About one hour from the last chapter
Mercy woke from her daze when the sound of the falling rain stopped and the rays of the sun once again began to shine through the layer of clouds. She stretched and ran her left-hand fingers through her hair, waking up Larith by her sudden movement. The little queen yawned broadly, then stretched thoroughly before looking at Mercy with a 'What now?' expression.
Mercy chuckled lightly, but then silenced. She had almost missed it, but she could hear faint voices coming from the beach. Slowly, she motioned for her fire lizard to be quiet, not sure whether she would understand or not. But it seemed to work, because Larith didn't make any noise as she took off and landed on Mercy's shoulder, wrapping her tail around the neck of the girl.
As she slowly tiptoed closer to the cave entrance, the voices became louder, "I told you we should have come earlier! Now they have all hatched. Mardra will not be pleased." A gruff, male voice said. Silently, Mercy watched from the shadows of the cave, seeing two male riders standing by the fire lizard nest. They seemed to be arguing about whom of them should take the blame.
"This is your fault for not listening to T'kul's warnings. I told you we should have gone weeks ago!", one of them said, Mercy was not close enough to determine which of the men the gruff voice belonged to, but then the second man spoke, "It was too early, I told you that too. Now don't blame me, maybe there is another nest somewhere around here. They love beaches, right?" he said. Mercy smiled at the argument, but then her smile was wiped off of her face.
A dragon landed next to one of the riders, a brown, the rider turned around, "What is it Lovuth?" he asked and looked at his dragon. There was silence for a few seconds as the brown dragon, Lovuth, seemingly explained something to his rider. The other man, now Mercy knew he was the one with the gruff voice, waited impatiently, his foot beating a quick rhythm against the sand.
"In the cave?" The rider of Lovuth finally said and looked in the direction of the cave Mercy was in. Despite the heat, her blood froze and her heart began to beat faster and harder. The rider with the gruff voice looked at the cave, "What's in the cave?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed, "Explain, Z'ev." He requested. The brown rider, Z'ev began walking towards the cave, "Lovuth says there is a girl and that she has the abilities to impress a dragon." He said.
Mercy looked around, her fear slowly turning to panic as she searched for a place where she could hide. There was nowhere suitable in the cave. Silently, she swore. This was not exactly what she had expected from a simple trip like this one. She backed away from the cave entrance as Z'ev slowly neared, his eyes darting around, trying to spot her. When she had backed all the way to the end of the cave, he finally saw her, and her panicked expression.
"You are not from here." Was the first thing he said. He frowned at the look of her pale skin and blonde hair, but then his eyes widened at the sight of the little queen on her shoulder, "A fire lizard.." he mumbled, but then tilted his head, looking at her expression.
He chuckled lightly and smiled at her, "There is no need to be afraid, I won't bite. Though, I cannot make the same guarantee for R'vero and Cesoth." He said, glancing behind to make sure that the other rider, whose name was apparently R'vero, wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying. Then he reached out his hand for her to take, "Come along." He said, not a request, more of an order. Mercy hesitated before making up her mind. She walked past him, not taking his hand, and out into the sunlight. She was not entirely comfortable in this situation, two dragons and their fully grown male riders against her and the one-day old fire lizard.
She had heard a lot of things about the old-timers of the Southern weyr, how they only charred thread over the areas whose owners paid them to do so, how they lived on the edge of the rules and how they were banished for not following the ethics of the other riders. Nobody liked the southerners, some even feared them, and she didn't like them either.
The other rider, R'vero, stood outside the cave and looked at her, "Well I'll be. Lovuth was right for once." He said, his voice not very pleasant. Mercy already knew that he was one to watch out for, one who wouldn't step aside for anybody or care if he broke rules to achieve his goal. Like the stereotypical Old-timer. So she stared right back at him, not saying a word. His dragon, the one named Cesoth, landed behind him, letting out a bellow to make Lovuth move. The brown dragon looked up and stepped a few meters closer to the water, making space for the larger bronze.
Larith hid her head in Mercy's hair, letting out a thin sound that made it clear to the girl that her little queen didn't like Cesoth at all, she seemed quite scared of him. Z'ev stepped out of the cave and looked at the bronze rider, his expression a mix of very well-hidden hatred and annoyance, "I'll take her to the weyr. Then you will be completely free to take the honor of any fire lizard nests you find." He said. It seemed like he knew the other rider's pride all too well, because R'vero just nodded, a badly concealed smirk on his face that clearly showed what he thought of the brown rider and his dragon.
"Come on now." Z'ev said as soon as R'vero was at a distance that kept him from hearing what was said. Mercy smiled lightly, finding that she actually liked Z'ev pretty well. He was a bit like a kind grandfather, but younger of course, at least as far as she knew, while R'vero seemed far more grumpy, outrageous and proud. Lovuth stepped closer to them and bended his front legs, allowing Mercy to use his elbow as a step to get up on his neck. Z'ev jumped up with no difficulty at all and took the rein. He looked back at her, "Lovuth will tell your fire lizard where we are going so she can follow us." He said and then smiled, "Hold on." He advised, just before Lovuth took off into a steep angle towards the sky. Mercy, without thinking, grabbed hold of the brown rider's belt to keep herself from falling off as the dragon headed into the cold of between.