Hurricane: Deluge (3)

Writers: Clancey, Dana
Date Posted: 21st April 2007

Characters: Traelyn, J'darin
Description: Traelyn realizes Nyith's just Clutched eggs are in grave danger.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 19 of Turn 4

J'darin

}:TRAELYN!:{ Nyith's bellow seemed to shake the very foundations of the Weyr as the Weyrwoman rushed down the stone corridors towards the Hatching Grounds-towards her distressed queen. Above the roaring of the winds and heavy rain outside, Traelyn could hear the anxious queiries of the other dragons, voice adding to voice until the air was filled with draconic ululations.

}:TRAELYN!:{ She burst from the corridor into the Hatching Grounds and skidded to a halt as Nyith swung her huge golden head towards her rider, jeweled eyes swirling with a furious yellow.

"Nyith!" Traelyn lifted her arms, stretching them out towards her enraged queen--and nearly buckled from the raw emotions pounding within her.

Throwing back her head, Nyith unfurled her tapering wings, curving them around as many eggs as she could. Those soft, vulnerable eggs. }:My eggs must be protected!:{ Tearing her eyes away from her dragon, Traelyn looked past her to where the sandbags were stacked high, layer upon layer, up to the very top of the large, arched entrance from the Weyrbowl to the Grounds. She could hear the water surging behind them.and knew that they would not hold.

Dread filled her, numbing her to the core. The eggs had to be protected! They had to be moved! Thunder clapped outside, and Traelyn whirled back to her pacing queen. Once again she reached out to her dragon, with her body and her mind-and her will. "Nyith! Nyith, listen to me! Look at me and listen!"
Talons scraped across the sand as Nyith turned to her rider. "Nyith!"

Rumbling, eyes still turning in great distress, the queen lowered her head, locking her own gaze on her rider. }:I listen.:{ "Call Hasaarth, and call his rider. Tell them to come."

}:I will call!:{ Her bugle pealed throughout the Weyr, pleading for her mate and his rider to come to her and hers.

J'darin was up higher than the level of the surging water, in an empty weyr that looked out over the weyrbowl, with Hasaarth crouched nearby trying to stay out of the rain that was determined to blow right inside. They were both watching the water swarm higher and higher against the, what seemed to him, very pitiful barrier of sandbags. They had come up here so they could watch and react, and he had called his little brown flit from Maurgen's side to carry messages when he could not find a dragon near to the person he needed.

He had already seen the docks go, taking Mosler's Journeyman Parvey with them.
While that saddened J'darin, he knew Parvey would only be the first of many lives this storm would claim. Something caught his eye in the way the water swirled.
**Hasaarth! Get word to Luthinath's and Ikoladith's riders that the Lower Caverns and the Weyrling barracks are going to flood.** Even as he spoke, one row of sandbags was washed under and water starting trickling into the dining caverns.

Thunder clapped loudly, but then the unmistakable sound of a gold dragon in severe distress suddenly echoed over the storm, and the irrational rage that drowned J'darin in the next instant belonged to his bronze.

}:The eggs are in danger. my mate is afraid. we go!:{ Hasaarth imperiously stuck his foreleg out and J'darin threw himself onto his bronze's back, laying low against the scaly hide as the dragon leapt from his temporary home, diving right down through the rain to hover above the weyrbowl.

Surprising J'darin, Hasaarth winked /between/ the next instant and into the relatively dry chamber of the Hatching Grounds, tumbling his rider off onto the still dry sands as he crouched as near to the eggs as Nyith would let him.

"Traelyn? Traelyn, the lower caverns are beginning to flood." He opened his arms and his Weyrwoman came toward him. His voice was soft, scared. "I think the Hatching Grounds are next... "

"The eggs must be moved," she told him, her voice tense with fear as she grasped at him. Then her dark eyes widened and became unfocused for a moment, and then she whirled around to look at her dragon. Nyith's anxious whine had suddenly turned into a snarl, and she leaped, putting her back to the sandbags.
Crouching low, she spread her golden wings and hissed, head swaying back and forth in agitation. Traelyn took a steadying breath, eyes intent on her queen.
"They have to be, J'darin, or we'll lose them."

"We'll save them, I promise, Traelyn." He pulled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her in that fashion so she would not have to take her eyes off Nyith.

"Where do we move them too, though? They need true Hatching Grounds to harden...perhaps another Weyr?" **And how would they move them?** He stared at Hasaarth's forearms, his dragon crouched in agitation near to his mate.

}:We will carry them. They will be safe!:{ Hasaarth's certainty amidst his great distress made him feel slightly better about the task he had just promised his Weyrwoman and her irate gold dragon he would accomplish.

"Dragonsfall," she breathed. "We can appeal to Dragonsfall! They've come to Dolphin Cove's aid before, J'darin." Her hands tightened convulsively on his arms. "They would not refuse us."

J'darin considered this for a long moment. He had Impressed Hasaarth on those Sands. But, oh, did it pain him to ask for help!! His pride reeled under the need, but soon Hasaarth's growing anger and irrational need to protect over-rode his pride.

}:We MUST move them! We can carry them!! We CAN. We WILL. They will be safe where I Hatched and found you! They will! :{ Hasaarth's urgent sending broke through the cycle of irrational anger at having to ask for Hatching Sands, of all things, and J'darin finally nodded. "Ask them, Traelyn. See if Nyith can be made to reach the gold there... Mnaith, isn't it? If not, I will send Oak. But ask them, we have very little time."

Last updated on the April 22nd 2007

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Hurricane: Deluge (3)