Terrifying News

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 11th June 2017

Characters: Corran, Atilan, Rounan, Varad, Keltin
Description: Corran hears that a disaster has happened at a Weyr.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 12, day 20 of Turn 8

Corran heard about the disaster at the Tavern, of all places.

He'd just finished a daytime guard shift, and then he had headed down to
the Tavern for drinks with some friends. He was on his second mug of ale
when a young man burst into the Tavern yelling that "The Weyr's fallen
down!"

Of course the news sent a wave of talk rippling out across the Tavern.
Cries of, "What happened?" and "Which Weyr?" happened. Corran leapt to his
feet and headed over at the man to hear his answer, hoping he knew
anything other than just, "A Weyr's been destroyed." After all, there were
so many Weyrs in the South. But there were only 2 that mattered to Corran
right now - the one that oversaw Amber Hills, and the one where his
brother was Weyrleader.

The bartender muscled through the crowd to reach the young man, and then
Atilan clapped the man on the back. "Name and your information, lad," he
ordered.

"I'm Rounan and I was on the drum heights," the boy gasped out. "Codes
started coming across. It seems that there was a disaster at River Bluff.
They had an earthquake. Part of the Weyr collapsed. I asked the
watchdragon and he talked to his beast. They've got major deaths there.
They said a gold died!"

Corran followed in the wake that the bartender's bulk cleared. As a result
he was close by when the boy started talking. There was a moment of relief
that it wasn't Dragonsfall, but then the news that it was River Bluff
filled him with deep fear coiling in his belly, worsening when the lad
reported dead dragons.

**K'ran!** His brother was Weyrleader. He remembered Amethyst Cliff and
the way the collapse had crushed people to death. It was a horrific scene.
He knew that his brother would have done as much as he could to try to
help at the disaster - and that would have put him at risk.

They were twins. That meant something. Surely he would know if his brother
had died. Something would have changed and told him if it had happened.

But maybe he wouldn't know. Maybe his brother _was _ dead. Maybe nobody
would come to tell him, or they'd come to tell him later.

One voice raised up above the hubbub, going, "They musta deserved it,
those dragonwhores -"

The voice had come from right by his shoulder. Then Corran's fear turned
into fury. How dare this man say that dragons and their riders deserved
that? Nobody deserved to die like that! So he swung his fist at the man
who'd said it. The fist impacted right in the man's jaw, a solid strike.
But the heckler was a bulky man, taller and broader than Corran, and he
swung back. His fist hit the guard in the shoulder, and then a second one
went for the guard's nose. It crunched unfortunately.

Corran used his lower center of gravity and height as an advantage and
put himself into a solid strike to the man's stomach. The man doubled
over and coughed out all of his breath. Corran then clubbed him on the
back of the head and he fell down.

The guard wiped the blood from his nose and blinked at the bartender, who
had his own hands up to wade into the fight. "Sorry for starting a fight,
but he just insulted brave dragonmen who fly in Thread to protect us, who
have died for no good reason. Weren't any of you at Amethyst Cliff? That's
a horrible way for anyone to go. It was a monstrous thing for him to say."

A couple of the other people nodded.

"It was," the bartender allowed. He didn't like the anti-Weyr rhetoric
he'd been hearing around."Take him out of here."

Corran reached his arms under the large insensate man. Shards, but he was
hefty. Another off-duty guard grabbed him and helped Corran drag the man
out of the Tavern. "You got really angry there," Keltin said
conversationally.

"My brother's at River Bluff. He might be one of the dead dragonriders.
And I saw Amethyst Cliff fall," Corran said. "I couldn't let him just say
that riders deserved to die."

"It was a dungpile thing to say. I've just never seen you hit a man over
words before," Keltin said.

"I try to be calm, but this made me angry," Corran said.

"Well, he deserves it. We can drag him back to wherever he comes from to
sleep it off and maybe he'll think better of insulting dragonmen when he's
deep in his cups," Keltin said. "I know him, he's one of the farmhands.
Look, I'll get him squared away. You could go see if there's any more
news."

"Do you mind?" Corran asked.

"No. Go see what you can find out," Keltin said sympathetically. "And see
about getting that nose treated."

Corran headed back towards the Tavern. He'd see if Rounan had heard
anything else from the drums beyond just what happened. And then he'd go
see who the watch dragon was and what he knew. And he could send Warden
out to River Bluff, see if the flit could find his brother.

K'ran had to be alive. He _had_ to be.

Last updated on the June 16th 2017

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