The Ruin of River Bluff (1)

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

Characters: K'ran, Jayzine, Jielta, Miyon
Description: A moment of peace on the bluff is interrupted by a volcano erupting.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 12, day 20 of Turn 8
Notes: Note: The first control post for the RBW disaster.

K'ran

Jayzine

The repeated earthquakes had Jayzine's teeth on edge. She couldn't
help the flashbacks to her time at Amethyst Cliff and the tragedy that
had engulfed the hold. The first ones merely made one a little dizzy
until she realized glowbaskets were swinging.

She took a deep breath and picked up a basket, then calling her
children she marched through the corridors until she was on top of the
bluff in a beautiful green meadow with a view of the ocean. Here
there was no rock to fall and crush, no trees nearby and sun and the
sound of surf.

Miyon hopped around in a circle as she set up the blanket and food.
She gritted her teeth as another tremble made her heart race.

"Come get your food," she called.

The tremors had other people on edge, as well. K'ran hadn't lived
through Amethyst Cliff's destruction, but he'd been one of the
responders to it and seen it firsthand. Sensing his rider's
apprehension Rogueth had taken to perching right by the Star Stones
and watching out to sea just as much as he watched over the Weyrbowl.

Jayzine's offer to have a picnic had sounded like a wonderful chance
to stop worrying for a bit, and he was happy to hike up there and see
what was going on. A small informal meal, or a larger event with more
weyrfolk who felt like getting out for a bit?

K'ran looked at the rim and watched the sunlight glitter off his
dragon's hide, then turned out to look at the sea. The weather was
warm and the sea looked fairly calm, and the breeze was refreshing.

"What do you have?" he inquired.

"Only good stuff," she said. She could help that she'd been watching
what he seemed to eat and told herself any good headwoman would make
sure the Weyrleader had his favorite foods available. "Even have some
fresh bubblies."

"I like bubblies," he said, giving her a genuine smile that made him
look younger and more carefree. "So who else is escaping up here?"

"I thought you might," she said unwrapping the plate. "Take a meat
roll too and some tubers." Her eyes wandered to the horizon and a
puzzled frown crossed her brow. "What's that," she said pointing.

"Mama," Jielta came over, having persuaded Miyon from running off too
far. "I don't like the look of that."

"What is it?" K'ran asked, looking to see where she was indicating.

On the rim, Rogueth looked up and out. }:I see shipfish racing away,:{
the bronze said in mild fascination.

K'ran remembered Tamah's words that the local pod was acting strange
and giving warnings about changes. **What do you see? Weather?** he
asked.

}:Water going back,:{ the bronze answered.

"Shards," he swore.

The ground beneath their feet bucked like a crazed herdbeast and
Jayzine saw multiple dragons jump into the air like a flock of
startled birds. With a sharp report a massive bolder broke off the
face of the cliff toward their left.

"Earthquake," she screamed and grabbed Miyon by the waist. She ran as
fast as she could away from the edge of the bluff stumbling as the
ground heaved beneath her. Behind her a moment later massive explosion
shook the world again. Looking over her shoulder where the plume of
smoke had been was a tower of ash.

The groundshake knocked K'ran into a stagger. "Rogueth," K'ran snapped
aloud and mentally as he ran after Jayzine, reaching out to make sure
Jielta kept up with her mother.

The bronze had flung himself off the ledge and up into the air,
/betweening/ to the top to land before his rider and the small family.
He crouched down and swung his head towards his rider, expectantly.

K'ran took a moment to check on the other first. "Is anyone hurt?" he asked.

"I'm going aloft to take a look at it," he told them. "You should be
safe up here."

Jielta had followed her mother away from the edge. The shaking ground
had tossed her down to meet it with a bump, and she straggled back to
her feet. "I, I think I'm okay. How's Miyon?"

She'd been holding him on her hip as she ran and now she brought him
in front of her. Looking into his face she could see the tight fear
he'd caught from her and hugged him close. "It's going to be alright
baby," she assured him. "He'll be fine," she added to Jielta.

K'ran swung up onto Rogueth's back and they were off, flying towards
the plume of smoke. It was on the horizon and he didn't know exactly
where, so he flew straight rather than risk /betweening/ into an area
of unknown safety, especially since he didn't have a full setup of
riding straps to secure himself.

His caution proved prudent as ten minutes of flying brought him closer
to the origin of the smoke. Rogueth shook his head and blinked,
dropping an inner eyelid to protect himself. }:Ash and smoke,:{ the
bronze reported.

K'ran had seen the aftermath of a volcanic eruption once before,
passing through the Western Barrier Range, and he recognized the signs
of it now. But there wasn't any volcanos in this area, it was open
sea. **Let's get closer so we can see better,** he said.

}:There is something up ahead,:{ the bronze relayed. He showed his
rider the picture of what his keen eyes could see. There was a peak of
land above the waves now, surrounded by what looked like a spreading
sandy beach. There was also quite a lot of obscuring steam and ash.

}:Flying is difficult. I want to go back,:{ Rogueth said, winging
upwards to heights normally only used in a mating flight in an attempt
to escape from the debris on the wind.

K'ran looked down at the waves and saw a small swell traveling at a
rapid speed away from the volcano's eruption. It took him a moment to
process it - from this height it looked very small. But it would look
small until it reached the beaches and then rapidly climb to dangerous
heights...

**We need to warn the Weyr,** K'ran snapped, giving Rogueth the
coordinates to where he'd just left. And _when_ - the time it had taken
them to fly out and sea was time the wave spent racing towards the
Bluff. And every second of warning time counted.

The bronze re-emerged very low over the plateau and landed in front of
Jayzine and her family.

Rogueth was already reaching out to the other ranking dragons -
Vilarth, Nikornath, and Xmrenth - to report what he'd seen and warn
them to start spreading the tsunami alert among the weyr's residents.
He knew they would warn other dragonriders to start grabbing
passengers and moving.

"Rogueth and I just took a look at it. A volcano erupted. That's why
the earth shook. There's going to be a tsunami," he told Jayzine.
"We're going to get everyone out of the lower caverns. Can you get
ready for all the people the riders are going to bring?" he asked her.

"Yes," she nodded setting Miyon down but holding his hand with both of
hers. "Jielta and I will begin to set up a camp up here. Just send
them to me and I'll put them to work." She'd put her headwoman face
back on but it slipped just a moment as she said, "be careful K'ran."

Last updated on the June 10th 2017

Series: The Ruin of River Bluff Weyr [Next: The Ruin of River Bluff (2)]

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