First Snow of Winter

Part 11: Desperate Measures
It was the next morning in the chasm when Layra awoke to find the dragonriders gone.  Last night the three of them had agreed to come to the place they called Ryslen. It would be as good an arrangement as any. Eyos and Biroy were jinxed and now, after this hunting trip Layra knew there would be more talk and gossip. That left them little options. 
She listened carefully. Nothing. For a moment she thought the dragonriders had lied, but then she remembered they were also IceLanders. People they had known for years, who in fact had had no reason to lie. 
Layra got up and walked out. There she found the riders in full gear, discussing something.
"What is it?" she asked curious about the look on their faces.
"Ysvelt wants to do a sweep of the chasm to see if the caravan is on track." Chaltyk said, "We promised ourselves we wouldn't interfere. If one of them sees us..."
"We would go high enough." Ysvelt suggested.
"Or go behind the caravan until they've cleared the pass." Layra suggested.
"Yes!" Ysvelt grasped the opportunity, "A great idea."
"What is?" Biroy asked, he and Eyos standing in the cavern entrance.
"Did I wake you?" she asked.
"Yes." Biroy said, "But we overslept anyway."
"I think it was the warm fire." Eyos said, "reliving the feeling he had gotten to finally be warm again with dragons sheltering their cave from wind and blowing their warm breath inside.
"They want to do a sweep of the pass." Chaltyk said, pointing at Ysvelt and Layra. "Biroy, please tell them they shouldn't do that."
"Why should I?"
"If someone sees us, they will just get some accident which will further carry the myth of dragons being bad luck. Besides, we don't want to interfere. Some people aren't ready for dragons and all."
"We were." Biroy said, "I say we look for people left behind. They'll accept anything to live."
"That's three against two." Lityan sighed.
"Well, actually Four." Eyos added his vote to the decision.

Koy was shivering beyond control. Shyobahn wanted to keep him warm, but she just couldn't out in the open. But that was all their was. The open, the pass and the cold wind raging across both.
"More clothes?" she asked.
"Not if we want to have any chance of getting out without losing fingers or toes." Ype said. "We'll just have to huddle close."
"How about a fire?" Maryse asked.
"Seen any wood lately?" Tryl asked.
"I was just suggesting..." Maryse said, "I want to do something too... but I can't, not with my leg like this."
She was being carried alternatively by Ype and Zreshyn and not too happy about it.
"All we can do is hope we get to the camp before it is too late. Ype said sighing and quickened his pace again. 

"Happy now?" Lityan asked Ysvelt through Nyzrith and Myoth.
"Very." he answered back.
They were flying high above the entrance of the pass and were sure to see any people in distress. Lityan could understand Ysvelt's need to save people, he was giving the help that could have saved Greyne. Maybe that was admiring, but it could also just be stupid. Not all late travellers would be glad to meet them.
"I see something!" Xersenyth said in all minds.
"Where?" Chaltyk asked.
"Down there, left corner, 4 no 6 adults and 2 children." the dragon said.
"Are they hurt?" Lityan asked. "We won't help them if they don't need it."
"Well two adults are carrying the children and one other is carrying another adult and they don't seem happy." Xersenyth said carefully.
"I guess this means we're going down?" Lityan asked.
"You bet." Ysvelt said.
The dragons circled downward in a spiral that brought them right above the small group. When they saw the dragons they started running, the children screamed. The young woman being carried groaned when her barer ran off.
"Wait please!" Ysvelt called out, "We're friends."
"That didn't help much." Lityan said.
"No, they didn't see me."
The dragons landed and Ysvelt jumped off, faster than he had done in years. He would find these people and help them. It was the right thing to do.

"What are that?" Tryl yelled.
"Dragons... not just ...shadows." Zreshyn said, exhausted from the run with Maryse on his back. Maryse herself didn't feel all that good either, the shocks of the run had made flares of pain run down her injured legs. That couldn't be good.
"Hello!" they heard a voice yell, "We're friends! My name is Ysvelt."
"Is that a trap?" Tryl asked.
But before they could answer Shyobahn stepped out from hiding. "Ysvelt?" she asked.
"It's me Shyobahn. You must think I'm dead."
"I did. Where is Greyne?"
The look on his face told her everything, but he told her anyway, "Help came too late for her. That's why we came back. To make sure it wouldn't happen again."
"Are that dragons?" Dey suddenly came out from behind her.
"Yes they are, all the way from the South!" Lityan yelled back. You can come closer if you want to look. My Nyzrith never has a bad mood."
Chaltyk laughed when he heard that. "She does! But not now." he added.
"What happened?" Ysvelt asked.
"Koy and Vaughny ran off." Shyobahn started.
"You have a daughter?"
"Yes, that's right, she wasn't born when you left."
"A winter baby."
"And a strong one. She waited by her brother when he'd fallen."
"So you're ok?" Ysvelt asked.
"No," Ype interrupted. "He won't get warm, and Maryse's leg isn't all that good either."
"Fell on the ice." Maryse said, grinning with a blush that reached behind her ears. Lityan jumped down and came toward them. She saw the bundle pressed against Shyobahn's chest. When she opened the hood she saw a blue face with eyes as big as little tennis balls stare back at her.
"This isn't good. This isn't good at all." she said.
"This isn't right either." Chaltyk said, looking up from Maryse's leg. 
"Shyobahn," Ysvelt said, "Would you want to come with us? The South is warm and we have a skilled healer on the Isle."
"Won't that trip take long?"
"Hardly, dragons can manipulate time and space. They kind of bend the fabric of reality and skip through it. All very fascinating, but not the right time to explain." Lityan said, "We've got to move now."
Reluctantly Shyobahn agreed to come, along with the others. Lityan took Shyobahn and her kids on her dragon along with Tryl.
"That means I'm carrying 6 humans!" Nyzrith said. I win!"
"6?" Chaltyk asked... "I think Nyzrith needs math lessons."
"No I don't!" she said grinning.
With that said she moved in the Elsewhere and came back out half a planet more South in the early afternoon. The sun was shining high in the sky and the water was glistering placidly when they flew over the isle...

"Won't you come?" Shyobahn asked Ype and Maryse.
"No." Maryse said, "I heard that travelling through between as the Ryslen dragons do it, isn't good for recovering fractions. But there is a clutch here. And I have Ype to keep me company."
"Have you wondered why he stays?" Zreshyn suddenly asked.
"Uhm... he doesn't like between either?" she said.
"Hmmm, not quite. We had an interesting conversation about you once." Zreshyn said, "He might be wanting something from you. Keep that in mind. I'd hate to see his heart break."
"Oh." Maryse said.
"Take good care of him!" Zreshyn said and waved when Ysvelt's blue Myoth took off and left Maryse sitting in the sun. She had some thinking to do. Sure Ysvelt was older than her, but what did age really matter when people here lived to be over one hundred? She hadn't even started hers by those measures.
Could she feel anything for the man? She looked up and saw him coming from the cavern. Now that she knew he had an eye on her, she started to notice things. He still was vital, he had the zing in his walk back since he had gotten here. His confidence had grown. Maybe he was planning to wait for a flight to win her over. Maybe, but that would mean a long wait. Ype didn't strike her as an impatient man, but Maryses knew that she wasn't patient enough to wait two years on someone. If it could work, she would find out now...

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Lantessama Isle - Ryslen