Derek woke up, with a groan, in the infirmary at the main base. His eyes quickly shut against the bright light of the sun. He slowly opens his eyes again and does his best to sit up. His motions restricted by the bandage binding his left arm to his chest.

With a yawn, Derek instinctively raises his right hand to his shoulder and starts to undo the binding. His fingers fumble around trying to find what ties it in place, slowly waking up. Muscles stiff from the enforced sleep.

"You shouldn't be doing that." A female voice says from the doorway, "The healers put that bandage there for a reason."

Derek opens his eyes again and squints at the figure in the doorway, "And who are you."

"I'm Susan," She walks into the room and pushes Derek back into bed. Though small she easily overpowers the tired man, "You lost a lot of blood, and the adrenaline rush drained your energy reserves. You've taken longer to wake up then you should have."

Derek sighs and looks at the red headed woman, "How long was I out?"

"About three and a half days." She looks at him, "The healing trace that nature dragon put on you did that." Her eyes gaze over the weak man, "Their magic works on the life force of the person they're trying to help, taking some of that energy and amplifying it. This case she caused you to go into a healing trace which doesn't amplify what energy you have, but stores it away and redirects it into the healing process. It's a spell that heals wounds fast but leaves the person exhausted afterwards."

The woman pours him a glass of water and hands it to Derek, "Drink up. You need something to drink now that you're out of the trance. And you'll need something to eat." She steps away from the bed and heads towards the door, "You won't be strong enough to stand for at least a day and you have had at least three good meals."

Derek calls out, "If they healed me why the bandage." The woman stops and turns to answer him.

"They immobilized the arm to allow the muscles and skin to stitch themselves back together without being disturbed by any movement on your part." She looks at him, "And its not coming off till a healer looks at your shoulder and is sure the healing is complete." She leaves the room with a twirl.

* * *

Darkness started to fill the sky outside the window of Derek's room. A senior healer brought in the third meal. The older man was almost bald, his hair a deep white.

"You seem to be doing much better, Derek."

"Then you can take this bandage off me and let me go?" He says hopefully.

"We'll see about that after you finish your supper."

One handed and with growing finesse the ex-scout starts to consume his meal. All the while keeping a good look on the doctor. "Who are you?"

The man laughs, "I guess I should have introduced myself. I'm Healer Jorg Phys. I'm the one that treated you when they brought you in."

"And what about Slizer?"

"Slizer?"

"The dragon?"

The healer sits back and thinks for a moment, Derek takes the time to swallow a few more bites of his supper, "I think the nature dragons were looking after him. I haven't heard anything from them. He didn't look very good when they brought him in. Its quite possible that he's still in a healing trance."

Derek finishes the meal and asks, "How long will he be in it?"

"I don't know. When dragons are growing, they molt their skin, and during that time they're mainly unconscious. I don't think it would be strange for him to be out for a month."

"A month?" He looks at the healer, "Isn't that a long time to be out of action?"

"No. You have to remember that dragons live at least five times longer then we do."

"I didn't know that."

The healer looks at his patient. "I thought you were a rider." He looks at the papers on the clip board he carried in, "It says here you're a dragon rider."

Derek finishes his meal, "I'm not a rider."

Jorg sits back in his chair and thinks for a moment, "Oh I think I know where the confusion comes from. When you were brought in they said you were with the dragon that was wounded in a fight with six griffins. The person who filled out the paperwork probably assumed you were a rider because you were with a dragon." He pauses to ask, "What are you then."

Derek laughs for a moment, "I'm a civilian. I hope."

"You hope?"

"Yes. I use to be a Sargent in Rect for the King's Scouts. My tour completed at least two weeks ago. I started in the 5th month 5 years ago. It's the 6th month now isn't it?"

The healer nods, "12th day of the 6th month." Jorg stands up and walks to the side of the bed, "I'm going to have a look at that shoulder of yours." He starts to unwrap the bandage and drops it in a bowl to the side.

"Does this hurt?" He says as he pokes along the scared flesh.

Derek does his best to hide a wince and does a good job at it, but the healer notices, "Don't try hiding that from me. Its still a bit tender isn't it."

With a sigh, Derek nods and looks at the doctor, "But it has to be better then it was."

"Yes it is." He lays his hand over the wound and mutters under his breath. His eyes close for a moment and then he lifts his hand away, "The wound is mainly healed. Its tender because of being held immobile for the past four days."

"So I can leave then?"

"No you can't." He grins a bit, "You still need rest and I want to check that shoulder again after you've had a good night's rest without the bandage holding it in place."

"I suppose I can do that."

"Well you'd better." The healer leaves his patient after putting out the lights.

Derek waits for the sounds to quiet down at the end of the hallway and then starts to work his way out of bed. He reaches a few feet before his head starts to swim, from the blood rush. He quickly turns back to the bed and barely reaches it before collapsing into unconsciousness.

* * *

The healer came in the next morning to look at his patient. The first words from his mouth were an admonishment; "You tried to get out of bed last night didn't you?"

Derek sighs and then answers, "I can get anything past you can I?"

"No you can't." The healer walks over, "It's a good thing you didn't hurt yourself." He lays his hand over Derek's shoulder, "You still have to make up some of that blood you lost."

The patient gives a sigh; "I don't like being kept in one place, against my will."

"Well you'll just have to get use to it this time. You're stuck here for the time being until you get well enough to stand and walk on your own." He takes his hand away. "You should be able to get some supervised exercise today."

Derek looks at the healer, "What do you mean by that."

"You can walk down the hallway, and probably to the trees we have in the courtyard if an assistant healer goes with you. We don't know how that healing trace has effected you. We never do until a few days after the patient wakes up."

"You mean I could be perminately stuck in this bed?"

"No." Jorg starts again, "We don't know how long it will be before you're recovered. The healing trances take a lot out of a person, but they don't damage them. The only time I've seen patience not get up after one is when they didn't want to." The healer starts towards the door again, "My shift is done, stay in that bed and do what you're told and you'll be alright."

The healer from the day before, Susan, comes into the room as Jorg leaves with Derek's breakfast, "You heard him." She says, "You have to do what I tell you." She sets the tray down before him, "Now eat."

Derek looks at the breakfast, and starts with the porridge, "Are all you healers so…" He can't think of the word.

"Commanding?" She says with a giggle.

"No, more demanding." He starts out, "That nature dragon that joined us in the clearing didn't give us much time at all and just sent us into dream land." He says with bitterness in his voice.

Susan smiles a bit more and sits in the chair. "Nature dragons aren't much on diplomacy, especially with warriors." She starts to explain, "After all they want to see all live on Mycle prosper. I'm surprised that they are on our side with all the fighting we do."

Derek swallows some more of his porridge, one of his eyebrows raise, "You mean they aren't like the Sun and Moon dragons?"

She shrugs, "I don't know. They say that the people of the nations are the best chance for Mycle to prosper and grow. But they aren't sworn to the king like the other two dragon races. I don't understand dragons." She looks at Derek, "You probably have a better understanding then I do."

The last spoonful of porridge goes into his mouth and he looks at the healer, "Why would you think that? They're just as mysterious to me."

"I would have though that the bond of a dragon rider would give you a bit more understanding with them and at least the experience with them would give you some insight."

Derek almost chocks as he laughs. After a few coughs he looks over at the concerned healer, "I'm not a dragon rider." He says.

The woman looks confused, but says, "Don't stop eating because of me, you still have the fruit salad to go through, and that's better for you then the porridge."

Derek mutters under his breath and spears a piece of fruit with his fork. Making sure her patient is eating his meal she continues on, "The paperwork on you says you're a Sargent, and a dragon rider."

The man stops to answer, "Well as I told Jorg, that's a bit wrong. Though I didn't know it said I was a Sargent at the time."

"You mean its right, that you are a Sargent?"

"No. I'm not, nor am I a rider."

The woman looks a bit disturbed but she stares at the man till he starts eating again, "You look like a warrior, and a solider. I take it you're a corporal then?"

The ex-scout laughs again, "No. I was a Sargent in the King's Scouts. But I didn't extend my tour of duty with the king. So I'm not longer a warrior or a Sargent."

She still looks confused but this time doesn't have to stare at him to keep him eating, "Then what's this about being a dragon rider?"

After swallowing another piece of fruit Derek answers, "Well I guess it's hard to explain. The Dragon Lord and I didn't agree that my tour was over, and wanted me to stay here. Slizer was on his way out because he wasn't acceptable as a dragon for the king's army. We just left together. Ran into a couple of griffins, forgot how to dodge and wound up back here." He finishes up the fruit in the small bowl and starts on the toasted bread to the side, watching the assistant healer.

"A couple of griffins?" She says with a bit of astonishment, "I'm surprised you weren't killed. I've heard they like to gang up at least three to one against the dragons to overwhelm them. You were lucky there weren't more in the area."

Derek laughs softly as he chews on the bread, "Well one of the six did run to get the other twelve. But there was a squadron of dragons that was following us that chased them off."

"Six!?" She says overly loud. "I thought you said a couple."

"I did." He finishes up the toast and washes it down with some water, "A couple doesn't necessarily mean two you know."

She looks exasperated, as she takes the tray and heads for the door, "You may not be a warrior anymore, but you still act like one." She says with a sniff and walks out the door.

* * *

Later that day Derek received a new guest, one that wasn't as pushy as the healers but one that was pushy all the same. At least he was let out of bed for this one.

She came in carrying a measuring tape and a small clipboard; "You're Derek Miller aren't you?" She asks, as she looks him over.

Derek looks up at the woman, "I suppose I am. Who are you?"

I'm Thersa, from the tailor's guild." She looks at the man, "Well get up so we can get this over with."

With a confused look on his face he gets out of the bed and stands up slowly, remembering the night before and the effect of the blood rushing to his head. "Get what over with." He says as he stands steadier then the night before.

"Measuring you of course." She comes around behind him and lays the end of the measuring tape on his spine between his shoulder blades. "Now hold your arms out." He wanted a good stretch any ways, so he holds his arms out. Thersa runs the measuring tape along his arm to his wrist, and turns to write down a few numbers.

"For what?"

She stops and looks at him, but continues on without answering. Measuring the circumference of his arm at several points. And then around his chest, neck and collar. She puts these numbers down as well. "You people are just so weird sometimes." She answers finally. "Here I am told to get detailed measurements and you can't remember why." Thersa puts the measuring tape to his arm pit and then measures down to the floor along his leg. She works her way up again measuring around his leg at several spots, writing each number down.

"I don't remember asking for someone to come and take my measurements."

She stands back and looks at him again, "We do it whenever any of you are injured enough to destroy the suit's magic of course. Easier to make a new one then repair the old one." She finishes up the measurements by measuring around his waist. She finishes up, "You can put your arms down now." After writing down the numbers, and making sure their accurate she turns and goes out the door without another word. Not hearing the man's last question.

"What suit." He sits back down on the bed with a sigh. Just in time for another visitor to show up. This one wears a uniform.

"I was told you were awake finally." The Dragon Lord starts. "What were you thinking, flying off like that. Untrained, unprotected and unarmed?" He asks, "I've seen some stupid things in my life Derek, but that has got to be the stupidest thing around. There's a reason why we wear armor of flight medallions you know."

"Are you through?" Derek asks, giving William an annoyed look.

The man stands and looks at Derek for a moment before going on, "I see you're all healed up and acting like a scout again."

"No I'm not. I can't since I'm not a scout, and my tour of duty is done."

William shakes his head and takes the seat, "I guess I'll have to be more forthright then." He says, "I won't be known as the Dragon Lord that goes after the wounded out of spit."

"Forthright about what? Trying to keep me in the base against my will, and illegally?"

Another sigh comes from William's mouth; "I'm getting way too old for this." He mutters under his breath, "Brigston did more damage then we're letting the populace know. They don't really know that there is at least a wing of griffins raiding the trade routes through Ocklad. Griffins generally raid only the northern nations. Elknid, Rect, and sometimes into Hacknid. That's why we have large allocation of dragon wings up there. Ocklad is the capital nation of the fifteen nations; we have the largest allocation of dragons here because of it. The people and the other 14 nations will lose faith in the king if they find out about the griffins raiding the trading routes here. They will all start to fight for their independence. The northern kingdoms will be open to the Griffin King to try and annex. And maybe the mountain elves and their allies would take a grab at Kiad and Selad."

"So why did you want to hold me here?"

"You heard at least that I was dealing with anyone who had any connection to Brigston. That's why you came to my office with the message."

"Yes."

"And with that, and the message I was sure you weren't connected to him. But I still couldn't let you go. And Slizer just made it worse by telling you about the griffins in the first place."

"How did you know he told me about that?"

"He's a young dragon. He's only about ninety-five or so. Barely considered an adult dragon. Youthful enthusiasm, plus the fact he's been mocked by the rest of his kind all add up to him talking too much. Slif got it out of him when he woke up. I'm afraid that Slif was a bit hard on him."

"I hope not too hard."

"No the nature dragons treating his wounds chased that old dragon out of there. There isn't much that can scare Slif, or tell him where to go. But an angry nature dragon is one of them." He laughs for a moment and turns back to Derek; "We didn't want you to go out spreading the word of the griffin. And we wanted to make sure you had nothing to do with Brigston."

"Well if you told me, I wouldn't. I'm a scout, damn it." He looks at the Dragon Lord. "If you told me to keep my mouth shut on it I would. We're trained to do the dirtiest jobs and sometimes illegal jobs for the king and keep out mouth shut about it afterwards."

The man grins, "So you admit that you are a scout, still." His smile is smug, as he looks the man over.

"No." Derek looks at the man, "It doesn't matter, if you told me to keep my mouth shut I would have. And if I was working for Brigston, I would have left when I found out he was a traitor so that you wouldn't catch me."

"The Dragon Base isn't an easy base to slip in or out of." He says.

"I got out easily enough. And I could have without Slizer's help."

"Could you have? Are you bragging like an arrogant scout or do you really think you could have gotten out?"

"I could have found a way out. The base is large and you can't watch every part of the wall at once. At night I could have slipped out without a problem."

"I don't think so. It was a full moon. And we constantly have moon dragons patrolling the wall at night. We've doubled the patrol since the griffins were sighted in Ocklad."

Derek leans back against the pillows for a moment, "I'll give you that. But I would have found a way out."

William looks at the man in the bed; "Well I see you're still stubborn. That's good." He smiles again, "I wanted to talk to you about that and other things. We were able to get word back from Rect about your friend who wrote the message. The reason behind the letter was the reason he said. It was a long trail, but someone found out that Major Ericson was a bit disgruntled about leaving."

"We had some words over it, sir." Derek says, adding the 'sir' instinctively.

"Some of the better officers don't like their best men leaving, think it would be best of the army if they stayed even if it wasn't in their unit." William pauses for just a moment, "One of Brigston's agents in Rect found out about you and thought with your reputation that you'd be a good addition to the traitor's forces. So with a long, long line of people hearing rumors of how Brigston was a good commander for keeping a hold of scouts after their tour is up Ericson finally hears of it. Before you leave Rect he comes up with the message and hands it to you."

"By the time you get here we've already discovered he was a traitor. Only the people on this base now about it, and the king's commanders for each of the other 14 nations know about it."

"I'm not surprised in that, it took me close to four months to get here from Rect, on horse back. A lot can happen in four month." He looks up at William, "How come you found out about Major Ericson in the few days that I've been here? What it's only been three or four days?"

"Closer to four actually."

"It should take you at least eight months to get the messages back and forth."

The man laughs, "You don't know much about the dragons do you? Even though you have ridden one."

Derek bites out, "No sir I don't."

"Messager dragons can get from here to Rect in a little over fifteen hours, if there is a relay halfway through, and if it is important. And this was. A message was handed to the head scout in the region or used her sources to track down the source of the rumors. I think she was already tracking them down."

Derek nods, "Nashal always liked to get her fingers into everything. Especially if it had anything to do with her scouts."

"That's the sign of a good scout master. She had the rumors tracked within two days, and handed the message to another messenger dragon. That one returned this morning."

"So now you know I don't have anything to do with Brigston. And I'm free to go."

"Yes you are. As soon as you're well enough to leave."

Derek stands up and starts to look for his clothes. He finds them in the closet, cleaned and pressed, "What about Slizer." He says trying to hide how tired he is as he tries to get on his clothes.

"Did the healers say you were well enough to go yet?" William asks and then says, "Slizer is alright. The nature dragons were working with him and he didn't lose as much of his blood as you did. They healed his wings and his wounds. I don't know if he's staying around or not."

Derek looks back at William, "No they didn't say I could go, not yet. But I'm ready to go." He pulls on his shirt.

"Stubborn, just like a scout." The Dragon Lord says, "You say you aren't a scout anymore, you're acting like one. Get back to bed Derek. If not, it won't be me chasing you down. It'll be the healers, on those nature dragons."

Derek stops for a moment, "What do you mean by that?"

"The last time I sent a shock squadron after you. This time I won't have to. The healers here are a bit different from the healers in Rect. They have a strong working relationship here, and they like their patients to do as they're told." He stands and goes to the door, "Remember I told you that Slif was chased out by a nature dragon. You don't want them chasing you down because you left the infirmary. And they're a lot more stubborn then you scouts are."

Derek gives a frustrated sigh and goes to sit on the bed, "So I'm still a prisoner?"

"For the moment it seems, but it's for your own good." He stops and looks back at the man, "I forgot, I wanted to talk to you about that fight you had with the griffins." He gives a sigh, "I'll be back later. I've spent time here long enough. But I want to know how you two took down six of them."

"Everyone thinks that's special, for some reason."

"A well trained pair would be able to take on four at once and have slim hope for survival. Six there would be no way. Besides, since the griffins have infiltrated Ocklad we haven't been able to get any of them. When they see dragons coming they usually take off."

"Robert was saying that the griffins fled when his squadron started chasing them."

"That is how it has always been until now. We always fly our patrols in squadron strength, ever since the griffins have shown up. That's a large force. When you stumbled upon the raiding party of six griffins, they probably thought you were easy prey." He looks down the hallway again, "I really have to go, I'll be back." With that he leaves the room.