Author's Note: Sorry for this update taking so long guys. It's been a really busy and rough couple of months! But things seem to be looking up now - so keep your fingers crossed that nothing else crazy happens!

The sky was still dark when two wings of dragons came out of between above the Island Weyr. Kayta watched from Lysith's back as the first wave of mainlander dragons landed and lined up on the beach. More dragons lined the cliffs behind the Weyr, their eyes whirling bright red, orange, and yellow in the pre-dawn light.

I wish it hadn't come to this, but we had no choice! Her attempts to have Lysith speak to Calaranth had been unfruitful. The Bronze dragon had refused to respond to his Queen's request, though Kayta suspected that that was more because Z'char wouldn't let him than anything else. So, instead of meeting face to face, they were being forced to invade. The thought made her sick to her stomach; there was so much that could go wrong! In her opinion F'lar's plan was hazy at best - there was no way for them to know how the others would react to their sudden appearance - and she was afraid that it would result in dragon fighting against dragon. Lessa had tried to tell her that that wouldn't happen, but Kayta knew better; Z'char had had enough power to convince the bronzes to attack Lysith, so anything could happen today.

What she wouldn't give to be able to talk to N'kar again, to have him reassure her that everything would be okay, but the brownrider had been absent recently leaving her with only the Weyrleaders and the multiple Wingleaders who would be transferring to her Weyr for company.

The beach below them was quiet and still except for a lone watchdragon and rider who were both dosing in the sand. The blue woke up and opened his mouth to bugle, but Lysith quickly commanded him to stay silent. His alarm turned into more of a burp instead; apparently some of the dragons still recognized her as their queen even if their riders did not. I do not think we will have to worry. Sralth tells me the bronze and brown riders are drunk, the blue and green riders are unhappy with the bronze and brown rider's antics, and the lower caverns folk are scared.

Mmm. Take us down. Her stomach lurched as Lysith tucked her wings to her sides and dropped. NOTSOFAST! F'Lar wanted us to wait for them to land first!

I cannot help it if they are older and slower than I am. The queen snorted and back winged at the last second, setting down gently on the sand. Mnementh's and the other Weyrleader's descents were slower, and Kayta could feel F'lar's irritation rolling off of him as he dismounted and joined the her on the ground. He had originally wanted her to stay in the skies with the other Weyrwomen for safety, and when she had refused he had tried to order her to obey him. Lessa had intervened and mentioned something about Ramoth's first flight, and he had chuckled and eventually relented, but he could still order her aloft at any sign of danger.

Then be considerate of your elders. You are queen dragon, not a wherry. Kayta sighed and stepped forward, approaching the still sleeping bluerider snoring away on the sand. She nudged him, hard, with the toe of her boot.

He rolled over, blinking the sleep away from his eyes, and stared at her. Then, as he realized who he was looking at, the scowl on his face faded away to surprise and his mouth formed a perfect 'o'. "You... You're the... But he said you wouldn't dare... He said you would hide, like the spineless holder scum that birthed you..."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint him so badly."

"Sralth! Why are you doing your job you big overgrown firelizard! Wake the Weyr! Now!" The man yelled at his dragon. Kayta felt bad for the poor blue at that moment. He had turned an interesting shade of grey, and was huddled down as if he wanted to become one with the very sand beneath him. A low whine was emanating from his throat as he weaved his head back and forth, looking first at his rider, and then to Lysith. "Why aren't you doing as I say?"

"Because she is the Weyrwoman of this Weyr, and Lysith has commanded him not to." F'lar spoke.

Yet again, the bluerider's mouth seemed to form a perfect 'o' as he realized that Kayta was not alone. He spun slowly where he stood, taking in the two riders standing next to her, the dragons surrounding the Weyrbowl and hovering in the sky overhead - and then he promptly fainted. Sralth edged forward to cover his rider's body protectively, and Kayta reached out and patted him on the nose to reassure him. "He'll be fine."

Sralth says that N'bel and the others are being held in the storage rooms. Their dragons have been chained. Lysith informed her rider.

"Why didn't they fight back?"

Their riders told them not to.

"Shards." She cursed and quickly relayed the information to the Benden Weyrleader.

"R'nahl, D'mor, go see to them." F'lar started barking out orders. "N'kar, follow them, since this N'bel knows you."

"Yes, sir."

"Shall we proceed?" Kayta asked. She was looking forward to seeing the look on Z'char's face when he woke to find her and the other Weyrleader's standing over his bed.

"No; now we wait until we get their sign," He gestured in the direction his riders had disappeared.

R'nahl led them across the weyrbowl, keeping close to the water for fear of alerting anyone sleeping in the shelters here and there to their presence.

Lysith says the storage caverns are in the cliff face near the kitchen cavern. Elanth spoke to N'kar. She says her rider says that if you keep moving along the shore the way you are going, you will run into the cliffs and can follow them up.

N'kar passed the information along to his wingleader. The other man nodded and then frowned as a thought occurred to him, "They'll have guards - what should we do about them?"

The brownrider relayed the question back to Elanth, who replied with a snort. Lysith says that she will handle it. She is still their Queen and they must listen to her.

And if they're not riders?

She says the Weyrleader would not choose lower caverns folk or holders. He doesn't trust them. They might side with Kayta because she was one of them.

Mm.

They reached the cliffs the renegade Weyrwoman had told them about - a massive wall of rock that separated the beach and the weyrbowl from the rest of the Island. They paused to catch their breath but R'nahl would not let them rest too long; the sky above was beginning to brighten, turning from a deep black to dark blue.

"They've reached the cliffs." Kayta reported as Lysith relayed the other riders' position to her.

"Good," F'lar eyed the sky above them, then looked back at the Weyr. "Do you have any other friends amongst the dragonriders?"

"One or two." She admitted and flushed, reminded yet again that she had failed her duties as Weyrwoman.

"Have Lysith wake their dragons, and have their dragons wake them. It will be a shock to your riders when they awake to find themselves surrounded. I understand that N'bel and M'rocav are well respected, but if there are more men on your side, then it would make the transition easier."

"Of course." Before her rider could even make the request, Lysith had already reached out to W'fiel's bronze. Neither the dragon nor his rider were happy about being woken up, but once Kayta learns where they are, an idea occured to her – a way to help the mainlander riders that are on their way to free N'bel and M'rocav.

When Kayta had told them that the bronzeriders were being held in a storage cavern, N'kar had expected a maze like the lower caverns beneath Benden Weyr. Instead they found two men, fellow brownriders based on their shoulder knots, guarding the door to a dugout that was barely bigger than a watchwher's den.

"Lysith may have silenced their dragons, but that won't stop their riders from being quiet if they see us." R'nahl said as they waited in the shadows of the cliff and debated about what to do next. "We'll have to sneak up on them, rush them from behind…"

"It's already too late for that." D'mor pointed out – the sky had turned an even lighter shade of blue during the time it had taken them to reach the storage cavern, and they were now able to make out darker shadows around them. "They'd see us moving."

"But they wouldn't be able to see who we are. If the Weyr has been on a non-stop wine binge, we can just stumble around and pretend to be drunk."

"They have torches lit, as soon as we got close they would know we don't belong here…"

Lysith says that help is coming… Elanth spoke up, and N'kar held up a finger to silence his friends. A short distance away he could see a woman approaching the two riders guarding the dugout. As she drew closer to the light, he noticed that she was carrying a basket and two mugs that steamed in the cool early morning air. They were too far away for him to hear what she said to the men - but he could hear one of the riders laugh in response and then they both took the mugs and the basket from her. One of the riders started to drink while the other one tried to grab her. She danced out of the man's reach and, N'kar couldn't be sure, but he swore he saw her wink in his direction before running back the way she came.

"Some distraction that was," D'mor complained. "She didn't give us enough time to sneak up on them!"

"I don't think that was the plan." As he watched, one of the guards began to sway on his feet and the other had slumped against the wall of the cliffs surrounding them. When both men had collapsed to the ground, N'kar led the others out of the shadows. R'nahl bent to grab one of the mugs. He sniffed at the dregs left in the bottom of it. "Fellis?"

"No, something else." He frowned. D'mor dipped a finger in to taste it, but his fellow bronzerider held it out of his reach. "I wouldn't do that - unless you want to end up like them." He nodded at the men snoring at their feet.

Inside the storage cavern, three bound and gagged men waited for them. N'kar recognized N'bel immediately, but he was surprised to realize that he knew the other two as well. He had suspected that the men who had been with Kayta at the gather had been renegades, and even though the Weyrwoman had confirmed it, it was still a bit of a shock. He recovered himself quickly though and bent to undo the ropes binding N'bel while D'mor freed the other men in the room and R'nahl stood watch.

As soon as his hands were free, N'bel pulled the cloth gagging him away from his mouth. "Mainlanders?"

"Yes," The brownrider watched as the older man struggled to his feet. "Can you stand?"

"I'm just a bit stiff, not crippled." He studied N'kar's face. "You… how did you find us?"

"Kayta sends her regards."

They are safe! Lysith reported. They have freed their dragons and are on their way back here.

"Thank Faranth." Kayta sagged against her queen in relief. A short distance away, F'lar turned and frowned at her. "They're safe!"

Two familiar bronze dragons landed in the space just ahead of the Mainlander dragons gathered on the beach. As everyone turned to watch, M'rocav and N'bel dismounted from their respective lifemates, followed shortly by the Mainlander riders who had gone to free them. Kayta pulled herself up straight and nervously smoothed the front of her borrowed tunic before stepping away from Lysith side to join F'lar and the other Weyrleaders.

N'bel stopped in front of them; he glanced at Kayta for a moment, studying her, before letting his gaze settle on the Benden Weyrleader. "I understand we owe our freedom and allegiance to you now."

"Weyrs are autonomous."

"Yet that doesn't stop you from banishing riders if they upset you, or taking over Weyrs like ours."

"I asked them to help, N'bel." Kayta spoke up. "Z'char had to be stopped and there was no other way…"

"In time supplies would have run out, and the others would have seen the error of their ways. You could have waited until then and come back."

"And what about you and M'rocav and N'nyal? You would have been dead by then!"

"Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good…"

"To continue existing on rations and letting our riders harass the holders? Some greater good!" Kayta snorted.

F'lar stepped between the weyrlingmaster and the queenrider before their argument could continue. "What's done is done. We cannot go back and change things, so we must proceed with the original plan."

"And what is that?" N'bel asked.

"Kayta has made a promise to us that this Weyr, regardless of what purpose it may have had when it was founded, will start to assist the rest of the Weyrs in protecting Pern from thread. We have promised her and the rest of the dragonriders here our support while they adjust to becoming a productive part of Pernese society."

"Our riders are set in their ways."

"They will not like it at first, but they will learn to adjust." Kayta promised, after all, she had learned to adjust to living on a tiny island without any complaints. "Let's continue with the plan, shall we?"

N'bel continued to glare at her, but F'lar nodded. "Which way to this Z'char's weyr?"

"Follow me." She jerked her head away from the beach, up towards the cliffs that surrounded the weyrbowl. F'lar, N'bel, and the other Weyrleaders fell into a line behind her as she led them towards the wooden building that Z'char had claimed as his.

Now we get to deal with him? Lysith asked. A vicious tone in her voice that Kayta had never heard before tinged her dragons mental voice.

Yes, love. Now we get to deal with him and take back our Weyr.