In the Twinkling of an Eye
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr (NPC)
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall
Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 26th April 2019
Characters: R'axe, Jadirah, Saibra, W'ser
Description: R'axe suffers a debilitating injury in Threadfall.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 26 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: J'kri, Paetri
With each cinch of a buckle and strap, J'kri and Paetri's faces flashed
before his eyes. He had known J'kri first, they'd both been participants
in a mating flight, both had lost, and ended up in a flight cot
together. A smile threatened the corners of his mouth as he thought
about the memory. Things had progressed easily between them, and then
J'kri had found Paetri. R'axe could remember the flares of jealousy he
had felt at first, but then later Paetri had come to mean as much to him
as J'kri.... And now they were both gone.
Two people he had loved both gone in the blink of an eye. It wasn't an
uncommon thing, not since the Pass had started, but it was the first
time that such an occurrence had involved people he had been so intimate
with.
}:You are distracted.:{ Jayth pointed out, opening his jaws for
firestone. Going out in the first wave meant going out with a full
belly, ready to flame.
"I'm sorry, pal." R'axe thumped his blue's flank and opened the
firestone sack at his feet.
}:Should I inform the Wingleader?:{ Jayth asked.
"No, I'll be fine," he assured Jayth. He had flown with a heavy heart
before. Once the silver spores were falling he would snap into focus.
The blue seemed hesitant but chomped noisily down on his firestone and
let the subject drop.
--
The sun was blazing brilliantly in the sky, and even though it was cool
so high up, sweat trickled down the back of his neck as the leading edge
of 'fall was met with a roar from dragonriders and dragons alike. His
body kicked into autopilot, body flattening against Jayth's neckridge as
they dodged wingmates' and clumps of thread to flame a falling patch.
Flame, dodge, reach for firestone, reload, it was an endless rhythm that
R'axe followed, one ingrained to him from the past several Turns of
fighting Thread. It wasn't until a piece of debris hit him in the
goggles that he snapped out of the rhythm. The jagged piece of
firestone, no bigger than his thumb, caused a web of cracks, completely
splintering his goggles.
"Blast it," he cursed, ripping the goggles off and looking down at them.
They were completely ruined.
}:Firestone.:{ Jayth's voice was impatient, eyes whirling as he turned
for more.
R'axe fumbled with the smaller straps that secured the firestone sacks,
the broken goggles still in his left hand. "Feck," he cursed as the knot
came loose and the firestone sack plummeted toward the Wings below them.
}:Look out.:{ Jayth called down below.
They both watched as dragons below them swerved out of the way of the
sack. A dragon trumpeting nearby startled R'axe, and he looked up just
in time to see a writhing patch of spores.
R'axe screamed as blinding hot pain seared across his face, explosions
of white bursting behind his eyelids. At least, he thought his eyes were
closed? The pain was so great that his stomach rolled with nausea, and
the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was Jayth's bellow
of alarm.
--
}:Dragon inbound,:{ Branth warned W'ser. }:Blue Jayth, he says his rider
is not responding.:{
"Jadirah!" W'ser called across the weyrbowl, gesturing for the healer to
come to him as Jayth appeared above the Weyr, his alarmed cry filling
the skies above Dragonsfall as he came in quickly for a landing.
Jadirah bolted in W'ser's direction, her eyes scanning up to see the
problem. Dragon was coming down with a rider, that was a fast descent...
"What do we have?"
"It's Jayth and R'axe. Jayth says his rider isn't responding." W'ser
shielded his eyes as the blue landed quickly, sending dirt and debris
wafting up.
Jadirah closed hers as well until she felt the little plinks of impact
stop, then opened them and began sterilizing her hands. "Let me know
what Jayth says about his condition."
She worked with others to get him down and onto an apprentice provided
stretcher, then began looking at the wounds. What she saw was - well,
she might be an experienced Master Healer and a trauma specialist, but
the total loss of a man's eyes was not a pretty sight. The apprentice by
her gagged. She couldn't even tell him off immediately, as she
understood it.
Jayth pranced about on his hind legs, eager to follow his rider to the
infirmary, but Branth's presence stopped him from proceeding forward.
He snarled at the brown, eyes whirling in distress.
}:Easy,:{ Branth warbled a warning to the blue. }:They are going to help
your rider but you cannot go with them. You have injuries that need to
be treated.:{
W'ser stood by, looking up at Jayth who was reared onto his hindquarters, wings splayed to provide balance. **We may need a gold's assistance, Branth.**
}:The Weyrwoman comes,:{ the brown answered just before a crack of
displaced air sounded above the Weyr. Saibra and Chioneth flew down to
the ground, leaving the Wing in Teseada's care.
}:Put your teeth way and settle down.:{ Chioneth commanded Jayth. Her
tone was gentle but the order that resounded beneath it was like an iron
grip around the blue's will.
Jayth tucked his wings and dropped back to all fours, an apologetic
croon escaping his muzzle despite the rapid whirling of his eyes.
}:Go with the dragonhealers,:{ Chioneth continued, }:and let them treat
your wounds.:{
}:But my rider... I can barely feel him...:{ Jayth said plaintively.
}:He is being taken care of.:{ The gold insisted, exerting more of her
will upon the blue.
Finally the blue began to move toward the dragon infirmary with the
dragonhealers.
"Thank you," W'ser said with a nod to Saibra who had climbed off of
Chioneth's neckridge.
"That's what we're here for. Come on, let's go see what Jayth needs, and
if R'axe is stable enough, I'll go back out for the last half of 'fall."
The Weyrwoman said, pulling her helmet off and tucking it beneath her
arm as she walked with the Weyrdragonhealer.
"Fellis," the Master Healer ordered the journeyman with her, tipping
it into R'axe's mouth to make sure he'd be out for the procedure she
was going to have to do.
Thread ate _fast_, and soft tissues like eyes, well...maybe if it had
been a tiny speck of live Thread that hit his eyes mixed in with char
dust, maybe he might have been blinded but keep the eyeball. This must
have been a tendril of live Thread that got into his face. It had torn
through the eyes and left nothing that could be salvaged, only tiny
bits to remove. Mostly it was bits of pulped tissue at the back of the
socket that hadn't been devoured, though as she washed out debris with
a stream of water she noticed some flecks that were the frozen Thread
and a bit of ash. She dumped extra over those to make sure they were
really really dead. It was luck that had gotten him /between/ fast
enough that the Thread hadn't gone through the socket and into the
brain and killed the pair.
Jadirah bit her lip and concentrated on breathing slow and steady as
she did the grim work that needed to be done. She shouldn't think
about how much worse it could have been. She needed to think about
what came next. Once the grisly remnants were gone, she'd have to put
in poultices to treat the inflammation of the area, sew him up, get
preventatives for infection. Wounds so close to the brain carried so
many risks... She hyper-focused to the point where she lost track of
time. Finally, finally it was done, the careful work, and she stepped
back.
Now all they could do was wait.
Last updated on the May 6th 2019