Missing Boat

Writers: Chelle, Paula
Date Posted: 8th November 2016

Characters: Corowal, Sarban
Description: The steward informs the Lord Holder of the lost riverboat.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 8, day 3 of Turn 8

The port down by the river wasn't as large as that of a seahold's, but
there were certainly a lot of people about working. There were a few
riverboats currently docked. Passengers were disembarking, supplies
were being unloaded, and people were chattering. Men worked, loading
up goods to be transported to the mouth of the River where they would
be traded across Pern, ensuring the Hold's survival. Some of it was
from the crafthalls, as well.

There was a lot of noise. The water lapped against the banks and the
docks the boats were tethered to. People chattered back and forth to
each other. Every now and again a boat would sound a whistle to signal
its departure or arrival. There was a fairly regular schedule since
the trips on the River were timed, with certain stops on their route.
The wood creaked as people walked on the planks to reach shore.

Since his job was to oversee this chaos and make sure that all cargo
had been inspected and that passengers were accounted for, the small
Dockmaster was usually found somewhere around during the day time,
speaking with the captains, passengers, or the holders assigned to him
to transport goods from the port to the main Hold.

The doors to his office burst open, revealing a young man. Stopping to
breathe, the boy's face was animated. "You're never going to believe
this, Fustren. They're saying the Cornflower never made it to Zado
cothold to fuel back up before continuing onward."

~*~

"Corowal, there may be a problem." Hating those to be the first words
out of his mouth, Sarban thought it was best to be direct in this
instance. Time was of the essence if they had any hope of locating the
boat and the goods.

"What is it this time?" Corowal asked. There was always some problem.
He also knew that Sarban wouldn't be bothering him if it wasn't
something where his actions were required. The Steward was quite
capable of handling the minor problems himself.

"The riverboat we sent the last bit of tithe on-the Cornflower-is
lost. Reports came in they never docked at Zado cothold to refuel." It
wasn't a large tithe, which was good. Still, they would either have to
find it or notify the Weyr. And there were people on the boat that
could be injured or worse.

"Shards, that's no good. There was a storm day after they left, do you
think they might have gotten shipwrecked? Or is it boatwrecked?"
Corowal said.

"Some of the men have gone out following the river to see if they can
spot any sign of the boat, wreckage, crew, or supplies." It was a
large boat, after all, and couldn't completely vanish. "Depends on
what part of the river they were on. If it was through the swift
running bit with the rocks and the water being higher than normal due
to the rain coming down....then yeah it could do damage to the boat.
They might have taken on water." Usually they'd sound the horn for an
SOS but perhaps no one heard over the thunder or there was no one
close.

"Ask the other riverboat captains and other people who travel along
the river to keep their eyes open for any signs of the missing boat
and send out search parties," Corowal said. He drummed the desktop
with his fingers while he thought. "I have to contact the Weyr. It's
their tithe that's gone missing and dragonriders can sweep larger
areas much faster than we can."

"The riverfolk are already searching as they can. I sent a runner to
the cotholds from here to there. Hopefully someone will have seen
something. The watchdragon can alert the Weyr if you think we should
do it now." Sarban was hoping privately that they would find the boat
and its cargo fairly quickly, now that it was clear it was missing.

"Did the riverboat carry passengers? Those people and their families
need to be taken into consideration too. Make this a top priority,"
Corowal said.

"Sometimes they do take some people on aye. I'll have to check with
Fustren to see if he has a list. Do you want to notify them
immediately that they are missing or give it a day?" Sarban knew what
it felt like to have someone come to your door and tell you your loved
one could be dead or alive. It was the not knowing that was worse.
Usually seacrafters made notifications once they knew whether or not
anyone had survived.

"Better inform them right away or they will blame us for keeping them
in the dark," Corowal replied. With the current atmosphere in Emerald
Falls Hold, he had to be cautious. There were still those who didn't
like the way he had become the Lord Holder.

"Fair enough." He waited to see if Corowal had any other ideas before
he left to go see Fustren down at the docks. Somehow the steward got
the idea this was going to be the beginning of a very large headache.

Corowal went through it all again in his head to see if they had
covered all options. "There isn't anything else we can do. Start
searching for the missing boat. Oh, send messages to the Holds along
the river, maybe they'll find something or had spotted something
suspicious," he replied.

Knowing better than to repeat that he'd already sent runners to the
cotholds, Sarban nodded. "I'll be gone for the rest of the day at
least. Maybe even into tomorrow. I'll send you updates though." He
could leave his top two understewards in charge for that long at
least. It was less than when he headed out to see about the minor
holds every now and again.

Corowal nodded and pulled his letter hides out. He had messages to write.

Last updated on the December 17th 2016

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Missing Boat