\n Dave picked up his backpack and pulled out a flashlight and two ponchos.  He put one on and gave the other to Jim, then clicked on the flashlight, opened the door and walked out into the rain.  As soon as he and Jim were outside, the hunting blind beeped, waited five seconds, then folded back into its former, suitcase-sized rectangle.

\n Dave walked over to the dragon's side and knelt down, opening his backpack.  He pulled out two thick cylinders, then closed the backpack again and tossed one of the cylinders to Jim.  "Here, use this to tie up its hind legs," he said.

\n "What is this thing?" Jim peered it.

\n "Basic animal restraint," Dave said, pulling the dragon's forepaws together.  He tugged a cord out from the cylinder and looped it around one paw, then reattached it at the cylinder's other end.  He repeated the process with the dragon's other front paw, using a second cord, and said, "one size fits all, and I've never seen an animal manage to get out of them.  Just loop the cords around the ankles, connect them on the other side, and press this button."  He pointed to, then pressed, a small button on the side of the cylinder.  "That hardens and locks the cords.  There are only two ways to break the cords when they're locked: use a laser cutter, or push the button again."

\n "What if the dragon wakes up?  It might be able to figure it out and press the button itself."

\n He shook his head.  "That's what the cap is for."  He flipped a small protective cover out from the cylinder, slid it over the button and snapped it into place while Jim duplicated the process with the dragon's hind legs.

\n Dave made sure he had done it properly, then said, "can you get my expanding canopy tarp from the truck so we can set it up over the dragon?  This rain isn't going to make things any easier."

\n Jim nodded and left.  Dave stood and walked over to the dragon's head, thought for a moment, then took a bungee cord from his backpack and wrapped it a couple of times around the center of the dragon's mouth.  If a dragon's mouth was structured like that of other large, carnivorous reptiles, he thought, then the bungee cord would hold easily.  There was nothing he had that could stop the dragon's mouth from closing, but holding it shut would be relatively easy.

\n It was pretty much secure, he thought.  But what if it woke up?  He didn't know if the bungee cord or even the restraints would be able to hold it for long...  And even if they did, it could probably just fly away.  He opened his backpack wide and rifled through it, looking for anything that could possibly wrap around its wings, then smiled when he found a coil of rope in the largest pocket.

\n With great effort, he managed to slip the rope under and around the dragon's chest, the rope barely long enough to circle its body just once.  He carefully folded the dragon's wings and tucked them against its body, then positioned the rope over top of the wings, pulled it tight and tied the ends together.  He tested the rope with his hand, then stood back to survey his work, shining his flashlight along the dragon's length and looking for anything he could have forgotten that would be dangerous if the dragon were to wake up.  After a few moments, he decided it had been properly secured.

\n Jim returned from the truck, carrying a folded tarp in his arms that, even when folded, was almost too large to hold.  There was also a lantern dangling from his hand, four stakes and a few extendable poles to prop up the tarp in his pocket.  "Nice work," he said.  "Can you help me with this?"

\n He set down his backpack and took two corners of the tarp from Jim, then walked away as Jim started to unfold the tarp.  Fully expanded, the tarp covered all of the dragon's length (or at least after they curled its neck and tail back towards its body), with some slack left over to be used for vertical height.  After staking down the ends of the tarp and propping up some central points with a few poles, Dave finally got to work.

\n "I also brought a lantern; I thought it would help," Jim said.  "How long has it been since you shot it?"

\n He glanced at his watch, squinting to read it properly in the dark.  "Almost twenty minutes."

\n "How much time do you think we have?"  Twisted shadows appeared on underside of the tarp as Jim turned on the lantern.

\n "The shot was supposed to put him out for four hours, but the rifle didn't have a chance to prime...  I had to shoot just before the rifle was fully prepared, so we don't have that long."

\n "Do you have enough time to do your research?"

\n Dave nodded.  "I should.  Let me just grab my backpack, and I'll get started."  He took out a camera and handed it to Jim.  "Take pictures of every part of its body."  His brother walked away, taking pictures of the dragon at regular intervals.

\n He took a black case from his backpack, opened it and removed a syringe, then paused and stared at the dragon's scales for a moment, wondering where it would be the best to draw blood from.  After thinking for a minute, he slipped the needle between a gap in the scales at the bend in one of the dragon's forelegs, but pulled it out after a moment.  He tried again, found a vein this time and took six full tubes of blood, then removed the syringe, put a small dissolving bandage over the spot and returned the syringe and the blood he had taken to the case.

\n Dave put them back in his backpack.  The blood would be examined as soon as he could get access to a hospital laboratory; he had a friend at the University of Wisconsin who could do the tests quickly and cheaply for him.  He took the notepad from his backpack and checked the list he had made earlier: the next items for him to research were dimensions, but those had been given by the journal, and from the look of the dragon in front of him they were approximately correct.  He did have to estimate the dragon's weight, but that he could do in less than thirty seconds.  Dave shrugged; he may as well double-check.

\n He took two more tools from his backpack.  He had Jim hold the end of the first, a line measure, against the tip of the dragons' tail while he pulled the string along the dragon's spine until he reached its nose.  "Twenty meters, eight centimeters," Jim said.

\n Dave wrote the number down, then put the line away.  "Thanks."  Next he held up the display to his mass marker and tabbed the dragon as the object to be measured.  The device worked a moment, then displayed a number, 6800 kilograms, which he also jotted down.

\n He walked to the dragon's head, hesitated a moment, then touched a hand to the scales of its snout: they were surprisingly smooth and soft, but its armor looked much thicker and tougher in other places, and...  It was very warm to the touch.  He paused, then slid his hand down towards its throat, the scales growing still warmer.  "Interesting...  A warm-blooded reptile," he said, and wrote "warm-blooded" on his notepad.

\n He moved his hand from there to the tip of one of its fangs, which poked out from beneath its upper lip.  The tooth was sharp and slightly yellowed, and Dave started to pull its lips apart before pausing and looking at his watch: it had still been less than an hour, but again, that rifle hadn't charged all the way.  He wanted to open the dragon's mouth and look inside, but if the dragon woke up and its mouth was free...  But dragons were supposed to be intelligent, hopefully it would wake up peacefully, and then they might be able to talk to it, assuming it knew English.  Though those mentioned in the book Jim had found had been able to...  I may as well, he decided, and unhooked the bungee cord, then pulled the dragon's mouth open.

\n The flashlight beam showed what he was looking for: two small vents in the roof of its mouth, even with its back teeth.  The ingredients for its fire were stored behind them, but without knowing the mechanism that released them he couldn't take samples for fear of damaging the channels.

\n He observed what he could of the rest of the dragon's mouth--obviously a carnivore, from the shape of the teeth--and let Jim take a few more pictures, pointing out the vents for him to photograph, before closing it and hooking it shut again with the bungee cord.  Jim handed the camera back to him and said, "here, I've got its whole body on there.  Took a video of myself walking around it, too, just for authenticity."

\n "Everything?"

\n "God knows I do more than enough surveying in my line of work.  Multiple angles of every feature, two shots of each in case the first came out wrong, the whole deal.  Couldn't get a full angle shot because of how little space we have under here, though."

\n "We can extract that from the video of it drinking, I suppose.  I'm going to make some more observations on its body structure; you stay up here by its head and let me know if it shows any signs of waking up."

\n "All right."

\n Dave shone his flashlight along the dragon's head, noting the narrow nostrils, slit-pupil eyes, earholes and the shape, texture and sharpness of its horns.  He moved on from there, observing all he could of the dragon's muscle and bone structure, the size and properties of its scales, how the thick, leathery skin of its wings compared to the skin beneath the scales...  He wrote down a few observations, then pulled out one scale and cut a small piece of membrane from the trailing edge of one of the dragon's wings, sealing both inside plastic bags to be examined later.

\n Finally he made his way around the back and tail and approached the dragon's hindquarters, which he examined for a minute or so.  Very catlike, he decided, finding similarities in the positions of the joints and the proportions of each part of the leg, though the paws were wider than they would have been on a cat of the same size--then he smiled at the image his mind conjured, of a cat the size of a tractor trailer.

\n Curious, he walked up to the base of the dragon's tail and shone the flashlight between its hind legs.  It had been a while since he'd last had to determine the sex of a reptile, but as far as he could tell, the dragon was male.  He moved up from there along the dragon's belly and chest, taking notes about everything that stood out to him, and finally he returned to Jim at the dragon's head.

\n "Do you think you could track it?" Jim asked.

\n "I could, but do we want to?"

\n "Definitely!  We need to know where it lives."

\n "We do know where it lives.  It said in the journal."

\n "Oh...  Right.  Well, we should still use one.  It would help if we wanted to know its activity patterns and all that, wouldn't it?"

\n Dave nodded.  "All right, I'll give him a tracer."  He walked over to his backpack, put away his notepad and removed a black case, only to open it and discover that it contained the syringe and the tubes of the dragon's blood.  He shone his flashlight into his backpack and searched around until he located a dark green case.  He opened the case, took an injection gun from inside and loaded a tracer pellet into it.  He hefted the weighty gun, held it up to the side of the dragon's neck and pulled the trigger.

\n The tracer shot down the tube and impacted the scales of the dragon's neck with a sharp crack, then shattered a scale in its way and sank deep into the muscle beneath.

\n The response was immediate.  The dragon opened his eyes and snapped his head up, whipping around to glare at Dave and Jim, and the two humans froze when they saw him awake, neither daring to make a move.  Lifting his upper lip to show his fangs, the dragon growled at them in a clear message to get away, now.

\n Dave held up his hands and spoke softly, hoping to placate him.  "Just relax.  I'm just going to get these restraints off you, then we'll leave you alone.  There's no reason to be angry."  He would have preferred to just knock him out again, then remove the restraints and cords, but his hunting rifles were in his trailer, back at Jim's rented warehouse.  Beside him, Jim had frozen in apparent panic.

\n Carnoc growled again when Dave started to walk towards him, getting the human to stop.  He could hear Dave and understand what he was saying, but the message wasn't reaching him: his blood was roused, and he was on the defensive.  He had to do something to free himself, and fast; he was in danger, almost helplessly so.

\n His first instinct was to use his claws, but his paws had been tied together and were practically useless; he lifted his forepaws and tugged against the restraints that held them, but he could not break free, and his mouth was also bound...  He was helpless.  Panic edged its way into his mind as well, and his tail lashed in response--it was free!  Whipping his tail around, he struck the shorter human in the chest and knocked him off his feet; the man's head hit a rock and he lost consciousness.  Carnoc tried to get the other one as well, but the human jumped away, dodging his outstretched claws.  It rolled under something and disappeared from his view.

\n He snarled at the unconscious human, then strained against the devices that imprisoned him.  But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he pushed or tugged, the cords refused to budge.  He was about to give up when the obstruction above him shifted, folding back with the wind and exposing him to the night sky and the rain that was falling from it.

\n "There," the other human said.  "There's no reason to attack us.  I'm not going to hurt you.  Just let me get those ropes off of you, and you can go."

\n Carnoc growled, striking forward with his head, but the human was out of reach.  He flexed and strained, managing to get onto his feet, but he was barely able to stand and nearly fell over when he tried to crawl away, snarling at the human in front of him.  It was just trying to trick him, to get him to relax, then it would kill him as soon as his guard was down.  But with the restraints around his ankles, the cord trapping his mouth and the rope keeping his wings pinioned, he couldn't attack or retreat.

\n Dave cursed under his breath.  The laser charge hadn't quite put the dragon out long enough, and now it was refusing to be set free.  It was a biologist's nightmare: he couldn't set the animal free, because it would injure or possibly even kill him if he tried, but he couldn't leave it tied up, either, for one of the most important rules in the biologist's handbook was to leave nothing in the wild that could harm the animals living there, and the dragon would be stuck like that unless he let it go.  He scanned the area around him, looking for something he could use.  Fortunately the lantern was still lit and lying on the ground, illuminating the bank of the pond, and his eyes fell on his brother, or at least his brother's hip, only a couple of meters away.  Within diving distance.

\n He took a slow, deliberate step forward: no need to make any sudden moves if he didn't have to.  How was he supposed to make the dragon listen?  Could it even listen?  The journal had said that dragons were intelligent, but was the journal wrong, or was the dragon just too enraged to listen to reason?  Either way, he decided, it would be best to just knock the dragon out again and worry about its intelligence later.  He took another couple of steps, and the dragon growled again.

\n His foot hit Jim's belt, knocking the pistol loose.  He slowly knelt, then picked up the pistol, turned and ran.  He tripped over the hem of his poncho and fell, but he didn't panic, as he had been in similar situations before with equally bloodthirsty--if less dangerous--creatures.  He rolled, got back to his feet and kept running.

\n He heard the dragon jump after him, but with its legs bound the dragon wasn't able to leap very far.  Dave dove to the side, just in case, then flicked off the pistol's safety.  He turned to look, seeing the dragon still almost ten meters away, then glanced down at the gun, adjusted the power level, aimed and fired just as the dragon pounced forward again.  A bright red line--the aiming marker that was required for all nonmilitary stunning weapons--shone from the muzzle of the gun to the dragon's leg; the shot followed the line from gun to dragon a moment later and struck it in the foreleg.

\n The dragon stumbled, suddenly dizzy and exhausted, but managed to stay on its feet.  Dave adjusted his aim and fired a second time, this shot hitting the dragon in the chest and proving enough to incapacitate it.  He took no chances, though, and shot it three additional times to make sure it would stay down for a while.

\n Dave shook his head, relieved after the close call, then ran over to his brother's side and knelt by him, checking his pulse and breathing.  Both were steady, so he shook Jim gently until he woke up.
\n "Huh?  Watch out...  Oh, Dave, it's you.  What happened?"

\n "The dragon woke up and knocked you out.  I shot him with your pistol and put him back to sleep...  I shot him five times, though, so hopefully he'll stay out for a while longer this time."

\n "Oh...  God, that was close.  That dragon almost killed us!"

\n "Almost," Dave smiled, "but it didn't."

\n "Which is good.  Did you get a chance to finish all the research you wanted to do?"

\n "Pretty much.  Now all I have to do is let it go, but..."

\n "What?"

\n "I thought the journal said they were intelligent.  This dragon isn't, or at least he isn't showing it."

\n "That's odd.  Everything else was right, so why wouldn't that one fact be?  It doesn't make sense.  It does mean, though, that dragons are definitely dangerous."

\n "Maybe...  Gorillas aren't dangerous unless you provoke one, and we certainly provoked this dragon.  Come on, help me release him; the sooner we get away from him, the better."

\n The two of them removed all of the dragon's restraints and Dave packed them away into his bag while Jim collected all the stakes and poles from the tarp.  They gathered the tarp and refolded it, then Dave picked up the lantern and his field blind and they returned to Jim's truck, removing the camouflage blanket and dumping all the equipment into the truck's bed.

\n "Come on, let's go," he said, opening the passenger door and climbing into the cab.  "I need sleep."
\n Jim looked back at the dragon's still form and sighed, then stepped into the cabin, sat down and started the truck.  He was about to set the auto-drive, but then remembered Dave wouldn't like it; he reached for the steering wheel instead and started to drive back towards the road.  "If they aren't intelligent, it really changes everything," he said.  "We have to tell Chris Drake that they're living on his property.  Then, we have a decision to make."

\n "What's that?"

\n "Should we kill them all, or capture them?"

\n Dave almost laughed.  "You're kidding, right?  It'd be like killing a Siberian Tiger.  You just don't do it.  I mean, sure, they apparently want to kill us, but they look incredible and they'd be international treasures.  People would pay good money to see them."

\n "They would..." he whispered.  This could be my break, he thought.  If he could capture all the dragons, he could make millions, maybe more.  Even if he didn't keep them, he could just sell them to zoos.  And that would make him a fortune; imagine how much a zoo would pay to have such a rare and beautiful creature!  Jim smiled at the thought.

\n "Jim, stay on the road!"  Dave shouted.  He snapped back to reality and jerked the wheel, barely saving the truck before it fell down the steep slope just beyond the edge of the road.  Shaking his head, he focused on the road in front of him.  Figuring out how to make his own fortune could be done indoors.
\n  

\n
\n Carnoc groaned and opened his eyes; his senses were fuzzy and he felt like he was flying through an active storm cloud.  The charges he had absorbed were still present in his system, making his body tingle at odd intervals and occasionally numbing his wings, legs and tail.  The muscles in his chest and foreleg were still numb and stiff where the shots had struck him.

\n He reached up and rubbed a claw along the side of his neck, where he could feel a stinging pain that wouldn't go away.  He was surprised to find a large gap there, where one of his scales had completely shattered.  How did that happen? he wondered for a moment.

\n His memories from the past few hours came rushing back an instant later.  Alon's announcement of his imminent death, their argument and his flight, then his capture and the short fight that had followed.  Another groan escaped his throat.

\n It took another few seconds for the gravity of what had happened to hit him, but when it did, it was like a massive weight had been hung from his neck.  No...  It was all true.  It had happened.  They had been discovered.

\n But how much time had passed? he thought, looking up at the still-dark sky.  The humans had disappeared, along with all of their equipment, and who could tell where they had gone to.  Probably back to the nearest town, where he wouldn't be able to find them...  Much less tell them apart from any of the other humans there.

\n But could Chris help?  He had that thing in his house that told him when dragons were coming; could it have told him there were humans on his land, when they were there, and even who they were?  Maybe he had even come and found them after they had knocked him out again, and had already made sure they wouldn't tell any other humans about dragons!

\n He leapt into the air and flew as fast as he could in the rain to Chris' patio, then set down and looked at the house expectantly.  But a minute passed with no reaction from the humans within, and the hope that had flared so strongly a moment ago began to fade.  Maybe he hadn't come, and the humans were gone after all...

\n Still had to at least find out for sure.  He peered at each door and window, trying to see where Chris might be, but all the rooms inside were dark, so he knocked on the door the man usually came out of with one claw.  "Chris?" he said, but could barely hear himself over the rain.

\n "Chris, wake up," he said again, more loudly this time.  A light flicked on in the upstairs window facing the patio, and after a moment it opened.

\n "What is it?" Chris said sleepily.  "Has Alon passed away?  Who is the new clan elder?"

\n "Oh..."  After the events at the pond Carnoc had forgotten all about the clan's other concerns.  "I don't know if he's died yet, but he has declared Vallen our new elder."

\n "That's a good choice.  He should be proud."

\n He snarled and tossed his head.  "We have bigger problems.  Did you find any humans on your property tonight?"

\n "...what?  I've been in bed since ten, but I can see if my security system recorded anything if you want.  Why, did you fly over someone on your way here?"

\n "Much worse," Carnoc groaned, slumping down.  "I was drinking at the pond, and two of them ambushed me.  Shot me, tied me up, did... I don't even know what to me, knocked me out again when I woke up and tried to break free, then let me go.  You have to find them!"

\n The man disappeared, calling over his shoulder, "I'll check, but I think I know who it was.  See you downstairs."

\n He growled, but the words gave him hope again.  If he knew who it was, he would be able to find them, and make sure the secret didn't get out!  And maybe he'd be able to get them to come to his house at night, so I could repay them for attacking me, Carnoc grinned savagely.

\n Chris opened the door a minute or two later.  "Yes, there was an entry and an exit, but apparently they left more than three hours ago.  I know who it was who caught you, Jim Fuller, but all I have is his name."

\n "There were two of them," he growled.

\n "I don't...  Wait, maybe it was one of the other members of his team."

\n "Knowing who it is must tell you something.  Isn't there some sort record that tells you where other humans live?"

\n "I can try, but who knows how many Jim Fullers there are in this province; it would take forever just to figure out which one is the one I'm looking for...  But I have to try," he corrected, seeing the look on Carnoc's face.  "And I do have his license plate number, which will help.  I need to use my computer; wait here, and I'll try to get a phone number."

\n Carnoc nodded and sat down, unfolding a wing over his head to keep the rain off his face.  He has to find them, he thought.  He has to, or...  Or...  I'd have failed, he groaned.  I failed as a warrior to keep the clan safe, and it's all my fault.  It was my temper, my blood I refused to control that caused this whole thing.  If I had just tried harder to control myself, I never would have left the cave, I never would have come to the pond and the humans never would have found me.

\n It was supposed to be my duty as a warrior to protect the clan.  But I let my blood control my thoughts and actions, and look where it led me!  I should have listened to Alon, to Nesleh...  I should have tried harder, he growled to himself, lashing his tail.  Now we could be exposed at any moment, and it's all because of me.  How can I possibly call myself a warrior after this?  How can I even face the rest of the clan, if we're discovered, and the humans come for us?  I'd be lucky if they didn't drive me away, or even kill me for what's happened tonight.  Nesleh told a few legends of dragons who were executed, but those were millennia ago...  But I've done something bad enough.

\n Then Chris returned.  "No luck.  Jim said he was staying in town, but he didn't give me a location or his mobile phone number.  I tried to use his license plate to figure out where he lives and got an address, but the phone number wasn't working.  I'll try again in the morning, but I can't make any guarantees...  I also tried the license plates of the other members of his team, but they were all registered to a rental company, I can't call them until morning and even then they probably won't answer my questions.  When you tell A--  Sorry, when you tell Vallen about this, tell him to assume I haven't managed to get the two of them to stay quiet."

\n Carnoc felt his blood flaring and growled, standing up.

\n "I'm sorry, but I've tried everything I can think of, and nothing worked.  I can't help you."

\n He nearly raked his claws through the man, but he realized what he was doing at the last moment and settled for slamming his paw into the stone beneath him instead as Chris screamed and hunched down on the ground, covering his head with his arms.

\n "Useless human!" he snarled, temper raging full force, then he roared down at Chris and had just enough self-control left to fling himself into the sky before he completely lost himself.  His wings turned him towards the clan caves, but their reaction to his anger would be much worse for him than the human's cowering and he knew he had to calm down before he returned.

\n "There is peace within you," Nesleh had always told him.  "It is always waiting inside, even in the most dire of situations.  Learn to find this feeling of peace and use it to control your wild emotions.  Every blood warrior before you has faced the same problem, and all of them managed to deal with it whenever they had to.  If they could do it, then so can you."

\n He scanned the sky around him for a moment to make sure he kept his bearings, then closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath.  The effect was barely detectable, but he could feel it; he opened his eyes again and took another breath.  Progress was slow, but his flaring temper began to fade, and by the time he arrived at the cave he was fully in control of himself.  He landed at the ledge and walked inside, shivering his wings to help them dry.

\n The entire clan was there in the outer chamber, all of them soaking wet: they must have just returned from burying Alon.  He had to bite his tongue to keep from shouting a curse, but even still everyone went silent and turned to stare at him, and he couldn't help but notice the signal from Nesleh that sent the biggest and strongest members of the clan to stand between him and everyone else.

\n He took a step back and lowered his head.  "I'm calm," he said, looking towards his father.
\n Nesleh tilted his head and approached, along with Vallen, and the dragons he had gathered backed off--slightly.

\n "Where have you been?" Vallen demanded, snarling.  "You missed Alon's burial, and one little fight is no reason to disrespect him like that.  Your father and I have tried to come up with a fitting consequence, but--"

\n "It doesn't matter," Carnoc interrupted, thinking it would be best to just say it so the fear of what might happen next would go away.  "I went to drink at the south pond, when I left, but two humans ambushed me there."

\n Many of the dragons present cried out in shock and started speaking all at once, growing so loud that Vallen had to roar to get them to quiet down.  "What happened?"

\n "They shot me from behind a boulder on the bank.  I don't know how I didn't see them when I flew in; I guess the rain hid them from me.  Anyway, I landed and started drinking, and they shot me.  I came to some time later, and when I did I had been tied down.  I could hear the humans talking.  When they secured me, I was almost helpless...  And my blood took control.  Once the humans realized that I was awake, one of them started talking to me; I think he offered to untie me and let me fly away.  I wanted to listen to him, but I couldn't stop myself...  I had to try to defend myself, regardless of the fact that I was tied up.  I tried to fight, then they shot me again.  And when I woke up, they were gone, and I was free."

\n "Chris might be able to help," one dragon said.

\n "I already talked to him.  He says he can't help us...  We're going to be exposed."  He looked at the ground, the clan's silence following his statement almost painful.

\n Almost a minute passed before Vallen spoke.  "That's it," he finally sighed.  "We've been found.  There's nothing we can do now but get out of here, as quickly as we can.  We've planned for this; as soon as Chris tells us we're clear to cross the border, the whole clan is leaving for the dragonesses' caves, and we may not be able to come back."

\n "You may want to reconsider--" Nesleh began.

\n "But my carvings!" Molthan shouted at the same time.  "You want me to just leave--"

\n Other dragons started calling out their own concerns until Vallen roared for silence a second time.  "We have no choice.  After an event like this, there's no other option we have.  What else could we do?  And Carnoc, don't say we should attack them, because we have no idea where these humans live or who they even were."

\n He growled, but said nothing--losing his temper again would only get him in more trouble.  He felt his blood start to rise and immediately closed his eyes, concentrating on tranquility.

\n "Good job, son," Nesleh said, able to tell when he was fighting his temper.  "It's nice to see you can remember what I taught you."

\n He tilted his head, but then one of the other dragons said, "we still have to do something about him.  It's his fault!"

\n "And what would you have us do?" Nesleh growled.  "Exile him?  Any dragon who stays here will be found, and it's a short flight from one dragon to all dragons."

\n Another dragon spoke up.  "So kill him!"  There were growls of assent from a few other members of the clan.

\n "If the humans do come after us we're going to need his abilities," Vallen said.

\n "More trouble than he's worth," the dragon snorted.  "Diplomacy works!  You heard what he said; the humans tried to be reasonable with him, and he did not listen to them.  He would deserve the punishment, especially after what he did to Alon."

\n "If his actions tonight result in a dragon's death, I will consider going to that extreme," he said.  "But until then there is no need for us to act so strongly.  Even if the humans do come forward with news of dragons they won't be able to prove anything without bringing out a dragon for everyone to see, and if we can get out of here first then their announcement could easily be called a hoax.  We don't have humans on the ledge quite yet."

\n "You can't mean for his actions to go unpunished."

\n "I didn't say that."  He turned back to Carnoc.  "I cannot blame an ambush on you; that could have happened to any dragon here, and it's certainly a fair excuse for missing the burial.  But your fight with Alon cannot be ignored, and for that you may not fly for two days.  Your father will bring you your meals, and I will see to it that he works much more with you to help you keep control of your temper.  With humans so close to exposing us, we have to be able to count on you to control yourself."

\n Carnoc lowered his head, relieved to have escaped the two punishments he feared most.  "Yes, elder."

\n "And this should go without saying, but I must remind all of you to stay away from that pond--and the ruins--from now on.  The humans may come back, and if they do I don't want any dragons there to put themselves in position to be ambushed like Carnoc was.  Am I understood?"

\n "Yes," the rest of the clan said.

\n "Good.  If any of you have questions or concerns about this, or ideas that will help us stay hidden, you can come talk to me whenever you wish.  I'll probably be spending a lot of time with Chris to coordinate our departure, and possibly helping him find the humans, or figuring out how to discredit them if they try to tell the world about us."  Vallen talked quietly with a few of the dragons in the cave, then left.

\n Carnoc sighed and walked back towards his alcove, head low, trying to ignore the glares some of the other dragons gave him.  "Carnoc," said a voice.  It was his father, and he ignored it; a lecture was the last thing he wanted right now.

\n "Carnoc," said the voice again, and his father fell into step beside him.  "Did the humans hurt you?"

\n "No," he said.  "But they may have pulled a scale here, on my neck," he touched a claw to the wound where Dave had injected the tracer.

\n Nesleh looked closely at the spot, then licked it a couple of times.  "I'm glad to hear they didn't harm you.  The clan should have been thanking the ancients for making sure the humans who found you were reasonable enough not to try to kill you or imprison you, instead of asking for your death...  But some of them are scared, who could blame them, and fear can do terrible things to a dragon's mind.  At least Vallen has already proven himself capable of his position."

\n "...you're not angry at me?" he looked up.  "Even though this is all my fault?"

\n "Not angry, no," he said softly, nuzzling at Carnoc's neck as they arrived at his alcove.  "I cannot be angry at you for being ambushed, or for being insulted by Alon.  I am disappointed that you failed to control yourself, however, and you know we're going to have to start working on that again.  You just get some rest; you've had a terrible night.  You'll feel better in the evening."

\n "Yes, father."  He returned the nuzzle, then curled up in his alcove to sleep.  But he tossed and turned uneasily; at least five dragons had thought killing him was the right thing to do, and who could tell what they might try...

\n No, they wouldn't dare, not after Vallen's decision.  He heard a heavy step and saw one of the dragons Vallen had spoken to sitting outside his alcove.  A guard, he realized, and rolled over again.  And I saw Vallen speak to the dragon who first suggested he kill me; that should be enough to keep me safe while I sleep, he thought.

\n Assuming I can ever fall asleep after what's happened.