Disclaimer: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Two: Further

They continued on. None of them had a clear idea of where they wished to go. Eventually they decided it would be safe enough to return to beach and continue down. That night they sent Hayatch, Urtiatch, Virika and Vyrania down to scout out some of what lay ahead, and others to scout behind and around for danger.

The two queens and two young women walked for a long time. They eventually became so lost in their thoughts and the familiar rhythms of walking that they didn't stop or look about to see where they were.

Hayatch was the first to notice anything amiss. She stopped the others with an outstretched arm and cocked her head. The humans and younger queen listened. In the distance to their right, up into the forest, they heard screams, feline and human, death and pain, triumph and anger, sorrow and loss and despair.

"They're being attacked!" cried Hayatch, and instinctively moved towards the sounds. Her instincts to stay away from humans did nothing for her hatred of the felines and pity for their victims. The humans sprang after her. Urtiatch hesitated, then came after all of them.

Through the forest they charged headlong until they came out at a devastating scene.

Apparently it have once been a small hold. Now, the surviving family members were three men trying to fight a pack of five remaining felines, three children and two women, who were trying to get up into the higher level of the house, but the felines had knocked a supporting beam from the ceiling somehow and it blocked their way to the top. From the second floor a young boy screamed.

Hayatch roared, her eyes flaming scarlet and yellow and leapt at the men, half-crouching in front of them, fangs bared, wings menacingly half-spread, tail lashing, claws glinting. Urtiatch leapt on a feline who hesitated. The girls ran for all they were worth into the fray.

Virika clung to the back of one, one arm around its neck, stabbing with her belt knife until it fell over with a snap, neck twisting strangely and blood pouring from its side. Vyrania waited no time bestriding her creature's back, but threw her knife, which buried itself into the animal's chest, killing instantly.

Urtiatch slashed hers across the throat and leapt clear. Hayatch tackled one, landing a bite in its throat that spilled its lifeblood instantly, and whacked the other so solidly on the back with her tail that it never moved again.

The dragon-folk's growls faded and their eyes returned to normal blue-greens. Hayatch heard something and went to the wreckage, pulling something out of it gently with both hands. The squalling infant calmed under her gentle touch and she gave it carefully to the woman who reached for it, though plainly terrified of the queen.

One of the men leveled his spear at the eight-foot-tall person, but when she regarded him disdainfully, chin held proudly up and turned her back on him to rejoin her three friends.

"We're sorry to have frightened you." Vyrania almost smiled at her sister's tone, but held herself in check. Virika addressed the men as calmly and quietly as if she had stopped in for a mug of klah with old friends. The effect was spoiled as she wiped clean her blade and sheathed it. As if she had simply shouted 'boo!' from behind them, the younger girl though, amused.

The four turned to leave, when one of the women half slithered, half walked down the stairs, leaving the other clutching the baby Hayatch had returned. "Wait," she said softly. They turned to look at her. She peered hard at the two humans. "Virika? Vyrania?" she asked disbelievingly.

000

Through the grim of the fight they had not recognized her, nor thought it possible for her to be there. All four of them cried out comically, "You!"

"And Hayatch and… Urtiatch?" The two stunned dragon-folk nodded slowly. They did not fancy being captured again, and this was the woman who had brought them food often along with Virisail, the girl's mother when they had been imprisoned.

"How did you get here, Aunt?" Vyrania frowned at her mother' foster sister. The last time they had seen Peklasail was at her wedding three years ago at Ruatha. The sisters looked past her. Now one of the men, the one who had pointed his spear at Hayatch, became recognizable as her husband, Molujind.

"Aunt!" chorused their draconic friends.

"We came, and we like this spot, so here we are." She impatiently brushed that aside. "But Faranth's eggshells- what are you doing here!"

Virika and Vyrania glanced at each other, then at the queens, then back at their foster-aunt.

Virika sighed. "Looong story."

Vyrania decided to hurry things up a bit. "Anyway, we've got to go, so it was nice seeing you, Aunt!" She took Virika's hand and towed her back to the forest, the queens following.

"That was a close one," she commented as they reached the beach. "I just hope they don't tell anyone they saw us all."

"If they did they'd just think they're crazy," Virika reminded her.

"Yes, but if they say they saw us, as in you and me, someone might just believe them. How else could they know we weren't with mother? I don't think anyone told them."

"We'll be long gone by the time they could tell anyone," her sister assured her. But she knew Vyrania was right.

They said nothing of it to the others when they returned.

000

They judged as they started under way again that they were far enough to escape notice from the humans who had forced them out of their home, and those who carried nothing scouted inland and up the coast.

Hayatch reported in to Virika in mid-afternoon that they, as ever she and Urtiatch worked together, had found a promising site into the jungle. Vyrania and her sister impatiently urged their runnerbeasts along, not thrilled with the idea of going slowly and reaching the possible shelter.

In the early evening they arrived at the two queen's prospective home.

It was inland but, as the other home had been, situated within a stone's throw into the forest. A large rock with many entrances and hollows in its surface had deep caverns large enough for the larges of the dragonfolk, Hayatch, to enter only at a slight stoop, careful to keep her wings from scraping on the rough ceiling. Inside it was surprisingly spacious, and light filtered in through holes in the walls and ceiling.

Outside, some distance to the side, was a grassy area where runners grazed and a clear stream ran quick and cool over polished rocks. On the hot beach sands were some great slabs of rock, three times Hayatch's length including tail, and varying in angle, width and thickness. They were ideal for sunning.

Other dragonfolk came, inspected and approved it vigorously. By the time every one of them had seen it they approved it. Bundles were set away in the caverns and they chose sleeping spots for the night.

They wondered to each other if this were not a better place than their old home anyway.

Virika and Hayatch were awake long after Vyrania and the others. They explored their new temporary situation fully as the stars winked awake and the two moons rose. At last they returned to the others and fell asleep.

The author would like to say that she had no idea why she stuck the girl's aunt in this story, and Peklasail is not currently planned to turn up again in this story, so just forget about her after this.