Beginnings and Endings

[Desert]

What had seemed surreal had quickly turned into a nightmare: with an enraged Dharth in the air, things would only get worse. Adria clung tightly to Skailaranth's neck and hoped the two marine dragons could escape harm. Was there a way to calm Dharth down enough so that the behemoth would stop his rampage? She doubted it -- once he got into this state, the only way Dharth calmed down was when his opponent was dead or escaped and too far away to give chase. While the two Atlanopolis dragons were so close and able to attack or evade, the big black wouldn't settle.

Then, suddenly, something crashed into the water; Skai instinctively darted deeper into the water. She did her best to hold off the worst of the crushing pressure that closed in on her two human passengers as they descended out of reach of anything at the surface. As the jade drew closer, Skai whipped her head around and released a wave of sonar at the landwalker dragon: it was stronger, more intense than the frequency she used for ecolocation, and was a proven weapon. Fish regularly fell prey to this tecnique, though it would only confuse something Rownith's size, maybe stun her for an instant. That was all Skai needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and the perceived threat. How was she to know that Rownith only wanted to see to the twins' safety? All she knew was that there were hostile dragons in the air and Poseidonth was a distance away.

Adria had been about to reassure Rownith that Skai was a friend, she was just going to get them away from Dharth, but then the siryn darted away. She turned back to look at Skai's head. Wait, Skai, that's Rownith! She's just trying to help! Then, sending a chill through her blood, she heard Poseidonth's dark threat at the jade, and very nearly forgot she was underwater. NO! Poseidonth, don't! Please! But it seemed as though it was too late.

Dharth had been wheeling at the end of his more or less elliptical flight path when Poseidonth breached. The big black balked for a moment in surprise at the megalaodin's sudden appearance, but just as quickly he surged forward with maw agape. Heedless of the threat, he unleashed a gout of hot flame that missed the better part of the beast, but managed to sear a respectable part of the swimmer's tail. The burns would be fairly superficial, as covered in water as Poseidonth was.

The black behemoth banked up and spun on his wingtip to follow the trajectory he predicted Poseidonth would take; luck, perhaps, was on his side for he only had to correct himself slightly when the megalaodin's bioluminescence flared bright under the ocean. The only thing Dharth saw in his rage was those points of light, and nothing else. Not even the jade floating near the surface. He sped up a bit to get ahead of his aquatic quarry, all the time tracking the bluey glow. When the light brightened as if coming closer, Dharth prepared himself to dive onto the megalaodin.

It was Rownith's misfortune that it was about the point Poseidonth reached her that Dharth decided to pounce. He didn't come down directly on the jade, but as fire spewed fiercely from his maw, some of it licked across the smaller dragon's hide. Dharth ignored Rownith entirely in the ensuing chaos as three draconic bodies tangled up in one another; his only concern was getting his jaws around the stranger's throat. Wicked talons raked and serrated teeth gnashed indiscriminately, tearing into whatever flesh they met in Dharth's savage drive to inflict damage. Once the water was cloudy green with ichor, the big black floundered out of the battle. Hopefully he'd inflicted enough damage that the megalaodin would be delayed in pursuing him.

For a land-based dragon, Dharth was a skilled swimmer. He dove down his own body length and then swam up with all his might, lurching high enough out of the water to get room to pump his wings frantically and get airborne. By the time he got his wings properly under him, the big black was panting heavily, aching from exertion and the blows landed on him in the fray, but the fiery reds and icy blues of his eyes had calmed considerably. The big black lumbered once more into the air and circled, waiting to see what would happen below.

K'dran, from the shore, watched with a growing feeling of horror. He didn't fear for his dragon's life -- Poseidonth would be doing him a favor by drowning the black -- but for the safety of his daughters and Rownith. His eyes widened incredulously as he saw, though Dharth's eyes, Poseidonth breech. No wonder people told tales of monsters in the sea! And he was huge, even though he was dwarfed by Dharth.

Suddenly, K'dran uttered a strangled yelp that he quickly choked off, and whirled around to look at Accalia. Even though Dharth hadn't noticed Rownith, the jade had been within his line of sight, and K'dran had seen his black dive down flaming dangerously close to her. His eyes were glazed as he watched the fight, though outwardly he was still staring at Accalia with a terrified expression. Juno settled onto his shoulder and coiled herself tight around his neck, but he was oblivious to the spring, too absorbed in watching the chaos.

Adria, from Skai's back, heard when Dharth impacted the surface in his attack. She turned in her seat but saw only a dim glimpse of the foaming, thrashing disturbance that encompassed Dharth, Rownith and Poseidonth. Horror drained all the blood from her face, and the girl loosened her hold on Skaila's body in preparation to swim toward her parents' dragons, when a half-folded navy-speckled indigo wing clamed down over one of her legs. No, little one! It's too late for us to help. Getting closer will only get us hurt, and worsen the problem. I am sorry we misunderstood the smaller one's intentions,[/b][/color] Skai warned, and then her melodic voice turned contrite. After Adria's outburst, prior to the clash, Skaila realized that the threat she'd sensed was not one at all; but as she had just told Adria, it was too late.

Adria leaned forward to bury her face in the siryn's silky-skinned neck. Her lungs burned with the need for air, but in her concern over the fate of the fighting dragons, she didn't heed it. Skaila did, however. Since they were well away and the combatants were absorbed in their battle, it was safe to surface. Skai drifted upward slowly, so as not to damage her passengers, and soon three heads broke the surface. Adria didn't dare look back, for fear of what she would see. She was waiting to hear a death-keen, knowing it would come, and dreading it. Which rider would have half of their very soul torn from them today? K'dran? Accalia? Poseidonth's as-yet unnamed Mine?
[/size]

[elainsie]

The number of times Kaliara had been rendered speechless in her short life could be counted upon one hand. However this particular moment, with the three dragons enmeshed in battle, the oozing ichor disoclouring the water, was a strong enough tonic to still her tounge. Her stomach roiled rather disturbingly and she squeezed her eyes shut to wish away the image. No longer did she wonder if this was a dream, though she longed for the moment she would wake up and have Accalia reassure her that reality was not like this. That everything, as it always had been, was right in her world.

The Jade had been shocked by the words from the swimmer-male. So vicious, dripping with a venom she felt undeserevd. All she had wanted was to return her Mine's children to her, to make amends for her momentary lapse in concentration. Rownith had been preparing to spread her wings out, to lever herself from the water and a safe distance away, the words to the foreign dragon forming in her small head when she was hit by the sonar, a fogginess coming over mind so that any coherant thought was lost.

She looked around herself blankly with no sense of recognition, the shape of Dharth in the air above her a black, indescribable blob, the Megalodin closing in on her some big thing swimming through the water. Rownith did not reocgnise the danger, could not comprehend just how risky her position was as she sat like a sitting duck in the middle of the much greater, quite furious dragons who were closing in on her.

Accalia reached out for Rownith as she watched on in horror, mentally screaming out for her beloveded Jade to move, to /between/ to anywhere else but where she was at that precise moment and met not quite a block, but an airiness, a vacancy of the recess of Rownith's mind that chilled Accalia and left her shaking.

The Jade rider wanted to rip her gaze away from the scene as it unfolded to run, run far away, but how could she do that? It was Rownith out there, the one who knew her inside and out, that filled her with a love that was bigger than Accalia herself, and even if it all dissolved into the horrific mess that seemed inevitable, did not her dragon at least deserve to have her there, right up until the end?

And then the stream of flame leapt from Dharth's mouth, crossed the rather small distance separating black dragon from jade and danced across Rownith's hide, sizzling her greenish hide and sending up the acrid, and rather unpleasant smell, of burning flesh.

The Jade let out a scream as the flames seared her, breaking her from the grasp of the sonar however had she had her wits about her it was still too late to retreat. As she thrashed and rolled in the water, trying to extinguish the flames, there was the raking of sharp talons deep into her left flank, a tearing of sinewy muscle and tendons, the ripping of the left wing sail, so that it hung bedraggled and usless against her side.

Oh the agony of it, her hide in places had been charred to a fleshy mess, ichor oozing from the burns and gashes. Too much ichor for a dragon her size, leaking into the water, swirling around as the other dragons churned the ocean up around her. Did they not realise what they were doing to her? Why were they doing this to her? She had not wished harm on either of them and they were wrenching her apart, a play toy for two bullies.

I hurt Mine. These were the last words Rownith bespoke Accalia before reaching for the welcoming brace of /between/, for the escape from the intense pain, from the betrayal inflicted upon an innocent.

And then she was gone. Gone. Accalia's mouth worked but no words came out, what words could there be to describe the wrenching of her soul, the shattering of an irrevocable part of her that left such a ragged edge?

[Onyxaeon]

Poseidonth could feel the water surging through his gills, could taste the oxygen rich waters around him pouring the life giving gas into his liquid filled, swimmer's lungs. The usually lazy swimmer sent the surrounding sea frothing, turbulant waves breaking overhead from where his broad tail would lunge, sending bitter waters to foam and lick the tops of the calmer surface lingering just beyond the breaking shelf. When he had breached...Ah, the glorious black behemoth would never tell tale of the event, but shock had stunned his orbs. Tail to nose tip, Poseidonth had meters on the arrogant king, and he very well knew it. To stand even with Dharth, now that didn't matter if he were shorter in stature. His girth alone was something the people of Pern had made of legend and, despite knowing bigger creatures like Ambers and Wraiths existed, they could not compare. No, they could not hold a candle to the undersea war masters lurking just beneath the surface. The sea was a way of life for many...And what would happen should the sea's guardians turn on those who dared to tame the oceans? One Sevrill himself could disable an entire fleet of tithing ships to sea holds. Without the holds, the Weyrs would fall. Without the sea, Pern did not stand a chance.

These were the thoughts raging through Poseidonth's mind as his body tucked beneath the surface once more, his fate on a collision course with Rownith's own. The flames that had traced circles over his tail were a dull throb, the salt of the sea stinging his flesh as the first few layers of his skin had been singed off in the initial blast of fire. It was nothing to be concerned over-something a simple bit of numbweed could take care of later, but, to the megalaodin's disdain, he had discovered Dharth to posess fair aim.-He had singed the sensitive flesh between two long, boney spikes. It was a nagging thought indeed, but it did nothing to stop the sea monster from stearing straight to the jade. Onward, he surged, hideous jaws agap, ready to tear into flesh at teh moment of impact. He could sense the black beast above, could faintly hear Skai's mind voice in the distance, and feel the distressed thoughts of the children upon her back. But he didn't care. None of it mattered. None of it would change anything.

I close both locks below the window.
I close both blinds and turn away.
Sometimes, solutions aren't so simple.
Sometimes goodbye is the only way.
And the sun will set for you.
The sun will set for you.
And the shadow of the day will embrace the world in gray.
And the sun will set for you.

A snarling, writhing mass of bodies collided in unision, flames flickering over the surface just before Poseidonth would have met his eyes with the spurted, combined chemicals. Dharth did not direct his rage-he charged on in blind anger, and it showed when teh first blow fell to the jade Poseidonth had just torn into the mainsail of. His powerful rudder of a tail sloshed the waves, dragging salty liquid up into the black's eyes to try to momentarily divert him. When this did not help, the megalaodin turned to brute force, slamming the appendage into the behemoth's ribcage in an attempt to shatter the bones nestled beneath flesh. All the while, his serraded rows of fangs tore into the underbelly of Rownith, his own back earning scores from the Eden male's talons, but that didn't matter. Most of the ichor in the water was not his own. Just the same, though, Rownith did not claim the deepest wounds. No, the furrows upon the megalaodin's back were indeed deep, but he thankfully bore no wings with which to damge, and his body lavished at the much needed attention the salt water provided for his immediate care. He bit back his cries, instead leaving the jade to bleed as his neck arched, the bioluminescent bulbs flaring a radient blue that would blind a creature of more sensitive eyesight. His intentions were clear as he clamped down, heavy canines digging into the shoulder joint of the black. He shredded, hoping to tear away all the muscle covering the bones that rest beneath. He could not deny Rownith just attention, and so he procedded to give her Dharth's earlier treatement, batting her smaller frame back and forth with the great expanse of his tail, likely shattering bone in the process of the much smaller female.

He barely noticed when Dharth climbed in altitude, pulling away from Poseidonth as Rownith slipped below. Following after the jade, all rage drained from his visage as he gazed into the souless orbs of the deceased jade trying to sink to the bottom of the sea. Absently, the megalaodin dived, his bioluminescent bulbs dying as he glided underneath the female, and woulh have effectively caught her, had she not betweened. The scores on his back howled in protest as he remained stationary for several moments, hovering in the water, trying to fathom what the rider was going through far away on the beach.. He didn't care for his wounds at the moment. She was lost to Hers, and he had been the cause.

[Desert]

You killed her.

She was in the way. I told you, if she got in the way, she would pay for her mistake.[/b][/color]

You monster -- you sadistic, twisted, beast! You saw her, you could have avoided her! Your target was the swimmer, not one of your wingmates! I can't believe you. You've sentenced Accalia to death, you know that? Or a living death, which is worse. I hate you so much.

Hold your tongue, K'dran. The jade was in the wrong place at the wrong time -- she should not have been in the water with that stranger there. It was her error, not mine.[/color][/b]

K'dran snarled wordlessly and tore his gaze away from the behemoth limping his way through the sky toward the shore.

Send Juno back to the Weyr to summon a Healer, I won't be going between with this shoulder of mine,[/b][/color] Dharth commanded, weariness and pain lacing his mind-voice. It was only adrenaline that was keeping him airborne now -- the muscles in his shoulder were shredded from where Poseidonth had chomped down on the joint. Add that onto the cracked ribs in his side and the numerous other cuts and bruises crisscrossing his body, and Dharth was as battered now as he'd ever been in his life.

"Go get your own damn Healer, Dharth," K'dran hissed aloud, savagely. "You don't deserve for me to be at your beck and call after what you've done. For all I care you can flap your sorry hide back to the Weyr on your own and extort a Healer into looking at you -- I don't want to have anything else to do with you. And you can get as mad at me as you want; I don't even care if you kill me. It'll kill you and as far as I've been concerned for the past fifteen Turns that's all to the good."

pale ice-blue overtook Dharth's eyes again. The big black would have swooped down and taken his rider to task for such insubordination, but it was that moment that his injured wing decided to give out. Luckily he had been flying low over the water so his impact was relatively soft, but it was still an inpact that elicited a pained hiss. He seared his rider's mind with curses and threats, but K'dran was beyond caring. The big black managed to right himself and doggy-paddled the rest of the way to shore, but that took several minutes, during which time K'dran went over to Accalia.

He knelt next to the ex-jaderider's fallen form [[i'm assuming she collapsed]] and reached out, hesitantly, to touch his fingers under jaw. There was a heartbeat, though a faint one. He sat heavily in the sand and pulled Accalia into his lap, uncaring for once about anything else, just feeling numb. On the one hand, he didn't want her to die and leave him alone; but on the other, it would be cruel to keep her among the living when by all rights she belonged wherever her dragon now was. Juno sat still on his shoulders, but now with her head thrown back to keen at the empty blue skies for Rownith's death.

Out at sea, another voice was raised in mourning. Skai sang sorrowfully for this stranger's loss, her eyes a deep gray for the racking sobs she could hear behind her and the palpable distress radiating from the two girls she carried. Adria had her arms wrapped around Skailaranth's neck and was weeping into the damp, soft indigo hide. Rownith, Rownith... she'd loved the jade as deeply as she loved her mother, though she knew that her grief was nothing compared to Accalia's at this moment. Now, even if Accalia's body lived on, half her very self was gone -- it would be a mercy, really, if she followed after. Adria had essentially just lost her mother.

Skai finally quieted, and with a sad glance over her shoulder at the twins, she began swimming forward again, away from the beach. She didn't know where Poseidonth was, but he was probably injured; the best thing for them to do would be to leave, since there was no telling how the big landwalker male would react. She had no way of knowing that Dharth couldn't care less -- he didn't even keen. He had never keened for any of his fallen wingmates, ever.

Poseidonth, are you all right? We really should go. I'll bring the little ones with me. I don't dare take them back to shore, or else the big one will probably attack again. Besides... the smaller one's Mine will probably be beyond help... and the little ones do not need to see that.[/b][/color]

In her grief, Adria barely heard the siryn's words, and payed them to mind. She didn't even notice when they reached the far-away spire and Skaila hauled them into an upstanding rock to get them out of the water and to dry her wings so she could fly. She waited for Poseidonth to approach, then after making sure her two passengers were secure, she launched into the air.

Adria suddenly snapped out of her funk when she felt herself lift into the air, and clutched Skai's neck in surprise. "What... Skai, what are you doing?" she demanded.

I'm getting you and me away from the big one, Adria. Hush, little one -- you'll be safe with me and Poseidonth in Atlanopolis. I'm sorry.[/b][/color] Skaila soothed, crooning softly over her shoulder. Just hang on, we'll be away from here soon.[/b][/color]

"But, my mother is still back there!" Adria protested.

She is beyond your help, my dear. I am very sorry for the loss. We can do nothing, and I do not want to venture any closer to the shore lest the big one come for vengeance.[/b][/color]

"Dharth won't want revenge," Adria remarked bitterly. "He doesn't care about anyone but himself. Not even Dad. He only keeps him around so he stays alive." The thought of her father's spiteful dragon and his antipathy brought tears again to her eyes, because she knew the black's self-important arrogance that let Rownith be killed; she didn't know that Dharth had contributed to the jade's demise.

ooc; okay, enough. my Muse disappeared two paragraphs ago. e_e and i was starting to get on a roll, too. -groansigh-[/size]

[elainsie]

"We shouldn't leave her, especially not now." Kaliara spoke softly, her voice barely heard above the lapping of the water as Skai broke through the smooth surface. The younger of the two twins had her eyes fixed on the distant point on the shore where she could just make out two figures; one crouching, her father, next to the prone figure that could only be her mother. "Adria! Didn't you hear me, we can't leave her!" This time she shouted the words, the last part of the sentence ending in a loud sob, as the tears ran unchecked down her sun-kissed face.

But before Kali could have time to clamber off Skai's back they were mid-air, and now their parents were just two tiny dots below them. It was futile; there would be no returning, not for a long time and even if she and Adria did, what would there be to return to?

Her chest still heaving from the crying that wracked her nimble body, Kali wrapped her arms tightly around her sister's waist as they continued on their way to Atlanopolis. "This is the last time I leave anyone, I'm never letting you go Adria, it hurts too much," she mumbled into her sister's shirt. Kali wished she could feel some trace of the excitement she felt previously, did not want to start this new chapter off her life in such a manner, present as she was now, tear-streaked and forlorn, to this new Weyr. And yet how could she feel anything else? It seemed cruel that for her and Adria to have this opportunity her mother had to be robbed of the one creature that was dearer to her then her own children. And then, when perhaps there was the slightest chance they could help their mother reassemble the pieces, Adria and she had also left. Now there was only K'dran to help her.

Accalia tried again and again and again. As if by sheer persistance the miracle would occur, and Rownith's voice, so similar to her own, yet so different, would flood her mind and she would not feel as if a vital organ had been torn from her, that everything would be normal.

Normal? What was normal? Not since she had first met K'dran, not just seen him from afar but actually got to know the man, had anything in her life resembled what truly sane people would perceive as normal. Oh they played at times the part of the typical family, surely this little jaunt had been an example, but it seemed even such occassions as this could not go without incident. And the one consistency that Accalia could attribute to it all was Dharth.

If not for Dharth, then Rownith would be alive, of that Accalia had no doubt. Even if the intent was not there it hardly mattered to Accalia, she was not in a state to be reasoned with, and even if so, too much had passed. Everyone had a breaking point, everyone had an extreme that when pushed past, there was little chance of crossing back. Accalia had reached hers.

However it was not Dharth that the full brunt of her anger was directed upon, for she was angry now that the initial grief had subsided into a tight ball residing somewhere in the middle of her chest. It seemed so logical to her, so simple, if not for K'dran Dharth would never have been a factor in her life. Would never have robbed her of her identity, for she was now no longer Accalia of Rownith, but one of them that small group of hollowed out husks; dragonless riders.

Her dark eyes locked onto K'dran's as he cradled her in his arms, surely catching him off guard by suddenly wrenching herself away, scrambling up onto her feet so she towered over the blackrider were he remained crouched in the sand. "Don't touch me, not now, not ever again, and don't stare at me as if you're truly sorry" her words were venomous, dripping with the pain and fury that had burst inside her, a geyser spewing forth. "I want you and your sharding dragon to leave me now. And I never want to see either of you again. I don't intend to return to Eden. I've nothing left for me there, even Adria and Kaliara are gone, though thank Faranth they realised earlier on then I how toxic you are. I wish I had the sense to have left all those years ago, and now I can't even think why I stayed." Accalia started to retreat into the brush that bordered with the beach. " Goodbye K'dran, we have reached a conclusion, I think. And now we both have nothing." The finality of the words was undeniable as Accalia continued to walk the only destination in her mind at that moment being far away from K'dran and Dharth.

[Onyxaeon]

Poseidonth brushed consciouses with His, his mind whirling around the thought of if. If His had been lost. I'll try to do it right this time around. It's not yet done. The mind of his Rider filled his thoughts, Av'dras's words calm as he reasoned with his dragon. You cannot help a misunderstanding. You didn't know she meant well. You did not know he would send her to the grave as well. Blame not yourself. Come home; Skai has brought candidates, I can tell from your frayed thoughts, and they do not need to be in the carnage much longer. Come home and we can forget what remains of the world we left behind. Poseidonth pulled himself from his thoughts long enough to her the Siryn's words as they floated down from the surface to him. Reluctantly, he turned his body slowly, his wounds hissing in protest. He didn't care; the sting would fade.

Lifting his body up from the depths, he could see Skai in moments and, just before his head touched the salty air, she was airborne. With her passengers tucked against her, the purple hued female was off to return to the Weyr just as he should be. A rolling sigh pulled from his lungs, bubbles forming around his maw as he heaved his great neck up from the water's embrace. His great, wedged shaped skull turned toward the shore, keen eyes raking over the sands to catch two kneeling figures and an ebony beast resting in the waters. He had felt the vibrations that had pulsed through the waters when Dharth had landed, he knew the male had crash landed and was in pain. Good riddance. A low, purr of a keen touched the air, flowing through the currents to find those crouched on the sands. Still harder than accepting shall be rising with the morning to find the only worthwhile sun has vanished from your sky. And in the silence, the song is what you crave. But the song has died as with the sun. What could have been; the memories will haunt and the hopes will torment. And in the end, a death claims more than one. The sea giant lowered himself into the water, his maw just above the surface now, his next words directed solely for Dharth. Now you know you are not alone. Touch the seas again, and by Faranth I shall drag you down and allow the sea's pressure to slaughter you. Warn the Weyrs; the sea is no longer safe. The legends are true.

[Desert]

ooc; NOW IT IS TIME FOR DHARTH TO DIE so this post will be rather epic. it shall be a songpost cobbled together from several songs by Disturbed, with lyrics in the dialog and standing on their own. i'll bold them in black to indicate where they show up. The songs I quote are The Curse, Guarded, I'm Alive and Facade -- i could've tweaked the lyrics of Facade since it refers to a she and K'dran is male, but i felt like the original worked better for the mood i was working toward.

You were bold and strong and ready
To begin your life
All for nothing you were sacrificed

You began alone and so it will be when you die
All for nothing will you be remembered?
You did decide!

[/color][/center]
A stunned expression overtook K'dran's face as Accalia wrenched herself away from him and words spilled from her lips that were a harsh slap in the blackrider's face -- made all the more hurtful by the fact that they were agonizingly true. She was right: if not for him, Dharth wouldn't have been able to hurt her or anyone else. If only he hadn't been such a lazy, cowardly fool in dealing with the behemoth, then all their lives would have been much improved. He could only stare helplessly after her as the newly dragonless stormed into the brush and left him alone on the beach - but only for a few moments, as just then Dharth hauled his bulk painfully onto the sand.

Hearing Poseidonth's parting warning, the big black craned his head over his shoulder and hissed balefully. I care not about your legends, pathetic fool! If you dare show yourselves anywhere near these shores again I will hunt you down to your very Weyr and kill you![/b][/color] He was still stung by the way that battle had gone, and bitter that his usual advantages were neutralized facing an aquatic enemy. He was injured, and worse than he had been since his Hatching; it did little for his temper for the one who had so wounded him to then go around throwing threats at him.

K'dran ignored his dragon's ranting for the time being. His brain was just getting past the mental block of utter shock, and now the significance of everything that had just happened was beginning to sink in. Adraia and Kali were gone to he didn't know where. Rownith was dead and Accalia had rejected him -- he was back to square one, with only Juno for comfort and friendship when faced with his tyrannical black's overwhelming presence.

K'dran, wake up and pay attention,[/b][/color] Dharth snapped irritably, limping up to his rider. I will only tell you once more to send Juno for a Healer. Obey me or I swear you shall come to regret it.[/b][/color] The big black paused when he realized he wasn't likely to get a response, and looked down his muzzle scornfully. Pathetic, K'dran. I will not say I told you so -- but look at where your idiotic sentimentality had landed you. From the look in your eyes, I know you bleed internally. We lost one wingrider and two brats barely old enough to be candidates -- paltry compared to the losses we have sustained during Threadfall. Pull yourself together, fool, you disgust me.[/i][/b][/color]

Homicide flashes through her mind again
No more pain, take control
If he raises his hand again
She'll find her freedom in killing him
The world will see that she's had enough!

K'dran's hands balled into fists, though he continued to ignore Dharth otherwise. It never failed that the spiteful black could turn any emotion he experienced into anger with only a few words. A sort of defense mechanism, much like what had occurred with Accalia, discarded the sense of loss that had been building within the pit of his stomach and traded it for the smoldering hate that grew each and every time that Dharth aimed another jab at him. The wounds had been building, piling up for sixteen Turns, and now when he had nothing else to lose, K'dran finally snapped. As Dharth took a few more limping steps closer, the blackrider whirled around abruptly.

Well now I can't allow this to become another
One of those times that I'm left in the cold
Dead
There's no compromise, just another tie I know
I need to sever

Dharth saw a flash of silver in mid-air, and then the next thing he knew half of his field of vision disappeared amid a fiery pain. The big black roared as K'dran's belt knife plunged into his right eye, and lashed his head side to side desperately to dislodge the offending blade. He was lucky that the throw had been judged just on a split-second look at where his head was -- K'dran was well known for having vicious accuracy and if the angle and momentum of that throw had been any different, the knife would have gone straight into his brain.

"Never again will I be dishonored, and never again will I be reminded of living within the world of the jaded -- they kill inspiration. It's my obligation to never again allow this to happen,"[/color] K'dran hissed, glaring at the big black with absolute loathing in his eyes.

The knife slid free from the would as ichor and vitreous liquid dripped from Dharth's now-useless eye and dropped onto the sand, though the behemoth continued to snarl from the pain and shake his head until the agony faded enough for him to think again. When he could, though, his remaining good eye was engulfed in fiery red as his temper snapped completely. Dharth lunged forward to pin K'dran, flame licking from his maw, but K'dran avoided him. He was severely injured and K'dran wasn't going to submit for another beating. You arrogant, insubordinate, insolent fool! How DARE you strike me? You will regret that with every fiber of your being and SCREAM for mercy before I am done with you, K'dran! I'LL KILL YOU![/color] He was far beyond reason -- he was murderously angry, and he knew his fate was sealed. K'dran had lost all reason to fear his own death, so he was determined to take Dharth with him: one way or another, Dharth knew he was going to die. And by then he didn't care.

"I'm no slave -- are you feeling brave, or have you gone out of your mind? No more games, it won't feel the same if I hold my anger inside"[/color] K'dran retorted savagely as he avoided swipe after swipe of Dharth's paws. As injured as the behemoth was, his aim was far off. There's no meaning... my soul is bleeding. "I've had enough of your kind. One suggestion: use your discretion before you label me blind."[/color]

The blackrider dove away from a gout of flame and managed to snatch his knife from where it lay caked in sand and still sticky with fluid, then recklessly threw himself at Dharth. He came up on the behemoth's newly blinded side, so Dharth didn't notice the threat until he felt a stabbing pain just under his jaw. K'dran had plunged the knife into the huge artery pulsing just under the night-dark hide and ripped downward, tearing a great gash in the black's throat that allowed ichor to gush out onto the sand uncontrollably. Dharth's head swung around with another roar of pain and sent K'dran tumbling head-over-heels several feet away, where this time he stayed down. Not out of any great injury, but because he knew it was over. That wound in Dharth's neck ensured that he would bleed to death in a matter of minutes, and there was nothing he or anyone else could do. Healers could be summoned, but the only ones there to do so were K'dran and Juno, and he would find no pity in his rider's heart. He could not fly, so his route to the Weyr was cut off.

Juno swooped down to land on K'dran's chest and nuzzle him urgently, chattering in anxiety, worried to death. Everything had gone all wrong so fast, her little head was spinning and she just wanted everything to go back to the way things had been. K'dran stroked the little spring soothingly and lay there while his dragon slowly died, staring at the sky blankly.

Broken down, hurt again
It never ends...

[/color][/center]
Finally the black behemoth's thrashing stilled. Dharth felt his life draining away and calmed himself. He collapsed onto his side and craned his head around to look at K'dran while there was still breath in him. K'dran, you fool. When I die, will I take you with me? I feel your inner turmoil already, and you know that even though you and I hate each other, to be dragonless is to have one's mind torn asunder.[/b][/color]

K'dran had only one thing to say to that. "I've held on too long just to let it go now."[/color] He spoke with serenity in his voice, even as he sensed the impending calamity that would rock his universe even more than it already had been shaken. Everything had turned on its head in such a short time, but he couldn't find it in himself to regret anything. His only regrets in life were not having done this sooner. He knew he would endure: if only to spite Dharth, he would continue to live.

Fool. May you live on, My Own, and may it be a hollow existence you lead. You have only one other being who calls you friend; all else is lost to you. I hope you beg for death long and loud before it grants you release.[/b][/color] And so Dharth died, with hate souring in his heart for the one he'd called His.

It was a very good thing that K'dran already been laying down when Dharth breathed his last, for if he had not, he would have collapsed from the strain of it all. As it was, he drifted out of consciousness for some indeterminate period of time -- during which Juno clung desperately to him and raised her voice to the sky. The dear, sweet thing was probably the only being on Pern who showed some form of grief for the death of such a monster.

Kadran came back around to Juno still keening, so he reached up and clamped her jaws shut around the mournful sound. "Stop that." His voice, his face -- his whole demeanor -- seemed to have aged several years just in the few minuted he'd been out. Juno crooned in relief that her friend was awake again and cuddled herself closer to him, which was nearly impossible, as tightly as she'd been curled around him.

Gingerly, the ex-blackrider sat up and looked down at himself. He'd stripped out of his tunic earlier when he'd gotten too hot with it on while sunbathing -- had this whole fiacso really taken so little time, and started out so pleasantly? -- and so the bare skin of his torso was caked with Dharth's ichor from the killing blow. Still while looking anywhere but the mountain of lifeless black flesh, he got up and teetered over to the water, and unceremoniously sloshed into it so he could rinse off. Juno stayed clinging to his shoulder, for she could sense the turbulent mix of emotions in her friend's mind and she didn't want to stray. It was only a pall of numbness brought on by his mind going into shock that kept him from feeling the full force of all the trauma he'd just experienced. Despite this, he knew he'd be feeling this tomorrow, and he did not look forward to that.

Once he'd scrubbed the ichor from his skin and gotten most of it off his trews, Kadran waded back onto the shore. He hesitated for a moment while staring at the place where Accalia had disappeared. He wanted to confront her -- there was nothing he could do to fix what had happened, but maybe if he told her he'd made things as right as he could, maybe she would forgive him. He just wanted to try to pick up the pieces of his life now that the biggest thorn in his side had been forcefully ripped out. So, after taking a steadying breath, he set off in the direction he thought Accalia had taken.

it took a bit of searching and much calling out her name, but eventually he found her. Kadran walked up to the ex-jaderider slowly, suddenly unsure of what to say. "Accalia?" he called uncertainly.
[/size]

[elainsie]

As she walked blindlessly deeper into the scrub the branches of the crowding trees leered towards her, clinging to clothes and skin akin. However Accalia gave little heed to the physical marks left, the stinging of the scratches only dully recognised, an almost welcome relief to the emotional turmoil. She needed to get away, away from it all. Accalia no longer belonged to that other world, the one she had been amongst not so long ago. She felt as far away from it as Rownith now seemed from her.

Accalia vaguely recalled a man during her Healer apprenticeship, an ex-rider like she now was. The man had been brought in after an attempt on his life and she had wondered as young novice how anyone, no matter how terribly they suffered, could want to end it all so badly. It felt like she was a completely different person from that girl. True, she had not had an unmarred life until that point, she had lost her father at a young age after all, but neither could she comprehend the aching loneliness, the darkness that could engulf mind and heart. The ex-jaderider had been appalled at what she has assumed was cowardice on K'dran's behalf when he had attempted the same thing on a number of occassions when the girls where little more than infants. And yet now she understood.

She could empathise with the numbness, the horrifying realisation of this being all that was left of her life, of never escaping the dark cloud that clung to her, like a too tight coat that could not be removed. She felt as if she was suffocating, with only her thoughts to entertain herself in her slow demise. Would she end it now and join Rownith? Could she? Would the pain truly stop if she was to plunge a knife into herself, would it even hurt? Surely the pain she felt now far surpassed anything Accalia could inflict upon herself.

Through the trees she heard a bellowing, someone, a very large someone, in pain, but Accalia only allowed the sound to permeate for a brief moment before blocking it out. What did she care for what happened out there? She was not a part of that, nothing could now concern her from outisde her private circle of isolation.

Her fingers unwittingly reached down to the small knife kept by her belt. It was not a weapon in the true sense, but used appropriately it could inflict the required damage. There was no one to stop her now, she was not K'dran with an Accalia to watch out for her, to make her see reason. There was no one left to care whether she remained on Pern or not, and only Rownith waiting for her between. How could it be such a hard decision when you weighed the one against the other?

Her left hand had wrapped itself tightly around the hilt when the rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs alerted her to the presence of someone else. So internalised had she been she only recognised the signs when it was too late. Accalia did not have the chance to flee before K'dran crashed his way under the tree she had stopped beneath.

Her name on his lips made her hesitate, the knife shaking slightly in her hand, however she could not meet his eyes. It took a couple of tries for her to find her voice, as if it had been days, and not minutes or hours since she had last used it. "I thought I made myself quite clear on the beach. But perhaps not. How can I make it any clearer K'dran?" She used his rider name unwittingly, have no inkling of what had occurred after she had fled the beach. "I want to be where no one can hurt me, and that needs to be as far away from you as I can possibly manage."

[Desert]

His eyes immediately went to the knife in her hand, and a look of pained sympathy came to his eyes. She had every right to want to end it, and if she was determined he probably wouldn't stop her... but where would that leave him? He swallowed and went to speak, but Accalia beat him to the punch.

What he had been about to say was forgotten when she used his old name. Kadran's hands clenched into fists and his eyes hardened. "Not K'dran. Don't call me that," he snapped. Then, realizing belatedly how sharp he'd been, the ex-blackrider took a deep breath to steady himself. "I'm not K'dran anymore. Dharth is dead." His voice remained remarkably even, though strained. "It's too late to fix anything, but I tried. I... killed Dharth." Juno creeled and nuzzled her friend's cheek soothingly, as he looked to one side with burning eyes. "I'm sorry, Accalia. I'm sorry." He wasn't sure about what he was apologizing or exactly why, but he suddenly felt this overwhelming guilt. Maybe it was admitting that he'd killed his own dragon that did it. Dharth had deserved every moment of the pain... but that didn't change the soul-crushing guilt that he struggled to contain.

His clenched fists and tense shoulders began to tremble. That blessed numbness he'd been under for the past few minutes was dissolving, crumbling, leaving him raw in the face of this jagged hole in his being. Kadran's muscles suddenly didn't want to support him and he sagged against the nearest tree, head hanging. "I'm sorry," he breathed continually, becoming less and less coherent with every repetition until it was reduced to incomprehensible muttering. He slid onto his knees and stared dully at the ground, tears finally overflowing to carve streaks down his face. "He's gone. I killed him, he's gone. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

ooc; bleck. pathetic compared to earlier, but i has no Muse. >_>

[elainsie]

"You killed Dharth?" her voice echoed his, as if by saying the words herself she could get used to them. She shook her head in disbelief, and looked over at K'dran....no Kadran, he was no longer a rider either. Accalia looked over at K'dran with a mixture of awe and fear. How had he managed to kill Dharth? It had seemed an impossible task, and why now? If he was able to, why had he not done it sooner? But before she could phrase her questions the ex-blackrider broke down in front of her.

It was all the antidote she needed. Looking at the knife still held loosely in her hand with disgust she threw it away from herself, a dull thump, muffled by a pile of leaves, giving indication of its landing some distance away. Yes she had stood on the brink of here and between, had been minutes away from joining her beloved Rownith, but Accalia knew, as it had always been since she first known K'dran, that she could not leave him. Especially not now. Whether it was for her or for himself he had murdered Dharth was inconsequential. He had come after her, even when she told him she wanted to alone. He had cared enough to follow and that was all she needed to let her know that as long as she had him she had a reason, had somebody, to live for.

Accalia crossed over to K'dran wordlessly and crouched down next to him. She wrapped her arms tightly around the man and cradled him to her chest, murmuring words that made no sense but were intended to soothe. "It's ok K'dran, you have nothing to be sorry for. Do you understand, nothing?" The words were so different to the ones she had spoken not so long ago but anger and loss had made her tongue loose previously. "I was not thinking properly when I said what I did. Surely you understood that? It was, still is to an extent, impossible to think I can live without Rownith, to think I can breathe air she no longer does, and while Dharth was largely to blame I was wrong to reject you. Wrong to place blame on you." She bit her lip, hoping her words and actions would be the balm he required. "You'll be ok K'dran, we'll be ok."

[Desert]

Still shuddering convulsively, Kadran shook his head in denial. "No, it's not all right... it's never been all right. Nothing will be all right ever again..." he muttered, voice thick and raspy with tears. "Everyone is gone. They're gone and I'm alone again. That's what I always wanted, but now that I've got it... shards, I can't stand it. Why did this happen?" Kadran groaned dismally and pulled away from Accalia, turning to collapse against the tree and press his head into the rough bark. The pressure was enough to break the skin and send a thin trail of blood dribbling down his face.

Juno, still coiled around his neck, squeaked as she was almost crushed against the tree. She squirmed out of the way in time and sat on Kadran's shoulder, crooning into his ear and trying to make him listen to her. He wasn't alone, he had Juno! Why wouldn't he stop hurting himself and look at her? Juno cast Accalia a pleading glance and creeled. She needed help! Kadran wasn't listening. Accalia was the only one Kadran would listen to... but at the same time, Juno still knew that in this state, Kadran probably wasn't going to listen to anyone. It was a good thing he'd left his knife on the beach.

The shuddering sobs continued to shake Kadran's body, and at that point, he didn't care that he looked absolutely pathetic. All he could think about was how very unfair and cruel the world was. And how hard it would be to continue on - for there was no question of whether he'd take the was way out that so many other dragonless had chosen. He'd spoken true to Dharth: no matter how painful it was, he would live on, if only to spite the black. he was stubborn enough and harbored enough ill-will against the brute to go through with it no matter his own suffering. Besides, the Weyr had known for a long time that he had a few masochistic tendencies.

As the racking sobs began to taper off a little, Kadran finally seemed to notice Accalia's presence again. He glanced at her through red-rimmed eyes still wild with emotion. "Look, whatever you were gonna do, just go ahead. Don't let me hold you back." He snorted bitterly and shifted so that he was sitting with his back to the tree. "Faranth knows I haven't let anyone else stop me from doing whatever I wanted to do." He knew it would make life even harder if his last remaining friend was gone, but at that point, the little shred of unselfish empathy he had kicked in. He wasn't going to begrudge the ex-jaderider her escape.

[elainsie]

A part of Accalia silently agreed with K'dran's words. How could things ever be right again? Rownith, her companion for more than half her life, was gone. Her heart broke anew at the thought, and her throat constricted causing her a moment of alarm where she gasped for breath. Was this how she was going to die? But the woman shook her head stubbornly at the thought, willing herself to calm with her body responding greatfully. Despite her earlier desire, Accalia knew she could not throw her life away like that. Could not have her daughters become motherless, wherever they were, in such a fashion.

Accalia's dark eyes fixed on Kadran but she made no movement towards him, even with Juno's creels filling the air. He needed this first, a chance to vent as she had done. Finally, as he addressed her once more, she took a step towards him. "You are not alone." This time she did not try to reach out to him, but merely crossed her legs and sunk to the forest floor sitting across from him. "I am not going anywhere until you agree to come with me. And if that means I have to sit here to prove that to you, then so be it." She crossed her arms against her chest her gaze daring the ex-blackrider to challenge her. "And it's not just me you have. Look at Juno, do you have no care for her? Look how she flits about you with concern. And what of the twins? Are you just going to let them disappear, and do nothing of it? You can find them, _we_ can find them." Accalia looked intently over at Kadran hoping for some change in the despondent posture of the man, some sign her words were penetrating that thick skull of his.

She reached out a finger to the thin stream of blood on his face, tracing it downwards until it stopped of the corner of his mouth. Accalia felt as if something was uncoiling inside her, a warmth suffusing her body, and she could not have prevented her next movement if she had wanted to, which she did not. Closing the distance between the two of them she rested her head against Kadran's, her lips meeting his. It was as much for herself as it was for Kadran, to prove to both of them that they were not alone.

[Desert]

Finally, Kadran noticed the fire lizard clinging to his shoulder. He stroked her neck and folded wings, and with a creel of relief, Juno crawled underneath his chin. Her tail wrapped around the back of his neck and she nuzzled her little spade-shaped head under his ear. She hummed soothingly, though the sound had an edge to it; she was as much in need of comfort as either of the ex-riders. Kadran gently pulled Juno from around his throat so that he could breathe and set her in the crook of one elbow. Almost immediately this put her at ease - it was a familiar vantage point. Often, as a hatchling, she'd been carried there as she dozed off her last meal. She gave a sigh as Kadran ran his hand over her curled form.

The moment's calm was shattered when Accalia leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. He hadn't been expecting physical contact; he hadn't been bothered by her hand on his cheek, since he knew there was a thin ribbon of blood. But when their lips met, his eyes widened, and he lurched backward until the back of his head hit the tree behind him with painful force. Hissing in mixed surprise and pain, he scooted backward, looking at Accalia as if she'd grown a second head and started speaking in tongues. Juno, her perch having been disrupted, climbed onto Kadran's shoulder and looked between the two ex-riders in confusion. She felt a bewildered mix of emotions from Kadran, but she didn't know why.

ooc; well my Muse completely ran off halfway through that... TT^TT

[elainsie]

Accalia wrapped her arms tightly around herself as a chill set inside her that had nothing to do with the balmy temperature. Her eyes would not meet Kadran's now, a rosey hue spreading across her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she muttered to the the ground. The ex-jaderider could not find the words to explain that her reaching out for him, for kissing him, was a physical manifestation of the aching loneliness she felt inside. That the tumultous emotions roiling within her made her confused and frightened, and she wanted that physical contact, hoping it would help heal the wound to some extent. And who better than her most dearest friend? Accalia had sought to console herself in Kadran and he had rebuffed her, not for the first time. But certainly for the last time, Accalia was determined. As she watched the former blackrider play with Juno she realised her presence was not wanted, he did not need her, even if she had need of him. Why he bothered to give chase to her initially she could not understand, but she gave a shrug of her shoulders, it hardly mattered now. Kadran was not looking at her, as intently avoiding her gaze as he was his, as she quickly rose from the forst floor, looking about her for some indication of which direction to go in. Perhaps she should return to the beach? But that thought made her feel queasy, not sure if she wanted to really return to the scene where everything had fallen apart. If she kept wondering through the forest though, Accalia was sure she would get lost, if not fall over something and injure herself. Taking a deep breath she decided the beach was her best option. She would just have to try and avoid the area and hope the carnage wrought by Kadran's murder of Dharth was minimal.

Retracing the steps had not been as hard as she thought. Yes, Accalia did trip over twice, once legitimately over the branch, the second time over her own feet, but with the crushed foilage as a guide it had been a relatively easy task. Reaching the far end of the beach she took a deep breath of the salty water, the scent making her feel a little more steadier and not so much like she would fade away at any moment. She scanned the beach, wondering if anyone else knew of what had occurred, had seen something that caught their attention and come to check what had happened but the beach was deserted, and perhaps that was for the best because, at least for now, Accalia had no real desire to recall the events to another in any real depth of detail.

A wave of fatigue washed over her, and in the shade of a redfruit tree, she sat against it, staring out blankly at the twinkling ocean in front of her. Wondering how everything could seem so normal when it was anything but.

[Desert]

Kadran continued gaping like a fish for several moments. The surprise of Accalia's unexpected gesture was taking longer than usual to wear off, given the unsteady state of affairs his mind was already in. He could only stare as she stammered an apology, blushing, and then wander off once more. Once she was out of sight, his brain clicked back into action, and he pulled himself unsteadily to his feet. he wasn't sure what had just happened, but he really didn't want her to leave him alone again.

Once he got moving again and realized that she was going back toward the beach, he slowed. Why was she going back there? Bile rose in Kadran's throat. If he had to go back to the scene of his world's collapse, he knew he would lose what little sanity he'd managed to scrape together. Still, he was determined (now that he had some organization in his thoughts) to at least get an answer out of Accalia.

It wasn't like he had a particular objection to her actions, but they'd caught him so utterly off-guard that he couldn't have helped his reaction. He wanted her to tell him why, and even if she continued to avoid him, he just wanted to know... well. He wasn't going to stop her if she wanted to join Rownith, and he wasn't going to make her go anywhere she didn't want to go. But he couldn't just walk away and never see her again. She was his last source of sanity and strength and if he had to suffer any uncertainty over her fate, it would drive him over the edge.

Juno clung to his shoulder stubbornly, tail curled around his neck and head tucked under his jaw. Her claws were digging painfully into the exposed skin of his shoulder and collar, but it was a small enough twinge that he could ignore it. He stumbled through the trees with barely more grace than Accalia, following the layered tracks. He could tell that she was following his trail from the beach, and the closer her prints got to the crashing of waves in the distance, the uneasier his stomach became. Thankfully, her footprints deviated from the haphazard trail he'd made and took a more roundabout route to a different part of the beach, on the other side of a big dune to the carnage he'd left behind.

He emerged from the trees and brush, taking a moment to pause and look out across the water. Just a few hours previous, his daughters had been swimming those waters... he swallowed around the lump in his throat. The worst part of this impossibly bad situation was that he didn't even know what had become of Adria and Kali. Had the attacking swimmer had backup that had taken them away? Where were they, if they were even still alive? That was the thought that brought a hitch to his breath and another cold lump of dread settling in his belly. Here he'd been wallowing in his usual selfish problems when his daughters were gone with hardly a trace. Kadran set his jaw and trudged through the soft sand. His first order of business would be to track them down - someway. It would keep his mind off things that he really shouldn't think about, and dammit if he wasn't going to let anything take his loved ones away from him ever again.

Finally, he spotted Accalia sitting under a tree. He slowed his pace and approached hesitantly. She'd left rather suddenly, and he wasn't sure how much of that was due to his own reaction. He hoped she hadn't gone back to her previous hatred.