It had to be luck. She was easy. Old Washed up has been star in her forties. On vacation on a beach in a pair of shorts and a long tunic instead of a bikini. Perfect hostage for a little ransom taking action. This guy no way. He was close to nine feet tall, built like every dream girl's gladiator and looked mean even bound down hard with all the heavy anchor chains and the like they had found to try and hold him.

They were stupid though. You never let one prisoner know you have another or where they are, or in this case that they might be capable of an entire valley full of asswhoopins. Grinning she crawled off the straw bedding that they had thrown her on and inched her way to him.

"Hold still special ops baby. Mamma Hollywood is going to get ya out of those chains."

He was lose and she was grinning as this huge towering fellow stood to his full height over her. He was mostly black with golden and ruby bead work in huge dreads that looked more like reptile bodies then hair of any kind. He chirred at her before tearing her bonds to shreds with sheer strength. Oh now she could cause chaos as well as let him have the chance to revenge himself on these terrorist scumbags too. Smiling evilly, ideas going through her head at a million miles an hour, She fled out the door and to the side of the direction he went.

Night Sky was getting older. His dreads brushed the ground and he had gems in them to go with the gold now, but he'd let himself be caught like an ignorant pup. Perhaps though no other way would be found to complete Paya's will in the mater. That human would not have so easily escaped on her own. The scans had shown her to have at one time bred offspring. She was valuable to the human herd, yet males here showed no respect, and now they were going to get what they had coming to them. Her thoughts had been full of lethal and very distracting mishaps she could cause as she had left. He was amused. As a Psionic on another world he had mostly gotten horrible backwash of filth from the humans he had been near enough to read. This one, this story teller who had been forced to retire because no one else wrote stories for her any more was rather glorious by comparison.

She lived up to her thoughts moments later. The blast of fuel ignition in one of the crude human vehicles made his blood pulse fast even and his hearing dulled a bit. Then he recovered and dodged behind a building to see if his equipment was dry enough to function. It was dry enough. The weather and water proof newer editions of his gear kit that his offspring had reccomended he would be purchasing soon a he arrived back in civilization. He hated new technologies, but in this instance some adaptation was needful.

The human was fighting with some of her kind's weaponry. She had already killed eight of their captors by the time he circled round again to meet her. He flashed into existence before her eyes and she grinned at him as if she was having the greatest time. Her pulse was up and her eyes were scanning. Another enemy appeared and she shot right around him with the human projectile cannon she had found. He trilled at her again. His one was as unwilling as the other instance had been. She was glorious and her kind didn't realize the priviledges she granted them with her presence.

Finally all those who had imprisoned them were dead. He had taken many trophies, but some had proven not worth it. Several had been but pups and his growls and roars had scared them away once their projectile weapons proved ineffectual. She had released one also while chastising him about what his mother would think if he did not come back home.

"If you are wondering why so many little fellows, its how they take control of otherwise maybe bright kids and make fanatics of them. From being so poor you can't eat to eating full belly worth of food three times a day is a big change for a little child. That and all sorts of privileged goodies meant for adults only like hard drugs and drinking and hookers. Converts them almost every time."

He nodded as he understood the concept behind her words and the vast disgust that prompted her to kick a already dead enemy at her feet. "Che' Assholes. All had their deaths coming for quite a while. Glad to be delivery."

He carefully had her holster her weapon before his son and the rest of the hunting party arrived. She looked strangely at his son before gesturing to him and then back to himself. Night Sky understood what she was asking him to confirm. Shadows Fall was indeed a very near carbon copy of his coloring when others were mostly green or tawny in coloration with various black, yellow and light green spots and streaks to their hides. His mother had been tawny. The coloration being dominant had been nearly certain.

Yes he's mine. My eldest suckling now old enough to hunt on earth himself.

"Good looking kid. Good for you. My sons would be twenty two this week if they hadn't died back in the nineties."

Her sorrow was vast. Men who had been much like these ones had killed her children while she was bound and helpless and forced to watch. He trilled softly as did two of the other three and his son. She smiled through the tears that were washing dirt off her face in muddy tracks. He could smell the salt of grief and he wished he could take it from her.

"I hope every day to not have one day or even an hour when that image is not in front of me. I never get the blessing I ask for."

You should not stay here then. Father she should come with us.

"Nice thought kid, but how bad would that be for your father huh? I bet he's the only one in this party with enough status to get away with it thus far. How badly would it drop him down though? I'm suffering, like every day since then. Running away isn't the answer even when you face the greatest pain you will ever face in this or any other universe. Even so it is never the answer."

It is not running away. It is why my wise pup suggested it. It is finding a new home where new things draw you away from your heartbreak. Give it a chance, and if in three years of your kind you find it no longer appealing then you find your way back here and walk out of the jungle with 'no memory.' of what happened until you woke up and decided to go home

"I'll go with you then. Who knows what kind of neat adventures we can have together huh? My Name is Dinah Clearwater. So what are your names? My new best pals and traveling buddies should be known to me on a first name basis."

I am Night Sky. This my offspring is Shadows Fall. This golden warrior of the clan is Sharp Daggers. These two are Frozen Heart and his twin Dark Rivers.

"Greetings Ooman. I am the only one who can speak your tongue aloud at this time. Night Sky and my other brethren do not see it as necessary with their skills as they are."

"Nice to meet you Sharp Daggers. That will make this less weird at least sometimes I will have someone to talk with in actual speaking."

She turned and began gathering weapons and ammunition off the dead humans. Finally she had enough of everything to suit her thinking. Then she gathered other supplies. Mostly fabrics. Even some that were worn and torn. He sensed her reasoning and growled low. Her cycles were still on time and 'regular as rain.' She was capable of breeding and that would cause some unction if they did not find a place to lock her away on ship while the younger pups went through their hormonal cycles. Trouble or not though, he had made a fair offer to a fair and fairly courageous female. He had to keep his word and it was his job to find ways to do that.

Blasting into orbit and watching the world fall away with surprisingly little in the way of vibration, Dinah smiled and hoped to hell she never saw her home again. It was enough truly and she needed to find a way to be again after just existing. Time to spread her wings and see if they were healed enough for her to fly.