A young dragon awakens after a long hibernation period only to find that his family's den has decayed beyond recognition. "What happened here?" he asks, but receives no answer.

After an exhaustive search of the den, he finds the entrance partially blocked by vegetation. He bites and claws through to find the sun glaring into his eyes, and stumbles down the side of the mountain to the soft underbrush below. Despite the fall, he is able to get up and walk to a nearby water hole that seems familiar to him, and bathes.

***

Hidden behind the lush greenery, the hellspawn called Blackthorne the cat watches the bathing figure with great curiosity. It's been a long time since he had his last meal, and his desperately growling stomach tells him that, in the absence of animals, birds, lawyers and guardsmen, he could probably take a small nibble at the splashing stranger. All that stops him is a nagging feeling that by doing so he would somehow make the biggest mistake of his life... so, with a hiss, Blackthorne turns away and his sleek black shape disappears amid the trees.

***

The bathing form changes from dragon to that of a human nature. After getting out and drying of in the sun, he goes back to the water hole for a drink and is startled by the new appearance there.

"Human, why are you here" he asks, not noticing right away that the mirror image is matching his phrase verbatim. Finally it dawns on him that he is the human.

/But how did that happen?/ he wondered. /Can I do it again?/

Stepping back into the water, the young one tries again to morph. This time a new form emerges, that of a feline, but of a variety that he doesn't know. Searching through his memory, the Kit remembers his name: "Tigre", and that he was part of a family that now seems to have been decimated.

Returning to dragon form was easy for Tigre. He practiced morphing into all his forms at least three times a day. One time each for each form. Every so often, usually when he was in 'human form', Tigre would sense that he had yet another name, and that there was a familiar presence that has been watching him.

"I know that you are there, Great One," he mewed reverently one day, "I am ready to learn the lessons that you have for me."

As he spoke these words, a tall figure floated into the clearing as if from nowhere. It was hard to see whether it was male or female, or whether it was in fact human, for all that could be seen was a dark-blue cape that seemed to shift and change around its bearer like a cloud.

"Don't be afraid, young dragon," the apparition said in a voice that was as old as a grave. "I'm no Great One you seek, but I do wish to help you. You shall achieve nothing by staying in this godforsaken place. Follow the mountain path to the south and go over to Britain. Find the young woman they call Daria and show her this amulet that rightfully belongs to you."

Tigre watches in amazement as a thin hand of the stranger throws something small and silvery towards him, and as he barely manages to catch it, the creature disappears into the forest as discreetly as it came. Meanwhile, lying in Tigre's palm is an amulet in a form of a silver dragon.

Not even looking up at the stranger, Tigre replies, "I shall do as you say," and starts on his journey south.

***

With the amulet fastened around his neck, Tigre follows the path to Britain in his feline form at first, but soon realizes that it does have its drawbacks...

"AH! A TIGER! RUN!"

"Come here cute little kitty."

"AH HA! Another trophy for my den!" The hunter who uttered this statement barely survived the encounter, as did young Tigre. The dragon chose his 'human form' next and found that it was easier to walk around populated areas this way than the feline way. As he approached the next town he was stopped by the guards, who asked his business in the area.

"I am on my way to Britain. Is this it?" Tigre asked them politely, and awaited their response.
"Yes, it is", answered one of the guards, sizing up Tigre and noting the curious lack of weapons or provision. "Only I would be careful if I were you, for it is not a safe road to travel these days. The damned headless have been more trouble than usual lately."

"Headless?" Tigre asked the obliging guard, nervously and said "I'll make sure I keep an eye out for them then."

Having gained entry into Britain, Tigre began an active search for the mysterious person Blackthorne told him to find... Daria... After searching for about a couple hours he began to get hungry.

/How will I go about getting food when I don't have the coin for it?/ Tigre wondered. To trade the amulet for coin would be a foolish gesture, even if it did help him to buy food. Transforming into a cat may help, but doing so may also get him killed by rowdies or something else. Dracoform was definitely out! Why panic the citizens?

Concerned with how he would get the coin he needed for a meal, Tigre leaned on an imaginary post without falling. A passer-by noticed this and threw him a couple coppers for the act. Not noticing, Tigre continued to stand there, thinking about what to do about a meal, and crossed his legs. Soon a group of people stopped to see what the newcomer was doing and tossed a few coins his way. Tigre looked down at his feet and saw a pile of coins!

Stunned, he didn't even notice his audience, and thanked whoever helped him out. "YOU'RE WELCOME!" The audience replied and went their separate ways. All except one person left...

The young woman standing before Tigre looks him over thoughtfully, then says: "Forgive my curiosity... but how did you come about owning this amulet you're wearing?" What the young dragon can't see is that she's wearing an identical amulet under her bright-blue blouse.

A giant black cat Tigre hasn't seen a second ago gave him a malevolent hiss of recognition and brushed against his legs, then, apparently having lost interest, started to wash his paw instead.

Daria looks at the stranger with a new interest. "I've -never- seen Blackie reacting so friendly to a stranger before... who -are- you?"

"My lady," the stranger said as he bowed to pet the seemingly familiar cat,"I am known as 'Tigre', but I can't help but feel as though I may have another name."

Tigre also began to gather his new found wealth, but sensed that the lady may have wanted more information than just his name...

"I am, or shall I was, the last of my clan... "he continued cautiously, "I was told, by a mysterious source, that another has survived the cataclysm that destroyed the Cavern Weyrs to the north..."

/Maybe I have said too much?/ Tigre thought to himself, then said "I am searching for someone named 'Daria', who is said to live in this town. Are you her?"

"Yes, my name is Daria," said the young woman, "and if you value having both arms attached to your body you won't try to pet Blackthorne again. He may act friendly but I assure you he won't tolerate this kind of thing, not even from me. Anyway, this is not a good place to have a talk, so do you want to go somewhere less draughty? If you trust me, that is."

"I place my life into thy hands, my lady..." Tigre said bowing, "Shall we get under way?" Tigre also heeded the warning about touching the cat, but wondered /Where may have I seen him before?/

As they went on their way, Tigre asked, "The guards at the gate said something about 'Headless'... What are they?" Daria looks at him with surprise. "You must be jesting! Haven't you seen those monsters? Human-shaped, but no head?" But Tigre's face told her that the young man wasn't joking.

A few minutes later, they came to the shabby-looking tavern whose barely visible name Tigre couldn't make out, as the tavern keeper apparently hasn't bothered to replace the faded sign ruined by the rain and the sun. To his surprise, the place was rather clean and well-maintained on the inside, and not very crowded at this time of the day. A tired-looking woman in her fifties gave Daria a brief smile, and gestured towards the small table standing discreetly in the dark far corner of the room. As always, there was a brief moment of hushed conversations as Blackthorne made his way around the tables, but apparently the customers felt themselves quite safe for the room was again full with the usual tavern buzz.

After a short meal, Daria sat back and listened as Tigre told her his short story, finishing with his discovery of the silver amulet. She was silent at first, as though unable to believe what she just heard, then, with a slight hesitation, she reached below her cloak and pulled out an exquisite silver chain with a small amulet on it. It is identical to the one that Tigre's wearing around his neck.

"Well, stranger... or should I say, cousin, if that mysterious voice you heard told you that I'll be able to answer your questions, it was wrong. I'll tell you what I know and what I have always believed: my entire clan was wiped out by the powerful sorceress many years ago when she collapsed our Weyrs with her evil magic. I know not her name or the reasons she brought destruction upon my kin, although my mother had reasons to believe that she may have come from another world. My mother believed she was the only survivor, and now that she's dead, I've always thought I was the only dragon of my clan alive. I've been living quietly among the humans for a very long time now and this amulet is all I have to remember my heritage by. But apparently, I was mistaken, for here you are with your incredible story and your amulet, and I don't know what to make of it all..."

"A mystery that may be solved by going back to where I came from, I guess." Tigre mused, "However, I have the feeling that I have a more familiar name to you than 'Tigre'. Now if I could just figure out what it was..."

"I suppose you're right," says Daria slowly. "I've been ignoring my past for far too long. Now it's time to confront it. A few patients may miss me, but I'm sure that Sharmene can take care of it." Abruptly, she rose up from the table, and after settling a bill, beckoned Tigre to follow her.

"I have a feeling that the quest we're about to take won't wrap up in a few days," she said, as they went back out on the streets. "I'd like to be fully prepared. Plus you look like you could use some sleep."

As they went along the darkened alley, with Blackthorne strolling independently in the front, Tigre asked, "Will he be going with us?"

"Blackie? If he feels like it. I wouldn't think of telling him what to do. I'm not even sure why exactly he chooses to stay with me. Probably because, hellish spawn of evil though he is, he still likes a warm spot by the fireplace just like any other cat."

In fact, it took Daria a couple of days to settle all her matters in the town, after which the two of them set out on the way back to the mountains. Although it was tempting for Daria to use her dragon shape in order to get there quicker, she ultimately discarded that idea with reluctance as she wanted to take no chances. Blackthorne was nowhere to be seen.

Tigre himself was tempted to change into one of his other forms, but didn't know how his newly found cousin would react.

"Cousin, did our family have special abilities?" he asked Daria one evening. "Perhaps. Why do you ask?" she replied. "I have one of them if...." Tigre looked extremely nervous for a moment and said "Watch." After backing away from the fire a little he transformed into his great cat namesake and back.

Daria's mouth formed a perfect "O" as she watched with amazement. "You keep surprising me, cousin! Mother never told me of anything like this, and I've always believed that dragon and human were the only shapes available to our kind. What other forms can you take?"

"Human as you can see, and..." Tigre's form changed yet again into a young silver dragon, "Our family's favorite form, I think." He smiled and waited for Daria's response.

...Which didn't come as the young woman appeared to be listening to something with a worried look on her face. Finally she gives Tigre a wry smile as she says, "Well, cousin, your shapes are going to be of great use to us, for I believe we're being attacked this very moment..."

From the darkness beyond the campfire, they can hear heavy, animal breathing noises as several indistinct shapes circle around the small traveling party, getting closer and closer. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Daria realises that what surrounds them is at least a dozen of headless, perhaps more.

"We do not need this," she says to Tigre, hastily. "I think we should abandon the camp and use our wings to escape under the cover of the night."

Not wanting to disagree with her, Tigre took flight, with his cousin, towards his old den. "Daria, Were those 'Headless'?" he asked her shortly after take off. "They most certainly were, and we got out just in time too..."

Looking back, briefly, at their camp, Tigre saw that it was now over run by the foul monsters that he had only just learned about. "The good thing about camps," he heard his cousin say, "is that they are temporary." "Truly," Tigre replied, as they continued to fly though the night towards his old den.

***

When cousins landed near the entrance, they heard a strange noise coming from within.

/Could that be a headless in there?/ Tigre wondered to himself, then he asked his cousin: "What should we do now?"

"Well, it looks like there is no other choice but investigate... with great precaution," replied Daria, while straining her ears trying to identify the noise. It was indeed strange and reminded her vaguely of the humming bees. While not particularly sinister, somehow it sent shivers down her spine. Nevertheless, she carefully crept into the darkness, with Tigre behind her, while trying to ignore her dread and the occasional drops of ice-cold water dripping on her head.

What they thought was the humming of bees turned out to be the humming of a spell protected chest on the floor in the back of the cave. Although covered with rubble, and various other debris from the cave-in long ago, it glowed well enough to be seen and hummed loud enough to be heard.

"I don't remember this being here." Tigre told his cousin after clearing away the debris, "Then again, I was knocked out before I knew what was going on," he grinned sheepishly.

/Where _did_ this come from? I wonder,/ Tigre thought to himself and asked "What is a spellbound chest doing here?"
"That's for you to find out, Jacrose," came an unexpected answer, "That is for you, and your newly found cousin to find out!"

Daria watched with surprise as her cousin gasped and whirled around, as if looking for something or somebody.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, slightly taken aback at the sight of his pale face.
"Haven't you heard somebody speak right now?" said Tigre, but Daria's expression told him that whatever he heard was meant for his ears only.

The mysterious voice chuckled slightly in a way that was startlingly human, and went on: "Ah. Just as I thought, the young lady isn't blessed with... shall we say, special powers and cannot hear what you hear. Well then, you shall have to pass on this small piece of advice for you both: look for the sign of the Siberian Dragon on the chest.." The voice in Tigre's head faded away.

As Tigre cleared away the debris the voice talked to him again... "That is enough for now. Have some fun celebrating your cousin's Hatching Day."

After cleaning themselves, and the old Weyr, they ate the cake and told each other what they knew about the events prior to their separation.

"Mom and Da told me of my extended family, and that we may be able to have a reunion after I grew a little." Tigre sighs, "But we never had the chance." He began to cry.

And as Tigre cried his form changed back in to that of a human. "I miss them so much!" he wails and continues to bawl uncontrollably.

Daria tries to comfort her distraught cousin when something attracts her attention. With a slight gasp, she kneels down and carefully traces the side of the chest that was previously covered with debris. Her fingers discover an almost invisible carving whose shape closely resembles the one of the Great Siberian amulet she wears. Eagerly, she tries to fit it into the keyhole, but although it is in fact a perfect match, nothing happens.

"Look," says Tiger, who calmed down a bit in the face of this new mystery, "there's an identical carving on the other side of the chest!" With these words, he fishes his amulet out of his pocket and puts it inside the carving.

"Now -that's- more like it!" announces a voice,

"That voice," Daria gasps, "That voice is familiar."

A ghostly figure forms in front of the twosome, and says, "Surely you remember the one who taught you how to survive among the humans, Daria. And Tigre, Jacrose, my boy..." he/it continued, "my servant helped you out that day. But there will be time for proper conversations when I see you on the other side," says the figure, then disappears.

The chest opens to reveal...

Nothingness.

At first you could be fooled into thinking that the chest was empty, but a second later you would realise that you were staring into the black unfathomable abyss framed by the four corners of the chest. The humming noise was growing louder, until it seemed that this was the only sound in the universe that penetrated every cell of Daria's body and pounded in her head like a giant hammer.

"Could this be... a gate to... another... world?" she manages to say to her cousin. "I... think... I... saw some.... dra...wings in the libra..."

Before Daria can finish her sentence, there's a sudden powerful pull coming from inside the chest, which makes her feel as if her body is being stretched like a rubber band by some invisible giant hand, then darkness rushed towards her as she and Tigre are sucked inside the mysterious gate. The moment they disappear inside, the chest lid slams itself back into its place, and the humming noise stops. ...

A couple of hours later, Blackthorne the Cat strolls casually into the cave and sniffs delicately at the chest. A day before, he came back home for his usual nap in front of the fire place, only to find the house locked and his, for the lack of better word, servant missing. This wasn't a sort of treatment he came to expect and demand, but now his feeling of annoyance gave way to curiosity. Blackthorne wasn't sure what other world Daria went to, but he was pretty confident that it was bound to be full of interesting creatures to fight, eat and possibly mate. After thoroughly sharpening his claws on the chest, he went out of the cave and disappeared into the night.

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