Disclaimer: Jurassic Park is not mine. Avanwë, Q, Mirage, and Fasir are not mine. :)

Chapter Seven

"Over this way!" Morgan called. The others followed her closely.

At first, she didn't know where she was going. She was only following the echo of the voice in her head. On top of that, her vision was starting to blur. She could barely see ten feet in front of her. She'd had no idea the poison would work so fast.

"Morgan . . . wait," came Peter's voice from behind her. Morgan was surprised. He'd never asked her to go slower or wait before, no matter how hurt or tired he was. She stopped immediately.

Peter collapsed to his knees. "Sorry . . . can't . . ."

"It's okay, Peter," Eric assured him. "Morgan?"

"I have some idea, but not much," she admitted, too exhausted and in too much pain to lie to them. "We . . . could split up, some of us go on ahead. I wouldn't, except I have this feeling that . . . that something's going to happen, soon, if we don't."

Eric nodded. "Then we need to be extra careful, as few people as possible. Dr. Malcolm, Dr. Grant, come with me and Morgan."

Ian nodded, and soon found himself in the front by Morgan. Instinctively, he took her hand. It was icy cold. Unlike Kelly, Morgan didn't shy away from the gesture. Instead, she welcomed it, and her hand closed around his as she led them on, half-running, half-stumbling, through the woods.

Alan looked up at them, a few paces ahead. They were both exhausted - he could tell. But neither of them slowed down, and he and Eric had to try hard just to keep up.

Alan knew, of course, that the only thing on Ian's mind was finding his daughter. That was the only thing that would get him to come to this island. And Morgan? It was pretty obvious that she cared about Athos, whoever he was. That went for Eric, as well. But what about him? What was he doing there?

Suddenly, Morgan stopped. "Listen," she whispered.

Alan did, and he could hear something, like a kind of whimpering, or crying. "Kelly!" Ian shouted. The sound was so close, but where?

"Daddy!" Kelly came running towards them. Ian ran forward, letting go of Morgan, and wrapped his daughter in a huge hug.

"Where's Athos?" Eric asked no one in particular.

Ian's face grew serious again. "Kelly, was there anyone with you?"

"You sound terrible." Kelly was now near tears. "What happened?"

"Kelly, we can talk later, and I'll explain everything, but right now I really need to know, was there anyone with you?"

Kelly was trembling. "Over here." She led them a little ways, to where Athos was lying.

Eric rushed up immediately and checked his pulse. "He's alive; that's good news, at least. What happened, Kelly?"

"It was a Tyrannosaur," Kelly managed through tears.

Ian stared, and his own injuries came back to him like a flood. He shuddered. This was too similar.

Ian quickly unlatched Kelly's arms from around his waist. "It'll be all right, he'll be all right," he reassured her. It was a bunch of nonsense and he knew it, but it calmed her down, and her crying became quieter. "It's all right," he repeated, heading over to where Eric was kneeling by his friend. "How can I help?"

Eric was busy examining Athos' injuries. He'd been thrown hard against a tree. Several ribs were definitely cracked. His back might be broken. He might slip into a coma. He might not be able to walk even if they somehow managed to wake him. He could die of shock, or blood loss, or half a dozen other things.

Eric rolled up Athos' right sleeve, which was covered in blood. What he saw amazed even him. Blood was everywhere, and what he could only guess were pieces of bone.

Morgan took off her sweater and handed it to Eric, who tied it tight around Athos' upper arm, near the shoulder, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Can I do anything?" Ian asked again.

"You know this island?" Morgan asked.

"Sort of."

"Can you help me find a river or stream or something - fresh water of any kind?"

"I can try."

"Wait," Eric said before they took off. "Dr. Malcolm, Dr. Grant, I need some advice. Should we move him yet or bring the others here?"

Ian looked Athos over. Moving him might kill him. But they'd have to move him sooner or later. But the others still needed a rest; they could come and wait while they decided what to do.

Alan was thinking the same thing. "Ian, I know this island, too. You go with Kelly and get the others. I'll help Morgan. What do you need, Eric?"

"Water, and maybe a miracle."

"You got anything to carry it in?"

"The water or the miracle?" Eric joked. "Umm . . ." He looked around, then undid his belt, drew his sword, and handed Alan the sheath. "You can go with Kelly and Ian and get the others' quivers, too. That should do it."

Alan nodded. Resourceful. Not that they had much choice. Still, not everyone would have thought of that. "Morgan, can you contact Tandro?"

"Yeah. How long will it take him to get here, do you think?"

"I don't know," Alan admitted. "Hopefully not longer than we have."

"Tandro," the elf heard the voice in his head, but, even telepathically, his friend sounded weak. "Tandro, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, le Fay," he lied. "What is it?"

"We found him, but there's been a problem. He and Kelly were attacked by a Tyrannosaur. Kelly's fine, but Athos was hurt, badly. We need him out of here as soon as possible."

"Where are you? Are you close to the coast?"

"No. We're in the woods."

"Okay. What's the plan?"

"You tell me."

"I'll come down, circle the coast. If you're not there, I'll head for the forest."

"Tandro, the reason you're the one who stayed is because we thought you'd have the sense not to do that!"

"Look, le Fay. You and Dr. Malcolm are going to die if we don't find an antidote for that poison. I didn't want to scare you, but I looked the arrows over again and I recognize the poison. It's an old experiment of Athos'. Looks like Angelica either didn't know or didn't care. And now you're telling me that Athos is hurt, badly. The rest of you are okay, I presume, but who knows how long that will last? Especially considering where you are. Your lives are worth the risk, Kenobi. End of story. I'm coming down."

"Tandro?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Is he nuts?" Avanwë exclaimed. "He'll never find them like that!"

Q grinned. "What happened to your confidence, Avanwë? Love triumphing over everything?"

"Q, this is ridiculous! You've gone too far!"

Mirage smirked. "What's the matter, Avanwë? Afraid you might be wrong?"

"No," Fasir answered for her. "No, she is right. Love triumphs, always. Sometimes, however, Mirage, love takes the form of sacrifice."

"Q, that's my sister!" Avanwë insisted.

"It was your idea to choose her," Q pointed out. "I only asked you to find examples. I didn't say you had to choose your own sister."

"You mean this is my fault!"

"Well, yes. You could have chosen anyone else."

Avanwë thought. "No," she said at last. "No, these are the perfect people for this. And they will succeed, Q. You just watch."

Q grinned. "That's what I'm here to do."

Muahahahahahaha. Okay, that was a short chapter. Will try to make next one longer, seeing as I have two weeks while I'm in Virginia to write it! Yippee! Bad part is, I won't get to see two of my cousins because one of them had a camp thing they had to go to when we're going to go there, so they came early. But we couldn't because my dad needed to be here for work! Aaaarrrggghhh! Life is so confusing! So unpredictable!

Ian: Of course it is. Unpredictablility is built into our daily lives.

Smeagol: I know, you don't need to tell me. Go bug my sister.

Ian: Okay.

a writer of fics -- :) Glad you like it. I am definitely enjoying writing it. :)

Alison -- Hannon le. (That's thank you in Elvish.) :)