Muneo's Ruin: For Honor or Heart?(Rewind)

[Dizzy]

(One Turn ago, Turn 2506)

Smoke. Suet. Dust. It made the air unbreathable-suffocating. R’lan covered his nose and mouth with a bandanna as he fought his way from his crumbling weyr, the rocking of the ground made it almost impossible to keep his balance. Nylath, what’s going on? The brown rider could barely see his boot clad feet as he went in the direction of Nylath’s wallow.

Earthshake, hot rock flows out of the mountain. Many are dieing.

R’lan broke into a semblance of a run even as the ground bucked and rolled. You’ve got to come to me Ny… I can’t get anywhere like this. It took only moments and Nylath’s large wings beat air down on the tall man, a moment more and R’lan was straddling his back and they were heading toward the upper levels of sky-to clean air.

“Sweet Faranth!” From this altitude the Helios rider could see glimpses of the destruction below - the sweep of the glowing lava river. The cries of the dragons echoed to him, a haunting melody carried up on the wings of the wind.

“Shereae, The candidate barracks! Shit” It was surrounded, an island amidst hell. Moving quickly downward, Nylath almost unseated his rider.

The Wingsecond says we are needed at the hatching grounds…

I don’t give a shell where he says go… we have to get Shereae. Eyes whirling in a bejeweled array of color Nylath did his rider’s bidding shutting out the bronze’s orders.

[didster7]

S'for woke with a start to the loud rumbling all around. He sprang form his cot, only to be thrown off his feet as the ground heaved and bucked under him. Alarath! he cried out. His beloved brown, eyes whirling in hues of yellow and a ghastly white that S'for had never seen before, launched himself from his couch to land right beside S'for. Grabbing hold of Alarath for support S'for pulled himself to his feet and mounted. Alarath skipped across the weyr and once outside lifted immediately.

Choking from the thich smoke S'for surveyed the area from above. A surreal scene played out below. Weyrfolk were running everywhere, panic written on their features. Screams rose in the air. The smoke and dust turned the daylight into an eerie dusk. Bright red flows of molten hot lava flowed across the ground. The Candidates Barracks was in the direct path of a large flow.

We've got to help the candidates Alarath.

[Memorie]

Shereae was trapped, and for the first time in her short life, it was a pit she could not climb out of. The gold candidate was not a weak girl, by any stretch of the imagination, yet she was still unable to move the rather large rocks (more like boulders, in the eyes of the faint-hearted) that blocked the door of the girls' candidate barracks. She began to feel slightly disheartened, but she ignored any thoughts of discouragement. "They'll do you no good. Just do it!" she yelled at herself, sure that no one could hear her. She was the only girl in the room; all the others had left to be in the commons area or get an early start on chores. No doubt they were scattered all over the place, like so much ashes to the wind.

She tugged harder on the obstacle. If R'lan was here... But she let the thought trail off, simply because he wasn't there, and anyway, he'd need to help others in more dire situations than she. There are more dire situations? She doubted it. Already, smoke began to billow in through the tiny opening. One too small for even her slight-ish frame to squeeze through.

When the volcano had blown its top, the entire surrounding are had shaken with the mightiness of a gold dragonet leaving its shelled prison. It had caused a massive landslide, and several of the rocks had fallen in front of the door Shereae had been near to exiting. Truth be told, she was lucky she wasn't smashed. "Oh, yes, and asphyxiation is so much better," she thought aloud. "HELP! Please! Anybody?!"

[Dizzy]

R’lan held on tightly as the brown circled his way downward into chaos, his leather clad legs rubbing hard against the brown’s silky hide in the absence of fighting straps.

How are you going to get us down there in one piece Nylath?

Not sure yet. Just make sure you stick with me. Nylath winced in pain as embers burned through his wing membranes and also hit his rider’s bare back. What and miss out on the thrill? I don’t think so.
Both rider and dragon surveyed the ruins of the candidate barracks and ever encroaching lava flow. The whole left side of the rock building that housed the girls’ cots was caved in. The guys’ barracks had faired marginally better. Alarath and his come to help.

‘How many of them were in there?’ R’lan’s fears ran rampant as he thought of the many things that could have happened to his woman, to fall with the rest of Muneo. Do you feel Shereae? Is she in there? I feel her, she is panicked, maybe hurt, I can’t tell…

Can you land me? In response the brown tucked his wings, dodging a careening blue in the process of bringing his rider closer to the ground. Heat hit R’lan’s face as soon as he dismounted reminding him of his father’s forge fires. If not gotten out soon, no own would be surviving that oven.

“Shereae? Shereae!!” The brown rider managed a choking desperate call into the inky smoke, hoping to gain a response.

[Memorie]

Shereae's ears perked at R'lan's call. "Shereae? Shereae!!" he yelled, sounding frantic and panicked. She took in a deep gasp of hopeful breath, which soon turned to be a mistake. The girl gagged on smoke and soot.

Recovering quickly, she began to scramble even harder at the barriers of the door. "R'lan! I'm in--" she coughed, smoke beginning to nest in her lungs. "I'm in here!" she yelled, hands now cupped around her mouth to further the sound. She remembered something she had been told by an old Auntie once, about dragons being able to hear those that needed help. Her mother had told her it was an old wive's tale, but Shereae was willing to give aynthing a try at this point. Nylath! I'm in the girl's barracks! I'm the only one in here. She hoped it worked, but didn't put too much steam into it. "R'lan! Can you hear me?" she screamed, hoping beyond hope that he could.

[didster7]

S'for directed Alarath to try and land as close to Nylath as he could. The smoke and ash were suffocating. He tore a piece from his tunic and used it to wrap around his nose and mouth. The heat was oppressive and he was sweating profusely. He dismounted quickly. Alarath, I want you to get airborne. Stay close. If I manage to find anyone I want you to lift them to safety. he said. Alarath didn't want to leave his rider on the ground but realizing there was no time to argue he lifted to hover nearby.

The smell of burning flesh told its own grim story. Many of the candidates were gone. S'for joined R'lan by the girls barracks. "Can you... tell if anyone is... in there?" he asked between coughing bouts. "What about the... boys side?"

[Dizzy]

Yelling above the noise of the bowl the brown rider turned to his wingmate. “I haven’t checked, S’for. According to Nylath there’s only one woman in the girl’s barracks, but the guys… I don‘t know.” The brown rider wiped sweat from his brow as he tried to budge the heavy door, it wouldn’t give. “Both of us together can’t budge that door and there’s only enough room for Nylath to dig. S’for, go see what you can do for the other candidates.”

I’ll tell Shereae to stand back and try to hang on. Nylath moved closer toward the door, making his rider have to stand back or be crushed by his bulk. The large brown started digging at the rubble that once was the girls’ dorms. “Hang on baby…” ‘Please hang on.’

I hear you little one, we are with you. Nylath tried to sooth the girl, after all it was only a matter of time before he would move the rock.

[Memorie]

I hear you little one, we are with you, Nylath told her, his consciousness reaching out and touching hers. She gasped; she hadn't expected that trick to work.

Thank you, Nylath, you wonderful dragon, she thought back fiercely. Unfortunately, a wracking cough seized her again, and her frame shook. "Ugh," she said aloud, after gaining herself back to normalcy. The smoke was getting worse.

Suddenly, rocks began to crumble in front of her. Nylath was getting through! Slowly, but surely, the big brown was moving the boulders that stood in their way. Shereae knew R'lan was close and her heart began to pound. She had to see him, she knew. She had to make sure he was going to be okay. No doubt he had already risked life and limb for others, and certainly for herself. Her face was covered with soot, and smoke was getting in her eyes, but she still grasped for whatever rocks she could move herself to help the effort.

[didster7]

S'for headed for the boys end of the barracks. It was only about two dragonlengths away but it seemed to take an eternity to reach it. The sweat ran in rivulets over his body and face, stinging eyes already inflamed from the smoke and ash.

Alarath guided him the last few steps. [glow=red,2,300]Just two more steps to your right there are 4 of the boys.[/glow]

When S'for reached them he realized that one of them was beyond help, one was unconscious and the other two were too weak to rise on their own. Alarath I need you to get as close as you can so we can get these kids out of here. Alarath settled beside S'for who lifted a young blond and placed him on the brown. He went back for the next one, his boot soles beginning to melt. Helping the youngster aboard he went for the unconscious child.

A rumbling underneath him gave rise to a deafening roar as the ground began to shift again. Alarath! rise! he cried as the ground split right under him. S'for tumbled into the abyss of fire, just one more scream of agony, quickly silenced.

Alarath, with an earsplitting keen went between.

[Dizzy]

Nylath managed to dig out the heavier of rubble, he had a hole big enough for someone's head... but not their chest or the rest of their body. Moving forward, R'lan joined his brown, trying to tear away the remaining rock and mortar. It only sped up the Helios rider's resolve when he heard the young woman coughing. In that moment Nylath let out a deep keening rumble, stopping only briefly in his efforts to let his rider know of Alarath's passing.

Guilt and blame almost overwhelmed R'lan as much as the bucking of the earth... he should have given thought to the young men stuck in the barracks, he should have helped S'for but guilt could be wallowed in later. Shereae was what mattered most.

[Memorie]

Shereae caught a glimpse of R'lan's face struggling hard to get her out and she smiled. "Oh, R'lan," she said, happier to see the man than she'd ever been before. The rocks began to practically fling themselves away in his hurry to get to her. Relief flooded her heart and she almost fainted, until she heard the moan of the dragons. Wondering who had passed, and to what ill fate, she frowned, and her face turned cloudy. It hadn't been the first today, nor would it be the last. She could only wish and hope with all her might that R'lan and Nylath didn't go the same way.

Her own efforts paid off, and soon, the rocky barricade was broken down. She remained awake and conscious long enough to smile at R'lan before collapsing from exhaustion into his open arms. The last thing she remembered was seeing the worry in his cool blue eyes.

[Dizzy]

"Shereae? Shereae!" The brown rider felt for a pluse... it was there pounding away faint but steady. Perhaps unconsciousness was a blessing in this mess. Taking the simple luxury he held her close for a moment before backing his way carefully out of the candidate barracks. They were still far from being safe.

The sharp rubble scrapped at the hide of the brown rider's back and arms but because of adrenaline he barely felt a sting. It took only a few brief seconds to be back close to a worried Nylath. The fire river is getting closer, we've got to get out of here... now.

I know, I feel the heat. The brown rider grunted as he tried to shift Shereae into a better position. Ny, I might need your help getting her hoisted up... . R'lan struggled trying to get her safely on Nylath's back, in one instance he banged her head hard against the brown's foreleg.

If she didn't have a concussion before... she's got one now... careful. I'm trying to be careful. She's heavier than she looks

The brown with both his charges launched safely into the air and between just as the candidate's barracks crumbled into an inferno, devoured by the hungry lava flow.