A'ton and Intefeth

This is the story of how A'ton Impressed Intefeth. (©SunBlind)
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Anton tried to control the bolting runner but with little success. It carried him through the brush, leaping over streams and turning without notice. Finally, already unbalanced, Anton met with a low branch of a tree and was knocked off his mount which continued on without him. He got up dazed but unhurt.

He looked around and realized that he stood on a small, secluded beach. The sun was shining warmly of the soft sand, the water lapping invitingly at the shore. Anton figured that he might as well take a swim to ease the soreness after his fall.

The water was wonderfully warm as it often was at that time of year. After a few moments though, Anton found another, even more secluded inlet. Coming out of the water he nearly stepped on a mound of sand. A moving mound of sand. A little head peeped out crying hungrily. Anton nearly fell over as he realized that this was a clutch of hatching fire-lizards. Already the first was crawling away in search of food.

Anton quickly scanned the beach for anything to feed the fire-lizards with before they all disappeared. He spotted a large dead fish which must have washed up on shore fairly recently. Quickly he cut it up with his knife and grabbed the closest fire-lizard and started to feed it. It crooned happily in his arms as it ate. A second one noticing that his sibling was being attended to began to demand attention for himself.

Working as quickly as he could, Anton pushed fish down their hungry mouths. Soon a third joined the group, scratching his arms as it tried to get more food for itself. Finally satisfied the three fire-lizards found spots on Anton's shoulder, lap and arm to sleep. Anton looked over at the now empty mound and let out a sigh of relief as no more hungry mouths were coming. Besides, he was now out of fish.

Carefully carrying the three lizards, he made his way with great difficulty out of the little inlet. To his relief his runner had not gone far after losing its rider. Anton set the sleeping lizards on the ground and went back to the first beach to retrieve his clothing. On his return, he made a kind of pouch out of his shirt into which he placed his new companions, then mounting his runner he headed back to his hold.

It was dark by the time he got back. He heard the familiar sound of the watch-wher coming over to inspect the new arrival. With a grunt it recognized Anton and slipped back into the shadows.

Quite a stir was caused by his late arrival, and the fact that he carried three fire-lizards with him. Most of the small hold gathered to hear his story as none of them ever had the opportunity to Impress one. When Anton had finished, one person called out, "So what's their names?" Anton paused a moment then grinned, "The green is Hwi, the blue Ix and the bronze is Keylar." Everyone nodded their approval.

A few months later -

Anton was out in one of the smaller fenced off fields trying to train a young runner to accept a rider. The fire-lizards were not helping much as their constant racket and aerial manuevers were terrifying for the runner. Finally Anton had to order them back to the hold. The bronze, instead of obeying, settled on his shoulder and sat there quietly. Anton mounted once again, his hand gentle on the side of the runners neck. He spoke reassuringly and sure enough, the runner stood still. Then two dragons came out from Between with a roar. This was too much for the runner to take and it bucked for all it was worth. Needless to say, even though Anton was a very good rider, he was unable to hold on. The runner jumped the fence and galloped out to the larger field where the rest of the herd had turned to flee as well.

The brown dragon landed near the main hold while the blue rider landed nearer to Anton. "I'm sorry for frightening that beast of yours." Anton grinned from ear to ear, "Its not like I've never been thrown before! The last time I fell off I found myself with three fire-lizards. It all depends on how you fall."

"Well, you might just get lucky again. There's a double clutch hardening on the sands of Taris Weyr and we're on Search for likely candidates. My blue is telling me to make sure I don't forget to take you back with me."

Anton was so surprised, his almost permanent grin was replaced by a wide "O". "You want me to be a candidate?", he turned to the dragon, "Are you sure?"

The dragon raised his head insulted, "Of course he's sure," the rider replied patting the blue on his neck.

The grin returned, "I didn't mean anything by that, I just needed to hear it for myself." The dragon accepted the apology with a soft snort of his warm breath. They headed towards the hold where another possible candidate was soon found. It was a young boy that Anton didn't know very well but had seen around. He wasn't much good with runners and even if he didn't Impress he would remain fostered to the weyr.

The two young men and the rider mounted the brown and with a mightly movement of his wings, they were airborn. The closest Anton had ever been to flying was when he rode runners over obstacles he'd set up in one of the fenced rings. He'd never felt anything more exhilerating than that up until now. Now paled in comparison to seeing the entire hold and its herds spread out below him.

"Hold on and don't be afraid," the rider told them. Anton suddenly felt like he had been sucked into the vaccuum of space, only there were no stars, there was no feeling, and it was freezing cold. He only had time to wonder if the dragon was still between his legs when they appeared above the weyr.

After landing the rider pointed to an opening in the mountain wall. "Go through there, someone will show you to a room where you can perpare for the Hatching tomorrow."

"Prepare?" thought Anton. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. After being shown the room, obviously all he had to do was wait. He wondered what he was doing there, and jumped up when he realized that the young runner was left running around with saddle and briddle still on. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. His usually cheerful nature was replaced with a more serious one. Hwi settled on his shoulder and hummed into his ear. Having nothing better to do he played an impossible game of tag with the quick little creatures until he tripped over a chair, knocking it and himself to the ground. Laughing at himself trying to catch the lightning fast fire-lizards he righted the chair and crawled into bed. With their warm little bodies pressed against his he fell asleep, not one bit worried about the next day.

The next morning -

He awoke to chaos around him. A woman was in his room, shrieking something about early eggs?? That's when he realized he was at the weyr and not the hold. Though she had left the room in a flurry of motion, Anton figured she must have meant the eggs were hatching and that they were actually a few hours early. He quickly put on the white robe she left for him. The fire-lizards tried to help, but as usual were more of a hindrance as they pulled off anything he had just pulled on. Laughing at their excitement he told them to sit still and let him finish.

A rider appeared at his doorway just as he finished. "Come, its time."

Anton followed him with a number of other boys. He noted that he was a bit older than the rest and that he was the only one who didn't look like he were heading out to his own funeral. But when he entered the hatching grounds, once again his grin faded as he took in how many people were there. Near the roof of the cavern he could see the eyes of many dragons glowing in the shadows. Late arrivals were still being dropped off by various dragon who then joined their friends above.

The first egg began to rock. One candidate eagerly rushed over to it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girls gather about the two queen eggs. Just then someone pushed him to the ground in his eagerness to get to another of the eggs. When Anton looked up it was into the swirling blue eyes of a bronze dragonet. ~My name is Intefeth,~ it stated, the fire-lizards settling down around him.

Stats:
Name: Intefeth
Rider: A'ton
Color: Bronze (male)
Parents: Black Sharanth x Brown Shaluath
Mate: Gold Lionath
Weyr: Talis Weyr (agency closed)
September 21, 1998