Broken Buildings, Broken Bodies

Writers: Devin, Chelle
Date Posted: 27th March 2016

Characters: Cafeel, Maqwr, Equaritaine
Description: Bronzerider to the rescue!
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 13 of Turn 8

There were two of them, though only one could be seen. They had taken shelter in the cothold. The only problem was the cothold hadn't been hewn out of stone or brick. The structure had been fashioned out of wood. And the hurricane had made short work of it. The roof was lying some dragonlengths away-or part of it. The whole building was slanted sideways and there were walls that had fallen over and debris everywhere. They had been a young couple and had been trying to make a go of it. Neither of them had imagined anything like this ever happening.

She had made it out. Cafeel was trying her best to find Maqwr. She screamed his name over and over again. He didn't answer. It took candlemarks before she finally found a boot. Realizing his leg was attached to it, she cried out in relief. It was then she realized he was trapped under a huge wall. Unable to lift it no matter how many times she tried, she finally sat down, crying. It would crush his lungs. He would suffocate soon. And she could do nothing.

Flying low, Menanth spotted her among the wreckage. }:There.:{ He landed nearby and D'ren quickly slipped from his neck. "Do you need help, ma'am?"

She heard the voice first and turned to see a dragonrider. The dragon was there too, a bronze! "Oh yes yes please. My husband...he's under there. I can't get him out! Please help!"

D'ren studied the wall for a moment, then held his hand out to the woman. "We need to get out of the way. Menanth will lift the wall and then we can move your husband out of the way." The bronzerider steeled himself to the possibility of the man being dead.

She didn't want to leave him. Maqwr was there and he was all she had. She pushed to stay there but in the end she finally listened and followed D'ren, hoping the dragon would reveal her husband, safe, under there. "Quickly, please!"

With the humans out of the way, Menanth moved in, digging to make space under the wall for his large foreclaws. Then he slid them under and heaved, lifting the heavy wall off the trapped man. "Okay, now." D'ren ran to the man's head and made a quick check. Thank Faranth, he was breathing.

"Oh no...he's going to need a healer. Maqwr can you hear me?" She started to fidget, not knowing what to do. Rushing forward, she kneeled next to her husband, trying to touch him. His eyes opened, at least.

"We need to pick him up as carefully as we can and move him away from the wall." Menanth was still holding it up and would need to drop it soon. "It might not be safe to transport him without proper equipment so we're calling a healer to come check on him." D'ren had already sent the message through his dragon.

D'ren slipped his hands under the man's shoulders. "Take his legs and we'll lift him on three. One... two..."

Sometimes healers said not to move the body for fear of greater injury. They didn't have a choice here, though. Trusting the dragonrider-even if he looked a bit young, she rushed forward to get her husband's legs. Thankfully even though he was breathing, he wasn't conscious. That kept him from screaming when they moved him.

D'ren only moved him far enough to get clear of the wall. "Okay, set him down." He gently laid the holder down as Menanth let go of the wall. The bronzerider checked again to make sure the man was breathing.

A moment later a green came out of /between/, carrying a healer.

When they hit the ground, he was running. Equaritaine was fast and he was sizing up the situation as he ran. The greenrider had already given him the facts from the bronzerider. "Mam, I am going to need space to work. Mam, do you have a basin we can fill with water and boil quickly? I've got to get him stabilized so we can carry him back to the Hold." They
couldn't /between/ but luckily Sawtooth wasn't far.

Kneeling on the ground, he began to check vital signs. The man was unconscious which was both good and bad. It meant he couldn't feel the pain but the longer he was out, the more dangerous.

While the healer began work and the woman ran to get a basin, D'ren gathered some of the debris and started a fire. **Do you see a well?**

Even on the ground, Menanth had a much better vantage point. }:This might be a well.:{ He sent the image to his rider and D'ren hurried over to check.

Quiet, the healer worked hard. It was dirty business-saving someone's life. It required focus. The problem was there had been pressure on the man's chest for so long, he had been deprived of oxygen. That had caused him to pass out. **Will it be too long? Could it have damaged his brain?** There was always a chance. Still, the man wouldn't regain consciousness for a time, it seemed. He was stable, though.

Luckily the well and its bucket had survived the storm. Between D'ren and Cafeel, the basin had been filled and the water set to boil. D'ren and the other rider assisted Equaritaine when they were needed.

The woman watched while her husband fought for his life. Her eyes welled up with unshed tears, even as she pushed off thinking about the fact that she no longer had a place to live. That wasn't the priority.

"Allright, he's stable, but he needs to get to a large infirmary
soon-probably the one at Sunstone itself. He'll be there for some time. Can you transport him very carefully, flying straight?" The journeyman addressed the two riders, watching for their response.

"I can do it," D'ren said. "Menanth is a good, steady flier." To the greenrider, he said, "You can take the healer and the lady." That way, D'ren only had to worry about the injured man.

"Allright, let's get him on the stretcher and do this careful. We don't have all the time in the world but he needs to get there in one piece." Standing, he moved to guide D'ren in getting Maqwr on the stretcher.

Last updated on the April 4th 2016

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Broken Buildings, Broken Bodies