The Ruin of River Bluff (3)

Writers: Avery, Emma, Heather, Paula
Date Posted: 7th June 2017
Series: The Ruin of River Bluff Weyr

Characters: K'ran, A'kades, Lenala, F'dal, K'lvin, K'sedel, Jadirah, Thereenata
Description: After the tsunami, an earthquake follows.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 12, day 20 of Turn 8
Notes: Part 3 of the control posts for the RBW disaster.

K'ran

Lenala

K'sedel

Even though the tsunami had passed, K'ran wanted to wait at least a
whole candlemark before bringing people from the plateau back down
into the Weyr proper. From experiences at Ista, he knew that there
were occasionally second and third swells of high water that followed
the first.

At least they knew where people were right now, and the vast majority
of them were up here on the plateau. Though some weren't. Vilarth
hadn't left her eggs, and Lenala had stayed to calm her. A few of the
badly injured dragons had been left in the dragon infirmary and a
hasty barricade erected there. Fortunately, both sets of sandbag
barricades had held.

Of course, people were already grumbling and wanting to go back down.
The bronzes had been doing their best to calm the chromatic dragons
down, which had a similar calming effect on their riders.
Unfortunately, it wasn't as helpful on the regular weyr residents, who
weren't tapped into the dragon network. The adults were on the whole
doing a good job of waiting patiently, especially ones from coastal
areas who knew the risks, but the teenagers and weyrbrats were having
a harder time of it.

Suddenly, a bunch of firelizards, owned and wild, popped out of
/between/ and began screaming and shrilling, adding a sudden cacophany
of panic. Then there was a loud groaning and a deep rumbling
underneath them, before suddenly, a few boulders began sliding off the
side of the plateau, falling to crash on the terrace between several
layers of weyrs. The ground began to shake hard under his feet,
knocking many people over and causing screams. More rocks began to
slide.

Lenala hadn't left the Hatching cavern. Vilarth didn't want her to go
out of her sight, so she couldn't leave, not even for a toilet break.
She was need to keep the gold calm. The wetness had lowered the
temperature inside the cavern and they both worried it might damage
the developing eggs. Vilarth hadn't moved from her vigil stance over
the eggs.

K'lvin leaned against Xmrenth's side for reassurance as the sound of
rocks moving made the hair on his neck stand. The very sands beneath
his feet seemed to vibrate, and dust rained down from the top of the
Hatching Cavern. Was this whole place about to go? The Wingleader
swallowed past the knot of fear in his throat. Lenala and Vilarth were
both still in the Hatching Cavern as well, and K'lvin didn't want to
leave them, he felt duty bound, as did Xmrenth, to stay with their
Queen but.... Images of his daughters floated to the surface. What
would happen to them if he died there in the Hatching Cavern? Oh sure,
they would continue to be raised by the Weyr, but it wasn't the same.

**We have to go Xmrenth. I need to make sure Kaliha and Kylena are
okay.** He was sure they were up on the plateau somewhere, probably
being seen to by the foster mothers that had made it out before the
first wave had hit.

}:I cannot leave my queen or the eggs.:{ Xmrenth said solemnly.

K'lvin closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to his dragon's soft,
bronze flank. The choice between his lifemate and his children?
Impossible.

**Please. Let's go for just a moment, I want to see them, and then we
can come back.** He felt his bronze's hesitation as he considered the
offer.

}:Vilarth, we will return shortly.:{ Xmrenth told his mate.

K'lvin felt relief trickle through as he pulled himself up onto
Xmrenth's neckridge. The bronze's departure left a hollow place in the
wet sand where he had sat, supporting the sand bags against swells of
water.

Vilarth rumbled but she didn't protest him leaving. As a bronze
leading a Wing, he had other responsibilities too, like check his
wingriders. They had already lost at least one young blue. The ground
shook once more and she spread her wings protectively over the eggs.

}:Rogueth, we need aid at the dragon infirmary,:{ Veyth said urgently.
}:The last shake is causing it to crumble and there are still wounded
here!:{

}:We come,:{ Rogueth said immediately.

The bronze ducked through the opening into the dragon infirmary and
assessed the situation even as his rider slid down. Veyth was bracing
herself against the wall, and the bronze didn't like the look of the
crack. Some boulders had broken free on the same side. Once his rider
was free, he began rolling one of the boulders towards Veyth and the
crack.

}:If you move I will set this there,:{ he instructed.

K'ran trotted over to the first dragonhealer he saw. "What can we do?"

"We need these dragons out of here before it all comes down. Bronzes
should be able to lift them up enough to transfer them /between/ to
wherever you're staging from," Thereenata said.

She gestured at the wounded dragons. All the ones who were hurt bad
enough to stay in there, rather than move to recovery weyrs, were
chromatics - two blues, a green, and a brown. Easily liftable by
bronzes. Two more bronzes came into the infirmary, Thadath and Eiketh.
Once Rogueth explained what to do, they got to work.

Green Shelath had a nasty Threadscore on her side, but gamely flapped
her wings and managed to get herself into the air, though it was
obvious she wouldn't be able to fly out the entrance. Thadath slid
under her to support, gained a few more feet, then went /between/ to
the plateau with her. }:Not so hard,:{ he said.

"Help me get these supplies, we'll need them," Thereenata ordered
K'ran, passing him some bundles to carry.

Another two trembles rocked the cavern. Veyth crawled away from the
wall and was assisting Rogueth in moving anything she could push to
the wall to try to hold it for a bit longer.

}: Do you need more help? { Velaith and F'dal appeared, volunteering
to help. The young bronze was barely out of weyrlinghood but he was
particulary strong and brawny-built.

}:Help Eiketh get the brown,:{ Rogueth said.

}: Yes, sir, :{ Velaith replied and got to work.

K'ran and Thereenata had strapped the needed supplies to the waiting
dragons, and mounted up, ready to get the last green.

The boulders against the crack shook and one fell, rolling down to
smash into Veyth's right wing and pin it to the ground. The green
shrilled in pain. Rogueth waddled over, clumsy on the ground. He used
his head and forelimbs to push the debris off her wing so she could
move free.

}:Get out before more fall,:{ the bronze sent.

Veyth lunged upwards and clumsily flapped her wings, shedding ichor
from the tears and screaming at the motion. Rather than try to make it
out the entrance, she hopped /between/ as soon as she was clear from
the ground.

The Weyr rocked once more with the most powerful aftershock yet, and
the thin crack along the ceiling of the dragon infirmary poured rocks
down right towards the pair.

K'ran instinctively lifted his arms and curled to protect his head and
neck right before one fist-sized one impacted with him, hard enough he
lost all breath. Larger ones crashed onto the bronze's back half, one
massive one hitting his hindlimb with an audible crack and several
smaller ones hitting the tail.

It wasn't done to go /between/ from ground level. That posed risks no
seasoned dragonriders would take, not when the weyrlingmasters told
stories of weyrlings who had entombed themselves in stupid ways. But
the shocks were continuous and there was no time to leap, gain air,
and go, not when the ceiling was crumbling right down onto them and
providing no air.

K'ran desperately imaged the plateau and Rogueth obliged. They popped
/between/ and re-emerged four breaths later a dozen feet above a patch
of clear ground next to Veyth. The bronze fell straight down onto it,
ichor leaking from the badly injured right side of his body, and was
still. K'ran hung limply from his straps.

K'lvin and Xmrenth had only just landed on the plateau when a cold
blast beside them brought Rogueth and K'ran spilling out. Dragons
bugled in alarm, sending firelizards swooping about in agitation as
people came out of tents to see what was happening. **Get the
healers!** K'lvin sent the order to Xmrenth as he jumped from his
lifemate's neckridge and ran over to Rogueth.

"K'ran?" He reached up on tiptoes and released the Weyrleader's
straps, and then grunted a little as K'ran came sliding off. By this
point people were swarming them, and the experienced hands of healers
reached out to take K'ran. K'lvin relinquished the Weyrleader to
people better suited to take care of him.

Somehow Velaith managed to help the injured brown out before rocks
started to fall. One rock hit the young bronze's tail and he hissed
with pain but it wasn't serious.
**Let's get sharding out of here,** F'dal said with serious tone and
looked the cliff side. It looked like it was about to come down. They
weren't far enough to be spared if there was a rock slide.

}: We can't abandon him, :{ Velaith replied and encouraged the brown
to move on his own.

On the Hatching Cavern, the latest quake had opened a large crack to
the ceiling. Some smaller rocks were raining to the sand.

"We need to leave!" Lenala said urgently.

}: I can't leave the eggs, :{ Vilarth insisted, crouched protectively
over the clutch.

Lenala had tears in her eyes. **My beauty, you can always have more
eggs but there's only one of you,** she pleaded. She cling to
Vilarth's neck and pictured a clear sky above the Weyr. But this time,
Vilart was not listening her. Her instict to protect the Clutch was
too strong.

Then the Hatching Cavern's ceiling came down. They didn't even have
time to scream.

The Gold's death hit Velaith like a shock. His voice joined the keening.

If a dragon could have cried tears like his rider, Nikornath would.
The moment hit them both, bringing back a flashback to events so many
turns ago when Meree and his then youngest had been caught in the
disaster at Thayan Peak.

Rogueth was unconscious like his rider. But other dragons noticed and
reacted, keening in distress.

One of the loudest voices as the brassy bugle of Volaith, followed by
a deep keening. On the ground, A'kades screamed as it hit him, falling
to his knees in despair. First the baby. Now Lenala. And the Weyr
itself was crumbling. It was like the important things in his life
were being ripped away all at once.

Jadirah didn't have a dragon to tell her who died but the keening of
the dragons made it clear something had happened. She wanted to know
what was going on, but she needed to respond to the bigger disaster.
Once K'lvin got K'ran onto the ground, the Master Healer bent and
started treating the Weyrleader's injuries. She couldn't let him die,
too.

K'lvin staggered against Xmrenth as the bronze keened loudly for his
golden mate and his eggs. It hit K'lvin hard that if they had stayed in
the Hatching Caverns they would have suffered the same fate as Lenala
and Vilarth. Their Weyr was crumbling to pieces, their Weyrwoman was
gone, and now their Weyrleader hung on the verge of death. What else
could they endure?

Last updated on the June 10th 2017

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