself to think of it again. "Just go faster, Hinrayu. Make sure that Serren tells Jarell to back away and not to get hurt, and that I will be there as soon as I can to deal with him personally."