DCW: Its Out There

Writers: Kaysea
Date Posted: 27th May 2007

Characters: Th'gar, Colter
Description: Th'gar awakes to face a painful and flightless Threadfall
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 19 of Turn 4

Who: Th'gar & Colter (NPC's)
What: Th'gar awakes to face a painful and flightless Threadfall
Where: DCW
When: M3 D20
NPC's: Th'gar & Colter

** ** ** ** **

"Easy Th'gar, easy man!" the healer raced across to the rider who stirred and
groaned in his sleep. He had been sedated after his efforts of the day before.

A few cots over lay the man Th'gar had rescued, still incoherent and a stranger to
all. No one knew just what the man had been on his way to the Weyr for; none yet
had been able to identify him. He was battered and bruised and exhausted from his
time out on the Weyrbowl wall, and until he came around of his own accord, there
was nothing they could do to notify any family that may be worried.

Once again Th'gar moaned, loudly this time, and more coherently than he had been.
"No! Valieth NO!" the rider suddenly sat bolt upright in his cot, his hands
reaching out as if to stop his dragon doing something. Colter reached out and
pushed him gently back onto the pallet.

"What is it? What's wrong Th'gar?"

He wasn't expecting the answer he received, and he certainly wasn't expecting the
answer to come from the drudge rushing through the doorway. "Thread! THREAD IS
FALLING!"

The look of horror on the man's face was enough to still the reprimand on Colter's
face. "What do you mean Thread is falling?" the healers face creased in
consternation. "Thread isn't due today, it's not due for another few days."

"It's falling now, they're scrambling out there, can't you hear the dragons? Look
at him!" the drudge pointed to Th'gar who was struggling vainly, trying to evade
Colter's grasp.

"I - have - to - get - to - Val-i-eth!" his words were slow and weary, but a
determination that the healer could see, was carrying the man forward.

"Don't be stupid Th'gar, you can't fly this fall. It's out of the question!"
Colter admonished. He turned to gain the help of the drudge in keeping the rider
to his cot, but now that he had delivered his unbelievable news the man had
disappeared - and Colter realised he was losing a battle with the rider to keep
him in bed.

"I have to go." Th'gar said again, "Valieth needs me right now, he's up there and
he'll fly without me unless I can get to him."

Colter could see and knew it to be the truth, so relented. "_YOU_ can't fly." he
said once again, putting as much determination as possible in his own voice. "YOU
don't have permission, do you understand?"

"I hear you, healer. I don't agree, but I hear you." he nodded as he struggled
out of bed. Every muscle in his body ached from the effort to even rise. "Even if
I wanted to, I doubt I could climb Valieth's shoulders." he said with a grimace.
"But if I don't get to my weyr I could be without a dragon." He didn't mention to
the healer that the noisy dragon in his head, was much worse than the pain his
body was receiving from movement.

"I will be speaking to your Wingleader." Colter wagged an admonishing finger at
the bluerider as he walked stiffly from the room.

**You can speak to him, but I doubt right now if he'd listen to you.** Th'gar
thought as he made a painful but hurried trip from the Infirmary to his weyr.

The urgency he felt followed him from the Infirmary, it wasn't just him that was
stunned by this new turn of events, the whole Weyr appeared to be galvanised into
action from the sudden and unexpected Fall. He tried to talk soothingly to his
lifemate as he made his way through the corridors, but it was obvious to anyone
with ears to hear, that his soothing had done nothing for his dragon.

Valieth's challenging bugle could be heard echoing down the Hallway as he neared
his weyr. The door was open, and he could hear voices trying to tell the dragon
to stay where he was, but even to himself the words sounded more nervous than
commanding.

He hobbled into the room, he could feel the blood beginning to soak his back and
chest from opened scratches he had received from the rock face. "OUT!" he yelled,
to the two weyrfolk who, quite surprisingly, were trying to block the dragons exit
from the cavern.

He winced as he hobbled across to Valieth's side.

}:You're here!:{ his mate seemed stunned for a brief moment, to see his rider appear.

**You couldn't tell?** Th'gar gave a wry grin.

}:It's out there:{ Valieth's tongue flicked out, as if tasting Thread in the very
air. }:It burns, it eats, I see it:{ His eyes flashed redly around the cavern,
the glow even bouncing off the dull rock walls so brightly and alarmingly were his
eyes whirling.

**I know dear one, I know.** Th'gar stepped closer, planting himself squarely in
front of his lifemate, **It's out there, and we're in here, and _here_ we stay!**
his voice brooked no disobedience and for once the dragon seemed to sense that.

**I hate to say it dear one, but _I_ can't ride you through this.** the ache he
felt at denying his dragon the chance to fight, was almost more painful then the
scratches that had opened up across his body - almost.

Valieth released another bellow and moved agitatedly back and forth in front of
his rider, his tongue flicking back and forth, like a whip around a runners
whithers, back and forth narrowly missing Th'gar.

The rider clung tightly to his dragons foreleg, his whole body weighing against
the dragonhide. He inhaled deeply the comforting smell, for once, during a Fall,
Valieth didn't stink of firestone.

He felt his body lifting into the air, before being jolted back down again as
Valieth raised up on his hind legs in agitation. The thud through his body
rattled Th'gar enough that his pain was transmitted to his dragon, and Valieth for
a moment was stilled and concerned about the pain he had caused his rider.

}:You hurt! You didn't tell me you still hurt - why did you hide it from me?:{
Valieth was surprised his rider had managed to hide his pain for so long. }:It
will not be easy, but I will try to settle:{

The pair made their way back to the dragon couch at the back of the cavernous
room, the sounds from the Weyrbowl were not encouraging as they drifted up through
the entrance to Valieth's weyr. The blue curled around his rider, his head
occasionally shifting, and his tongue flicking in and out as he sensed the
onslaught of Thread.

Dragon and rider spent the time fretting and pining for the fight they were
missing, and also the friends lost during those harrowing candlemarks. Th'gar
didn't miss one single loss of dragon, rider and pair during the full fall. Each
time thinking it can't get any worse, only to find it could and did.

Fr'tan and his green Tieth; Gloida and Vrith and B'narin and blue Resath - the
three he usually flew closest with in his wing. All lost, all mourned. His face a
wash of tears; Valieth's hide a dampened mess where his rider hid his face in his
arms and allowed his sorrow out, only his lifemate witness to his grief.

When it was finally over, when Thread had long ago moved away from the Weyr, the
pair fell into an exhausted sleep. Unaware of just how bad the devastation was.
The loss of life still to be counted, the loss of crops, of stock - of dragons -
and of dragonets. All to be faced when sleep wouldn't afford them ignorance any
longer.

Last updated on the May 27th 2007

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DCW: Its Out There