kitchen_maid | (no subject)

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The trip back to Amber is, in Perry's opinion, much more comfortable than the one to the mountains. It's far less awkward to ride on the dragon's back than to cling to the end of its tail. And he's not worried about getting eaten when they land, which means he's free to enjoy a rather remarkable view of his kingdom.

He's scanning the landscape below when he spots a odd-looking party on the road. They seem to be surrounded by . . . well, Perry would suspect they were gnomes, if they weren't all standing so still.

"I say, Norman," he says, "if you don't mind, I think we had better check that out."

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X is already looking up, eyes narrowed.

"It is the dragon."

And then she's off her horse and moving for a defensible position.

Or at least as close to one as she's likely to get. Widening the target zone is useful, too. In case it attacks. It will be harder to kill all of them at once.

Probably.

Parker (keeping a very tight grip around Perry's waist) leans over far enough to see past Norman's right wing.

She squints at the figures.

She recognizes Laura first. She'd know her for the way she moved if nothing else. And is that....494?

The other man she doesn't recognize, but he seems to be with her friends.

"We need to land," Parker says loudly, over the rush of air.

Norman starts banking immediately.

"Please don't get my back wet. The rivers here are infested with mermaids. I'd never get the smell out."

Three spots of human-shaped color on the ground don't mean much to a dragon.

They aren't even shiny.

Tom dismounts and sends his horse ahead of their positions. It's a fine horse, but if worse comes to worse, he'd rather the dragon eat it than one of them.

"Let me attempt to make contact, if there is any possibility to do so. I'd rather not have a bloodbath, if we can avoid it. For one thing, we need to find out where it's keeping the captives."

X is still squinting up at the dragon, head tilting very slightly.

"There are people. On its back."

Beat.

"I do not know who."

"It is carrying a sheep."

Enhanced vision is handy. And confusing. So it goes.

494 is peering, his eyes narrowed.

It's not that he has better eyesight than the rest of the team.

Well, okay, he does.

What can we say? In its infinite wisdom, Manticore made its transgenics with telescopic vision. And as he puts it to work, suddenly, his expression changes.

"Would you look at that," he murmurs, and shakes his head. "It's them."

This is going to be a story and a half, he can already tell.

Parker lets go of Perry with one arm, and waves to her friends as Norman descends. And almost as soon as the dragon touches down, she slides down his side.

Her landing rates about a 5.5 (she doesn't even come close to sticking it). But she doesn't care.

"Laura! 494!"

Parker, it must be admitted, looks a little bit like a madwoman, with tossed-about hair and a ragged dress, who has spent a day or two in a cave. But she's grinning broadly.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Perry's dismount is slightly less . . . exuberant.

And he has no idea who most of these people are, but he does recognize his son's godfather.

"Lord Riddle."

He looks at the assembled group, and then grins.

"This would be Amy's doing, yes?"

494 is closest, so he gets greeted first.

A hug that might actually have knocked an ordinary human off his feet.

"God, it's good to see you guys," she says.

Hey. Seeing your friends right after having been kidnapped is no time to be restrained.

494 wheezes under Parker's tackle-hug, to be fair. Good thing he planted he feet as he noticed her accelerated approach.

"You too," he manages -- and admit it, he hugs back. (If Parker tells, he'll kill her. No, really.) "Come on, what choice did I have? You're my dealer. Bar won't give me Oreos on my own."

Hey, she wouldn't bruise a guy's ego.

Okay. So she totally would. But she wouldn't bruise a friend's ego.

"Yeah. You totally have to be in the hands of a responsible person before you deal in that much sugar."

Parker pulls back with a smile.

"Thank you," she adds.

Laura is standing close by. Looking, as is often the case, a reserved and a little awkward. Not that that discourages Parker. Laura gets the next hug.

"You guys. I can't believe you're here."

X's eyes go wide, but after a second's hesitation she hugs back.

Carefully.

"You were missing."

She says it very matter-of-factly.

"And we are good at finding people."

And sheep, apparently. And now that the dragon has landed --

"That is Elspeth?"

Beat.

"The sheep."

X is singleminded when on a mission. And now that Parker (and Perry) have been located --

"Elspeth. If you say so. And Norman. And Perry. Well, King Algernon."

Parker is going to chalk it up to stress that she's getting a little teary-eyed at seeing her friends. Getting dragon-napped is not all fun and games.

And it's topped off by a truckload of sappy sentimentality.

She laughs (totally at herself) as she rubs her watery eyes. And turns to the third member of the party--one she has never met before.

Parker smiles and holds out one hand. "Hi. I'm pretty sure I owe you some thanks, too."

Tom grins and takes it, bowing over it, but not kissing it. That would be untoward, he feels.

Although he wouldn't have said no to a hug.

"Tom Riddle, Lord Ostium of the House of Arch at your service. I'm a friend of the Royal Family. I take it nothing is amiss?"

He catches Perry's eye, assessing him for any signs of injury.

"Nothing is amiss, no," Perry says.

"This is Norman, or he's kindly letting us call him Norman, for the sake of expedience. He's, ah, come around to our side."

Perry steps closer to Tom and lowers his voice. "How's Amy doing?"

"She's holding up as well as can be expected, which is very well indeed," he says quietly. "I should think it time we get you home to her."

He glances at the dragon.

"Norman, eh? He speaks- our language?"

Tom will not get to use his mad Parselmouth skills this day.

Norman looks up from the attention he's been paying the sheep.

Flying is hungry work, but --

"You should probably hope I don't. If you're going to talk like I'm not here."

He says it very politely, though. Even if some looming may be involved. He needs to stretch his spine, after all. None of these people are exactly light.

"Your pardon, sir," Tom says, with another bow. "On my world, dragons speak a language which I can speak in a rudimentary way. It's an honor to speak with one who needs no translation."

He will talk poor Norman's ears off, if given the chance.

The dragon doesn't quite preen, but he does stop craning his neck at such an elaborate angle.

"Well, then. That's all right."

Though he may also study Tom as if maybe the human has a forked tongue. It would explain a lot.

Or not.

"If you don't want me to eat the sheep, we should probably start moving."

494 claps his hands and smiles overbrightly, enough to do any tour guide proud. "Sounds smashing! I for one would rather skip the sheep tartar course." He frowns at Norman as he gives the situation a once-over. "So... yeah. How are we going to do this?"

"Well, ah, I assume, given that you know the sheep's name, than you know where it belongs? Perhaps the owner would be kind enough to also look after the horses, if you think, Norman, that you could manage to carry all of us, back to Amber?"

It's sort of like a plan.

"You won't all fit on my back," Norman says.

But that part's not his problem.

They have an agreement.

"Oh."

X flicks a quick glance from Norman, to Parker and Perry, then to Tom. And 494.

And Elspeth.

"You can carry me. Like the sheep. I do not mind."

Beat.

"I will not fall."

Plus she's really hard to kill. And --

It looked like fun.

This proposition startles at least one member of Team Rescue.

"Wait, are you kidding? What am I talking about, no, of course you're not."

Damn it. It does sound kind of fun.

But someone has to tend to the human party.

Also it'll probably be more comfortable. And he likes comfort. Inasmuch as it applies to riding on dragons.

He sighs. Not at all grumpy or wistful. "I guess the livestock will need company. And reassurance that they won't be eaten at touchdown."

"Right, that's settled then.

"If one of you could just direct us toward the sheep's owner, and we'll drop it off, make arrangements for the horses, and then . . .

"Then we'll go deal with my uncle."

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