"Yes, Minna's fate is a terible thing to consider unless.... There may be a way.." Stripetail mused.
he went back to the Statue. For a moment the eyes of the statue focxcused on him. 'i will free you from thuis...' Stripetail said quietly. "Are you that strong?Zillar's voice echoed with pain. You cannot defeat her with brute strength. I tried,..." " I'm not going to fight with her. I"m going to REASON with her."
'she will not reason with you.." Zillar's voice echoed "She will. I healed the child that Minna killed. ' Stripetail said. Stripetail saw a look of surprise briefly replace the fear on his face. "You.. are as strong as me then... Don't make my mistake Lord Wizzin... save more than one life. Minna's death will be one of several mother Dragon will inflict.. Time .. is..short ...for many..." the voice echoed and faded. A look of resolution came over Stripetail's face. "I'm going to finsdd the mother Dragon and reason with her. While the death of a golden dragon is a great tragedy, the loss of life resulting from her retribution is even worse. I'm not going to fight with her,, that would be folly..." He looked at Lov. "Excuse my absence Lov and Loc. i will be back soon. I will need to borrow Zillar's statue..." A look of surprise came over Lov's face.. 'er... alright, just be careful with it.
' Stripetail vanished along with the statue.,
minna entered a large open clearing. "you cannot escape me egg-killer' The mother Dragon's voice boomed as she landed in front of her. To say that Minna was terrified would be an understatement. She looked up at the huge golden dragon with a look of abject terror. "Now you will pay..." The Mother Dragon began as she raised her claw. a huge orb of golden light appeared in it.
_
Wait' Stripetail voice echoed as he appeared in front of Minna. In front of him he held upthe imprisoned Zillar with one paw, in the other he held the egg, encased in an incubator. "Let's try to be reasonable here Mother. if you destroy Minna , you will also destroy many other lives as well. Are all those deaths justified by the death of one golden egg? Furthermore, the egg that I have revived and you see in my paw?"
- The Mother Dragon let the orb vanish and she stroked her chin. "Reason. You are the first to appeal to my reason while in my wrath. A wise move. You see that Wizzin you hold up in your paw? he is the only other being that was able to revive a golden egg. But he made the mistake of assuming that since he was able to revive the egg, that made him an equal of myself. hence he resorted to force to stop me from taking revenge on the murderer. he failed, and several deathgs resulted from his failure, not least that of the murderer. he has suffered immensely for that.But Head Wizzin, why put yourself in a similar predicament as he? She must pay..." "She already has, by the guilt of having the abortion and the disruprtion it has caused in her family.' Stripetail replied calmly. "I consider her a friend, mother Dragon, and I will do whatever I can to help a frirend in need. ' Minna's eyes grew wet with tears as Stripetail spoke.
_
"very touching Wizzin. You are commited to your friends." The Mother Dragon commented. "But you will need to perform some major magic to spare this one's life. Magic of the convincing kind." "You see Zillar here? he was witness to your wrath and incurred by trying to hold your at bay by force. You punished him severely for that.. and rightly so.. I am not so deluded as to think that I am your equal, while I am strong, you are much much stronger than I. all I can do is ask for your mercy on all 3 of these creatures"
_
3?' The Motrher Dragon was confused. But there are only two of you, yourself and Minna. The others are a statue and an unborn eggling." "not so, madam. Zillar still exists, imprisoned within this statue. Can't you forgive him? it has been ages since he defied you, and he has suffered; oh my, has he suffered for his foolish choice. As for minna, strip her of her fertility. that is a death as well, the inability to conceive and bear new life. That will have a long-term impact. whenever she has thoughts about having a child, she will remember that she cannot, and her memory of what she has done will be refreshed."
_
The Mother Dragon looked at minna. "I will add a further sting to that. you may not adopt children either. As for this one. 'She motioned to Zillar. "bring him back to me once my anger subsides. Then I will see what I can do. I presume you want to bring him out of his prison so he can join your council?
_
'yes madam. i assure he has gone through too much torment to ever consider himself sublime again. That is not a concern."
_
'this was the 100th kill of a dragon egg. By rights I should wipe her mind and have her start over. But luck is with you today."