A Bitter Escape

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 21st May 2016
Series: Shipwrecked

Characters: Thayde
Description: Thayde gets stung by something on the island.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 28 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Zathris, Irabel; Pt 7 of the Survival series

Thayde

Makeshift fishing spear in hand, Thayde walked gingerly over the rocky shoals of the beach, his eyes scanning the watery area for any crabs that might be scurrying about. So far the only protein in their diet on the island were the things that he and Zathris were able to get from the ocean. Still, it wasn't a balanced diet by any means and their weight loss after more than a month of surviving on spiderclaws, fish, and berries was significant.

"Gotcha." He hissed as he plunged his spear through the shell of a scurrying crab. Lifting it out of the water, Thayde watched as the crab's legs flailed for a few more seconds before depositing it in the bag he carried. The bag was the remains of the shirt he'd been wearing when they'd been shipwrecked.

As clouds rolled across the blue sky, Thayde took a deep breath and watched the horizon. Would there ever be a ship on it? Or a dragon in the sky?

He glanced back toward the shoreline where he could just make out Zathris working on the raft that they had begun to construct. The metal sheet they'd found on the beach was heavy, so the raft was taking some extra reinforcing before they could safely fit the roof on.

The shallow water lapped around his ankles as the breakers simmered around the rocks. Wincing, because the rocks were rough on the bottoms of his feet, Thayde stepped to readjust his stance so he could try and spear the silver fish that was darting about.

"Feck!" He hissed as something sharp jabbed into the fleshy part on the bottom of his foot.

Using the blunt end of his fishing spear as a prop, he hobbled over the rocks until he reached the soft sand of the shore. Dropping to his knees, Thayde rolled over and picked up his foot. Blood and bits of sand stuck to the bottom of his right foot as he inspected the puncture wound.

"Great." He muttered. He'd hoped that he'd stepped onto a sharp rock, but he'd been in the waters long enough as a dolphineer to know that he'd been stung. There was no way to know now what had stung him, he could only hope that whatever it had been was not poisonous. The last thing he needed was to get sick.

Looking across the beach he sighed, Zathris was too far away to call over. Pushing up onto his feet, he hobbled back toward the beachside camp they kept on non-Thread days. Without medicine the best Thayde could do for his wound was soak his foot in scalding hot water and try to keep the spot from getting infected.

**Easier said than done.** He thought as he tried walking on only his right heel so the wound stayed off the ground. If he'd been stung by something poisonous... Well, he'd be escaping the island sooner than planned.

His mind went to Irabel. If he never made it back to the Dolphin Hall then he would never have the chance to tell her.... Tell her that he had real feelings for her, even if she didn't want anything to do with him, he could at least have some closure about it and move on. Did she miss him at all? Or was she buried deep in her work as usual?

Thayde smiled a little. **Probably buried deep in her work.** That was one of the things he liked about her, after all.

Sweat beaded on his forehead and his vision blurred for a second. Pausing on his trek he closed his eyes and tried to steady himself. **Not good, not good.**

"Zathris!" He called as he dropped to his knees, his stomach rolling. Opening his eyes the sparkling sand spun beneath him and then everything went black.

Last updated on the June 9th 2016

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A Bitter Escape