Clearing the river

Writers: Jane, Paula, Vix, Yvonne
Date Posted: 15th May 2008

Characters: Tamah, F'naren, F'lin, B'jan
Description: Tamah has the dragonrider help he needs and the blockade on the river is removed.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 9 of Turn 4

Tamah looked the people gathered into the weyrbowl. He had actually three big dragons assigned to help to clear that block upriver, and some greenriders. Besides them, there was handfull of his dockhands present and whole load of equipment he thought they might need: ropes, nets, extra harness, axes etc.

"Okay, people, listen up!" he called, clapping his hands together to attention. Zenit on his shoulder let out a little trumpet too.

F'naren grinned at the exclamation from the little firelizard. Todays job sounded a little different from drills or support duty and he was looking forward to it. Jzeth had caught his sense of excitement and behind the group of people was waiting impatiently.

B'jan and Jacinth waited, though with differing attitudes. }:Why are we doing this?:{ the bronze dragon asked in a bored tone. }:Cannot someone else do it?:{
**I think it's all rather interesting,** was B'jan's response. He found that his training as a miner had come to the fore at the explanation of this project - training that had occurred before his Impression of the bronze and an interest that the dragon did not share.

"There's a tree trunk blocking the river upstream. We need to clear it.
My men will attach ropes to the trunk and two of you big fellows will lift it up. We also set a net across the river down stream of the block which will catch all the depris that will be released when the trunk is lifted. One of you, F'lin," Tamah decided, looking the Weyrwoman's grandson, who was the youngest one. "Will help with the net. It's a large and heavy. You greenriders will fly along the river straight and warn people and make sure nobody is at the river or in the weyrlake.
There will be lot of water coming down, that block has created a lake already. Oh, and you need also to transport me and my men to the location. If you please ask your dragon's to get the visualizations from Zenit here," he patted the bronze firelizard."Let's get going. Who wants passenger, who wants to carry the gear?"

B'jan was torn, wanting to explore what equipment would be used, yet feeling an obligation to the men involved.

}:Passengers.:{ Jacinth's opinion decided the bronzerider, who told Tamah that choice.

**What do you say, Seneth?** F'lin asked his dragon. They were both excited to be doing _something_ worthwhile, and after a moment's deliberation, Seneth told him he wanted to carry the equipment. }:He _did_ say the net was large and heavy,:{ Seneth said.

"Jzeth and I will take gear," F'naren said, eyeing the pile of equipment already netted up for transport.

"So will Seneth and I," F'lin said quickly, before anyone else could lay claim to their choice.

It took a while to get everything loaded, and even some of the greenriders had to take passengers. Tamah mounted his weyrmate Ondia's green. He visualized the clearing and sent it to Zenit. The little bronze creened proudly when he contacted the large dragons. Then they were on the air and /between/. As soon as they were landed, Tamah started to count incoming dragons to see that everyone had made it safely.

**No problems?** F'naren asked Jzeth as they landed and his brown assured him that the equipment had made it unharmed. F'naren smiled, his concern having been for his lifemate, rather than the things the Harbourmaster needed to clear log jams.

After the greens had unloaded, they headed down river, flying straight and low. Tamah and his men started to sort out the gear and prepared to attach the ropes to the trunk. They had to wade water to do so.

}:What are they doing?:{ Jacinth was finally taking an interest in the task ahead of them.

**Just keep your head out of the way and let them do their work,** B'jan told him, though he craned his own neck to see what was happening.

}:Are we going to fly?:{ Jzeth asked curiously. }:With ropes?:{ F'naren had to admit he wasn't sure. Perhaps the dragons were just going to pull, on land, though their forward movement on land wasn't particularly efficient.

After the ropes were attached to the trunk (with lot of cursing and some scrapes), Tamah called the dragonriders to him.

B'jan went to the man, though he had to caution Jacinth to be patient and allow his rider to attend the meeting without a large bronze head poking into the group.

"Have you ever done anything like this before?" Tamah asked.

"I haven't," F'naren admitted, not wanting to be caught out with expectations that he might know what he was supposed to be doing.

The question brought a shake of B'jan's head. "Before the Pass started Jacinth and I did our share of moving items but nothing of this type."

F'lin shook his head, but then, nobody would expect him to have done any sort of task like this anyway. He had been a dragonrider for only a few months.

"All right then. You better lift the trunk directly up and then move it aside. That way your dragons don't have to wade the water. You have to co-ordinate it carefully, you have to pull the ropes evenly and at the same time. Otherwise it might swing to one side and make you unbalance.
I don't have to tell you what that will cause, do I? After the dam breaks, there will be lot of water rushing down, so everyone else will stand clear," Tamah instructed. This was first operation of this kind for him too, but he had had dragons helping to lift timber before the Pass's begun.

B'jan nodded thoughtfully. "We can do that fairly easily, communicating through our dragons." He instructed Jacinth, positioning him near one of the ropes.

"Where should we be with the net, sir?" F'lin asked.

"A down river a bit," Tamah smiled at the young bronzerider. "Let's do it!"

The group broke apart, and F'lin hurried back to his dragon. **We're to go downstream a ways, with the greenriders, to set up the net,** he told Seneth as he swung up onto the bronze's back using his straps. It was surprising how natural the motion seemed after such a short period...
**Tamah didn't say how far, but if we're battling the current we're better off further away from the dam so that it had a chance to work out some of its energy before it hits us.**

}:Several dragonlengths, then,:{ Seneth said.

**You listen to the bronze dragons,** F'naren reminded Jzeth. **The older ones, not Seneth."

The ropes were attached to the dragons' harnesses and the work begun.
Tamah and his men moved aside, letting the dragons room to work. It made the Harbour Master nervous, the thing was out of his hands and dragonriders would now have the control of the situation.

"Carefully," the young brownrider whispered to his dragon, though the command was mental as well as audible.

**We need to stay in formation,** B'jan warned his bronze, instructing him to pass along that instruction, **much like in drills. Even pressure on the ropes so that it all comes away at once. We don't want the current to suddenly pull it away from us.**

Further downstream, F'lin peered anxiously up the riverbed as he, Kopth, and the greens waited for the onrush of water with the net. F'lin, for all his youth, likely knew more about the devastating impact of water than any of the rest there. The hurricane at Topaz Sea Hold loomed large in his mind, and he kept flashing back to the lash of rain against his skin, the dark skies and wash of ocean as it engulfed his Hold. Here, at least, it was sunny and calm.

}:I hear water,:{ Seneth said suddenly. }:They must be breaking up the logs that have jammed the river.:{
**I think we've done enough,** F'naren told Jzeth as the water flow was doing its own job of clearing the blockage now that the larger pieces had been removed.

Tamah and his men cheered when the blockade broke a part and the water started to drain back to the river. Now, all that was left to done was the cleaning up.

}:Is it fixed?:{ Jzeth asked his rider, rather disappointed that things hadn't been more spectacular.

**I think so,** the young brownrider said. **I think the water will be making a bigger impact further down. Where the river narrows.**

The brown dragon was reassured and expressed his willingness to take back the equipment he had brought to the dam site.

B'jan watched from Jacinth's back, fascinated by the power the water carried in its flow, until the bronze reminded him of their task.

}:The rope? Must I keep holding it?:{
**No, we're finished.** The bronzerider directed his dragon to the placement of the large log, out of the way of the flow where it could do no further harm.

As the water flew downstream, the green dragons threw themselves into their makeshift harnesses as the net that stretched across the river was hit with a wall of brown water and muddy debris. Seneth, as the largest, was stationed on a small, dry sandbar in the middle of the current to ease the pressure on the net. The water crept over his toes, then up to his ankles as he fought against the battery of twigs and logs that was released from the dam. F'lin's knuckles were white as he gripped his straps. **Good job, Seneth! Don't lose your footing!**

}:I-- the sand keeps moving!:{ Seneth stretched his wings wide for balance and dug his claws deep into the earth. }:I did not know water was so strong. Stronger than wind!:{ The young bronzerider grinned. **But not us?**

}:But not us,:{ Seneth agreed. His jaw gaped in a draconine smile, and eventually the water's rush slowed and settled reluctantly back into its old channels. The ropes that held the net went slack, and F'lin glanced over at the bank where the greens were. One of the riders gave him the thumbs up, and F'lin grinned.

Mission accomplished. All they had to do now was empty the net and help with the clean-up.

Last updated on the May 18th 2008

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Clearing the river