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DQueene 'heard' the new baby voice calling for its mother getting louder and louder. Where were the parents? And why was it so close? She quickly 'changed' to her dragon form and launched herself into the air toward the crying baby, sending her thoughts in his direction, "Hush, hush little one, I come."

She quickly flew to the edge of the chasm and peered down as far as she could see. There, was that it? Was that the baby?

Suddenly she sensed that something big, a predator, had been attracted by the baby’s cries. She saw a large shape in the distance getting closer; hopefully she could get the baby before it arrived. It was evil, she could tell; something she didn’t need to face now if she could avoid it.

She swooped down to the baby, noticing a gleaming silk bag lying beside the scared child. “I wonder what that is.” She gently gathered the baby and the bag up in her claws and carried them back to the camp. Setting both down gently on the ground a distance away from the camp, she changed back into her human form.

“Drakonis, I need you! We have a ‘small’ problem to take care of.” She gently tugged the baby into the firelight and spoke to the others: “I’m afraid you’ll have to travel a little without me. I will fly to you as soon as I get this small one taken care of.”

She turned to gaze into the distance where she had seen the shape just moments before. It was gone. She pointed, “I saw something there. You don’t want to face it without me. It is very dangerous and evil and big, maybe bigger than me.”

Kegger knew a thing or two about the world. After all, she was twice as old as everyone else at the Abbey (except for Eandrae, that is). Evenso, she never thought she would live long enough to witness the events of the past few days: Eandrae bringing an assortment of people (and a bluish-gray creature) in from a blizzard, the destruction of her beloved City of Verdasto, rumors of dragons flying over the land, a visit by a queen and a prince, and now this ...

Drakonis had rushed out of the Abbey as soon as she told him about Sparkl and the kidnapped lady elf. When he returned less than half an hour later, he was carrying in his arms a cute, cuddly, grinning, innocent baby ... DRAGON!

Kegger had nothing against dragons, mind you. But the monks, well, they were all in a tizzy! A dragon here?? In the Abbey?? In the midst of the Lesser Order of Saint George Junior the Dragon Taunter???

"I do believe the world can come to an end now," Kegger mused, as she sat down by the hearth, "for surely I have seen everything."

Drakonis paid no attention to the monks, although their frantic mime, gesturing, and occasional moonings would have been quite comical at another time. Instead, he merely dusted the snow off of his sandals and hair, then carried the baby dragon over to Kegger and waited.

Kegger stared up at the handsome, golden-haired man, and saw the look of a man of power and intensity. His eyes spoke of compassion and urgency. And his posture demanded attention.

"What would you have me do, Prince ..." Kegger suddenly realized that she had never learned the stranger's name. She waited for him to answer both the spoken and unspoken questions.

"Drakonis." he nodded regally. "I need your services, good mother. This newborne infant is a foundling, and my queen has asked me to beg you to keep him safe until his parents can be found or a suitable guardian is appointed."

"I know nothing of dragon infants, M'Lord Drakonis. What does he ... she ... uh, ... what do infant dragons eat? Should I keep it warm, or cool? Will it burp fire when it has a bubble in its belly? ... " and a million other questions flew in circles inside Kegger's head. But, true to her own nature, as Kegger voiced these protestations, she had gently lifted the infant from Drakonis' arms and was craddling the dragon to her bosom and making gentle cooing sounds to him.

"I must find Eandrae." Drakonis announced.

The monks were becoming exhausted, some of them wandering off to recover for a second round of taunting, others shrugging their shoulders at each other as if to say "that's all of the taunts I know, what should I do now?"

Amidst all of this, no one seemed to notice the activities of a certain bluish-gray creature.

the young dragon boy didn't understand what was happening.
he was taken away from home by a big female dragon, then the dragon was suddenly gone and before him stood a girl.
although he knew for shure that he had never seen this girl before, he sensed something strange about her.
laying in her arms he felt comfortable, almost as if he was at home. (he didn't knew that dqueene had polymorphed in elven form).
then he was handed over to a strong man, who also had something strange about him, just as the woman.
then he was carried trough the abbey and he saw lots of ppl staring at him with wide open eyes, as if they saw something strange.
he was brought to a woman, the man who carried him talked in a languige he couldn't understand and then left..
leaving the confused baby dragon behind with the woman, who every one knew as kegger.

As Kegger carried the infant dragon off to the kitchen, Drakonis turned to face the monks. His facial expression was serious, but not stern. The monks tried to follow Kegger, to continue their obligatory taunting, but Drakonis stepped to block their path. Then a slight smile formed at the corner of his lips, and his eyes twinkled slightly.

As he raised a hand, as if to command "Stop!", his human body transformed into his full-sized dragon form, filling half of the Calderia with his body. He spread his wings and reared his fearsome head, jaws slightly parted (for omnious effect). The monks all froze in their tracks and turned as white as the snow on the glacier.

Drakonis began a long, slow, loud inhalation -- as if in preparation to spout flames from his nostrils. Two of the monks feinted, another fled to a corner and began whimpering loudly, and the rest of them performed a vintage scene from the "Keystone Kops" movies (See Footnote).

Then Drakonis reverted to human form, raised both hands in a calming gesture, then left the room in search of Eandrae.

The monks tried to console each other, and shush the whimpering monk, and revive their unconscious brothers. Then they all went upstairs to their individual cells to pray and contemplate these strange events. (They did not return to the Calderia for several days thereafter.)

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Meanwhile, Kegger placed the little dragon into the washtub where Elmo had been recently scrubbed, and began filling it with warm water. "First things, first." she spoke sweetly to the baby dragon, "You need a decent bath, some cornstarch powdering, and some nappies, if I'm not mistaken. I wonder if you'll drink from a bottle."

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Footnote: This scene was later retold as the Prophecy of Western Cinematography and Slap-Stick Humor, attributed to the Blessed Visitation of the Oracle of Snowcross Abbey on the Eve of the Return of the Abbot.

Thank you mr dragon, now I have 3 monks to carry around. There are more urgent matters than scaring those poor monks, said Dulartus carrying Illillitl in his arms down the stairs.

I know what will get those monks back contient, Illillitl show me to your strongest wine...
and so Dulartus went down to the wine cellars.

Illillitl quitely nodded, almost proud of the fact that someone appreciated his work. "I shall almost need to do penance for almost being prideful" he quietly thought.

When he and Dulartus reached the cellar, Illillitl pointed to a small wooden door near the back of the cellar. It was almost hidden behind a great oaken cask, but Dulartus' sharp eyes found it where Illillitl had pointed.

The door argued with Dulartus, but Dulartus won the argument.

"I shall need a new door, now that this one has been reduced to kindling wood," Illillitl quietly thought.

Beyond the door was a small, dark chamber, completely empty except for a single barrel in the center of the room suspended in a net hanging from the ceiling. The barrel was marked with the Sygil of the Abbey and also with the universal Rune for [color:"yellow"]Danger! Explosives![/color].

Illillitl waited outside the chamber as Dulartus examined the barrel.

"Me hungry, so hungry, aaargh I'm hungry food need I food will get I grmmmmmjaah but it cold food hiding need find food...." A dark creature whispered, hidden in the shadows of trees

"no food no food no food die will I if no food, heh? mmm" "hmmmm" it said while sniffing the air "fire there is food find I there maybe find live food will I will I I mmmm hehe smell flesh do I" the dark creature crawled toward the fire, wit his head high in the air sniffing constantly when suddenly he stopped. " see now can I fire see I but but no good noo gooood no no no good to much there is for me, bad it gets to eat all have I to, but shame will it be, like I fresh meat but to much ... no no no no no" the creature started moving again now with his eyes open wide, very low to the ground, making no sound at all, as it stepped on twigs and broke it, it didn't make any noise whatsoever.

Dulartus opened the barrel and looked inside, instantaniously it rushed into this head making him fall over, "Illillitl, a small bit of this would be enough, have you a cup or so that you can get me?"

Illillitl handed Dulartus a pewter chalice, using a pair of tongs that were handy for just this purpose. The tongs were twice as long as Dulartus was tall, so Illillitl was able to hand him the cup without actually entering the dangerous chamber.

Dulartus couldn't help himself so he took a sip of the whine, just enough to shed tears, he filled the chalice and some tears dropped into the wine, hoping Illillitl hadn't noticed that, he handed Illillitl the chalice, hold this i'll cary you back up.

Illillitl flinched when Dulartus offered him the chalice. "If that wine is sloshed too abruptly, we will be needing a new Abbey" he quietly thought to himself.

Clasping the chalice firmly in both hands, Illillitl suddenly felt more sober than he had in years. His eyes were riveted to the ruby liquid in the gold lined pewter chalice. "So this is what is feels like to stare Death in the face." he quietly mused in his mind.

here we are Illillitl you'll now beter what to do then I and it are your brothers. Dulartus said this cus really his head was spinning around as if he was stuck in the airflow of a dragon flying trough hot air.

"Now I shall truly need to do penance" Illillitl quielty reminded himself, "for I more than almost felt prideful for the kindness of this generous, wise, and stout fellow."

Putting his mind quietly to the task at hand, Illillitl carefully blew very, very gently across the surface of the ruby liquid. A few stray fumes of the potent wine wafted through the Calderia.

One fume found the two fallen monks, who instantly jumped to their feet and screamed at the top of their lungs, "Yeeeeeeeeeehaw!" Of course, this was followed by a series of shushing, which were in turn shushed, until finally every monk reminded himself of the penance now owed for violating their vow of silence.

Another fume wafted into the kitchen where it found Kegger, Elmo, and the infant dragon. Each of them in turn responded with an appropriate exclamation and tried very hard to widen their eyes while, at the same time, trying to close them tightly.

The third, and final, fume wafted dangerously close to the Great Hearth, where it arrived just in time for Sparkl to appear. A very loud [color:"yellow"]"Pop!"[/color] was heard, accompanied by a bright flash of light. A thin trail of smoke drew curly-ques across the air of the Calderia from the hearth to the Abbey's front door. Where the ironclad door once stood was now a gaping hole to the snowy outside world.

Illillitl quielty made a quiet mental note to replace two doors. Then, he drank the remainder of the wine in a single gulp and quietly passed out.

Dulartus went back to the cellars took the door he kicked open earlier and carried it back up, to place before the hole so the warmth wouldn't flee outside. Doing that was no easy task at all, it wasn't the lightest door but that was not the problem, the door itself smelled as the wine and that made it hard for Dulartus to prevent from beeing pushed down by that door.

at the meanwhile jvb was still laying in the bath.
he was sad, he couldn't totally understand what the woman who put him in the tub was saying.
se seemed so nice, but as longas he couldn't understand her he could never be shure of that.
she could as easy be trying to cook him ...

When Elendirill listened carefully he could hear the voice. It felt more like his own thoughts, except for the feeling like someone was screaming in his ear. Could it be true? Was this a fire fairy? He didn't have much time to think, the voice stopped for awhile and then continued on, telling him to make haste.
The voice was right, they had been sitting here for too long, doing nothing, burning precious seconds. If Feraila was in pain, he would pay with blood for every moment from now on he would loose. He looked at Shana, she had a surprised look on her face, like she might be thinking the same. He looked at her for a moment, she seemed to understand.
Elendirill turned at the others:

I don't have time for any of this!!! I ride ! All of you who want to follow, get on your horses !!

Elendirill grabbed his belongings, which wasn't much and started running. He took a quick look at the map the girl gave him. It seemed to be detailed enough, and he might be able to navigate on the city which wasn't far away. From what he saw, he could reach the cave in a day if he would hurry ... And there was no doubt he wouldn't ...

Tears were running down Kegger's face from the fierce hint of a fume that wafted through the kitchen. As soon as she could catch her breath, she looked accusingly at both of the little creatures.

"Did one of you make a 'toot'?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. Then, to herself, "I certainly hope that wasn't from one of you two, or I shall need to keep you in the stables."

She knealt down by the washtub and began scrubbing the dragon's scaly hide. It gleamed like metal and seemed to be just as hard. The little winglets would have to grow quite a bit before this young one could fly, but those teeth looked ready to use.

"What do baby dragons like to eat, little one? Maybe you and little 'Elmo' here would like to visit our chickens, eh? Or maybe you'd rather wander in my vegetable garden? For all I know, you like to eat rocks and dirt, he heh heh? Oops! Got a little soap in your eye? Let's rinse that out. There. Is that better? Aren't you the cutest little ... thing?"

Unintentionally, Mrs. Kegger was completely ignoring Elmo ...

"Ahhhhhh, now Mylord is finally realising the danger, huh?" Mari picked up her bag quickly, ran over to Zanor, grabbed a few streaks of his mane, hauled herself up, bent over and whispered into his ears.
"Ok, the race has begun, Zanor, don't lose track of that berserk there, please..." A jolt, a short whinny and the stallion galloped away, pursuiting Elendirill, whilst Mari was clinging desperately to his mane, ducking her head to avoid slashing branches.
On one hand she felt the excitement of wind, speed and Zanor's muscles moving smoothly under her, on the other hand she felt her stiffness and was a bit frightened, she could lose hold. And in all that, she felt her love and admiration for Zanor grow and laughed wildly...

"no no no no food stay food, food is my foond is only food will get I follow food will I never lucky me is never should done that all fault of I"

The essence, formerly known as Illillitl, was drifting dizzily in a nameless Nowhere, when he felt a

Tug ...tug ...tug

The essence became aware of the sensation that led out of the Nowhere to a Somewhere

Tug ...tug ...Pop!

The essence, known as Illillitl had a terrible hangover and some tiny glowing insect was pulling on his moustaches!

"Ow! That hurt!"

Sparkl said, "I'm soooooo sorry. I didn't mean to break your whiskers, friend brother monk Illillitl. But, I need your help. Please, please, please, please wake up!"

Illillitl rubbed his eyes, then his neck, and was quite surprised to discover that (unlike the last several thousand times he had awoken) he did not feel bad -- no headache, no dizziness, no nausea. One of the side effects of the super-potent wine is that it cures hangovers.

Cheered by this revelation, he happily greeted his little glowing friend, "Of course, I will help you in any way I can," he said a little too loudly, "Who are you and what may I do for you?"

"I am Sparkl", the floating ember replied, "and I need some more of those wine fumes. The fumes made me go Pop! That was fun! More, more, more! I want more!"

WIthout further fanfare, Illillitl gracefully jumped to his feet and strode off toward the cellar calling "Follow me, little Sparkl, and I'll join you in a toast." He chuckled to himself (something about a glowing ember and the word "toast" just seemed humorous).