Suddenly, a loud crash came from outside, followed by an inhuman roar. Hediru looked up from where he was trying to chew through the ropes wrapped around his paws, and his face brightened. "Eeys!"
"Bless you." Ankou said.
Hediru scowled. "No, Eeys is a friend of mine. He's come to kill you all and rescue me, I know it!"
Cilan stomped his hoof into the ground in annoyance and trotted outside. The others followed him.
A huge, three-headed monster stood outside, growling menacingly. It had the body and head of a lion. It also had a goat's head and hooves, and a third, snake head and a serpent's tail. The deadly chimera snarled menacingly, and it's snake head hissed.
"Release my friend, or suffer a horrible death!" It growled.
"Don't worry, you'll be suffering a horrible death anyway." Hediru spoke up. Ankou finally grew annoyed and stuffed his mouth with a cloth.
Cilan reared and flailed his front hooves as Astathiel hissed and Ankou bared her claws.
"Ha ha ha!" The chimera laughed. "A thousand of you could never defeat a full-grown chimeara! Come, and be massacred!"
Five minutes later...
"Ow! Watch the hooves!" The chimera howled as Astathiel tied his goat hooves with ropes. "Bah! I don't believe this, captured by a centaur, a naga, and a sphinx. And to think, a thousand years ago I could have taken all three of you on, and come out with nary a scratch!"
The others ignored him. Hediru glowered and mumbled something, which nobody else understood since his mouth was still stuffed with a cloth.
"So, what shall we do with these two?" Cilan said, glancing at the hogtied monsters.
"Hmm...Couldn't we just, take them outside somewhere and forget about them?" Astathiel suggested.
"That would be cruel!" Ankou shouted.
"So?" Cilan said, Saeryph nodded from the centaur's back. "They both tried to kill us." He reminded them.
"Uhh...Nothing personal?" Eeys stated.
Cilan glared at the chimera, and the others ignored him. Ankou was rifling through her books, looking for a spell of some kind. "Hey! I know!" She held up a large black book in triumph.
"I'll just send them into another dimension." She said, and started to flip through the book.
"Now, hey! Not so fast! Couldn't you just untie us and let us go? We promise we'll be good." Eeys begged.
"What am I, stupid? Of course not." Cilan snapped.
"Here's the spell! Quick, back away." Ankou sat, with the book open in front of her.
"Umm...Ankou, are you sure you can do this spell? It seems rather complicated..." Saeryph spoke up.
"Don't be silly, of course I can! Now be quiet." She started to chant in an ancient language as the others stood nervously. There was a bright flash, and everything faded.
Cilan blinked. He lay on his side, on the ground. He righted his body and looked up. Oh no. He thought. Ankou's spell screwed up and killed me. There's an angel.
A short man, with blonde hair and blue eyes, stood in front of him. A pair of white wings were folded on his back. He really did look like an angel.
"You okay?" The angel-man asked.
Cilan groaned in reply. An answering groan came from his left as Saeryph regained consciousness and opened his eyes.
"Oh no," The pheonix said. "I've died and gone to heaven. There's an angel in front of me."
The blond man looked annoyed. "Look, you're not dead, and I'm not an angel. My name's G'vin, I'm a searchrider."
Cilan looked to either side. All six creatures were here, wherever 'here' was, in varying stages of consciousness.
Hediru blinked and looked down at his paws, which were no longer tied up. He tried to stand up and fell over. "Oh..." He groaned. "Ow. Paws hurt. Ooh..."
Eeys had better luck, and the chimera stood up, shaking all three of his heads. "I'm free! Now you will all pay!" Something growled behind Cilan, and the chimera paled. "Or not..."
Hediru saw it too. "We'll be good, we'll be good! Please don't eat us."
Confused, Cilan turned around, and paled himself. A huge, monsterous dark blue dragon stood behind him. No wonder Eeys and Hediru were so scared.
It didn't quite resemble any dragon he'd seen before. Instead of hard scales, it just had soft hide, and rainbow eyes. It had a spiny ridge that ended at its shoulders, instead of horns.
The winged man, G'vin, glanced at the dragon. "Oh, don't worry about Aavaanaath. He won't hurt you. At least," He added, eyeing the manticore and chimera. "As long as you don't cause any trouble."
Hediru grinned nervously. "Oh, don't worry. We won't cause any trouble at all." He said as the blue dragon glared at him.
"Good." G'vin said. "How'd you all get here anyway?"
The others all glared at Ankou, who grinned sheepishly. "Little problem with a transportation spell." She said.
G'vin smiled and rolled his eyes. "I know what that's like." He said as Aavaanaath rumbled. "Anyway, seeing as you obviously aren't from around here, come with me. I'll take you to Darkling Dawn and explain where you are."
The others shrugged and followed the winged human.
'Where they were' turned out to be a Weyr, a place where humans and dragons lived together, each bonded mentally to their partner.
"Sounds like fun!" Ankou spoke cheerfully. "Can I get one?"
G'vin smiled. "Sure, why not? Faranth knows there's enough places that need candidates."
The searchrider showed them all the places they could go, and soon they were on their way to bonding dragons!