"I can't remember the last time I slept that well," Carnoc laughed, looking over at his father.  "It was...  Well, it wasn't too far beyond what I expected it to be, but that didn't make it any less tiring."

"Of course."  Nesleh sat silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "I still can't believe you've taken a mate.   I'm so proud of you."

He flicked his tail.  "It's not like it was hard to do.  I just had to survive the flight here."

Nesleh tapped his shoulder with his snout.  "I know.  It's just...  It seems like just yesterday I was watching you break the shell of your egg.  You've grown up so quickly, that's all."

He snorted.  "I have better news: my mate says we'll have an egg!"

"Oh, that's wonderful!"  He draped a wing over his son's shoulders and leaned against him.  "I doubt I'll live to see your hatchling break the shell, but...  I'm so happy for you."

"I know, father.  So am I."

They were silent for a few minutes, then Nesleh said, "it's quiet today, and once your mate wakes up you're going to be occupied with her for a long while.  Now that it's been a week or two, you must apologize to Dave."

Carnoc groaned, but then his father leapt to his feet and pounced forward, reaching out with a forepaw, pressing down behind his horns and pinning his head and neck to the ground.  "I don't want to hear it," he growled.  "I've let you delay long enough because you've been traveling and mating, but you owe it to him for what you did and now's the perfect time.  Just get up, go over there, and apologize to him."

"But I don't know what to say..."

"Good," he said, releasing his son's head.  "All the more reason for you to go now; you'll be more sincere that way.  Come on, up you get..."

He groaned again, but after a little more urging from his father he got to his feet and stretched, then looked around for Dave.

"He's lying down over by the jet," Nesleh said.  "And when you get back, we're going to work on controlling your temper until your mate comes looking for you."

He tilted his head, then walked over towards where Dave's sleeping bag was visible, glaring back at his father once he thought Nesleh was looking away.  He slowed his pace a little; what was he going to say?  Aside from Molthan--who it was hard for him to look at now, the scars left by his claws serving to remind him of what could happen if he lost his temper again--he hadn't really apologized to anyone in decades, and never for something as extreme as this.  He growled under his breath and made up his mind; it would be easiest to say something simple and just get it over with.

He reached the jet and saw Dave sitting cross-legged on his sleeping bag, hunched over a notepad he was busy writing on.  Carnoc hesitated for a moment, then said, "Dave?"

The human put down his pencil and looked up.  "Huh--  Oh, it's you," he looked back down at his paper.  "What do you want?"  If Dave had been dragon, Carnoc thought, those words would have been growled.

"Well," he looked at the ground between them.  "I was thinking about...  About what happened when we started traveling, and I realized...  I've realized that what I did was wrong."

Dave had been about to yell at the dragon, but he bit his tongue.  "Are you..."

"I'm sorry, Dave.  I'm sorry that I lost my temper and killed your brother.  I just wanted to tell you how sorry I feel, and... ask if there's anything I can do that will help you feel better."

He looked away, so Carnoc wouldn't be able to see him start to cry.  "...thank you for that, Carnoc," he said, patting the end of the dragon's snout where it dipped into his reach.  "I'll...  Nothing you can do will make me feel better, I just need some time to myself.  But thank you."  He patted the softer scales of Carnoc's nose one more time before pulling his hand away.

Dave waited until he heard the dragon pad away before he allowed himself to collapse on the sleeping bag, breaths coming short and fast between sobs.  For more than a week now he had seen over and over the hateful look in Carnoc's eyes, the flash of his teeth biting down, and had begun to draw on that image when planning his revenge.  But now...

He had known for a while now that Carnoc had a quick, vicious temper, but to fully realize that he hadn't been in control when he did that...  Dave shook his head as he watched the sequence in his mind yet again.  This changed nothing.  An apology was a group of words, nothing more, and words would neither help him feel better nor fill the void left when Jim had been killed.  Probably didn't even mean what he was saying, Dave thought.  He just felt obligated to apologize, that was all.  He wiped his cheeks on the sleeping bag beneath him and sat back up; the dragon would get what was coming to him, whether or not he had meant what he said.

Carnoc grunted and walked away, doing his best to keep a straight face but laughing on the inside.  How easy it had been!  All he had needed to do was keep his voice low, hold his head and tail the right way and put a few pauses into his speech, and the human had been so affected that he had started to cry!  He failed to suppress a chuckle, but covered it by following it with a few coughs.  Fooling humans was so easy.

"Thank you for doing that," Nesleh said when he returned.  "What did he say?"

He reached back to clean his hind claws.  "He just accepted my apology, that's all.  He probably still doesn't want to be anywhere near me."

"Understandable... either way, I'm glad you apologized to him.  Now, about your temper."

He paused to extract a sliver of rock from the scales at the base of one hind claw.  "What about it?"

Nesleh growled.  "You're still treating this like it's unimportant, and you know that's not the case.  You've killed at least fifteen humans by now..."

"It was self-defense."

"Not all of them!  Scott showed me the video they played on the news of you killing the three back in Florida; you killed that one poor girl for no good reason."

Carnoc snorted.  "She had me strapped down earlier that night and started scratching me behind my earhole.  When she stopped, I told her that if she did it again, I would kill her.  So when she scratched me again, I did what I had told her I would do."

"You can't let something so inconsequential bother you so much!  At this point you're controlling yourself so little that the slightest annoyance can push your blood up, and you should know better than that."

"You know only a mate should touch another dragon there.  I couldn't let her keep doing it."

"How would she know that?  She was just a human, and you can't expect her to be at all familiar with our customs.  You know you shouldn't have done it, so stop trying to blame it on someone else.  You're far too old to be trying to come up with excuses for the things you do wrong."

Carnoc leapt to his feet and snarled at him.  "You can't--"

Nesleh snarled right back.  "Don't you dare lose your temper with me!  Not unless you want a reminder of what happens when you do."

He hesitated, remembering the painful bruises that had covered his flanks and belly for days after his last beating.  He glared at his father a moment longer, sizing up the older dragon, then sighed and lowered his head, settling back onto his belly.  Still, though, Nesleh didn't sit back down until he had calmed himself.

"That's better.  I don't think I need to remind you of the other times you lost your temper recently; you should know without me having to tell you that your behavior for these last couple months has been inexcusable.  It's clear that you can control your temper, you're just choosing not to.  The question is," he paused, "what do I have to do to make sure you exercise what you know instead of letting your anger dictate your actions?"

Carnoc stayed silent, staring at the ground between them.  There was nothing he could say or do at this point but hope that his father didn't settle on the obvious answer.

"Practice is all that can really be done," he sighed after a little while.  "You know what you have to do to control yourself and you've always been very aware of whether or not your blood's up, you've just lost sight of why you need to do it.  I know you still have that last punishment of mine on your mind, so I see no need to do that again...  But remember it the next time you start to feel angry and think about whether or not you want it to happen to you again."

He looked up, surprised.  "Are you--"

"I've tried appealing to your sense of duty to your clan, and it hasn't worked.  Maybe keeping control of yourself for your own good is something of more interest to you," Nesleh growled.  "You know I'm disappointed in you...  But you also know there will be opportunities in the near future when you'll have chance to prove you can control yourself.  You know how to, so all that's left to do is show me that you want to again.  And if you can show me that, then I'll be satisfied."

"I..."  This was bad.  His father couldn't possibly give up on him... could he?  "I'll try, father, I promise," he looked him in the eye.

"I hope so.  I'm going to hunt, and I'll be back later."  He turned and walked away towards the cave entrance.

Carnoc groaned and pulled a wing over his head.  He'd really done it this time... he'd never seen his father so disappointed, and it made him feel terrible.  For so long he did everything he could to teach me, he thought, and for the past few months I've just been ignoring him.  What was I thinking?  I've got to try harder; I've got to show him he didn't waste his time when he taught me to control myself...

An odd, unnatural sound echoed through the cave, and he leapt to his feet, scanning the area for danger and crouching in case there was about to be some sort of attack.

"Sorry," Sean's voice called out a moment later.  "It's just my phone."  He flipped the cell phone open and held it to his ear.  "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me.  I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No, it's..."  He looked up at the light filtering in from outside.  "It's the middle of the afternoon; why would I be asleep?"

"I wasn't quite sure what the time difference would be between Geneva and... wherever you are," Elaine said.  "Anyway, I called because I just got some excellent news: they pulled the warrants on you and Dave!"

Sean hesitated.  "Are you sure?"

"I've got the releases in my hand right now, signed by the UN chief of inter-provincial security.  You're both free to come home."

"Oh, thank god.  Dave's probably used to them, but these field rations he brought with us are absolutely disgusting.  I can't shift here like I can at home because of all the female dragons here and I need a shower like you wouldn't believe..."

"Then you'd better hurry back!  We could certainly use your help here, and now that you're allowed to..."

"Of course, of course.  How have the protests been going?"

"Oh, pretty well.  We've generated a serious following, too; we have close to five thousand in Geneva already, and there are other groups starting up in other major cities.  We could have a strong worldwide following in a couple of weeks if it keeps growing like this, and the UN won't be able to ignore us for long."

He grinned.  "And they won't be able to ignore me at all.  Think there's enough room on your lines for a dragon?"

Elaine laughed.  "If there isn't enough space now, we'll be able to make more than enough for you.  So, will you come back here soon?"

"Are you absolutely sure that I won't be arrested?"

There was a short pause.  "?I hereby void the warrants for the arrest of Sean Nelson and David Fuller.  Signed, UN chief of inter-provincial security, Ryan O'Kerrin.'  That sure enough to you?"

"Perfect.  I'll tell Dave to pack up his stuff, and we'll head out as soon as we can.  If we make good time, I should arrive in Geneva tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Can't wait; see you then.  Love you."

"Love you too."  Sean ended the call and pocketed the phone, then returned to where Dave sat on his sleeping bag by the jet.

"Who was that?" Dave asked.

"Elaine.  It's time to go."

"Great," he said, and got off his sleeping bag so he could roll it up.  "How long do you think it will take you to pack?"

"Ten minutes, if that.  Though we should probably tell Vallen that we're leaving."

Dave nodded.  "Yeah, you should do that," then he started to stuff his sleeping bag into its sack.

It took only ten minutes for the two of them to pack away the few things they had brought with them that weren't already in the jet's storage compartments, then he and Dave got into their seats.  Sean was about to strap himself in, but then he glanced back and saw a black box about the size of a suitcase sitting between the back seats.

"Wow, am I slow today...  First I have to tell Vallen we're leaving, then I have to tell him that we're leaving that here," he said, then he got out, opened the back half-door and took out the heavy object.  He carried it to one of the corners of the cave where it would be out of the weather and none of the dragons would accidentally step on it, then he walked over to Vallen.

"I got a call from Elaine," he said.  "It's safe for Dave and me to leave now."

Vallen growled softly.  "Thank you for all the help you and Dave have given us.  And...  If I remember correctly, you'll be protesting the UN's attempts to capture us?"

"Yes, I will."

He lowered his head to Sean's level.  "Good luck with that, then, and I hope it goes well--for our own sake," he chuckled.  "I'll explain to Dulna what you'll be doing out there, so you're free to go."

Sean nodded.  "All right, then.  Also, I've decided to leave the radar jammer the Canadians gave me in the cave with you, so as long as you fly within about twenty-five kilometers of this cave, you won't appear on any radar.  It should help to keep everyone who's looking from finding the clans."

"Thank you again; that will be a great help."

"I thought so.  Anyway, Dave and I will be off now, and if we make any headway with our protests, I'll find a way to contact you."  Sean turned and walked back over to his jet, then got in and started the engines.  After waiting a short while for them to warm up, he lifted off and guided the jet out of the cave, to the west and towards the border.

"How are we going to get across the border, though?" Dave asked.  "It's meant to stop us from getting through in this direction, so..."

"The dragons couldn't have flown over it, but the barrier stops about ten kilometers up.  We can go right over it as soon as we're sure we won't be seen, and after that we won't have to worry about being seen, since we aren't under arrest any more."  Sean pulled back on the steering wheel, and the jet climbed steadily through the air, getting above the mountains and, a short time later, the barriers.  Once they were high enough, Sean leveled off and pushed the throttle wide open, rocketing them forward and past the barrier in under a minute.

Once they were past the barriers and the UN patrols, Sean slowed the jet just a bit and called Elaine.  "We're on our way."
 

Vallen stretched out on a small ledge above the cave entrance, glancing occasionally at the ground and sky around him but mostly just lying there and enjoying the quiet.  None of the other dragons were eager to keep watch at night, but he had found he enjoyed the peacefulness the task generally involved, along with an excuse to just spend some time on his own.

All was peaceful around him, of course; the nearest human dwellings were either at least thirty kilometers away or on the other side of the barrier.  The female clan's cave was much more isolated than their own back in Montana and there was very little for him to be watching out for, but someone had to do it in times like these, and on this night it was Vallen's turn.

A strong wind picked up out of the southwest around midnight, however, and the turbulence it created as it passed between the mountains caught his wings at odd angles, trying to blow them out and away from his body.  It wouldn't be enough to carry him off the ledge, but he could break a wing if he wasn't careful, so he looked around one last time before he made to return to the cave.

Then an unnatural sound caught his ear, and though he couldn't see its source he knew something was close by.  Clouds had blown in with the wind and the lack of moonlight had weakened his night vision, not dark enough to keep him from making out the shapes of the mountains around him but too dark for him to be sure whatever was making that noise he could hear wasn't closer than he thought it was.  He glared up at the patchy cloud cover, then returned his eyes to the valleys below.

A dark shape weaved through the valley down below him, passing right by the front of the cave before moving on.  As it moved away, Vallen saw a dull blue glow emanating from the back of it: an aircraft engine.  Was it Sean, come back for some reason?  He had only left hours ago, but maybe things had gone faster than he had expected, or something had gone wrong...  He sat up and took a deep breath in preparation to call out, to help Sean find the cave, but then he froze: a second dark shape had just come into view.

Sean would have come alone, Vallen knew.  This second shape, this second jet...  These humans, whoever they were, must be looking for them!  He glanced at the opening of the cave beneath him, preparing to leap inside so he could warn the others, then stepped off the ledge and twisted in midair to dive into the cave.  He wasn't a moment too soon; he felt a sudden bout of dizziness as a stunner just missed him, aiming where he had been seconds before.

"Ambush!" he roared as he dropped into the cave.  He was setting his wings to land when another shot was fired, this one striking him in the center of his back and knocking him out cold.

Carnoc woke up with a start, both hearing Vallen shout and feeling the impact through the rock as he slammed into the cave floor.  A couple of other dragons in the cave had been awake before his shout, and they took up the cry, rousing the rest of the clans as quickly as they could.  Carnoc jumped to his feet and moved to the center of the cave, watching the sky outside and waiting for the first jet to appear...

Then he looked to his right, towards where most of the dragonesses had gathered.  His mate, he had to protect her from the humans!  He hesitated, torn between fighting their attackers and defending his mate, then heard a cry as another dragon was shot and his mind was made up for him.

He leapt over to the dragonesses and located Melora.  "Carnoc, what's going on?" she asked, glancing nervously past him towards where Vallen lay unconscious on the cave floor and towards the cave entrance, where the swift-moving shadows of human fighter jets occasionally passed.

"Humans," he hissed, placing himself between her and the entrance, wings raised to further shield her.  "Stay behind me, where it's safe.  I'll protect you from them."

She growled and started to push past him.  "I can fight, too!"

"No!" he roared at her, eyes burning, then he calmed himself.  "I couldn't bear for them to hurt you," he whispered, nuzzling up and down her snout.  "I'm the warrior here; let me do what I was born to do."

Melora hesitated, then returned his nuzzle before retreating to her former position.  He growled his approval, then turned to face the entrance, other dragons also taking up defensive positions.

Now that his mate was safely behind him, he was able to search the dark sky outside for the jets menacing them.  The dim silhouette of a fighter appeared outside, and he tracked its motion for just a moment before firing.  The bolt missed, and the jet fired back, striking the dragon on his left.  Carnoc roared and shot again, this time landing a glancing blow on the fighter.

He snarled triumphantly, only for a whole cluster of jets to come into view outside.  Two, five, ten...  Too many!  Carnoc launched bolt after bolt, but too many of them were missing their targets and the jets were already firing back.  Four separate shots hit his chest, wings and back, and he crumpled to the ground.

But I have to protect Melora... was the last thought he had before blacking out.